DAILY DIRT: Back when McDonald’s opened, a ‘pure beef hamburger’ was just 15 cents

If my math is correct, you could have purchased all nine things on the menu for $1.16 … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,006 of The Daily Dirt.

1. A few days ago, The Daily Dirt offered a list of food items that have been discontinued by McDonald’s over the years.

Apparently, there are quite a few fans of the Golden Arches out there. I’ve received a number of responses concerning all things McDonald’s, including a note about the first-ever menu offered by the restaurant. Here’s a look at that, plus some other FYI items:

The first menu, in 1940, looked like this:

• Pure Beef Hamburger, 15 cents
• Tempting Cheeseburger, 19 cents
• Triple-Thick Shakes (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry), 20 cents
• Golden French Fries, 10 cents
• Thirst-Quenching Coke, 10 cents
• Delightful Root Beer, 10 cents
• Full-Flavor Orange Drink, 10 cents
• Steaming Hot Coffee, 10 cents
• Refreshing Cold Milk, 12 cents

The McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac, opened up their first fast food outlet in 1940 in San Bernardino, Calif. The rest, as they say, is history, as Ray Kroc took their idea (literally) and ran with it:

• The McDonald’s App has been downloaded more than 100 million times.
• The Happy Meal was introduced in 1979.
• McDonald’s created its fillet of fish sandwich in 1962 to cater to its Catholic customers.
• The first McDonald’s drive-through opened in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Ariz.
• The first McDonald’s play place was introduced in 1971.
• The first McDonald’s outside the U.S. opened in 1967 in Canada.
• The first McDonald’s TV commercial was in 1966.

2. Did you know (Part 66)

• That according to the World Happiness Index (WHI), Finland is the happiest country on the planet. Maybe it has something to do with Finalnd having one sauna for every 1.59 people.
• That in Japanese, the word “kuchisabishii” describes eating not because you’re hungry but because your mouth is lonely. Obviously, I need to learn Japanese.
• That in 1524, the last letter to be added to the English alphabet was the letter “J.” Before it became a letter, the letter “I” was used for both “I” and “J.”
• That Germany has more castles than there are McDonald’s in the United States. Yep, you heard that right. Germany is estimated to have 25,000 castles, and there are around 13,000 McDonald’s locations in America.
• That cat urine glows under a black light. It’s something about the phosphorous level. I’m taking the scientists’ word on this.

3. Only one NBA player averaged more points per game than Michael Jordan in their head-to-head matchups while Jordan was a member of the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan’s career with the Bulls covered 1984-98, and he played against 983 different players, but only Allen Iverson averaged more points per game than Jordan in their mano-o-mano meetings. 

Iverson averaged 27 points per game, Jordan 24.

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Interestingly, when spelled out no number before 1,000 contains the letter “a”.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. He does like talkin’ about practice either.