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Lemonade

Lemonade

Lemonade refers to one of several beverages.
- In the U.S. and Canada it refers to an uncarbonated soft drink made of a mixture of lemon juice, sugar, and water.
- In the UK, it more often refers to a carbonated (fizzy) drink, sometimes lemon-flavoured, comparable to but excluding the brands 7-Up or Sprite, which are lemon-and-lime flavoured. The combination of lemonade and beer produces a shandy. The drink that Americans call lemonade is relatively rare in the UK, where it is generally known as "real lemonade".
- In France, as in UK, it refers to a carbonated drink, such as Lorina or Pschitt.
- In Germany "Limonade" or "Limo" refers to any carbonated soft drink, especially sweet lemon-flavored drinks, which are sometimes referred to as "süßes Sprudel". The combination of beer and this type of lemonade produces a radler (southern Germany)/an Alsterwasser (northern Germany). The combination of white wine and this type of lemonade produces a "Limoschoppen" or "Süßgespritzter".
- In Australia and New Zealand, it refers to lemon flavoured and carbonated drink or lemon flavoured "soft drink" such as Sprite. Generally lemonade refers to chemically induced lemon flavours while lemon squash refers to real lemon.
- In the Netherlands it refers to any fruit concentrate cordial that is diluted with water.
- In the Hong Kong Cha chaan tengs, it may refer to a drink which is made by sweetening water with syrup, followed by adding few slices of lemon (檸檬水 Lit. Lemon water).
- In Ireland, it refers to the carbonated, lemon-flavoured soft drink but is further sub-divided into 'white lemonade' and 'red lemonade'. White lemonade equates to the colourless fizzy lemonade common in many countries, while (fizzy) Red Lemonade is particular to Ireland.

North America

An approximate recipe for U.S. and Canadian lemonade is to mix equal volumes of lemon juice and sugar and add water to taste, approximately four times as much water as lemon juice. About three quarters the volume of sugar is likely to be better to the taste of most people. It is traditionally served cold, preferably with ice. In many upscale supermarkets, tall bottles of supposedly European lemonade can be purchased. These are always carbonated or “sparkling.” Often, these are translucent yellow, more like North American lemonade, though there are occasionally transparent and pink varieties as well. A pink lemonade variation can be produced by adding red food coloring or grenadine syrup. Traditionally, beet juice provided the pink color; so little is needed that the flavor of the drink remains largely unchanged. This beverage may have originated as a replacement for "Indian lemonade," a cold infusion of red sumac berries, sometimes sweetened with maple sugar. Sumac beverages have a taste and appearance similar to pink lemonade, and were popular with Native Americans and early European settlers. A popular urban legend about pink lemonade is that it was first made when a circus owner could only find one source of water to make lemonade: that which the clowns used to wash off their make-up. While mint, borage, lavender, and even alcohol can be added to lemonade without changing its name in American parlance, the term is more specific in the U.S. than in some of the countries listed above. Substituting limes or oranges for lemons produces limeade or orangeade, respectively. Sweet tea, the Southern variant of iced tea, is often mixed with lemonade (referred to as "half and half"). Any bottled beverage with any amount of tea is labelled "iced tea", no matter how close it may be to lemonade.

United Kingdom

In Britain in the 1970s lemonade was not considered a glamorous product. This was deliberately parodied in a television commercial for R. White's lemonade, in which a man sneaks downstairs in his pajamas singing "I'm a secret lemonade drinker — I'm trying to give it up but it's one of those nights." When his wife catches him at the refrigerator he sheepishly offers her a glass. The commercial was a huge success and ran for almost a decade, although later attempts to revive the campaign were less successful. Although it's fairly well known that Ross MacManus (father of Declan MacManus aka Elvis Costello) was the original voice of The Secret Lemonade Drinker, it's not widely known that the tune was actually composed by Bob Holness of Blockbusters fame. There is also a varient of Lemonade which is actually peach flavoured ade. This "Peach-Ade" is very refreshing and it is quite healthy, containing no sugar. There has been some controversy over its levels of E951 additive which has been related to causing cancer. Most soft drinks contain this chemical but only in small quantities.

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Soft drink

A soft drink is a drink that does not contain alcohol, as opposed to hard drinks, that do. In general, the term is used only for cold beverages. Hot chocolate, tea, and coffee are not considered soft drinks. The term originally referred exclusively to carbonated drinks (soda), and is still commonly used in this manner. carbonated

Marketing

Soft drinks are commonly sold in stores in bottles and cans. Sales earn a significant amount of money for the producers and distributors. Most famous name-brand soft drinks are produced and bottled by local or regional independent bottling companies. These companies license the name, and are usually sold the main ingredients, with syrup made by the main manufacturing plants of the trademark holders. In the past, most cola-flavoured and other soft drinks were sweetened with ordinary sugar (sucrose), but to save on production costs, most companies in the USA have turned to the more economical HFCS (High-Fructose Corn Syrup) as a sweetener, because of the high price of sugar in the USA due to sugar quotas. In some countries outside the United States, sugar is still used. Competition in the industry among soft drink producers is widely referred to as the "cola wars".

Diet soft drinks

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for alternatives to sugar-heavy soft drinks. "Regular" soft drinks largely contain sugar or corn syrup, and have been blamed in recent years for contributing to obesity. Sugars, like other carbohydrates, stimulate the production of the hormone insulin, which causes the body to store fat rather than burn it. "Diet" soft drinks are sweetened with chemicals, such as aspartame and saccharin, that are perceived as sweet by most people, yet do not stimulate insulin production or have any food energy or nutritional value.

Naming conventions

Pop vs. soda vs. coke in the United States

In the United States, "soft drink" commonly refers to cold, non-alcoholic beverages. Carbonated beverages are regionally known as "pop" in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. In the Northeast, parts of the South (near Florida) and Midwest (near St.Louis and eastern Wisconsin), and California, they are known as "soda". In much of the South, they are generically called "coke". (Atlanta, Georgia is home to the Coca-Cola Company.) Internally, the Coca-Cola Company (and probably other such corporations) uses the term "non-alcoholic carbonated beverage". In some other areas these drinks are called "soda pop", while in and around Boston, Massachusetts, they are often called "tonic", particularly among older generations. In North Carolina, the terms "drink" and "soft drink" are commonly used along with "soda" and "coke" to refer to non-alcoholic cold drinks. Some older generations of Southerners refer to such drinks as "dope". See [http://www.popvssoda.com/ The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy] for maps and geographical trends. At many restaurants in the U.S., one finds that the products of only a single major beverage producer, such as The Coca-Cola Company or PepsiCo, are available. While a patron who requests a “coke” may be truly indifferent as to which cola brand he receives, the careful order taker will confirm intent with a question like “Is Pepsi OK?” Similarly, “7 Up” or “Sprite” may indicate whichever clear, carbonated, citrus-flavored drink happens to be at hand. The generic uses of these brand names does not affect the local usage of the words "pop" or "soda", to mean any carbonated beverage.

Names in other countries and languages

In Australia and New Zealand, "soft drink" almost always refers to carbonated beverages. In some parts of Australia the term "lolly water" is synonymous with "soft drink", but it now increasingly refers to bright-coloured alcoholic drinks which some claim are marketed at youth ("lolly water" is also rarely used in reference to wine variants). "Lemonade" can refer to "lemon drink" or "lemon squash", but it is typically used only to refer to translucent or citrus-flavoured beverages (for example, Sprite, 7-Up, etc). The term "coke" is used not only for the Coca-cola beverage, but commonly for other brands of cola, although not universally. In Brazil, soft drinks are called 'refrigerante', or sometimes just as 'refri'. Although there is the term soda, it just refers specifically to lemon lime soft drinks. Not for Coke or Pepsi, for instance. In Canada, "pop" is the most commonly used term among English speakers to refer to a carbonated soft drink. "Soda" is almost never used. In French, a "soft drink" is referred to by its literal translation, "boisson douce". "Boisson gazeuse", "liqueur douce", and "liqueur" are also used by French Canadians. The use of "liqueur" in this fashion is distinctly Canadian French; in France, "liqueur" refers to a very specific set of aperitive and digestive alcoholic drinks. In China, soft drinks are often called "gas/air water" (汽水) or simply "drinks" (Simp.Chinese:饮料 Trad.Chinese:飲料). The first one refers to carbonated drinks only while the latter refers to any drink (though often it refers to soft drink). It is far more common to say the actual name of the drink (eg. Coke, Bottled Tea etc.) than saying generic terms above. In Dutch, soft drinks are called frisdrank ('fresh drink'), a word coined in 1956 by adman Dick Schiferli. In Ethiopia, soft drinks are generally known by the Amharic word "leslassa", meaning literally "smooth". The popular brand names "Koka" (Coke) and "Mirinda" (Orange Soda) are also in common parlance. In German, soft drinks are known as Limo short for Limonade, the German word for lemonade, but in America lemonade is an uncarbonated beverage, generally not considered a soft drink. Some regions also use Sprudel (from sprudeln=to be fizzy) or Brause (in eastern Germany) for carbonated non-alcoholic drinks. However, Fruchtschorle is one of the most popular soft drinks in Germany, but it is never called Limo since it contains no added sugar. In Greece, the term Gazoza is used to refer to clear soft drinks such as 7-Up or Sprite. In India, soft drinks go by a variety of names including "juice", "soft drinks", "cold drinks" and "cool drinks". "Soda" in India refers generally to carbonated water and not artificially flavored, carbonated beverages. One of the most popular is Pepsi's Mirinda brand. In Ireland, soft drinks are referred to as "minerals". Lemonade is also a generic term for a fizzy drink, and comes in two varieties — red and white. Red lemonade is similar to the Scottish drink Irn-Bru, and is popular both as a drink for kids and as a mixer for spirits. In Japan, soft drinks are commonly referred to as "juice", and by younger generations as "drink", a shortened term for "PET-bottle drink". Non-carbonated drinks capture the majority of the soft drink market, and their main rivals are varieties of bottled tea and green tea. Canned and bottled coffee has an equally large market share, and the carbonated drink market is smaller, in contrast to other nations. Coca-Cola splits the carbonated market with Mitsuya Saidaa -- a sweet, clear carbonated drink, and Pepsi lags behind these two, entering the market only in the 90s. Lime flavored drink (Mountain Dew and Sprite) holds almost no market share or marketed with only a touch of lime flavor. The official name for such drinks in documents and labels is Seiryo Inryo Sui (清涼飲料水) and those carbonated are called Tansan Inryo (炭酸飲料). In Paraguay, soft drinks are called gaseosas. The name coca is also common. In Mexico, soft drinks are called "refrescos", and less frequently "gaseosas". In Norwegian, carbonated soft drinks are called brus, which means "fizz". It is a truncated form of the now obsolete bruslimonade. In Swedish, soft drinks are called läsk which comes from läskande drycker (roughly — refreshing drinks) and denotes carbonated non-alcoholic soft drinks. In northern Sweden the word dricka (drink) is often used. The word lemonad has more or less the same use as the English word lemonade, but belongs to a slightly higher level of style than läsk. In Finland-Swedish lemonad is more common and refers to all kinds of carbonated soft drinks, läsk (or läskedryck) is also used. Many people, both Finnish and Swedish speakers, also uses the word limsa. In the United Kingdom the term originally applied to carbonated drinks ("pop") and non-carbonated drinks made from concentrates ("squash"), although it now commonly refers to any drink that does not contain alcohol. To further confuse matters, alcopops are often called "alcoholic soft drinks". The term "pop", once popular as a generic term for soft drinks is now mainly restricted to the north of England, and Wales. The term "fizzy drinks" is also used as a synonym for sweetened carbonated drinks. In the West of Scotland, soft drinks are commonly known as "ginger", presumably referring to an early "soft drink", ginger beer. Carbonated drinks are also known as "juice" in some locations, including most of the east of Scotland. In Denmark the name for soft drinks is sodavand, which directly translated means soda water. The term sodavand is exclusively used for sweet non-alcoholic soft drinks like Coca Cola, Pepsi and Fanta. See also: List of soft drinks by country

Mixed soft drinks

- A graveyard / suicide / pop bomb / swamp water / garbage soda is made by mixing many soft drinks together, usually from a soda fountain.
- A float is created by dropping a scoop of ice cream into a soft drink. In the midwestern United States, a soft drink with ice cream added is most often called a "soda," thus leading to quizzical looks from waitstaff when people ask for a "soda" instead of pop. The most common of these is the Root beer float. In Australia and New Zealand, this is known as a Spider. In Brazil, a scoop of ice cream into a soft drink may have different names: :
- vaca preta (black cow) - ice cream in cola. :
- vaca amarela (yellow cow) - ice cream in guarana flavoured soft drink. :
- pantera cor de rosa (the Pink Panther) - strawberry ice cream in lemon lime soft drink. In the U.S., some floats have specific names as a Brown Cow or Black Cow, vanilla ice cream in root beer, or Boston cooler, vanilla ice cream in Vernor's ginger ale.

Controversy

Studies showing a correlation between soft drinks and obesity

A study from Harvard shows that soft drinks may be responsible for the doubling of obesity in children over the last 15 years. From 1991 and 1995, adolescent boys in the US, on average, increased their intake of soft drinks from 345 mL to 570 mL. Most soft drinks are sweetened with sugar or corn syrup, and not artificial sweeteners. Dr. David Ludwig of the Boston Children's Hospital showed that school children drinking at least eight U.S. fluid ounces (240 mL) or more of regularly sweetened drinks daily will consume 835 calories (3,500 kilojoules) more than those avoiding soft drinks; i.e., children who drink soft drinks loaded with sugar tend to eat much more food than those who avoid soft drinks. Either those taking sugared drinks lack the same restraint on foods, or sugared drinks cause a rise in insulin that makes adolescents more hungry, causing them to eat more. Soft drinks (including diet soft drinks) are also typically consumed with other high-calorie foods such as fast food. Children who drink soft drinks regularly are therefore fatter on average, in addition to being more likely to develop diabetes later in life (see below). :Source: - Lancet 2001;357:505-08. "Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis" Dr. David Ludwig from the Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health. This finding is controversial, because children in much of the Third World also consume large numbers of soft drinks with even more sugar, and do not share the same obesity rates as American children, suggesting that other factors are involved aside from sugar consumption in soft drinks. Suggested factors include physical activity, and the fact that American soft drinks are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is used to enhance the sweetness of some soft drink beverages, could also play a role by stimulating appetite.

Soft Drinks linked to diabetes

In 2004, a study of 50,000 nurses over a period of 8 years found that drinking one or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day increases one's risk of developing diabetes by 80%, when compared to those who drank less than 1 soft drink per month. This finding was independent of other lifestyle factors [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15328324&query_hl=20]. In the same study, a similar observation was made for fruit juice consumption. This finding is controversial.

Availability

Some argue that soft drinks are too widely available, from every restaurant, movie theater, vending machine, and similar locations. The wide availability is said to cause young people to somewhat mistake soft drinks for a major food group. Others believe that the high price of soft drinks should offer a significant disincentive to impulse buy such beverages and prevents sale to children without parental approval. They also believe that a small amount of will power on the part of the individual is all that's required to reduce consumption and that one should take personal responsibility for their own purchasing decisions.

External links

- [http://www.nsda.org/ National Soft Drink Association (US)]
- [http://www.popvssoda.com/ The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy]
- [http://www.bevnet.com/ BevNET - The Beverage Network]
- [http://www.just-drinks.com/ just-drinks : Beverage Industry News ]
- [http://www.cspinet.org/sodapop/liquid_candy.htm Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health]
- ja:ソフトドリンク

Carbonation

Carbonation occurs when carbon dioxide is dissolved in water or an aqueous solution. This process is generally represented by the following reaction, where water and gaseous carbon dioxide react to form a dilute solution of carbonic acid. :H₂O + CO₂ ↔ H₂CO₃ This process yields the "fizz" to carbonated water and sparkling mineral water, the head to beer, and the cork pop and bubbles to champagne and sparkling wine. Carbonation is used to improve both the taste and "texture" of the carbonated consumable. Carbonation is sometimes used for reasons other than consumption, to lower the pH (raise the hydrogen ion concentration) of a water solution, for example. Carbonation can occur as a result of natural processes: when yeast ferments dissolved sugars sealed in a pressure-tolerant bottle or keg; when underground volcanic carbon dioxide carbonate well water; or when rainwater passes through limestone into a cave and forms a stalactite. Or it can be done artificially by dissolving carbon dioxide under pressure into the liquid. Sometimes natural carbonation is called conditioning while the term carbonation is reserved for the artificial process. In homebrewing overcarbonation can be dangerous, resulting in gushing -- or even exploding -- bottles. Adding priming sugar or malt extract at bottling time to beer that has had its fermentable sugar content totally consumed is the safest approach to carbonation. Exceeding recommended levels of priming sugar for a given recipe is dangerous, as is using inappropriate bottles or improper capping methods. Effervescence is associated with carbonation. Category:Chemical processes

7 Up

:This article is about a soft drink. There is also an unrelated 1964 documentary entitled Seven Up!, and a children's game called Seven Up. There is also a train called 7 Up in Pakistan. right 7 Up (sometimes spelled Seven Up) is the brand name of a lemon-lime flavored soft drink marketed by Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. (DPSU) in the United States (a unit of Cadbury-Schweppes since 1995). It has been bottled by Britvic in Britain since 1987. Outside the United States, the trademark to 7 Up belongs to PepsiCo. 7 Up, originally named Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda, was concocted in 1929 in Saint Louis, Missouri. It originally contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. Many early soft drinks contained herbal or pharmaceutical ingredients. This was removed in 1950. In 1998 in the first formula change since lithium was removed, 7 Up was flavor-enhanced, with no changes to sugar content or carbonation level. 7 Up has traditionally employed unique advertising tactics. In the 1970s, an advertising campaign dubbed 7 Up the "un-cola," playing on the drink's lack of caffeine. The brand has been represented by mascots including Fido Dido and Cool Spot, a sunglasses-sporting red dot. During the early 1980s, actor/choreographer Geoffrey Holder appeared in several commercials. More recent advertising campaigns have challenged consumers with slogans such as "Are you an Un?", portraying 7 Up drinkers as rebellious non-conformists, and "Make 7 Up Yours", implying an aggressive double meaning by separating the slogan into "Make 7" and "Up Yours".

History

Geoffrey Holder 7 Up was created by Charles Leiper Grigg who launched his company The Howdy Corporation in 1920. His original product was the Howdy Orange drink. After spending over two years testing various formulations, Grigg decided on one that he hoped would meet his goal to create a refreshing and distinctive drink. He would launch the product just two weeks before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Grigg never explained the origin of the 7 Up name, hence many folklores were born about the name. The most popular one is that Grigg named the soft drink after he saw a cattle brand with the number "7" and the letter "u." Other rumors suggest that the name reflects the drink's seven flavors and carbonation, or that Grigg came up with the name while playing dice. The 1920s poor economy was just the beginning of the business challenges the product would face. In its early years, there were around 600 lemon-lime beverage brands being sold in the US. 7 Up was able to survive and become the market leader in the category by being one of the first to be nationally distributed as well as being marketed as more healthy than other sodas. Based on the success of the new drink, Grigg renamed his company to The Seven Up Company in 1936. After establishing the category as more than a niche, major competitors set their sights on it such as The Coca-Cola Company with its Sprite brand introduced in 1961. Sprite would not challenge 7 Up's position seriously until the 1980s when Coke forced its major bottlers then distributing 7 Up to drop the beverage in deference to Sprite. 7 Up then became dependent on Pepsi's bottlers for distribution during the 1990s until PepsiCo launched its own serious entrant in the category with Sierra Mist in 2000. PepsiCo then adopted the previous Coca-Cola tactic and forced its bottlers to give up 7 Up for Sierra Mist which most did by 2003. The result is that in the United States, DPSU does not have a network of bottlers and distributors, so some of their products are frequently bottled under contract by independent Coca-Cola or Pepsi bottlers, though in some areas independent distributors exist, either by Cadbury-Schweppes, or by individual independent bottling plants. These third-tier bottlers do not have the ability to reach much beyond major supermarket chains, so 7 Up is increasingly difficult to find in smaller stores and vending machines. PepsiCo continues to distribute 7 Up Internationally, outside of the USA, (Canada), in lieu of Sierra Mist; its status elsewhere is unclear.

Brands and Variations

- Sugar-free 7 Up - introduced in 1970, and renamed Diet 7 Up in 1979. The product has gone through a number of reformulations. In the 1980s, Diet 7 Up, like most other diet sodas, made the transition from one artificial sweetener (saccharin) to another (aspartame). In 1998, Diet 7 Up got "flavor enhanced" along with its non-diet counterpart. A few years later, the sweetener acesulfame potassium (also known as ace-K) was added to the mix to help mask the aspartame aftertaste. Finally, in 2005, Diet 7 Up switched to a blend of sucralose (Splenda brand) and ace-K.
- Cherry 7-Up and Diet Cherry 7-Up were introduced in early 1987.
- 7 Up Ice Cola - introduced in 1995 by Pepsi for the International market. It was a clear cola. This was a failure and was discontinued.
- 7 Up Ice - In the UK.
- 7 Up Raspberry / Clear Raspberry available in Brunei, was also available in Canada for the summer of 1991
- 7 Up Light - available outside the USA, the diet version, available from Pepsi, which holds the International rights.
- 7-Up Gold - During the 1980s, test-marketed in certain areas of the United States. This was a ginger-flavored soda
- 7 Up Orange - Available outside of USA from Pepsi
- 7 Up Tropical / Tropical Splash
- 7 Up Plus - Introduced in 2004, it is supplemented with calcium, vitamin C, real fruit juice and sweetened with Splenda, an artificial sweetener. In 2005, 7Up Plus Cherry and 7Up Plus Island Fruit flavors of 7 Up Plus were released, with the Cherry Plus flavor replacing Diet Cherry 7 up in some markets.
- dnL - Introduced in 2002, the dnL product was created (its name is 7up inverted), with caffeine and green color, to compete with Mountain Dew.
- Citrus 7 and Diet Citrus 7 - contained 7 fruit flavors
- Like Cola and Diet Like Cola In 2005, 7 Up announced that it would be awarding one lucky customer a free ticket to Space.

pH

Some people mistakenly believe that the name 7 Up comes from the fact that its pH is above 7.0 (neutral), and thus does not pose the health hazards other soft drinks do, because of their acidic nature. This is not in fact that case, a simple pH meter test shows that the pH of 7 Up is comparable to any other soft drink, in the case of colas this is around pH 2.5, slightly less acidic than lemon juice.

Pop Culture

When The Seven-Ups (1973) was filmed - all of the actors posed in front of a 7-Up delivery truck as part of a publicity stunt for advertising the film. Seven-Up products appeared in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979). In 1983, as part of publicity for 7 Up in Mexico, the jingle on the spot was Kim Carnes' hit "Bette Davis Eyes" with the phrase "Alrededor del Mundo Seven Up" ("Around the World Seven Up") and the Pac-Man video game. In the same year, it was exhibited in Chile, with the slogan "Seven Up, cristalina y refrescante" (Seven Up, crystalline and refreshing), with voice in off by Antonio Vodanovic, host of the famous Song's International Festival of Viña del Mar.

External links

- [http://www.7up.com/ Official site]
- [http://www.twoop.com/food_drink/archives/2005/10/7up.html 7 Up] - A Timeline
- [http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Sept04/020904/bb12.htm 7up in Brunei]
- [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=5th&navby=case&no=9510048cv0 Seven-Up Co. v. Coca-Cola Co.] - The text of the judgment from the US Court of Appeals rejecting 7Up's claims against Coca-Cola Company's anti-competitive behavior regarding Sprite and independent soft drink bottlers Category:Cadbury-Schweppes brands

Sprite (soft drink)

Sprite is a clear, lemon-lime-flavored, non-caffeinated soft drink, produced by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced to the United States in 1961. It came from Germany and first was called "Fanta Klare Zitrone" [Fanta Clear Citrus] (later reconceptionalized as Sprite). This was Coke's response to the popularity of 7 Up, which had begun as "Lithiated Lemon" in 1929. It comes in a primarily green and blue can or a green transparent bottle with a primarily green and blue label. Currently, Sprite is sold in over 190 countries. [http://www.virtualvender.coca-cola.com/ft/detail.jsp?region_id=&country_id=&drink_type_id=&all_reg_selected=&brand_id=285] In the 1980s, many years after Sprite's introduction, Coke pressured its large bottlers that distributed 7 Up to replace the competitor with its own product. In large part due to the strength of the Coca-Cola system of bottlers, Sprite finally took the market leader position in the lemon-lime soda category in 1989. It is called lemonade in Australia and New Zealand. Sprite consists of carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose (sugar), citric acid, natural flavors, sodium citrate (a preservative), and sodium benzoate (another preservative).

Variations and flavors in the US

sodium benzoate
- Diet Sprite Zero: This sugar-free drink originally began production in the United States as "Sugar Free Sprite" in 1974, then was renamed to "Diet Sprite" in 1983. In other countries, it was known as "Sprite Light". In September 2004, it was rebranded as "Diet Sprite Zero", its current name. Since then, it has become "Sprite Zero" in Europe, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.
- Sprite Remix: A family of differently-flavored variations of the original Sprite recipe.
- Tropical Sprite Remix: This variation of Sprite was first introduced in 2003 with a tropical fruit flavor. Some say it tastes like peach.
- Berryclear Sprite Remix: This new version of Sprite Remix had been introduced on April 1, 2004, which has a mixed berry flavor.
- Aruba Jam Sprite Remix: The most recent version of Sprite Remix had been released in April 2005
- Cherry Sprite Cherry Sprite

Variations in flavors outside the US

- Mint flavored Sprite made its debut in Korea in 2002 as Sprite Blue, and as Sprite Ice in Canada and Sprite Ice Cube in Belgium in 2003. Sprite Ice Blue was introduced in Italy and China in 2004, and in Chile on the summer of 2005.
- Hong Kong on the other hand introduced Sprite on Fire in 2003 - a ginger flavored Sprite with a burning sensation. This flavor also debuted in China in 2004.
- Hong Kong also introduced Sprite Super Lemon in 2003. 2003
- Singapore introduced Sprite Ice and Sprite Lemon Storm in 2004.
- In Japan, Sprite packaging has Sprite Super Dry on the label but it tastes like regular Sprite.
- In Estonia, green and blue-colored versions of Sprite, in clear plastic bottles, were marketed from 2003 to 2004. The flavor of the drink was not changed.

External links

- [http://www.sprite.com Sprite official website]
- [http://www.spriteice.com Sprite Ice website]
- [http://www.tomato.com/~bobby/coke/cokebrands.html Sprite & other Coke Products] Category:Coca-Cola brands Category:Soft drinks

Shandy

A shandy (shortened form of shandygaff) is a cocktail made from a mixture of beer (often ale) and a non-alcoholic beverage. The non-alcoholic beverage is usually sparkling lemonade in Europe and ginger ale in the Caribbean. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, normally half-and-half, although shandy sold in tins is typically much weaker, around 1 part beer to 10 parts lemonade. A variant on this is the "lager top" in which a small measure of lemonade is added to a pint or half-pint of lager. In some areas, tomato juice is mixed with beer as a cocktail. In Bavaria, a mix of helles Bier (lager) and lemonade is called a Radler (the German word for bicyclist), as opposed to a mix of Weißbier (wheat beer) and lemonade, which is called a Russ, short for Russian. Often a non-alcoholic beer is used, so that the drink has no alcoholic content and is therefore popular among children. In Ireland a half and half of fizzy orange and lemon (no alcohol) is quite popular and commonly referred to as Rock Shandy. The Cantral & Cochran Group also market an Orange and Lemon drink under the brand Club Rock Shandy and according to brand information on their website the origin of the name is from Blackrock swimming club. A more potent variation on shandy, known as Turbo Shandy is made from mixing lager with Smirnoff Ice or similar lemonade style alcopop and (sometimes) one shot of vodka.

Other names for shandy

- Northern Germany: Alsterwasser, Potsdamer
- Germany (Bavaria): Radler ("bicyclist")
- Germany (Bavaria): Russ (a shandy using Weissbier instead of lager)
- France, Switzerland: panaché
- Spain (with carbonated lemonade, either lemon-flavored or not - gaseosa): Clara con Limon
- Chile: Fan-schop, a mixture of beer with Fanta.
- clara ("clear")
- lejía ("bleach"), in Basque Country.

Links

- [http://www.club.ie/brand.htm Club Rock Shandy] Category:Cocktails with beer

Carbonation

Lorina

Lorina is a French carbonated lemon soft drink created in 1895 by Victor Geyer in Munster, France. It won the NASFT product award in 1997.

External links

- [http://www.limonade.com/Site/index.html Lorina web site] Category:Soft drinks

Pschitt

Pschitt is a French soda created by Perrier in 1954. The name originates in the transcription in French of the noise made by a Perrier bottle when it is opened. It comes in two flavors, lemon and orange. It is now a product of the Neptune Group (the water subsidiary of the Castel Group). One of the oldest French soft drinks, it is considered somewhat outdated in France. It however got some fame in 2001 when president Jacques Chirac used the word in a television interview (he just said "Pschiiiitt!").

External links

- [http://www.groupe-castel.com/uk/metiers/metier_eau01.shtml Neptune Group] Category:Soft drinks

Carbonation

Lemon

The lemon, Citrus × limon, is a citrus tree, a hybrid of cultivated origin. The fruit are cultivated primarily for their juice, though the pulp and rind (zest) are also used, primarily in cooking or mixing. Lemon juice is about 5% citric acid, which gives lemons a sour taste. This is a small tree, grows to 6 m (20 ft) but usually smaller. The branches are thorny, and form an open crown. The leaves are elliptical-acuminate. Flowers are violet and streaked in the interior and white on the outside. On a lemon tree, flowers and ripe fruits can be found at the same time. The first description of the lemon, which had been introduced from India two centuries earlier, is found in Arabic writings from the 12th century. The origin of the name lemon is through Persian (لیمو Limu), from the Sanskrit nimbuka. They were cultivated in Genoa in the mid-fifteenth century, and appeared in the Azores in 1494. More recent research has identified lemons in the ruins of Pompeii. Lemons were once used by the British Royal navy to combat scurvy, as they provided a large amount of vitamin C. The Royal Navy originally thought lemons were overripe limes which they resemble and their sailors became known as limeys, not lemonies. Both lemons and limes are regularly served as lemonade (natural lemon with water and sugar) or limeade, its equivalent, or as a garnish for drinks such as iced tea or a soft drink, with a slice either inside or on the rim of the glass. Only lemons, however, are used in the Italian liqueur Limoncello. A wedge of lemon is also often used to add flavor to water. Lemon juice is typically squeezed onto fish dishes in restaurants in the United Kingdom and other countries; the acid<