BY JOURNAL TIMES STAFF | Posted: Friday, June 13, 2008 12:00 am
In 1978, a San Francisco artist named Gilbert Baker designed a rainbow flag with eight horizontal stripes, all denoting a separate sentiment.
Pink represented sex. Red represented life. Orange represented healing. Yellow represented sun. Green represented nature. Turquoise represented art. Indigo represented harmony and Violet represented spirit.
Baker designed the flag in response to a call for a symbol representative of the gay and lesbian community. The rainbow, in various forms, represented different causes in the Bay Area throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.
Baker designed and sewed the first rainbow flag by himself, and it first appeared in the 1978 San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Parade.
The current version of the flag shows six stripes - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple - instead of eight.
And remember - June is Gay and Lesbian Pride month.
What does the 57 in Heinz 57 stand for?
Varieties of food. Heinz doesn't just make ketchup. They're purveyors of pickles, magnates of mustard and relish selling relish.
They're also a leading marketer of baby food, tuna fish, potatoes, pastas, beans, sauces, soups, frozen entrees, kitchen sinks and more - more than 1,300 different products.
But the 57 became part of company lore long before John Kerry signed on.
Company founder Henry J. Heinz came to the idea during an 1892 train ride in New York City.
Heinz spotted an ad on the ceiling that read "21 styles of shoes," and decided he liked the ring of "57 varieties."
Heinz's company manufactured more than 60 varieties of food when the famous pickle and number logo took center stage, but why let the truth dirty a good idea?
The Heinz people are still quite attached to the number 57.
The number "57" took its place in food history and is still important to the Heinz family. The main number at the Pittsburgh corporate headquarters is (412) 237-5757, and the address is P.O. Box 57.
Why does it say "33" on the back of the labels of Rolling Rock beer?
Cecil Adams at http://www.straightdope.com helped with this answer.
You've got to admit, Rolling Rock has a mystique all its own. The horse on the front label winks at you, but only if you drink enough. And the "33" on the back of the label is a topic of debate among Rolling Rock aficionados.
The two most common theories? First, the "33" signifies the end of Prohibition. Or, the "33" is an indicator of how many words are on the back of the bottle.
"Rolling Rock, from glass-lined tanks in the Laurel Highlands. We tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you," the label reads from top to bottom.
But the explanation with the most validity comes from Mr. James Tito, the former CEO of Latrobe Brewing.
The Titos owned Latrobe from the company's inception in 1939 until selling in 1985. Mr. Tito thinks the "33" is an accident.
No one could agree on a message for the back of the bottle in 1939, according to Tito. Someone scrawled a "33" on the bottom, to denote the number of words.
The bottles went to the bottle maker with the "33," and the rest is open to discussion in bars across America.
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