Daily Dirt: Ice cream cones and monster trucks … thanks, Missouri!

Daily Dirt for Aug. 18, 2021
Ice cream cone, monster trucks … thanks, Missouri!

By Steve Eighinger Muddy River News Minister of Culture

Hooray for Missouri! Yesterday we praised Illinois for four important contributions to our daily life. Today, we pay tribute to Missouri for the following in Vol. 41 of the Daily Dirt:

1. Next time you run into someone from Missouri, make sure you shake their hand and thank them for giving us the following:

A. The Ice cream cone: The ice cream cone was popularized at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, forever changing the way Americans enjoy their ice cream

.B. 7up: The soft drink was originally called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime soda, but no one wanted to try to remember that name, so it was shortened to 7up. Charles Leiper Grigg created the drink in St. Louis in 1929.

C. The microchip: The next time you use a smartphone, tablet or computer, say thanks to Missouri. That’s where microchip inventor Jack Kilby was born. He invented the microchip in 1958.

D. Monster trucks: Missourian Bob Chandler created the first monster truck in the mid-1970s. In 1981, Chandler set up two cars in a field, crushed them with his “Big Foot” truck and videotaped the event as a promotion tool for his truck shop. Two years later, he had a sponsorship from Ford Motors, “and the rest is history,” according to the onlyinourstate.com website.

2. Ever wonder who the average McDonald’s customer might be? This might surprise you.According to the takeout.com website, the average person to purchase food at the Golden Arches fits the following description:– Married, female, white.– Between the ages of 41 and 56.– Makes 44 annual visits to McDonald’s.– Half of her orders are for breakfast items.– Average trip costs her $8.35.

3. The best TV game show is nothing without a popular host. Here are my favorite over the past 50 or so years:

A. Alex Trebek, “Jeopardy!’: A first ballot of hall of famer. The late, great Trebek will always be how quizmasters are measured.

B. Bob Eubanks, “Newlywed Game”: Eubanks made this show must-see TV.

C. Tom Kennedy, “You Don’t Say!”: One of the first in the early 1960s to add humor to his hosting repertoire.

D. Pat Sajak, “Wheel of Fortune”: Sajak and Vanna White made the nightly “Wheel of Fortune” telecasts into a true blue American institution.

E. Jack Narz, “Concentration”: Little-known fact — Narz is a brother to Tom Kennedy (whose real name is James Narz).

Steve Eighinger writes for Muddy River News. He gets excited about going to lunch…every day.