Chicken Labeling at the Supermarket: Prepare to Be Surprised

If you’ve ever stood in the supermarket wondering if paying more for chicken that’s free-range, antibiotic-free, with no hormones added, farm-raised, natural, and organic is going to make you healthy, wealthy, and wise, you’re not alone. There is no specific definition for free-range. For sure, it doesn’t mean “running free to forage for grubs and grain on acres of rolling green pastureland.” The USDA generally allows this term if chickens have access to the outdoors for at least part of the day, which could mean a matter of a few minutes, whether that chicken chooses to go outdoors or not. In fact, less than 1% of chickens nationwide are raised free-range. That means not being housed in cages. It doesn’t mean roaming happily in large open areas. Cage-free can mean crammed together in an indoor henhouse and given very little room to breathe and be their naturally born chicken selves. Under USDA regulations, a “natural” product has no artificial ingredients or added color. Most ready-to-cook chicken can be labeled “natural” if processors choose to do so. The label “No Hormones Added” is meaningless because federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in chicken. “Antibiotic-free” means that the flock was raised without the use of products classified as antibiotics for animal health maintenance, disease prevention, or treatment of disease. This label, too, is meaningless, since all processed chickens in the U.S. must be antibiotic-free. Despite all of the hype and fluff, there is only one label — organic — that guarantees specific standards. Organic chicken means that 100% of the chicken feed was grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and other genetically modified organisms for at least three years.

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How Deep Fried Butter Became a Fair Food Phenomenon

State fairs are known for one thing above all others: food. While fairs teach people about livestock and agriculture, the food is the biggest draw. The specialized cuisine is notorious for large portions, weird ideas, and deep-fried everything. You might not think that butter falls into that category, but you would be wrong. Deep-fried butter that’s dunked in honey cinnamon batter, dropped into a deep fryer for a little over a minute, and then topped with a sweet glaze is more popular than you would imagine. So who invented deep-fried butter? That’s where the argument begins. Some believe it was Larry Fyfe, who first introduced the decadent treat at the Iowa State Fair in 2011, while others believe it was Abel Gonzales, Jr., who won an award for his deep-fried butter concoction at the Texas State Fair in 2009. The difference between Fyfe's take and Gonzales' is the way they're served. While Gonzales served up pats of butter, closer to bite-sized pieces, Fyfe literally put half a stick of butter on a wooden skewer before frying it and serving it — and he only charged $4 to fair goers for the treat. Regardless of who the actual inventor is, deep-fried butter is widely considered one of the most extreme examples of American carnival and fair food culture.

 

 

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Rita Hayworth’s Image Was Placed on an Atomic Bomb

Actress Rita Hayworth was deeply offended and outraged when she found out that her picture and the name of her 1946 film Gilda were placed on an atomic bomb tested by the U.S. military. The bomb was dropped on July 1, 1946 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands as part of Operations Crossroads. Hayworth wanted to hold a public press conference to protest, but Harry Cohn, her studio boss at Columbia Pictures, discouraged her by claiming it would make her look unpatriotic. Her then-husband Orson Welles publicly criticized the stunt during a radio broadcast, expressing hope that their daughter would one day tell her own children that her grandmother’s picture was on the last atomic bomb ever made.

 

 

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When the British Made a Silent World War II Pistol

The Welrod pistol was designed specifically for clandestine operations, assassinations, and silent sentry removal. Developed by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), the Welrod was manufactured in two calibers — .32 and 9mm. The weapon has a bolt action which allows the feeding of five cartridges from the magazine in the grip. It's 12 inches long and holds 8 rounds. The silencer totally encases the barrel, and the grip unit can be easily removed for carrying and concealment. It’s so quiet, in fact, that it has been described as being no louder than the snapping of a finger. The beauty of the Welrod was that it was able to eliminate a target without alerting nearby enemies. The range is approximately 25 yards in daylight and 7-8 yards at night. Produced by Birmingham Small Arms in England, the exact number manufactured is unknown, but it's believed to be approximately 2,800 pistols. Welrod pistols still exist today, though they are rare and mostly found in military museums, government archives, or private collections rather than general circulation.

 

 

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