Passengers aboard a flight from Orlando to Richmond were treated to a sky show last week when space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, just east of the central Florida airport. Apparently the flight was delayed, so I guess this was their reward. I’ve certainly never seen anything this cool from my window seat. On the other hand, I prefer a boring, uneventful flight.
I don’t normally write about gas prices, but I’m getting just a tad nervous. Last night on my way home, the gas station closest to my neighborhood showed $3.43 a gallon for regular. That’s why I regularly avoid it and go to Costco, even though I have to drive 20 miles to get there. (Not sure that makes sense or cents.)
Food prices are expect to rise 2 to 3 percent this year.
But you don’t have to survive on peanut butter and crackers to deal with the higher prices.
The price of oil hit $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since September 2008, amid ongoing unrest in the Middle East. Analysts quoted in Bloomberg today say prices could surge as high as $220 a barrel. The spike is already being felt at the pump, where the national gasoline average of $3.19 per gallon is up 53 cents from this time last year. If you heat your home with oil, and you didn't lock your rate at the start of the season, you should expect prices to climb over the remaining weeks of winter.
This month, Southwest Airlines is introducing "InAirtainment"on southwest.com, which lets you browse "entertainment" options like music, movies, games, TV shows and more from the iTunes store. It’s basically a partnership with Apple that will encourage fliers to download stuff before a flight - or while inflight - aboard Southwest.
Gas prices have already breached the $3 level in many areas and may continue upward, given the ripple effects of Libyan turmoil that BaltTech blogger Gus Sentementes and I wrote about in today’s paper.
Which?, the United Kingdom's equivalent of Consumer Reports, is reporting this week on the launch of the world's first "dual swing door" refrigerator. It's manufactured by Sharp, a brand known more for TVs and other electronics in this country, though Consumer Reports has tested several Sharp microwaves.