1. The original boneless rib sandwich was invented in Sweden in 1547 when King Gustav Vasa’s castle was besieged by rebels from the town of Småland. All that was left to feed his troops were loaves of bread, twelve boars, and a smoked sauce made from honey called rydbojölk. King Gustav I ordered the sidemeats peeled from the boars and placed directly from the boar onto the sandwich, raw and drizzled with the rydbojölk. Onions, pickles, and cooking were added in later generations.
2. The modern McRib was developed in a laboratory at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Scientists were working towards creating a stronger caulking compound when a careless lab technician spilled some of his McNugget BBQ sauce onto the drying compound. The slotted shape of the sandwich was originally due to planks of wood laid across the compound to see how well it would bond to the wood. Soy paste and a small percentage of sawdust from the wood were added to give the sandwich/caulk a more palatable mouthfeel.
3. The world record for the most McRibs eaten goes to the late Olaf Gustafson, a Swedish immigrant who, upon emigrating to the United States in 1982, was so excited to discover his favorite food from his homeland was featured on the menu at a New York McDonalds, he swore to eat one every day. He consumed 796 McRibs before his death in early 1985 of advanced heart disease.
4. The worled record for most McRibs eaten in a single sitting belongs to Japanese salaryman Takahashi Matsuzaka, who in 1998 consumed 23 of the sandwiches in a thirty minute span of time. Immediately upon completing this astonishing feat, doctors pumped two pints of BBQ sauce from his stomach.
5. Pop musician Joe Jackson’s song “Steppin’ Out” was inspired by a girlfriend who took him on a date to McDonald’s. They were “steppin’ out” for a McRib. The lyric “But nothing hides the colour of the lights that shine” refers to the red and yellow arched sign about the fast food restaurant.
6. A very rare, but incredibly popular, phenomenon is when McDonald’s corporate release calendars align in such a manner that the McRib sandwich and the Shamrock Shake are available in the same time period. Called the “Black ‘n’ Irish” by some, many locations offer this combination as a special combo meal. The sweet sauce of the McRib and the minty flavor of the Shamrock Shake are perfect compliments to each other. This phenomenon occurs approximately thrice every decade.
7. Former Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar was so fond of the sandwich that he requested a McRib plate, complete with french fries and a McNugget appetizer, as the official meal for his inauguration dinner in 1992. Twenty-two McDonald’s cooks were flown in from Germany to prepare 150 McRibs, 900 McNuggets, and 125 pounds of french fries, for various heads of state, visiting dignitaries, and national celebrities. It is unknown whether they had apple pies for dessert.

I hope you enjoyed these facts about the history of a popular sandwich, and remember, every time you eat a McRib, you’re eating caulk.

Originally, I was going to go with this cheap corn whiskey that sells for cheap (even comes in a jar), but then, nearby, I saw the Old Grand Dad. Who could resist a bourbon named for the man who taught you to love the stuff? And there’s more. After the Old Grand Dad name, there’s a little 114. The 114 stands for 114 proof, as in 57% alcohol content. I’m pretty sure that qualifies for low-grade rocket fuel. Mmmm. From Kindred Spirits;

OLD GRAND DAD 114-Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon 57% Alcohol

Beautiful, deep topaz/bronze/orange hue, with very attractive amber highlights; as expected, potent and heady in the nose, but also astringent, pepperminty, and zesty – not what I’d term a deep complex bouquet – just straight on, fists cocked, and ready; on palate, it shows much more grace and gentility than in the pugnacious aroma, as well-defined, tightly focused sweet flavors of oak, pears, apricots, and dark caramel lead the taste buds to a moderately hot, though hardly unpleasant finish, where in the very tail end, the warm, rich flavor of oak-influenced vanilla completes the sensory impression.

Rating *** Recommended $ $

Copyright 1997 F. Pacult – Published by Hyperion, New York

I picked up the Old Grand Dad, stopped by the grocery store for some peaches and some mason jars (they make you buy them in packs of 12, even though I only need three), and brought it all home. There isn’t much info on the interwebs about infusion; the only info I could find was a post at Allrecipes and an archived story from the Cincinnati Enquirer. But it wasn’t too tricky. I sliced up the peaches (and for one jar, I went with half peach slices and half apple slices, to mix it up), popped ‘em in a jar, and filled it with bourbon. Now, we wait. A long time. Like a year. I’m going to open a jar up next March for my 25th birthday. That gives me time to design labels for the jars. And find sticker paper so I can print them off. It shall be awesome. Check back here in a year for the tasty results.

• DB needs a code editor. For that, I recommend Smultron. I know BBEdit is the old stalwart, and TextMate is the new hottness, but Smultron is P.D.G. (Pretty Damn Good), and, as a bonus, it doesn’t cost 120 USD (BBEdit) or 40 euro (TextMate).
• DB needs to video chat with Windows users. iChat can do it with AIM users. Unfortunately, Adium can’t do video chat. It’s a LibGAIM limitation. However, Yahoo for Mac can do video with Windows Yahoo users (with the standard shitty Yahoo video chat quality) and Skype can do cross video chats I believe, as well. I am unsure about MSN for Mac. Anyone know?
• DB misses his key command for the Run shell. Fortunately, those fine motherbitches at Blacktree developed Quicksilver. Quicksilver, with the punch of a two-key-combo, lets you launch apps, open web pages, send emails, do UNIX commands, make text files, do math, and so much more. Check it out.
• DB knows about Flip4Mac, but does he know Perian? Perian is the shit for video codecs, giving you all you need.
• DB would like an AMP stack. If only someone made a self contained development environment, complete with it’s own little Apache, PHP, and SQL… Oh wait, they do! MAMP gives you all you need for developing websites in an Apache environment, with no fuss. It’s so good, I use it my self.

That’s it for now. Anyone else got any questions, you just go on ahead and ask, li’l chilluns.

• The Buttered Cat Paradox – Everybody knows a cat, when dropped, will land on its feet. And toast, properly buttered, will land on the buttered side. So what happens when you butter a cat? I’m entrenched firmly in the levitating-cat-theory camp.
• Telluric Currents – Electric currents that move through the Earth.
• Ass-to-Mouth – You never go ass to mouth.
• The Interesting Number Paradox – The first sequential number that is declared to have no interesting properties, becomes interesting by virture of the fact that it is the first non-interesting number.
• 0.99… = 1 – Math, bitches!
• Numbers Stations – These things will never cease to fascinate and spook me.
• Markovian Parallax Denigrate – Like numbers stations, but on the internet!
• Colors of Noise – I wonder who decides these things.
• Aldus Manutius – A famous 15th century publisher.

Thanks BeerorKid for the post inspiration.

As a sidenote, there are four Magnum P.I. cars for sale on eBay.