Hey Folks!

First of all, my sincerest apologies for not being around the last week or two. Things have been really hectic.

In any case, I am back to posting and here's the first post of August.

First an update on Troy Davis. For those unfamiliar, check out this previous post and also this post over at Looking for Sunshine. I just checked out Looking for Sunshine and Yllwdaisies has also posted an update. Good news folks! The Georgia Supreme Court ruled (4 to 3, which is a bit frightening) to hear Davis' appeal to present new evidence. This is still a few steps away from actual justice, but it is a major step. Davis will be allowed to present the new evidence which greatly bolsters his claim of innocence. Anyway click on the link above, it takes you to Amnesty International's section on the Davis case and how to take action. I'll definitely update the Troy Davis case in the future. And I'm sure Yllwdaisies will probably update first, so be sure to check out her blog, Looking for Sunshine.

And to end, let me rant for a second. I'm no fan of mainstream commercial advertising. It's mainly fake, manipulative, and revolves around image and branding. I'm sure I'm not alone when, years later, I wondered how much of my childhood affection for fast food, like McDonald's, had to do with the image and brand the company had built through advertising. Well a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine has conducted research that has something rather interesting to say on this topic. The professor (and team) gave 63 kids (aged 3 to 5) two identical foods from McDonald's. One was wrapped in McDonald's brand packaging while the other identical food was wrapped in plain packaging. The kids were then asked which food tasted better or if they tasted the same. The results: About 60% of the time the kids said the food in the McDonald's brand packaging tasted better. I wonder why they haven't done this type of taste test on teens and adults. Perhaps the results would not be identical, but I think they might be similar.

I want to add that while McDonald's does serve some unhealthy foods, as far as fast food chains are concerned, McDonald's has also done a good deal to serve healthier foods as well. And the article linked to above does mentions this. Having said all this, I'd like to end by stating that McDonald's, like other fast food chains, still has a lot to do. Years ago McDonald's promised to go trans fat free. They have yet to do that.