Today --July 11-- is not only the feast of St. Benedict (Happy Feast Day, B16!), but also the 40th anniversary of the Slurpee (you can get a free one from 7-11 at participating stores today). I have fond childhood memories of Mom sending my little bro' and me to pick up some staple --milk, bread, eggs-- and off we walked the 7 or 8 blocks, taking our spare change with us so we could buy a Slurpee. (And to walk straight uphill the whole way back in the middle of a DC summer, you needed the Slurpee my friend.) I found this portion of the account of Slurpee's origins a little disconcerting, however.
After failed attempts to create a machine to make his icy beverages, Knedlik contacted the John E. Mitchell Company, a Dallas machinery manufacturer in 1959. Mitchell was attracted to the idea and began working with an automobile air conditioner to create a machine that would freeze carbonated soft drinks that could be served in a sherbet-like form and would be drunk through a straw.
Ummm. An automobile air conditioner?
