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**Gregzs** · August 21, 2013, 03:48 AM

http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...de%20by%20food

The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

You probably like to think of food as your friend. It makes your Summer cookouts, keeps your game day parties going, and helps you power through all five seasons of Ally McBeal on Netflix. But don't trust that jerk for a second, because it could end up MURDERING YOU. Think we're just having a paranoid freakout? Then we invite you to read these notorious, insane cases of people who bit the dust thanks to food and drink. After you're done, make sure to swear off midnight snacks forever because that's when you're most vulnerable.

399 BC: Socrates completes his own death sentence by drinking hemlock
After being found guilty of the most serious of offenses (corrupting the youths!), famed Bill and Ted sidekick Socrates was sentenced to death by a jury of his Greek peers. But these old weirdos prescribed an especially twisted execution: The philosopher had to off himself by sipping poisonous hemlock. Socrates did the deed in a room of his pupils and friends, among them his protege Plato, who would chronicle the event in Phaedo. A lot of people painted it, too, as you can see from this version featuring a particularly sassy Socrates.

Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

Late 1400s-early 1500s: The Borgias poison a whole lotta high-powered Italians
This OG mobster clan has a very long and scandalous family tree, but the most famous members were Rodrigo (a.k.a. Pope Alexander VI), his son Cesare, and his daughter Lucrezia. Hellbent on staying in power through the Renaissance, the Borgias were famous for spiking numerous political enemies' drinks -- many people even claimed that Lucrezia, who earned a particularly bad rap, had a ring with a secret arsenic stash she wore on the daily for convenient, spontaneous murders. Most historians have since said she took the fall for her dad and bro, who were every bit as nefarious as Jeremy Irons' poses on The Borgias would suggest.

President Zachary Taylor-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

1850: President Zachary Taylor dies suddenly after gorging on cherries
If you thought William Henry Harrison's pneumonia speech was the only weird prez death story, you are sorely mistaken, friend. Zachary Taylor's bizarre demise began during his second year in office in the midst of Fourth of July celebrations. It was a scorcher, and Taylor had been busy being presidential all day, so, after things calmed down, he drank iced milk and noshed on cherries. All of a sudden, he started getting stomach pains like whoa and was diagnosed with "Cholera Morbus" by his doctors. Things got worse and worse over the next few days, until he kicked the bucket on July 9 (also OJ Simpsons' birthday. Coincidence?!?!). The whole ordeal was so odd that some old, weird people are still fighting about it -- rumors persist that Taylor was assassinated by hardcore Southerners or even the Illuminati, because EVERYONE KNOWS THE ILLUMINATI COMMONLY MURDER PEOPLE USING CHERRIES!!

Emile L'Angelier Madeleine Smith-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

1857: Madeleine Smith serves Emile L'Angelier some cocoa with arsenic
Scottish socialite Madeleine Smith became the subject of one of the most notorious murder trials of the 19th century when she slipped her ex Emile L'Angelier a cup of poisoned cocoa (or possibly coffee, it's disputed). See, the two of them had a secret thing going on for a while, but once a rich, high society guy named William Minnoch proposed, Madeleine cut Emile loose. He had a hard time letting it go, leaving Maddy to conclude, "Guess I gotta poison him". She was actually found not guilty in court due to weak evidence, though no one accepted a Wintry beverage from that woman ever again.

Thomas Neill Cream-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

Late 1800s: Thomas Neill Cream offs several women with strychnine-laced Guinness and pills
Don't let the baller top hat fool you: This guy was a stone-cold, lady-hating serial killer. A backdoor abortionist by trade, Cream already had multiple murder accusations on his hands when he landed in prison for helping to poison a Chicagoan man. He got out, went to London, then started poisoning prostitutes with strychnine pills that he insisted were medicine, and, in one case, even offered two ladies of the night toxic Guinness bottles. Cream was eventually caught and executed, but he claimed at least seven victims before Scotland Yard caught up. (Probably too busy eating old-timey donuts, amiright??)

Alan Turing-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

1954: Alan Turing commits suicide by poisoned apple
British mathematician Alan Turing is considered by many the father of both computer science and artificial intelligence (sit down, Jude Law, we're not talking about your movie), but his career came to a quick, bizarre end when he bit into an apple he had dipped in cyanide. Though the reasoning behind Turing's suicide was sadly very clear, the poisoned fruit thing threw everyone for a loop, until a couple friends pointed out his fascination with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Some people believe that Apple adopted its logo in Turing's honor, in which case Steve Jobs had some incredibly weird ways of showing admiration.

Tommy Dorsey-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

1956: Tommy Dorsey chokes on his dinner in his sleep
Back in the big band era, Tommy Dorsey was basically the mack daddy-o. He had his own orchestra, recorded a slew of tracks with Frank Sinatra, and was having a young Elvis Presley on his CBS variety show way before it was cool, Ed Sullivan. But after taking too many sleeping pills one night, he started choking on his food and didn't wake up. Dorsey did manage to make a few film cameos before that unfortunate night, however, so the next time you're watching TCM, keep an eye out for the trombonist in the fly blue suit jacket.

Jonestown grave-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

1978: The Jonestown cult commits mass suicide via cyanide-laced Flavor Aid
The next time your friend uses the expression, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid", make sure you point out the historical inaccuracies of that phrase, since the so-called "Kool-Aid cult" actually drank a knock-off called Flavor Aid. Then brace yourself to get slapped, because you're being insufferable. ANYWAY, the basic facts of this case remain the same. Reverend Jim Jones led a very creepy cult out in Guyana and instructed his followers to all drink a batch of poisoned Flavor Aid, resulting in nearly 1000 deaths. All very sad, all very scary, all the more reason never to trust a mutton-chopped zealot.

Paul Castellano John Gotti hit-The craziest and most famous cases of murder, death, and suicide by food

1985: Paul Castellano is gunned down at steakhouse
Alright, sure, this guy wasn't killed by food per se. But if he hadn't gone out to dinner at Sparks Steak House one night in '80s, things would've turned out a lot differently. Castellano was the head of the Gambino crime family, but, by the time of his murder, his hold on the operation was starting to slacken. Crime lord upstart John Gotti decided to reenact his favorite Godfather scene make a power play and order the execution of Castellano, hoping to pick up his henchmen in the transfer. The hit happened, and Gotti did manage to steal the throne. But he also acquired the nickname "Teflon Don" in the process, making him sound more like an infomercial host than a Corleone.

**Gregzs** · August 21, 2013, 10:33 PM

http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...a%20of%20Paris

Ranking the country's 15 best fast food desserts

15. Burger King's Hershey's Sundae Pie
This thing's pretty dang inexpensive, and it's packaged so well that it's almost impossible to spill any on yourself or your car... unless you actually try to eat it, since it's so tightly packed you can't help but spill it regardless of which utensil you use. Still, it's loaded down with Hershey's, and that's good enough to land a spot on this list.

14. Jack in the Box's Chocolate Overload Cake
It's cake (+) and it's chocolate (++), so it's automatically easy to eat and delicious. While pre-packaged like the BK pie, it's at least somewhat easier to eat, though still a little messy, and not in the good Jack in the Box Hot Mess commercial sense, either.

13. McDonald's Apple Pie
Nothing beats fresh hot apple pie. Unfortunately, McDonald's leaves off the fresh bit -- but at least the box lets you know almost exactly what to expect. Besides, who cares when you can get it for less than three quarters?

12. Steak 'n Shake's Turtle Sundae
Granted, it's one of the very few desserts that's appropriate to eat while watching Entourage reruns, but at the end of the day, they kinda just give you a bunch of really tasty ingredients stuffed into a styrofoam cup.

11. Arby's Cherry Turnover
Sure, it's a little flaky, but it's such a classic combination. The pastry, cherry filling, and icing combine to form a delicious treat that you can take anywhere, though maybe not into a bakery that exclusively sells cherry turnovers.

10. In-N-Out's Rootbeer Float
Like many things at In-N-Out, it's no one thing that stands out on their menu, but the seemingly endless array of options both on and off the menu. Need a rootbeer float? Great, how thick do you want it? And they'll ask you that without a hint of "that's what she said" irony.

9. Carl's Jr.'s Pop Tart Ice Cream Sandwich
Taste-wise it's good, really good, and could potentially be higher up this list if taste were all that mattered. Buuuuut, it basically needs an instruction manual before you can figure out how to eat it properly. And desserts that need instructional manuals lose points.

8. All of Sonic's Shakes and Malts
Sonic's got absolutely great chocolate malts, but if you're un-American in the mood for something with a bit more of a wow factor, they've got literally dozens of other flavors to choose from; it's both democracy in its purest (semi-frozen) form, and it's enough to make a grown man slowly go mad.

7. Wendy's Chocolate Frosty
It's a damn classic, and one of the absolute best things you could possibly order on a 110deg summer's day, but it's also just a little too thick to suck through a straw while simultaneously being a little too soft to really use a spoon; they give you one of each, but really they need to give you a spoon/straw hybrid. Also, we shouldn't have to tell you, but DIP YOUR FRIES, SON!

6. Taco Bell's Cinnamon Twist
The cinnamon twist is simply the greatest thing to happen to cinnamon since most people quit drinking egg nog for health reasons. It's easy to eat, doesn't spill too much cinnamon and sugar everywhere, and is crispy without being so hard it breaks your teeth -- at least, not until the sugar has time to work its magic on them. But that simplicity means it's not moving any higher than six on the list.

5. Dairy Queen's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard
DQ says their Blizzards are so thick you can flip them upside down without worry, which is great in theory. In practice, however, it's just messy, so keep yours right side up and enjoy some of the finest ice cream you can get from a drive thru window.

4. Taco Bueno's Cheesecake Chimichangas
These primarily Southwest-based chain's cheesecake chimichangas are fried and sugary on the outside, cheesy on the inside, incredibly easy to eat, and are filled with cheesecake. Game over. Or, um, not really game over, because we've still got three to go. Still: game close to over!

3. Taco Cabana's Sopapillas
No Tex-Mex meal is complete without sopaplilas; we're pretty sure that's a codified rule somewhere. Taco Cabana's are crispy-yet-soft, and come with enough honey and dulce de leche to go around. Near perfection.

2. McDonald's Oreo McFlurry
This works for the simple reason that the whole of an object can be greater than the sum of its parts. Vanilla ice cream trumps Robert van Winkle, and Oreo cookies trump every other cookie in the history of cookies. Blend 'em together in the same cup and you've got a mobile frozen heaven.

1. Braum's Banana Split
This takes the frozen cake not just because it's got vanilla and chocolate and strawberry ice cream, or chocolate and strawberry and marshmallow toppings, or almonds and cherries and bananas. It takes the frozen cake because it's simply divine, nostalgic in a 1950s "everything's perfect, now lets do our nuclear bomb drill" sense. And it takes the cake because unlike so many other fast food options, this one's properly hand crafted.

**Gregzs** · August 22, 2013, 01:05 AM

http://laughingsquid.com/periodic-table-of-alcohol/

Brazil-based designer and illustrator mayra.artes has created the Periodic Table of Alcohol which charts various types of mixed drinks by their alcoholic contents. A larger version of the Periodic Table can be viewed at Visual.ly.

**Gregzs** · October 31, 2013, 11:14 PM

Ice Cream like protein shake by Roman Fritz

**Gregzs** · February 14, 2014, 03:53 AM

http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/...rillist-nation

PYT's Deep-Fried Ellio's Burger is the monster of your childhood dreams

You probably made Ellio's Pizza sandwiches all day, every (unsupervised) day in 6th grade, but trust us, they always had a startling lack of burger. PYT's latest monstrosity has arrived, and it's the Deep-Fried Ellio's Burger, an unfathomable combo of mozzarella and provolone cheeses, a meatball patty, marinara sauce, and deep-fried Ellio's pepperoni slices. You can grab one today if you live in Philly, or just stare longingly at the photo above and be inspired to make your own.

**Gregzs** · February 15, 2014, 07:05 PM

**Gregzs** · April 10, 2014, 05:34 PM

Bella Copper - diffusers & defrosters

http://www.thegrommet.com/bella-copp...JGVUACDF9GARQO

**Gregzs** · April 14, 2014, 07:54 PM

11 Food Companies That Won’t Tell You Where Their Meat Comes From

http://www.buzzfeed.com/deenashanker...out-their-meat

**Gregzs** · April 15, 2014, 03:29 AM

http://laughingsquid.com/the-science...-popular-drug/

The Science of Caffeine, The World’s Most Popular Drug

**Gregzs** · April 23, 2014, 02:46 AM

http://laughingsquid.com/golden-goos...ing-the-shell/

Golden Goose, A Kitchen Gadget for Scrambling an Egg Without Breaking the Shell

Golden Goose is a kitchen gadget by Y Line Product Design that can scramble an egg without breaking the shell. The hand-powered gadget quickly rotates the egg back and forth to mix the white and yolk without breaking the shell and introducing outside air to the mix. Y Line Product Design is currently raising funds for the Golden Goose via a Kickstarter project.

**Gregzs** · April 27, 2014, 03:43 AM

http://laughingsquid.com/mellow-a-so...tions-via-app/

Mellow, A Sous-Vide Cooking Machine That Receives Instructions via an App

Mellow is a sous-vide cooking machine from FNV Labs that keeps food cold and then cooks it to order based on instructions received via an app. The machine will ask for feedback and use it to improve, and can be set manually. Mellow is set to start shipping early next year and is available for pre-order via its website.

**Gregzs** · April 28, 2014, 11:43 PM

http://laughingsquid.com/the-most-po...le-inebriated/

BuzzFeed Yellow takes a look at the most popular things people eat around the world while they are inebriated.

**Gregzs** · April 30, 2014, 12:36 AM

https://www.themuse.com/advice/31-wa...r-coffee-break

31 Ways to Spice Up Your Coffee Break

Sure, you're weirdly attached to your regular order of a grande Starbucks vanilla latte, but sometimes you may want to branch out a bit. After all, no two people like their coffee the same way.

The infographic below contains 31 different coffees from all over the world, as well as breakdowns of their contents. Think you're a coffee connoisseur? Maybe it's time to make your daily coffee break a little more exotic.

**Gregzs** · May 9, 2014, 09:41 PM

http://laughingsquid.com/grillo-a-po...e-an-umbrella/

Grillo, A Portable Stainless Steel Barbecue That Folds Up Like an Umbrella

Created by German design firm formAxiom, Grillo is a stainless steel barbecue that folds up like an umbrella, so you can take it with you. Below the metal grill is a “fire hammock,” a steel ring mesh that holds the solid fuel while you cook.

After much exploration, the unique umbrella-like folding method which Discovered. The simple, sturdy tripod footing is most suitable for uneven surfaces and the flower-petal cooking surface is not only artistic but So Has the ability to fold Itself into a miraculously small package.

The barbecue’s design also makes it much easier to clean than conventional grills.

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