McDonald’s Monopoly time. Here are this year’s rare pieces (according to Wikipedia):

Mediterranean Avenue – $50 – Odds 1 in 1,057,000
Short Line Railroad – $500 – Odds 1 in 21,956,000
Vermont Avenue – $1,000 – Odds 1 in 64,603,000
Virginia Avenue – $2,000 – Odds 1 in 34,165,000
Tennessee Avenue – $5,000 – Odds 1 in 256,235,000
Kentucky Avenue – $10,000 – Odds 1 in 427,058,000
Ventnor Avenue – $25,000 – Odds 1 in 320,293,000
Pennsylvania Avenue – $50,000 – Odds 1 in 640,586,000
Boardwalk – $1,000,000 – Odds 1 in 542,034,000

As always, except for Boardwalk, the rare property is always the last one alphabetically.

This is a RumorsDaily tradition.

Interesting:

You need 2765.2 calories per day to maintain your current weight without exercise.

You need 2620.5 calories per day to reach your goal weight slowly and maintain that weight without exercise.

If you reduce your current caloric intake to 2265.2 calories per day you will lose one pound per week without exercise.

If you increase your current caloric intake to 3265.2 calories per day, you will gain one pound per week.

I can eat a ton!

Two Coke facts:
1. The price of Coca-Cola remained at one nickel for seventy years.
2. In the 1950s, Coca-Cola requested that the US Mint begin printing a 7.5 cent coin.

McDonald’s Monopoly is on again. Here are this year’s rare pieces (according to Wikipedia):

Water Works – $50 – Odds 1 in 639,000
Mediterranean Avenue – $100 – Odds 1 in 5,701,000
Short Line Railroad – $500 – Odds 1 in 311,389,700
Vermont Avenue – $1,000 – Odds 1 in 106,921,400
Virginia Avenue – $2,000 – Odds 1 in 106,921,400
Tennessee Avenue – $5,000 – Odds 1 in 307,947,900
Kentucky Avenue – $10,000 – Odds 1 in 307,947,900
Ventnor Avenue – $25,000 – Odds 1 in 769,869,600
Pennsylvania Avenue – $50,000 – Odds 1 in 769,869,600
Golden Avenue – $100,000 – Odds 1 in 178,065,100
Boardwalk – $1,000,000 – Odds 1 in 591,287,650

Golden Avenue and Water Works are both new. Interesting note — except for Boardwalk, the rare property is always the last one alphabetically. I never realized this before.

I posted a similar list last year.

In addition to the Smoot turning 50, Philippe’s, the restaurant that (potentially) invented the french dip (one of my favorite sandwich types), is turning 100 on Monday.

The Marina del Rey Ritz Carlton provides an interesting list of dog-based food services:

Doggie Dining

Pamper your four-legged friend in five-star elegance with our in-room dog menu. All menu items were personally tested by our Executive Chef Chad Minton’s two English Bulldogs, Oliver Bojangles and Isabella Wellington who gave the menu an overall rating of two paws up!

small bites
two-bite doggie pretzels
ten

100% organic doggie sushi
ten

entrees
holistic select 100% natural dry food

lamb, rice, oatmeal
ten

anchovy, sardine, salmon
ten

senior care formula
ten

Dr. Harvey’s le dogue canine health miracle food
featuring six certified organic grains, nine vegetables, 13 herbs and multivitamins. Made to order with your choice of the following proteins:
beef
lamb
fish
fifteen

As readers of this blog know, RD left Thailand because of angry people protesting the alleged corruption of the prime minister of Thailand. The PM, whose name is Samak Sundarajev, stepped down today — but not because of the protesters. As commenter crazymonk pointed out yesterday, Samak used to host a TV cooking show named “Tasting and Complaining” (two of my favorite things!), and has come back on it a few times in exchange for payment. The country’s highest court has ruled that this was a violation of their constitution and kicked him out, though probably not permanently.

The AP article linked above says it’s likely to be temporary and is generally treating it as a serious political crisis; the NPR story I heard makes a couple of food puns. The British, predictably, have taken it a step further toward frivolity and published some recipes.

Continuing the food theme, the demonstrators are called the People’s Alliance for Democracy in English, which almost makes them PAD Thai. (But as RD pointed out to me, the protesters are actually sorta against democracy. They’re against the “one man, one vote” rule that is practically a religion in the U.S. because they believe it makes it easier to buy the votes of poor people.)

Ever wondered which food combinations would taste good, and which would taste bad? Wonder no longer.

The Nippon Ham Fighters are my new favorite baseball team.  Do you think they fight with ham, or against ham?

Let the ham beware!

First there was miracle fruit, now there’s miracle powder. I tried a long-frozen miracle fruit a few months ago, but it didn’t have the desired taste-changing effect (too long in the freezer, I guess). I’m going to have to hunt down some of the powder and try again.

This sushi restaurant delivers sushi, and cans of soup. Via Lore Sjoberg.

Through a combination of garbage picking, oddly colored food and unfulfillable requirements, the Democrats plan to have the least fun convention ever!

50 Cent hates Taco Bell, but not for the same reason that most other people hate Taco Bell.

I knew it, I knew it!

NYTimes presents an interactive graphic detailing the best and worst foods at each of baseball’s 50 stadiums. Via Doobybrain.

Yuck.

Guess which Supreme Court justice likes Egg McMuffins…

Mini Donut Maker! Via Jacob Grier.

Students are largely rejecting free lunches due to social stigma.  I can’t decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

 Looks good, eh?

86% of those who claim to have food allergies are wrong.

You’re campaigning in DC and you don’t get your donuts from Krispy Kreme? For shame.

Picture via My Way.

After a lengthy knifemaker hiatus, the series returns with our sixth member of the 1981 Knifemakers Guild Directory: John (Mike) Bassney. John (Mike)’s picture looks something of a cross between John C. Reilly and Tom Selleck — in other words, like a totally awesome knifemaker. This is really our first knifemaker whose picture looks like someone I would want making my knife. He doesn’t look like a cowboy, or a family man, or a terror, he looks like the sort of guy who would take your knife order and just get right down to business. He’s even wearing what I presume to be a knifemaking apron. This guy would have gotten my business… if I would have ever ordered a custom made knife in 1981 in the greater Wisconsin region.

Something else great about John (Mike) — according to his bio, he went to SUNY Buffalo, graduated, and then moved to Wisconsin. Why is that great you ask? Well, I’m not sure, but I think this is our first confirmed college graduate knifemaker, which is something.

His motto is “I simply wish to make the best knife I can with the material available and at the same time work in line with the customer’s wishes.” That’s modern business-speak. He’s like a corporate executive. I love this guy.

John (Mike) Bassney today

Sadly John (Mike) Bassney is no longer a member of the Knifemakers Guild according to their member list. He was only a probationary member in 1981, so maybe he didn’t make the cut, or maybe he simply let his membership lapse. He might have lost interest in knifemaking altogether, it’s hard to know.

The Google record on Mr. Bassney is quite slim. John (Mike) Bassney turns up nothing that I didn’t write myself, John Bassney is likewise unhelpful.

Mike Bassney, though, does provide us with three hits. He apparently went to Painted Post High School in Painted Post, New York from 1958 to 1962. That would line up well with him graduating from SUNY Buffalo in 1968, so this is probably him. This guy thought he taught shop in Michigan during the 1970s (possible, since he ended up in Wisconsin by 1981). He still appears to live in Lodi, Wisconsin, and he has a job at a local Subway in Columbus, Wisconsin. He’s the host.

Knowing about his knife proclivities, I can surely say that this is one Subway I would never rob.

Previous knifemaker: Scott Barry
Next knifemaker: Pierce Franklin Beck, Jr.

Other 1981 Knifemaker’s Guild Directory Pages: first page, all pages, all pictures.

After a while, I can judge within a few seconds either way just how much laughter we can get. Sometimes, I’m dead wrong. In Silent Movie, there was a sequence that no one will ever see; it’s on the cutting room floor. The sequence is called “Lobsters in New York.” It starts with a shot of a neon sign that reads “Chez Lobster.” The camera drops down to restaurant doors and pulls back. The doors open, the camera goes inside, and we see greeting us a huge well-dressed lobster with claws and tails; around the camera come two other very well-dressed lobsters in evening clothes. The maitre d’ lobster leads them to a waiter lobster in a white jacket, who leads them to a table. They order, then follow the waiter lobster to a huge tank. In the tank, little people are swimming around. We thought this was hysterical. The lobsters choose some people, pick them up squirming around, and the sequence ends. Every time we saw this sequence, we were on the floor laughing. When we showed it to an audience… they did not laugh at all at “Lobsters in New York.” They stared at each other. Not one snicker. Finally we got some embarrassed sounds and yawns. We threw out the entire sequence as a result.

“My Movies: The Collision of Art and Money” by Mel Brooks, excerpted from The Movie Business Book by Jason Squire, ed. (1983).