HOME |
RSS | 
There are so many companies that put a crown on the labels of beverages that mental_floss decided to make a quiz out of them! In today’s Lunchtime Quiz, you’ll be given a picture of a crown, and you try to match it with the drink it comes from. Simple? No. I scored horribly, but you might ace this one -you won’t know until you try it! Link
Do I detect a note of pestilence? Farmers in Virginia, Oregon, Washington and California are battling an invasion of the Asian brown marmorated stink bug, an invasive pest with no native enemies which has been decimating farmers’ fruit and vegetable crops; now, the stink bug has moved into the vineyards.
The bugs are a nuisance to farmers due to using their tongues to suck juice from fruits and vegetables. While this does not influence the flavor of the produce, it does leave visible damage that makes it less appealing to shoppers. Crops such as apples, peaches, blackberries, sweet and field corn, soybeans, tomatoes, lima beans and green peppers were all damaged last season.
This year, wineries have noticed the insects clinging to grapes that are being harvested for wine, according to usnews.com. If the stink bugs get crushed with the grapes, it only takes 10 of them crushed into one ton of grapes to affect the flavor of the wine. Workers who harvest the grapes have been removing the insects from the clumps by hand.
Scientists have been searching for a way to combat the stink bug problem. One area of research involves using the Asian wasp. The non-stinging wasps lay their eggs inside of the eggs of the stink bugs. The developing wasps then eat the developing stink bugs.
Tests are still being done to determine if the wasps would cause additional problems if they were introduced to areas of the U.S. The tests could take an additional two years to complete before the wasps would be approved for use in orchards, vineyards and gardens.
Every time the idea of controlling one pest species involves introducing another non-native species, I spend a few minutes thinking about the episode of The Simpsons in which Bart lets loose a frog in Australia. Let’s hope this wasp they’re thinking of introducing isn’t like that.
It seems every few years someone has topped this record again, but if you think hamburgers are an American specialty, then you’ll be happy to know the U.S. reclaimed the title from the Canadians recently. The burger is 777 pounds and contains 590 pounds of beef. Obesity epidemic, eat your heart out…wait.
You can find a Tumblr picture blog for almost any subject under the sun. Starbucks Spelling is dedicated to the custom of baristas writing a customer’s name on a cup, for which they sometimes get the spelling wrong. What makes this worth a look is 1. there are so many misspellings, and 2. how can anyone keep track of all the venti and grande lattes and espressos and then spell Joe G-I-O? Shown here are four different orders Omar recorded. Link -via Gorilla Mask
I know the Fourth of July is pretty much over by now, but summer sure leaves us with plenty of time for grilling and while many of us are ok with the classic dome-grills, these 15 awesome grills on WebUrbanist are certainly a lot more stylish. I’m a particularly big fan of this wall-mounted grill.
The annual July 4th hot dog eating contest was held today in front of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs in Coney Island. And once again, American Joey Chestnut defeated all the others by scarfing down 62 hot dogs.
It wasn’t a personal best for the 27-year-old nicknamed Jaws, but it was enough to out-eat second-place finisher Patrick Bertoletti by nine wieners. Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., won $10,000 and the coveted mustard-yellow belt.
“I feel great!” he said after the contest, adding that he was going to drink a lot of water and avoid hot dogs for a few days.
In a separate division for women, Sonya Thomas ate 40 hot dogs to claim the pink belt championship. Chestnut’s longtime rival, Takeru Kobayashi, did not participate because he refused to sign a contract with the eating league. Link -via J-Walk Blog
If you’re planning a trip based solely on geek culture soon, Oddee’s list of 10 geek bars and restaurants should be a great resource for dining and drinking options. My favorite is The Hajime Restaurant in Bangkok, where robots serve as waiters and entertainers.
If you prefer your sustenance in the spray-foam variety, you’re in luck: Tango orange soda will be available in an aerosol spray can. No more dying of thirst while you put away the Reddi-wip in vain, thanks to Britvic. The Inbetweeners movie tie-in is called Turbo Tango, and it’ll be on sale in the UK this summer for £1.60 ($2.57) for 375ml. (Dignity sold separately.)
Link | Image: Britvic
1. LET THEM EAT LOBSTER!
In colonial America, lobster wasn’t the delicacy it is today. In fact, it was so cheap and plentiful, it was a staple for prisoners and servants. One group of servants from Massachusetts actually grew so tired of eating lobster that they took the employers to court, where a judge ruled that lobster was to be served to them no more than three times a week.
2. JUDGE THEM NOT BY THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN
(Image credit: Flickr user Alex)
In their ocean habitat, lobsters are brown. (They turn red when you cook them.) However, there are a few notable exceptions. About one in every four million lobsters is born with a genetic defect that turns it blue. Sadly, these prized critters rarely survive to adulthood. After all, a bright blue crustacean crawling around on the ocean floor is simply easier for predators to spot. Yellow lobsters are even more uncommon, making up only one in 30 million. But if you end up with a yellow or blue one on your plate, don’t worry; lobsters of all hues are equally delicious.
3. A CENTURY OF MEAT
Most lobsters weight between 1.5 and 2 lbs., but one lumbering beast caught off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1977 measured 3.5 feet from claw to tail and weighed 44 lbs. How does a lobster put on that sort of weight? He was 100 years old.
4. SHOWING TOO MUCH LEG
Speaking of red lobsters: In 2003 the seafood chain Red Lobster ran a promotion offering customer $20 all-you-can-eat snow crab legs. The gimmick was both incredibly successful and a mistake. Hungry seafood lovers flocked to the restaurants, where most of them plowed through a lot more crab than the company anticipated. Even when Red Lobster raised the price to $24 per person, it still lost money on the deal.
5. EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEAFOOD, BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
In 2010, Red Lobster restaurants across America began equipping their wait staff with computer-based “seafood expert encyclopedias.” The technology allows waiters to look up the answer to any seafood-related question posed to them. So ask away.
6. THE SILENT TREATMENT
In Disney’s 1940 animated film Pinocchio, Mel Blanc played the character of Gideon the cat, one of the scoundrels who introduces Pinocchio to the world of vice. Blanc, who famously voiced Bugs Bunny, recorded an entire movie’s worth of dialogue for Gideon. But during post-production, Disney decided the character would be cuter if he was mute. All of Blanc’s lines were cut, except for three burps, which you can hear during the brief scene at the Red Lobster Inn.
7. A PARENT’S JOB IS NEVER DONE
Red Lobster and Olive Garden are both owned by Darden Restaurants, a parent company that’s pretty overprotective. In 2010, Darden filed suit against a San Diego T.G.I. Friday’s for running a “never ending shrimp” promotion. Darden argued that the campaign combined Olive Garden’s “never ending pasta bowl” with Red Lobster’s “endless shrimp” in a way that “willfully attempted to confuse and mislead customers.” The case is still tied up in court, where lawyers are dealing with “never ending paperwork.”
8. OUT OF THE POT AND INTO THE FIRE
(Image credit: Crustastun)
In October 2010, British inventor Simon Buckhaven introduced the world to a lethal device known as the crustastun. It might look like a harmless computer scanner, but it’s designed to zap a lobster with an electric shock, killing it in less than two seconds. Animal-rights groups have praised the invention as a more humane method of killing lobsters -at least more humane than boiling them alive.
9. IMAGINE ALL THE LOBSTERS
In 1979, The B-52s song “Rock Lobster” became the band’s first to hit the Billboard Top 100. At the time, former Beatle John Lennon had been away from music for about three years, but after hearing “Rock Lobster,” he was inspired top start writing music again. Lennon said the song moved him because it “sounds just like Yoko’s music.” It’s unclear whether or not that was a compliment.
_______________________
The article above, written by Adam K. Raymond, is reprinted with permission from the May-June 2011 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!
Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!
Comments Off
There’s a lot of green activity happening in this Coca-Cola billboard in the Philippines. The cola giant partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature to create a 60×60 ft. billboard made of 3,600 Fukien tea plants, a breed excellent at absorbing air pollutants. The pots the tea plants sit in are made of recycled Coca-Cola bottles, the potting mix within is made of industrial by-products and organic fertilizers, and a drip irrigation system was installed to properly hydrate the plants.
I guess I can feel a little bit better about my caffeine habit now.
We’ve seen an xkcd wedding cake before, but this one is marvelously designed with the Golden Ratio in mind. redditor IronRectangle writes:
Each of the layers (which is scaled according to the golden ratio, just to add geek street cred) is a different flavor of cake: vanilla, chocolate and marbled. White yummy vanilla icing tops it all off.
-via reddit
Judith G. Klausner has an ongoing project called From Scratch in which she carves classic cameos out of Oreo cookies! She also uses cereal, toast, and other foods as a launching point for art projects, which you can see at her site. Link -via Boing Boing
Comments Off 
What’s in store for you at your local or state fair this year? You’ll get a preview as Jill Harness takes us on a virtual trip to the San Diego Fair. She found out what deep-fried delicacies will be offered this year, and took pictures of strange displays. Don’t miss the chocolate-covered corn dog! Link
Sophie H. Powell and Bonnie Moriarty made this life-sized piglet out of bacon and sausage in order to:
[...] illustrate how pigs are born into this world entirely to be eaten. Even when free range they are trapped by their original purpose.
Link -via @itscolossal
If you don’t gobble this deal fast, you’re a birdbrain! Found at Criggo, where you can find lots more newspaper gems.
Comments Off 
Cakehead Loves was commissioned to provide a “disturbing edible experience” based on a scene from the Silent Hill video game for an Alice Cooper freak show audition. Among the gruesome treats to be offered at the event tomorrow is this Silent Hill Nurse Cake by Mamma Jamma Cakes. It was made from six stacked chocolate cake layers and is completely edible. See more pictures at Cakehead Loves Evil (NSFW text). Link
(Image credit: Mamma Jamma Cakes)
No! Don’t give George Lucas any ideas!
Actually, though, this would be an improvement over the prequels. So, yeah: go with a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic crossover.
You can view other wonderful Vader birthday cakes at the link. Link -via Geekosystem
According to a trade organization for the pizza industry, America gets about 100 acres of this food on a typical day:
For those of you yet to take lunch, we think it’s the perfect time for a hunger-inducing stat of the day. The Daily tells us, in a profile of healthy pizza purveyor Naked Pizza, that the United States pizza industry “serves about 100 acres of pizza a day.” This figure comes from the National Association of Pizza Operators, an organization that aims “to create and foster a community of independent and small chain pizzeria operators and their industry suppliers where doing business with one another is mutually beneficial.”
If this includes Chicago-style pizza, then the measurement really should be in cubic feet. Link -via First Things | Photo by Flickr user roolrool used under Creative Commons license
Nothing like a cold blueberry Darth Vader pop or a strawberries and cream Marilyn Monroe-sicle to quench your thirst on a hot summer day, is there? Created by a Russian company called Stoyn, these treats also come in Mario (tequila sunrise), a graffiti can (bubble gum), Donald Duck (banana chocolate), Mickey Mouse (mango) and poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (cranberry vodka).
Link via Laughing Squid
I consider myself an expert on drinking coffee, but even I didn’t know why a coffee tree produces caffeine! Excuse me, I need to go pour another cup. Link -via the Presurfer
The art collective Stoyn made molded ice cream treats of pop culture figures, including Marilyn Monroe and Donald Duck. It’s unclear whether Mario, who is available in tequila sunrise flavor, is actually alcoholic. Link (Google Translate) -via Fubiz (Google Translate)
Comments Off 
This is some great viral marketing for the new Transformers movie, but it’s still really cool. The team from “Cake Boss” created a replica of the Bumblebee – Camaro Transformer out of cake. After all that work I can’t imagine anyone actually eating it; plus it might fight back. See full clip at the link.
Arguably, there’s no such thing as too much sugar. Or at least that would be an assumption behind this delicious concoction by foodblogger Sugar Swings. Have a look at some of the inventive food crafts that she’s made with Peeps. Link -via Distracted by Star Wars
Comments Off 
I always have trouble pouring a beer without getting a large foamy head. So for you beer lovers out there who have this problem there is a new high tech beverage dispenser that will help you pour a clean glass every time.
At first, the core idea of this unique beverage dispenser might seem crazy: You use cups that have a hole in the bottom. But around the hole is a metallic ring on the cup. A round, bendable magnet – exactly like a refrigerator magnet and about the size of a silver dollar (which they claim is too big to accidentally swallow) – covers the hole. You place the cup over one of the valves, which pushes the magnet up. That causes beer to shoot up into cup until it’s filled, and the valve automatically shuts off. When you pull the cup off, the magnet seals the hole with no leakage.
Beth Jackson Klosterboer of Hungry Happenings made these adorable cookies that look like fuzzy slippers. The soles are made out of Nutter Butter cookies with fudge on top molded into the uppers. The fuzz consists of pink-tinted chocolate shavings.
Comments Off 
Once you’ve tried every kind of food imaginable deep-fried or on a stick, what’s new for the county and state fairs this year? Deep-Fried Kool-Aid, of course! Creator “Chicken” Charlie Boghosian isn’t sharing the exact recipe, but it involves flour and Kool-Aid powder. And a deep-fryer. And possibly sugar.
Chicken Charlie’s is a staple of fried rations at fairs across the country. It sold 400 to 600 orders of deep-fried Kool-Aid per day the first weekend of the San Diego County Fair. That’s about double the rate of previous debut items, Boghosian said.
“That’s because it tastes so darn good,” Boghosian said of the Kool-Aid.
The San Diego County Fair runs through July 4th. Link -via Fark
(Image credit: Jonathan Horn)
It doesn’t look that way.
This image shows the biomass of popularly-eaten fish in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1900 and in 2000. Popularly eaten fish include: bluefin tuna, cod, haddock, hake, halibut, herring, mackerel, pollock, salmon, sea trout, striped bass, sturgeon, turbot. Many of which are now vulnerable or endangered.
The Guardian tells how this information was gathered. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
Have you ever aspired to be a fortune cookie writer? Most of us who ever received a lame fortune have contemplated it for a short time. However, there aren’t many of these positions available. Donald Lau is the vice-president of Wonton Food, Inc. in Queens, New York. In addition to his financial work, he has written many cookie fortunes.
At first, the writing came easily. Finding inspiration in sources ranging from the I Ching to the Post, Lau cranked out three or four maxims a day, between scrutinizing spreadsheets and monitoring the company’s inventory of chow mein. “I’d be on the subway and look up at the signs and think, Hey, that would make a great fortune,” he said. (One such adage: “Beware of odors from unfamiliar sources.”) “I’d keep a small notebook and jot down whatever came to me. I don’t think I ever sat in front of the computer and said, ‘I am going to write ten fortunes right now.’ It has to come naturally.”
And yes, Lau sometimes must deal with writer’s block. Read more about this strange job at the New Yorker. Link -via J-Walk Blog
(Image generated by Jelly Muffin)
Unlike most of you, I did not grow up in a household that believed in the Hot Dog Fairy. So the tradition of placing a piece of hot dog in the dirty laundry on a new moon was not a part of my childhood. But do I plan to share the innocent joy of the Hot Dog Fairy story with my own daughters, and the instructions of food artist Anna the Red will certainly help. Link -via Craft
Previously: The Marvelous Bento Boxes of Anna the Red
I’m a candy fiend, but I don’t think even I could tackle these massive sweets. Alas, they’re not really edible – each of the four pieces created by student Nicola Freeman are made of plaster and/or resin. She finds inspiration in artists like Jeff Koons and Claes Oldenburg and wanted her work to make viewers think about mass consumerism.
“For me, it’s more about the attraction from the perspective of the viewer – Everyone seems to be able to relate to these pieces, and find that they’re bringing back their childhood memories. The sweets I’ve chosen have been around for quite a long while. I remember these from my childhood,” she told Craftzine blogger Andrew Lewis.
Link via Laughing Squid
