sa-phew! was volunteer grillalicious at the co-op picnic today. actually, just made corn, so it's difficult to claim real grillaliciousness status, but... i made a lot of BBQ'd corn. J hung out with the kiddies in the astrojump, probably more fun.

then we rode our bikes to MB, and back, after dipping in the slightly cool ocean.

major topic: THIS WEEK'S CONSUMER PROTECTION / ANTI-CORPORATE GOUGING rants:

okay. stop whatcher doin', cause i'm about to break a HUGE story here:

Kahlua is trying to screw us: out of alcohol.

here's how it goes down: last weekend, we drove to Tecate, Mexico, since we wanted an interesting day trip, but didn't want to deal with Tijuana. while there, we bought a liter (well, just sub-liter: 980ml) bottle of Kahlua, for the nice price of 90 pesos, or almost exactly USD$9.00 at current exchange rates. the alcohol content was the usual that one would expect, 26.5%, i.e., 53 proof. been buying this for years (since about 1993), and i am quite clear that it's always been 53 proof.

then the next day at Costco, to make myself feel even better about the great buy, i looked at the Kahlua liters (about $17, btw), and noticed, to my surprise, THAT IT WAS ONLY 20% ALCOHOL, and so ONLY 40 PROOF! thinking i must be losing my mind, i conferred with J, who also read the label as 20%/40 proof. my first sense thought was to wonder if Costco was just screwing us quietly, by negotiating directly with the manufacturer for a slightly-different-than-market-standard product, so they could sell it cheaper, and/or so it would be a one-off for Costco. (for example, they do this with the Leatherman Juice: they sell a model called the Juice Pro, a model which is unheard of on the Leatherman web site , but which falls somewhere near the KF4 and the XE6. well, they sell it for about $10 or $20 less than a comparable model at REI or a similar outdoor products store, but it's damn difficult to compare them side by side, unless you write down every feature of one tool at one store, and then go to the other store and compare side-by-side with the list on the other tool. i'm sure Costco does this with other items, but this is the one i know about for sure.

a worthwhile tangent on another set of retailers and manufacturers who are screwing us:
this, of course, is the same incredibly irritating tactic, which actually might be illegal, that Fry's, Best Buy, et al., employ to maintain their "110% price guarantee" bullshit. an example you want? sure: find me an emachines desktop computer called the T2484 other than at Best Buy. check, for instance, the emachines.com web site: you'll find a very comparable model, the T2482, for $499 without the monitor. well, we bought the T2484 for $499 with a nice 17" flat screen, but CRT, monitor), the CPU being identical except that it has a 2.4ghz Intel Celeron processor rather than the T2482's AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Processor (which actually runs at 2.0GHz, the misleading fuckers: i mean, come on, most computer buyers in this low range area are going to look at 2400 and assume it means 2.4GHz: it's stupid and misleading crap to have a model name which implies a speed which it DOESN'T ACTUALLY RUN AT.) and don't even get me started on these retailers being unable, and/or unwilling, to tell me the FSB (front side bus) speed of the computers they sell: while Best Buy tried to be helpful but ultimately failed to even look at their OWN WEB SITE, and Fry's was harried and basically made a guess that they represented as fact, the fucking CompUSA saleman LIED THROUGH HIS TEETH: i asked him about the FSB speed on two machines, a HP and a Compaq (yes, i know it's now the same manufacturer), and the lying son of a bitch told me the manufacturer didn't disclose this: didn't tell them, didn't publish it on their web site, didn't admit to it, period, in the low-end machines. long story short, he was lying, or spouting bullshit corporate policy, and it's why i'll never buy a computer from CompUSA, ever.

focus, focus!:
okay. when i go on these rants, i sometimes get a little lost. after noting that Costco does this with the Leatherman, and other retailers do it with computers, my point is this: i was thinking that, maybe, just maybe, it was unique to Costco. but no: i then checked at Von's (which, for non-southern californians, is Safeway's brand name store down here), and it was also 20%/40 proof. same at Ralph's. BUT NO SIGNS, ANYWHERE, ALERTING US TO THE FACT THEY HAVE CHANGED THE PROOF. goddamn cheats. lest you think this is all a figment of my admittedly vigorous imagination, check out this, the only indication i could find in extensive web searching, on the lowering of the proof in Kahlua: from the February 5, 2003, minutes of the Washington State Liquor Control Board:

Purchasing Services Division -- Potential Proof Reductions
Gary Thompson, Purchasing Deputy Director

The suppliers of the following brands are requesting that the Board approve proof reductions for their products. The new lower proof products will be the only proofs that will be produced and available to the Washington State Liquor Control Board.

Brand // Description // Original Proof // New Proof // Retail // Average Monthly Case Sales
067528 // Kahlua Coffee Liqueur, 1.75 L // 53 proof // 40 proof // $39.95 // 277
067526 // Kahlua Coffee Liqueur, 750 ml // 53 proof // 40 proof // $18.95 // 2212
067524 // Kahlua Coffee Liqueur, 375 ml // 53 proof // 40 proof // $9.95 // 295
067521 // Kahlua Coffee Liqueur, 50 ml // 53 proof // 40 proof // $2.00 // 103
... (other brands, including Captain Morgan Parrot Bay, deleted)

Mr. Thompson recommended that the Board approve the suppliers' request for these proof reductions and also Mr. Thompson stated that his division will post signage in our retail outlets notifying customers of the proof changes. (empahsis supplied, and tab delimitation substituted with "//" double slashes)

Board Member Ing moved for approval. Board Member Hoen seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously.

the above emphasis was supplied because it indicates that at least SOMEONE thought it important to disclose this to consumers. now, i'll admit that i just recently moved back to California from Colorado, but i look at beer and liquor prices in the store a lot (stop snickering, Howk!), including when i have come to visit family in california regularly in the last several years.

and note also that the Kahlua web site advertises their product as "©2003 Kahlua® Liqueur, 26.5% alc./vol. (21% alc./vol. available only in Ohio)." well, Toto, we're not in Ohio, and the Kahlua here in California doesn't have 26.5% alcohol.

PLEASE: tell me (and show me that) i'm paranoid, and we've always been cheated in California on our proof in Kahlua. tell me it's not about the fact that in the last year or so, Kahlua introduced Kahlua Especial, a 70 proof version, priced higher (and which tastes better, IMO.) and that the lowering the proof in the regular version isn't a two-pronged tactic to (1) get us to pay the same amoutn as always for something which cost less to produce, being more sugar and water and less alcohol, and (2) get those who notice to switch to Especial.

lacking information to the contrary, which i invite readers to provide me at d j g 9 2 1 6 7 AT yahooDOTcom, there is a rebuttable presumption that Kahlua is cheating us. anyone from Kahlua care to comment?