Am I being “age-ist”? Maybe. But maybe not. The world is a pretty complicated place right now and I’m thinking that it’s not such a great time to elect our oldest President ever. So sue me.
The TV Dinner is younger than John McCain.
Here we go again – another staple of my diet that is actually younger than John McCain.
First it was Chocolate Chip Cookies, then the Cobb Salad and Cheerios, and now the beloved TV Dinner.
What next?
Nachos? (Uh-oh… 1943)
Famous Amos Cookies (Crap… 1936)
Krispy Kreme Donuts (This is getting ridiculous… 1937)
Kraft Mac & Cheese, Good & Plenty, and Nescafe coffee (Wow… 1937)
Jesus, is there any food this guy ISN’T older than?
No, this isn’t a post about how Worlds of Warcraft is younger than John McCain. Rather, I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone out there for their incredible support over the last 48 hours. What started out as an idea born from frustration has – so far – grown into something beyond what I could’ve imagined (which makes me think that this Internet thing might really catch on one of these days).
But seriously, I’ve gotten a staggering amount of emails with some really great suggestions (I might not be able to reply to every one, but please know that I’m reading them all). The hits on the blog are off the charts, I’ve been linked to by hundreds of other blogs, and have gotten some pretty amazing coverage. Maybe it’s naive on my part but I’d like to think that, in a very small way, this blog and all the people who participated in it could make a difference come November.
I hope you’ll keep coming back and that you’ll share the site with your friends… not because I’m looking to make a buck off this (note the complete absence of annoying Google ads) but because I want to grow what we’ve started and spread what I think is an important message.
So thanks again – more posts to follow but right now I need some Beef with Broccoli in Black Bean Sauce more than you can imagine.
The Shopping Cart is younger than John McCain.
This seems like something cavemen should have invented (God, I hate those stupid Geico commercials) – I mean, it’s wheels and a bucket. It couldn’t be simpler. So simple, in fact, that one would think that it not only pre-dates John McCain but that it would pre-date his parents and grandparents as well.
One would be wrong.
(Credits to follow soon…)
Nylon is younger than John McCain.
I don’t know why but Nylon was probably the single most popular suggestion that I received since this site went live on Monday (and I received a ton – so thanks to all who sent them in. Keep ‘em coming!).
Nylon was first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush in 1938 – which makes me wonder what Ma and Pa McCain were using until then to brush little Johnny’s first teeth. It then grew in popularity as something that soldiers could give their wives to keep them off the trail of their girlfriends (and vice versa).
One final bit of nylon trivia? The first three letters of the word are completely arbitrary.
The Grapes of Wrath is younger than John McCain.
I have to admit that I never read the book (1939) and was only turned on to the movie (1940) because of the Springsteen album (The Ghost of Tom Joad) but its message is timeless (I guess that’s part of what makes a classic).
In a nutshell, the economy is down the drain, lenders are foreclosing left and right, there are more applicants than there are jobs, and people are in search of a way to return to dignity.
Hmm, I wonder if they’ll ever make a sequel?
The Marijuana Tax Act is younger than John McCain.
This law didn’t specifically make pot illegal – it simply levied a tax of a dollar on anyone who dealt in cannabis or hemp (and there were some pretty hefty fines and the possibility of jail time, too). So does this mean that, when McCain was born, it was completely legal to get baked?
Ah, the good, really, really, really, really old days.
(Thanks Jen and countless others for the tip!)
Velcro is younger than John McCain.
As chance would have it, today is the 50th anniversary of the invention of Velcro. Happy Birthday, Velcro – and good job keeping John McCain’s shoes closed. (You see, because he’s old and may have trouble with laces. Get it? Get it?)
(Thanks to Noa, Kris, Robert, Dana, Kim, Donna, Luke, and about two dozen other people for the tip!)
Cheerios are younger than John McCain.
I have 18 month old twins at home and, as any parent will tell you, these little, round treasures of toasted whole grain goodness might as well be called “Crack-ios” or “Crystal Meth-ios”. There’s nothing my kids like more than to take a fistfull of these suckers and get (maybe) one or two right in their mouths.
I look forward to telling them, come this November, that our country had the good sense to elect a President younger than this ubiquitous brand.
And I imagine that they’ll poop in celebration.
(Thanks to Alan, Jake, David, Shannon, and Chris for the tip!)
Senator Thad Cochran is younger than John McCain.
Senator Thad Cochran (R – Mississippi) is younger than John McCain by a few months and, lest you think I have nothing nice to say about Republicans, has one redeeming quality that I know of (he may have more – but I’m tired). When asked if he would consider the office of Vice President (a far less taxing position than that of President), he said the following:
“When I was much younger I would have probably said, ‘Sure, I’ll be glad to accept it,’ but I’m 70 years [old] and they need a younger person for the job. I would probably tell them, ‘Look for somebody else.’
I’m guessing the “somebody else” he had in mind wasn’t older than him. (That being said, it probably wasn’t Barack or Hillary either, but that’s another story.)
(Thanks to Kent and Derek for the tip!)
LSD is younger than John McCain.
LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by a Swiss chemist named Dr. Albert Hofmann – who recently passed away at the ripe old age of 102 (so much for clean living).
(Thanks to Adam and Matt for the tip!)
The Cobb Salad is younger than John McCain.
Contrary to what the guy in the wheelchair on that episode of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm” said, the Cobb Salad was in fact first created by in 1937 by Brown Derby owner Bob Cobb… a point which Larry made abundantly clear.
I like my Presidents older than my food.
(Thanks to Blind Camel!)
Defibrillation (on people) is younger than John McCain.
While defibrillation had been used on animals since 1899, the first use of it on an actual person was when John McCain was in (roughly) the sixth grade.
The above photo is an artist rendering of what I might look like if this old nut becomes President.
(Thanks Chreatha!)
The Golden Gate Bridge is younger than John McCain.
COMPLETED in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge is the second long suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City (which, incidentally, was completed when McCain was in his late-20′s).
(Thanks to many for the tip!)
Sorry – looks like I got some bad info on the previous “Oil” post.
The Chocolate Chip Cookie is younger than John McCain.
OK, this is an odd one. Apparently, the chocolate chip cookie has not been around since the dawn of time. It did not evolve from anything, nor was it hanging down from the forbidden tree (or whatever it’s called) in the Garden of Eden. It was, in fact, invented in 1937 by Ruth Graves Wakefield of Whitman, Massachusetts, who ran the Toll House Restaurant.
So this classic staple and friend of milk lovers everywhere is actually younger than John McCain.
(Thanks to Sean J. for the tip!)
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