I came across an interesting fact this morning: the "spot" on the 7Up logo came from its inventor, who was an albino with red eyes.
Blew my mind. Makes sense, though.
I thought back to the days when I first found out about "albinism." I was fascinated.
It began with encyclopedias. Lost on the current generation is not only the wonderment that exists in a set of encyclopedias, but the grasp one can get of a particular subject.
Wikipedia is fine, but it typically serves as a point of entry into the rabbit warren of the Internet rather than as a weigh station alongside the educational superhighway.
My grandfather gave us a set of World Book Encyclopedias one Christmas and he told me there was "more knowledge in those books than there was in my entire school library as a kid." He was right. There weren't many books in the rural South back then.
When I looked through those encyclopedias, I took notes. Copious notes at times—perhaps a little overkill for a boy of 9 or 10, maybe 11. Because of that practice, some things have just stuck with me all these years later.
One thing that did stand out, though I don't remember any note-taking, was inside the supplementary set of 5 to 7 extra books. One of these books had to do with animals, and one animal stood out among all the rest. The albino gorilla.
White fur, pink skin, and red eyes.
Quite unlike the gorillas we got to see semi-regularly at Portland's Washington Park Zoo which looked like … normal gorillas.
Every time I see an albino anything, I am fascinated. Against my better judgment, I tend to gawk. Forgive me in advance.
I'd imagine I'd stare with my mouth agape if I had the chance to look just once at Charles Leiper Gregg, the inventor of 7Up, setting aside the notion that this guy invented one of the iconic American soft drinks. It would be something else.
There are various "origin stories" out there that explain the origin of the 7Up name. Leiper invented the drink in 1929 and like most sweet, carbonated treats of its time, 7Up started out as some sort of "medicine."
Until 1948, the formula called for lithium citrate, which is known as a mood-stabilizing drug. Lithium's atomic mass is 7. You make the call…
Leiper's soft drink was also iconic in my hometown of Portland, Oregon as a 7Up bottling plant was a prominent sight to behold as one travelled in or out of town on the Banfield Freeway.
Alas, as it turns out, Leiper was not an albino after all.
The red dot came into use in the 1970s, well after Grigg had left this mortal plane. Grigg died in 1940.
At least we still have Bigfoot … and Wikipedia.
As always,
Brian
P.S. — We're excited for the launch of the Inner Sphere program. Our first cohort starts next week.
The first cohort is a mastermind taking place over the summer months, but my vision for the Sphere's future is much bigger.
We're more than masterminds. More than a "membership site."
By the time you read this there may or may not be any availability for the session starting next week, but to find out and to get on the wait list and find out even more:
