Symbols

I would rather quaff a flagon of turpentine than drink Pepsi, yet I remain sentimental about the brand. As it happens, Pepsi-Cola was invented in 1898 in my hometown of New Bern, N.C., by pharmacist Caleb Bradham, thus ensuring his place in the history of gout. My wistful interest in Pepsi was raised to alarm last fall when PepsiCo Inc. unveiled the redesign of the soft drink's logo.

For 81 years, Carpinteria residents have cheered on their high school's Warriors. And for about that long, graduating classes, community boosters and students have bestowed on the campus an array of Native American-themed logos, statues, murals and decals -- all without any public protest. But last year, a student of Chumash descent named Eli Cordero asked the school board to eliminate the symbols, though not the Warriors name. It was the kind of request that has rattled educators elsewhere for decades, and it triggered an uproar that could resound even after Tuesday, when the board finally is to rule which images to keep and which to ditch.

Anti-Semitic scrawlings on residential walls were discovered over a two-mile area of Tarzana on Thursday morning, raising anxiety in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood and triggering a hate-crime investigation by police. Residents of the upscale neighborhood just south of Ventura Boulevard awoke to find swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted in red on four perimeter walls, police said.

Barack Obama has styled himself as "the audacity of hope" candidate, but on Friday he unveiled a new campaign seal that his critics say is simply audacious -- not to mention presumptuous. The symbol -- a blue circle featuring a bald eagle gripping an olive branch in one claw and arrows in the other -- resembles the official seal of the president of the United States. It was on Obama's podium when he spoke to Democratic governors meeting in Chicago.

The familiar logo of the world's largest retailer is getting a makeover. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Sunday that this fall the company will begin replacing logos on the front of its U.S. stores with a new design. Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said the decision would reflect changes customers already have seen in some store signs and advertisements.

A controversial cross on Mt. Soledad in San Diego can stay as part of a federally owned war memorial, a federal judge ruled. "The court finds the memorial at Mt. Soledad, including its Latin cross, communicates the primarily nonreligious messages of military service, death and sacrifice," wrote U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns in his decision filed Tuesday. "As such, despite its location on public land, the memorial is constitutional."

The peace sign turned 50 this year, but the golden anniversary is only one explanation behind the symbol's current proliferation in home decor. The sign, created by Gerald Holtom for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain, is not so much retro rehash as it is a contemporary statement about the war in Iraq -- and a reflection of designers' anticipation of last month's presidential election. Henry Road textile designer Paula Smail says her peace pillows sold out at a recent gift show.

Citigroup Inc. decided it was better off without Sanford Weill's umbrella. The parent of Citibank said Tuesday that it would sell its red umbrella trademark to insurance company St. Paul Travelers Cos. and operate under the Citi brand name after failing to get most consumers to think of anything except insurance when they saw the 137-year-old symbol.

On a night when actresses will be draped in diamonds, Amnesty International USA and Global Witness have asked artists and filmmakers to wear a red teardrop pin to the Academy Awards to raise awareness about diamonds mined in war zones and their effect on child soldiers. The groups said that Oscar nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Djimon Hounsou and other members of the "Blood Diamond" cast would be wearing the symbols.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will settle a dispute between the two largest U.S. stock exchanges over a plan to allocate stock symbols for the more than 7,000 publicly traded companies. Regulators will decide on competing plans by Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and the New York Stock Exchange over how many characters an exchange can use for company trading symbols, the SEC said in a statement Thursday.