McRib is McWack

The McDonald's McRib is back, hitting restaurants nationwide today. The legendary boneless pork sandwich, famously molded to resemble a rack of ribs, is both a feat of modern engineering and shrewd marketing.

It garners almost as much attention for its pseudo-meat shape as its impermanence on restaurant menus. 

The barbecue-sauce-smothered sandwich was supposed to return at the end of October, but was pushed back to help boost end-of-the-year sales. 

Better late than never.  Or as I like to say, never, ever again.  The picture you see is my next door neighbor "Samson".  He is my friend, and yes he is a pig.  Every so often I would hear a snort or grunt at my front door and I would open to find his half hidden smile and kind eyes saying; "Can you and Lucky come out to play?"  He was always escaping from his pen to come and say hello.  Then he stopped his visits.  I wondered if his owners finally mended all his escape routes in their fence.  Lucky and I went looking for him one day and he was nowhere to be found.  Did he escape this time for good?  Why didn't he say goodbye?  Maybe he didn't have time.  He got that right.  His time was up.  His whole life was meant only for one thing.

Dinner.  He didn't end up in a McRib but what difference does it make.  He ended up.  Sad.

The McRib is a product of "restructured meat technology."

Rene Arend came up with the idea and design of the McRib, but it's a professor from the University of Nebraska named Richard Mandigo who developed the "restructured meat product" that the McRib is actually made of. 

According to an article from Chicago magazine, which cites a 1995 article by Mandigo, "restructured meat product" contains a mixture of tripe, heart, and scalded stomach, which is then mixed with salt and water to extract proteins from the muscle. The proteins bind all the pork trimmings together so that it can be re-molded into any specific shape — in this case, a fake slab of ribs.  Yum!

As it appears out of the box, the McRib sandwich consists of just five basic components: a pork patty, barbecue sauce, pickle slices, onions, and a sesame bun.

But, as recently reported by Time magazine, a closer inspection of McDonald's own ingredient list reveals that the pork sandwich contains a total of 70 ingredients. This includes azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent often used in the production of foamed plastics. 

Animal rights group sues McRib meat supplier over inhumane treatment of pigs.

Not everyone is ecstatic about the return of the McRib. Last November, the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against Smithfield Foods, the pork supplier of McDonald's McRib meat, claiming the meat distributor houses its pigs in unethical farm conditions. 

A 2010 undercover investigation by the animal rights group shows pigs crammed into gestation crates covered in blood and baby pigs being tossed into carts like rag dolls (WARNING: the video contains some pretty graphic content).  I won't eat animals anymore.  Animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends.

12-12-12

photo taken at 12:12 PM. EST on 12-12-12

Poor Dec. 12. It’s one of the year’s more interesting dates, but Dec. 21, what with all its doomsday this and end-of-the-world that, is completely monopolizing the spotlight. Sure, Dec. 21 is the winter solstice and the day that countless legions of gloomy doomsayers have anointed as the pinnacle of important dates, but Dec. 12 deserves some attention too. So in honor of the 346th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, here’s what Dec. 12 has to offer:

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has declared Dec. 12, 2012, as Anti-Doomsday Day in celebration of rational thinking and reasoned discourse.

Dec. 12 is the last of the repeating dates until Jan. 1, 2101. Repeating dates (like 12/12/12) can, for obvious reasons, only occur in the first 12 years of a century.

At 12:12:12 p.m., the day will offer fans of the number 12 a whopping six repeats! 12/12/12 12:12:12. Nice.

At 1:21:02 a.m., palindrome lovers everywhere can rejoice in the single second that marks when the date-time combination is the same read both forwards and backwards: 2012-12-12 1:21:02 = 201212-1-212102.

But perhaps most fascinating of all, Dec. 12 is National Ambrosia Day; once known as food to the gods, now known as canned fruit combined with Cool Whip, sweetened coconut, mini-marshmallows, and the food-dye bombs called maraschino cherries. Yuk.  Which leads us to think that perhaps Dec. 12 would have made a good candidate for doomsday after all.  This is the first and last  time that I have been photographed on a repeated date in history.

" TO BEARD OR NOT TO BEARD "

When it comes to growing a beard not every man has what it takes.  Flaunting a beard at some point in time seems to be a rite of passage for most men.  It takes determination, patience and full commitment.  You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.  Interestingly enough a study found that of women surveyed, the majority find men to be less attractive when sporting a full face of hair.   However, this same group of women also perceived bearded men as garnering higher respect and being more powerful than clean-shaven men.  Over the course of history, men with beards have been ascribed various attributes such as wisdom, sexual virility, masculinity, or a higher status.  

Beards may also be perceived to be associated with creative types; Artists, Musicians, Writers, Actors and the like.  On the negative side it can mean a lack of general cleanliness, homelessness, a loss of refinement and in our present day and age, terrorists.  Ha!  So many people fear the beard or they don't trust it or a combination of both.  What I find interesting is that the beard is the only thing one man feels comfortable enough to approach another man - one whom he has never met - and compliment him on such.  No man will ever do the same with jeans, t-shirt or shoes (unless he's gay)  And if they do, it would be met with an uneasy reaction.  Not so with a beard compliment.  "Never trust a man with a beard"  is an old saying I'm sure we all have heard, and a strange saying to say the least, nonetheless spread by a man with the inability to grow a face of hair.  If these words of wisdom were true, should I not trust myself?  If I tell myself not to trust myself because I have a beard, how can I trust what I say to be trustworthy given that I have a beard?  No, I have a beard and am not to be trusted, so therefore I will ignore my advice and trust myself.  But wait.  I have a beard.  Never trust a man with a beard.  Look at politicians.  Almost none of them sport a facial fuzz.  George Osborne, Nick Clegg, Peter Mandelson.  Trustworthy?  I think not.  In fact you could say you should never trust an un-bearded politician.   David Cameron's nowhere near to growing a beard.  A sign surely you should definitely never trust him.  It's foolproof.  Never trust a politician without a beard.  Period.  If we were not to trust men with beards, where would we be now?  Think of all the great men who sported a face rug.  Let's start with the two most famous men in the history of the world.  Santa Claus and Jesus Christ.  The men who invented Christmas and Easter Eggs.  You never ever saw them without their beards, ever.  OK, Santa Claus is fictional but maybe so is Jesus Christ.  I can't imagine them having the impact that they have beardless.  Can you?  What about all the other great bearded men.  Leonardo Da Vinci?  Beard.  Vincent Van Gogh?  Beard.  Charles Dickens?  Beard.  William Shakespeare?  Beard.  Abraham Lincoln?  Beard.   Zeus, Socrates, Plato.  Beard.  Beard.  Beard.  Karl Marx, Grigori Rasputin, Che Guevara.  Beard.  Beard.  Beard.  That's just a few, but what would have happened if our ancestors had shunned such greats purely on the basis that the protagonists 'Had a beard'?  

People ask me why I have a beard.  There is no real reason other than I just can't be bothered to shave my face anymore.  It really does just occur naturally.  It's not a life choice.  It just happens.  Honest.  You can trust me.  I have a beard now.  My face just sprouts hair regularly.  Having said that, there are elements of having such a creature that are pleasurable.  Once you get past of the itchy faze a few weeks in, it's rather quite soft and I like the way if feels.  I also like to brush and comb it.  I miss that since I started shaving the head almost 20 years ago.  I enjoy stroking it when I get asked a posing question.  I like the way it smells.  Really.  It smells good.  You have to rub it a few times, but the sheer manly scent generated is second only to the wonderful aroma of a crew cut.  It's hard to describe, but bearded men know what I am talking about.  I can also store food in my beard.  Did I enjoy that s'more I had earlier?  Good.  I can lick my beard and still pick out bits of graham cracker, chocolate bar and marshmallow for hours afterward.  I'm only joking.  I don't eat s'mores.  In fact I don't think I ever ate one.  I do have to be careful of the food that passes through my whiskers.  I enjoy the fact it confirms me to the younger generation as a 'real adult'.  I embrace that it enables me to give a ticking off to strangers - they  listen, rarely questioning what I say.  Sometimes they're frozen in fear.  Maybe I enjoy that too much.  But hey, shut the fuck up.  I've got a beard.  Facial hair is cool.  Seriously.  Having a dark forest of hair covering your face gives you an aura of suave mystery and a classy, debonair air.  Paired with sunglasses, confidence and a killer smile, you can be one badmotherfucker.  For the dudes without beards who might be reading this, I encourage you to grow hair on those chins.  You'll feel more like a man than ever before.  You can take my beard for it.  All in all, I think beards should be celebrated.  I think we can finally dispel the myth.  Bearded men can be trusted.  Bearded women however..................

WHAT REALLY MATTERS?

Maybe nothing will matter to us anymore when we leave this earth, but the quality of how we live and give of our self while we are alive will.

Our loved ones will inherit everything we ever bought or owned, but I believe what will really matter is what we leave behind other than the material.  When was the last time you saw a hearse pulling a U-Hall?

I believe what matters is what we give to others, not what we receive; what we teach, not just what we learn; how we empower others while empowering ourselves.  The examples of HOW we lived will be left behind for our children and grandchildren and to our friends and loved ones.  Making a difference while we are here by showing compassion for all living things and caring for ourselves and our planet will matter.  Letting the people and animals we care about know we love them and being kind to those who need it will always matter, not only now, but long after we are gone.

It also helps to look good, walk tall and carry a big stick.