America’s snack aficionados said adios to the beloved Twinkie over the weekend. Hostess Foods’ recent bankruptcy has the former snack cake sensation hitting the trail along with Captain Cupcake, Fruit Pie the Magician and Happy Ho Ho. Apparently the country’s growing health consciousness led to the bakery’s lagging sales. I’m not exactly lamenting the loss […]
Category: history
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Never Forget
With all the festivities surrounding the official launch of summer it’s often easy to overlook the reason for the holiday. Memorial Day (originally observed as Decoration Day) was intended to be a day to honor the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. Logically this day has grown to encompass the remembrance of not only […]
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Watch Your P’s and Q’s
I always thought the adage “watch your P’s and Q’s” had everything to do with letters. In the early days of printing the fact that the lowercase ‘q’ and ‘p’ were mirror images of each other would create mass confusion with early foundry type setters – or so I assumed. Turns out, supposedly, that the […]
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The Beloved Mr. Peanut
If you’re a fan of Mr. Peanut, or peanuts in general, I apologize for this graphic posting. Don’t worry, the 94 year-old Mr. Peanut is still alive and well. Here’s a little history about the infamous American mascot: Planters Peanut Company (now a division of Kraft Foods) held a contest in 1916 to develop a […]
I’m amazed how we’ve become victims of our own progress. Our efforts to communicate in the most efficient ways have allowed us to become lazy and functionally illiterate. I fear that the generation that has learned to communicate via texting may suffer the worst. Sure, they can peck out the plot line to War & […]