Or should I say "Southern Americana"? Someone mentioned this yesterday. I had never heard about the combination. But it appears there is some deep connection between RC Cola and MoonPie that goes way back to... way back. Wikipedia says the origin of the tradition is unclear:

It is uncertain whence the tradition of eating moon pies with RC Cola derived.[3] However, this 'working man's lunch' became so popular that by the 1950s it formed the basis of Big Bill Lister's song, "Gimmee an RC Cola and a Moon Pie."

But About.com has much more information:

The MoonPie hit the markets of Chattanooga Tennessee in 1917 and R.C. Cola arrived in 1934. They were an instant success when they combined forces in the 1950's. You could buy a RC (Royal Crown) Cola and MoonPie special for 10 cents, back then, that was a full 16 ounces of soda and the MoonPies' weighed about near (that's southern for Approximate size) a half pound.

This combo was soon labeled as the instant fast food lunch of the fifties. Although it's never been acknowledged that the merging of the two was a planned marketing strategy or just plain luck.

This combination has inspired many to write, read and celebrate in its existence. Songs such as the 1950s hit "Gimm'e an RC Cola and a Moonpie" from Big Bill Liston in the 1950's to today's version from NRBQ called "RC and Moonpie" and "Moonpie" by Edwin Hubbard As well as the popular children's musical version by Bill Harley called "Weezie and the Moon Pies". Along with several books "The Great American Moon Pie Handbook" by Ron Dickson in 1985 and the somewhat new children's book "Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This-World Moon Pie Adventure" written by Tony DiTerlizzi and released in 2000.

Now I have a craving. So, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or banana? I'm thinking banana. Banana looks more like the moon. But I want to do this thing right.

More from NPR. T-shirts, bags, hats and other memorabilia. "RC Cola and a MoonPie" even has a Facebook page. And MoonPies have been to the moon. Wow. Neil and Buzz each carried one. They ate them when they got back. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 01:51 PM | Comments (254)
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Most Americans know just the first verse, but there are four. And this July 4th, 2011, it's the third verse that's most important. Here it is, in memory of Usama Bin Laden and the rest of the dead terrorists, insurgents, and enemies of our country:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battleÂ’s confusion,

A home and a country, should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footstepsÂ’ pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,

OÂ’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Guess what? We're still here, in the midst of a free election in a free country, and y'all are dead. How's that working out for you? ..fritz..

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:45 PM | Comments (32)
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Via those crazy splitters.

more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 12:29 PM | Comments (31)
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Crappy video. I'm famous for it.

Yes, that is a Citgo logo there. An American company, owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.

In a perfect world, Hugo's cancerous assblight should be feeling those blasts all during his super-Cuban-healthcare treatment.

Bonus repost pic too. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 11:22 AM | Comments (203)
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Jon Ronson has this great book (title of this post) about psychopaths and identifying them. Here's an extended excerpt. Do I really need to say read the whole thing? Ok, Read The Whole Thing.

You can also watch an excellent interview with Ronson on the Daily Show. Towards the end he reveals this tidbit.

"1% of the population, 25% of the prison population and 4% of corporate CEOs are psychopaths."

Here's a cute bit from his book (and the excerpt linked above)

Tony, the psycho, is being released from prison...

"What will you do now?" I asked.

"Maybe move to Belgium," he said. "There's this woman I fancy. But she's married. I'll have to get her divorced."

"Well, you know what they say about psychopaths," I said.

"We're manipulative!" said Tony .

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:02 AM | Comments (65)
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Backup power needed for Wind Farms

Problems with the backup power.

(I'm not going to talk about Global Warming or whether CO2 is a problem. The Brit govt. has made up it's mind on that. I'm just looking at what the Brits have decided to do about it.)

These two stories (found via CCNet) show that the British move to massive wind power has passed beyond stupidity and is headed toward full blown insanity.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:59 AM | Comments (144)
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The 10' bronze statue of Ronald Reagan will stand in Grosvenor Square near statues of Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The statue was commissioned to "recognise Mr Reagan's contribution to ending the Cold War." It also commemorates the 100 year anniversary since his birth.

From the Telegraph:

Foreign Secretary William Hague and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both paid tribute to the late President at the unveiling ceremony, which coincides with the US Independence Day celebrations.

"I doubt very much that President Reagan would have even imagined the world that we see today and so this statue of Ronald Reagan is quite clearly a memorial and a commemoration of a glorious past but more importantly it is a call to an even more glorious future," said Ms Rice, who was representing Reagan's widow, Nancy Reagan, at the ceremony.

Mr Reagan's great political ally and friend, former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, was not able to attend due to her physical frailty, so Mr Hague paid tribute to the former President on her behalf: "Ronald Reagan was a great President and a great man. A true leader for our times. It was a pleasure to be his colleague and his friend and I hope that this statue will be a reminder to future generations of the debt we owe him," he said.

And last week, a 7' bronze statue was unveiled in Budapest, Hungary.

A statue of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was unveiled Wednesday in Hungary's capital, where he was honored for his leadership in helping to end communism.

The bronze 2-meter (7-foot) likeness of the 40th president was erected in Budapest at Freedom Square, near both the U.S. Embassy and a World War II memorial to Soviet soldiers killed during the ouster of the Nazis from Hungary.

. . .

Reagan was remembered for the aid and encouragement he gave Hungary and other former Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe to gain back their freedom.

Reagan "changed the world and created a new world for Central Europe," Orban said at the unveiling ceremony. "He tore down the walls which were erected in the path of freedom in the name of distorted and sick ideologies."

Video from the London ceremony below the fold. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 06:23 AM | Comments (282)
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Ezra "Carbon 14" Klein notes that thing's, like, 200 years old.

Posted by: andy at 04:09 AM | Comments (138)
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Got your nick, tracing your ip address...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:59 PM | Comments (362)
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Hot Air linked this article by the New York Times, How Tim Pawlenty Is Like RC Cola. The article is about Pawlenty's position relative to the other candidates, but I like it for this handy chart:

Look at Romney and Crist Huntsman over there on the left, side by side. Romney likes him some big government. Like all Bushes, as well as Bushies (Rove, for example), Romney feels that government is there to make our lives better, that bigger government can only help.

Recall that Bush 43 gave us a brand new entitlement we absolutely cannot afford, Medicare Part D. He also gave us the TSA, apparently thinking, "We'll just federalize airport security, because making it so they can't be fired--like other government employees--means we'll be safer!" See how that works, the knee-jerk impulse toward bigger, more intrusive government? And recall how Bush 43 never put up a fight on a spending bill; he was a rubber stamp for Congress. Politicians like Bush and Romney and Huntsman cannot be trusted to watch the store.

So, Bachmann and Perry?

Posted by: rdbrewer at 10:56 AM | Comments (452)
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