Tales of the Salty Bag

Have chip bags always had "Best Before..Fresh Until..blah blah blah" dates? Maybe I just didn't pay attention when I was younger but I want to say that these dates were an invention of the mid to late 90's. I could try to research their origin but what's the use? When I see an interesting bag of chips that I've never consumed I'll snatch 'em right up knowing very well that I may not get around to going to crunch town on them for months. And I don't just mean a month or two, I mean MONTHS...shit, it may even get to a year. It's partially due to the fact that if it's a rare bag I don't want to not have them any more..and partially because I somehow end up with a lot of bags in the salty cellar and I don't necessarily want to consume a new flavour whenever I have chips, you can't neglect the good ol' flavours (or good new flavours that demand a repeat). What I'm getting at is that these 'Best Before' dates, as far a...

In late October 2006 I was living in Calgary and went to see Hatebreed for the first time. Before going I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from the pit. I had assumed that there'd be slamdancers/2 steppers/spin kickers...blah blah blah. When me and my buddy Ryan got to the show and the festivities commenced I noticed that there were 3 basic groups of attendees. The people standing on the outside; nodding and such, maybe dancing a bit..but mostly just soaking in the music, the stage show and the antics going on within the pit. There were the people on the outer edges of the pit; 2 stepping a little maybe throwing in some other dance maneuvers that hardcore kids like but not being (in my opinion) dickholes with the flailing and kicking. Then there were the people in the 'middle' of the pit swinging their arms giving 110%, spin kicking and all around douching hard. At the core of the melee there was a young? man fully dressed in a santa suit who I have to assume spent 4...