Friday, May 07, 2004

Two Buck Gas Gas at two bucks a gallon or better has come to the Old Pueblo. I know because I made my weekly trip to the gas pump yesterday. I put mid-grade gas in my motorcycle and happened to notice that the last buyer at that pump had paid $56.80 to fill up whatever he or she was driving. Oddly enough my bill was $5.68. If you can make a lightening-fast calculation in your head you will already notice that my bill was one tenth of the other guy’s. What his gas mileage was I don’t know. Mine was 57.9 mpg. Jeez, even in my grampa-car—a Toyota Corolla--- I get better than 33. Of course I follow a driving strategy to get good mileage. I avoid rabbiting away from stops, calmly easing away so that I don’t exceed two grand on the tach and get up to speed slowly. This may drive the guys behind me nutty, but fcuk ‘em if they can’t take a joke. We always get to the next light at the same time anyway. It’s time Americans got used to paying something that approximates a proper price for a non-renewable resource. 12:01:44 PM    comment []

Medicare Drug Card The Medicare-approved drug card looks like some kind of cruel hoax, but the geezers’ magazine of choice has stepped up to help us with getting screwed. The AARP magazine has published a convenient chart so that old folks, idiots that we are, can decide by filling in blanks which card would be best for us. Some deal. Once gramps has signed up he won’t be allowed to change to a different Medicare-approved card until the end of this year. But card companies are allowed to change their drug list and discount price weekly. Can you say "bait and switch?" Hey, AARP, why did you bother? 11:34:37 AM    comment []

Mother’s Day I can’t believe there are any readers of Salon Blogs who don’t know the true origins of Mother’s Day. But just in case there are, let me tell you that despite all appearances to the contrary it was not invented by the Jewelers’ Association, the Florists, or Amalgamated Greeting Cards. It started after the American Civil war as a women’s protest against war. The motivator was Julia Ward Howe. It was not a call for nationwide spasms of sentimentality about good ol’ Mom. It was a call for a general strike to end war. Get the story here. 9:09:33 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Arthur Jacobson.