Your Sunday read: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food :

On Page 83 of the report, a thin blue line represents the amount of Dr Pepper flavoring needed to generate maximum appeal. The line is shaped like an upside-down U, just like the bliss-point curve that Moskowitz studied 30 years earlier in his Army lab. And at the top of the arc, there is not a single sweet spot but instead a sweet range, within which “bliss” was achievable. This meant that Cadbury could edge back on its key ingredient, the sugary Dr Pepper syrup, without falling out of the range and losing the bliss. Instead of using 2 milliliters of the flavoring, for instance, they could use 1.69 milliliters and achieve the same effect. The potential savings is merely a few percentage points, and it won’t mean much to individual consumers who are counting calories or grams of sugar. But for Dr Pepper, it adds up to colossal savings. “That looks like nothing,” Reisner said. “But it’s a lot of money. A lot of money. Millions.”

The soda that emerged from all of Moskowitz’s variations became known as Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, and it proved successful beyond anything Cadbury imagined. In 2008, Cadbury split off its soft-drinks business, which included Snapple and 7-Up. The Dr Pepper Snapple Group has since been valued in excess of $11 billion.

Watch this all the way to the end. It's awkward and painful, but oh so funny...

I love the dialogue at the end of the clip.

Nothing spells fun like realizing that "maybe I don't want to do that job, even if it does sound kind-of cool". ... SIGH. WTF should I do with my life?

... but I'm still going to apply.


That dog valentine is awesome.

Also, I thought this Valentine is hilarious:

Birthday weekend was a break (Carnaval = awesome good times and maple taffy too) but fun. Sadly our long weekend is not the same as the rest of the country's ("because then the ski lift lines would be too long" -- no joke.)

Glad the first impressions are good; I'll be making some small additions over the next few months but it's nice to just get this out there finally. I do, every once in a while, like to peek at The Wayback Machine to see how far we've come. It's pretty crazy...

Indeed. I also like it. ... although, I do miss the dinosaurs. But I'm always resistant to change, so you should probably take my grumblings with a grain of salt (as always).

And... because February is a whirligig of excitement and activity... Happy belated birthday, Par. I hope your website revision launch activities were part of an enjoyable long weekend of turning 30.

Oooh! I like the new look, and I especially like the "Info." Clean and sentimental, respectively.

In case it's not apparent, this is the new message board. Tool around and explore and ask questions and let me know if things aren't working or are missing. Email me if there are big problems.

There's a few things I need to add but the nuts and bolts are here.

Finally.

Hey guys, I'm gonna break the message board tonight. Hope it works!!

Go here for story, specs and stuff.