Twinkie

A Twinkie is a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling" created by Hostess, and baked by Continental Baking Co[?], which is owned by Interstate Brands Corp[?]. The Twinkie was invented on April 6, 1930.

It is oblong in shape, approximately 4" x 1", is marketed in packages of two, and has an extremely long shelf-life (estimated at about two years). The Twinkie is often derided as the quintessential junk food.

In 2002, the Arkansas State Fair[?] introduced the fried twinkie.

A "Twinkie defense" is a criminal defendant's claim that some unusual factor entered into the causes or motives of the crime. It is a derogatory label implying a defense theory is silly. The expression derives from the 1979 trial of Dan White[?], a San Francisco, California (U.S.), City Supervisor who shot to death Mayor George Moscone[?] and fellow City Supervisor Harvey Milk on 27 November 1978. A psychiatrist, Martin Blinder, testified for White at trial that White had been depressed, and eating Twinkies and drinking Coca-Cola had further depressed him, leading to the shootings. White was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder on 21 May 1979, and that set off the "White Night Riot."

External Link

• "Twinkie Defense" Urban Legend (http://www.snopes.com/legal/twinkie.htm)
• Welcome to Planet Twinkie (http://www.twinkies.com/)
• The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project (http://www.twinkiesproject.com/) - humorous "scientific" experiments with Twinkies