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09

Nov

Aha Moment Maker: A Smashing Wedding Cake

by Your friends at OIC on November 9, 2013

Baker holding a wedding cake, illustrating the tradition

LONDON, 1840—The royal wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert featured an elaborate, multi-tiered wedding cake, measuring almost nine feet in circumference. The pure white sugar frosting, that became known as “royal icing,” was not only a symbol of purity, but of status as well, since refined sugar at that time was a luxury item.

The entire event set the style of the modern wedding. And wedding cake design has gone on from there to become an art form in itself.

However, wedding cakes weren’t always about decadent displays and a delicious treat for those celebrating the nuptials. In ancient Rome, the wedding cake played a very different role. The groom was required to smash a barley cake over the bride’s head as a symbol of good fortune. After the ceremony, guests gathered crumbs for good luck.

Of course, if you have ever tried a barley cake with no icing, you know that smashing it to bits might actually be preferable to eating it!

What’s the aha moment you see?

 

Image © iStockphoto
 

Your Own Aha Moments

02

Nov

Aha Moment Maker: Teddy Bear Tug of War

by Your friends at OIC on November 2, 2013

Theodore Roosevelt and a Teddy Bear, the toy that was named for him

ONWARD, MISSISSIPPI, 1902—The iconic “teddy bear” was so named for an incident involving America’s 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. On a brief vacation in Mississippi, his hunting party managed to subdue a black bear and tie it to a tree. Roosevelt declined to shoot it on the grounds that it would not be the sporting thing to do.

News articles about how the big game hunting President refused to shoot a bear caught the attention of political cartoonist Clifford Berryman, who decided to poke fun at the President. In the cartoon, Berryman illustrated the bear as a cute and fuzzy little cub. People enjoyed it so much that he continued to symbolically insert the bear in his cartoons throughout Roosevelt’s presidency.

In Brooklyn, NY, candy shop owners Morris and Rose Michtom saw the cartoon and were inspired to create a stuffed version of the bear cub. They dubbed it “Teddy’s bear” and put it on display in their store window. People were soon asking to buy their creation, so they sent the original off to Roosevelt as a gift for his children and asked for permission to use his name for the stuffed toy.

It wasn’t long before the Michtoms closed the candy store and went into the stuffed bear business full-time. What remains a matter of some debate, however, is whether Berryman or the Michtoms should rightfully be credited as the teddy bear’s creator.

What’s the aha moment you see?

 

Image © iStockphoto
 

Your Own Aha Moments

26

Oct

Aha Moment Maker: Monumental Critiques

by Your friends at OIC on October 26, 2013

A judge holding a numbered sign, symbolizing the harsh critiques faced by Vietnam Veterens Memorial designer Maya Lin

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, 1981—Sculptor and architect Maya Lin was just a 21-year-old senior at Yale University when her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was chosen from over 1,400 entries.

Her winning design was initially created as a project for her funereal architecture class, and not for the competition. Only later did she decide to enter it.

 

Your Own Aha Moments

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