'You're Not Alone' and 'Now What?' Closer looks at Trump's re-election from Colbert, Meyers, 'The Daily Show,' and Kimmel

I closed Jon Stewart's message to his viewers about the election by telling my readers "Michigan still hasn't been called for either President or U.S. Senate as I write this, so stay tuned for those results..." convicted criminal Donald Trump won the Great Lakes State, but Elissa Slotkin won election to the U.S. Senate. Most of the rest of the results were like that, which makes me think that a lot of people voted for Trump and left the rest of the ballot blank or voted for Jill Stein and then Democrats down the ballot. I promise I'll get to that, but I'm not feeling like it today. Instead, I think my readers and I deserve some comfort via comedy, beginning with Stephen Colbert telling his audience You Are Not Alone / The World Reacts To America's Decision.

The Late Show checked in with America's allies and enemies to see how they're reacting to Donald Trump's reelection.

Stephen gauged my mood correctly. I hope he did the same for my readers.

Now on to the monologue, Plunging Back Into The Trump Hole | VP Harris Concedes | We Know What's Coming.

Stephen Colbert delivers his first monologue following Donald Trump's victory over VP Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

I'm tempted to share cute animal videos, too, and it might come to that, but I'm not there yet. Just the same, I understand why Stephen is showing them and his audience appreciates them.

Next, a monologue my wife and I watched last night, Donald Trump Has Won the 2024 Election. Now What?: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump winning the 2024 election, making him the oldest person to take the oath of office and the first person convicted of felony charges to assume the presidency.

What upset me most about this segment was RFK Jr. being in charge of health, which he's bad at, while Trump is keeping him away from energy and the environment, which he's actually good at. It's enough to make me create a label for him, Brainworm. I expect I'll use it a lot during the next four years, although I thought the same of Doctor Pyramid for Ben Carson, who would be better for health than RFK Jr. Instead, I ended up writing "At least you were too boring to write about for the past four [years]" after Carson's service as HUD Secretary. May we be so lucky with RFK Jr.

Next, the first sketch my wife and I watched last night, Desi Lydic Reacts to Trump's Election Win & the Media's Blame Game | The Daily Show.

Desi Lydic unpacks Donald Trump's big presidential election win over Kamala Harris and the subsequent fingerpointing from media pundits. Plus, The Best F**kin' News Team joins Desi to try to muster up some optimism.

We Americans could have elected the first woman as President. Instead, we elected the first convicted criminal. Ugh. The misogyny is real.

I close with Jimmy Kimmel Reacts to Donald Trump Winning the Presidential Election.

Last night we had the choice between a prosecutor and a criminal and we chose the criminal, more than half of the country voted for Donald Trump, it turns out the election wasn’t rigged even though he said it was while people were in line voting, Jimmy’s kids were very upset at the news, Jimmy received a lot of texts from anxious friends and family members, President Biden watched all of the action from the White House and he called Trump today to congratulate him, Kamala Harris also called Donald Trump to concede and she gave a speech at her alma mater Howard University, the voting itself went relatively smoothly despite a number of bomb threats that were sent into heavily democratic precincts, it was a terrible night for so many in America, Jimmy offers some thoughts about how we move forward, Cousin Micki shares something positive, and we head out to Hollywood Blvd to ask people if they voted in the election today (even though it was yesterday).

I think Jimmy is right to be worried. I am, too. I would be surprised if I weren't already on some list, although it gives me cold comfort that I'm probably so far down that list that Trump and his coming administration probably won't get to me in the next four years.* Now I'm wondering if people will protect Jimmy, Stephen, Seth, and the rest of the late-night talk show hosts. If so, it would be another example of the surest way to get Americans to act is to mess with their entertainm­ent. As I first wrote in 2011, "America is quite clear about its screwed up priorities­." Tuesday night just reinforced that.

*If not a Trump list, then a Russian list, as I posited in A paranoid thought while whining on Dreamwidth last month.

I've had three posts removed from the Crazy Eddie's Motie News Facebook page this month for "spamming." I'm not doing anything different at that page since I created that page years ago. Instead, I think a new follower is reporting me for potentially (too) popular political content. It's likely a U.S. conservative, but Marcy "Emptywheel" Wheeler reported that Russia has compiled a list of over 1,900 “anti-influencers” and I'm wondering if I got on that list. If so, yay, the right enemies, but boo, they might be causing me trouble with Facebook. Either way, it's annoying. Let's hope this stops after the election.

It ended up being five posts, four of which featured either Saturday Night Live or Colbert, before I changed the format of those posts to avoid having them removed.

Colbert, Kimmel, Meyers, Corden, and Fallon express outrage and offer comfort in response to yesterday's attempted self-coup

I had a good idea of what I would blog about today when I concluded the body of A view of the 'coup attempt' from Michigan.

I might get around to the results of the Georgia Senate runoff elections tomorrow or the day after. I suspect I will be posting the reactions of the late-night talk show hosts to today's violence instead. Stay tuned.

That's exactly what I'm doing, beginning with Stephen Colbert asking Hey, Republicans Who Supported This President: Are We Great Again Yet? - LIVE MONOLOGUE.

After the unprecedented assault on democracy that took place in the Capitol Building today, Stephen Colbert kicks off his LIVE monologue with a message for cowardly Republican lawmakers who for five years have coddled the president's fascist rhetoric: there will be a terrible price to pay.

I'm going to be a good environmentalist and repeat what I wrote about Stephen's monologue in Colbert, Kimmel, and Corden react to Trump's speech last night with derision and outrage plus a bonus Closer Look: "Wow, Stephen, tell us how you really feel. Seriously, I've never seen him so pissed!" This time, I can say I have.*

The Late Show began their commentary on Donald Trump words and deeds in the cold open A Riot At The Capitol Is Exactly What The "Law And Order" President Wanted.



Fact check: America is certainly not feeling great.
Yes, "law and order" ended up being a big scam.

The next monologue I'm featuring is Jimmy Kimmel on Angry Trump Mob Storming the Capitol.

Jimmy gives his thoughts on the angry mob of Trump supporters storming the capitol building in Washington D.C. today, Mike Pence shutting down Donald Trump's request to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which shouldn't, Senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and others keeping this stolen election charade going, Democrats gaining control of the Senate after a double victory in Georgia's runoff election, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump going after the Republican establishment, and we revisit Trump's inauguration speech with the benefit of hindsight.

Not only are Kimmel's video descriptions the most comprehensive of all the late night talk show hosts, his monologues can be as well. In particular, I'm glad he called out all of Trump's supporters who enabled yesterday's assault on the rule of law and representative democracy. They deserved it.

Follow over the jump for the rest of last night's monologues.

Presidents on Memorial Day

For today's holiday, I'm going to do something more serious than last year's grilling over lava.  Instead, I'm harkening back to 2013's President Obama at Arlington for Memorial Day with Friday's Weekly Address: Remembering Our Fallen Heroes.

In this week’s address, President Obama solemnly reflected on the meaning of Memorial Day and recognized the sacrifices made by the American warriors who never made it back home.

That's not all.  ABC News brings its viewers Memorial Day | Presidents Honor the Fallen at Arlington National Cemetery.

Memorial Day 2016 | A look back at presidents on Memorial Day through the years.

Remember the serious reason for the holiday before lighting the grill.

Storm damage and power outages in the suburbs

When I was ready to leave school today, it was 5:00 P.M. and I noticed a heavy downpour outside.  I decided to wait until it passed.  I didn't see any damage on the way home, even though I was following the storm to the east.  It turns out that the part of Oakland County I'm in was lucky.  It was much worse to the north and west, as WXYZ showed in these two videos.

First, WXYZ reported Power outages across metro Detroit.


That was for the dinner newscast.  Here is one from later in the evening that shows straight-line wind damage in Livonia and also follows up on the car that didn't survive an attempt to drive through a flooded intersection: Cleaning up downed trees and restoring power.


I can take comfort that no apparently no one was injured, despite the damage.

Let's celebrate with Grumpy Cat

This blog just earned 10,000 page views a month for the third month in a row.  Also, Julie Bass just stopped by to give me a Best Moment Award.  Unfortunately, I'm too sleepy to compose a proper acceptance speech according to the award's rules as reproduced by Julie Bass at Oak Park Hates Veggies.  I'll do that later.

Instead, I'll celebrate with Tardar Sauce the Grumpy Cat, who just got a movie deal.  Take it away, CNN!

Grumpy Cat goes from meme to the big screen

The world's grumpiest cat lands a movie deal. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports her feline frown is destined for the big screen.

I'm so happy I could just meow.

WOOD-TV on the Flint tornadoes

Last night, our daughter called my wife and me to warn us of a tornado touching down in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  I told her that it was near Flint, a full county to the north, so as long as stayed there, we were OK.

I was right.  We were OK, but the people in Flint sure weren't.  It turned out there wasn't just one tornado, but six!  WOOD-TV has three reports on the storm damage, beginning with 6 tornadoes reported in Flint area.

Severe thunderstorms pushed across Michigan's Lower Peninsula Tuesday evening, producing six possible tornadoes.

That looked like it was a segment from the noon newscast, which promised updates from another reporter during the five o'clock report.  Here it is: Flint damaged by tornado.

A dark and stormy night in Michigan turned into a path of destruction on the east side of the state on Tuesday. (May 29, 2013)

The reporter on the scene promised yet another update for the six o'clock newscast.  Here's that one: Flint hit by tornadoes, West Michigan spared.

While the National Weather Service says six tornadoes touched down in the Flint area on Tuesday night, West Michigan was spared. But why? (May 29, 2013)

The answer to the question was luck.  Also, the worst tornado was confirmed as EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.  At least I can take comfort that no one was injured.

WXYZ also reported on the storms.  I'll have an entry featuring their coverage later.

The corner station returns to form in the local gas war

In Corner station surprises in gas war plus bonus "big gas" commercial, I described how things were the reverse of normal in the local gas war.

Yesterday, I dr[o]ve by the corner station and they dropped their price to $3.75 from $3.84.  Even more surprising, it was selling gas for less than the three stations down the street, which were all at $3.79.  Usually it's the corner station that leads in raising prices, not lowering them.

That's where prices remained all weekend long.  This morning, prices finally moved, returning the situation to normal.

The corner station once again raised its price for regular to $3.99, just as it had a couple of weeks ago.  The three stations down the block also raised their prices to $3.85, just about where they were at the same time.  Once again, the corner station had charged out into No Man's Land and were going to have to retreat into the trenches.  By this evening, that happened with the corner station matching the other three stations' price of $3.85.

It's really comforting to watch price competition working to keep my transportation costs down.

Finally, Mark Schauer announces his candidacy

It's already time for a follow-up to Endorsements galore for Democratic candidates at Examiner.com.

Mark Schauer declared his candidacy for Governor on Facebook and Twitter Tuesday.

Schauer declares 'he's in' the race for Michigan Governor

Former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer ended months of speculation Tuesday morning by declaring on Facebook and Twitter that he was running for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2014.

Schauer's announcement on both social media platforms read, "I’m in! Today I’m announcing my campaign for governor. I’m ready to run, I’m ready to work & I’m ready to win."
...
Schauer wasted no time in attacking Governor Snyder's record.   Within a half hour of declaring his candidacy, Schauer tweeted, "Rick Snyder has taken Michigan in the wrong direction - cutting schools & raising taxes on seniors."  A half hour later, he  continued the attack with "Snyder just doesn't get it. It's time to start protecting Michigan's middle class."

In contrast, Schauer tweeted that Michigan needed "an economy that works for everyone — not just the wealthy and not just the special interests."

Schauer's candidacy takes care of a situation Nate Silver pointed out in Which Governors Are Most Vulnerable in 2014?

Mr. Scott, Mr. Corbett, Mr. LePage and Mr. Snyder — lead states that were carried by President Obama in both 2008 and 2012. All were helped by favorable political winds in 2010 that no longer blow so hard.
...
Mr. Snyder is in a slightly less precarious position in Michigan. His net job approval rating is negative, but in the single digits. The Rothenberg report rates the race as a tossup, but Michigan is rated as leaning Republican by Sabato’s Crystal Ball and as likely Republican by the Cook report. Part of the reason for Mr. Snyder’s relative strength is the lack of significant opposition. No prominent Democrat has announced an intention to run, but if one did, Mr. Snyder’s chances could certainly diminish.

That's now changed.  Schauer counts as a "prominent Democrat" and promises to be "significant opposition."  In fact, his support on Facebook is growing rapidly.  From the Examiner.com article:

Schauer saw rapid growth in his support on his campaign's Facebook page.  By noon, about three hours after declaring his candidacy, his page had 1,000 likes.  At 3:26 P.M, his page hit 2,000 likes.   Between 10:00 P.M and 11:00 P.M. it passed 3,000 likes.  Just before midnight, it exceeded 3,500.

I'm excited already, and the election isn't for a year and a half.

President Obama at Arlington for Memorial Day

Following up on A moment of silence for Memorial Day, here are two video clips of President Obama at Arlington National Cemetary today. The first is from The White House YouTube account: President Obama Lays a Wreath at Arlington National Cemetery.

President Obama lays a wreath on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery. May 27, 2013.

Next, PBS NewsHour invites the viewers of its YouTube channel to Watch President Obama's Memorial Day Speech at Arlington National Cemetery.

President Barack Obama spoke at Memorial Day Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.

Here's to the President using his office, empathy, and rhetorical skills to bring comfort to those remembering our fallen soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen.

A moment of silence for Memorial Day

Follow up to "Big Gas" commercial

There was more from WCPO than the commercial featured in Corner station surprises in gas war plus bonus "big gas" commercial.  First, Helping you find the cheapest gas over the Memorial Day weekend.

A look at gas prices around the Tri-State and an app that will help you find the cheapest gas in your area.

Finally, here's the commercial itself.


Enjoy your Memorial Day travels!

Detroit's Emergency Financial Manager asks for appraisal of DIA's collection

As the Detroit Free Press article began, "The once unthinkable is suddenly thinkable."  WXYZ gives a video executive summary.

Kim Russell reports on Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr asking for an appraisal of the DIA's collection.

That's the overview.  Follow over the jump for the details from the Detroit Free Press.

Finally, a Ringworld movie!

I've been a huge fan of Larry Niven's Known Space ever since I watched The Slaver Weapon.  I thought the Kzinti were really cool and promptly checked out a copy of Ringworld from the library.  I read through all the Known Space stories I could lay my hands on during the years since, right up to Ringworld Engineers and The Patchwork Girl.  After those books, no new Known Space stories appeared for a decade.

All was not lost, as Chaosium Games, the publishers of Runequest and Call of Cthulhu, purchased the game rights to Ringworld.  I convinced Chaosium that I knew enough about Known Space and tabletop role-playing games to let me develop a scenario for an adventure module.  I wrote the scenario, playtested it, submitted it, and was about to revise it when Chaosium told me to stop.  It wasn't because what I wrote was bad; in fact, it had nothing to do with me.  It turns out that Niven had sold the movie rights to Ringworld and the movie company asserted that it now held the game rights, not Chaosium.  Chaosium was too small to take on the movie company and its lawyers, so it gave up.

I was pissed.  Not only did it stop publication of a game that I really believed in, it meant that all my effort, about $300 worth in 1984 dollars, went right down the drain.  I decided to never buy another Niven book new ever again.  To add insult to injury, Niven used the game guide as source material for the Man-Kzin Wars series.  Worst of all, there never was any movie.  All that loss was for nothing.

That may all change, as Entertainment Weekly reports.

Ringworld' miniseries in the works at Syfy -- EXCLUSIVE

Michael Perry (The River, Paranormal Activity 2) is adapting Ringworld as a four-hour miniseries. The story follows a team of explorers that travel to the farthest reaches of space to investigate an alien artifact called Ringworld – an artificial habitat the size of one million Earths. As they crash land on this enormous structure, they discover the remnants of ancient civilizations, technology beyond their wildest dreams, mysteries that shed light on the very origins of man and, most importantly, a possible salvation for a doomed Earth.

For Ringworld fans, this news might cause some deja vu. Syfy previously considered making a Ringworld miniseries under a different production team nine years ago.

I might finally get a Ringworld movie--30 years later.  Maybe I can get some comfort from that.

Corner station advances to $4.00, then immediately retreats

Welcome to another installment of the ride on the gas price rollercoaster!  I hope you all enjoy the image I found for this series, which came from here.


In Refinery issues change battlefield in gas price war, I predicted that gas would briefly hit $4.00/gallon by July 4th.  Yesterday morning, the corner station tried to get there before Memorial Day, by raising its price for regular to $3.99 and for premium to $4.09.  The three stations down the block held steady at $3.84 for regular.  As soon as I saw that, I knew that the corner station was once again charging No Man's Land and would retreat back into its trench.  It took less time that I thought.  This evening, the corner station once again matched its neighbors at $3.84.

I still think gas will get to $4.00 by July 4th at all stations and stay there for about a week, but I don't have say that gas will reach that price level this summer.  It already has.  I can take perverse comfort in my prediction of gas reaching $4.00 this year coming true, if a bit prematurely.

WXYZ previews a coming attraction: Meteor impact on Moon

One of the stories that I will be using in this week's space and astronomy news will be the largest lunar impact ever recorded by NASA.  WXYZ covered that news and their video Meteor crashes into moon's surface serves as a good preview of the NASA video I will include later this week.


Take comfort in the rock hitting the Moon instead of Earth and also that the Earth's atmosphere would have protected us from the full force of impact, although it would have made for a spectacular fireball.

Robots are coming for our jobs

The idea of robots taking our jobs, which bloggers like Chad/escapefromwisconsin at The Hipcrime Vocab and Stuart Saniford at Early Warning have been writing about for years, has popped its head up in mainstream science reporting.  While Chad and Stuart have been pessimistic about the prospects, Discovery News on YouTube takes a more optimistic view in Robots Are Stealing Your Job.

Robots are awesome, but beware: they're after your jobs! Trace looks at the work robots are doing today, that once required a human touch.

I don't think either Chad or Stuart would be so comfortable with the situation.  Instead, they might agree more with Seth Fletcher of Scientific American.

Yes, Robots Are Coming for Our Jobs—Now What?
M.I.T. economist Erik Brynjolfsson explains how technology has affected economic growth and productivity, and how human workers can adapt

Fifteen years ago Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in a game of chess, marking the beginning of what Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Erik Brynjolfsson calls the new machine age—an era driven by exponential growth in computing power. Lately, though, people have been feeling uneasy about the machine age. Pundits and experts seem to agree that the robots are definitely taking our jobs. At last week’s TED conference, Brynjolfsson argued that the new machine age is great for economic growth, but we still have to find a way to coexist with the machines. We asked him to expand on a few points.
...
Throughout most of modern history, productivity and employment have grown side by side. But starting about 15 years ago they started becoming decoupled. Productivity continued to grow, even accelerate, but employment stagnated and even fell, as did median wages for the people who were still working. This was an important milestone, because most economists, including me, used to be of the mind-set that if you just keep increasing productivity, everything else kind of takes care of itself.

But there’s no economic law that says everyone has to benefit equally from increased productivity. It’s entirely possible that some people benefit a lot more than others or that some people are made worse off. And as it turns out, for the past 10 to 15 years it’s gone that way. The pie has gotten bigger but most of the increase in income has gone to less than 1 percent of the population. Those at the 50th percentile or lower have actually done worse in absolute terms.

Chad at The Hipcrime Vocab came to the same conclusion beginning very early in his examination of robots and automation, beginning with What Are People Good For?  As for Stuart, he thinks the loss of jobs to robots will be the major effect of the Singularity, not everyone becoming cyborgs or the machines enslaving or killing off humanity.  Just the same, this is yet another piece of evidence demonstrating that we live in science fiction times.

Rescuing the Star Trek past, continued

In Rescuing the Star Trek past, I quoted Original 'Star Trek' Galileo Shuttlecraft Restored by Loving Fans and embedded the accompanying video.  Space.com on YouTube has followed up on this story with Star Trek Galileo Shuttlecraft To Land At Space Center Houston.

Star Trek's original prop shuttlecraft will be heading to the Johnson Space Center's visitors attraction, once its restoration team is done. SPACE.com found project leader Adam Schneider and crew in the ship's Atlantic Highlands, NJ "space-dock."

I'm sure that their efforts bring them satisfaction, and will bring comfort to the fans who will be happy to see the history of their favorite franchise preserved.

Speaking of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Into Darkness opened yesterday.  I'll have more about that in a future installment, when I revisit my opinion that the franchise is in good hands.

Jello shots for Narb

Narb had the following to say in a comment to ABC News and Democracy Now on comfort food.

Narb loves Michael Pollan (in a detached, intellectual way).

He also loves jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello jello.

In the spirit of This one's for Narb and Narb asked for more posts about Jell-O,* here are some videos about Jello shots.

First, Simple Cooking Channel explains how to make Marshmallow Jello shots.

Welcome to the SimpleCookingChannel. Things might get pretty simple sometimes but sometimes that's just what a person needs. I hope you like my recipe for marshmallow jello shots.
...
Ingredients

Marshmallow's
85 Grams of jello
Half a cup of vodka

Next, BuzzFeedFood describes their Blood Orange Mimosa Jello Shots recipe.

Blood Orange Mimosa Jello Shots

These are inspired by Jaymee Sire, the brilliant blogger behind e is for eat. See her post. We used tangerines because they are easier to find than real blood oranges, and made the prettiest cups. But you could also use navel oranges or actual blood oranges with great results. The cups will just be slightly more difficult to clean out. Adjust food coloring amount accordingly.

Finally, the Tipsy Bartender shows how to make Guinness Jello Shots.

Possibly the most badass jello shots we've made...GUINNESS JELLO SHOTS! An awesome beer taste with a hint of chocolate, covered with a tasty Bailey's foam head!

RECIPE
======
Guinness
Baileys

The Tipsy Bartender has an entire playlist of jello shots, so if Narb wants more Jello, I can just pull one or more of them out.  That's a comforting thought.

*As you can see, I post one of these a year. This is the one for 2013--so far.

Gas mileage down but so are emissions, plus bonus gas price rollercoaster

Early this month, the University of Michigan reported Fuel economy in the U.S. drops from recent high.   Here's the complete press release.

ANN ARBOR—Fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. slipped last month for the first time this year, say researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Average fuel economy (window-sticker values) of cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs purchased in April was 24.5 mpg, according to UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle.

"This value is down 0.1 mpg from the record high reached in March, likely reflecting the recent decrease in the price of gasoline," Sivak said. "Despite this small drop, the fuel economy is up 4.4 mpg since October 2007—the first month of our monitoring."

In addition to average fuel economy, Sivak and Schoettle issued their monthly update of their national Eco-Driving Index, which estimates the average monthly emissions generated by an individual U.S. driver. The EDI takes into account both the fuel used per distance driven and the amount of driving—the latter relying on data that are published with a two-month lag.

During February, the EDI improved to 0.82 from 0.83 the month before (the lower the value, the better). The index currently shows that emissions of greenhouse gases per driver of newly purchased vehicles are down 18 percent, overall, since October 2007.

While the average MPG of a new car is up slightly because of lower gas prices, the replacement of less fuel-efficient older vehicles with newer ones plus the fewer miles driven per person have reduced individual emissions.  That's good news, especially in the face of carbon dioxide at levels not seen since the Tertiary.

In related news, the corner station lost another skirmish in the ongoing price war.  As I reported last time:

Since then, the prices have gone up and down twice.  First, the corner station started another round of price raising and failed, as they posted prices of $3.89 two weeks ago.  The other stations didn't bite, and by the end of the week, everyone was selling for $3.65.  This week, the corner station charged out into No Man's Land again and managed to hold it until today.   On Monday, they were selling regular for $3.79 while the three stations down the street had prices of $3.75.  That lasted until this afternoon, when the three stations dropped regular down to $3.70.  By this evening, the corner station matched their price.  I can take comfort in competition working to keep prices down.

The next week, all the stations dropped their prices to $3.68.  Wednesday of last week, the corner station again charged out of their trench to do battle in No Man's Land, raising their price for regular to $3.89.  The stations down the block again held steady, so when I filled up, I did so at one of them.  By Friday, the corner station retreated back into their trench, lowering their price to $3.68.  I can again take comfort in competition working to keep my costs down.

Video tributes to Mothers

Unlike the past two years, there aren't a lot of calls for conspicuous consumption to celebrate the holiday on my YouTube feed today.  Even ABC News promoted non-material gifts for mom in Last Minute Mother's Day Gift Ideas.

A look at ideas that require commitment instead of a trip to the store.

Ah, how sweet--and sustainable, too!

Follow over the jump for the other distinctive ways that news organizations are giving tribute to moms.