Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[vansmack]

Smackie will be getting to work a bit earlier than usual in the future

PepsiCo Inc. is rolling out a new drink called Kickstart this month that has a Mountain Dew flavor but is made with 5 percent juice and vitamins B and C, along with an extra jolt of caffeine.

So I went ahead and had a couple of these this week.  Yes, it's been that kind of week.

I opted not to try the fruit punch version and instead have had a few of the Orange Citrus varietal.  It's essentially a less sweet version of Live Wire for those that remember the GREATEST MOUNTAIN DEW FLAVOR OF ALL TIME. #stillbitter

Anyhow, at 16 oz. and 92 mg of caffeine, it's really not that much more than a 20 oz. bottle of the Dew that checks in at 91 mg.  To put that into perspective, a tall (12 oz) cup of Starbucks is 260 mg of caffeine.

So, I fail to see what market Pepsi Co is going after here.  Either buy a 20 oz at $1.75 and get 91 mg of caffeine or spend the $2.50 on an AMP and get 150 mg of caffeine.

Maybe if you're calorie conscious, because it's about 200 calories less than a 20 oz. bottle of the dew (80 vs 280) but they don't market is as healthier (for obvious reasons), just that it has a kick.

Bottom line, if you want a kick, drink an AMP, and pass on Kickstart.

[Justin Tonation]

Just the other day I saw an ad for a zero calorie "energy" drink. How the fuck does that work?

[i am gay and i like cats]

im enjoying the spaces of this thread for "runaways" from everything else that this places provides.  plus i find vansmacks mind to be hardwired and not physical.

[sweetcell]

Just the other day I saw an ad for a zero calorie "energy" drink. How the fuck does that work?

i'm assuming you get the "energy" from sources other than sugar (caffeine, taurine, etc). 

[vansmack]

Just the other day I saw an ad for a zero calorie "energy" drink. How the fuck does that work?

i'm assuming you get the "energy" from sources other than sugar (caffeine, taurine, etc). 

Exactly.  In beverages, especially fizzy drinks, the majority of calories come from sugars. 

That's why the now impossible to find Vitamin Water Zero known as "Drive" was so absolutely brilliant.  75 mg of caffeine and no sugar with a divine taste.

Why it disappeared is still a mystery to me and my repeated requests for answers have gone ignored thus far.

[godsshoeshine]

i tweet @vitaminwater constantly. so bitter, drive was the best

if vitamin water gets rid of the magical hangover cure that is revive zero, they are dead to me

[vansmack]

Buster Olney with the Stomach Punch:

"Only with benefit of 20/20 hindsight could we know exactly how different the world could be for the Angels, who traded Jean Segura (in the Zack Greinke deal) and Patrick Corbin (in the Dan Haren deal) and did not sign Matt Harvey after drafting him in 2007. "

Harvey: 5-0, 1.55 ERA, .72 WHIP, 68 K's in 63 innings
Corbin: 7-0, 1.44 ERA, .98 WHIP, 51 K's in 62 innings
Segura: .355 avg, 7 HR, 14 SB, 25 runs, 20 RBI

[vansmack]

Still, the findings about Apple were remarkable both for the enormous amount of money involved and the audaciousness of the company?s assertion that its subsidiaries are beyond the reach of any taxing authority.

?There is a technical term economists like to use for behavior like this,? said Edward Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a former staff director at the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. ?Unbelievable chutzpah.?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/business/apple-avoided-billions-in-taxes-congressional-panel-says.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130521&_r=0

[vansmack]

Daft Punk - "Horizon" (Japanese Bonus Track)

[vansmack]

The possibilities are endless:

http://couple.me/

[i am gay and i like cats]

The possibilities are endless:

http://couple.me/

because the human mind cant remember anymore.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Still, the findings about Apple were remarkable both for the enormous amount of money involved and the audaciousness of the company?s assertion that its subsidiaries are beyond the reach of any taxing authority.

?There is a technical term economists like to use for behavior like this,? said Edward Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a former staff director at the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. ?Unbelievable chutzpah.?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/business/apple-avoided-billions-in-taxes-congressional-panel-says.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130521&_r=0

There is a technical term lawyers like to use for behavior like this:  "Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to minimize tax liabilities within the law." (We're a little more long-winded than economists.)

[vansmack]

There is a technical term lawyers like to use for behavior like this:  "Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to minimize tax liabilities within the law." (We're a little more long-winded than economists.)

I think it can do it a little better.

Ireland is not an island in the Caribbean. 

That's what I took away from Tim Cook's hearing.

[HoyaSaxa03]

There is a technical term lawyers like to use for behavior like this:  "Fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to minimize tax liabilities within the law." (We're a little more long-winded than economists.)

I think it can do it a little better.

what does "better" mean (honestly)?  these are income taxes, not a CSR issue.

[i am gay and i like cats]

i did your factory reset thang on my galaxy s two phone of the future, from the past.  now it works fine.  thank you.