Old Guys Rule: July 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Top 20 Things We No Longer Say

20. "Let's spend a relaxing, low-key weekend at the Jersey shore."

19. "It's a GREAT investment —- real estate always goes up!"

18. "I'm all giddy in anticipation for the Sears Christmas Catalog!"

17. "Would somebody please answer the damn phone?

16. "Mission accomplished!"

15. "I can't wait for that new M. Night Shyamalan movie."

14. "How come we've never seen any pictures of your cousin's stepsister's friend's baby?"

13. "Oh, boy! TV dinners tonight!"

12. "Famous people are boring —- why don't they do a show about talentless losers like me?"

11. "No dessert for me."

10. "It took me three days, but I might have just made the most rad mix tape EVER!"

9. "Man, that Kathleen Turner is SMOKING hot!"

8. "You can't go wrong with a Patriots tight end on your fantasy team."

7. "I wonder what that actress looks like naked."

6. "Work just paged me. Where's the nearest pay phone?"

5. "A vampire movie? Nah, girls hate that stuff. Take her to a chick flick."

4. "Man, I wish there were some way the entire world could see how incredibly *fabulous* I look in my underwear in this bathroom mirror reflection!"

3. "Congress isn't that stupid."

2. "How many am I allowed? Three? Okay, in that case, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, and OJ Simpson."

And the Number One Thing We No Longer Say...

1. "Could you imagine if *Grandma* hadd a huge dragon tattoo on her back?"

(Thanks, Chris!)

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Morning Pic Dump

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Birthdays on July 30th

1912 - Milton Friedman
1965 - J. K. Rowling
1967 - Elizabeth Wurtzel
1958 - Mark Cuban
1965 - Scott Brooks

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Todays pic dump

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Blast from the past

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Afternoon Funnies

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This day in History

Lead Story: Jimmy Hoffa disappears, 1975
American Revolution: Marquis de Lafayette becomes a major-general without pay, 1777
Automotive: "First Lady" of NASCAR Louise Smith born, 1916
Civil War: Union General George Thomas is born in Virginia, 1816
Cold War: Senator Robert A. Taft dies, 1953
Crime: Jimmy Hoffa vanishes, 1975
Disaster: Hurricane sinks Spanish treasure ships, 1715
General Interest: Ignatius of Loyola dies, 1556; Fugitive Vichy leader surrenders in Austria, 1945; Ranger 7 photographs moon, 1964
Hollywood: J.K. Rowling born, 1965
Literary: Daniel Defoe is put in the pillory, 1703
Music: Ahmet Ertegun is born in Istanbul, Turkey, 1923
Old West: Apache scout Martine dies, 1937
Presidential: Former President Andrew Johnson dies, 1875
Sports: Nolan Ryan wins 300th game, 1990
Vietnam War: Agreement on conduct of war, 1964; Hanoi claims that U.S. bombers have struck dikes, 1972
World War I: Third Battle of Ypres begins in Flanders, 1917
World War II: Goering orders Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution, 1941; **************************************************

Monday, July 29, 2013

Tricks For Eating Less

Author: Bonnie Liebman

Here are some of the provocative findings about portion control from the research of Cornell University’s Brian Wansink:

•    Big servings. People who were given a big bucket of (stale) popcorn ate 34 percent more than people who got a smaller bucket.

•    Fancy names. Cafeteria sales jumped by 27 percent when foods were given descriptive names like “Succulent Italian Seafood Filet” (instead of “Seafood Filet”) or “Belgian Black Forest Cake” (instead of “Chocolate Cake”).

•    More variety, more calories. People ate about 40 percent more if they had a choice of candy that came in six different colors than if the candy came in four colors.

•    Plateware matters. When people were served a brownie on a Wedgwood china plate, they rated its taste higher than when the brownie was served on a paper plate or napkin.

•    Food on the table. Men ate about 29 percent more—and women about 10 percent more—if the serving dish was left on the table (rather than the counter).

•    Who sets the pace? People ate more when they sat at a table with someone who ate quickly than with someone who ate slowly.

•    How much did I eat? People ate fewer chicken wings if they could see the bones of the wings they’d already eaten than if the bones were whisked away.

•    Healthy restaurant? People who believed that Subway meals were healthy underestimated the calories in Subway meals more than they underestimated the calories in McDonald’s meals.

•    Health halo. If a bag of M&M’s or trail mix was labeled “low-fat,” people ate more than if the label didn’t say “low-fat.”

•    Exercise rewards. People ate more at dinner—and especially more dessert—after they went on a “scenic walk” than after they went on an (identical) “exercise” walk.

•    Cover up. Covering the clear window of an ice cream freezer with butcher paper led people to take 30 percent less ice cream from it.

Brian Wansink is the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing in the Applied Economics and Management Department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he directs the Food and Brand Lab. He was the executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion from 2007 to 2009, and is the author of Mindless Eating–Why We Eat More Than We Think (Bantam-Dell, 2006) and the forthcoming Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life (William-Morrow, 2013).

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Morning Pic dump