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They couldn't be more different
An onion and a potato.
But a restaurant in the US has managed to fry onions in a way that makes it irresistible.
It's not the familiar onion rings.
Dipped into batter and then deep fried.
There is no batter here.
It looks like a sunflower you can eat with the right dip.
There are several origin stories.
But it begins with an onion sliced deep in several directions but not all the way through.
Calls for some slick technique and preparation.
Expect it to arrive on hotel menus as its fame spreads.
The presentation is practically the story.
It's called a 'blooming onion' - a pretty accurate description if you can think of a fried flower in your head.
The chef who invented it was thinking of something inexpensive that would be a unique dish.
And the onion sort of popped into his head.
There is already a controversy on where it first came about and who stole what from whom.
The recipe involves using food colors and keeping the 'flowered onion' in a fridge overnight before it is dunked into the deep fryer.
Another sin food option for those who don't count calories.
Burt's Bees - a crazy brand story
Hat rakishly placed at an angle.
A face etched by the experience of living outdoors
An old world authenticity has made Burt's Bees a massive business in several countries.
Producing everything from lip balm to a range of cosmetics.
Burt is real. He's not a figment of some Art and Copy team's imagination.
His life story is full of contradictions and there are strange twists and turns to the brand story - or probably what sustains it.
He's a living mascot for the brand.
There's an opening sequence in the documentary where he arrives in Taiwan to a rockstar welcome.
Young people swarm all over him and pose for selfies.
He's got a straggly beard, speaks in a long-drawn drawl and seems to have the audience eating out of his hand.
To them, he's the very embodiment of a natural lifestyle.
Burt is happiest when he's left in a small shack from where his brand story began.
It has no running water and he has only recently upgraded to a place with normal conveniences available in modern homes.
He sold honey by the roadside for years to sustain himself.
And he still doesn't understand what the fuss is about.
Carbon farming
The best ideas are the simplest ones.
Several have been proposed to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
But there's a low-tech one which shows great promise
Kelp is a large brown seaweed that grows abundantly under the sea
It is a favorite in the nutrient business because of a high level of antioxidants which help the fight against disease-causing free radicals.
It has a slightly salty taste and is a favorite on the gourmet food circuit.
But the most important kelp benefit is what it does to the atmosphere.
As it grows, it absorbs an enormous amount of carbon from the air through photosynthesis.
And the bottom of the ocean is the best way to store carbon for millions of years.
A company called Running Tide Technologies is doing a simple experiment.
It's wrapping buoys with kelp seeds and floating them far out into the ocean.
As kelp grows in its natural environment, the weight sinks the buoys to the bottom, trapping the carbon as a massive benefit.
The genius of the method is that nothing needs to be manufactured.
It's just helping nature do the job it has done for billion of years.
Let's hope it works.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with friends. Or Tweeting the link. The more people we can get to tune in every week, the merrier. Thank you.
By Connecting the not-so-obvious branding dotsThey couldn't be more different
An onion and a potato.
But a restaurant in the US has managed to fry onions in a way that makes it irresistible.
It's not the familiar onion rings.
Dipped into batter and then deep fried.
There is no batter here.
It looks like a sunflower you can eat with the right dip.
There are several origin stories.
But it begins with an onion sliced deep in several directions but not all the way through.
Calls for some slick technique and preparation.
Expect it to arrive on hotel menus as its fame spreads.
The presentation is practically the story.
It's called a 'blooming onion' - a pretty accurate description if you can think of a fried flower in your head.
The chef who invented it was thinking of something inexpensive that would be a unique dish.
And the onion sort of popped into his head.
There is already a controversy on where it first came about and who stole what from whom.
The recipe involves using food colors and keeping the 'flowered onion' in a fridge overnight before it is dunked into the deep fryer.
Another sin food option for those who don't count calories.
Burt's Bees - a crazy brand story
Hat rakishly placed at an angle.
A face etched by the experience of living outdoors
An old world authenticity has made Burt's Bees a massive business in several countries.
Producing everything from lip balm to a range of cosmetics.
Burt is real. He's not a figment of some Art and Copy team's imagination.
His life story is full of contradictions and there are strange twists and turns to the brand story - or probably what sustains it.
He's a living mascot for the brand.
There's an opening sequence in the documentary where he arrives in Taiwan to a rockstar welcome.
Young people swarm all over him and pose for selfies.
He's got a straggly beard, speaks in a long-drawn drawl and seems to have the audience eating out of his hand.
To them, he's the very embodiment of a natural lifestyle.
Burt is happiest when he's left in a small shack from where his brand story began.
It has no running water and he has only recently upgraded to a place with normal conveniences available in modern homes.
He sold honey by the roadside for years to sustain himself.
And he still doesn't understand what the fuss is about.
Carbon farming
The best ideas are the simplest ones.
Several have been proposed to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
But there's a low-tech one which shows great promise
Kelp is a large brown seaweed that grows abundantly under the sea
It is a favorite in the nutrient business because of a high level of antioxidants which help the fight against disease-causing free radicals.
It has a slightly salty taste and is a favorite on the gourmet food circuit.
But the most important kelp benefit is what it does to the atmosphere.
As it grows, it absorbs an enormous amount of carbon from the air through photosynthesis.
And the bottom of the ocean is the best way to store carbon for millions of years.
A company called Running Tide Technologies is doing a simple experiment.
It's wrapping buoys with kelp seeds and floating them far out into the ocean.
As kelp grows in its natural environment, the weight sinks the buoys to the bottom, trapping the carbon as a massive benefit.
The genius of the method is that nothing needs to be manufactured.
It's just helping nature do the job it has done for billion of years.
Let's hope it works.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with friends. Or Tweeting the link. The more people we can get to tune in every week, the merrier. Thank you.