SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM,

Tuesday, July 15:

Heading back toward U.S. 52, south of Rochester, I stopped today at the SPAM Museum. Now, don’t laugh! It was actually very cool. It was opened in 2002. As part of the Hormel Meats complex in Austin, Minnesota, the museum has historical displays, samples of print and media advertising—the old TV commercials were especially fun, a fun movie, and explanations of how the factory process works to put out all of those SPAM cans in the grocery stores. And, of course, it has the obligatory gift shop and samples of SPAM to be eaten

Although it has the Monte Python skit, using the word “SPAM” more than you ever want to hear, no reference is made to the use of the word “Spam” referring to unwanted emails. The museum guides shared their theory of why--because the connection of the word SPAM to unwanted email may be one of those urban legends, and can’t be verified. The other thought of “Spam” refers to the fact that no one who had to eat SPAM so much, like soldiers of WWII, doesn’t want any SPAM to eat now. Thus “spam” emails are those not wanted.

Moving on back to U.S. 52, I got stopped this evening, opting for a motel so I could watch the MLB All-Star Baseball Game. I especially wanted to see the pre-game ceremonies, as members of the Baseball Hall of Fame were going to be introduced. As I am writing this paragraph in Microsoft Word, the game is in the top of the 12th inning, tied. Writing the text in Microsoft Word, allows me to “dump it” into the post of my blog, whenever I get to where wifi is available tomorrow, hopefully a public library, a McDonalds, or a college library when I get to Dubuque Iowa tomorrow night.