Month: April 2007

The Atari VCS’s Best Pitch

The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in.

Peter Edward “Pete” Rose, Sr. (born April 14, 1941, in Cincinnati, Ohio), nicknamed Charlie Hustle, is a former player and manager in Major League Baseball. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, best known for his many years with the Cincinnati Reds. Rose, a switch hitter, is the all-time major-league leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at bats (14,053), and outs (10328).

Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show (a role which earned him five Emmy Awards), and as landlord Ralph Furley on the television sitcom Three’s Company.

Arby’s New Pac-Man Glass

Arby’s is currently franchised by Triarc, who also franchises T.J. Cinnamons and Pasta Connection and once owned Royal Crown Cola (better known as R.C. Cola), which Arby’s sold until the mid-1990’s.

[Pac-Man] was developed primarily by Namco employee Toru Iwatani over eighteen months. The original title was pronounced pakku-man (パックマン, pakku-man) and was inspired by the Japanese onomatopoeic phrase paku-paku taberu (パクパク食べる, paku-paku taberu), where paku-paku describes (the sound of) the mouth movement when widely opened and then closed in succession. Although it is often cited that the characteristic shape was inspired by a pizza missing a slice, he admitted in a 1986 interview that it was a half-truth and the character design also came from simplifying and rounding out the Japanese character for mouth, kuchi (口) as well as the basic concept of eating.

Whistling for Kool-Aid

Edwin Elijah Perkins (January 8, 1889 – July 3, 1961), born in Lewis, Iowa, United States, invented the powdered drink mix Kool-Aid in 1927 in Hastings, Nebraska, after his family had moved to Hendley, Nebraska from Iowa in 1893. By 1927 he had developed a powdered soft drink mix called Kool-Ade, which he packaged in envelopes and sold in grocery stores, promising 10 glasses of beverage for 10 cents.

Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food.

Kool-aid dies protein (animal) fibers such as wool, silk, and fur (hair). It is popular with knitters for dyeing wool yarn. As it’s food-safe, it doesn’t require special utensils reserved for this purpose as other dyes do. Tamarindo (brown), Switchin’ Secret (light green/tan), and Grape (purple) are popular flavors, because they can be used to tone down the otherwise day-glo colors. A typical formula is one packet of Kool-aid per ounce of fiber, combined with 1/2 cup of water and optionally, a tablespoon of vinegar. Heat is used to set the color, usually by steaming or boiling.

The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz, is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and Heinz co-headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Billy Dee Williams talks about Colt 45

Colt 45 is a brand of beer (or malt liquor) introduced by National Bohemian and currently brewed by Pabst Brewing Company and G. Heileman Brewing Company in Texas. The alcohol by volume is not listed on the container but is reported in the 5.6% to 6.1% range. In Canada, it is listed at 8%.

According to a study by Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in California, malt liquor is the alcohol of choice of the homeless and unemployed.

Billy Dee Williams (born William December Williams Jr. on April 6, 1937 in New York City) is an American actor who for a period in the 1970s rivaled Sidney Poitier as the most popular African-American actor in American film. Williams graduated from Manhattan’s School of Performing Arts.

Where’s The Beef?

After successful early growth of the [Wendy’s] chain, sales flattened as the company struggled to achieve brand differentiation in the highly competitive fast-food market. This situation would turn around in the mid-1980s. Starting on January 9, 1984, elderly actress Clara Peller was featured in the successful “Where’s the Beef?” North American commercial campaign for Wendy’s. Her famous line quickly entered the American pop culture (it was even used by Walter Mondale in a debate with Gary Hart in the Democratic primary election) and served to promote Wendy’s hamburgers. Peller, age 84, was dropped from the campaign in 1985 because she performed in a commercial for Prego spaghetti sauce, saying she “finally found” the beef. Peller was soon after replaced by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas himself.

Pepsi Steps on Coke

According to Consumer Reports, in the 1970s, the rivalry [between Pepsi and Coca-Cola] continued to heat up the market. Pepsi conducted blind taste tests in stores, in what was called the “Pepsi Challenge”. These tests suggested that more consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi (which is believed to have more lemon oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin rather than vanilla) to Coke. The sales of Pepsi started to climb, and Pepsi kicked off the “Challenge” across the [United States].

A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards.