ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 11 of 91

V is for vanilla extract and imitation vanilla

Vanilla extract is the only flavoring deemed important enough for the federal government to officially define standards for

My daughter had taken some course in middle school that involved cooking. Yes, the class had BOTH boys and girls. One of the things the students could NOT bring to school was vanilla extract. But they COULD bring imitation vanilla.

Vacationing with my wife’s family this past summer, one of my in-laws wondered whether imitation vanilla contained alcohol. I surmised that it did not. If it did, why allow it and not permit vanilla extract in school?

But I had not looked it up util the next day, when I found an intriguing 2015 article called Why Don’t You Buy Vanilla Extract in a Liquor Store? The subtitle notes it is “the same proof as vodka or rum, yet we buy it at the supermarket. Here’s why.”

“You have to go back to the years just before Prohibition, when trade groups and manufacturers… realized that the only way to save their industries was to lobby politicians to write in legal loopholes that would allow them to continue operating.

“Vanilla extract doesn’t just rely on alcohol to extract the essential flavors and fragrances from the vanilla bean and suspend them in a stable solution—it’s also required by law to have an alcohol content of at least 35 percent. (Vanilla extract is also the only flavoring deemed important enough for the federal government to officially define standards for.)

“In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was made the law of the land, and the U.S. was, at least on paper, now an alcohol-free country. But the actual legal mechanisms for enforcing the amendment weren’t in place yet.

“Seeing their last chance to avert disaster, [the Flavor and Extracts Manufacturers Association] flooded congressmen with telegrams… By the time the Volstead Act went into effect the following year, it included a clause that made an exemption for flavor extracts—as long as they were deemed non-potable and a reasonable person wouldn’t want to drink them straight.”

The story has more fun facts, especially about money, but also concerning what a “reasonable person” means.

Imitation vanilla is made from synthetic vanillin, which is the compound that naturally occurs in vanilla beans and gives it that distinctive flavor.” It is cheaper and contains no alcohol.

Those are the rules in the United States. How does the rest of the world treat vanilla extract?

For ABC Wednesday

U is for United States Postal Service

The price of a first-class Forever stamp is going up from 50 cents to 55 cents on January 27, 2019.

For fun, I was reading the Fiscal Year 2018 Integrated Financial Plan for the United States Postal Service. Because of all sorts of reasons, the Postal Services is currently operating in the red.

One of those factors is the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, signed by President George W. Bush. “Up until 2006, the USPS funded [pension] obligations on a pay-as-you-go-basis… But the PAEA required the Postal Service to calculate all of its likely pension costs over the next 75 years, and then sock away enough money between 2007 and 2016 to cover most of them.”

In any case, the United States Postal Service announced changes for starting January 27, 2019. “The new prices will include a 5-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 50 cents to 55 cents. The single-piece additional ounce price will be reduced to 15 cents [from 21 cents], so a 2-ounce stamped letter, such as a typical wedding invitation, will cost less to mail, decreasing from 71 cents to 70 cents.”

One of the recent innovations of the USPS is Informed Delivery. “Digitally preview your mail and manage your packages scheduled to arrive soon! Informed Delivery allows you to view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-sized mailpieces and track packages in one convenient location.” I check it every day by email, except Sunday, and it works pretty well.

Arthur, that guy who was born in the US, but is now a New Zealand expat, notes that Kiwi postal delivery changed from six days a week to only three. A flyer he received read, “As New Zealanders do more online, they’re sending fewer letters and more emails. Today our Posties deliver half the number of letters they used to.”

He thinks the US will eventually follow that model. I’m not so sure. I get a lot of mail, still, especially before local elections.

For ABC Wednesday

T is for Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Some of his works, on subjects such as original sin and evolution, were banned by Rome as early as 1939.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ was a “Jesuit paleontologist who worked to understand evolution and faith…. [he] fully participated in a life that included priesthood, living and working in the front lines of war, field work exploring the early origins of the human race, and adventurous travels of discovery in the backlands of China.

“[He] also participated fully in an intellectual life through the development of his imaginative, mystical writings on the evolutionary nature of the world and the cosmos.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born 1 May 1881. “While both of his parental lineages were distinguished, it is noteworthy that his mother was the great grandniece of… Voltaire. He was the fourth of the couple’s eleven children and was born at the family estate of Sarcenat… in the ancient province of Auvergne.”

A biography notes: “Drawn to the natural world, Teilhard developed his unusual powers of observation.” He was deeply affected by the deaths of his brother Alberic in 1902, followed in 1904 by the death of Louise, his youngest sister, caused him to “momentarily to turn away from concern for things of this world.”

But he found his bearings, and developed a resume that is extraordinary. Among many things: he taught physics and chemistry in Cairo; served as a stretcher-bearer during World War I, for which he received several citations; and spent many years in China, taking part in the discovery of Peking Man. And writing throughout.

He died on 10 April 1955, Easter Sunday, in New York City and buried 60 miles north of there.

I found him interesting because, in 2017, participants at a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture unanimously approved a petition to be sent to Pope Francis to remove the Vatican’s ‘warning’ from Teilhard de Chardin’s writings that dated back to 1962.

Some of his works, on subjects such as original sin and evolution, were banned by Rome as early as 1939. Read a rebuttal to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin here.

Read Teilhard for Beginners.

For ABC Wednesday

S is for Sisyphus of Greek mythology

You have to listen to the words of Curtis Mayfield

As you may know, “In Greek mythology Sisyphus or Sisyphos was the king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He is being punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down when they near the top, repeating this action for eternity. Through the classical influence on modern culture, tasks that are both laborious and futile are therefore described as Sisyphean.”

So I was a bit tickled when my buddy Chris wrote: “I am a happy Sisyphus; my rock is a delight.”

She agreed, as I suspected, that she was paraphrasing Albert Camus, who wrote:

“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile.

“Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

Chris said that if Camus “can recognize the likely futility of life and be happy in Vichy France, I can be happy in the coziness of my college…” despite the inevitable frustrations. She added, “Camus, I’m guessing got it from King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, so all good ideas came from somewhere.”

Until I had come across that quote some time ago, I had never thought of Sisyphus as happy. So, I gather that there should be joy in taking on narrow-mindedness in the classroom when the students see only duality – right/wrong, black/white – because there is often nuance.

We should find joy in fighting poverty, saving the environment, promoting justice, seeking equality, et al., even when that rock rolls down the hill. You have to, in the words of Curtis Mayfield, Keep on pushing.

Zachary Kanin’s 2014 New Yorker illustration

For ABC Wednesday

Q is for Q score: familiarity, likability

It’s comparable to how the royals are covered in Britain, I imagine.

There is something called the Q score, which is a methodology used in the United States “to measure the familiarity and appeal of a brand, celebrity, character, company, licensed property or entertainment product, such as a television show.

“High Q Scores mean that a property, brand or person is more highly regarded among a group that is familiar with them, and a measure of likeability that can predict increased consumer preference and involvement.”

The information is sold and parsed by age, gender, income and other characteristics of the respondents, who generally are in the coveted 25-54 age range. But general trends leak out.

According to a Quora article: “Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman are tied for most popular with a positive Q Score rating of 48 according to the most recent polls. Denzel Washington, Steven Spielberg, and Betty White are tied for second most popular with a positive Q Score rating of 44.”

“The highest negative Q Score belongs to Kim Kardashian at 71. ‘But that’s not a bad thing for her… That’s how she markets herself.” [It is] actually a positive marker on the scale of success because it’s a “love to hate” scenario…”

This is undoubtedly true in that the tabloids spend an inordinate amount of space charting the relationship of Kim – married to Kayne West, the jackass who visited the White House recently – her sisters and extended family. It’s comparable to how the royals are covered in Britain, I imagine.

“This is not so for Justin Bieber, who has the second-highest negative Q Score rating at 63. Bieber’s negative rating… doesn’t stem from any kind of ironic ‘negative’ admiration: it just means most people dislike him.”

The Q score can change over time. “Maggie Smith had the most positive change… in the wake of Downton Abbey with a Q Score increase of 15.” Meanwhile, Bill Cosby lost 43 points when he was on trial on a rape charge, plus allegation “from nearly 50 women who have accused the comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting them.” And was before he was convicted.

This all about money, of course.

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