It’s Friday at lunch, and you know what that means: clearing out the news links:
- Prescription Drugs. If you have forgotten, tomorrow is the day to dispose of your outdated or unneeded prescription drugs. Visit the National Take Back Initiative Collection site to find the location near you.
- Gas Prices. Fed up with high gas prices? Who isn’t! Looking for someone to blame? Think it is the government’s fault, either through taxes, environmental regs, or not opening the strategic reserves? Guess again. It’s the oil companies. The LA Times has a nice piece on this, pointing out that the oil companies, who are reporting massive profits, are only running refineries at 80% of capacity, and then sending 10-15% of the oil they refine out of the US where they can make more money. They haven’t applied to build more refineries in years; additional drilling wouldn’t help as it is the refined output that matters for gas prices; and taxes on fuel have been relatively constant over the last 10 years. The cost of oil is a factor, yes, but that again is out of the government’s control. Increased production from the US won’t really bring that down, as the US has never had a large say with OPEC or the speculators.
- Royal Wedding. Today was the royal wedding, so I need to have at least one article about it :-). I took interest in the fact that the Queen bestowed upon William new titles as part of the marriage: Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus (whether Kate will be called Princess William of Wales is still undecided). There was a nice article in the Guardian looking at William’s new dukedom, and the rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge in terms of peerage. The article noted that Oxford was always seen as the loyal university, Cambridge as the stroppy one. There were puritans in both universities, of course, but Cambridge puritans always seemed the noisier and more offensive and in Emmanuel College, Cambridge developed a veritable factory for the production of preachers intent on poking Stuart kings in the eye. It noted that Oxford soon became the centre for political toadyism, Cambridge for the Enlightenment version of political correctness. When attempts were made to exclude Charles II’s brother and heir apparent from the succession on the grounds that he, James Duke of York, was a vile papist, the convocation of Oxford University ordered all the books that were beastly about monarchy to be publicly burned; Cambridge stayed mum.
- Mystery Meats. The VC Star had a nice article on Luigi Ortega’s in Oxnard, a Mexican-Italian fusion restaurant that also serves exotic meats (kangaroo, alligator, ostrich, turtle). Luigi Ortega‘s appears to have a location in Pasadena—perhaps we should try it.
- Rental Cars. As you may know, in June I’m doing a college trip with my daughter to visit Tulane, Emory, Bellarmine, and Washington University. We’re driving from New Orleans, so this article on rental car fees caught my eye. In particular, remember that when they offer you a “free” upgrade, it rarely is… due to the lower MPG of the upgrade.
- Rating Icons. Lastly, the SF Chronicle is doing a poll on the most beautiful food icons. Think the Quaker Oats man is a stud? The Land O’Lakes girl a hottie? Do you cream for the Cream O’ Wheat man, or pant for the St. Pauli girl? As for those interested in the Morton Salt girl or Jolly Green Giant…. In any case, you can vote here.
