It is a real aid to thirsty people. And, on top of that, it is a kewl way to cool down on a warm day.

Once known as Fruit Smack, its name changed to Kool-Ade, and later still the name was subtly changed when its spelling changed to Kool-Aid.

From the 1950s: It is a cool drink.
From the 1970s: Our friend is cool!

If you want to go exploring a bit, check out a wide variety of Kool-Aid recipes.

From Reader’s Digest Canada:
This beverage mix does more than stir up tasty drinks. Kool-Aid is also cool around the house. Use it to dye the tween’s hair, colour paint or clean the dishwasher.
Read the article 5 Things To Do with Kool-Aid.

Oh, shucky darns! Just go on over to the Kool-Aid home page.

There is even a Kool – Aid Facebook page.

Description:
Very easy cake to make.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 cups cold water
6 Tbsp. cocoa
1 Tbsp. baking soda
3 cups flour
frosting of your choice

Directions:
Beat sugar and mayo together, add vanilla and water and mix until smooth. Stir dry ingredients together and slowly add to mayo mixture. Pour into a greased 9 X 13 cake pan and bake in a 350 oven for 45 minutes. I’ve also made it in a bundt pan, bake a little longer, check with toothpick!

Attribution: Judy Rosenberg Hansen (my wife)

I found an interesting website; it is PsychCentral.com. There are several blogs over there, each of which has several writers. One such blog is World of Psychology in which I read an entry that concluded with:

So it’s different strokes for different folks. Optimism and pessimism aren’t just accidents; this evidence suggests they are two different, but effective, strategies of coping with a complex and unpredictable world.

Read that entire blog entry written by Jeremy Dean by clicking on the embedded link contained within its title, Pessimism vs Optimism.

You might also find some interesting reading on this subject over at the website of FutureVisions. Click on over to read it, and interestingly enough it has the same title as the other to which I linked in the preceding paragraph:
Pessimism vs Optimism.

As an aside, for many, many years (40+) I considered myself an optimist about people. I figured all the grumpy folks were just pessimists. A couple years ago, I had an epiphany. After so many years of trying my best at being helpful to others in a wide variety of ways, and after so many years of organizing a wide variety of events for family and friends and community, oftentimes at some considerable expense to myself (financially, time committment, and emotionally), and after all those years of not being on the receiving end of someone else taking the initiative of doing likewise, after so many years of hardly anyone ever wanting to just get together for a visit or giving me a telephone call or of being disowned by family or otherwise left out or ignored by others, I said “Enough is enough. NO MORE!” I had always tried to stay away from that attitude; because, I thought it was a terribly pessimistic approach to take in human relations. However, my thinking on that changed drastically two years ago. As I wrote in a comment to the TALINORFALI blog entry Being Used, Then Put To The Side When Not Needed Anymore…, “I do not consider myself to be pessimistic about people, friends, and family; I consider myself to be a REALIST after my many, many experiences over these past 40+ years.”

ref: Definition of Realist.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Huh? – you may shrug your shoulders and give a quizzical look!

Well, let’s do some reading about those two items of which I referenced:
First off, head on over to read the story that was reported on Good Morning America. You can read the story item Coffee, Lunch Spending Tops Tax Refunds by Susanna Kim at ABC News Blogs.
Incidentally, a related article appears at The Huffington Post; click on over to read American Workers Spend $1000 A Year On Coffee, $2000 A Year On Lunch.
Then, go on over to read the news article McDonald’s 4Q net income jumps 11 pct by Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer, upon which the newspaper article I had read is based.

I guess the fact that people spend their money (rather foolishly IMHO) purchasing coffee and lunch at McDonald’s has made Ronald McDonald a billionaire.

Alrighty then. Now, before you say that’s a crock, I ask:
Are you ready for more about the Ray Kroc empire of Mickey Dee’s?

You know and I know that there is much hoopla about McDonald’s Burgers. Have you ever wondered about what goes into making a McDonald’s Hamburger? Well, wonder no more. Take that computer mouse or touchpad and click over to read:
How Does McDonalds Make Burgers? by Blake Guthrie, eHow Contributor

I have read that a hamburger from McDonald’s lasts a long time, a real long time. And now, you can read about it, also. Just go over to:
12-Year Old McDonald’s Hamburger, Still Looking Good, September 25, 2008, Serious Eats, A Hamburger Today, Robyn Lee.

Wait! I have one more thing for you to read. Go on over to read:
Why McDonald’s Happy Meal hamburgers won’t decompose – the real story behind the story, Sunday, October, 17, 2010, NaturalNews.com, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, Editor of NaturalNews.com.

Over at Dr. Grandma’s, I read the article Honey, I shrunk My Stomach! by Joyce Bunderson.

At the website of LIVESTRONG.COM, there are a couple articles you might wish to read; they are:
HOW TO SHRINK MY STOMACH
DOES YOUR STOMACH SHRINK WHEN YOU LOSE WEIGHT?

You can also read the eHow™ article:
Does Your Stomach Shrink When You Lose Weight?

Now, are you ready for what follows, the source of which I cite in my very last embedded link of this Roland’s Ramblings blog entry?

Myth or Fact: If you cut down on your food intake, you’ll eventually shrink your stomach so you won’t be as hungry.
Answer: Myth. Once you are an adult, your stomach pretty much remains the same size — unless you have surgery to intentionally make it smaller. Eating less won’t shrink your stomach, but it can help to reset your “appetite thermostat” so you won’t feel as hungry, and it may be easier to stick with your eating plan.

Get the facts and nothing but the facts by reading the WebMD article:
9 Surprising Facts About Your Stomach

I bet you thought I was going to write about Newt, as in Gingrich. Not here. You may read my little schtick about Newt Gingrich at Roland Hansen Commentary.

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Please go over to Inspiration and Chai, Warmth For The Body And The Soul, the blog of Bonnie Ware, to read the entire entry that elaborates on these top five:
REGRETS OF THE DYING

While this Roland’s Ramblings blog entry is new, the subject of death and each person’s very own individual and personal “end of days” is not a new subject here on my blog. If you click on the titles below, you may read just a few of the previous entries I have made concerning our end of days:

• Roland’s Ramblings: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda; February 27, 2008.
• Roland’s Ramblings: Life and Death; September 13, 2008.
• Roland’s Ramblings: My End Is Near; My Final Curtain; June 28, 2009.
• Roland’s Ramblings: What Words Are There?; July 5, 2010.
• Roland’s Ramblings: Death Awaits Me; September 10, 2011.
• Roland’s Ramblings: Death And Dying; October 2, 2011.

All you need to know in order to believe that is to ask Ronnie Hastie or Tim Tebow.

On the other hand, Pastor Jeff wrote an interesting piece on his blog, Pastor Jeff’s, Ramblings ~ These are the things that I’m thinking about.
I suggest you go over there to read:
Getting God out of the endzone

Let’s start by reading some scholarly work from Bowling Green State University. To do, so go on over to:
Synergy’s Telecommuncations 103 project site, “Take It Off: Sex in Advertising”.

Then, from The University of Southern California, you can read:
Advertising Undressed: Does Sex Really Sell?, “A” is for Advertising, Callen Gustafson.

ScienceDaily® has an interesting article that also might interest you. It is:
Does Sex Sell? New Study Shows How To Make Women Respond To Sexy Ads.

Interested in some more but want something less “academic” on the topic. Well, then, go read:
Sex Appeal and Gender Matter in Social Media Marketing at the blog of Ari Herzog, Exploring the web of new and emerging media.

From Inspirationfeed, you can take a look at:
Sex Sells, 50 Creative Sexual Advertisements.

And, over at YouTube is the video:
Sex sells! Sex in contemporary advertising.

Well, what do you think? Does sex sell or not? Do you think that sex seems to peak the interest of the buying public?

Whether we mean marriage as a union betwen one man and one woman, or marriage in the Christian biblical definition, or marriage between two people of the same gender, or a polyandry marriage in which one woman has more than one husband at a time, or a polygyny marriage in which one man has more than one wife at a time, or any one of the many forms of marriages and related arrangements, there is a lot to be said about marriage.

Enough from me, click on over to read a whole lot of stuff about marriage.

I found an especially interesting article about the good health benefits of cold salmon that I would like to recommend you read. Just, click on over to:
Savory cold salmon offers good health benefits by Karen Fernau, January 17, 2012, The Republic, azcentral.com.

Are you interested in some recipes for salmon? Then, go on over to the Salmon recipe web pages from FoodNetwork.com.

I have recently learned of another Danish woman by that same first name; her full name is Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel.

Hmmm…. what do you know? – Another Dane who is a dame with the name Agnes.

Have you read and have you listened to Agnes Obel down by the riverside? Well, if you go over to the following embedded link, you can both read and listen to Riverside.

Last.fm has this Agnes Obel biography, while BBC has this about Agnes Obel.

Just so you hear more of Agnes Obel, you might also wish view these videos here:
Agnes Obel – Riverside (official)
Agnes Obel – Just So (official)

And you might want to take a look at YouTube Mix for Agnes Obel.

My appreciation goes out to Martijn for bringing Agnes Obel to my attention.