Been busy the last few days, but I do have a few news items for you to consider:
- From the “Butter. Parkay.” Department: Missouri is considering finally decriminalizing margarine. Missouri House member Sara Lampe said Tuesday that she plans to file legislation repealing Missouri’s butter law, which dates to 1895. The law restricts the sale, possession or shipment of imitation butter and bans yellow-tinted varieties. Those dealing contraband dairy products can be fined up to $100 and jailed for up to a month.
- From the “Remember When They Were Joined At The Hip?” Department: MGM Mirage is selling
Treasure IslandTI to Phil Ruffian, owner of the site that used to be the Frontier hotel. TI was built for $450 million by casino mogul Steve Wynn and opened in 1993, featuring a public pirate show set on a replica ship in front of the building. It now has 2,885 guest rooms and suites, 90,000 square feet of gambling space, restaurants and entertainment. The property was recast in 2003 by MGM Mirage as TI, with a sexier “Sirens of TI” show replacing the pirate extravaganza. Me? I liked the pirates. - From the “Where Are We Going To Eat?” Department: Orange County has rejected having letter grades for their restaurants because the Board of Sups is worried about harming restaurant owners during a recession. Come again? What about the patrons? In the last three months, for instance, health inspectors have shut down an ice cream shop in Orange after finding cockroaches on the floor and wall near the preparation counter and a Laguna Beach restaurant after finding a live rodent caught on a glue trap. Both of the restaurants reopened after passing follow-up inspections.
- From the “Mmmmm. Fat.” Department: Want to know what makes holiday cookies good? Butter. The NY Times has a nice article about its secrets.
- From the “When Will They Learn?” Department: Wondering why the big three don’t build successful small cars? Because they’ve failed before and before that.
- From the “Planned Obsolescence” Department: And yet again Stan Freberg comes to mind. No, not Green Chri$tma$. Rather, there’s a good article in the NY Times about how things are now meant to be non-repairable, to be thrown out and replaced in our disposable culture.