I\u2019ve mentioned several times lately that there seems to be a big increase in conspiracy theories and rumors \u2014 even about some pretty mundane things. Things that make you wonder why even bother to make something up about them because they are so insignificant.<\/p>\n
My last entry talked about a \u201cconspiracy\u201d to convince people that we say \u201chello\u201d when answering the phone because Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s girlfriend was named Hello. How stupid is that? But \u2014 here\u2019s one that\u2019s maybe even more stupid. A rumor has been circulating that the \u201ccreator\u201d of Pringles was cremated when he died and his ashes were put into cans of Pringles and sold to unknowing customers.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, I\u2019m petty sure that story\/rumor isn\u2019t true. Dr. Fredric Baur was employed as a chemist by Proctor & Gamble; he was assigned the task of finding a way to get around the problem of stale and broken chips in bags \u2014 he worked on finding an alternative \u201cchip\u201d and container. He came up with the \u201csaddle\u201d or Heyerbolic Paraboloid shape for the chips. However the chips he produced just didn\u2019t taste very good and he was eventually assigned to a different project. Alexander Liepa was able to improve on the flavor of the chips and is generally considered the inventor of Pringles. Dr. Baur did invent the Pringles can<\/em> for packaging the chips. The \u201cchips\u201d that the two came up with were originally called \u201cPringles Newfangled Potato Chips.\u201d But Pringles are made using only about 42% potato based content \u2014 most of the rest being from wheat starch and various types of flour, including corn and rice. Because of their ingredients, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made them change the name because the product didn\u2019t technically meet the definition of a potato chip.<\/p>\n But Fredric J. Baur was proud of his \u201cinvention\u201d of the packaging system used for Pringles. He died in Cincinnati, just short of his 90th birthday. It turns out hat he had, in fact, requested his cremated remains be buried inside a Pringles can. Since not all of the ashes would fit in a Pringles can, most of his ashes were placed in a traditional urn. His kids actually decided to honor his request when they were on the way to the funeral home to collect his ashes. They stopped off at a Walgreens and purchased a can of Pringles and some of the ashes were placed in the Pringles container that was placed in the niche with the traditional urn. According to one of his children, there was some discussion at Walgreens as to what flavor Pringles to buy\u2026 of course the obvious decision was \u2014 \u201cOriginal.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve mentioned several times lately that there seems to be a big increase in conspiracy theories and rumors \u2014 even about some pretty mundane things. Things that make you wonder why even bother to make something up about them because … Continue reading
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n