On April 2, 1912, the National Biscuit Company announced to their sales team that they were introducing three “highest class biscuits,” in a grouping they called the “Trio.” Two of the cookies, the Mother Goose Biscuit and Veronese Biscuit, didn’t sell particularly well and quickly disappeared from the shelves. The third, the Oreo Biscuit, did. “Two beautifully embossed chocolate-flavored wafers with a rich cream filling,” the Oreo Biscuit was sold in a yellow tin with a glass cover for approximately 30 cents a pound (about $7.13 today). While it went national in April, it was just a month before that the National Biscuit Company first registered the product with the US Patent and Trademark Office (registration number 0093009). It is commonly stated the given date of registration was March 6th, which is why that is National Oreo Day.  However, a simple patent and trademark search reveals that oft-repeated date is incorrect. In fact, it was actually filed on March 14, 1912 and registered on August 12, 1913.

So how did they come up with the idea of the Oreo?  By using the time-honored business practice of stealing the idea from a competitor and then marketing it better than the original. You see, there was another popular cream-filled sandwich cookie that came before the Oreo, made by Sunshine Biscuits. Sunshine Biscuits was a company run by Joseph and Jacob Loose and John H. Wiles, the former of which were originally part of the great bakery conglomeration of 1898 (the one that formed into the National Biscuit Company).

Wanting a more personal approach to baking and not wanting to be lost in the bakery conglomerate, Loose liquidated his assets and helped form Sunshine Biscuits. (The company actually was the third largest cookie baker in the US when it was acquired in 1996 by Keebler. To this day, the Sunshine brand still appears on Cheez-its, among other products.)

In any event, in 1908, four years before the Oreo, Sunshine debuted the upscale, and soon to be very popular, Hydrox biscuit, which the Oreo was a pretty blatant rip-off of, cream filling, embossing and all. Of course, Nabisco denies this is where the idea for the Oreo came from, but the evidence at hand strongly indicates otherwise.

As for the name, there has never been a firm answer for why the National Biscuit Company chose “Oreo,” though there are several theories. There is speculation that “Oreo” is derived from the French word for gold – “or,” since the original packing was gold and the item was meant to be a “high-class” confectionery. It could also come from the Greek word for mountain or mound – “oros,” since an Oreo is a “mountain” of a cookie. It has also been speculated that maybe it was named for the cookie itself, two “O” shape cookies sandwiching the cream, O-cream-O.

The identity of the designer behind the distinctive emboss on top of each cookie – or what the emboss signifies – has also become part of the Oreo mystery. The first design was simple enough – with the name “Oreo” and a wreath at the edge. In 1924, the company augmented the original design to go with a 1921 name tweak – from “Oreo Biscuit” to “Oreo Sandwich.” The 1924 design added a ring of laurels and two turtledoves. Twenty years later, in 1952, is when today’s elaborate, beautiful, design first appeared.

But what does the design signify, if anything? Historians believe the circle that encases the word “oreo” with antenna-type symbol on top was an early European symbol for quality. Cookie conspiracists believe that the antenna symbol is actually a Cross of Lorraine, a symbol identified with the famed Knights Templar. The “four-leaf clovers” that surround the name could be just that or it could be the cross pattee – a geometric pattern of four triangles radiating outwards that is also associated with the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. It’s up to the individual what they want to believe, but this author thinks the Oreo cookie is a delicious Da Vinci Code style map leading to a treasure buried a thousand years ago… Or as I like to call it, the probable plot to National Treasure 3.

Now, who designed the emboss? Evidence points to William Turnier. However, while Nabisco admits that a man by the name of William Turnier worked for them for fifty years, they deny that he developed the 1954 design. That said, his son and drawn proof indicate otherwise. Turnier joined the company in 1923, working in the mail room. He eventually worked his way up to the engineering department, helping make the dies that made the cookies, the industrial-sized cookie cutters as it were.

So where’s the evidence? In the home of Bill Turnier, William’s son, perched on a wall is a framed 1952, line drawn blueprint of the modern Oreo design. (If you’re curious, Why Blueprints are Blue) Underneath the blueprint, it is written “Drawn by W.A.Turnier 7-17-52,” two years before the design would find itself on the Oreos sold in stores. Despite this evidence, the Kraft (who now owns Nabisco) Corporate Archives only says that Turnier was a “design engineer” and he received a Suggestion Award in 1972 for an idea “that increased the production of Nilla Wafers on company machinery by 13 percent.” So can Bill shed any light on what his father was thinking when he seems to have drawn the design? Not really, though he did admit that the design, while beautiful and resembling more mysterious symbols, probably had nothing to do with the Knights Templar. His father wasn’t a Mason either.

As for the stuff between the intricately-designed cookies, the filling- it was made partially of lard – pig fat – until 1997. In 1994, Nabisco embarked on a nearly three-year revamping process of the filling to take the lard out. In charge of this was Nabisco’s principal scientist Sam Porcello, otherwise known as “Mr. Oreo.” By that point, Porcello was already a cookie legend, holding five Oreo related patents, including Oreos encased in white and dark chocolate. By December 1997, the Oreo cookie was lard-free, but there was another problem – the lard had been replaced by partially hydrogenated vegetable oil; yes, the very much not good for you trans fats. As the Chicago Tribune put it, “Later, research showed that trans fat was even worse for the heart than lard.” Finally, in January 2006, healthier (and more expensive) non-hydrogenated vegetable oil was put into Oreos instead. Today’s filing is additionally made with loads of sugar and vanilla extract creating a cookie that still is delicious, but slightly better for you. Or, perhaps more aptly, less bad for you.

Here are 10 uncommon facts about the iconic treat. Oreos are the world’s best selling cookie, and enough of them are made every year to circle the globe 4 times when stacked. Still, so much about them is little known. Here are 10 uncommon facts about the iconic treat.

Number 10. It takes just under an hour to make one. 59 minutes, to be exact. In whipping up a year’s worth, the company goes through roughly 20 million pounds of cocoa and mixes close to 50 million pounds of sweet, creamy filling.

Number 9. The cookies can reveal a lot about the person eating them. According to a 2004 survey conducted by Kraft Foods, those who twist are apt to be sensitive. Energetic people tend to dunk, and those who just dive right in and take a bite possess great self-confidence.

Number 8. The Double Stuf variety does not, in fact, contain twice as much filling. A high school math class took measurements and ran the numbers back in 2013. They found the cookies billed as double really only have 1.86 times “the stuf”.

Number 7. Oreos really are addictive. For lab rats, anyway. In a 2013 study, the cookies proved to be as popular among test rodents as cocaine or morphine. The researchers concluded the high fat and high sugar combo triggers the brain’s addiction hotspots.

Number 6. Hydrox is not an Oreo knockoff. The somewhat name-challenged cookies debuted in 1908, years before Oreos arrived on the sandwich cookie scene.

Number 5. Flavor makers can get incredibly creative. The cookies are sold in many countries, and keeping everyone happy can require catering to local tastes. Unique varieties include Green Tea, Alfajor, and Filed Cupcake.

Number 4. There may be a deeper meaning behind the cookie’s stamped design. People who specialize in motifs and such have drawn similarities between visual elements on the cookie and some of historical importance. Those include symbols associated with the Freemasons and the Knights Templar of Crusades fame.

Number 3. Nobody knows why they’re called Oreos. However, there are some theories. A popular one is that the name is somehow connected to ‘or,’ the French word for gold, as the cookies were originally wrapped in a gold package.

Number 2. The cookie has an honorary street in New York City. It’s located in Chelsea at 15th and 9th, which happens to where the very first Oreo cookie was made.

Number 1. They’re new to Russia. While people in the U.S. have been enjoying the cookie since 1912, the official Russian debut of the Oreo didn’t occur until 2015. Which lesser known fact about Oreos do you find most interesting?

Here are 10 shocking toys.

It’s unlikely that toy manufacturers mean to offend, creep out, or otherwise alienate consumers, but somehow it happens from time to time.

Here are 10 shocking toys.

Number 10. Oreo Fun Barbie. Everybody loves Oreos, so what could possibility go wrong? Well, it appears that in planning the black version of the doll, Mattel fell short on their research. Oreo is a pejorative term often used to describe black people who act white. The doll was eventually recalled. 

Number 9. Breast Milk Baby. Thanks to carefully placed sensors, the toy can tell when it’s near the body of the child playing with it, and will start to make sucking noises. It’s intended to simulate the breast-feeding experiences, but what it does is freak a lot of parents out.

Number 8. Poo-dough. Some kids like gross stuff, and this was made with them in mind. Although the modeling clay looks like excrement, its realism thankfully doesn’t extend to its smell.

Number 7. Barbie’s Pregnant Friend. Her name was Midge and she was on the verge of giving birth. Delivery was easy enough. All one had to do was pull off her enlarged belly and pluck out the little plastic newborn. 

Number 6. Breaking Bad Dolls. Walter White and Jesse Pinkman make for great television, but a number of parents didn’t think they made appropriate children’s toys. After a petition demanding the figures’ removal from Toys R Us collected over 9 thousand signatures, the store did as requested. 

Number 5. Toy Tattoo Gun. Apparently nobody wants their grade-schooler coming home with a tattoo, even if it’s fake. This make-believe parlor, complete with temporary ink, designs, and an inspired-by-real-life tool didn’t get the favorable reception the company was likely anticipating.

Number 4. Pee and Poo Plush. The company that sells them describes the urine and feces set as, ‘the only time you’ll want pee and poo in your bed’. They also suggest cuddling up with them. 

Number 3. iPotty. As the name suggests, there’s no reason for your kids to be away from their iPad even when they are taking care of business.

Number 2. Hazmat Crew. This might look like a fun little addition for a child’s make believe town. The good times will no doubt end quickly when the kid starts asking what crews like that do and why they’re needed. 

Number 1. Shocking Roulette. If the goal is to make children nervous, crying wrecks, then this should do it. Players stick their fingers inside the game device and sit there until a shock is delivered to one of them. 

Which toy are you most surprised by?