Fritz-kola

Who comes with these ads needs to be rewarded by buying the product and I did. It was not easy to find it but I persisted, and nothing special, the same artificial taste. I will stick with Pepsi if I want to drink a cola.

Barbershops

Hair cut: left - 10 EU, right - 12 EUR

Why? 

The right barbershop offers WiFi (who needs it in the day and age of plentiful data on phone plans) and free coffee (never saw anyone drinking it and I walked by so many times).

Could the owner be the same?! Did they want to capture both the Windows and the Apple crowd.

In fact once I saw a barber in the cheaper shop accidentally drop the scissors while cutting a client's hair. He just picked them up and continued cutting hair. 

If this had happened to me I would have kept quiet and thought "Yes, what to expect, I chose the cheaper price and this is what I get!"

However, if the same had happened in the more expensive barbershop I would have expected the barber to disinfect/clean the dropped pair of scissors and if not I would have made a big stink that would have not served any purpose in the end as the damage had already done by then (dirty scissors cutting my hair).

My deepest fear is that the barber would have behaved the same.

Hence, as I need neither WiFi nor coffee and if the barber would still use the same dirty scissors the rational economic decision is to go to the cheaper barbershop.

'Aboot' instead of 'About'

 I wonder whether it was Ryan Reynolds' idea :).

https://www.maximumeffort.com/aboot

Cervesa

I was in a store to buy a bier, I didn't really know what to, so many brands, until I saw:

I did not hesitate one second more and I grabbed it, a simple name that drew me instantly to it.

Of course, the price helped a lot, but if another beer at the same price had a fancy name, I'd have thought it was crap.

Coca Cola Hellenic - Preferred language for communication

Well done, I chose Armenian as it was the first language in the list and I have received communication in this language.

Ikea - Preferred language for communication

They ask so I wanted to test it, I chose German, wanted to make it easy, as I could have chosen Croatian or Hungarian :).

                                                

And no German, only very little Swedish.

Scientists Keep Finding Heavy Metals in Dark Chocolate

 New research published Wednesday found heavy metals in dark chocolate, the latest in a string of studies to raise concerns about toxins in cocoa products.

The researchers tested 72 dark chocolate bars, cocoa powders and nibs to see if they were contaminated with heavy metals in concentrations higher than those deemed safe by California’s Proposition 65, one of the nation’s strictest chemical regulations.

Among the products tested, 43 percent contained higher levels of lead than the law considers safe, and 35 percent had higher concentrations of cadmium. Both metals are considered toxic and have been associated with a range of health issues. The study did not name specific brands, but found that organic products were more likely to have higher concentrations. Products certified as “fair trade” did not have lower levels of heavy metals.

New York Times

 

Toxic Chocolate — As You Sow

My favourite chocolate is here :(

They responded:

Thanks for reaching out with your question about our cacao products. We completely understand your concerns about heavy metals—and share them. All of our cacao products are batch tested by third party, independent labs for heavy metals, microbials, and nutrition, and we reject anything that doesn't meet our quality and safety standards.
 
I can explain why the results in the As You Sow report seem especially concerning: instead of ppm or mcg/g, they display the results as mcg per serving. In the past, we had a higher than average serving size for our Cacao Powder (15g versus the more common 5-6g in the industry) in an effort to capture the 'common usage' amount. If you run the math out, you'll find that our cacao powder tested in this report is actually just under 0.5mcg/g, which is on the lower side of average for cacao. And our current average from the past six months is actually a touch lower at 0.4mcg/g.
 
Cadmium and lead are found in virtually all minimally processed cacao, as these metals occur naturally in soil all over the world. The same absorptive powers that make raw cacao such a good source of iron, magnesium, copper, and other beneficial minerals also means that it absorbs some amount of the less desirable metals as well. While we're never happy to see heavy metals in any food, we appreciate that cacao is at least also providing us with fiber, beneficial minerals, antioxidants, and healthy fats.
 
I hope that helps! If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach back out.

Navitas Organics®