The story of The OREO

It claims to be the most powerful cookie in the world. 491 million sold so far...

Note: the evolution of the Oreo embossing: 1912, 1924 and today

Hmm. For a cookie that's all about comfort and milk and coziness... it's being a bit suspicious. For instance...

Who invented it? 

No one knows. Apparently a William Turnier. But Nabisco can't confirm he ever worked for the company.

What does the design mean?

It could be just an innocent symbol--this circle topped with a two-bar cross with the word "OREO" inside--merely "an early European symbol for quality" as Nabisco claim--or it it a Cross of Lorraine, as carried by the Knights Templar into the crusades? Or is that dot with four triangles poking out not a four-leaf clover at all but... the cross pattee--also associated with the Knights Templar, as well as the German military and today's Freemasons. Aha! It's DaVinci Code Cookie!

Meanwhile in England... we have Custard Creams and Rich Tea and Morning Coffee biscuits. But they are just quietly going about their business and not nearly as suspicious and besides no one seems to notice them: not the lovely ferns on the Custard Cream (unchanged since their debut in 1910) nor the Art Deco cup on the Morning Coffee biscuits.

Which means either they just have Proper British Reserve or possibly are just much more effective spy biscuits than those show off Oreos.

Either way all this talk of biscuits and cookies must mean one thing: time to put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea... 

via The Atlantic

 

learning to see: the barnes foundation

Did you get to see it before it shut in June? If not here's your chance... an interactive tour of the old museum. (The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C Barnes, opened in 1925 and is being moved to a new building.)

I went there a few years ago and loved it. The gallery reminds you of those Old Exhibitions from the 19th century where the paintings covered almost the whole wall--reach up to the ceiling. It's said to be one of the finest collections of 19th and 20th century paintings in the world. And it's all housed in a beautiful building.

What is distinctive about this collection though is that Albert Barnes chose and arranged the paintings in "wall ensembles" in the gallery--arranged intentionally to teach students how to see. 

The works of art come from different time periods, geographic areas and styles and are hung closely together and deliberately positioned in such a way to encourage you to compare and study. And it works. If you stand in front of each wall and wait, things you might have missed emerge, you start noticing what the paintings have in common, visual elements, shapes, colors, etc. 

A really cool way to learn to see.

Kind of like good writing--words put together, positioned in such a way that they open up a window on the world. And help you see. Which is the purpose of art--to make you see.

 

milky way

beautiful and awe inspiring

and what is happening just above our heads as we fill them with lists and worries and doubts...

mosaic of coolness

A lovely mosaic of Virginia Woolf's covers designed by Vanessa Bell--her sister.

via Woolfwriter via Maidontheshore

proudly clogging up arteries + inboxes...

SPAM was invented in 1937 by Hormel Foods (found at www.spam.com). It is pre-cooked port and ham in a can and was called "Hormel Spiced Ham" originally but the name didn't stick so they held a contest to rename the affordable meat product. The winning name was SPAM.

What does it stand for? 

In Britain it was a popular wartime food and they called it "Specially Processed American Meat" or "Supply Pressed American Meat" (yum). But there are other theories for what the acronym stands for...

"Something Posing As Meat" or

"Spare Parts Animal Meat"

(why not come up with your own??)

Then of course there's the famous Monty Python sketch...

Even after the poor woman tells the cafe she doesn't want spam, can't stand spam, hates spam--it is relentless, it just keeps coming... and that's how we got the name for that other thing that's relentless, that just keeps coming even when we don't want it, can't stand it, hate it--spam in our inboxes.

 

favorite snacks of great writers

via
Wendy MacNaughton's sketchbook
via 
NYT

latest vid: THE TERRIBLE LIE

JSB only BIGGER!

See the full gallery on Posterous

In case you haven't seen it... here it is... the JSB Read Aloud Edition (just the same only extra gorgeous and big). The size of a picture book!

Zondervan wanted to make it bigger so you can read it to groups and everyone can see the pictures. Or just read it on your lap and enjoy it.

(It's gorgeous, has a beautiful binding, a reader's ribbon and looks somehow like it should always have been this big!)

(photos by Sarah Short and used by permission--thank you Sarah!)