Capitalist planning—To reduce congestion, and pick up some spare pounds, an $8 fee has been imposed on non-residents driving into London. It’s reported that the penalty has reduced traffic congestion. Apparently it has also cut into retail sales. Said an owner of a landmark fish shop: “It happened virtually overnight. Within 24 hours, I lost 20 percent of my business.”

Corporate culture?—Under pressure from donors, the director and board of trustees of the Museum of Northern Arizona resigned. Confronted with a $1 million deficit, the museum operators said, they sold off paintings and Navajo weavings to museums and collectors across the country.

Homeland Security—“STERLING, Colorado—More than 1,100 high-security prisoners remained confined to their cells after inmate cooks walked off the job to protest wage cuts enacted to help balance the state budget. Authorities say they won’t negotiate with the inmates. Prisoners will get cold food until the cooks return to work.”—July 3 news item.

They call him ‘Flash’—“URBANA, Illinois—A University of Illinois professor was chosen to head the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Eric Jacobson is the first permanent head of the center that will combine biology with computer science, mathematics, engineering and physics.”—News item.

Try it in your juicer—The ingredients include extracts from soy beans, lemon grass, kelp, green tea, and grape seeds. It’s a facial cream called Re-Storation Deep Repair Facial Serum and is available for roughly $200 an ounce. The name of the Minnesota-based company that makes the cream is Z. Bigatti. Its founder says her partner came up with the name, adding, “I thought it was kind of sexy…It could be anything luxurious.”

A bit less, but sexy too—Stop by your local Neiman Marcus shop for Intensite Creme Lustre. Two ounces, $375.

‘Detain’ them at Guantánamo?—The Los Angeles County supervisors ordered the operators of the L.A. county jail to come up with an alternative to holding teen-age inmates in jail with adults. Apparently to keep them isolated from “bad” adult prisoner influence, they’re being held in cells for up to 23 and a half hours a day. So far, two have tried suicide.

Proud to be an ‘American’?—“Prisoner suicide attempts in Cuba dismay Pentagon”, “U.S. plans mental ward for [Guantánamo] detainees”—News headlines.  
 
 
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