It's news now that Mainahs did it.

When I first heard this story I wasn't really interested. But, now that I know that they are Mainahs - it is time to post it here!

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Home chemistry gag cooks up Internet fame
June 29, 2006

PORTLAND, Maine --A pair of Mainers who became Internet celebrities by plopping Mentos into Diet Coke to create geysers are about to become hits on mainstream media.

Fritz Grobe, 37, and Stephen Voltz, 48, were scheduled to appear on David Letterman's show Thursday night and on the Today show Friday morning to demonstrate their explosive and entertaining chemistry experiments featuring candy and soda.

The Buckfield residents have had more than 3.5 million hits on their Web site since they posted a 3-minute video of their homemade experiment involving more than 500 Mentos and more than 100 two-liter plastic bottles of Diet Coke in early June.

"This has turned into a global phenomenon in a way that was totally unexpected. We expected to tell our friends, who would tell their friends, and then maybe a few weeks later we would start seeing some larger interest. But we never anticipated this," Grobe said Wednesday.

Grobe and Voltz are known around Maine for their regular appearances as part of "The Early Evening Show" at the Oddfellow Theater, a 156-seat theater in Buckfield.

Their Mentos-Diet Coke experiment began on a whim eight months ago. "Stephen heard from a friend that if you drop Mentos in soda it makes a fountain. We tried it like so many others have, and said, 'This is really cool,'" Grobe said.

They started with 10 bottles and saw the potential for more. "We knew there were so many more possibilities. We were just scratching the surface," he said.

The geysers created on their video look like choreographed fireworks or the dancing fountain at Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

On Letterman's show, they hoped to utilize 120 bottles of soda, if time permits.

Grobe said it isn't essential to use a Coke product, although diet soda seems to work better than regular soda, he said. "And don't forget Moxie," he said of the soft drink that originated in Maine. "Moxie works very well, as well."
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On the Net:
http://www.eepybird.com
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com

Good news for the sweet tooth

My favorite Maple syrup product are those sickly sweet Maple leaves. But, I haven't had one in years...Mmmm...So yummy.

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Maine syrup production up 13 percent
June 15, 2006
SKOWHEGAN, Maine --Maple syrup production rose 13 percent in Maine this year, while production nationwide increased 17 percent, according to Department of Agriculture statistics.

Syrup production in Maine during the spring totaled 300,000 gallons, up from 265,000 gallons in 2005, the department said in a report released this week. Nationwide, syrup production rose 17 percent to 1.45 million gallons.

The rise in production is credited to an increase in yield as well as an increase in the number of syrup taps. In Maine alone, syrup producers this year had more than 1.3 million taps, which was 15,000 more taps than in 2005.

Production in Maine varied in different parts of the state, said Jeremy Steeves, secretary of the Maine Maple Producers Association.

"If you tapped in the southern part of the state, you had an average of below average year," he said. "In the northern areas, it was above average. It was purely weather-related."

As usual, Vermont was the No. 1 syrup state with 460,000 gallons produced, according to Department of Agriculture numbers. Maine was the No. 2 state, followed by New York, with 253,000 gallons.

Elsewhere in New England, New Hampshire produced 64,000 gallons of syrup, Massachusetts had 40,000 gallons and Connecticut came in at 10,000 gallons.

Production values have not yet been calculated for 2006.

For 2005, production nationally was valued at $37.1 million. Maine's production was valued at $5.7 million, while Vermont came in at $11.4 million.

The Department of Agriculture report said temperatures in maple-producing states varied widely across the country.

While producers in Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin reported favorable conditions, producers in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan and Pennsylvania said it was either too warm or too cold for a favorable sap flow.
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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com/

Website updated today!

Another rainy day in the Northeast = a Mainah Glossary update.

Keep those words coming!