The Cold Dog – Stupid Or Genius?

Hot dogs and popsicles are often considered summer staples, but what if you combine both? 

For some reason, it’s a thing. 

Oscar Mayer, an American meat and cold cut producer known for their hot dogs, bologna, bacon, ham, and Lunchables products, on Thursday, launched the “Cold Dog” – a frozen pop that tastes like a hot dog with “both refreshing and smokey umami notes”. It even comes complete with the signature mustard swirl. 

Oscar Mayer said the “Cold Dog” comes from their “Stupid or Genius” social media campaign. Thousands of hot dog fans said the hot dog-flavored popsicle was “genius”, prompting the Kraft Heinz subsidiary to collaborate with Popbar to make the product a reality. 

The box says it all with a label reading, “stupid or genius?” 

The answer is up to the people who want to pay $2 at frozen desserts company Popbar locations in New York City, Atlanta, New Orleans and Long Beach. 

This isn’t the first hot dog-flavored cold treat Oscar Mayer have debuted. In 2019, the company unveiled an ice cream sandwich with “spicy Dijon gelato” and “hot dog sweet cream” between a “cookie bun”.

Yesterday, Celtic strolled to an incredible record-breaking away league victory by humiliating beleaguered Dundee United to climb back to the top of the Scottish Premiership. They were formidable in attack as they scored nine goals! 

It took Celtic 15 minutes to open the scoring. Liel Abada split the home defence with a through ball, finding Jota, whose cross met an unmarked Kyogo Furuhashi. 

The second goal was perhaps the pick of the bunch, Furuhashi curling in a first-time effort from 25 yards straight into the top corner in the fortieth minute. 

Matt O'Riley combined with Abada to create the third, once again finding Furuhashi to tap home his hattrick (45+2). 

And there was still time in the first half for a fourth. Another tap in, this time for Jota (45+6). 

Abada got his first soon after the restart when, yet again, Celtic ruthlessly cut their hosts open. Jota found O'Riley who squared across for the winger to add the fifth in the fiftieth minute. 

The sixth was comical and it came five minutes later. Celtic's free-kick routine resulted in O'Riley drilling the ball into a crouched Reo Hatate, but the ball came back to Josip Juranovic off his team-mate to then drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. 

Hatate set up the next goal, this time deliberately. Once again, Celtic waltzed through a gaping Dundee United defence, with the Japanese midfielder squaring for Abada to finish with ease in the fifty-ninth minute. 

The Israeli scored his hattrick in the seventy-seventh minute when he got onto the end of substitute Daizen Maeda's deflected cross, to dink over the other side’s goalie with his final touch of the game. 

Not content with eight, defender Carl Starfelt got in on the act, nodding in a corner in the eighty-first minute to break a record that has stood for 34 years – when they beat Hamilton Accies 8-0 away from home. 

Twenty-one goals in five games! Celtic are going great guns!

Eight Electric Objects Play Queen's Don't Stop Me Now

The Device Orchestra is Tommi (right), a Finnish YouTuber who creates music covers using electric objects (e.g. electric toothbrushes, credit card machines, typewriters). He controls the devices using a microcontroller, some wires, and his programming skills. 

Check out his awesome cover of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now". It is played by 8 electric devices: 2 toothbrushes, 3 credit card machines, 2 typewriters, and one telephone. It's incredibly satisfying to listen to. 

And I always love the extra step he takes to make the devices look like little creatures by dressing them up in googly eyes and wigs.

 

Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 

Yesterday, Liverpool whipped AFC Bournemouth good and proper. Nine goals and it could have been more. No exaggeration. 

The Reds – they finally delivered – were brilliant and the Cherries had been awful. 

The avalanche of goals started when in the third minute, Luis Diaz rose to powerfully head home the opener and the impressive Harvey Elliott curled in his first top-flight goal with a sublime strike from outside the box three minutes after. Full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold thumped a long-range shot into the top corner in the twenty-eighth minute, with all three goals assisted by Roberto Firmino. 

The Brazil forward went from provider to scorer when he acrobatically converted from inside the six-yard box in the thirty-first minute and Virgil van Dijk rose superbly to meet an Andrew Robertson corner, heading back across goal and into the net fourteen minutes later. 

Bournemouth’s misery was compounded by a goal from one of their own players, just into the wrong net in the forty-sixth minute before Firmino poked home Liverpool’s seventh in the sixty-second minute after a fortunate deflection. FYI, it marked his 100th goal for Liverpool in all competitions. 

The eighth goal was from a threatening ball into the box by Alexander-Arnold which culminated in the ball sitting up beautifully for the Reds’ summer signing, Fabio Carvalho to volley home in the eightieth minute and then, Colombia winger Diaz headed in the ninth in the eighty-fifth minute to complete an incredible victory.

Six different goalscorers in a 9-0 win. And the league campaign is back on track.

Fish And Chips Costing A Pretty Penny

For those who love fish and chips, it's costing a pretty penny!

UK's fish-and-chip shops are under severe strain as the prices of key ingredients – including cod and cooking oil – escalate as a result of the Russo-Ukraine conflict. 

It is said, up to 40% of the fish and chips industry's cod and haddock come from Russian waters – FYI, the UK imposed a 35% import tariff on whitefish from Russia and Belarus – and about half of their sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine. 

Adding to the pain are eye-watering energy bills and rocketing prices for fertilizer – and needed to grow potatoes. 

A year ago, the average price for a regular cod and chips would be about £7 – but now, it is at least £8.50, a 21% increase. In some places, the price of cod and chips has even risen to £12. 

Verily, the future of fish and chips is at risk. By some estimates, as many as a third of the country's roughly 10,000 fish-and-chip outlets could close in the next six months. 

Indeed, a lot of businesses will go out of business!

There's no more hiding the fact that Ukraine is now America's war! It has become way too obvious. It has gone beyond just supporting the country to the wilful intent and belligerent determination to weaken Russia and outlast Vladimir Putin. At any cost.

Methinks, it's time for Russia to really flex its muscles!

The Diamond: 14 Testimonials

“The Diamond in Your Speech” is well-received! 

We’ve collected testimonials from fourteen of our readers – they tell you how this book on public speaking benefits them!

Thank you for the endorsements.

Good advice: If you buy only one book on public speaking... this should be THE book! 

 

Therefore, if you haven’t got “The Diamond in Your Speech” yet, kindly order your copy today! At this web link: https://bit.ly/3r9BNd4

Twitter Queried by US Regulator

Twitter faced scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission over how the microblogging and social networking service calculates the number of spam accounts, a topic at the heart of the firm’s legal battle with Elon Musk. 

The US regulator's letter sent mid-June, but made public only Wednesday, asked Twitter to disclose their methodology as well as the “underlying judgments and assumptions” involved. 

That letter surfaced just a day after news broke that Peiter "Mudge" Zatko (right), an “ethical hacker” who once worked with Google, Stripe, and the US Defense Department, and Twitter’s ex-head of cybersecurity-turned-whistleblower had told US authorities the company misled users and regulators about “extreme, egregious” security gaps. 

His complaint warned of obsolete servers, software vulnerable to computer attacks and executives seeking to hide the number of hacking attempts, both from US authorities and from the company’s board of directors. In particular, Zatko accused Twitter and their CEO Parag Agrawal of issuing untrue statements on account numbers because “if accurate measurements ever became public, it would harm the image and valuation of the company”. 

Twitter’s official statement… is that Zatko’s report is a “false narrative” designed to damage the company. 

But if Zatko’s claims are found to be credible, it could not only help Musk – who claims he abandoned his $44B Twitter purchase after they failed to provide info about fake accounts – but also mean big FTC fines. Both parties are scheduled to meet in court on October 17.

Unboxing The Diamond

Jia Chen Lu, Azlan Supian and two sisters, Vellvie and Velleny Jivel Jinau open up on “The Diamond in Your Speech”:

 

We are very appreciative of all their support! 

Final word: You must get a copy – if you haven’t already – because trust us, YOU deserve the "Diamond"! 

So, kindly go to the web link @ https://bit.ly/3r9BNd4 and make your order today! No "buts"! 😁😄😘

Meet the Coachies

Coach have taken to anthropomorphizing the classic Rogue bag and related items (Card Case and limited-edition Kira Crossbody). 

Each bag has iconic Coach details like turn locks, tassel hair, polished rivet or grommet eyes, zipper tab or metal-cap hangtag hands, and key hood legs. 

And to truly embody the playful, optimistic Coach’s spirit, each of the five Coachies is imbued with their own distinct personality: 

Groovie – the laidback, off-beat one 

Dreamie – the slightly sarcastic beauty 

Sparkie – the perky leader of the pack 

Sweetie – the cute one (and as sweet as the name suggests) 

Winkie – the mischievous trickster 

This limited-edition Rogue bags are crafted of glove-tanned leather and Signature Textile Jacquard – a sustainable material made from a blend of organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles. 

In case you’re interested, prices for these bags range from RM2,950 to RM4,500, the card case is priced RM650 and the Kira Crossbody RM1,700.

The Diamond Is No Walkover

If you write only because you want to see your name in print, then you don’t have to bother with marketing. 

But if you are self-publishing – in our case, “The Diamond in Your Speech” is published under the auspices of Myriad Ventures – and you aim to have the book read by as many people as possible, you will have to learn an additional skill and that is, how to market the book. 

And for this book in particular, we're very targeted in our approach and focussing on personalized marketing.

Besides, our maiden print of 500 books carried a big cost – and the publishers would have wanted to recover their investment. 

Don’t kid yourself because to unload that many copies is no walkover! Not for the first lot of books and certainly, not for the second lot either. I can tell you it'll be a tough task. I know it. Fortunately, I’m a marketer. And hopefully, it helps to make our selling job a wee bit easier. 

As I reported last Wednesday, we’ve offloaded all of the 500 books from the first print. And exactly, one week later, fifteen books from the second print have already been dispatched. 

Four hundred and eighty-five copies remain – and we can surely promise you that we'll do our best to whittle the number down progressively! As I have painstakingly pointed out, it won’t be a walkover – but we're ready to commit to the challenge. As always! 

For those of you wishing to obtain a copy of “The Diamond in Your Speech”, please go to our web link @ https://bit.ly/3r9BNd4 and make your order. 

And for those who have already got their copy, once again, thank you very much!

British Store Cupboard Classics

If you’re in the UK right now, check out the Ice Cream Project at The Village in London by Anya Hindmarch – it’s a celebration of cult food brands transformed into ice-creams and sorbets. 

Hand-made in small batches in Devon and available in 500ml tubs (£10) and by the scoop (£3.50), the flavors are inspired by some of the most well-known UK food brands. 

Try a scoop of Heinz Beanz, a rich, sweet flavored ice cream brimming with protein or delve into a tub of Heinz Mayonnaise Original, a surprising rich and creamy ice cream with the zestiness of lemon and tang of vinegar. Or Kikkoman Soy Sauce, a piquant toasted sesame ice cream laced with umami-rich naturally brewed soy sauce. Or Heinz Tomato Ketchup, a delicious combination of sweet, salty and tangy flavors. Or Kellogg’s Coco Pops, a delightful milky chocolate ice cream interspersed with the crunch of chocolate-flavored toasted rice. Or Polo, a refreshing mint sorbet laced with tiny pieces of smashed Polo.

“Making ‘everyday things in an extraordinary way’ has always been a passion of mine and is the reason why I love to play with iconic brands”, said Hindmarch: 

“The Ice Cream Project sets out to challenge perceptions, working with the most sophisticated ingredients and recipes in an artful way”. 

Store employee Hannah Wearne describes the Project, which runs until August 28, as offering a new twist on "British store cupboard classics". And it's proving a hit. 

"We sold out of six weeks' worth of ice cream in four days, so we've been really, really popular... We've got our own regulars which is really lovely", she said. 

You can purchase these frozen desserts at The Village on Pont Street in London as well as other Anya Hindmarch gifts and accessories. 

An update: Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has tested negative for drugs, the government announced. Marin agreed to take the test on Friday – at her own expense – to allay concerns about her wild partying. 

[For background info, please read my post “Finland's Sanna Marin Fights For Her Right To Party” published Sunday]. 

And on Twitter and TikTok, women in Finland and even Denmark are posting dance videos in support of Marin, tagging their post with #SolidaritywithSanna.