SoINeedAName

Friday Fun – Tweets Recap Debate #1

 Posted by at 8:51 am  Politics
Sep 302016
 

With all the sniffling Trump did throughout the entire debate, Dr. Howard Dean raised a reasonable question.

While I personally think it's not only doubtful (Trump doesn't even drink), I think it was a distraction from a stellar performance by Hillary.  But other folks agreed with Dean.

And even more graphically …

Several times Trump whined about how "nasty" Hillary's ads have been.  Not only does this prove that Irony is dead in the Trump camp, but that Trump doesn't even remember what he's said.

One thing that was very striking and indicative of Trump's incredible misogyny and bullying is how often he interrupted both Hillary and Moderator Lester Holt

Time magazine actually did a more accurate analysis based on the actual transcript of the debate – and it shows Trump interrupted them FIFTY-FIVE TIMES!

http://time.com/4509790/donald-trump-debate-interruptions/

But whatever the count, if you had "Interruptions" as part of your evening's Drinking Game, well …

Hillary brought up Trump's stiffing not only the working middle class people – to which Betty F*ckin' White [Sorry – no "Blue Star" – so not THAT Betty White, but still funny] offers a great suggestion:

But also stiffing all American patriotic citizens by not paying his taxes – which Trump brags "It makes me smart"

And of course Trump tried to counter with the mendacious claim that Hillary lacks "stamina"

And of course …

At first I was upset that Lester Holt didn't take charge as moderator.  But then I thought, even though Lester is a registered republican – boy, letting Trump expose himself as a misogynistic, idiotic bully is great. 

And Holt dealt with the abuse in his own way, unique way …

But Trump, despite praising a fellow republican after the debate now claims that Lester rigged them.  So it's not surprising that Trump actually refused to shake the Moderator's hand post-debate – very sad …

And of course NBC's republican sycophant Chuck Todd had to find SOMETHING to complain about with Hillary – so he said she was "Over-Prepared"

Ahhh, Chucky – she's running for PRESIDENT!  Do you think Chucky would ever complain that his surgeon was "Over-Prepared"?

And then the Reviews started rolling in. 

Hell, even the republicans realized Trump got trampled:

The "Best Pithy Review Award" has got to go to Jerry Springer:

"Best Advice to Trump Supporters Award" goes to the Lawrence, KS (home of the U of Kansas) Police Dept.:

"Best Straightforward Review Award" goes to Alexandra Petri:

"Best Final Word of Advice Award" goes to Hillary:

And thanks to Hillary's now famous "Shoulder Shimmy" …

hillary_debate-1_shoulder-shimmy_a

It's now made even more enjoyable thanks to Shaq and a cat …

hillary_debate-1_shoulder-shimmy_cat-shaq

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Friday Fun – The “Scoop” on Ice Cream Headaches

 Posted by at 9:53 am  Politics
Sep 232016
 

(And that’s the last pun for this week.)

It was last week in my post on Cats taking over a London tube station that I mentioned I try to shy away from the science/tech stuff, given they hold an inherent interest for me and I don’t want to favor that topic too much.  But Edie said she thought we’d enjoy them – so I’ll give it a go with a quickie one.

One in three of us (I was surprised that not everyone gets them) have suffered through what’s frequently called an Ice Cream Headache, Cold-Stimulus Headache, Trigeminal Headache or its given scientific name Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia (meaning "pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion nerve").  Or more commonly – a Brain Freeze.

Frozen Brain

Frozen Brain

The term Ice Cream Headache first appeared in a manuscript by Rebecca Timbres on January 31, 1937 that was eventually published as book in 1939 with the snappy title of “We Didn't Ask Utopia: A Quaker Family in Soviet Russia”.  (With a title like that, is it any wonder it took her TWO YEARS to get the thing published?)

And while it’s been discussed in the medical literature since at least the 1850s, it wasn’t until 1988 that the International Headache Society formally recognized the malady, which they have labeled “Cold Stimulus Headache”.

CAUSATION

The phenomenon occurs about 10-20 seconds after too rapidly eating or drinking an extremely cold food – whereby it comes in contact with the soft palate, thereby inducing that sharp, stabbing, bi-frontal headache.  It usually only last 30-60 seconds, and never more than five minutes.  And fortunately it’s self-limited.

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

Theory 1 – Trigeminal Nerve Factor

It long been known that when something cold contacts your palate, the sudden temperature change of the tissue stimulates nerves to cause rapid dilation of blood vessels in an effort to bring warm blood to the area.  This rapid dilation of the blood vessels triggers pain receptors, which release pain-causing prostaglandins, thereby increasing sensitivity to further pain. 

These signals are transmitted by the Trigeminal Nerve  – the Fifth (V) of our twelve cranial nerves.  Because the trigeminal nerve also senses facial pain, the brain interprets the pain signal as coming from the forehead – or what is called 'referred pain' since the cause of the pain is in a different location from where you feel it.

brain-freeze_trigeminal-nerve-anatomy_3

Theory 2 – Blood Flow Factor

Where food enters – and exits – our bodies are two of the most highly vascularized areas we have.  It’s why those are the two most common sites to take a temperature. 

Eating or drinking something very cold, especially when done rapidly, doesn’t allow the mouth enough time to absorb and acclimate to the cold very well.  This rapid change in temperature of the palate is where the internal carotid artery branches into the anterior cerebral artery.

brain-freeze_artery

Our brains are not fond of rapid change in their environment, and so as a self-defense mechanism, there is a rapid dilatation of the anterior cerebral artery to rush warm blood to the brain.  Given our brains are encased in a rather non-flexible skull, this extra blood flow causes an increase in Intracranial Pressure (ICP), which causes pain.

Surprising enough, the brain itself is not capable of feeling pain despite its billions of neurons.  But the meninges that cover the brain certainly can.  And it’s the stretching of the meninges from the increased ICP that causes the headache.

As the area warms up, the artery constricts, blood flow diminishes returning to normal, and the ICP drops back down again.  Headache gone!

This was rather eloquently demonstrated by Dr. Jorge Serrador, a cardiovascular electronics researcher at Harvard Medical School, who studied 13 volunteers.  They had their cerebral blood flow monitored in several brain arteries by a transcranial Doppler (a type of ultrasound).  They first sipped ice cold water through a straw aimed at their palate and were instructed to raise their hand when pain began. 

This was shown to correlate when the anterior cerebral artery dilated.

Then they raised their hand again when the pain went away.  And that correlated with the constriction of the anterior cerebral artery.

As a control they did the same thing while drinking room temperature water – and no changes were observed.

Dr. Jorge Serrador and his team presented these finding at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting, San Diego, and they’ve been widely accepted as the current “Gold Standard”.

Here's a video that sort of combines the two theories together:

TREATMENT

So what should you do if you are one of the one-in-three who gets Brain Freeze? 

brain-freeze_hair-ice

First and foremost (as always in medicine)  is prevention.  The surest way of that is avoidance – but who wants to give up the joy of ice cream, or Slurpees, or a dozen other frigid delights?

But it does help if you eat your cold item slowly – and try to avoid the palate.  So aim that straw away from the back of your mouth, and hold the food item in the front of your mouth to warm it up.

Intuitively drinking something warm, or even room temperature, will help alleviate that headache.  But since that’s not always available, sticking your tongue on the roof of your mouth is a good and socially acceptable remedy.

brain-freeze_graphic-03_tongue

It’s also recommended to stick your nice warm thumb on your palate – something that may NOT be as socially acceptable.

brain-freeze_graphic-05_thumb

You can also cup your hands over your mouth and catch the body-temperature expired air in an effort to warm up your palate.

brain-freeze_graphic-04_breathe

NUGGETS

The similarity of the mechanics of Ice Cream Headache and migraines are strikingly similar.  It’s hoped that further study will may lead to better management of migraines.

The term "brainfreeze" was registered as a trademark by 7-Eleven in 1994

Worldwide, the town that drinks the most Slurpees (7-Eleven's brand of slushies) is chilly Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada.

Maya Kaczorowski, a 13 year-old had her study, "Ice cream Evoked Headaches Study: Randomized Trial of Accelerated Versus Cautious Ice Cream Eating Regimen" published in the British Medical Journal and Scientific American

AND it appears that our feline friends can also get Ice Cream Headaches …

 

RESOURCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_headache

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/244458.php

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130522095335.htm

http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingsworkfaqs/f/how-brain-freeze-works.htm

http://www.kidzworld.com/article/4392-the-chilling-truth-about-brain-freeze

http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Brain-Freeze

http://mentalfloss.com/article/12293/why-do-people-get-ice-cream-headaches

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120422231742.htm

 

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Friday Fun – London Tube Station Revamped to Purr-mote Paws-itive Cat-titudes

 Posted by at 9:24 am  Politics
Sep 162016
 

Earlier this year a group called Glimpse dedicated to using the power of creativity to transform public spaces into oases designed to make people feel good, began a Kickstarter quest to fund their goal of replacing all the menacing, mercenary ads in a London tube (what we call a “subway”) station with claw-some pictures of pooties.

cats_london-subway_adland_01

Well, it didn’t look promising for quite some time.  Even though they had joined forces with Battersea, the UK Animal Rescue Center who offered up their shelter cats as models for the project, they were barely over halfway to their goal of raising £23,000 (about $30,500) with only a few days left. 

But fur-tunately they came up with the claw-some idea of forming Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (CATS) wherein each person pledged a minimum of £100 (about $132).  All totaled, more than 680 backers ended up pledging £23,131 (about $30,845) to transform a London tube station into a shrine with images of the Internet's favorite creature.  (Hell, let’s be honest here – cats are one of the main reasons the Internet was created.)

cats_london-subway_instagram_01

One of the 68 posters lining the walls features cats sent in by members of the public.  In fact, one of the pledgers even flew in from Virginia to view their beloved critter in the poster.

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

So on Monday morning commuters who usually start the work week feline depressed took an extra few mew-ments to enjoy all 68 pootie portraits lining the walls and escalators at the Clapham Common Tube Station that left them with paws-itive cat-titudes!

So paw-lease, have your tickets ready to pass through the Clapham Common tube’s gates and enjoy their mew-nificent creativity:

cats_london-subway_instagram_05

cats_london-subway_adland_02

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

cats_london-subway_instagram_00

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

cats_london-subway_instagram_04

On the serious side, Glimpse founder and #CatsNotAds leader James Turner said:

"We tried to imagine a world where public spaces made you feel good. We hope people will enjoy being in the station and maybe think a bit differently about the world around them.  Instead of asking you to buy something, we're asking you to think about what's really valuable in your life. It might not be cats, but it's probably something you can't find in the shops."

And Battersea's head of catteries, Lindsey Quinlan added:

"We're thrilled that Battersea cats are among the stars of these posters.  We care for over 3,000 rescue cats a year, so hopefully this campaign will encourage lots more people to visit our centers and consider rehoming our fantastic felines."

In the meantime, the #CatsNotAds team is not resting on their laurels.  They’ve already begun planning their next "takeover" project.  Entries can be submitted at CatsNotAds.org.  Take a guess what the current frontrunner is?

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service replaced 68 adverts in Clapham Common tube station with pictures of cats. Organisers say they hope the pictures will help people think differently about the world around them. Credit: CatsnotAds.org

The Tweet has a short, 34-second video tour of the station:

https://twitter.com/hannah_gelbart/status/775273912800247808/video/1

 

BONUS

Here’s map of the London Tube system – see if you can find the Clapham Common Tube Station:

cats_london-subway_tube-map

RESOURCES

http://weglimpse.co/catsnotads/

All the Ads in This London Subway Station Have Been Replaced by Pictures of Cats

This one also has a video – but you have to belong to Facebook (I don't) to embed it, but it's viewable to all

When Cats Take Over a London Subway Station #CatsNotAds

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Friday Fun – Six Degrees of Separation

 Posted by at 8:48 am  Politics
Sep 022016
 

Either through the 1993 drama film featuring Will Smith, Donald Sutherland, and Stockard Channing or the play, most of us are familiar with “Six Degrees of Separation”:

“Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away … from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized in an eponymous 1990 play written by John Guare.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation

But in all honesty, because this deals with DNA – and not acquaintances – I probably should have titled it “It’s a Small World After All”.  But then you’d have that annoying song as an earworm the rest of the day.

So how much DNA do we share with people from other countries and cultures?  And more importantly, how much would our views about foreigners be fundamentally changed if we knew more about our own genetic origins?

PP_DNA-Ancestors_03_DareWell, to a lot of people it came as an eye-opening surprise when the Danish travel search engine momondo produced a mini-documentary promotional film titled “The DNA Journey”.

While I found it impressive and compelling, I also thought it was also a little too slick.  Apparently I was not alone, and to their credit momondo subsequently did put out an FAQ that’s pretty transparent.  So let’s dig a little deeper into the nuts-and-bolts.

They set out by having 169,631 people enter their The DNA Journey competition with the hope of winning their very own DNA Journey.  [NOTE: the contest is closed]

Strangers discover their ancestry and the result is beautiful

Strangers discover their ancestry and the result is beautiful

Their purpose was to show that there are more things uniting us than dividing us in the hope of creating a more open and tolerant world. 

They employed two casting agencies to go through the 169,631 databases to select the final 67 participants who were then each filmed in a 10-minute interview, including the spitting saliva segment, by the casting agencies.

PP_DNA-Ancestors_05_KitBased on these filmed interviews, together with the participants’ personal stories, momondo then selected the 16 subjects for the shoot in Copenhagen.  They say the only criteria they used were their ancestry, their perception of themselves and the world, and if there was a surprise element in their DNA results.

While momondo says they knew nothing of their occupation or educational background, it does admit that they retroactively went back to look, since that was a common criticism.  They found that 10 of the 67 participants did, in fact, have an acting background.  

But momondo insists they were neither coached nor scripted on what to say or how to act – other than they were encouraged to show enthusiasm.  And they do admit they were paid, as they say is standard for any appearance in a promotional film.

They also admit the inserted “Two Weeks Later” title block was used only to facilitate the “story-telling”.  It was all filmed in Copenhagen between April 6-8, 2016, and all had provided their saliva samples at the original interview filming. 

But the revealing of the results of their DNA testing were all done de novo.  They all opened their envelopes only once – and the reactions were genuine and contemporaneous.  And yes, the story of the two participants being distant cousins is true.

PP_DNA-Ancestors_06_Face_4   PP_DNA-Ancestors_06_Face_5   PP_DNA-Ancestors_06_Face_1   PP_DNA-Ancestors_06_Face_2

The DNA tests were performed by AncestryDNA.  The test is available for anyone for $99.  In the test you learn about your DNA based on 26 regions worldwide, and AncestryDNA gives ethnicity estimates that map back to broad geographical regions.

PP_DNA-Ancestors_02_Results

To their credit, momondo did commission a study “The Value of Travelling” [PDF]conducted by Radius, an independent, Danish-based research group. 

The results of the 7,292 respondents, with at least 400 respondents from each of 18 countries [Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States] showed …

• 76 percent say that travelling has made them look more positively on

differences and diversity

• 65 percent believe that there would be less prejudice in the world if

people travelled more

• 61 percent believe that there would be less intolerance in the world if

people travelled more

• 53 percent believe that there would be more peace in the world if

people travelled more

So whatever degree of separation there is between all of us, it is, indeed, a small world after all. 

It's-a-Small-World-After-All

[Now good luck getting rid of THAT earworm … exit with nefarious chuckling]

 

RESOURCES

http://www.today.com/news/momondo-s-new-video-dna-journey-beautiful-argument-diversity-t97901

http://www.momondo.com/inspiration/momondo-the-dna-journey-how-it-was-made/#QxsFOijuqkbVt7Jp.97

http://dna.ancestry.com/

 

https://cdn1.momondo.net/i-3/content/documents/The%20Value%20of%20Travelling%20A%20global%20study_FINAL_NewFrontPage.pdf

 

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Friday Fun: Can One Solution Be As Simple As a Washing Machine?

 Posted by at 8:52 am  Politics
Aug 262016
 

Providing something as basic as dignity that comes with the ability to wear clean clothes was accomplished through something as mundane as a washing machine.

PP_Washer-Dryer_02

The Cascade

It’s an unfortunate fact that one in five children in America do not have clean clothes to put on for school in the morning.  Studies have documented that the even more unfortunate solution to that problem is that they simply skip school.  The unfortunate consequence of that is chronic absenteeism, which is directly related to a high dropout rate.

It’s absolutely staggering that MORE than 4,000 students drop out of school every day.  And when our kids drop out of school they then have a 40% higher rate of being unemployed and will have a 70% higher rate of going on government assistance.  And sadly, they are eight times more likely to end up in our prisons.

Identifying the Problem

It was Dr. Melody Gunn, a former principal at Gibson Elementary in St. Louis, who noticed that despite the fact that the school was providing all its students a free or reduced-priced lunch program along with transportation to and from school, attendance rates were plummeting.

Dr. Gunn took the time to talk with the parents of her students and learned that too often her students didn't have clean clothes to wear as result of the lack of reliable access to laundry.  Either they weren’t able to afford the cost of the laundromat or squeeze in the time to get there while holding down their jobs.  And while some families did have washing machines, too often their electricity had been shut off – or their families couldn’t afford detergent while dealing with the more urgent needs of food, medicines and rent.

The Solution

Dr. Gunn took it upon herself to approach Whirlpool and asked if they would donate a washer and dryer to her school.  Whirlpool got interested in the issue she detailed, decided to do its own research, and they were the ones who found that one in five students in the United States did not have clean clothes to wear to school.

So the good people at Whirlpool created the Whirlpool Care Counts Program and began by donating seventeen pairs of washers and dryers to low-income school districts in St. Louis and in Fairfield, California.  The participating schools then invited kids they had identified with attendance problems to bring in their laundry to be cleaned while they were in class.

PP_Washer-Dryer_01

The Impact

And the results were not only stunning, but they were immediate!  Dr. Gunn reported that, “After just one month, we saw an impact.”  And the long-term results of the program have been remarkable.  In just the first year they observed over 90 percent of tracked-students had increased their attendance, with those most in need of the service averaging an increase of almost 2 weeks.

Additionally, teachers surveyed reported that 95 percent of participants showed a higher degree of motivation in their classes combined with an increase in participation in extra-curricular activities.  

This data supports research documenting that chronic absenteeism isn’t because of kids’ lack of smarts or motivation, but is largely due to coming from a low-income household with all its attendant obstacles and drawbacks.

Wisely, Whirlpool leaves it up to each district to decide how to manage the laundry programs.  For St. Louis’ Gibson Elementary, Gunn says that parent volunteers managed and maintained the laundry program.

For this school year, Whirlpool has expanded the program to five new school districts across the country.  And Whirlpool says it will expand the program next year to at least 20 additional schools, including one in Baltimore and one in Nashville.  Not surprisingly, given the positive impact, over 300 schools have asked to be included in the program!

Sometimes a problem so pressing (no pun intended) can be solved by something so simple as clean clothes.

(And given TomCat’s repeated sharing of his absolute LOVE of this chore, I’m sure he’ll be looking to volunteer when the program comes to Portland.)

 

RESOURCES

You may well ask why am I putting the Fox Business link as the very first one on the list below.

Well, for two very good reasons.  First it was a solid piece of reporting that was well-written. 

Second, you really need to read the Comments!

If there was ever any doubt that Fox attracts a bunch of [bad word] idiots to watch their [very bad word]-up programs, the Comments by these Mother-[very bad word] [bad word] will remove all doubts. 

They can all go stick a [bad word] up their [very bad word] [bad word] as far as I’m concerned.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/08/02/whirlpool-tackles-laundry-epidemic-hitting-families.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/8/25/1563807/-St-Louis-school-sees-90-of-their-students-attendance-increase-because-of-washing-machines

http://www.alternet.org/education/whirlpool-care-counts-program-proves-one-small-incentive-can-keep-kids-school

http://bients.com/whirlpool-put-laundry-machines-schools-increased-attendance-90/

http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/chronicabsenteeism/index.html

https://carecounts.whirlpool.com/

 

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Friday Fun – Maybe NSFW? “The Emperor Has No Balls”

 Posted by at 5:42 am  Politics
Aug 192016
 

Who knew that the Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” – a parable about a ruler so full of himself that he believes he’s wearing the finest raiments of the realm when in fact he’s naked – would be the inspiration for “exposing” Donald Trump for the blathering blowhard he is … in clay … NUDE!

Trump_Naked-Statue_Safe_03

Five cities – New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Cleveland – were the lucky locations for the display of the life-sized statues of a naked Trump titled “The Emperor Has No Balls” – a performance art installation created by the artist Joshua Monroe.

Trump_Naked-Statue_Safe_04

Monroe was commissioned by self-described “American Activist Collective” INDECLINE because of his skills at creating monsters for Halloween Haunted Houses as well as in movies.  The irony of that fact doesn’t get much sweeter.

The artist, who goes by “Ginger”, said

“When the guys [INDECLINE] approached me, it was all because of my monster-making abilities.  Trump is just yet another monster, so it was absolutely in my wheelhouse to be able to create these monstrosities.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/18/anarchists-unveil-naked-donald-trump-statues-in-several-u-s-cities/

It took Monroe over 1,500 hours, working since April while also holding down a full-time job.  He says he was only getting “three hours of sleep a night.”

Monroe explains the two phases to create his statue: He first sculpted the original in 700 pounds of a specialty modeling clay using a six-foot-two “hired model with similar proportions” to Trump.  (We’ll let that one ride.)  Then once the prototype was completed, he made a giant silicone mold so that he could create identical replicas.

The project ended up requiring 300 pounds of Monster Makers Oil Clay, 400 pounds of Concrete and Rebar, 400 pounds of Walter E. Disney Clay (for the mold), 1 gallon of smooth cast 300 (liquid resin), and ten gallons of Foam It, costing around $6,000. 

While explaining that INDECLINE had very specific criteria set as to “what the statue would include – and what it would not,” he noted Trump’s “constipated scowl” was actually the hardest part to get right. 

Each statue including the base weighs 80 pounds, and was secured to the ground with an industrial-strength epoxy glue that dries in minutes at 8 AM ET yesterday.  INDECLINE reported that their so-called “Insult Teams” (they’ve done other projects) had no problems with the installations, explaining they all wore hardhats and neon-colored construction vests.  And although they were all installed on public property, they also knew they wouldn’t be up for very long.

The New York installation in Union Square was removed not long after its installation.  But at least the Parks Dept. provided a classic, cheeky explanation as to why:

“NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small.”

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/the-rise-and-fast-fall-of-naked-trump-in-union-square.html

Trump_Naked-Statue_Gone_01

Trump_Naked-Statue_Gone_02

… And sweeping up the remnants where the statue was glued down

Trump_Naked-Statue_Gone_04

Ginger says he did a great deal of online research to get the likeness correct, down to the lizard-like peach-colored skin, protruding belly and veins.  But shares that he’s a bit concerned with his computer browsing history, because how many people are Googling “saggy old man butt”.

Trump_Naked-Statue_Rear_01

So enough with the teasing – I know you all are wanting "The Full Monty" …

Trump_Naked-Statue_00

Oh, and INDECLINE says they may very well do a similar type of “Exposé” involving Hillary – so stay tuned for more “EWWWWWs” to come.

Trump_Naked-Statue_Plaque

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/18/anarchists-unveil-naked-donald-trump-statues-in-several-u-s-cities/

Naked Donald Trump Statues Populate American Cities

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/18/artist-behind-naked-trump-statues-says-he-d-love-to-make-a-hillary-statue.html

 

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Friday Fun – What’s Red, Yellow, Green, Brown & 75 Years Old?

 Posted by at 2:09 pm  Politics
Aug 122016
 

If you guessed M&M’s – you win!

This year the Mars Candy Company, maker of M&M’s, is celebrating its 75th Anniversary in a big way – with many different options available to “Celebrate With M”.  But let’s take a look at its history and some fun facts.

M&M_Promo-Logo_Celebrate-M

It’s a fairly well known fact that M&M’s began their existence as an exclusive military ration – yep, ration – for soldiers during World War II at the government’s request.  And that’s because, as their slogan goes, “They melt in your mouth – not in your hand!”  Although that slogan actually wasn’t introduced until 1954 – the same year they introduced Peanut M&M’s.  (Trivia Tidbit: Forrest Mars – M&M’s inventor – was allergic to peanuts, so he never got to taste one of his Peanut M&M’s.)

When the military contacted Mars about supplying the candy, they were originally packaged in cardboard tubes.  They were easier to ship, more durable to carry around and easier to pour and reclose out in the battlefield. 

M&M_Cardboard-Tube

The cardboard tubes gained a large and loyal following with the GIs, but Mars didn’t switch over to the familiar brown bag until 1948.  And in celebration of their 75th, some stores now carry 12 different types of the retro-packaging (but I haven’t seen it).

M&M_WWII-Ad

But how did they actually come into being?  It all started back in 1911 when Frank C. Mars made his first Mars confections in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen.  Then in the 1920s his son, Forrest E. Mars, Sr., joined his father in business.  But they had such a falling out that in 1932 Forrest moved to England to try going it alone.  On a visit to Spain during that country’s civil war, he observed soldiers eating chocolate candies encased in a hard, sugary shell. 

Forrest Mars was well aware that chocolate sales always drastically dropped in the heat of the summer months – for obvious reasons.  And in addition to observing the Spanish Civil War soldiers enjoying their coated chocolates, when he got back to England he noted the British candy maker Rowntree’s of York had come out with Smarties, a similar hard-shelled chocolate candies.  So borrowing both the inspiration and the actual product, Forrest Mars developed a manufacturing process for M&M's Chocolate Candies, moved back to the States, patented it, and in 1941 began making them in a factory in Newark, New Jersey.

So what does M&M actually stand for?  Well, “Mars” would certainly be one of the Ms.  And the other is for “Murrie”.

After Mars came up with his patent for M&M's, he approached Bruce Murrie who happened to be the son of Hershey’s Company president William Murrie, about a joint business venture.  Not only was Murrie good for the money, but he was also a strategic partner for Mars since Hershey’s had major control for the production of rationed chocolate during World War II.  And for the first few years M&M's were made using Hershey’s chocolate.  But Forrest Mars, as with his father, had another falling out, and so in 1949 Mars bought out Murrie for $1 million and took control of the company.

Later, Mars moved his main manufacturing to its current site in Hackettstown, NJ in 1958 – and the plant is HUGE!  It encompasses over 460,000 square feet and its 1,500 employees produce about half of all the M&M’s made in America.  Two other plants (Cleveland, TN and Topeka, KS) make the rest.

M&M_Factory-Hackettstown

The New Jersey factory – the company’s largest – produces 2 billion M&M’s every eight hours … or more than 4 million made every minute … or 69,000 every second.  And it takes about 8 hours to make just one!  Most of the time is spent tumbling in the shell-coating vat where they are constantly sprayed for 5-7 HOURS. 

While plain M&M’s are the #1 selling candy in the world, the peanut variety are #2 in the US, behind Reese’s Pieces, with Snickers (also a Mars product) #3 and plain M&M’s #4.  And M&M’s account for over $1 billion in sales of Mars’ $33 billion annual sales take.  (Mars does make a lot of other things besides candy.)

And M&M’s might not be second to Reese’s Pieces if they hadn’t blown their chance for cinema placement stardom.  While preparing to film his movie “E.T.”, Steven Spielberg first approached Mars to see if he could use M&M's in the scene where Elliott tries to lure the shy alien out from the forest with candy.  For whatever reason (and it’s not clear exactly why), Mars turned down the offer.  BIG MISTAKE!  So Spielberg then went to Hershey’s, who pounced on the opportunity.  But Spielberg had actually wanted to them use Hershey Kisses – but the Hershey’s insisted he use its new Reese’s Pieces candies. The result, as they say, is history.

M&M_Reese's-Pieces

But while Mars missed a major promotional opportunity with “E.T.”, they did recover a bit with “Candy the Cow” – an M&M cow made of 67,000 M&M's, all of which were painstakingly individually placed by hand.  “Candy the Cow” made her debut at the 1990 Erie County Fair, and even appeared on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.

M&M_Cow

The original M&M's colors were red, orange, yellow, green and violet.  But the now-iconic signature “M” wasn’t stamped on the candies until 1950 – nine years after its inception.  And originally it was in black rather than white – the change to white happened four years later, in 1954. 

Forrest Mars demanded that the “M” appear perfectly in the center of each candy, and would go around buying bags to ensure his demand was carried out.  His employees speculate that his split with Murrie just one year earlier is the reason why there is just one “M” on each piece.

Back in the early ‘70s, there was a Russian study that link the red food dye amaranth (popularly known as Red No. 2) to cancer in humans.  Before subsequent testing showed the results to be erroneous, the Food and Drug Administration “out of an abundance of caution” decided to ban its use in America in 1976.  And although red M&M's didn’t actually even use Red No. 2, the company pulled the color and replaced it with orange to avoid any confusion.  For an entire decade the favored red M&M stayed on the bench, until reintroduced in 1986.

In the mid ‘90s, Mars concluded that there was no need to have both a tan and brown M&M. so the tan ones were eliminated.  But to counter the disappointment, they decided to have a contest for its replacement with selection between pink, purple or blue where customers got to vote for the winner.  It was a huge promotional success, and blue won.

Many of us are familiar with Van Halen demanding that there be lots of M&M’s available at their concert venue – but NO BROWN ONES!  He’d check, and if he found a brown one, he’d cancel the concert.  But I wasn’t aware of this tidbit, and no one know how or why, but a rumor began circulating that the green ones had aphrodisiac properties.  Taking advantage of this apocryphal story, Mars launched a limited-edition run of all-green M&M’s for Valentine’s Day in 2008.

Interestingly, Google headquarters had a unique problem with M&M’s.  Google provides LOTS of perks to their employees, and one of them was an unlimited and ubiquitous supply of M&M’s.  And their employees were eating too many of them … costing them a fortune!  So in true to Google-mode, they brought a team of PhDs in to look into the problem, and they concluded that it was all a matter of easy access.  You could hardly travel anywhere in their offices without running into an attractively displayed bowl of M&M’s.  So they cut back on the opportunity for easy-snacking, put them in opaque bowls and started offering fruit as an alternative.  And amazingly enough 3.1 million fewer calories were consumed over a seven-week period among the New York office’s 2,000 employees!

It’s mind-boggling the variety of M&M products available.  According to the M&M’s website the list includes: Peanut Butter, Crispy, Pretzel, Dark Chocolate, Almond, Dark Mint, and Dark Chocolate Peanut varieties, as well as an M&M’s Chocolate Bar and M&M’s Mega, marketed as “The World’s Biggest M&M’s” with three times more chocolate than usual. There are also the M&M’s Minis, White Chocolate, Triple Chocolate, Coconut, Orange Chocolate, Raspberry, White Chocolate Candy Corn, Wildly Cherry, Mocha, Cinnamon Milk Chocolate, Razzberry Chocolate, Strawberried Peanut Butter, and Raspberry Almond varieties, among others. And just last August, M&M’s unveiled Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M’s for the fall season.

But if you didn’t think there were enough combinations and permutations already available, to help “Celebrate the M” for its 75th, they had another consumer contest this spring that closed June 17 to select a new flavor between Chili Nut, Honey Nut and Coffee Nut.  And Coffee Nut won.  (Has anyone tried any of these?)

M&M_Coffee-Nut

And as part of their “Celebrate With M” (and unlike Trump) Mars is honoring its origin as a military ration during World War II by actually donating $750,000 of products to Operation Gratitude that will be placed in military care packages throughout 2016.

So pop an M&M of your favorite variety and in one of its TWENTY-FIVE available colors, and “Celebrate With M”

RESOURCES

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/03/03/mms-75th-anniversary/81173224/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mms-turns-75-years-young-and-launches-year-long-celebration-for-fans-300230653.html

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/03/mms_turn_75_how_the_nj_candy_has_changed_over_the.html#0

http://mentalfloss.com/article/69163/15-melt-your-mouth-facts-about-mms

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/05/mms_mars_factory_hackettstown_nj.html

 

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