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5 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Adopted

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It’s estimated that in the United States, two to four percent of people are adopted in some way. With the percentage being that low, you probably don’t expect many celebrities to be adopted, but the number is higher than you might think. Here are some famous celebrities that you didn’t know were adopted, and how they felt about the process.

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx was born Eric Marlon Bishop in Terrell, Texas in 1967. His mother was Louise Annette Talley Dixon and his father was a stockbroker named Darrell Bishop. The two split up shortly after his birth, leaving Bishop in limbo. Thankfully, the couple who adopted his mother years prior also adopted him. Eventually, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx and says that his adoptive grandmother had the biggest impact on his life while also having little-to-no contact with his birth parents.

“You know what’s amazing? I was adopted at seven months and I’m going to tell you what that means,” Foxx said while hosting his hit game show “Beat Shazam”. “My grandmother? That’s not actually my biological grandmother. That’s somebody who said, ‘I see something in that little boy that’s very special.’ And she made sure I had every tool that I needed to grow and expand.” Foxx went on to star in films including “Django Unchained”, “Soul”, and “Ray” just to name a few.

Keegan-Michael Key

A Detroit native, Keegan-Michael Key was born in 1971 to a father named Leroy McDuffie and a mother named Carrie Herr. Key was placed for adoption at a young age, and two social workers made sure he stayed in the Motor City by adopting him. His adoptive parents are Michael Key and Patricia Walsh, which is where he gets his last name rather. Key says that much of his comedy styling comes from being adopted.

“I have a people-pleasing issue,” Key said. “I do think it comes from being adopted. I think people who are adopted have this kind of situation where you go, ‘I’m going to do everything everybody else tells me because I don’t want to get abandoned again.’ I think that happens to people.” Key got his start in sketch comedy, then went on to star in “Key & Peele” as well as “Keanu”, “Don’t Think Twice”, and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”.

Skrillex

California DJ Skrillex was born Sonny John Moore in Los Angeles and was adopted instantly, but didn’t find out about it until he was a teenager. Moore grew up between LA and San Francisco, attending several different schools in the process. Not too long after finding out he was adopted, Skrillex dropped out of a private Scientology-based school and headed back to LA where he began his music career.

Skrillex would help usher in the dubstep era of music, releasing hit songs including “Bangarang”, “Where Are U Now”, and “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”. Skrillex said that his birth parents were still around during his upbringing, but were introduced as family friends. “My entire life is effectively a shallow sham perpetrated upon me by those I loved the most,” Skrillex said, distancing himself from his family after finding fame.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi

When we think of Nicole Polizzi, we think of the petite Italian-American nicknamed Snooki causing havoc on the Jersey Shore as part of MTV’s most popular foray into reality television. However, Polizzi was born far, far away from both Italy and New Jersey. Polizzi was born in Santiago, Chile in 1987 and was adopted at six months old by Italian-Americans Helen and Andy Polizzi.

While most people would have the urge to meet their birth parents after finding out that information, Polizzi is happy with where she’s at. “I was so secure with my parents,” she said. So why was she given up for adoption? “I actually found out and I had like 10 other brothers and sisters,” she said. “I guess they couldn’t afford me.”

Nicole Richie

We’re all familiar with Nicole Richie and the fact that she’s the daughter of megastar singer Lionel Richie. However, many don’t realize that she’s actually an adopted daughter and not his birth daughter. She was born Nicole Escovedo in Berkeley, California in 1981 to Karen Moss and Peter Michael Escovedo. Her father was a musician and both parents were friends with Lionel Richie.

They left Nicole with Lionel and Brenda Richie after feeling that she would be in better hands with the couple. “Nicole was actually a godsend,” Lionel Richie said. “She was a little girl who needed a shot…she was used to people coming and going. She looked at me and I’d say, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’”

KFC Behind The Scenes: 5 Surprising Facts

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You may be a big fan of KFC because of the chicken and sides that you can get from the fast food titan, but how much do you truly know about the company outside of being founded by the late Harland “Colonel” Sanders? Today, we’ll pull back the curtain and take a look at some of the more surprising behind-the-scenes facts about KFC.

Colonel Sanders Was Involved In A Shootout

When people hear the name Colonel Sanders, they must assume that the KFC founder was a high-ranking member of the US Military. However, Sanders only served in the United States Army. He was a private and served for three months before being discharged, and forged his documentation to enlist at 16 years old. The only combat that Sanders ended up seeing was actually in Kentucky.

In the town of North Corbin, Sanders had a competitor named Matt Stewart. Stewart was found to be repainting the traffic signs in the town so that more people would drive by his restaurant. Sanders was with a Shell employee at the time as Sanders was working with the company, and a shootout between Sanders and Stewart took place. The Shell employee, unfortunately, lost his life in the shootout and Stewart was convicted of murder. The “Colonel” ranking was an honorary one bestowed upon Sanders by the Kentucky Governor.

The Original Recipe is Actually Still Secret

Colonel Sanders had been in the chicken business for years by the time the KFC Original Recipe was created in 1940. Sanders had concocted a blend of 11 herbs and spices, saying that it was a total secret. The company has paid good money to keep it a secret, as well, with the written recipe kept inside a vault at KFC’s headquarters.

So how does the recipe remain secret while still having so many restaurants make the chicken? KFC gives one-half of the recipe to McCormick & Company and the other half to Griffith Laboratories. Once they receive the two finished products, they blend them together to create the KFC Original Recipe. While many recreations of the recipe have been made, it somehow never tastes exactly like Sanders’ blend from all those years ago.

The Company Was Owned By Pepsi

Most people assume that KFC was under Colonel Sanders’s control until his death in 1980, but he had sold the company long before that in 1964. Sanders sold the company to John Y. Brown Jr. and was actually critical of the food after the expansion. He said the gravy in particular was downright bad and that the chicken didn’t have nearly the same taste as his original recipe despite the company’s success.

KFC went up for sale once again in the mid-1980s, but this time the company would be taken over by another titan of the food and beverage industry: PepsiCo. Pepsi held onto KFC along with Taco Bell and Pizza Hut as part of their new fast food division, but would ultimately be sold once again in the 1990s. Now, KFC is operated by Yum! Brands and the sports arena in Louisville is even named the KFC Yum! Center.

Buffets Used To Be Common

Those who are in the younger generations will probably never know the beauty of a KFC buffet. Many locations around the United States offered an all-you-can-eat buffet that was packed with delicious chicken and sides, but those days were wrapping up long before COVID-19 shut down many buffets. The best part of these buffets back then? They were much cheaper than you probably think.

In the 1990s, a family of four could eat for about $20-25 depending on the location. There are still a handful around the world that are still operating, but finding one of them is akin to finding a pot of gold. The same can be said for sister company Pizza Hut, which saw buffets as a staple during the 1980s and into the 1990s.

KFC is On Another Level in Japan

While it’s difficult to find a KFC that has a buffet in the United States, you probably won’t be too hard-pressed to find one in Japan. KFC began operations in the country back in 1970 and has become the go-to fast food location. KFC Japan is majority-owned by Mitsubishi and is thought to be more luxurious and of higher quality than the American franchises.

There is a stringent test that you have to pass to make KFC chicken in Japan, and it takes three months just to get certified. KFC around Christmastime has also become a tradition for the country, much like American Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve, KFC Japan makes a massive amount of money that totals 5 percent of yearly revenue.

Best NCAA Basketball Coaches of the 2000s

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The 2000s were a much different time for college basketball. Shortly after LeBron James went to the professional ranks straight out of high school, a rule was put into place that required players to attend college for at least one year. This caused the later part of the decade to have some elite talent that was NBA-ready.

Coaches of the time had to know how to utilize these players so that they could be part of a team after being the only piece of the puzzle while in high school. As a result, some coaches had a ton of success throughout the 2000s, with these five coaches being the best of the decade.

Jim Boeheim

Jim Boeheim began his head coaching career at Syracuse back in 1976, but heading into the new millennium had never won an NCAA championship. The closest that his Orangemen had gotten was runner-up, losing the 1987 title game to Indiana. After a rocky start to the 2000s, Boeheim landed star recruit Carmelo Anthony, propelling Syracuse to the championship in 2003.

Outside of that, the ‘Cuse had five more appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including reaching the Sweet 16 twice. Boeheim’s teams never lost more than 14 games in a season during the 2000s, and during their championship campaign lost just five times. While he may have been inconsistent, the highs were definitely worth the lows.

Tom Izzo

Tom Izzo had the unenviable task of taking over a Michigan State team in 1995 that had been coached by Jud Heathcote for nearly 20 years. In the first two years, Izzo’s Spartans failed to make the tournament, but he capped off the 1990s with an appearance in the Final Four. Izzo then started the 2000s by winning the NCAA Championship, and the success didn’t stop throughout the rest of the decade.

Izzo led his team to the NCAA Tournament in each season of the decade, including another two trips to the Final Four. Izzo never had more than 13 losses in a season, and never finished lower than seventh in the Big Ten standings. He had a trio of Big Ten championships during the regular season, as well.

Mike Krzyzewski

Coach K was already one of the best coaches in college basketball by the time the 1990s started, and that didn’t change at the start of the 2000s. After nearly winning the NCAA Championship in 1999, Krzyzewski began the 2000s with a 15-1 ACC record and a trip to the Sweet 16. The following year, Coach K led his team to a championship, his third with the program.

There was only one season in which Coach K finished with more than seven losses, and his team still made the NCAA Tournament. There were two trips total to the Final Four during the decade, as well as a quartet of Sweet 16 appearances. During that run, Coach K won the ACC four times.

Roy Williams

Kansas needed a replacement for Larry Brown after winning the NCAA Championship in 1988, and they found the right man in the form of Roy Williams. Williams had a great run with the Jayhawks, which included two trips to the Final Four at the start of the 2000s. After nearly winning the 2003 championship, Williams departed for North Carolina and quickly found success.

In his second season with the Tarheels, Williams finished 33-4 during the regular season en route to his first NCAA championship. He would win another title to cap off the decade and added trips to the Final Four and Elite Eight in between. Overall, Williams won six conference titles during the 2000s between the Big 12 and ACC.

Billy Donovan

During the early 1990s, Billy Donovan was an assistant coach at Kentucky before becoming the head coach at Marshall for two seasons. During that time, Donovan had a 35-20 record and was hired to be the head coach of the Florida Gators in 1996. Donovan had a losing record in each of his first two seasons but turned things around with a Sweet 16 trip in 1999.

In his fourth season, Donovan’s Gators reached the NCAA Championship Game but came up short against the Michigan State Spartans. Donovan would become a mainstay of the tournament throughout the entire decade, and in 2006 he finally led his team to a championship. Donovan didn’t stop there, either, as the Gators won back-to-back titles.

Best NBA Basketball Coaches of the 2000s

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A lot of people look back at the 2000s era of the NBA as one where defenses could still win championships while a new era of superstars was ushered in after the retirement of Michael Jordan. During this time, there was a big shift in how the game was played, and only the best coaches who were able to adapt came out on top.

Out of the many coaches who led NBA teams from the 1999-2000 season to the 2008-09 season, which ones were the best? Here are our picks for the top five coaches of the decade, all but one of whom won an NBA title. Coaches who just missed the cut include Flip Saunders, Doc Rivers, Hubie Brown, and Avery Johnson.

5. Rick Adelman

The only coach on the list who didn’t win an NBA title but was still able to lead his teams to solid seasons is Rick Adelman. The Sacramento Kings don’t have a history of success, but the Adelman era was a great one for the franchise. He took over as head coach in 1998 after coaching the Golden State Warriors, and throughout the 2000s he reached the playoffs in every season.

Adelman never made the NBA Finals during that time, but that’s because the number one coach on the list was constantly in his way. Adelman reached the Western Conference Finals in 2002, losing in controversial fashion. The Kings finished with a 395-229 record under Adelman, good for a .633 winning percentage.

4. Pat Riley

Pat Riley was already one of the most successful coaches in basketball history by the time the 2000s rolled around. He had spent the 1980s coaching the Showtime Lakers and then much of the 1990s with the New York Knicks. In 1995, he was hired as the head coach of the Miami Heat and had a successful end of the decade.

Riley had some ups and downs during his time with the Heat, but there’s no doubt that the high moments were worth it. Riley had two seasons in which he didn’t make the playoffs during the 2000s, but he did have a season in which he won the NBA Championship. With Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal leading the way, Riley won his 5th NBA title in 2006.

3. Larry Brown

Larry Brown is one of those rare coaches who has found success in both college and the NBA. In fact, Brown is the only coach to win an NCAA Tournament and an NBA Finals. Brown won the 1988 NCAA Championship with the Kansas Jayhawks, then turned to the NBA to coach the San Antonio Spurs. He then jumped to the Clippers, Pacers, and 76ers throughout the 1990s.

Brown was still the coach of the 76ers when he reached the NBA Finals to start the 2000s, and had three straight playoff appearances before he left after the 2002-03 season. Brown then coached the Detroit Pistons for two years, and both finished with 54-28 records. Brown reached the NBA Finals on both occasions, winning the 2004 title against the lakers. He then wrapped up the 2000s with stints in New York and Charlotte.

2. Gregg Popovich

After being hired as the San Antonio Spurs coach in 1996, Gregg Popovich got off to a rocky start with a 17-47 record as the team missed the playoffs. However, the Spurs won a title before the 1990s wrapped up, and Popovich extended his great fortune throughout the 2000s. In each season, Popovich’s Spurs made the playoffs, and he won three titles during the decade.

There’s a big jump between the top two and the rest of the field, but Popovich is firmly in the second position. His worst season during the 2000s still saw his Spurs win 53 games and he never finished worse than second in his division. Unfortunately for Pop, three titles still isn’t the record for the decade.

1. Phil Jackson

Ant that’s because Phil Jackson won more champions than any other coach not only in the 1990s with the Chicago Bulls but also in the 2000s with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson took over the Lakers head coaching gig in 1999 and he reached the NBA Playoffs in each of his seasons as a coach. Throughout the decade, Jackson won four titles, including the first three of the 2000s.

Jackson’s fourth title came in the 2008-09 season, and he added a fifth just outside of the decade as he won the 2010 championship. Jackson never had a losing record with the Lakers, and he won the Western Conference six times. He’s had two Hall of Fame-worthy careers if you count his runs with the Bulls and Lakers.

5 Most Prestigious Universities in Australia

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With over 40 universities in Australia, there is quite a range of schools to pick from when students are wrapping up primary school. Unlike the United States, most of the best colleges throughout the country are public, with some of those universities ranking in the top 50 of the world. Today we’ll take a look at the best universities that Australia has to offer, breaking down the top five in no particular order. Some of the schools that just missed the list include the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia, and the University of New South Wales Sydney.

Australian National University

Located in Canberra, Australian National University is the smallest on the list in terms of student size at around 20,000 but has been ranked by some institutions as being the best school in the country. Some outlets have even gone as far as to say that it’s the best university in the entire southern hemisphere. ANU was founded in 1946 after Canberra was established following years of planning that was halted by the start of World War II.

Upon its establishment, ANU quickly grew into a prestigious university that has seen dozens of Rhodes scholars and a pair of eventual Prime Ministers receive an education there. ANU ranks close to the top 50 on a global scale according to US News with its strongest subject rankings coming from optics and arts & humanities. Other high-ranking subjects include plant & animal science, space science, and geosciences.

The University of Queensland

Founded in 1909, the University of Queensland was a huge risk at the time because many in the area wanted to model their secondary schools after the land-grant-type universities of midwestern America. However, the other side wanted to match the education style of classic colleges like Oxford. For many years, UQ operated under the latter structure until a merger in the 1990s happened with Queensland Agricultural College.

Now, UQ is a massive university that allows students to find a subject that’s right for them. US News ranks the University of Queensland as one of the top 40 universities in the world. This is thanks in large part to its high ranking in environment/ecology, sitting in the top 10 globally. Other high marks for the University of Queensland include microbiology, pharmacology, agricultural sciences, and water resources.

University of Sydney

The oldest university on the list is the University of Sydney, which was founded in 1850. With around 75,000 students, it’s also the second-largest on the list. Eight Prime Ministers are graduates of the University of Sydney, which now boasts an endowment that’s well over $3 billion AUD. Those who attend the school are much more likely to go on to high-paying jobs, and they’re ranked fourth in the world in that category.

The University of Sydney is ranked just within the top 30 worldwide according to US News. While the university doesn’t rank in the top 10 of any particular subject outside of endocrinology and metabolism, it does come close in many other subjects. This includes engineering, artificial intelligence, oncology, social sciences, and arts & humanities.

Monash University

There are a couple of distinctions that make Monash University in Melbourne really stand out. For one, it’s the newest university on the list having been founded in 1958, and secondly, it’s the largest university with more than 86,000 students. Because of its size, there’s a wide range of activities for students and a massive campus that provides plenty of opportunities.

Because of its age, Monash University also has newer buildings that undergo consistent upgrades to keep up with the times. Monash University finds itself within the top 40 of the global rankings according to US News, including two subjects that are ranked within the world’s top 10. Its education and education research program is ranked within the top 10 while the pharmacology and toxicology department is considered one of the three best in the world.

University of Melbourne

The final university on the list is the University of Melbourne, which is the second-oldest on the list after having been founded just three years after the University of Sydney. With over 54,000 students, it’s also one of the largest universities in the country. Like UoS, it also has an incredibly high employability ranking worldwide. There’s a wide range of alumni who have achieved peak success in their fields, including four eventual Prime Ministers.

Of all of the Australian universities, the University of Melbourne received the highest ranking for any Australian school by US News, sitting near the top 25. There is a wide range of subjects in which the University of Melbourne excels, including immunology, infectious diseases, public health, and psychiatry.

5 Iconic Marketing Campaigns Used By Pepsi

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When you’re in a head-to-head war against another titan of the industry, you have to have some great marketing ideas at your disposal. In the Cola Wars, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been going head-on for over a century for brand superiority. The latter drink has had some terrific campaigns that were considered among the best in marketing history, with these five being Pepsi’s most iconic.

Cindy Crawford

There are certain ad campaigns that are remembered for a couple of years after their release, then there are those that are remembered for decades to come. One of the campaigns that falls into the latter category is the one where supermodel Cindy Crawford appeared for Pepsi. The company was in the process of a can and bottle redesign and needed a good marketing campaign to make people aware.

With that, Lee Garfinkel pitched the idea of having the model drink Pepsi, and he originally had Macaulay Culkin in mind as one of the children fawning over her a la “The Little Rascals”. The immediate success of the campaign had Pepsi throwing money hand over fist at Crawford to get her into more ads as Pespi’s popularity grew throughout the 1990s.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show

No particular portion of a television broadcast in the United States gets more eyeballs on it each year than the Super Bowl halftime show. While a majority of the country watches the game for various reasons, it’s the halftime show that gets the most attention from non-sports fans. During the early years of the Super Bowl, the halftime show was an afterthought, but that would change when Coca-Cola became the first-ever halftime show sponsor in 1989.

After a few years of no sponsorships, the Super Bowl halftime show returned to being a so-so affair, but it became must-see television when Pepsi became the sponsor for the first time in 2007. The company was able to get Prince to play the halftime show in Miami during a downpour in what many consider the greatest performance in the big game’s history (musically, at least). Pepsi then returned as a sponsor, landing Beyonce in the first year of its second stint.

You Got the Right One, Baby

As you may have been able to guess, Pepsi has leaned more toward musicians throughout the company’s history, making Crawford one of those rare exceptions. To kick off the 1990s, the legendary Ray Charles appeared in an advertising campaign for Pepsi that lasted for three years, promoting the diet version of the drink. A new jingle was created in conjunction titled “You Got the Right One, baby, Uh Huh.”

The song was written by Maryland singer Arthur Takeall who performed it on a local radio station. He was able to copyright the song, too, meaning that Pepsi’s advertising campaign netted him a pretty penny. It was the slogan that Pepsi needed to stay in the mind of Americans even if they weren’t witnessing an ad at that time.

Pepsi Stuff

Anyone that was around in 1996 knows how much Pepsi we were all drinking (or at least buying) because of the Pepsi Stuff program that was released that year. Each can, bottle, and case of Pepsi products came with a certain amount of points that could then be sent to the company in exchange for merchandise. While most of the affordable items were Pepsi hats and t-shirts, there were some big ticket items, too.

Some of these more expensive items included a leather jacket and a mountain bike, but there was one prize that Pepsi never thought would be redeemed: a Harrier jet for 7 million points. A man named John Leonard was able to get all of those points, however, saying that it was cheaper to go through the points system than to buy a jet. He sued Pepsi for false advertising, but the case was dismissed and he didn’t get his Harrier.

Generations

With every passing generation, Pepsi attempts to lay claim to being the official soft drink of that generation. This started in the mid-1960s with “The Pepsi Generation”, helping to boost sales of the drinks. The generational campaigns didn’t really take off in the 1970s, but in the 1980s returned in a big way thanks to the help of Michael Jackson. Hot off the heels of his “Thriller” album, Jackson appeared in a Pepsi advertising campaign that was insanely popular.

Pepsi was dubbed “The Choice of a New Generation,” and the company had some of the most memorable ads of the decade. This continued into the 1990s thanks to Pepsi’s “Generation Next” campaign that featured the likes of Britney Spears and The Spice Girls.

Bad Influence’ Video Games: 5 Classics That Triggered Moral Panics Over The Years

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There always seems to be a new reason why parents think that children are violent or immoral. Every generation has its biggest reason, and more recently, it has been video games that get a bad rap. Even going back to the Atari days, there have been some video games that have drawn a lot of negative attention for their content, some of which have created government action. Here are five classic video games that triggered moral panic over the years.

The Entire Grand Theft Auto Series

Rockstar’s “Grand Theft Auto” series has been one of the most popular in video game history, and it’s easy to see why. These are all masterpiece games for their time, starting with the top-down view and graduating into a 3-D model that allowed for one of the most immersive online action-gaming experiences. However, GTA hasn’t been without its controversy, which probably isn’t surprising based on the name of the series.

From the early days of GTA, there was an outcry from parents groups regarding the ability to steal cars and shoot police while hiring “ladies of the night.” Things ramped up with the releases of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” when a mod was discovered that allowed you to fully simulate “adult relations.” To this day, advocacy groups speak out against the violence promoted in the GTA series, but it has only made the games more popular.

Manhunt

“Grand Theft Auto” isn’t the only series created by Rockstar that was met with a ton of controversy. In the 2003 game “Manhunt”, you take control of the character James Earl Cash, a prisoner on death row who finds himself forced into snuff films. This stealth game featured some of the most brutal death scenes in video game history, and the sequel released in 2007 received a rare “Adults-Only” rating.

That’s because the first “Manhunt” game drew so much attention from the US Government that more strict ratings were put into place so that games like “Manhunt” wouldn’t be in the same category as games like “Halo” or “The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion”. The fear of “Manhunt” was only driven up when a 17-year-old killed his 14-year-old friend in England while having a copy of the game in his bedroom.

Postal

Part of what has made “Grand Theft Auto” so popular is that it allows people who would never harm a fly to drive around in an open world and do whatever they want with no real-life consequences. “Postal” takes that to another level, and the game’s storyline even involves someone living a mundane life having a mental breakdown, and getting violent with anyone and everything that they see.

The game immediately drew criticism upon release in 1997, with many saying that it was encouraging players to start doing the same actions in real life. However, the developer “Running with Scissors” continued the series the following year with an expansion, and 10 main storyline “Postal” games have been released overall. The creator was even prosecuted for an “illegal depiction of violence” in Sweden, and some countries have banned the series altogether.

Mortal Kombat

When it comes to fighting games, “Mortal Kombat” is one of the top-tier franchises alongside the likes of “Street Fighter” and “Tekken”. When it was first released in 1992, it was massively popular but had a lot of parents grounding their children. “Mortal Kombat” was the fighting game that introduced “fatalities” which allowed players to dismember their opponents in shocking (at the time) ways.

This was the game that really got the government involved with video games, creating the ratings system that we all know today. On the other hand, “Mortal Kombat” helped usher in the era of a video game revitalization that brought people back to arcade machines while boosting console sales.

Pokemon

“Pokemon” seems like one of those games that’s incredibly harmless on the surface. You collect cutesy monsters as friends and train them to take on other “Pokemon” in sanctioned matches. When you start to think about it, it sort of sounds like dog fighting in that regard, but that’s not what got certain people in an uproar upon the game’s release in 1996. Instead, the game was criticized by Christian groups for several other reasons.

“Pokemon” characters evolve into a more powerful stage, and fundamentalists said that went against their beliefs. The groups also pointed toward themes of violence and the occult as to why the game was “anti-Christian,” but most people brushed these notions away. In fact, members of the Vatican even had to come out and say that they weren’t condemning “Pokemon” and called it innovative.

McDonald’s Behind the Scenes: 5 Surprising Facts

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Pretty much everyone in the world knows what McDonald’s is and has eaten there at least once, but how much do you really know about the fast food titan’s inner workings? Today, we’re going to look behind the scenes at the Chicago-based company that has served up billions of burgers throughout the years to see how they operate. Here are five surprising facts about McDonald’s that cover the past, present, and future.

It Was The Biggest, Then It Wasn’t, Then It Was

Throughout the years, McDonald’s has had a back-and-forth fight against contending restaurants to have the most locations in the world. When data began being tracked in 1971 for the number of locations, Kentucky Fried Chicken was far and away the most popular with over 3,000 locations while McDonald’s was chugging along with just over 1,000. However, McDonald’s was about to expand furiously.

It only took until 1975 for McDonald’s to catch and pass KFC for the most locations, and the chain held the record for decades. In the late 2000s, Subway saw a massive expansion of its own, and by the end of the decade surpassed McDonald’s in total locations by thousands. Subway took a massive hit in popularity in the years that followed, though, while McDonald’s continued to increase its amount of restaurants to surpass Subway once again.

McDonald’s Dabbled With Home Cooking

With McDonald’s being headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company often toys around with new ideas in the Chicagoland area. One of these concepts was an idea to serve more “homestyle” meals that customers could take home. Essentially, it was a fast food version of a dine-in restaurant with people encouraged to take the meals home. It was called Hearth Express, and it only lasted for a year.

Menu items such as meatloaf and baked ham were supposed to be full-fledged family meals, though McDonald’s said that the concept wouldn’t catch on. For McDonald’s, it came at a time of tremendous growth for its typical restaurants, so it wasn’t a big loss. This is why many people never heard of Hearth Express and its failure. 

The Process of Adding an Item is Daunting

When you think of McDonald’s, some of the first things that come to mind are the hamburgers, French fries, sodas, and milkshakes. While those are staples that will never be removed from the menu, McDonald’s has added a ton of items throughout the years which would also become staples. Items like the Filet O’Fish, Big Mac, and McNuggets are among the best examples of that.

Over the years, though, there have been plenty of menu items that have come and gone quickly. Some, in fact, were on the menu for a shorter period of time than the testing and planning process. When McDonald’s decides to add a new menu nationwide in the United States, it goes through a rigorous process that can take up to a year. Surprisingly, the All-Day Breakfast which drastically changed McDonald’s took a “short” nine months.

Play Places Are Now Hidden Gems

There was a time when each new McDonald’s was being built with a massive playground area known as a Play Place. This was because the fast food giant wanted to be seen as a safe spot for children and an overall hub for the local community where people could gather. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the Play Places shut down. When things got better, McDonald’s opened up dining room seating, but not the Play Places.

While some franchised McDonald’s locations started to open up their Play Places again, a vast majority of them remained closed. Now, just like the dine-in Pizza Hut or the Wendy’s with a buffet, you’ll struggle to find one that’s open. The liability issues, the intense cleaning process, and more caused McDonald’s to reconsider their position on the Play Place.

Some Items Don’t Make Money

McDonald’s often has the cheapest soft drinks and French fries in the fast food business, but they’re still making a killing off of each one sold. The company is hoping that you grab these two and hopefully a hamburger as the profit margins for the staples are high while the volume sold turned McDonald’s into the king of fast food.

Then, there are the items that McDonald’s won’t make much money on at all, so skipping the fries and drinks could end up costing them money. A McDouble has a surprisingly low-profit margin while the salads (which are no longer on the menu) were the most expensive items for McDonald’s by a long shot. Other low-profit items include the Quarter Pounder, McChicken, and apple slices.

Burger King Behind The Scenes: 5 Surprising Facts

Posted on by scatty

Florida-based Fast Food chain Burger King is one of the most common restaurants in the world with nearly 20,000 locations. While you probably know the Burger King menu and advertising, there are some surprising facts that you may not have known about BK. Here are five behind-the-scenes tidbits about Burger King and how they operate, advertise, and more.

The Fight For the Name

People that live in the central part of Illinois might notice that there’s a lack of Burger King locations despite all of the other major fast-food chains setting up shop in the area. The reason for this is because in Mattoon, Illinois, there’s an independent restaurant owned by the Hoots family with the same name. The family said that their name came before the fast food chain, and the two sides have battled in court.

As a result, the Burger King chain is not allowed to open a restaurant within 20 miles of Mattoon. This means that places with decently sized populations like Effingham or Charleston, Illinois aren’t able to have a BK. The chain offered the Hoots family $10,000 to get them to allow restaurants within the area, but the family declined and to this day has the only restaurant in the area with the Burger King name.

There’s an Exclusive Club

There are a ton of perks that come with being rich and famous. You’d think that these types of people wouldn’t need free fast food, but that is indeed one of those perks. Burger King has what’s known as a BK Crown Card, which is a gold card that looks like your run-of-the-mill credit card. It’s a little more exclusive than just being famous, though, as there are only about 12 people in the world with the Crown Card.

Burger King tends to give them to those who have worked with the brand directly, appearing in advertisements. George Lucas is one of those who has a BK Crown Card thanks to the licensing partnership between his “Star Wars” films and Burger King. Obviously, there was a lot of interest in being the chain that brought “Star Wars” toys to kids’ meals, and Burger King was the big winner.

Some Countries Have a Different Version

If you’ve been to Australia, you’ve probably seen a very familiar logo but with a different name. In the country, there are more than 400 locations of the Hungry Jack’s franchise, and the logo is identical to Burger King’s. That’s because the fast food chain, which was established in 1971, Burger King was already trademarked in Australia. The company let franchisee Jack Cowin name the Aussie version after himself.

During the late 1990s, however, the two sides got into a legal battle which resulted in Hungry Jack’s winning more than $40 million. Burger King pulled out of Australia because of the lawsuit, and Trans-Pacific Foods took over some of the region’s locations. However, most of Australia’s Hungry Jack’s are owned by the business instead of franchisees but still boast the same Burger King branding.

The Got a Celeb Banned From McDonald’s

Sarah Michelle Gellar was one of the biggest stars of the 1990s thanks to her role in the television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Even at the peak of her fame, however, she wasn’t allowed to enter a McDonald’s location because of a lawsuit that stemmed from her work with Burger King when she was a child. Gellar was in a 1981 commercial for Burger King that claimed that the chain had larger hamburgers than McDonald’s.

McDonald’s was furious with the claim and took Burger King to court. They then placed a ban on everyone involved with the advertising campaign from entering their restaurants, even a five-year-old Gellar. “It was tough because, when you’re a little kid, McDonald’s is where all your friends have their birthday parties, so I missed out on a lot of apple pies,” Gellar said.

They Found Revitalization Through Video Games

There have been tie-ins before between fast-food companies and video game publishers, but only with mild success. Then, during the Xbox 360 era of games, there was the successful Burger King campaign. At BK locations, you could get discs that contained one of three video games for the system.

It was a great way for the company to tap into the millennial market that had just gotten into adulthood during the mid-2000s. The three games were “Sneak King”, “PocketBiek Racer”, and “Big Bumpin’”, all of which featured the new Burger King mascot. They ended up being a huge success and established BK’s presence with the younger generation and their new branding.

5 Famous Democratic Presidents In US History

Posted on by scatty

During the early years of the United States, there was a mishmash of parties who were represented in the White House. Democratic-Republicans and Whigs each got four members elected as President of the United States while the Federalists had one. James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was the only US President not to have a party affiliation.

Since the late 19th century, though, there has been a back-and-forth between the Republicans and Democrats in the White House. For the latter party, many of them served during the 20th century after the ideologies of the two major parties in the US flipped. Here’s a look at the five most famous Democratic Presidents thus far.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Many say that the swap in ideology between the Democrats and Republicans began in earnest with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States, and served from March 1933 until his death on April 12, 1945. The Democrats had gone from a party of small government to one of large government, and that was ramped up throughout Roosevelt’s presidency.

Under Roosevelt, the United States became involved in World War II while also promoting many social programs including Social Security, the Civil Works Administration, and Emergency Relief Appropriation Acts. Roosevelt is still the only President in United States history to serve for more than two terms, and will likely remain that way as the Constitution was changed to prevent it from happening again.

John F. Kennedy

It would be hard to find a United States President who was more “famous” than John F. Kennedy. There was a certain charisma and charm that Kennedy had over other US Presidents that made his personal life a topic of pop culture media more than any president before him. Even those on the other side of the aisle appreciated Kennedy, which led to him having the highest average approval rating for any President.

At his highest, Kennedy carried an approval rating of 83, and even his lowest was still at 56, meaning at no point in his short presidency did a majority of the country think he wasn’t performing well. Unfortunately, the popular President was shot dead just weeks before his third anniversary in the White House at just 46 years old. Still, he is remembered fondly by those who were around during his political career.

Lyndon B. Johnson

After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, there were some large shoes to fill. As the Vice President under Kennedy, former Texas Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was tabbed as the next-in-line and became the 36th President of the United States. While Johnson has a bit of a polarizing legacy, he did do a lot of good in the long term. This includes expanding civil rights while also leading the US through a large growth period.

Though not quite as charismatic as his predecessor, Johnson was fortunately effective at his job. Johnson decided to run for another term in 1964, easily defeating Barry Goldwater thanks to his continued success from the Kennedy administration. Johnson decided not to run in 1968 because of the Vietnam War, allowing Richard Nixon to become the next President.

Bill Clinton

John F. Kennedy had a type of charisma that was hard to match, and the Republicans found their version in the form of Ronald Reagan. After Reagan’s two terms came to an end and George Bush served for one term, the Democrats knew that they needed another Kennedy. They found him in the form of Bill Clinton, the two-time Governor of Arkansas.

Clinton was one of the youngest Presidents in history at just 46 years old when he was elected, and his youth allowed him to connect with the younger voters who had been ignored by previous candidates. Clinton knocked Bush out of the White House and served two terms before his time in the White House came to an end in January 2001.

Barack Obama

Of course, we can’t continue to talk about charismatic Presidents without mentioning Barack Obama. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama became the first President to represent the 50th state while also being one of the youngest men to move into the White House at 47 years old, putting him just one year older than Bill Clinton. Obama also became the first African-American President in the country’s history, marking a monumental milestone in the country.

Obama didn’t have the highest approval rating on average, but he was incredibly popular on the Democratic side of the aisle. At his highest, Obama was still obtaining an approval rating in the high 60s while his lowest dropped to the high-30s. At the time Obama took over, there was a massive recession, and Obama helped guide the country through a rebound.