Ever wonder about the stories behind the products you use daily? While baking recently, I noticed my chocolate was made in 1780. Not the chocolate itself, but the brand, Baker’s Chocolate. Here are some of the oldest, most recognized names, their stories, and the reasons they’ve lasted so long.

1. Baker’s Chocolate (1765)
In 1765, Irish chocolate maker John Baker and cocoa bean importer John Hannon went into the chocolate-making business. They built America’s first chocolate mill and in 1780 started Baker’s Chocolate Company. The chocolate was originally used to make sweetened chocolate drinks, an alternative to tea. In 1870, the company came out with its first baking booklet. In 1927 it was bought by General Foods, who later merged with Kraft.

Reason for longevity: Because it had a good shelf life, Baker’s was one of America’s first brands to be packaged and sold nationally. Additionally, the German Chocolate Cake, which became an extremely popular recipe after it was published in a Dallas newspaper, is the chocolate’s signature dish. Interesting to note, the cake’s origins are not German. A man named Sam German created the mild dark chocolate bar that is used in the cake for Baker’s in 1852, and the company named the chocolate in his honor.

2. Yuengling Beer (1829)
David Yuengling, a man from Württemberg, Germany, settled in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and started a brewery, originally called The Eagle Brewery, in 1829. Its management passed through the hands of David’s sons, grandson, great-grandsons, and eventually his great-great-grandson and current owner: Dick Yuengling

Reason for longevity: It appears innovation was the key. During Prohibition, Yuengling created many “near-beer” brews including the Yuengling Special, The Yuengling Por-Tor, and the Yuengling Juvo, which were designed to replenish energy. They also opened the Yuengling Dairy, which provided ice cream and dairy products, across the street from the brewery, which remained open until 1985! And once the Prohibition was lifted, Yuengling created the “Winner Beer” and sent a truck load to President Roosevelt in appreciation of the repeal.

3. John Deere (1837)
John Deere was a blacksmith from Vermont who moved west in 1836. He saw opportunity in farming the vast prairies of the Midwest; however, the plow he had used in Vermont was much less effective in the sticky Midwest prairie soil. So he used a broken saw blade to make a steel plow that could better cut through the soil. In 1837, he began selling steel plows, and so began John Deere.

Reason for Longevity: Demand – the plow met pioneer farmers’ needs for successful farming in the West. Diversification – by 1870 John Deere had five product lines. The company is now a producer of construction and forestry equipment, lawn care products, golf equipment, and clothing.

4. Jell-O (1845)
In 1845, Peter Cooper obtained the first patent for a gelatin dessert but never promoted it. In 1897, carpenter Pearle B. Wait bought the patent from Cooper, added fruit flavoring, and took it to market with the name Jell-O—the name was his wife’s idea. But success eluded Wait, and In 1899, he sold the patent to Orator Frank Woodward for $450.

Reason for longevity: Marketing. After Woodward invested in intensive advertising, the product finally took off. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Woodward dressed his salesmen in natty suits and told them to give free samples of Jell-O to homemakers — a technique familiar to anyone who shops at Costco. The salesmen would then go to the nearby groceries and persuade the owners to stock the product, which originally came in four flavors — strawberry, raspberry, lemon and orange.” Woodward’s Pure Food Company was renamed the Jell-O Company and was later bought by Postum Cereal, which became General Foods, which later merged with Kraft. I’ve read that 300 million boxes are sold annually (that’s 9 a second).

5. Levi Strauss (1853)
Levi Strauss moved from New York to California after hearing news of the Gold Rush. He established Levi Strauss & Co, a wholesale dry goods business that sold imported goods to small stores throughout California. Miners, farmers, and other workers were often complaining of their shoddy pants, so Strauss created the “waist overalls” made with a fabric from serge de-Nimes, which later became known as denim. In 1872, Levi received a letter from a customer, Jacob Davis, who used Strauss’ fabric and pants, but included metal rivets to make them stronger. He suggested the two go into business together and patent the process. In 1873, they received the patent for the riveting process and the blue jean was born.

Reason for longevity: The blue jean became an emblem of the American Western lifestyle. It sparked enormous demand, which at times was difficult for Levi Strauss to fulfill. The functional clothing later became fashionable, creating different lines and washes of the denim.

If you haven’t noticed, it’s October, and that means Major League Baseball playoffs are upon us. If you’re watching from home, or listening in on the radio, you’ll hear a lot of talk about what kind of pitch was just thrown, will be thrown, should be thrown, might be thrown, or, perhaps, shouldn’t have been thrown. Cutters, sliders, sinkers—what are they exactly and what’s the difference between them? Here’s a little primer on six of the most popular pitches out there and a bit of the physics behind them:

1. Fastball - This is the basic, most important pitch in baseball. As you see in the picture, the first two fingers rest just on (or inside) the seams and the pitcher releases the pitch with the palm pretty much facing the batter, producing maximum velocity. How fast are we talking? Generally in the 90-95 mph range, though some pitchers have been known to hurl over 100 mph. Technically, what you see in the photo is called a two-seam fastball and produces a sidespin that causes the ball to cut in as it approaches the batter. There are other varieties, like the 4-seam fastball, which is thrown by holding the ball with the seams horizontal, rather than vertical. This produces backspin, which creates high pressure under the ball and low pressure on top resulting in the illusion of the ball rising (actually the ball isn’t rising, just falling more slowly than it would normally). There’s also a split-finger fastball where the first two fingers split, or straddle the seams, which causes the ball to drop a little as it approaches the plate. Despite the movement, the basic idea of a fastball is to overpower the batter, so he swings late and misses.

2. Sinker - If you’ve ever played wiffleball, you know the ball rises, falls, and curves in and away from a batter depending on where you position the air holes in the ball. Likewise, in baseball, a pitcher can create movement and variation in speed depending on how he releases the ball, or how he spins the ball. Off-speed pitches, like the sinker, are pitches that are released with the palm of the hand facing away from the pitcher. This causes the ball to sink as it approaches the batter. The idea here is to either get him to swing over the ball and miss, or, if he connects with the pitch, to produce a ground ball, rather than a line drive.

3. Changeup - A changeup is like a sinker, in that it’s an off-speed pitch, only the palm is pronated even further out. All off-speed pitches are similar in that they’re thrown with less velocity than the fastball. But the batter doesn’t know when one is coming because a good pitcher is able to use the same arm speed as he does for the fastball. So how does he throw it with less velocity? Simple: by pressing the baseball deep into his palm. Less finger contact means less torque and less velocity. So, if a batter is expecting a fastball, slowing down, or “changing up” the speed to, say, 87 mph can trip him up and he’ll swing ahead of the ball. Great pitchers can build an entire career on the changeup because they’re able to slow it down all the way to around 80 mph. If they can throw a fastball around 95 mph, that’s a whopping 15 mph slower and really confuses the batter.3. Screwball - This is another off-speed pitch that not only sinks, but moves from the pitcher’s left side to the right as it approaches the batter. The palm is again pronated away from the pitcher, even further than the sinker and changeup. As the pitcher releases the ball, he twists the ball like a corkscrew. A left-handed batter will see the ball break away from him and a right-handed batter will experience the opposite, as the ball breaks in on him (the reverse is true if the pitcher is left-handed, of course).

4. Cutter - Pronating the palm in the opposite direction produces a series of pitches known as breaking pitches. The further the palm is rotated toward the pitcher, the more movement (in most cases, but not all). The first stop over from the fastball is the cutter, which is like a fastball, only it breaks in ever so slightly and is generally thrown a few mphs slower than a fastball.

5. Slider - Basically the same thing as a cutter, a slider is thrown with less velocity than the former and the palm is rotated further toward the pitcher. The slower speed means there’s more time for the ball to move, or slide, from one side of the plate to the other.

6. Curveball - A good curveball can be devastating, and also fun to watch. These are the pitches that appear to arc up toward the batter’s chest (or even head) before dropping into the strike zone like a bomb as they reach the plate. Of course, not every successful curveball pitcher throws the large arc variety and they need not be so dramatic. Even a small arc keeps the hitter off balance. So how is the amazing trajectory accomplished? The pitcher pronates his palm in so far that his hand looks like the letter “C.” He then flicks his wrist as he releases the ball (the opposite direction from the screwball) creating topspin. The more topspin, the greater the air pressure difference between the top and bottom of the ball, and the greater the break.

Over the years, plenty of Hollywood stars have fudged their resumes and claimed to be American Indians.

1. Is Cher short for Cherokee?
Prior to 1973, Cher’s biography always listed her father (John Sarkisian) as being of Armenian heritage, while her mother, Georgia Holt, was of Irish and German extraction. But when Cher’s single “Half Breed” started climbing the Billboard charts (it would eventually hit number one), suddenly she remembered that she was 1/16th Cherokee on her mother’s side. That biographical revision probably helped stem protests from the Native community when Cher performed her hit in a full feathered headdress on an episode of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. (Watching this clip now, Cher’s costume seems pretty tame, but back in 1973 I clearly remember my dad’s and brothers’ tongues rolling out of their mouths like unfolding red carpets when she rode out on that horse.)




2. The Truth about Tonto
Jay Silverheels, the actor that will best be remembered as the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, was born Harold Jay Smith on the Six Nations Indian Preserve in Ontario, Canada. Despite his rather generic birth name, Smith was a full-blooded Mohawk. A talented athlete, Smith excelled at boxing and lacrosse. In fact, he was playing in a lacrosse tournament when actor/comedian Joe E. Brown spotted him. Brown thought the handsome young Smith might have a future in movies. As it turned out, Silverheels (the name Smith legally changed to in 1971) made his fortune in television where, besides his long-running gig with Clayton Moore, he also appeared in several lucrative commercials. Silverheels once joked to Johnny Carson that he’d married an Italian to “get back at Christopher Columbus.”

3. The Boy who Cried Pollution
If you children of the ’80s and ’90s have ever wondered what all this “give a hoot, don’t pollute” hoo-rah was about, you have Iron Eyes Cody to thank. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, litter was a major cause of roadside, park and beach pollution in America. Discarded beer and soda cans, as well as paper bags with left-over fast food debris, were a blight on the American landscape. Thanks to a tearful Indian, however, all of that slowly changed. The Iron Eyes Cody public service announcement used Cody’s careworn face to reflect the disappointment of the people who’d founded this land. Not long after, various laws were put into place that significantly reduced roadside litter. Here’s the kicker though: Even though the pollution problem was very real at the time, the Native American in the commercial was not; Iron Eyes Cody was actually Espera de Corti, the son of Sicilian immigrants.



4. Emergency! Ethics
The dark-haired paramedic of Emergency! fame doesn’t talk too much about his Native American heritage. Mantooth’s father was a full-blooded Seminole, and his mother was of German extraction. Randy once told an interviewer, “my mother was German, but no one seems to think that that’s remarkable. They always jump on the ‘Indian thing.’” Likewise, Mantooth routinely refuses to play Native American roles, saying he doesn’t want to take the part away from a full-blooded actor who deserves it more. What he is proud of, however, is the impact Emergency! had on viewers, and its lasting popularity. He is closely involved with “Project 51,” a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting public awareness of emergency medical services in North America.

5. Indian Wrestling
Chief Jay Strongbow was a well-known fixture in the professional wrestling arena for over 30 years. Standing a little over six feet tall and weighing 260 lbs., his dreaded Tomahawk Chop was a move to be feared, as was his Indian Deathlock. When the Chief started his trademark War Dance, fans knew the end of the match was near – no one could stop Strongbow once he was in the midst of his “ancient tribal dance.” However, like much of professional wrestling, the Chief’s character was nothing more than a façade. Just like Iron Eyes Cody, Strongbow was actually an Italian-American named Joe Scarpa who’d started out wrestling under his own name with limited success. It was only was he donned his Native American shtick that his career took off.

Work hard, get promoted, succeed in your new post, and eventually you’ll start earning the big money. This progression seems like a firmly ingrained part of the American Dream, and it’s certainly worked for a lot of people.

However, these steps aren’t absolutely necessary to fatten your bank account, as Washington Mutual CEO Alan Fishman learned last week. When WaMu failed and was seized by government regulators, Fishman had been on the job for just 17 days. However, he was contractually guaranteed $11.6 million in cash severance on top of the $7.5 million signing bonus he got for taking the job. Basically, Fishman netted just under $20 million for 17 days of work, which is a pretty nice setup for the head of a collapsing corporation. (In Fishman’s defense, it’s tough to blame WaMu’s failure on his leadership alone; it seems highly unlikely that any CEO, however determined, could crash such a large thrift in just two weeks.)

Fishman’s not the only person to reap huge rewards for relatively little work. Here are few other well-compensated employees who didn’t have to put in too many years of service:

1. Michael Ovitz
After co-founding Creative Artists Agency in 1975, Ovitz quickly skyrocketed through the ranks of entertainment agents until he established himself as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. In 1995, though, he left CAA to become president of Disney. Ovitz’s tenure at Disney was stormy; he clashed with CEO Michael Eisner, who didn’t share Ovitz’s penchant for delegation. Ovitz also racked up a $6 million tab for various expenses ranging from renovating his office, buying Lakers tickets, and purchasing a BMW. It quickly became obvious that Ovitz wasn’t going to be a great fit at Eisner’s Disney, so the board terminated his contract after just 16 months. While Ovitz put in more work that Alan Fishman did at WaMu, he also received a lot more cash: a severance package of stock and cash that was worth around $100 million at the time. As Disney’s stock price rose, though, so did the value of the package; at one point Ovitz’s take might have been as much as $140 million for those 16 months of work.

2. Billy Dee Williams
Critics raved about Aaron Eckhart’s turn as Harvey Dent in this summer’s The Dark Knight, and most couldn’t help but mention that it was a marked improvement over Tommy Lee Jones’ campy portrayal of Two-Face in 1995’s Batman Forever. However, Jones wasn’t the only man to portray Dent in that run of Caped Crusader films. Billy Dee Williams had the role of Dent in Tim Burton’s 1989 film Batman. Although the role was a fairly minor one in that film, Williams allegedly took the part with the understanding that he would reprise the character in a sequel in which Two-Face would be one of Batman’s antagonists. To this end he had a pay-or-play clause inserted in his contract that basically assured that if the Harvey Dent/Two-Face character appeared in a future Warner Bros. Batman film, Williams would play the role. If the director chose to cast another actor in the part, the studio would have to cough up a buyout to Williams.

In the end, that’s exactly what happened: when Tim Burton left the series’ helm, Joel Schumacher took over and wanted to cast Jones in the part. Williams received a cash buyout to not be in Batman Forever, a deal most of the principals in the critical disaster probably wish they’d been offered themselves.

3. Carl Pavano
When a professional baseball player signs a new deal, he’s pretty much guaranteed to pull in the cash regardless of whether or not he plays. If you want proof, just mention the name Carl Pavano to New York Yankees fans and watch as their faces contort in terror. After an early stint in Montreal and three fairly strong seasons in Florida, Pavano signed a four-year contract worth $39.95 million with the Yankees before the 2005 season. He then got injured. Frequently. The pitcher’s ill-fated tenure in the Bronx included pretty standard baseball injuries like an elbow strain and some problems with his throwing shoulder, but he also had some booboos that made Yankees fans wonder if he might be cursed, including two broken ribs in a car crash and a disabled-list trip for bruised buttocks. In all, the Yankees shelled out that $39.95 million for Pavano to make 26 starts over the four-year span. To make matters worse, on the rare occasions when Pavano was healthy he wasn’t very good at baseball. His best season with the Yankees saw him compile a 4.77 ERA and allow 1.47 baserunners per inning he pitched. Even Mike Hampton, baseball’s other pricy-but-fragile starter, has to shake his head at those numbers.

4. Edward McSweegan
While he may not be as high profile or as well-paid as the other names on this list, McSweegan may have found the sweetest deal an average guy could find. In a coup ripped directly from one of George Costanza’s daydreams, McSweegan claimed that he did nothing for seven years while employed as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health. In 2003 McSweegan told the Washington Post that he hadn’t really been given any job responsibilities since 1996. Prior to that, he had been a researcher and program officer on Lyme disease, but he was removed from that position in 1995 for arguing with a sufferers’ support group. Although he had a title as director of the U.S.-Indo Vaccine Action Program and a list of nominal duties associated with that role, McSweegan claimed that he only carried out the tiniest of tasks like ordering coffee. In exchange, he received a salary in the neighborhood of $100,000.

When the NIH vehemently disputed McSweegan’s story that he simply went to work and did nothing all day, he maintained that he never received any assignments. McSweegan would show up, sit in his office, and read to kill time. He took up fiction writing to fill his workdays and published a pair of novels he allegedly wrote while at the office. He told CBS in an interview that he also joined a health club near work “just to sort of break up the day.”

The most amazing part of McSweegan’s story isn’t that he managed to stay employed through this seven-year period, but that he received positive performance reviews from his superiors. He wryly explained to CBS, “I guess I’m good at doing nothing.”