Something Sweet

1. We seem all too aware this year of higher gas prices, petrodollars gone wild, and fat energy bills, but there have been wars over other basics, too. Take sugar, coffee, tea and spice, for instance. Empires have risen and fallen on these daily staples (formerly luxuries), which reminds me to mention an excellent little 1985 book by Sidney Mintz -- Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. A quick read through certainly gets one to thinking about commodity fetishism and raw power. Mintz takes it to the limit, showing how sugar expanded slavery and how ultra-refined "white sugar" became prized over rawer (and healthier) "brown sugar." Race, sugar and economics intertwined, whoah! Great stuff, even if one hasn't heard about the recent exploding sugar factory incident in Georgia (not incidentally named Imperial Sugar).

Oil for autos, sugar for tea and coffee, empires for elites. Let's also not forget what a delicacy chocolate was and still is.

My friends, the more one looks, the stranger the world becomes.

As far as salt goes, there are huge depositories of the stuff below Detroit. Don't look too hard at reality, though -- remember the fate of Lot's wife . . . Just toss some over your shoulder next time your shaker keels over . . .


2. Valentine's Day did not go well for everybody this year. Certainly not for 37-year old actress Bai Ling, who was rudely busted at LAX airport and charged with stealing $16 worth of goodies -- two magazines and two packs of batteries for her flight out of LA. She attributes such pitiable behavior to an abrupt breakup with some bad-timing cad . . . More, no doubt, will be revealed -- for those who really must know.

Meanwhile, I'll finish my cup of Latin American coffee. Straight, no chaser . . .

Today's Rune: Harvest.