The Chicken and the Egg
Celebrate National Egg Day with the next round of state rankings!
Happy National Egg Day, Okay History Friends! I'm so happy to celebrate this important National Day of Recognition with you.
The egg is my favorite food. There are so many ways you can serve an egg. You can poach it, scramble it, smash it, flip it over, or don't flip it over and let the sunny side stay up.
You can turn it into an omelet. You can hard boil a bunch of them, cut them in half, and turn them into something the devil would like. Or you can toss salt on it and get a good dose of protein. Heck, if you are a weirdo, you could pickle the stuff. If you do this, I must warn you though, be prepared to eat a lot of them, because you have no friends.
Another remarkable thing about eggs is that you can leave them alone with their little chicks inside, and when they hatch, they will turn into chickens!
You can then fry chickens, broil chickens, grill chickens, and bake chickens. You can tear off their wings, toss them into batter, fry them, and cover them in numerous sauces. Delicious!
Can you think of another food you can do this with? A pig, maybe.
National Egg Day began in 1921 in the state of Washington when a small town called Winlock, which mass-produced eggs, had a highway built. This allowed their eggs to be transported all over the region. They loved the egg so much; that they created an Egg festival where they crown their Egg Queen. Winlock also holds the distinction of possessing the World's Largest Egg.
I've been eating eggs for breakfast daily for well over 25 years. I prefer brown eggs because I like to be inclusive. Don't believe in any marketing tricks; brown and white eggs are all equal in the eyes of nutrition.
Let freedom ring today by eating some eggs!
Okay, let's go to the next round of state rankings, where I'm sure there are many chicken farms!'
34: North Dakota
Founded: November 2, 1899
39th State
Do I know the state capital off the top of my head? Bismarck (It's like the song)
Have I been there? Nope.
Do I want to go? Nope. Not even in the summer.
The Good:
Fargo. It's the largest city and also its best-known export. The 1996 film grossed $60 million on a $7 million budget, and it took home two Academy Awards out of a remarkable seven nominations.
The spinoff television series has remained on-air since its debut in 2014. I have no idea where exactly Fargo is in the state and have watched neither the movie nor the TV show.
There's a bar called JL Beers in Fargo that supposedly serves a mighty fine breakfast burger with a fried egg, and you can chase it down with what they call a beer cocktail. I’ll have the Humpty Dumpty and a Lava Lamp, please.
The Bad:
The average temperature in North Dakota is 37 degrees. This means when it's January; it drops to 2.
As I get older, the less I like the cold. It's bad. I could never live there because I would never go outside. I'd be stuck writing my Okay History posts. Probably finish my Anger Paper. Nobody wants that.
What do you do for work when you live in North Dakota? Do you even have neighbors, or do you have to travel to Minnesota to find one?
The Ugly:
North Dakota State University has developed a reasonably dominant lower-level college football program. I don't pay too much attention to Division II, but I know NDSU are the Bison, and a few years back, they had a quarterback named Carson Wentz who was pretty good until he got drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles.
In 2017 he led the team to an 11-2 record before suffering a season-ending injury. His backup took over and won the organization their first Super Bowl.
Wentz, the hero of North Dakota, has never been the same since. He was traded to Indianapolis, then slipped further by being traded to the Washington Commanders. Ugh.
Why did we rank it here?
I'm just happy I remembered North Dakota before it was too late. Like I'd be in the teens, look over the list, and be like, SHOOT! I forgot North Dakota. How am I going to pull off the idea that I think North Dakota Is the 14th best state in the country?
So, I'm relieved. Being 34th is nothing. Do you remember when you were 34? What did you do on June 3 at age 34? You don't remember, and no one will remember where I stuck North Dakota.
33: South Dakota
Founded: November 2, 1889
40th State
Do I know the state capital off the top of my head? Sioux Falls? No, wait, Pierre? Pierre.
Have I been there? No.
Do I want to go? More so than North Dakota.
The Good:
Mount Rushmore is an American treasure. It celebrates four white men who lead us to tremendous heights at important times in our history. Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln are carved into the side of a massive granite face in the Black Hills.
Sculpted by a guy named Gutzon and named after a wealthy investor, the memorial began construction in 1927 and ended in 1941 when the money ran out to continue.
The Lakota tribe protested its existence due to the United States breaking a treaty signed in 1876 giving the land to them. To be fair, white guys did find gold, so all bets are off at that point. Our government has offered to build a memorial for the tribe, but they have refused.
Mount Rushmore is a great adjective when listing things out. Unfortunately, South Dakota is not on the Mount Rushmore of States.
The Bad:
Sturgis, South Dakota, is a small town in the western part of the state, bordering Wyoming. 7,000 people call it home, and an additional 500,000 people, almost entirely on motorcycles, descend in August to ride their Harleys for ten days to celebrate the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
In 2020, the world experienced a global plague, where quite a few people died, especially in South Dakota, but that didn't stop event organizers. Hundreds of thousands showed up, and around 650 cases of COVID were reported.
Outstanding work, everyone.
The Ugly:
On December 29, 1890, the 7th Cavalry Regiment, made famous by General Cluster and his defeat at Little Big Horn almost 15 years earlier, surrounded a Lakota encampment to disarm them.
It was a continuation of the United States seizing land from the Lakota ever since the formal end of the war between the two ended in 1876. It was a pattern of despicable behavior towards Indigenous people.
The Lakota protested, and when shots were fired, 300 Lakota people, including women and children, were killed and dumped into a mass grave. In response, the United States government handed out 21 Medals of Honor.
It wasn't until 1990, and even the new math says that's 100 years later, that Congress issued a resolution that expressed deep regret over the conflict.
Why did we rank it here?
The Dakotas are attached. President Benjamin Harrison shuffled papers around to ensure neither state was favored when they entered the union.
Sure, one has Mount Rushmore, and the other does not, but we must ask ourselves: why does this area of the country produce two states?
Why can't we break up California and give DC, Puerto Rico, and heck, Guam statehood? Is there a reason why we can be a country of 75 states?
That way, we can keep pushing the Dakotas down until they force themselves to unite with the hopes of rising in my rankings. Motivation!
June 3 is also National Doughnut Day.
I'm also a fan of doughnuts. There isn't a type of doughnut I don't like, which is a problem. When I was a kid, my Dad used to bring home boxes of doughnuts, of doughnuts for us to eat as breakfast. Yes, that is correct, I wrote boxes. With an “s.”
We would scarf them down and then play soccer for the next 10 hours.
My family had fantastic eating habits.
My Mount Rushmore for breakfast foods:
Eggs, donuts, English muffins, pancakes
What’s yours?
Please keep sending in requests; I got a few more topics I'll discuss in the coming weeks. Also, plenty of states remain on the board, and I am not ashamed to be lobbied.
Cheers!
You must watch Fargo, great movie! Also, no way ND is ranked higher than Kansas.
You describe preparing eggs and chickens like Benjamin Buford Blue describes preparing shrimp!