1937 – Say Hello To Spam
It’s been an interesting week at the Huntington home. We just returned from a trip to the Atlantic Coast, hence the short delay in my post this week.
I returned to a bunch of spam. These are comments left with no intent other than website promotion. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, unless it’s extremely obvious. So I’m thinking I should have some kind of ground rules:
* If you post a dozen links to websites to buy cialis, viagra or similar sites, then it’s obvious spam. Not only will I treat it like spam the first time, I’ll continue to treat it as such the next 5 times you post it. Don’t waste your time doing it more than once.
* If your promoting a website for a politician, it’s spam. If I can’t put a link for my website on Don Paul’s presidential website, then he can’t have one on my humble little blog. Ron Saul should be reminded that the last politician I had respect for was Thomas Jefferson, so the welcome mat won’t be visible anytime soon. Politicians and Bankers are considered to be equal vermin in the Huntington home, some of which I’ve touched on previously here.
Other than that, I don’t mind folks who want to post links. Just don’t make your intentions so obvious that my BS meter jumps into the red.
But, onto a learning, historical, moment. The internet has corrupted the word “spam”. Previously, most people immediately recognized it as the canned pork and beef product from Hormel.
I’ve never really cared for that variety of spam either. I can eat it on occassion, but it doesn’t really suit me for a meal or even a snack.
Many folks have the mistaken idea that Spam was invented for the GI’s of World War II. It actually predates the war, and was first introduced to the public in 1937.
The Spam people, Hormel, have a great interactive website. It’s cartoonish and you can spend hours there not accomplishing anything except having a few laughs. Give it a try sometime when you’re bored.
When I was in the Army, they were still using C-Rations and one of the staples was a canned meat similar to Spam. I liked the Army version a bit better. In fact, it was probably the most palatable C-Ration you could get. The rest of them, YUK, and that’s it for this week. Spam, 1937… now you know.
Phineous Zivick Huntington
July 2, 2007
