Posts tagged ‘cup’
Party Cup Ridges are Measurement Markings
By Chad Upton | Editor
Now that college is back in session, it’s time to learn something really useful. Party cups aren’t just for playing beer pong and flippy cups; some people use them exclusively for serving drinks. They’re great for cash bars and beer pong for the same reason: the ridges can be used to measure servings.
Starting at the top, the lines are as follows:
- First Line: 16 oz / Pint (beer)
- Second Line: 14 ounces (mixed drink fill line)
- Third Line: 5 ounces (wine / ice fill line for soda / beer pong fill line)
- Fourth Line: 1 ounce (liquor)
Most of these measurements are pretty common serving sizes for various types of alcohol. For example, 1 oz of 100 proof liquor has about the same alcohol as 5 oz of wine and each are considered “1 drink”. For beer, 10 – 12 ounces is considered 1 drink, but a pint is a typical serving size no less. (more…)
Stainless Steel Appliances are Not Magnetic
By Kaye Nemec
Stainless steel appliances look great and are very popular. However, you may upgrade without realizing that your magnet will no longer stick to the front of these appliances.
Stainless steel is a general name for a steel alloy that gets mixed with other metals. Because of the various mixtures, some stainless steel products have magnetic properties and some do not. The metal used for stainless steel appliances typically has a higher level of chromium added to it because chromium gives the steel its durable, stain-resistant properties. Chromium is not the only additive that reduces the alloys magnetic property, the nickel that is added to the steel destroys the metal’s natural magnetic properties.
Nickel is typically added to the stainless steel mixture in order to help enhance the qualities of the chromium and to make the stainless steel even more durable. But, the nickel prevents your appliances from holding your magnets.
Like everything else, there are exceptions to the rule. There are a few appliances that have a thin sheet of stainless over a magnetic metal, allowing these appliances to hold magnets. There are also appliances that simply give the allusion of being stainless steel but are actually made of titanium or painted silver metallic. These faux stainless appliances are still magnetic. If you’re in the market for new appliances, take some magnets shopping with you and test out your future purchase.
Here are some ways you can stick things to your non-magnetic appliances:
- If the sides of your stainless steel fridge are exposed try hanging your magnets there. Most appliances are magnetic on the sides even if they’re not on the front.
- Use suction cups, putty and other replacements.
- Hang a magnetic whiteboard.
- Order a Choopa Board suction mounted magnetic stainless panel for your appliance.
Magnetic paint is another option. You could paint a small section of a wall where it’s most useful, even in kids rooms. Magnetic paint is available at many hardware stores.
Broken Secrets
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Sources: Physlink.com, WiseGeek.com , Domestikgoddess.com, ehow.com
There are Three Stanley Cups
Congratulations to the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks for winning their first cup since 1961 last night.
For those who don’t know, the Stanley Cup is the National Hockey League’s playoff trophy. 30 franchised teams from Canada and the United States compete from October to June for the honor of having the players, coaches, managers and staff names engraved in the cup.
There are six historic bands (“rings”) at the top of the cup where names were engraved between 1893 and 1927. Then there are five main bands on the body of the cup where more recent names have been engraved. The historic bands never change, but the oldest of the five main bands is retired when a new ring is added to make room for new names.
The retired rings are displayed in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto Canada and the cup itself is always accompanied by a minimum of one Hockey Hall of Fame representative.
After winning the Stanley Cup, the team captain will be presented with the cup. It is a tradition for the players to skate a lap around the rink with the cup held above their head. This tradition was started by Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings in 1950. He did it to give the fans a better look at the trophy.
After the winning game, there is usually a home-town parade. Each winning player is also allowed to spend an entire day with the cup. Players have baptized their children with the cup, swam in their pool with the cup and even fed their dogs from the cup.
Rings removed (retired) from Stanley Cup
There are three Stanley Cups in total. The original “cup” resembles a large bowl and is mounted to a wooden stand. It no longer has bands at the bottom and was retired after its first 71 years of service — it remains on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Then there are two nearly identical cups. One is the official cup and bears the official seal on the bottom, the other is a replica and remains on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame when the official cup (“Authenticated Cup”) is elsewhere.
The easiest way to spot the real cup is to look at the 1984 Edmonton Oilers engraving. Basil Pocklington’s name has been crossed out with X’s. He is the father of Peter Pocklington, the Oiler’s owner at the time and his name was added in error. The NHL claims Peter added his father’s name to the engraving list and they failed to validate that list. Peter claims it was the engraver’s error and the list with his father’s name on it was a list of people who should receive miniature replicas.
The full size replica cup does not contain Basil’s name at all.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Sources: Wikipedia (Stanley Cup, Peter Pocklington, NHL)
Photos: Colby Cosh (cc), Vidiot (cc)
Why is Coffee Called Java?
I love coffee.
I started drinking it in college, like most people, for the caffeine boost. Over time, I got really attached to the flavor. I went through a coffee obsession phase, trying coffee from different parts of the world with different tastes and different roasting techniques.
I’m not a coffee connoisseur, but there really are coffee connoisseurs out there. Premium coffee retailers and distributors have tasting rooms where they constantly inspect and taste coffee.
They sip it, swirl it around in their mouth and then spit it out. It must meet their strict approval to make it to the stores. If you think I’m exaggerating, click here to get a taste on the Starbucks blog. They even talk about coffee that is aged 3 to 5 years before being roasted.
Aging coffee probably reminds you of something else, wine. It turns out the coffee industry is a lot like the wine industry. Experts taste coffee the way connoisseurs taste and rate wine. They also share a similar vocabulary for describing flavor notes, hints of: caramel, chocolate, nuts…etc. Wine is classified by it’s region and grape (species). Coffee is also classified by region and species.
Historians believe that coffee plants were first cultivated in Ethiopia, around the year 850. In the next 50 years, coffee seeds were taken to the Arab world. The Arabians saw a future in coffee trade and guarded the seeds closely, but a few seeds were smuggled to the Dutch. Early in the 17th century, seeds made their way to Indonesia, being planted in Sumatra, Bali and the island of Java.
Java is one of the earliest coffee plantations and still an exporter of coffee today. Calling coffee, “java” is similar to referring to wine by it’s region, such as “I’ll have a glass of Champagne.”
On a related note, check out another coffee related secret: How to Properly Pour a Cup of Coffee.
Written By: Chad Upton
BrokenSecrets.com [Available on Kindle]
Sources: Coffee, Java Coffee, Indonesian Coffee, Coffee Bean, Champagne
How to Prevent a GPS From Falling Off the Windshield
You’re driving along, minding your own business, when your GPS unit suddenly annuls its marriage to the windshield. It crashes into the dashboard, slides into the door, high-fives your passenger and bounces on the floor. Your GPS is not broken; but, it will be the next time it startles, then attacks your passenger again.
In the winter, it’s especially tempting for the suction cups on your GPS or radar detector to take your electronics skydiving. The suction cup relies on a vacuum tight seal to maintain its grip on the windshield. Cold weather, or direct flow of air conditioning, can degrade that seal enough that it can’t support the weight of the device.
The secret to getting a good seal: warm the windshield and suction cup(s) before getting them back together. You can warm the suction cup(s) with your hand or treat them like takeout food and warm them with your seat heaters. Using the defogger, blow hot air on the windshield for at least 10 minutes, then pull over in a safe place and apply the warm suction cup(s).
The idea is to create as much suction as possible inside the suction cups. Before you push it against the window, be sure the suction lever is all the way back, then push the suction mount HARD against the windshield, then push the suction lever forward. Because the windshield and suction cups are warm, you’ll get a better seal that should maintain enough suction to support your GPS unit or radar detector.
If you still don’t have any luck, try cleaning your windscreen and suction cups with glass cleaner wipes and repeat the steps above.
BrokenSecrets.com [Now available on Kindle]
Photo: redjar (cc)
The Secret Marks on McDonald’s Cups
The secret marks are all about ice. How much ice is too much? Are you getting ripped off? Why are they so concerned with how much ice goes into the cup? Let me tell you…
Firstly, for credibility and disclosure, I should mention that I worked at McDonald’s for a while during high school. This was one of the most interesting, enlightening and dirty jobs I’ve had.
One of the most surprising things was their commitment to quality. I know that’s kind of an oxymoron, but keep in mind they’re dealing with burgers and fries, not White Alba truffles. Regardless, they take burgers and fries very seriously. They employ top culinary experts to perfect things such as, the exact amount of mustard their proprietary dispenser puts on a burger. They hand pick only the best potatoes for the fries, according to one training video. They also have proprietary shortening for cooking the fries and a different shortening recipe for nuggets and fish fillets.
Their attention to detail includes regular calibration of the soda dispenser. This ensures the proper mix of water, syrup and carbon dioxide for the perfect Coke. There are also buttons that represent each cup size to automatically fill the cups while the cashier gets the rest of your order. It is important that the exact amount of ice is put in your cup, otherwise the calibrated machine will not fill the cup to the top mark on the cup.
Let’s take a step back, there is a large machine in the back of the restaurant that supplies the soda machine with all of the ingredients. It compresses air for the carbonation, filters tap water and holds all of the various syrup flavors. There is tubing that carries all of these supplies to the front of the store where the soda dispensers are. There is no refrigeration in any part of this system, so they have to put enough ice in your cup to take the drink from room temperature, to ice cold — before you take your first sip.
On the internet, there are many complaints about too much ice in these drinks. People complain that they’re being ripped off. While I agree, there is a lot of ice in these drinks, if you compare the price per ounce, it’s still cheaper than canned drinks. Some people don’t mind room temperature soda and ask for it with “no ice” and some people even ask for “extra ice” so it’s extra cold.
Extra ice doesn’t sound that strange if you have one of those fancy fridges with an ice maker. Maybe you’ve experimented with different amounts of ice, and if you’ve ever completely filled a cup with ice you may agree that a super cold soda is the best kind there is.
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