Courtesy: PaperBack Swap

For some reason this year, a question popped into my head: Who was Betty Crocker? I wanted to find out about the woman behind the book.

Hey guess what. SHE’S NOT REAL! I know, right?!

Betty’s “image” has changed many times over the years. Courtesy: MPR

So, do you want to know how Crocker came to be? Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has the scoop:

“The Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis, one of the six big milling companies that merged into General Mills in 1928, received thousands of requests each year in the late 1910s and early 1920s for answers to baking questions.”

So here’s the deal–She was made up to respond to people who wrote the company. “Betty” was considered a friendly, warm first name, and Crocker comes from a retired company exec.

Voila!

But what about her signature? 

Image Courtesy: Book Marc’s

You see it on everything! Betty’s signature was made by a secretary at the company. Apparently, she entered a contest among other female employees… Can you imagine that? What would that flyer look like?

“ENTER TODAY! Calling all female General Mills employees–we need your penmanship! Enter by writing the name of an imaginary character who will become the face of our company!”

Image Courtesy: Cosplay (Warning: This webpage contains vulgar language)

Uh….yeah.

Didn’t she have a radio show?

Yes, she did! This fake Betty Crocker even had her own radio show that was on the air for nearly THIRTY years. That’s a long time for a fake lady! 

Image Courtesy: The History Chicks

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Betty Crocker, and will still buy her cookbooks for many moons to come. I just found it interesting how successful Betty Crocker products became–even without a real person!

Hey, want to know who is a real person?! Sara Lee!  

Happy holidays to all–here’s a proper ending. Watch this 1950s Betty Crocker commercial…it’s perfect for your bridge club!

Signing off!

~Christine

Image Courtesy: Old Recipe Book

Courtesy: PaperBack Swap

For some reason this year, a question popped into my head: Who was Betty Crocker? I wanted to find out about the woman behind the book. 

Hey guess what. SHE’S NOT REAL! I know, right?! 

Betty’s “image” has changed many times over the years. Courtesy: MPR

So, do you want to know how Crocker came to be? Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has the scoop: 

“The Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis, one of the six big milling companies that merged into General Mills in 1928, received thousands of requests each year in the late 1910s and early 1920s for answers to baking questions.”

So here’s the deal–She was made up to respond to people who wrote the company. “Betty” was considered a friendly, warm first name, and Crocker comes from a retired company exec. 

Voila!

But what about her signature? 

Image Courtesy: Book Marc’s

You see it on everything! Betty’s signature was made by a secretary at the company. Apparently, she entered a contest among other female employees… Can you imagine that? What would that flyer look like?  

“ENTER TODAY! Calling all female General Mills employees–we need your penmanship! Enter by writing the name of an imaginary character who will become the face of our company!” 

Image Courtesy: Cosplay (Warning: This webpage contains vulgar language)

Uh….yeah. 

Didn’t she have a radio show?

Yes, she did! This fake Betty Crocker even had her own radio show that was on the air for nearly THIRTY years. That’s a long time for a fake lady! 

Image Courtesy: The History Chicks

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Betty Crocker, and will still buy her cookbooks for many moons to come. I just found it interesting how successful Betty Crocker products became–even without a real person! 

Hey, want to know who is a real person?! Sara Lee!  

Happy holidays to all–here’s a proper ending. Watch this 1950s Betty Crocker commercial…it’s perfect for your bridge club!

Signing off! 

~Christine

Image Courtesy: Old Recipe Book

Let’s start from the beginning…

I “surprised” my Dad with a housewarming party in St. Louis this past weekend. We hit the road early Sunday afternoon, and were supposed to be rolling in around 5 (central standard time, of course).

We were a little more than half -way home, and were just driving by Sedalia. We could tell we were driving in to a storm…

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a HUGE gust of wind almost knocked everyone off the road. We were driving and suddenly noticed the trees to our left and right were almost bending over. Bryan was just about to point out a tree that was going sideways when the wind just railed us! It was especially scary because we were right by a semi, also fighting for control.

So we did the smart-person move and pulled over at what we thought was a gas station. It was actually a fireworks place that also just happened to sell gasoline, too… ummmm, yeah.

Image Source: You’re Doing It Wrong!

Once we pulled over, we noticed the place was a giant warehouse… you could hear the rain as loudly as if you were outside! We ran inside (there was literally nowhere else to go…other than a ditch), Lily in tow, and saw  that everyone else and their brother pulled over there, too.

A man yelled, “join the party!” as he held open the door for us to get inside. That was quite nice of him. What happened next? Yeah, that was not so nice.

Courtesy: Examiner

About five minutes into being there and listening to the pounding rain, the attendant announces that if the electricity goes out, everyone has to leave. Store policy. Cue blackout.

…

…

…

Luckily, the lights popped back on…then shut back off…then turned back on. I had decided after that first blackout that she was going to be dragging me out. I was just going to trance on out of there in a severe thunderstorm (hail included!), with my 8-month old–all because the lights went out and that was “store policy”?! Ah, hell nah. 

Image Source: Cheezburger

Since I was trying to keep from freaking out after the three mini power-outages, I started walking around letting Lily flirt with people as I chatted them up.

Anyway, if you can’t tell… Lily has no problem flirting.

I walked up to one little crowd as a Dad was telling his prepubescent girls (one of them informed me she wanted to get pink streaks in her hair) that a semi had gotten picked up by a strong gust of wind and flipped over I-70 W. After searching around online, I can’t seem to validate that claim, but I can tell you that these storms caused power outages for for 50,000 in the Kansas City area! 

Another girl I chatted with said she’d tag-team the fireworks attendant with me if she tried to kick us out.

Anyway, after about fifteen minutes and two diaper changes, there was a break in the storm and people started leaving. We got back on the highway and were heading toward bright skies and sunny futures when all of a sudden all of the traffic stopped moving. It stopped moving for so long that people were physically getting out of their cars to look:

The above pictures I actually took while we were stopped on I-70. Even though I overheard that guy saying parts of the highway were closed, it didn’t click that was the way WE were going, until we were stopped. There were multiple police cars parked on different parts of the road, but by the time we were moving again, I couldn’t see what had happened. I guess it will remain a mystery.

Anyway, it was smooth sailing the rest of the trip home…until we walked into the apartment…

You’ll never guess what we came home to… A POWER OUTAGE! Yay? So since we were stripped of our electronics and internetz, we grabbed a flashlight and decided to go rogue and use one of those ancient free things called a phone book to call our power company.

Image Source: Eco Convert

Well…apparently since there are 50,000+ people with power out, KCP&L has opted for automated answering services…on all of their lines. So, day 2 without power–w00!

Apparently, storms like to follow me around wherever I go. Here’s another mini-story before I end this post:

This kind of reminds me that one time last month when the water patrol had to “rescue” a Mom, tornado sirens went off, the sunscreen ran out, oh… and when people left looking like this:

Mmmm…juicy.

Anyway, that night we ended by us abandoning our tent because the tornado sirens went off and there was a lightning show on our campground. I don’t think I’ll ever figure out what happened to that tent.

Well…see you next time!

~Christine

I feel ya, Mary.

Image: Of Course We Talk

You can get one for yourself, here.

The next day Mom called the AT&T store on her way home from work. She asked the person if there had been any outgoing phone calls since noon the day before. The AT&T rep, apparently a n00b, says yes. We deactivate my phone. Then I chime in, “Well, can he tell us the numbers that were called?”

Here’s my first AT&T Representative. Doesn’t look like he knows what he’s doing, does he?

Couresy: Flickr

I call back and a different rep. answers. He walks me through how to set up an online account to check the outgoing/incoming call activity. After twenty minutes on my almost-dial-up home connection, I have an account. But guess what? It takes 2-5 days for most recent activity to show up. Sigh.

So… I call again. And representin’ women power, this time around I find a woman rep. who actually helps. She says there were no outgoing calls–only incoming. She re-activates my phone. THEN, she says there’s a way to track your iPhone, even if you have nothing installed on your iPhone before you’ve lost it.

That third AT&T Rep had my back!

Courtesy: In Your Shoes

It’s called AT&T Family Map, and it’s actually a sneaky way for parents to stalk their children. First month is free.  I signed up and lo-and-behold! It showed my phone was on a boat dock about fifteen miles from my house! It said the accuracy was within 1.3 miles. HA! So there was an iPhone thief on my hands!

So my mother, brother and I decide to be straight up gangstas. We’re gonna go catch that phone-nabbin’ thief! I mean, just look at us–we’re scary, right?

Thugs.

So we hop in the van and are on our way! Pretty much as soon as we hit gravel we knew we were in for an off-road adventure. Next come the “DO NOT ENTER”, “PRIVATE PROPERTY” signs. Then…we hit the trailer park. A really, really janky, scary-looking trailer park.

We are only momentarily deterred, however, for THERE! Lo and behold, just like on the map, is the DOCK! The dock with the alleged thief! We park the van, walk down to the dock (very bravely, I might add) and have Mom call the phone. We’re looking all over this dock, in the boats, anywhere! No such luck. Don’t hear a thing.

We then have Jacob look up the phone’s location again on his iPhone. It gave us a specific address this time. So back in the van–it’s trailer number 30. We drive up the rows of trailers… 14, 15, 31, 16… wait. Yeah, there was a misnumbered one. We joked that he moved because he figured out number 30 was a thief, too.

Courtesy: MCFTV

We finally find 30 after turning around and heading back. Mom is too much of a pansy to knock herself, so me with my pro-knocking-on-people’s-doors-to-get-interviews self does it. Well, I try to, before my mother interjects with, “Wait, Christine! Don’t get out yet! Let me turn the van around in-case we have to make a run for it!”

I finally get out of the van, I’m trying to act tough, even though I know Jacob is laughing at me. I knock on the door, put my hands on my hips, and wait for a response. No one answers. I look through the window. I knock again. By this time, three people have come out to survey what’s going on. I signal for Mom to call the phone, she does so. I don’t hear it.

Courtesy: 4to40

When I get back in the car, she’s going, “Hello?”

Apparently, someone answered.

“Yes, I believe you have my daughter’s phone. We GPS’d it and we’re outside now.”

We were at the wrong house.

We were on the wrong street.

We were even in the wrong neighborhood.

My phone was located half mile from my house.

We canceled AT&T’s Family Map before we even got home.

Courtesy: basetree

So what exactly DID happen to my phone? Well, here’s where it gets rather amusing. I apparently left it on top of my car and drove down the road. You see, Dad asked me to empty the cooler, so I set my phone on top of my car while I did that. I also poured the water on my foot, this for which he made fun of me. I then, consequently, forgot about my phone and drove down the road.

The lady just happened to be checking her mail when Mom called. She saw something light up in the grass by her mailbox. She answered. Thank God!

My case was gone, it must have shattered when my phone hit the ground, but it saved my phone itself, so I almost feel like building it a little orange iPhone case shrine.

I hope the iGods treat my case well.

Courtesy: Flickr

So, it wasn’t a thief.

It was just me being dumb…and AT&T’s Family Map utterly failing.

Courtesy: PC World

At least Mary Pickford didn’t have to worry about setting her phone on a car and driving away…they all had cords!

Courtesy: Flickr

Before you make a pact with your fellow ex-Pisces to just end it all now, let me explain. You are still a Pisces, Aries, Gemini –whatever.

However, before I reveal to you why, let’s meet this cantankerous “new” (not really) constellation: Ophiuchus.

Image  Courtesy: East Bay Astro

Here’s his story – and like all the other zodiacs, he has more than one. I’m just going to stick with this one. The moral of the story is the same as any — don’t piss off a God. If you do, bad things happen. Ask Cassiopeia.

Courtesy: Deanspace

Once upon a time, there lived a God named Apollo — who knocked up a human. Surprise. She became pregnant… surprise. She began dating someone else and, surprise, Apollo wasn’t too keen on the idea. So, naturally, she was set on fire and the baby was cut out of her.

What? That’s a perfectly natural response.

Anyway, Apollo, out of the goodness of his heart, decided to save his baby. You’ll never guess who it was!

Ophiuchus.

Since he was a demi-God, he possessed powers. He is often associated with snakes because he could ‘shed old skin’ and become new again. More or less – he could grant mere mortals the gift of eternal life. The Gods weren’t happy and Zeus thunderbolted the crap out of him.

Courtesy: Mlahanas

But wait! There’s more!

Apollo raised his son from the dead and he eventually became the God of healing and medicine.

For the other stories associated with Ophiuchus — Time’s article is worth a read.

—

So now that you know who this Ophiuchus guy is, let’s get to the juicy stuff, shall we?

Why doesn’t my astrology sign change?!

Your sign doesn’t change because we Westerners don’t follow the typical Zodiac chart. This shouldn’t be a surprise, we don’t follow the typical anything…metric system, anyone?

We base ours around the seasons and not the alignment of the stars. If we did, we probably would have gotten the memo that the stars alignment changed, oh, around 3,000 years ago.

If we were 3,000 years old, we’d look pretty nasty…

Courtesy: Ikbis

Here’s the scoop, and CNN phrased it best (I added the emphasis):

“But before astrology fans scrape the ink from their arms because they think they’re now a Virgo instead of a Libra, they should consider this: If they adhered to the tropical zodiac – which, if they’re a Westerner, they probably did – absolutely nothing has changed for them.

That’s worth rephrasing: If you considered yourself a Cancer under the tropical zodiac last week, you’re still a Cancer under the same zodiac this week.

That’s because the tropical zodiac – which is fixed to seasons, and which Western astrology adheres to – differs from the sidereal zodiac – which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East, and is the type of zodiac to which the Star Tribune article ultimately refers.

Two zodiacs. That’s nothing new.”

—

Ta-dah!

We can all stop freaking out now. At least I don’t have to figure out what to do with the Pisces symbol tattooed on the inside of my lip. Phew.

Peace,

–Christine

Courtesy: We Are Stars

Okay…that may be a little dramatic. After doing some quick web research, I’ve the fattest, or at least near-fattest person in the world.

World, Manuel Uribe. Manuel Uribe, world.

Courtesy: Daily Mail

So while this image makes me feel not quite as bad… it doesn’t erase the fact I am super pregnant. I have a 3D image of Lily…are you ready for this?

It’s an up-close shot of her face. Some people have trouble seeing it if I don’t mention that. My Mom says she’s a baby big-head…

But let’s get back to Manuel. Did you know he got married two years ago? No joke.

Courtesy: The Daily Telegraph

I’m having trouble finding any recent information on him – but last I heard he was losing weight and happy. That’s always good to hear. I’ve met some overweight people who were pretty miserable to be around. Then again, I’ve met some thin people who were, too. I don’t think the pleasantness of a person is a direct relation to their weight.

On a happy note, this video is awesome. It’s epic. It made me cry…but that’s probably just because I’m pregnant. I do promise a smile, though!

I think that’s all for today!
Have a great one!

Enjoy the nice fall weather while you can!
Image Courtesy: I Like Old Things

I am absolutely horrid about updating my blog unless it’s required for class. Since my Capstone ended this summer, I haven’t posted… yikes!

Where to start?

This j-kid, one-class away from being a Mizzou grad is having a kid of her own! Yup. Her name will be Lily Persephone. Here’s a pic…

Her fists are bunched up like a little boxer.  I, for one, think she will be most excellent at video games because she has learned this one-two-kick-punch combo. It’s punch-punch-kick! Almost simultaneously. My stomach looks like a little alien is trying to break out when it happens.

Look out Mortal Kombat world, Lily is gonna kick some behind. Xiayou style.

Courtesy IGN.com

I am still working at KOMU, but as a web editor. I’m in charge of KOMU’s Twitter page, webpage and online alerts. I also answer the phone… which should be a job of its own somedays. I should also start writing down what some callers have to say…

Mid-Missourians can be crazy. That’s all I will say for now — and as a mid-Missourian myself, I think I can say that.

Well, until next update!

–Christine

I saw Toy Story 3 yesterday after hearing all the hype about how wonderful it was. I even heard there was a part in the movie that made grown-men cry (I have it from a very close source that her boyfriend even cried). I was skeptical I would cry, but excited to see the latest Pixar flick.

Barbie and Ken were my two favorite characters during this one, but it was sad that a few of our beloved friends from the first two movies could not make it into the third installment due to being sold at garage sales, etc… I won’t give away which characters, but one was particularly saddening to me.

Spoiler Ahead. Do not continue if you haven’t seen the movie.

I am about to show you the character who could not make it in to the movie. They did not specify whether the toy was broken or sold… but all I can say it: Poor Woody.

Courtesy: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/toy-story/images/473546/title/woody-bo-peep

Overall, I give Toy Story a 10, but here’s what other sites are saying:

1. SperoNews:

“Movie Review: Toy Story 3 Is For Adults

Alright, well not like that… It is G-rated and rightly so (and may I say that there are not enough quality films this year with that rating?) That being the case, Toy Story 3 is one of the more superior movies of 2010 and definitely the best G-rated film so far.”

To read the rest of the review by Shenandoah Butterworth, click here.

2. Rotten Tomatoes:

“It hits every button from laughter to tears and lifts you up on waves of visual dazzlement. And you don’t need to take a kid along to appreciate it… Tag it as one of the year’s best.”

This was posted on Rotten Tomatoes, but written by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.

The site even ranked it between 98-100% on its Tomatometer… not too shabby! Plus, I really wanted to use the word “tomatometer” in my blog…

Photo Courtesy: http://www.pixartalk.com/2009/12/new-ts3-photo/

Now, it took some serious hunting, but I managed to find a negative review for Toy Story 3. Here’s an excerpt from SlashFilm:

“Toy Story 3 is so besotted with brand names and product-placement that it stops being about the innocent pleasures of imagination—the usefulness of toys—and strictly celebrates consumerism.  … But none of these digital-cartoon characters reflect human experience; it’s essentially a bored game that only the brainwashed will buy into.”

Read more, click here.

So I guess the 98% who have been giving the most positive movie reviews of all time are just braino-washed hippies who can’t see into the underlying cult advertising clearly laid out blatantly across the entirety film…yeah, right. Haters be haters.

I know it’s hard to denote sarcasm via text, but just for my readers’ info – the above sentence is dripping with my sarcastic ooze.

Courtesy: http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/toy-story-3/1809266566

That’s all for now!

Peace,

–C

P.S. I though it’d be appropriate to end with Pickford on a horse… what with all this discussion about cowboys an’ such. Yee-haw!

Courtesy: http://www.lotten.se/2007/10/pippi-lngstrump-r-mary-pickford.html

I took this right outside KOMU. I’ve actually learned something about people and the weather today, though. Our website views were around 200…a streak of lightning followed by its booming thunder streaked across the sky. The number on our site rose to over 1,000. Whoa. People. Care. About. The. Weather.

Thanks to CartoonStock.com for this one.

In other news, I went to Chicago this weekend – woo-hoo! It was my good friend Emily’s 21, so Andrew and I drove the 9-hour trek to make sure she had fun! Here’s a picture of the windy city itself, taken at Navy Pier.

Interestingly enough, my Irish-bred and Chicago-raised friend told me it isn’t called “The Windy City” because of actual wind, but because of all the hot air the politicians blow out over the city.

An article from the Huffington Post agrees, but also says the claim is controversial. Read it, here.

So, of course, I found the USA Today article mentioned in the Huffington Post… it claims the reason it’s called The Windy City is unknown. It says the windiest city in the nation is actually in Kansas.

Speaking of older movies, let’s go back even further and talk about my obsession with Mary Pickford… I usually put a picture of her after every post, but I don’t think I’ve ever explained why.

Let’s do that, shall we?

I won’t start with the boring facts, let’s get right into the nitty-gritty of why she’s important to the film industry even today. You know those little things called ‘camera angles’? Well, she helped bring them to modern cinema.

Audiences of the silent films thought they weren’t getting their entire money’s worth if they didn’t see the actor from head to toe. Pickford helped changed that and often incorporated different angles in her films.

She also created United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. She was the highest paid actress of her time and also won an Academy Award the first year it was given for a talking film.

She was the first superstar, the first to feel the fall from movie fame and the woman who, as titled in a 1997 biography, made Hollywood.

To check out the book, click here. Pickford also wrote an auto-bio called Sunshine and Shadow, which I’ve had the delight to read. Click here for that one.

For more info on Pickford, check it out, here.

See you next week!

–Christine

From http://marypickford.com