I belong to a private Facebook group filled with parents of teenagers and college-aged students, and due to the sheer number of people, it’s not uncommon for differences of opinion to arise. Rarely, though, have I ever seen a debate as split as the one raised by a post about something seemingly benign: Handwritten thank-you notes.
A mom shared that she was requiring her graduating senior to write thank you cards—the old-fashioned variety, complete with handwritten note, envelope, and postage stamp—and that emailing, texting, or calling on the phone to say “thank you” were unacceptable alternatives. She said her son was writing the notes but didn’t like it, and she blamed computers and having to type assignments all the time for his resistance.
Some parents will read that paragraph, nod along, and agree 100% with this mom.
Others say the method doesn’t matter—it’s the message that counts.
Within hours, more than a thousand comments poured in and the responses were sharply divided between the “Yes, written thank you notes only!” and “Oof, that’s a really outdated notion.” (Not that the idea of gratitude is outdated, but the idea that appreciation must be written by hand and sent in the mail.)
Some people chimed in to say that they don’t give gifts with any expectation of thanks, but naturally, it’s good to teach kids to express gratitude when someone gives a gift. The method, however, is up for debate.
There is something extra personal about seeing someone’s handwriting and holding a tangible note in your hand, especially in an age where we don’t get nearly as much mail as we used to. But is that just nostalgia from an era on its way out?
@nprscottsimon My late boss was a well-known architect who always sent hand-written thank you notes. It’s one of th… https://t.co/tw8hqQfj2j
As some people pointed out, kids today live in a different world, one where environmental consciousness comes as naturally as technological know-how. Isn’t it a waste of paper to send a note in an envelope when you can say the exact same thing in an email or a text? Do email or text actually feel less personal to young people who do much of their communication electronically?
“Here, I murdered this tree for you to show my gratitude”
And isn’t it just as personal to call someone on the phone and thank them with your voice as it is to send them a note with your handwriting? Some seem to think so.
Perhaps it’s just a matter of tradition and strict etiquette standards? This is the way I was taught things were done, therefore that’s is the way it is and it’s wrong to do it a different way?
Again, some seem to think so.
“I don’t have time.” “I forgot”
You don’t have time to show appreciation towards the people who spent hundreds if… https://t.co/WBZDqHxqYF
— Andre 3000 the Giant (@Shadynasty15) 1623955071.0
Don’t invite people to your weddings, baby showers, or graduations if you can’t thank them properly for showing up.… https://t.co/8rIRDhw1dK
— Andre 3000 the Giant (@Shadynasty15) 1623955188.0
Some parents rightly pointed out that times change, and what previous generations did is not automatically better or more thoughtful than the way young people today might prefer to do things. As long as kids grow up knowing that it’s appropriate to let someone know you received their gift and appreciate their generosity, what difference does it make how they do it?
For some people, it makes a lot of difference. The die-hard handwritten thank you note folks were quite adamant about their stance, to the point of withholding their kids’ gifts and checks until the thank you cards were postmarked and in the mailbox.
Kudos to those parents for teaching their kids to say thanks, but they’re also making a broad assumption that everyone prefers to receive a thank you card. Again, comments from others showed that’s not the case.
Many people said that they just end up looking at a thank you note for a few seconds before throwing it away anyway, and that they’d actually prefer to get a phone call. Some went so far as to say they hate getting thank you notes, saying it’s a waste of paper and money for postage and they prefer messages of gratitude that use fewer resources.
Scrolling through the responses, people’s opinions seemed pretty much split half and half between “Only handwritten thank you notes, always” and “Doesn’t matter how you say thanks as long as you say thanks.”
Who knew the basic thank you note was such a hot topic of debate?
One thing we can all agree on is that it’s polite to say thank you when someone gives you a gift. Regardless of the method by which you do so, acknowledging someone’s thoughtfulness and expressing gratitude is a valuable life skill. So always say thanks—but maybe try not to get too hung up on how it’s done.
Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday earlier this week, something a member of the Donald Trump administration had apparently wanted to do as late as last year. But according to a new report about Trump’s troubled history of race relations, he thinks he’s done a lot for a group he apparently called “the Blacks” in private.
That quote and much more was part of a damning story in Politico from Michael C. Bender, who wrote a book about Trump that will come out later in the summer. The quotes included in the piece were based off the book, and if that’s any indication of what else is looming there it will be a wild ride.
The biggest moment that went viral on Twitter was Trump using the phrase “the Blacks” in a conversation about how much he apparently had done for Black people in America, even though he was struggling with people of color when it came to election polling.
Trump had staked nearly his entire campaign in 2016 around a law-and-order image, and now groaned that the criminal justice reform that Kushner had persuaded him to support made him look weak and—even worse—hadn’t earned him any goodwill among Black voters.
“I’ve done all this stuff for the Blacks—it’s always Jared telling me to do this,” Trump said to one confidante on Father’s Day. “And they all f—— hate me, and none of them are going to vote for me.”
The story details how Trump had very few people of color on his staff, including no one on his senior staff after Omarosa Manigault Newman was fired in 2017. And another staffer had actually been planning a proposal for Trump to make Juneteenth a federal holiday before he sparked an uproar by scheduling a rally on Juneteenth in the wake of a summer of racial justice protests.
His relationship with Juneteenth was a trouble spot as well, with Trump essentially claiming that he put the long-celebrated anniversary of the end of slavery in Texas on the map.
“Nobody had heard of it,” Trump told me.
He was surprised to find out that his administration had put out statements in each of his first three years in office commemorating Juneteenth.
“Oh really?” he said. “We put out a statement? The Trump White House put out a statement?”
Each statement, put out in his name, included a description of the holiday.
But such details were irrelevant to him. Instead, he insisted, “I did something good.”
“I made Juneteenth very famous,” he said.
The piece covers a wide range of missteps when it comes to Trump’s understanding of race relations, policing and the concerns of people of color in society. Senior officials quoted in the piece called his “understanding of slavery, Jim Crow or the Black experience in general post-Civil War as vague to nonexistent.” And while he apparently expressed sympathy for the police treatment of George Floyd in private, he failed to replicate those thoughts in public instead of his more hardline, pro-police stance with inflammatory tweets that only stirred up more outrage.
In a related story, Trump apparently said teaching critical race theory to children in schools was akin to “psychological abuse.” So it’s safe to say not much has changed about his view on things in his time away from office, either.
Once the dust settles on this upcoming weekend, the Phoenix Suns are one of the four teams that will have a shot at playing for an NBA championship. Despite that, one of their stars is headed to the Olympics in Tokyo this summer, while a second player is being pursued by USA Basketball for a spot, too.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Devin Booker has committed to wearing the red, white, and blue in Japan next month. While he’s on board, Marc Stein of the New York Times brings word that decision-makers in USA Basketball are doing what they can to convince Chris Paul to play.
Phoenix Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker has committed to join the 12-man Team USA roster for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, sources tell ESPN.
The most pressing issue, obviously, is his availability for the Western Conference finals, but Phoenix’s Chris Paul has been actively pursued this month by @usabasketball for a spot on the Tokyo Olympic team, league sources say. Lots for Paul, 36, to weigh amid a deep playoff run
With or without an ultimate commitment from Paul to join Bradley Beal, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum, USAB officials have pursued CP3 and others still in the playoffs, comfortable that not all of the final 12-man roster would report for training camp on July 6.
As Stein noted, the inherent issue (at least from Team USA’s perspective) is the potential that the Suns make a run to the Finals — a potential Game 7 would take place is July 22, with the Olympics slated to begin on July 23 and men’s basketball tipping off on July 25. There would certainly be a plan in place in the event the Suns go on a run to the Finals, but it would make sense if Paul, who is 36 and hurt his shoulder earlier this postseason, would pass on the opportunity to rest.
Still, if the Americans only get Booker off of the Suns, that would be quite the addition to a loaded roster. Earlier in the day on Friday, it was reported that Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal will join the trio of players — Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum — who already committed to suiting up in Tokyo. The rest of the roster will surely come to light in coming days, but at the very least, the United States is going to score a whole lot of points with the dudes that have already committed to the team.
Last summer, my husband and I went to a grocery store in Sandpoint, Idaho to pick up some ice cream. As we started walking down the frozen foods aisle, my husband grabbed my arm to stop me. He gestured to the couple ahead of us, and I saw what he saw—a handgun sticking out of the back of the man’s pants.
Sandpoint is an idyllic, small mountain town on a pristine lake, where people come to stay for water sports in summer and skiing in the winter. It’s also not far from the Wal-mart where a two-year-old had pulled a handgun out of his mom’s purse and killed her with it several years ago.
We turned around and left the ice cream aisle, choosing to wait until the openly armed shopper left. And we were irritated. Seeing a man with a gun in a grocery aisle feels like living in a war zone—meanwhile, Sandpoint’s violent crime rate is half the national average.
Twitter user “Cacky” shared a similar encounter in an Oklahoma Trader Joe’s, with a photo of a man with a handgun in a holster on his hip at the salad display.
“I have no idea if this guy is stable or mentally ill,” she wrote. “Is he bothered by the heat and have a short fuse today? What if someone makes him mad and he has poor impulse control? I’m not willing to risk my life for groceries, so I just left Trader Joe’s.”
I have no idea if this guy is stable or mentally ill. Is he bothered by the heat and have a short fuse today? What… https://t.co/Si9SFrO3Vn
I had the same thoughts in the ice cream aisle in Idaho. Not only do we not know this person’s mental state, but with a gun so openly broadcast, what’s to stop another unstable shopper from grabbing the gun from them? I’m sure these guys think they’d be quick to stop someone from doing so, but there are dozens of scenarios where that confrontation ends very badly for them, as well as for the innocent bystanders who just want to buy some freaking lettuce.
State laws vary when it comes to open or concealed carry, but this isn’t an issue of legality. It’s an issue of morality, responsibility, and sensibility. “Because I can” or “Because it’s my right” is not a good enough reason to do something—not when you live in a community with other human beings. You might have a right to carry a gun in a grocery store, but that doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do.
Your fellow citizens matter. And I would guess that most people feel less safe, not more, when they see someone with a gun sticking out of their pants at the grocery store. You might argue that you carry for your protection or even the protection of those around you, but the “good guy with a gun” idea has been outed as a myth over and over again. That myth and the fairly consistent mass shootings in the U.S. are why most of us see a random person with a gun as a threat, not protection.
I would say, “We aren’t living in the Wild West,” but even in the West of the 1880s, guns being carried where lots of people gathered was known to be an issue. That’s why Wyatt Earp prohibited people from carrying guns in Tombstone, making visitors turn in their guns when they came into town. Other Old West towns had similar laws, so it’s not like grocery shopping with a gun is some longstanding, untouchable American tradition.
All I see when I see someone wearing a gun while running errands is fear and paranoia, which is a bad combination when mixed with a deadly weapon. Imagine if someone had a machete sticking out the back of their pants everywhere they went. How insane would that look? How is a loaded handgun any different, other than being able to kill more people more quickly and efficiently with it?
This element of American culture causes people in other developed nations to look at us in utter bafflement. Heck, it baffles me, and I grew up here. We have a gun problem in the U.S. That fact is indisputable. And it’s not just because criminals have guns. States with higher gun ownership rates have higher gun death rates. States with stricter gun laws have lower gun death rates. Ideology aside, the math favors fewer guns and stricter laws, not the free-for-all gun culture gripping a decent portion of the country.
Additionally, how can we truly say we’re a great nation if people feel like they can’t leave the house unarmed? I can’t wrap my brain around the mindset. What kind of warped version of “freedom” is that?
I’ve lived in rural, urban, and suburban areas, in all different regions of the country, and not once in my 46 years of life have I ever felt the need to carry a gun. Pepper spray? Sure, just in case. Self-defense knowledge? Absolutely. A loaded handgun? No. A loaded handgun sticking out of my pants so everyone knows I have it? Crimony, no.
And now we have states like Texas making it legal for people to carry guns without even having to have a license or permit. That means no background checks. No gun safety education. No training to assure that a person knows how to handle a firearm or screening to make sure that they aren’t a homicidal maniac. It’s pure madness.
People say that the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution are what make America great, and that’s true for the most part. But I would argue that the way some Americans choose to exercise their second amendment right does just the opposite. Imagine someone touting their first amendment right while standing on a street corner yelling, “I think every person I see might be out to kill me, and I don’t care about the safety or comfort of other people! Yay, America!” Seems pretty kooky, right? I see no difference between that and a person packing heat to pick up some Ben & Jerry’s.
Freedom that feels like fear isn’t true freedom, and wearing a gun in a grocery store feels like nothing but fear to me. If you have to carry a gun everywhere you go, you’re not free, no matter how much you talk about your constitutional rights.
Chrissy Teigen was once known as the “Mayor of Twitter” for her savage, hilarious, and refreshingly honest takes on the social media platform.
However, the tool that brought her so much love and adulation has nearly led to her undoing.
Last month, model and singer Courtney Stodden (who uses gender-neutral pronouns) revealed Teigen had repeatedly told them to kill themself via direct message. In addition to saying things like, “I can’t wait for you to die,” Stodden claims the model also told her to “Go. To. Sleep. Forever.”
Teigen also said they should “take a dirt nap” in a public-facing tweet.
The “Lip Sync Battle” star also said some cruel things to Lindsay Lohan after she admitted to cutting herself, remarking that she probably “adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees Emma Stone.”
“Project Runway” star Michael Costello and Teen Mom star Farah Abraham have also accused Teigen of bullying.
After the bullying scandal broke, Macy’s canceled her Cravings by Chrissy cookware line. The backlash was so strong that many, including Teigen, thought she had been canceled.
She apologized to Stodden on Twitter in May.
is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel. I have worked so hard to give you guys joy and be beloved and the… https://t.co/NrFGiI13M6
On Monday, Teigen gave a lengthy and impassioned response to the scandal on Medium. It seems like she’s genuinely upset about her behavior and deserving of the public’s forgiveness.
There are three important aspects of her apology that make it so effective. She shows genuine remorse, proves that she’s learned something from the ordeal, and hopes to use the situation to become a better role model to her children.
“I know I’ve been quiet, and lord knows you don’t want to hear about me, but I want you to know I’ve been sitting in a hole of deserved global punishment, the ultimate ‘sit here and think about what you’ve done.’ Not a day, not a single moment has passed where I haven’t felt the crushing weight of regret for the things I’ve said in the past,” she wrote.
“There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets,” she continued. “My targets didn’t deserve them. No one does. Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding and support, not my meanness masquerading as a kind of casual, edgy humor.”
“I was a troll, full stop,” she admitted. “And I am so sorry.”
She then dove deep into her frame of mind around the time that she was bullying people.
“In reality, I was insecure, immature and in a world where I thought I needed to impress strangers to be accepted. If there was a pop culture pile-on, I took to Twitter to try to gain attention and show off what I at the time believed was a crude, clever, harmless quip. I thought it made me cool and relatable if I poked fun at celebrities,” she wrote.
She admits that she felt she could troll fellow celebrities because she didn’t see them as human.
“I wasn’t just attacking some random avatar, but hurting young women — some who were still girls — who had feelings,” she wrote. “How could I not stop and think of that? Why did I think there was some invisible psycho-celebrity formula that prevents anyone with more followers from experiencing pain? How did I not realize my words were cruel? What gave me the right to say these things?”
Here’s the important part. Teigen has changed over the last ten years and that matters. We live in a world where people are often cast aside for things they’ve done years ago and nobody affords them the opportunity to change.
We all deserve a little grace in our lives and the opportunity to do better. People shouldn’t be defined by their worst moments.
“The truth is, I’m no longer the person who wrote those horrible things,” she wrote. “I grew up, got therapy, got married, had kids, got more therapy, experienced loss and pain, got more therapy and experienced more life. AND GOT MORE THERAPY.”
She also hopes the scandal will help her become a better role model for her two children.
“My goal is to be so good that my kids will think this was all a fairy tale,” Teigen joked. “Not the fake good. The good that has the best intentions, the good who wakes up wanting to make her friends, family, her team and fans as happy as possible. The good who will still f-ck up in front of the world but rarely, and never not growing only more good from it.”
Teigen ends the open letter with a small wish that should be granted.
“I won’t ask for your forgiveness, only your patience and tolerance. I ask that you allow me, as I promise to allow you, to own past mistakes and be given the opportunity to seek self-improvement and change,” she wrote.
As the temperatures begin to climb and we head deeper and deeper into summer, it’s now the perfect time to hit the beach or post-up poolside, crack open a can of your favorite beverage, and indulge in a nostalgia-inducing popsicle. Wait! Before someone races to the comments, let me add the obligatory sentence about how Popsicles are actually a brand name (like Band-Aid), and the frozen treats we’re talking about are actually referred to as ice pops — which honestly sound like the sort of trash snack a mean dad would give his children. Who goes around saying, “It’s so hot I could eat an ice pop?” Nobody! So we’re just going to refer to every entry in the following ranking as a popsicle, not THE Popsicle unless of course, it is actually made by the Popsicle brand.
Annnnyway… for this ranking, we’ve rounded up 16 popular popsicles from Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Whole Foods. Next, we broke them down by calories and sugar content and ranked them based on flavor in search of the very best. Summer is here baby, so let’s get into this ranking so that you can pick up some sweet and cold treats for the weekend.
The Bad — Don’t Give In To Nostalgia, Avoid These At All Costs
16. Popsicle — Colors
Popsicle
Calories: 40
Sugar: 7g
Average Retail Price: $4.29 (18 pack)
Straight up, these are way worse than you remember. This classic trio of popsicle flavors, Orange, Cherry, and Grape, tastes more like freezer-burned ice than they do the fruit flavors they’re supposed to conjure. The box reads “Colors From Natural Sources. Sugar-Free” which makes me wonder — are the Popsicles called “Colors” or is the brand claiming the color of each popsicle is derived from natural sources? I used to think it was the former, but now that I’ve reacquainted myself with each flavor, I think it’s the latter.
Really this stuff just tastes like ice, I think if anything the color influences the “flavor” more than anything else. Sometimes, for reasons unknown to me, certain popsicles will stick to the wrapping. It’s not a matter of age, it happens to random popsicles in the same box. What are the popsicles trying to tell us?
The Bottom Line
These are bad but if you want to rank them individually, I’d say it goes Grape, Orange, and Cherry, worst to best.
This is a weird one. When I grew up these featured a Flintstone’s theme — Fred was Orange Sherbet, Dino was Grape (obviously), and Pebbles was Cherry. They were delicious, but Nestle’s version is a far cry from that wondrous frozen treat. Don’t let the flashy names like “Cherry Blast,” “Turbo Grape,” and “Outrageous Orange,” fool you, these things mostly taste like the cardboard they’re housed in, and they’re not even sherbet.
This is truly an ice cream treat made for children, as it’s impossible to work your way through this without either licking cardboard, or getting your hand dirty as you jam this disgusting chapstick-like treat towards your face. In the pandemic era we live in? No thanks.
By the time you get to the end of this thing, you end up licking a plastic disc, it’s a fitting end for something that already tastes way too much like plastic.
The Bottom Line
Tasting notes of plastic and cardboard.
Pick up Nestle Push-Up Pops at Kroger. Or lick your mail, same deal.
14. Fudgsicle — Fudge Pop
Popsicle
Calories: 40
Sugar: 2g
Average Price: $4.29 (18 pack)
We’re a few entries into this ranking and I’ve said nothing but negative things. I’m not here to trash on all your childhood favorites, though. More to warn you that most of your childhood favorites are trash now. The Fudgsicle Fudge pop might’ve been good at one point, but these aren’t what they used to be. You’ll notice the box says stuff like “no sugar added” and “40 calories per pop” I get it, these snacks are marketed toward children so they’re taking a more health-conscious approach. Cool, I’m not mad at that, but it seems like it should be on the parents to make sure their kids don’t overdo it on the frozen sugar pops.
Am I crazy for thinking that? You’re in a section that sells frozen ice with flavoring, if you came here for something healthy your priorities are all out of wack. Whatever the case, if you bought this box hoping for some deep chocolatey goodness, it’s not here. This tastes like watery ice with just a hint of a flavor that I suppose you could describe as chocolate. It’s a sad scene.
The Bottom Line
Less fudge more sicle, if sicle means “ice.” But hey at least it doesn’t taste like cardboard.
Pick up Fudgsicles at Target if you want to spend money on a snack that I promise you won’t like.
13. Nestle Orange & Cream Bar
Nestle
Calories: 90
Sugar: 15g
Average Retail Price: $1.50 (for one bar)
Also known as a 50/50 bar, the Creamsicle is a classic popsicle flavor that offers a bit of zesty orange alongside creamy vanilla ice cream. Nestle’s version of the creamsicle is a disgrace to the concept of this flavor. Despite tasting like ice, this popsicle might still be refreshing on those brutally hot days when the heat is wearing you down, but if you’ve ever had a good creamsicle (not sure if they exist anymore) you won’t be able to get over the fact that these are seriously lacking something. The creaminess just isn’t there, and that’s a key part of the experience.
They’re also incredibly small, which adds to the unsatisfying quality.
The Bottom Line
Refreshing in the right setting, but you’re better off ordering the carton of ice cream version of this flavor if you really want to taste the wonderful combination of orange and vanilla.
Pick up a Nestle Orange Cream bar at Walmart and prepare to be disapointed.
The Good to Great
12. OtterPops
OtterPops
Calories: 15
Sugar: 3.5g
Average Retail Price: $11.15 (pack of 100)
Does OtterPops belong on a ranking of popsicles? They don’t come on a stick, but they are just essentially food coloring, ice, and fruit flavor so we’re going to go ahead and say “yes” and count these. And good thing too, because so far we’ve had nothing but trash, and here come Otter Pops to save us. Other Pops aren’t great, and a lot of the flavors are forgettable (Alexander the Grape and Sir Issac Lime, I’m looking at you) but at least they have flavor. Each Otter Pop will greet you with an intense blast of sugary semi-fruitiness. Luckily, Otter Pops are fairly small now — so before you start to realize you’re eating poison, you’re finished!
The flavor names are seriously weird here, you’ve got Strawberry Short Kook, which… are they saying she’s crazy? Louie Bloo Raspberry, who is French I guess since he wears a beret and a striped shirt, which of course means he’s flirty according to Otter Pops logic (he is seen on the box offering Short Kook a flower as she stares blankly at you). And then you’ve got Little Orphan Orange, which is a very weird thing to call a frozen snack.
Having said all that, there is something wonderful about eating a snack named after a brand-invented orphan while you in 2021. It’s trashy in an amusing way — like a mullet in your mouth.
The Bottom Line
My favorite flavors go — Little Orphan Orange, Louie Bloo Raspberry, Poncho Punch, Strawberry Short Kook, Sir Issac Lime, and Alexander The Grape.
I so desperately wanted these to blow me away, they’re made with real watermelon juice and fair trade organic agave nectar and cane sugar, and I was hoping they’d be similar to a watermelon margarita. They’re unfortunately not. Opening this treat will give you an appetizing melon smell, but this bar tastes less like watermelon to me than it does watermelon rind, and overall the experience of eating it was disappointing.
The quality of the ingredients sourcing and the dense texture of the bar is enough to knock it above some of the more candy-like options on this list, but if you were charmed by the name and the gourmet aesthetic, prepare to be let down.
The Bottom Line:
It’s decent and high quality, but not nearly as good as you want it to be.
Pick up GoodPop’s Watermelon Agave bar at Whole Foods.
10. Van Holten’s — Pickle Ice
Target
Calories: 0 (seriously)
Sugar: 0
Average Retail Price: $18.64 (12-pack)
I gotta admit, I’m ashamed that these are ranking this high. It’s exactly what it sounds like: frozen pickle juice. This undoubtedly will turn off anybody who doesn’t like pickles, but there is something interesting about these. They’re tangy, slightly sour, and incredibly refreshing and satisfying. They’re also packed with electrolytes, which… cool?
If you have an aversion to pickles, it’s going to be hard to convince you that this is worth trying, but if you do like pickles, go ahead and pick this up next time you’re in the freezer section and prepare yourself to be pleasantly surprised. I haven’t experimented with pairing this with a cocktail, but given that it’s iced pickle juice, I feel the possibilities are endless with this one.
The Bottom Line
It’s frozen pickle juice, which tastes way better than you’d imagine.
9. Annie’s Organic Fruit Juice Pops — Cheerful Cherry
Annie
Calories: 45
Sugar: 10g
Average Retail Price: $3.99 (pack of 10)
I fully expected to hate these — “organic fruit juice, no high fructose corn syrup, no flavors, colors, or preservatives from artificial sources” and just 45 calories, all this health shit sounds like a nightmare. I’m trying to snack! If I wanted something healthy I’d eat a piece of fruit.
Having said that, Annie’s Fruit Juice Pops are pretty damn good, it turns out you can make a healthier frozen ice pop and not have it taste like nothing, which means Popsicle brand just isn’t trying. My favorite flavor is the Cheerful Cherry and since Annie’s doesn’t sell that classic Grape, Cherry, and Orange trio pack, this one is making the ranking. The cherry flavor is strong, which helps to prevent the popsicles from ever having the harsh freezer burn flavor that plagues the cheaper brands.
I’m going to once again suggest enjoying this one with alcohol. Make a bright, fruity summer cocktail and dip Annie’s Cheerful Cherry in between sips — you’ve just taken your popsicle to the next level.
The Bottom Line
Annie’s Cheerful Cherry offers that classic intense popsicle flavor you remember from your youth. Don’t let the health-conscious packaging dissuade you, this is leagues better than Popsicle brand.
I used to grab these from the push-cart ice cream man at the park when I was little so not only was I surprised to find out that they still exist, I was surprised that they still taste exactly as intensely as I remember. The flavors are a little bit different, they’ve swapped out cherry for strawberry, which I think is a mistake, and the texture of the ice is slightly softer, but they’re still incredibly fruity and offer an experience akin to a slushy in a plastic sleeve.
My advice is to ditch that plastic sleeve, throw it in a bowl and break up that ice until you have slush, and then enjoy with a spoon. It’s a better experience and you won’t cut the sides of your mouth on the plastic, as I have since childhood.
Better yet, here is an idea: break up your favorite flavor and toss it in the blender with the rest of your frozen margarita ingredients for an extra sweet and intense slushy marg.
The Bottom Line
The only downside about this one, assuming you’re cool with artificially colored and flavored ice, is there are too many flavors. You’re inevitably going to have a few flavors that stay in your freezer forever. Give your least favorite flavors to your frenemies.
I was expecting this to be awful and I only picked it up because it was Spiderman themed (who doesn’t love Spidey?) and it reminded me of the Ninja Turtles ice cream bar with bubblegum eyes that I used to buy from the ice cream man when I was a kid. No bubblegum eyes here but I’m happy to report that this Spider-Man bar is way better than it should be.
Featuring a strawberry base with hints of blue raspberry and lime (the lime flavoring is in the eyes!) the Spiderman bar offers a mix of flavors with every lick. It’s like a cocktail on a stick, only it doesn’t get you drunk. If there is one thing that this popsicle ranking has revealed to me, it’s that I like to pair alcohol with popsicles. A lot.
Having said that, I was at a loss for how to pair this one with a cocktail, which is really just a sign of how good on its own it is.
The Bottom Line
Better than a popsicle shaped like Spiderman has any business being. If you’re going to buy one Popsicle product this summer, make it this one.
If you’re looking for the best fruit-flavored ice pops in the game, you won’t find a better brand than Outshine. Initially, I was feeling a bit salty that Outshine went with Tangerine over the classic Orange, and then I bit into one and was greeted by a sweet and tangy flavor that exceeded all expectations. The Cherry and Grape flavor is also a step up from the popsicles of my youth, offering a rich and fruity flavor that will make you forget that you’re just eating ice.
Cherry and grape can sometimes taste medicinal, but that’s not the case here with Outshine, everything is fruity and refreshing with a focused flavor that far surpasses what Annie’s offers.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for that classic popsicle flavor trio, this is hands-down your best choice.
Pick up Outshine Cherry, Tangerine, and Grape Fruit Bars at Walmart.
5. 365 Everyday Value — Strawberry Fruit Bars
Whole Foods
Calories: 120
Sugar: 28g
Average Retail Price: $2.49 (4 pack)
I’m not the biggest fan of strawberry flavored sweets, I generally think the flavors are a far cry from their real world counterparts, which I find too distracting to enjoy, but Whole Foods’ 365 Strawberry Fruit bar actually tastes like a big bar of frozen strawberries. That probably comes down to the fact that the first ingredient in these frozen bars are actual strawberries, and then water, and cane sugar. It has so few ingredients, that I was actually shocked when I looked at the box.
Don’t celebrate too soon though, because this isn’t some healthy natural snack, at 28 grams of sugar these bars have more sugar in them than most of the ice pops on this list. It is a bit more “real” than the other bars on this list though — with bits of actual strawberries embedded in each bar and a flavor that strikes a nice balance between sweet and sour notes.
The Bottom Line
Sweet, natural, and refreshing, but if you’re trying to stay away from sugar be warned — these have a lot, as much as about half a can of strawberry soda.
I love and find it incredibly funny that Whole Foods, a market that has over the years branded itself as a healthy haven for health conscious dorks, has one of the most wildly sweet and decadent popsicles on this list. Guess that’s what happens when Amazon buys you? All shade aside… I love these. Don’t get me wrong, they’re way too sweet and I can’t really stomach an entire bar, it’s just too overwhelming, which is why it isn’t ranking higher on this list, but the experience of eating half a bar is pretty amazing.
The Coconut Fruit bars have pieces of real coconut embedded within them, but don’t let that fool you into thinking these are in the least bit natural or healthy. The coconut is candied, offering an intensely sweet flavor that’s akin to the shaved coconut frosting on top of a donut. Midway through, these get so sickeningly sweet that you’ll seriously contemplating putting it back in the wrapper and throwing yours back in the freezer.
That’s disgusting. Don’t do that. But we definitely understand if you can’t finish a whole bar.
The Bottom Line
Incredibly sweet and delicious for a moment, and then unfortunately overwhelming. You gotta be high to get through one of these things.
Sometimes nothing hits the spot like a good Creamsicle — or 50/50 bar if you prefer — but too many of the brands at the mainstream grocery stores don’t do this delicious combination of vanilla and orange justice. By “too many brands” I mean all of them. After having a few different brands, everything from Nestle to Popsicle’s Good Humor Creamsicle, I’ve found that they all taste way too icy. The vanilla inside suffers the most, calling it vanilla is a disservice. It’s more like frozen milk.
If you really want a classic creamsicle, sorry, I’m going to suggest you skip the idea of having it in bar form, and instead reach for Breyer’s Creamsicle flavored ice cream. Despite its affiliation with Popsicle brand, it tastes nothing like the freezer pop version, which just makes the Creamsicle frozen pop version even more sad. I’ve said a lot now about an ice cream flavor that doesn’t appear on this list, because while GoodPop’s Orange Cream pops clearly take inspiration from the creamsicle, it’s something different entirely.
First of all, it’s dairy-free, the Orange Cream Pops aren’t made with vanilla ice cream, but instead an organic coconut cream mixed with an orange ice pop coating made from organic Valencia orange juice. The flavors are great, with a bright citrus forward flavor that leads into a creamy nutty finish that isn’t sickeningly sweet like the Whole Food Coconut Fruit Bars, but still isn’t entirely natural-tasting either. Alas, with the coconut cream in place of the vanilla, we can’t really call this a creamsicle as good and close to the real thing as it is.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t quite a creamsicle due to the use of coconut cream in place of vanilla, but right now it’s the best tasting ice pop that resembles a classic 50/50 bar you can find at any market.
Pick up GoodPop’s Orange Cream Pop at Whole Foods.
2. The Original Bomb Pop
Bomb Pop
Calories: 120
Sugar: 7g
Average Retail Price: $2.97
I went back and forth over which popsicle deserved the number one spot but ultimately the Original Bomb Pop is just going to have to take second place here. No ice cream pop screams “summer” to me quite like the Bomb Pop, and the OG version has yet to be watered down and made healthy, delivering a seriously addicting combination of intensely sweet lime, blue raspberry, and cherry. There is something subtly sour about this flavor combination, which adds a nice complexity (feels ridiculous to call a popsicle “complex,” but here we are) to the experience.
The individually wrapped Bomb Pops are nearly twice the size and feature a sour gumball at the tip. If you see this version, give it a try, but the standard market size without the gumball works too. In fact, if you do find the larger version, ditch the gumball as it’ll lose flavor almost immediately. Once you freeze gum it becomes intensely hard, so hard it might crack your tooth which will probably be such a traumatizing experience that you’ll swear off popsicles forever, and we don’t want that for you.
This Fourth of July you could go around waving an American flag, but that’s tacky. Wave a bomb pop instead. Then go blow some shit up and enjoy the show while you eat this sweet and sour treat.
The Bottom Line
This summer we’re giving the number two popsicle spot to the almighty Bomb Pop. Don’t get the Rocket Pop, or some other red, white and blue popsicle, settle for nothing less than the original.
Apparently Popsicle’s original Big Stick has been officially discontinued, but… not really, as you can find this bar at most grocery stores, either under the Popsicle moniker, or under another name (Monster Pop, and Super Pop are popular options, Cherry-Pineapple swirl works too) as well as on Popsicle’s website as individually wrapped bars. Honestly, whether you buy Popsicle brand or not, it doesn’t really matter. Hands down, Big Sticks are one of the best popsicle flavors of all time. President Theodore Roosevelt once said “Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far,” historians think that that refers to his foreign policy but they’re wrong, he was actually talking about these things. Which makes sense because he invented them! (Okay, I made that up — I’ve had a lot of sugar today).
When someone says the word “popsicle” this is the first flavor that comes to my mind, and for that reason, it’ll always be my number one. A delicious mix of cherry and pineapple, when these flavors come together they are greater than the sum of their parts, offering sweet and tangy goodness with every lick. They’re also considerably bigger than your typical popsicle, a promise right in the name, which gives you more to enjoy!
Be wary though, some brands will offer a mix of strawberry and pineapple. That’s not a Big Stick. It has to be cherry. Don’t get me wrong, the Big Stick doesn’t taste like either pineapple or cherry, but when you throw strawberry in there it really changes the experience for the worse.
The Bottom Line
Sweet, tangy, and refreshing, the Big Stick is easily the best popsicle flavor you will ever experience.
Pick up a Big Stick at your local market (trust us, its there, it might be in a non descript plastic bag under another name) or via the Popsicle website.
Ted Cruz is, for better or worse, a fixture of Texas politics. And so what he says about Matthew McConaughey’s potential attempt to unseat governor Greg Abbott is certainly of note ahead of rumblings that the actor actually wants to run for office.
According to Forbes, Cruz spoke in a radio interview on the Hugh Hewit Show, Cruz called himself a “big fan” and “close friend” of Abbott but said he knows McConaughey and called him , 51, personally “very charming, “affable” and “good-looking.” That would make him a “formidable” candidate, which is why he’d prefer he doesn’t mess with Texas politics.
“I think he would undoubtedly be formidable,” Cruz said of McConaughey, according to Forbes.
Asked how the actor would fare in the race against Abbott, Cruz said: “I like Matthew personally. I know him a little bit. Not well, but I’ve spent a little bit of time with him and he’s a very charming, very affable guy,” Forbes reported.
“I hope Matthew decides not to run,” he added, according to The Hill.
In May, there was a report that McConaughey was apparently “making calls” about a potential run and lining up donors. So there’s certainly some smoke here, and now we have an established Republican saying he’d prefer the actor not enter the space and potentially unseat another established Republican. Time will tell if there’s anything for Cruz to actually worry about with the Austin resident, but he certainly has made his stance known here.
Team USA’s backcourt for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo just picked up some additional scoring punch. With Damian Lillard already in tow to man one guard spot, Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic report that Washington Wizards All-Star Bradley Beal is slated to join the team in its pursuit for a fourth consecutive gold medal.
Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal has committed to Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics, sources tell me and @joevardon. Beal joins Portland’s Damian Lillard, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Golden State’s Draymond Green among initial pledges.
As Charania noted, Beal becomes the fourth person to commit to joining the team. A pair of forwards, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green and Boston Celtics standout Jayson Tatum, have already committed to making the trip to Tokyo as members of the national team. Tatum and Beal, of course, are close, as both are from St. Louis.
Beal has only represented the United States at the youth levels, having won gold medals at tournaments with the U16s in 2009 and the U17s the following year. He’s coming off of perhaps his best season as a professional, as he earned a third-team All-NBA nod and narrowly missing out on the scoring title to Steph Curry. On the season, Beal averaged 31.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 35.8 minutes per game.
USA Basketball is slated to hold a training camp that begins on July 6, with the men’s tournament in Tokyo beginning on July 25.
Our week-long celebration of video games has come to an end. While some people may have been a little more disappointed than others in how E3 played out, the general agreement is that it was a fun week. We saw a lot of video games, and even with the expectations of it being a slower year than usual, it still had some heavy hitters and surprises. All in all, E3 2021 left most of us excited for the future of video games as a whole.
Having said that, there were still a handful of companies that left us wanting more — bigger announcements, a more succinct show, or in one case, any information at all. Some presentations left us wanting to purchase a console or play the newest game, while others failed to meet our already low expectations. Everyone gets a mulligan this year due to a significant amount of delays, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find some winners and losers.
Winner: Microsoft Bethesda
Nobody at E3 had a stronger show than Microsoft and Bethesda’s presentation. The two combined into one presentation as both a show of unity following Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda. The show itself was well organized, with enough room to breathe between announcements while never being boring. It had heavy hitters like Starfield, Halo Infinite, and The Outer Worlds 2, but it also featured some intriguing smaller titles. Shredders might be the return to snowboard games many of us have been begging for, and anyone not excited for Microsoft Flight Simulator getting a Top Gun expansion must not know joy in life.
Then there was arguably the biggest selling point of the entire event: Game Pass. Microsoft has been putting a lot of support behind Game Pass for the last few years and this year’s E3 was the big payoff. This was as close to a perfect conference as possible with many fans, frustrated over their inability to find a new console, deciding they would get an Xbox so they can use Game Pass. This was more than just a presentation for Microsoft, it was a coming-out party. Years of work to change the landscape of gaming all peaking at once. Now, we get to see if their efforts were successful in increasing sales.
Loser: Sony
Looking around at a few of the other conferences, Sony choosing to not have a presentation this year was a great decision. If there is nothing to show, then forcing a presentation for the sake of a presentation is only going to lead to frustration. So in that sense, Sony didn’t lose E3, but with how strong some of their competitors were, it definitely didn’t feel like a victory. The PlayStation 5 has been largely successful so far, but every day, the reasons for buying an Xbox increase, while the differences between a PS5 and PS4 blur with every update. Sony needs a big winner before the end of the year if they want to keep their lead over Microsoft in this console generation.
Winner: Nintendo
There have been rumors of a new Switch being on the way, but when Nintendo announced their Direct for E3, it was stated that it would only be about upcoming games. Without a new console, we all just kind of assumed it would be a tame Direct, but Nintendo quickly put those concerns to rest. A new 2D Metroid game, alongside Breath of the Wild 2, gave them one of the stronger presentations over the weekend. They even threw in a new Warioware to top it all off. We still don’t know what’s happening with this reportedly new Switch, but those of us who already have one have plenty to be excited about right now.
Winner: Indies
There were hundreds of indie games showcased over the week, and with a lot of the AAA publishers not having much to show, it was a major victory for small developers. We already know that indie games are generally on the rise in terms of what they mean for video games as a whole, but this was a year where we have very few must-grab titles arriving. Those of us who are starved for new releases can turn towards all of the indie titles available as a means to hold us over. Many of them are available in early access or will be coming out soon, and each one is more unique than the last. Indie games aren’t forced to stay in the realm of the norm and that allows them to explore new ways to stand out, or maybe give us something artistic, or wholesome. In a year where we don’t know what the next big AAA game is, we can be happy about the plethora of indie games to choose from. This is a win for gaming as a whole.
Loser: Square Enix
The Square Enix presentation wasn’t bad, but it was extremely limited in what it had to offer in terms of new games. They had three major announcements in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Final Fantasy Pixel Remastered, and Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin. The Guardians game looked pretty fun and was easily the best part of the presentation. Pixel Remastered is a great idea in concept, but instead of packaging Final Fantasy I – VI in one whole game, it’s going to be individual releases, which feels like a cash grab. Final Fantasy Origin has some of the worst dialogue of any trailer ever, and the demo didn’t even work at launch. It’s hard to call this a winning presentation.
Loser: Ubisoft
Ubisoft probably could have gotten away with not having a presentation and just posting a few of the trailers online. They chose to show off most of their biggest upcoming title, Far Cry 6, in the weeks leading up to E3, which led to a bit of a vacuum in the presentation itself. They spent a lot of time on the new Rainbow Six game and a Rocksmith update. They ended with a new trailer for the next Mario + Rabbids game, and that was exciting, but the presentation itself was lacking in content. Ubisoft maybe should have considered skipping out on a presentation this year.
Loser: E3
E3 has been on its heels for a few years now in terms of how developers view the event. While it’s always a good time, it’s becoming pretty clear that companies like Sony and EA are wondering why they should be taking part in E3 when they can do a better job speaking to their fans directly or hosting their own events. As a result, the ESA went out this year, got a bunch of different companies that typically don’t have presentations, and gave them slots.
The results for this ranged from “mixed” to “bad.” Events like Capcom, BANDAI NAMCO, and the Indie Game Showcase were painfully short. The BANDAI NAMCO presentation, in particular, was literally there to just show one game. It came off very much like the ESA was just trying to fill time where it could. Maybe in the future, now that some of these companies have slots, we will get larger presentations. For 2021, however, it ended up being a lot of dead time between the major events.
Winner: Summer Game Fest
By virtue of E3 being a loser, Summer Game Fest is a winner. Geoff Keighly’s direct competition event, which is meant to showcase games the same way E3 does, ran alongside E3 but no one really paid attention to it beyond the first two days. Still, those first two days did feature major announcements like Elden Ring and garnered quite a bit of attention. It showed that it belonged to be a part of the summer games showcase conversation, which should be interesting in following years. While it may have not made too much noise this year during E3, I would expect that to change next year when developers have more to show.
Fantasy football is serious business with the right group, and one man took his punishment for finishing last very serious in a story that became a viral sensation on Twitter.
Lee Sanderlin, a journalist in Jackson, Mississippi, tweeted on Thursday that he would begin a punishment for finishing last in a fantasy football league that involved spending 24 hours in a Waffle House. The catch was that the time needed to fulfill that punishment would decrease by an hour for every waffle he consumed.
I got some books, some magazines and some podcasts. And two waffles to start.
The tweet quickly gained traction on social media, with several sports reporters and other figures in the football world rooting him on. And he needed the help, because Sanderlin struggled with the challenge.
Four waffles down. Been here for 1.5 hours, so that means I have 18.5 to go. I am already in immense discomfort. Please, somebody, launch me into the sun pic.twitter.com/LyyZObcmQ3
Y’all they’re going down like cement now, and the heart is beating real heavy-like. I’m the only non-employee in here. Got half of waffle 6 left and so many hours.
Sometime after waffle number six, Sanderlin says he threw up. Which, according to the rules established by the commissioner, did not mean he lost that hour he got for eating said waffle. If we’re allowed to be critical here, viewing this as an eating challenge and not a casual hang at Waffle House was the biggest problem. Starting with two waffles right off the bat and not slowly eating at a steady pace certainly amplified the feelings of regret and bloat.
And as many pointed out, this isn’t a unique challenge. Others have had similar punishments for fantasy sports failure, and some even fared significantly better than Sanderlin. They were also VERY generous with the tip.
Have we all just chosen to forget the original Waffle House guy from January who also raised a $1000 tip for his server https://t.co/B0cQbxEEld
Still, he did manage to finish by Friday morning after an all-nighter and nine waffles shortened the experience to a mere 15 hours.
The sun is rising, it’s a new day and I’m never eating waffles again. That’s 9 waffles and 15 hours in this restaurant. S/o to the staff for letting me hang out on a slow night (I tipped them well don’t worry). This was horrible and I recommend no one ever do this. pic.twitter.com/PDGsuHYINf
It’s a learning lesson for everyone involved, and Sanderlin said many times on social media he wasn’t looking for donations, rather asking people to donate to local causes in their community. All in all, it’s a nice story and some unexpected good press for Waffle House. We’d like to wish him better luck at drafting a team next year so he doesn’t have to do this again.
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