The Daily Feather — The Dismal Science with a Twist
The origin of the iconic chocolate-vanilla soft-serve twist, a staple of ice cream stands, is a tale shrouded in both innovation and a bit of a mystery. While many credit J.F. “Grandpa” McCullough of Dairy Queen with pioneering soft serve, the distinctive twist is often attributed to Harold William “Bill” Atkins. He developed the method for combining two flavors while working at a dairy in Harmony, Minnesota. (Harmony, imagine that?) An engineer with an inventive mind, Atkins developed a specialized machine that could dispense two flavors from a single nozzle. His ingenious design involved separate internal reservoirs and a unique central mechanism that funneled the streams together just before they exited the machine. This technical breakthrough was a revolution in aesthetics and choice. By offering a unified, visually appealing treat, Atkins’s invention served a simple, yet brilliant, solution to a common consumer dilemma: choosing between two flavors.
While it’s our hope that you’re enjoying such a quintessential summer treat on Jackson Hole Friday, the notion of coexistence in the dismal science stretches far wider than marrying ice cream flavors. As sovereign bond markets sold off yesterday ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech, crosscurrents in the fundamental macro data were abundant.