The Queen’s Knickers

Queen Elizabeth II left a pair of her underdrawers on a private plane in 1968, and they’re being auctioned off to the highest bidder. A pair of Queen Victoria’s panties fetched $9,000 in a recent auction, and these royal bloomers are expected to fetch a similar price. Prospective bidders should keep on eye on Hanson’s, the Derbyshire auctioneers.

We think “The Queen’s Knickers” would be a super name for a pub or a jolly good title for a sequel to the film “The King’s Speech.”

 

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Two Hummus Solution

Princeton University students recently rejected a proposal to stock an additional brand of hummus dip besides Sabra hummus. Pro-Palestinian students favor adding a new hummus choice, saying their only chickpea dip option is Israeli-owned Sabra, a company they accuse of having ties to the Golani Brigade, a troubled and violent Israeli military unit.

Some facts:

Semester Abroad. Fries with That?

 

At first we thought McDonald’s had opened a UK franchise of famed Hamburger University. The Oak Brook, Illinois campus flips out 5,000 students a year (over 80,000 served), but doesn’t have much of a football team.

Britain’s Manchester Metropolitan University has it’s own McDonald’s degree program, though. The university’s Business School also runs degree programs for Tesco supermarkets and Booth’s. The latter is either for Booth’s supermarkets or Booth’s Gin.

Attention U.S. exchange students: “Chips” means “fries” in Blighty, “chips” are “crisps,” and the drive-thru window is on the wrong side of the building. Start studying  now.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Video Tech Breakthrough

The New York Times reported on a new breakthrough in consumer video technology. Instead of traveling by cable or satellite transmission, television programs are beamed through the air, directly into your home — for free!

“From April to September, cable and satellite companies had a net loss of about 330,000 customers. Craig Moffett, a longtime cable analyst … said the consensus of the industry executives he had talked to was that most of these so-called cord-cutters were turning to over-the-air TV. ‘It looks like they’re leaving for the antenna,’ he said.”

 – “Rabbit Ears Perk Up for Free HDTV,” Matt Richtel and Jenna Wortham, New York Times.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Sugar-Sweetened Drinks: Bigger Than Ever

Bechara Choucair, MD., Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health on the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax :

“. . . the challenge for those of us in public health is as clear as a glass of water. Convince the electorate that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: that the amount people would pay upfront in SSB taxes is a pittance compared to society’s savings down the road in reduced medical costs and longer and more productive lives—assuming taxes would result in reduced consumption of SSBs.

If it does, SSB levy is not only a tax all of us can live with, but live healthier.”

“Whatever the outcome of the current debate to increase taxes on SSBs, there is no denying that America’s obesity epidemic—leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other public health ills, is taking a terrible human and financial toll on the nation. We currently spend an estimated $79 billion annually in obesity-related health care costs; and that figure rises each year.”

– “The Debate Over Taxing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages,” Bechara Choucair, MD, Britannica Blog.

Who could be against that? Big sugar, big bottlers, big beverage haulers and big retail, all masquerading as “Americans Against Food Taxes.”

Millionaire Hostage-Takers

Republicans in Congress are holding middle class American families hostage at the bidding of their wealthy masters. GOP Congressmen refuse to continue Bush-era tax breaks for middle-income households unless millionaires get tax breaks, too. Astoundingly, they persist in arguing that tax breaks for the rich produces “trickle-down” benefits for the rest of us, the same nonsense they used to lead the country into financial ruin in the first place.

The Other Christmas List: Unemployment Rate

As we approach the holiday season, many Americans are out of work. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been naughty or nice. The meaningless unemployment rate in the headlines: 9.8%. The real unemployment rate: 17% (includes people who no longer get unemployment benefits, need work but have stopped looking because it’s futile, or have only found part-time work).

Congress put coal in the well-darned Christmas stockings of many unemployed Americans. It failed to extend jobless benefits.

Happy Holidays.

Image (“Santa Got Laid Off!”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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The Most Important Movie

It’s here. Finally. The most important movie ever made.