http://www.mooregoodink.com/news/?m=201002

Although the two are often linked, being famous doesn’t always go hand in hand with being successful and vice verse. “Fluid fittings” and “quick connect couplers” are not words or items that the majority of people are familiar with, but Michael Rahil, vice president of operations at Jiffy-tite Auto Parts Company believes that being slightly out of view of the public eye can be as Martha Stewart says, “a good thing.”

Jiffy-tite is an auto parts company with its own marketing niche. It focuses on inventing products for automobiles that can be assembled without tools. They are known for their small parts, which are designed for engines and have the reputation of running more smoothly and efficiently than their larger counterparts.

For the powers-that-be at Jiffy-tite, it’s more important for the manufacturers of vehicles to know their reputation than the public at large. Their specialty is “quick-connect couplers for fluid systems,” whose function is to link fluid lines with vital workings such as transmissions and radiators.

A quiet success story, headquarters for Jiffy-tite are in Lancaster, a suburb of Buffalo, New York. The company boasts more than 120 employees, most of whom are patriotic engineers who are proud to work for a company that focuses on making its own products instead of importing them, as is the mainstream custom.

Success is a funny thing. Sometimes it’s just a thought away, although hard work is always associated with it. Still, there is hope that one single idea can change an industry, albeit one small part at a time.

Who were the first to make whoopi pies? Are they from Maine or Lancaster, Pennsylvania? Aye, that is the question, as the two states are embroiled in a tasty, good-natured conflict over who introduced these rich, dense and delicious small chocolate cakes with a creamy vanilla filling.

One Maine legislator, Paul Davis to be specific, initiated a bill last January, which made the whoopi pie Maine’s official dessert. Later the name was changed to Maine’s official treat. He was inspired to do this after attending the Maine Whoopi Pie Festival, which brought some 4,000 visitors to his district last year alone.

Congressional districts aside, residents in Lancaster, Pa don’t care what the people in Maine call the whoopi pie because they claim that these chocolate delights also known as “gobs,” originated in Amish kitchens and date back many generations.

The issue has prompted “whoopi pie rallies” with purists in Lancaster, PA, holding signs that they alone have the original and all others are imposters committing “confectionary larceny.” Attended by 100 angry people last February, one person carried a sign bearing the words: Give Me Whoopi or Give Me Death. The Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine, insists they started making whoopi pies back in 1925.

Whoever is right or wrong may never be ascertained. The creator of the whoopi pie may remain one of those confectionary mysteries that people will just have to live with. Although the competition is light-hearted, with so much going on in this dynamic world of ours that merits our attention and concern, how should we prioritize this miscarriage of culinary justice?

Maybe what everyone needs instead is a whoopi cushion, or perhaps the brilliant commentary of a funny lady who bears the name, Whoopi Goldberg?