the shrewdness of apes

one story that's been rather quiet what with all the fighting and electoral fraud is how the onslaught of hurricanes this fall decimated Florida's tomato production resulting in prices that have tripled in the past few months, leading to this hilarious tidbit:

McDonald's says it could implement rolling blackouts of salsa at its mexican style Chipotle chain.

no word on whether there will also be brownouts (redouts?) of ketchup and BBQ sauce. does McDonald's actually put a slice of tomato on any of it's sandwiches? outside of the McDLT, i can't think of one that has it. which is too bad because it's the one thing they could serve you that might serve to counteract the havoc that the rest of their menu can play on your body.

still, none of this explains the price hike at Crif Dogs where the prices listed on the website have all been raised by $0.25-0.50 despite the fact that most of the offerings are tomato-free. as a result, today's lunch ended up being a bit pricier than anticipated, and that was without having one of their newly offered beers. now an inflation in pizza prices would make sense, though Slice has been quiet on the subject. perhaps that's because very few parlors actually use fresh tomatoes, opting instead for the canned versions that are more resistant to price fluctuations.