WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS, MAKE TZATZIKI.

In February, the Tom & Jerry's gyros-beef-and-many-other-treats Chicago in Sycamore suffered a major fire.  The building was beyond salvage and the owners moved to temporary quarters on the other side of Sycamore.

Once site clearance at the original location was completed, the owners sought building permits to build another restaurant there.  Sycamore's city council used the occasion to change the zoning of that lot, as well as of other restaurant lots nearby, including a McDonald's that was doing a planned on-site replacement of its stand.  You know, the kind of rig-a-ma-role that has held up rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades for over a year and kept California's high speed rail authority from operating trains on even forty chains of track.

Never mind any of that.  The new Tom & Jerry's opened for business on Monday.  "Tom & Jerry’s Restaurant reopened with a new building nine months after the fire and five months after construction broke ground on May 1."

Let's say the restaurant, and its crew, have a loyal following.

So many people attended the ribbon-cutting that the restaurant’s parking lot was at capacity before the grills were fired. That caused groups of people to park on the west side of DeKalb Avenue and walk across five lanes of traffic without a crosswalk to be among the first to order at the new, but old, location.

That's taking long chances for a gyros or a beef as the eatery is on the inside of a curve in Sycamore Stroad, or DeKalb Avenue that far north, and motorists honor the 40 mph speed restriction more in the breach.  The new restaurant is laid out much like its predecessor at that location.  I must check it out, see if the Christmas trees that get season-suitable colored lights, e.g. red and white for Valentine's Day and purple for Easter, are back.

IF YOU CAN TRADE IT, YOU CAN ALLOCATE IT EFFICIENTLY.

The University of Chicago has this reputation as the place fun goes to die.  That might be harsh.

On Monday, a group of students from the University of Chicago stood outside the Chicago Mercantile Exchange—one of the world's largest and most diverse derivatives marketplaces—and called for the repeal of an obscure 1958 law that bans onions as futures products traded on U.S. exchanges.

Attracting an audience with a humorous jingle and amusing signs that included "Onions Deserve a Future," "Honk If You Want Free Onions," "Hot Girls Hedge Onions," and "Free Markets Feed Families," the student group, named For Our Futures, has a simple platform: a repeal of the 1958 Onion Futures Act, which prohibits anyone from trading in onion futures on commodity exchanges. (The law was amended in 2010 to ban motion picture box office receipts from being traded on commodity exchanges.) The viral campaign drew enough attention that Mike Selig—chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a proponent of expanding the list of commodities traded on futures markets—was asked about the law in a media appearance.

American farmers produce about 6.75 billion pounds of onions a year, according to the National Onion Association, an industry trade group. While peers who grow cotton, wheat, corn, and soybeans can hedge against price swings by trading futures contracts, onion farmers have no such recourse under federal law. But, as the Agriculture Department's daily National Potato and Onion Report shows, onion prices are highly volatile and subject to wild swings, making them an ideal market for futures trading.

Futures markets are not well understood by people who haven't studied economics, and the prohibition of onion futures contracts has not protected cooks and diners from the sort of price volatility the economically ignorant often associate with futures contracts.

Maybe there's a business opportunity for Sophie Cunningham?

Prices fluctuate to allocate demand.  That's something Our Intellectual Betters often lose sight of.

A protest over onions sounds absurd, but it's a viral reminder to others in that age cohort of how far governments can go when given the slightest leeway to regulate an industry.

Instead of relying on outdated price points when planning future harvests, American onion producers could use resources like futures contracts that offer real-time market signals. All that would require—as the college kids state—is for federal lawmakers to "let the free market reign supreme."

Indeed.  Arbitrage opportunities exist, whether organized futures markets exist or not.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WEATHER, WAIT.

A week ago Monday, record high temperatures recorded at Cold Spring Shops headquarters.  By Friday, there were frost and freeze warnings posted, and frost observed on the house tops several times over the weekend.

The fall harvest of hot peppers is in, ahead of the frost.  (The plants, in grow boxes on the deck, are still alive.)

Two kinds of habaneros, ghost, Carolina reaper.  That's enough for the winter.  A few of them went into the salsa.

Yes, I repurpose commercial salsa jars and lids, and once the jars cool, they go into the refrigerator.  Should make for good snacking during football and hockey season.

YE WHO NOW WILL BLESS THE POOR, SHALL YOURSELF FIND BLESSING.

The Holiday Trains that used to run under Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern auspices continue this Festive Season, with the Canadian and United States trains covering Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern metals.  Scroll down for a list of performers.

The United States train will make half-hour long performances at Pingree Grove, 9 am and Byron, noon of the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 24 November, on their way to Zwolle, Louisiana, covering territory Kansas City Southern's train used to serve.  The stock then returns to Chicago to wind up a little bit south of Saskatoon, with a 5.15 pm call at Gurnee and a 7 pm performance at Sturtevant on Tuesday, 8 December.

These trains run to provide entertainment and an opportunity to make cash or in-kind contributions, to the local food banks along the Holiday Train's routes, and to the Salvation Army where the Holiday Express calls.

Mark your calendars and make a note in your shopping list.

DINNER, WITH A SIDE OF TRAINS.

Ralph Spielman offers Trains readers a list of twenty independent restaurants coast to coast that offer rail cars to dine in, depots to dine at, and trains to watch between courses.

Some have an on-site railroad car to dine in, others have train-watching sites, and a few have both. Many are family-friendly. While some chain restaurants would work for the rail-minded, the listings here are all independently owned restaurants. Check whether adult beverages are on offer; they are not always a given.

His list covers much of the country, including the intriguingly named Notch 8 Grille in the former Boston and Maine station in Northampton, Massachusetts; Wallingford, Connecticut's Trackside Brick Oven Pizzeria, using a Philadelphia rapid transit car in a nod to the old trolley diners; Valhalla Crossing in Valhalla, New York, the station that once rated a note in the passenger timetable, "Remains will be checked to Valhalla;" and the Whistle Stop at the junction of the Hoosier Line's main routes in Monon, Indiana, which includes among its artifacts the late Ralph Johnson's Best Brothers Circus.

The article got me thinking about some of the logical eateries that didn't make the cut.  The Berea Depot, using the old New York Central station at Berea, Ohio, the crossing point of the New York Central's Big X, is closed although the station remains.  Michigan Central's Ann Arbor station now houses the Gandy Dancer, which appears to cater only to private parties such as wedding rehearsal dinners.  The Milwaukee Road Oconomowoc station is now Maxim's at the Oconomowoc Depot (I must go to Maxim's again, I must go to Maxim's again) which includes a vintage coach set up as a table car.  Hard by Cold Spring Shops headquarters is Pizza Villa, where the upstairs dining area includes picture windows with a view of the Overland Route.  Seating is first-come, first-served.

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY.

Others might have their Florida Man Friday.  A Florida fish story will have to do here.

An ocean fishing charter off the Florida Coast near Eglin Air Force Base had an unusually large, scaleless catch. The large gray behemoth in question was a U.S. military LUCAS drone, a one-way attack aircraft derived from a design modeled after Iran’s Shahed-136.

Base officials confirmed to Task & Purpose that the drone went down Sept. 17 during routine testing on the base’s range, two days before fishermen found it floating in the Gulf.

Before you let the authorities know you've found something they might be interested in, you make use of what the fish make use of a large floating object.

Daniel Arsenault photograph retrieved from Task and Purpose.

Subway cars get splashed as artificial reefs, so why not a floating drone?  "Arsenault said they cast around the waterlogged drone, which had attracted smaller fish seeking cover in the open water, and caught mahi-mahi and tripletail before hauling it aboard."  It's among the "five most unusual things" he's snagged whilst fishing.

KEEP MY REFRIGERATOR SIMPLE.

As information technologies improved, and my academic career wound down, I would caution students that perhaps the full-information economy we so blithely assumed in order to make the blackboard equilibrium equilibrate might not be such a good thing to live in.  If it's connected to the internet of things, there's the risk of somebody hacking it, or your private life revealed even if you never take your illicit date to a sporting event.  (That refrigerator is cycling an awful lot for a kitchen supposedly supplying one, isn't it?)  There's another, mundane dimension to that argument.

Simple: the more electronic components there are, the more ways there are for stuff to go wrong. An appliance repairman recently suggested I stick with my old school appliances (circa 2007 is old school these days) for as long as they last, as the new ones have a mean time to some sort of failure of less than a year. Most of his service calls these days are for the new ones, and one of the advanced features tends to be what fails.

So too let it be with owners of the latest smart refrigerators.  "Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges."  Absurd, embarrassing, and totally unnecessary.

Affected fridges “suddenly lost power and stopped functioning immediately after” trying to issue a firmware update through SmartThings, Samsung’s smart home platform, per Star News Korea. The SmartThings app then showed the devices as offline. Some users said that their fridge’s internal display was stuck showing the message “Checking SmartThings app during update.”

There are numerous reports on Samsung’s Korean community forum detailing the problem. Some users claim that they have owned their affected fridge for just a year or less.

“[T]he refrigeration and refrigeration functions themselves did not work normally, so all the food in the refrigerator had to be disposed of,” one user wrote, per a translation.

Hard pass.  All I want my refrigerator to connect to is a power grid, and all I want to start my car is an ignition key.  Other internet-connected home appliances?  No thanks.

The obvious alternative, of course, is to avoid fridges that get updates altogether. Dumb fridges can suddenly break too, but that usually doesn’t happen if that fridge’s hardware components are all working properly and if it’s just a year or two old.

While most of the complaints this week center on rotten food, an abruptly broken fridge can cause other serious problems, like ruining medication. As other poorly issued smart home gadget updates have proven, extraneous technology can spoil a simple product.

I'm willing to use electric or gas appliances connected to the respective mains.  Adding internet connectivity brings avoidable first world problems that might not be worth the convenience of having the roast defrosting or the wine chilling or the oven preheating or food in the doggie dish (don't you have to activate the robot to get that out of the 'fridge?) before the owner gets home.

PATERNALISM IS AS PATERNALISM DOES.

If you approve of the policy goals, it's Good Paternalism.  "Guess Who’s Big Mad They Can’t Buy Junk Food With Your Tax Money Anymore."  Pajamas Media contributor Tim O'Brien continues, probably approvingly.

Food stamp users in Florida are waking up to some big changes that took place in their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that took effect April 20. The entitlement program’s beneficiaries can no longer use their EBT cards to purchase soda, energy drinks, candy, and “ultra-processed prepared desserts” such as Twinkies, cookies, cupcakes, and other packaged sweets.

They can continue to use their taxpayer-funded, free-food cards for fruit, vegetables, grains, meat, dairy and other staples. They can also use their EBT cards for coffee, tea, bottled water, and sport drinks. On the snack side, they can use their EBT cards for granola bars, freshly prepared baked goods, and packaged “breakfast” foods such as toaster strudels and breakfast biscuits.

The federal government did not implement the restrictions, even though the state of Florida’s SNAP program receives subsidies from the government. Rather, this a state policy which is being implemented under a waiver program from the Trump administration.

It's For Your Own Good (Moocher edition).  It's always For Your Own Good, for arbitrary values of good.  People go into public service to traffic for the good of others boss other people around.  "Wise Experts know better than you, dear reader, what 'disinformation' on social media is, what additives to cigarettes are dangerous, how much beer you should drink, and whether your business ought remain open during flu season or not."  And whether your public assistance can go for potato chips and Pop Tarts.

POPULAR OPINION INFLUENCES POLICY.

In "Trump Just Made the Worst Possible Deal… Except for the Alternatives,"  Michael Smerconish contends, "Once the conflict started, the United States faced a difficult reality: no clear path to victory, no public appetite for a prolonged war, and no support for a large-scale ground invasion. The result was an imperfect agreement that satisfies almost no one—but may have been preferable to the alternatives. The memorandum ends active hostilities, reopens the Strait of Hormuz, and creates a 60-day window for broader negotiations."

Reason's Michael Petti argues, "Compromise With Iran Isn't 'Surrender'."  At the moment, the only compromise that seems to be holding is the movement of ships and goods through the Strait of Hormuz, which is mutually beneficial trade at work, something possible with or without diplomacy.  "Both sides give something up and both sides get something in return."  Mr Petti notes,

The United States and Iran were unable to defeat each other in the first round, and, staring at an unacceptably costly escalation, they came to the table. While a final deal hasn't been agreed to, the ceasefire memorandum commits both sides to giving things up, with the U.S. promising to lift all economic sanctions if Iran negotiates away its nuclear program.

Strictly speaking, the ceasefire memorandum commits both sides to sixty days of palaver that might lead to somebody giving things up, that is, if the palaver lasts that long.

PROGRESSIVE PRIMITIVISM.

That's the answer to Frances MacGuire's question, "Could High Fertilizer Prices Change the Face of Farming?"  It's the usual sort of Common Dreams wishful thinking dressed up as sustainability.

The global disruptions caused by the war in Iran have brought renewed focus to the vulnerability of global fossil fuel supply chains. But what has received less attention is how the war also highlights the vulnerability of industrial agriculture supply chains reliant on massive amounts of chemical fertilizers and other inputs. Like oil and gas, these frequently travel long distances through turbulent waters.

A big advantage of renewable energy technologies like solar is that sunlight doesn’t have to pass through the Straits of Hormuz. The same can be said for many of the inputs required for agroecological and regenerative farming systems. The development of these approaches would see a food system that is not only less vulnerable to the supply chain shocks being felt today, but would be better for the environment, human health, and animals. It would be healthier, kinder, and more resilient.

That was mostly true of North American agriculture in 1926, and almost surely true of North American agriculture in 1826 or 1726.  Oh, wait, the lady said "healthier, kinder, and more resilient."

Perhaps, if you lived.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS.

It was a slow Tuesday night for a waitress named Lily Thompson.

Oпly a haпdfυl of cυstomers filled the diпiпg room, aпd the staff moved qυietly throυgh their roυtiпes. Aroυпd 7 p.m., a tall yoυпg maп weariпg a Milwaυkee Brewers hoodie aпd baseball cap qυietly walked throυgh the froпt door aпd politely asked for a table пear the corпer wiпdow.

Most people iпside the restaυraпt barely пoticed him.

The young man noticed that Ms Thompson looked tired.

At oпe poiпt, he пoticed the exhaυstioп iп her expressioп aпd geпtly asked how her eveпiпg was goiпg.

At first, Lily simply smiled aпd said she was “haпgiпg iп there.”

Bυt somethiпg aboυt his kiпdпess made her opeп υp.

She briefly meпtioпed her mother’s illпess, the pressυre of sυpportiпg her yoυпger brother, aпd her dream of becomiпg a пυrse someday if she coυld ever afford school.

Jacob listeпed carefυlly withoυt iпterrυptiпg.

That's Jacob Misiorowski, who you might have heard of.

He left a large tip and a note of encouragement on the check.  “Keep pυshiпg forward. Hard work aпd heart always matter.”

She still is, at the restaurant, as is he, on the mound.

Many of the young men who play professional baseball have hardscrabble backgrounds, and the grind of coming up through the minor leagues is its own kind of grind.

ETHANOL FAILS ANY REASONABLE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS.

Matthew "Slow Boring" Yglesias, who argues with but mostly votes for Democrats, correctly details that argument.

Uisung Lee, Hoyoung Kwon, May Wu, and Michael Wang from the Argonne National Laboratory say that [ethanol lowers greenhouse gas production] because improvements in corn yields have eliminated prior concerns. By contrast, Tyler Lark, Nathan Hendricks, Aaron Smith, and Holly Gibbs say that the land-use changes induced by ethanol mandates (i.e., turning more acreage into growing corn) mean that “the carbon intensity of corn ethanol produced under the [Renewable Fuel Standard] is no less than gasoline and likely at least 24 percent higher.”

The thing is, even if you use the Argonne numbers, this still comes out to something like $160 to $190 in costs per ton of carbon dioxide abated. Using less generous math, of course, the cost is essentially infinite because you’re raising emissions.

Beyond the specific carbon accounting, though, there are without a doubt significant environmental impacts of growing dramatically more corn. This means extra pesticide in the water and corn grown in space that could otherwise be used for conservation or recreation or housing. In a world of growing electrification, that land could also be used for utility-scale solar and wind projects that are dramatically more energy-dense.

All this carbon math really hinges on the fact that the amount of land dedicated to growing corn goes up, which happens because the biofuels mandate pushes up the price of corn, making it lucrative to grow more corn.

The primary cost here is simply that turning corn into gasoline makes food more expensive.

As we noted, directly, in the price of beef, and as multiple researchers called attention to, directly in the price of other food grains as farmers plant more corn and fewer beans, grain grasses, and substitution toward rice takes place.

LET'S PUT A PIN IN THIS.

Mamdani's grocery store will fail.  In The Daily Economy, Jimmy Licon gets to the heart of the matter.  "Without price signals and profit discipline, inefficiency isn’t a risk — it’s a guarantee. Persistent higher costs leave taxpayers with the bill."

Now it might be that New Yorkers' tax dollars will offer the wretched of East Harlem relief at the checkout counter.  Existing grocers in the neighborhood are calling attention.

Mayor Mamdani's plan to open a city-run grocery store is facing pushback from East Harlem grocers, who say the area is already saturated.

About 45 grocery stores are within a 35-minute walk of the proposed site. pic.twitter.com/X2E33bEjM8

— Amanda Macias (@amanda_m_macias) May 5, 2026

Best case scenario, the mayor can point to his constituents "benefitting" from the lower sticker prices at Gastronom N^o. 1, while those exploitive capitalists lose business, and people in Chappaqua and Scarsdale and East Otto pick up the tab.

Even if shoppers save a dollar over Food Bazaar, that pound of apples will include appropriated tax dollars, food waste, labor distortions, and a thousand other costs that will make it wildly more expensive than the sticker would indicate. The real price is far more expensive than a market competitor’s, even if the shelf price doesn’t show it.

And over time, it's likely that Gastronom N^o. 1 will become even more a drain on those taxpayers.

The price of apples is a secret language, the communication of a billion bits of dispersed, organic, intuitive knowledge of costs, trade-offs, and alternatives. All that information, over time and geography, quietly working away in the minds of Washington apple growers and migrant fruit pickers, beekeepers and cider makers, interstate truck drivers and NYC shelf stockers, is infused into the price sticker on a pound of apples in a market-driven grocery store. And Mamdani, like hubristic dreamers before him, thinks he can wipe all that away, slap on a price that looks like success to the voters, and hide all the rest in your tax bill.

Whose tax bill, though?  Isn't New York already shedding population and tax base?

LET'S START THINKING ABOUT SUMMER.

Over the years, we've noted the evolution of May Day from a north European fertility ritual to a political event.

On the itinerant circus, that used to be the traditional beginning of the travel season, and a "First of May" was a novice trouper who had a lot to learn.  There are still itinerant circuses, and some of them have been on the road for some time this season.

In political economy, the first of May is the celebration of socialist labor.  Tsar Vladimir has ditched the Soviet era parade, in favor of a wallow next week in the Great Patriotic War, although European socialists still use the day, which commemorates a strike put down roughly in Chicago, to call attention to the unfinished business of the class struggle.

Well, why not?  Christmas in northern Europe might have adopted existing rituals of the winter solstice.

That noted, the traditional Maypole of those fertility rituals, which has also been toned down in order that kindergarteners can wrap streamers around the upright for the tether ball, became the Maibaum at gathering places of German ethnic and cultural societies.

We're experiencing a spring that has been on the chilly and rainy side of late, and the year is off to a stressful start.  But the beer gardens are opening, the evenings are getting longer, and the itinerant circuses are on the road.

AYATOLLAH-MAHT?

Victor Hanson suggests Iran's government has imploded.  It could be worse than that.  "It is one thing for the people to be ruled by globally feared autocrats armed to the teeth, but quite another to be governed by humiliated, now-impotent incompetents and buffoons."

Sooner or later, the mullahs' control over information in the country is going to run afoul of reality.  State radio can broadcast the latest demands they are making of Israel or the United States all they want.  Sooner or later the people might start asking "Where are those concessions from infidels?"  Probably just before they start asking "Where is rice at grocer?"  "When your country faces the prospect of hunger riots, you are not winning the war."

Turn over the fissile materials.  Stop funding proxies elsewhere in Asia Minor.  Compensate the Gulf Arab states for those damaged hotels.

Let the anaconda's coils tighten.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEATH CULT.

Isn't a non-government actor interfering with waterborne commerce committing piracy?  "Ocean Defenders Collide With Industrial Krill Trawler in Antarctica."  Apparently because with less whaling, there are more hungry baleen whales about, and somebody has to protect their opportunities to feed.

“The krill fishing industry is fully aware of the damage they cause, such as killing whales in their nets, yet they do all they can to greenwash krill products,” said Bob Brown Foundation Antarctic and marine campaigner Alistair Allan. “We applaud the brave actions of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, who are ensuring that the plunder of krill does not go unchallenged.”

“Krill is violently sucked out of Antarctica’s fragile wilderness all for products we don’t need, such as fish farm feed, pet food, and supposed health products,” Allan added. “It’s time for the world to boycott all products with krill in them.”

It is not for the likes of Ocean Defenders to determine what their neighbors "don't need."  Fish farming might take the pressure off natural fisheries, pet food keeps cat ladies from being crazier, and "supposed health products" could refer to Big Pharma's products or to the stuff of nature cures.  The luxury beliefs of environmentalist wackos can be deadly.

A SMALL STEP TOWARD A STATE OF GOOD REPAIR.

After a couple of weeks of unrelentingly gloomy posting, here's an encouraging development.  "Ruth's Chris Steakhouse Is Single Handedly Bringing Society Back From The Brink By Enforcing A Business Casual Dress Code And Not Allowing Hats In The Dining Room."  That's Barstool contributor Captain Cons, with a ringing endorsement of the house rule.

I, for one, am thrilled about this even if it's been a rule for a while. Unless you're new around here, you know I am in favor of enforcing guardrails on our society. I don't need to dive deep into the sociological impacts of how we speak, dress, and act, but plenty of folks far smarter than me have done the research. The research says if we comport ourselves better in public, society improves.

It is the cluster of institutions and norms that reinforce middle-class habits that matters.

There are still a few holdouts.  "Ruth’s Chris Asks Adults to Dress Like Adults, and the Internet Has a Full Meltdown."  Well, yes, and David Manney knows why.  "Twenty-five years ago, the very idea that a nice restaurant would even need to set a dress code for normal folks would've sounded completely ridiculous."

Chili's decided to distinguish themselves by mocking Ruth's Chris.

A chain restaurant built around burgers and margaritas took a shot at a steakhouse for having standards. The hypocrisy is thicker than their queso.

Ruth’s Chris made clear their policy reflects the experience they intend to provide, which includes maintaining an environment that matches the price point and expectations of their guests.

Business casual isn't a burden; it's the baseline for a place charging top dollar for eating cow.

This entire episode exposes how deranged parts of our culture have become. To many of our friends on the left these days, I'm apparently a male chauvinist because I open doors for women, help carry heavy bags, and still say, "Please, may I?" and "Thank you."

I taught my daughters those same habits without even realizing how much it mattered. Years ago, we stopped for gas in southern Ohio during a wedding trip. They used proper manners with the cashier, who stopped what she was doing, praised how well-mannered they were, and credited their upbringing. That moment sticks with me because it shows how rare basic courtesy has become.

Standards only disappear when people stop defending them.  Just as we have been saying for years.  "Perhaps that was necessary, there being reasons to question traditions being followed simply for their own sake, and that might have been what the Consciousness Revolution was all about.  But when evidence accumulates that your experiment against reality has failed, maybe it's time to restore the norms and the signals.  I repeat: restore.  It's not about turning clocks back, it is about achieving a state of good repair."

TRUTH IN PACKAGING.

Immediately before the Festive Season, home improvement store Menards settled a lawsuit.

Recently, Menards agreed to a multi-state settlement totaling over $4 million after regulators determined its 11% rebate advertising misled shoppers. Wisconsin received $750,000 under the agreement, along with changes that clarified and simplified the store's terms.

The presentation was the core issue; signs highlighted a reduced price that appeared to shoppers as immediate. At checkout, they paid the full price, with the savings arriving weeks later as a store credit after mailing the applicable forms. Many customers believed the discount was instant, not after paperwork and weeks.

When a store advertises a discounted price, it suggests you can pay that lower price today. A rebate suggests a delayed benefit tomorrow. For years, Menards blurred that distinction, leaning on bold percentages while burying the mechanics in smaller, fine print.

Legally precise language didn't repair the emotional response; shoppers compared shelf prices and made informed decisions based on what they found. Later, they learned that the deal worked differently. Even customers who eventually received credit felt they were misled because of the expectations formed at the shelf, not in the mail weeks later.

The settlement demands clearer signage and extends the rebate claim window to at least one year, reducing the odds that customers might miss out after the fact.

On the one hand, stores promoting a net price after rebate have been around for years, and many of them use a variation on the send-in-a-ticket for a store credit rather than awarding the discount at the cash register.  In some ways it's less troublesome than clipping coupons to get the lower price at checkout, and it's less intrusive than having your telephone number or your electronic mail on file to qualify for the lower price.  On the other hand, when your store's tagline is "You'll save big money" and that jingle is on a continuous loop right there with the Festive Season mix, somebody might interpret that claim as meaning a bargain now, not later.

A CASE FOR MORE CAPITALISM.

Common Dreams contributor Ginger Cassady, a blonde with the Rainforest Action Network, gripes, "Oreo’s Sweet Image Hides a Bitter Truth About Forests and Human Rights."  Why?  "Oreo may seem harmless. But when palm oil is sourced from destroyed rainforest or land taken without consent, the cost is not just environmental—it is human."  That's what markets, property rights, and rules of contract are for.  Their absence leads to bad outcomes.

Oreo is marketed as “milk’s favorite cookie.” But behind that familiar blue package is a supply chain tied to rainforest destruction and violence against the people who defend their land.

Mondelēz International, the corporate giant that makes Oreo, has built a global snack empire worth nearly $40 billion a year. Its products line grocery shelves across the country. What most consumers never see is the palm oil that goes into those products—or the damage connected to its production.

Catch the non sequitur bridging those paragraphs?  The "people," presumably tropical natives, don't have the property rights to "defend their land," which would mean selling the palm oil on their property to the highest bidder.  That highest bidder might well be Mondelēz,  but the blonde ginger would rather rile up readers by invoking the grasping food conglomerate rather than the absence of property rights that lead to the destruction of the rain forests, with the ultimate depletion of the palm oil, and thus, the Oreo.

PĄCZKI DAY, FASCHING DIENSTAG, MARDI GRAS.

You don't have to wait until today to enjoy a pączek or two.

Maybe there will be a few on hand for the next day or so as well.  Waste not, want not.