A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

Photo, New York Times

 Sunday’s New York Times reports that Shaun White, of snowboarding and Stride gum commercial cameo fame, now has a Stride Gum named after  him “Whitemint” gum, which features a stylized Shaun on its package (see above). Maurice Herrera, who is senior director of United States gum brands for the food company Kraft, believes that Shaun will help skew Stride’s typical gum-chewing audience (18-24) even younger, noting in the article that “A lot of 10- to 12-year-olds hold Shaun in high esteem.” In addition to recent fame with gum, White was also named the second most powerful athlete earlier this year by Bloomberg Businesweek.

File photo, Associated Press, Washington Post

While the Wrigley company itself was sold to Mars just about three years ago,  the 90-year-old landmark building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago has just been sold to BDT Capital Partners of Chicago (Groupon holds a minority stake in the deal), who will seek landmark status for the building. Today’s Washington Post reports that “the chewing gum maker has been committed to securing new ownership for the building that would ensure its future and protect its legacy.”

Australia’s Brisbane Times reports on a late night robbery south of the city this past Wednesday evening where four stick wielding thieves (seen above) entered the store and sought not only cash but used their stick to smash cases and walk away with an unknown amount of chewing gum. Local residents who might recognize the thieves from the photo above are encouraged to contact the local Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au. You can read the whole story here.

Today’s Croatian Times reports on a wooden gum pillar created by artist Andrej Macko from Slovonski Brod in eastern Croatia.

Macko is head of the “Seed, Stump, Art, Life” artists cooperative which helps war veterans learn new skills by creating handcrafted wooden furniture pieces, which have been featured most recently at Eco-Ethno Croatia fair. Despite suffering post-traumatic stress disorders following his service in the Croatian Homeland war in the 1990s, Macko says he has now dedicated his life to art and wood.

 As Macko notes in the article, this particular idea came to him as he struggled with the challenge of discarded gum — and an elegant solution to that problem:

The idea of a chewing-gum pillar came to him after he realised many people just did not know what to do with their chewing gum and threw it into the street. Now, they can just stick it onto the artistic pillar.

Split residents and tourists can see his work in the city centre.

Macko’s aim was to offer them a simple, unique, educational and ecological place for disposal of their gum.

He said the chewing-gum pillar required regular, special disinfection and frequent replacement by a new one.

He claimed the pillar was not only a practical but also an environmental solution because cleaning streets full of chewing gum was very expensive and required dangerous chemicals.

IMAGE: Brisbane Times

Friday morning’s Brisbane Times features a review of Cartier’s newest scent, “Roadster” (pictured above), a cologne targeted at both men and women.

The scent was created by Mathilde Laurent, who left Guerlain to become Cartier’s bespoke perfumer in 2005.

The review notes that in her work at Cartier, Laurent’s goal has been to make perfume “worthy of Cartier’s clientele and not for the sake of publicity.”

As the review goes on to note (again, emphasis ours):

Roadster, her first non-bespoke fragrance for Cartier, bears the symbols of a watch of the same name, down to its cap that mimics the crown of the Cartier timepiece.

Marketing aside, Laurent has mingled a mint of awesome proportions with earthy vetiver, warm resins and soft vanilla. Her mint isn’t strident like toothpaste or hygienic like chewing gum but sultry and sophisticated. Think antebellum American plantation, not ante-room waiting for the dentist.

Speedway, originally uploaded by JTWilcox.

Today’s Hometown newspaper from suburban Detroit reported on a gum related burgalry at a local Speedway gas station.

As the local crime watch article reports, under the heading “Sticky Fingers”:

Twenty-one boxes of chewing gum — containing 244 packs of assorted varieties — with a retail value of $339 were reported stolen Aug. 28 from a Speedway gas station on Sheldon Road. The theft occurred between 9 p.m., Aug. 27, and 6:30 a.m. the next day.

A police report said a security video shows two different men standing by the gum display, at different times, during the period the theft occurred. One appeared to have an accomplice who was distracting the attendant near a Lottery machine, police said.

Arithmetic, originally uploaded by kunja.

We’re always fond of research that shows chewing gum makes you, well, smarter.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported on a research project funded by Wrigley at the Baylor College of Medicine. Those who took part in the study either chewed sugar-free gum during math class, during math homework, during math tests, or they didn’t chew gum at all.

After 14 weeks, the students took a math test and had their math grades assessed. As the Times reported:

Those who chewed gum had a 3% increase in standardized math test scores and had final math grades that were significantly better than the other students. Teachers observed that those who chewed gum seemed to require fewer breaks, sustain attention longer and remain quieter.

While the research didn’t fully explain what the relationship was between gum chewing and math improvement, the lead researcher on the study, Dr. Craig Johnston, said that “there is research demonstrating an increase in blood flow in the brain during chewing.”

The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology 2009 in New Orleans this past April.

IMAGE: Enfield Independent.

Ben Wilson, a British artist who turns discarded gum into artwork (we’ve featured him before in AndrewsGumWorld) recently lost his jacket in Enfield, Middlesex and the local newspaper, the Independent published a plea last week for its return:

Ben Wilson, 45, of Muswell Hill, was devastated to discover he had walked off without his fluorescent jacket when touching up unsightly underfoot deposits at the base of the fountain in the market square.

“That jacket has been keeping the rain and snow off me for the past four and a half years and has people’s tags and signatures on” he said.

Anyone who finds the jacket is encouraged to contact the reporter of the article, Hannah Crown.

IMAGE: Sail-World.com.

Three Texas fishermen were rescued this past weekend after being lost at sea for a week. The three boaters were found 180 miles from land after a Coast Guard search that covered nearly 86,000 square miles. They were discovered while still with their capsized catamaran, Affordable Fantasy.

An ABC News report on the rescue detailed how the men stayed alive until they were found (emphasis ours):

The Coast Guard officials said they survived because they stuck with the boat. The men also rationed bubble gum and crackers and used a hose to suck fresh water out of the internal “washdown” tank. Fishermen often keep such a tank to wash fish slime off their boat when they are out in the salt water.