January 6, 2023 - National Shortbread Day | National Technology Day

Welcome to January 6th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate buttery biscuits and sneaky technology. Originally called Biscuit Bread, these buttery, delectable cookies or “biscuits” began life in the 12th century as leftover bread dough dried out to form a hard rusk. Made famous in Scotland by French pastry chefs working for Mary, Queen of Scots, these became known as “petticoat tails”, likely due to the French name for them, petits gateaux or little cakes. Shortbread as it became known got its name from the crumbly texture via an old meaning of the word “short”, due to its high butter content. This final name was even fought for and defended by Scottish bakers in an effort to prevent having to pay a government tax on biscuits. On National Shortbread Day, enjoy this delicious “cookie” with a long history, just don’t call it a biscuit! Ever get the feeling that your technology is spying on you? Turns out, it is, but probably not in the way you’re thinking! In the 1980s color printers were becoming popular in homes and the government was worried that people could use them to counterfeit money. Because of this, the Xerox corporation developed the Machine Identification Code to track printed documents. Using a series of practically invisible yellow dots arranged in a binary code, your documents could be traced by the time, date and printer serial number hidden on every page. This code was used successfully to track counterfeiters and the public didn’t become aware until 2004, almost 20 years later! So the next time someone talks about their phone listening to them, share this little story about their printer. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices