I simply haven’t had the time to post to this blog in the past year or so.

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http://pastorerik.hbc-nh.org

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This week, gasoline hit a record $3.83 per gallon for regular in the U.S. The spike may due to a lot of factors, but one thing is for sure, we’re not the only ones suffering at the pump – or the bowser.

Down Under

Bowser? That’s the Australian word for “gas pump” and they’re experiencing the same issues we have been, except worse. For one thing, they’re paying A$1.62 per liter for gas. That’s $1.56 per quart or $6.24 per gallon! In case you’re keeping track, that’s 62% more than we’re paying.

The median household income in Australia is A$55,000 – about $52,800 in the USA. While I had a hard time finding a current median income for American households, it is around the same amount nationally (many regions are much higher). That means the Aussies are making roughly the same as we are, but they’re paying much more at the bowser.

In addition, our interest rates have been falling, helped by the Federal Reserve Bank, which means that mortgage rates have also fallen. Their interest rates have been hiked 12 times since 2002, and inflation is completely out of control.

Recently, the Australian government issued a tax cut (sound familiar?) but it amounted to about $20 per week. That is actually a little less than the tax incentive package you and I will be issued. For a married couple with no children, the US tax incentive is about $23 per week.

Neither plan provides any kind of real “incentive.” Neither will fill a gas tank. $23 a week won’t even my tank halfway, and I drive a Corolla with an 11 gallon tank.

Up North

And our neighbors up north aren’t doing much better. Even though the depreciating US dollar has helped level our currencies ($1 US = $0.99 Canadian), they’ve always paid more for gasoline than we have.

Last May, gasoline was $1.12 per liter in Canada. Today, it is at $1.27 and rising. That’s roughly $1.28 per quart or $5.12 a gallon. So, our neighbors to the north are still paying 34% more than we are.

Like the USA, Canada’s economy is slowing dramatically. This really shouldn’t surprise us since the Canadian economy is to a large part dependent on the USA. The largest bank in Canada just announced a C$855 million write-down, and their Gross Domestic Product has ground to a halt, showing no growth over the past year.

Across the Pond

Of course, Great Britain is also struggling with rising prices for petrol. In November of 2007, petrol was £1 per liter. Now, it is £1.21, or $2.40. That’s $9.60 per gallon, or 151% more than we’re paying in the USA.

More than Australia, Canada or the US, the rising price of crude oil has really impacted the British pound. While the Euro continues to strengthen, the national currencies of the English speaking nations seems to be weakened. In other words, the English speaking people of the world are being leveled out with everyone else.

But just how big a crisis is this?

A Bit of Perspective

Although no one of any international importance is listening to me or reading my blog, I think there is an easy fix to this problem.

While the rising price of petroleum is not the only cause of gas prices’ skyrocketing prices, it is part of the problem. In May 2007, oil was at $66 per barrel. Last week, it crossed the $130 a barrel mark. In other words, the price of oil doubled since last year. One would expect that gasoline would also have doubled in price, but that is not the case.

If we use the EIA’s prices for all formulations, then gasoline only increased by $0.58 from May 2007 to May 08. That is an increase of only 18%over last year. Why does it feel like so much more? Because gasoline prices fell dramatically in the interim.

• 2007 opened with gas prices at $2.33 per gallon, but by Memorial Day weekend the price had risen to $3.21.
• In August of 2007, the average price had fallen to $2.75 per gallon.
• By mid-autumn, the price had crossed the $3.00 per gallon mark and has stayed there ever since.

This is shocking, isn’t it? Historically, the biggest Memorial Day to Memorial Day jump has not been 2007-2008 but actually 1999-2000 (39%), 2003-2004 (38%) and 2005-2006 (37%). The jump for 2007-2008 was only 12%. So why is it effecting us so much?

Much of the “sticker shock” of the current gasoline prices has more to do with what we are being told than what is actually happening. While gasoline is definitely more expensive, let’s just consider how much effect it really has on our lives.

• For the sake of argument, let’s go pre-9/11. Memorial Day weekend 2001, gasoline was $1.78 per gallon. That meant that if you had to fill a 15-gallon tank, then you would be out of pocket $26.70. (Incidentally, in Australia you would have been out roughly twice that.)
• This year, in the USA you will pay $3.82, so let’s assume you’re filling the same 15-gallon tank. It will cost you $57.30. That is a 141% increase for roughly the same travel (about 300 miles).
• But in 2001, you probably made about 80% or less than you make this year. That means you have more income.
• How much of your income is devoted to paying for gas? Let’s assume you make $40,000 a year and travel 300 miles per week. Then you will consume one tank of gas per week. To count for trips through the year, let’s increase it to 1.5 tanks.
• If you do the math, then you’ll find that in 2001 you were spending 6.4% of your income on gas. Now, you’re spending 11.1%. So, there’s a net increase of 4.7% of your income per week.

Is that really that much? Or are we just so used to thinking of gasoline as negligible that we don’t notice it?

Look at it from another perspective. As I pointed out above, the Australians make about the same as we do. But they pay 62% more per gallon of gas. That means that the Aussie family spends 18.3% of their weekly funds on gasoline. The Brits are even worse off. If they drove as much as we do (which they don’t), they would be spending almost 29% of their income on gasoline.

A Solution

So, now I want to propose a solution to the crisis. It is quite complex, but here it goes.

Walk.

Ride a bike.

Consider this simple solution I found. For an extra 80 minutes a day (that’s less than the time most Americans invested in watching the American Idol finale this past week), I ride my bike to work. My part-time job is about 10 miles away, so it would consume roughly 0.71 gallons of gasoline per week to drive there and back. I ride my bike twice a week, so that’s 1.42 gallons or $5.42. Additionally, I try to walk or ride my bike to any place under 2-3 miles away from our house. You would be surprised how much we drive our cars for little things.

Beside that, when you go shopping try this little trick. Plan ahead, park somewhere convenient to all the stores you need to go to, and walk among the shops.

Here’s another solution.

Eat out one time fewer per week.

The last time my family of three went out to a restaurant, I paid about $35 plus tip. That is nearly a tank of gas, roughly 9.16 gallons of gas. We generally eat out once or twice per week, but if we adjust that and stick to it, there is more than enough money to pay at the pump.

The solution is not to waste gasoline, to not assume. It works for the British and the Australians who simply adapt their lifestyle. Perhaps we Americans need to do the same.

In a recent conversations with another football enthusiast, the topic of the passer rating became a subject of great disgust. Most of us, even the most ardent football fans among us, could not tell you how this extremely confusing, mysterious and well-muddled statistic is calculated or WHY a perfect passer rating is 158.3 and not 0 (the perfect ERA for a pitcher in baseball) or 1.000 (for hitters in baseball). So I researched it a little.  Here is what I found:

Calculations

The passer rating is calculated by the following formula (I’m not making this up):

[((completion/attemptions*100)-30)/20] + [(yards/attempts - 3)/4] + [# of touchdowns/attempted X 20] + [2.375 - ((interceptions/attempts)*25)]

then, the answer is divided by 6 and then multiplied by 100.  If an individual value – inside the square brackets – is less than 0, it is 0 for calculations.  If it is greater than 2.375, it is still 2.375. 

This may sound bogus and ridiculous, but I assure you this is the way they calculate it. 

Tom Brady, Week 1

I will use Brady’s week 1 game against the Jets as an example.

• Completions = 22
  
• Attempts = 28
  
• Yards = 297
  
• TD = 3
  
• Interceptions = 0
  

So his passer rating was 146.6 because…

[((22/28*100)-30)/20] + [(297/28 - 3)/4] + [3/28 X 20] + [2.375 - ((0/28)*25)] / 6 * 100 

Ben Roethlisberger, Week 15

In order to illustrate how absurd this is, I will now pull out the numbers for Ben Roethlisberger’s “perfect game” a couple of weeks ago on Thursday night.  As we have been reminded…repeatedly…Roethlisberger got a perfect passer rating.  Here are his stats: 

• Completions = 16
  
• Attempts = 20
  
• Yards = 261
  
• TD = 3
  
• Interceptions = 0
  

 [((16/20*100)-30)/20] + [(261/20 - 3)/4] + [3/20 X 20] + [2.375 - ((0/20)*25)] / 6 * 100

Although statistically, the two were pretty much equal (Brady had 36 more yards but Roethlisberger’s completion percentage was 1.4% higher), Roethlisberger gets a higher score.

Tom Brady’s Perfect Game

Now consider Brady’s “perfect” game from Week 7.

• Completions = 21
  
• Attempts = 25
  
• Yards = 354
  
• TD = 6
  
• Interceptions = 0
  

Ahh, Grading on the Curve

Although Brady’s game was FAR superior to Roethlisberger’s in EVERY WAY, they both had “perfect” games.  WHY? Because the system is a great example of a sliding scale. 

When Don Smith devised the system in 1973, the idea was that the worse you did, your rating declined faster.  Of course, Smith assumed 66.667 as the average score and created a system around that score.  The problem is that the average rating in 2003 was 78.9, and in 2004 (thanks to Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and a few others) it was 82.8. 

In short, the passer rating is entirely meaningless and has no value whatsoever.  If two quarterbacks can have games just a few weeks apart where one (Tom Brady) out throws the other (Roethlisberger) by nearly 100 yards and doubles the number of touchdowns, and the two have identical passer ratings…then the ratings system is flawed.

Introduction
The necktie originally served a purpose, although today its only purpose is to bring its wearer to near asphyxiation.  As with all things that are useless, we can thank the French.

When Romans Were Men and the French Were Decent Fighters
The Roman legionaires wore what was known as a focale – a simple kerchief wrapped about the neck for wiping your face and protecting your neck in the cold.

Centuries later, in 1661, Louis XIV noticed Croatian mercenaries wearing similar handkerchiefs around their necks, and seeing the instant fashion value he rushed home and appointed one of his courtiers as “tie maker for the king.”  This person’s sole responsibility was to help the king arrange and knot his elaborate neckties.  And people wonder why the French don’t win wars anymore.

The Modern Torture Apparatus
For centuries since, men have been tortured by having to wear useless slips of fabric around their necks at the office, in school and in church.  Since the French did it, it must be cool.  In many ways, the French of the 17th and 18th century were like the “Gangsta rappers” of today.  Everyone tried to look like them but just winds up being laughed at.  I mean, would you take George Washington seriously if he was standing in front of you in tights?

During the following two centuries, the tie was worn in various styles.  Men desparately tried to get rid of them, but instead, their wives made them wear frilly ties with lace fringe.  There is just nothing more masculine then lace, am I right?

It was the 1800’s when the Victorian fashion of the starched collar became popular.  Now, not only did men get to enjoy the sublime comfort of a knotted piece of material around the neck; they also got to wear a collar with the consistency of sandpaper that encircled their neck, chafing off skin and eliminating any capacity for the lateral movement of the head.

In 1925 the American tie maker Jesse Langdorsf patented a long tie, less crumpled and more stable, sewn from three pieces of fabric and cut to a taper. The modern tie was born, and immediately people began tying it incorrectly.

Knots Landing
Speaking of tying the knot incorrectly, allow me some literary indulgences. Oscar Wilde in his “The Importance of Being Earnest” said:

“A well-tied tie is the first serious step in life.”

As evidenced by his boring and often pointless plays, Mr. Wilde really needed a life.  Thinking like this is the reason that no one knows who he is anymore.

At last count, there are four accepted methods of tying a necktie.

1.  The Windsor Knot – aka the RIGHT way.
2.  The Half-Windsor Knot – aka the SLOPPY way.
3.  The Four-in-Hand Knot – aka the SKINNY TIE method.
4.  The Pratt Knot – aka the USELESS BRITISH system

Once again, a literary allusion, this time from Molire’s immortal The Wife School. 

“A sacred knot will unite us until tomorrow.”

I’m pretty sure that has NOTHING to do with tying ties, but it makes me sound splendiferously scholarly.  However, let me comment that if you don’t use a Windsor knot, or at least a Pratt knot, your knot is not sacred at all.  Stick with polo shirts because you look ridiculous.  Hey, I hate the things, but if I have to wear them then I’m gonna look good in them.

Concluding Thoughts
In 1820, an anonymous Frenchman said:

“With the tie I take perfect care: it is the true ritual of elegance. I labor persistently for hours so that it appears tied haphazardly.” 

Hence the reason he remained anonymous – as all Frenchmen should.

In short, the necktie is a particularly useless thing.  Even its original purpose (which was probably something cool like staunching blood flow from neck wounds) is gone.  Now, its only purpose is to clash with our shirt or our shoes, and with the modern pastel combos, even that purpose is fading.

The tie is a dying accessory and rather than declaring it an endangered species, I think we should give it a pleasant funeral, share some wacky anecdotes and memories then dump it in a shallow grave and start the party.

As part of my ongoing blog series on the history of mostly trivial things, I happened upon some facts about my favorite solid consumable – the pizza pie.

Italian or Greek?
One of the major controversies in pizzaology (ok, so I invented a word! Sue me!) is whether the pizza was invented by the Italians or the Greeks. The earliest possible reference to pizza is by a Roman poet, Avid, but talks about the Greeks:

“Their homely fare dispatchÃ�d, the hungry band

Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,

To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.

Ascanius this observ�d, and smiling said:

�See, we devour the plates on which we fed.�

Most pizza historians see the reference to devouring the plates as an example of pizza consumption since pizzas are flat and do not really require plates in order for them to be eaten. If this is the case, then the Greeks might have invented pizza, which also credits them with the invention of fast food.

Volcanoes and Anchovies!
Marcus Porcius Cato, one of Rome’s great statesmen during the Punic Wars, is credited with the first official mention of pre-pizza in history. He observed that some of his fellow Italians consumed, “flat rounds of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs and honey baked on stones” as well as, “sheets of fine flour topped with cheese and honey, and flavored with bay leaves.”

The Greeks may have invented pizza, but the Romans were the first to profit from it. Archaeological digs in the ancient city of Pompey, which was abruptly and rudely buried under ash by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, have uncovered shops which apparently operated as pizzerias, serving these delectable, cheesy meals to the residents. One can imagine the happy customers being frozen in time just as they were about to consume an extra large pie with extra anchovies.

What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?
The tomato was unknown to the Mediterranean world, since it is native to Central and South America, so most ancient pizzas were probably more like focaccia which I find to be dry and disgusting.

When the tomato finally made it to Europe in the 1600’s, most Italians believed it was poisonous. It is, after all, a part of the nightshade family of plants (Family solanaceae) which contains a number of plants that are lethal to humans. One can only wonder how Italians ever survived without the tomato!

It was the poor of the Naples region who finally summoned up the bravery (or desperation) to add sun-dried tomatos to their pizzas. The tomatos were added to the dough and baked in. The innovation of simmering the tomatos to make a sauce came later.

Say Extra Cheese!
Mozzarella cheese, that staple of true pizzerias everywhere, was also unknown to the ancients. It was made from the milk of an Indian water buffalo species which was imported to the region of Naples in the 1500’s. This particular type of mozzarella, called mozzarella di bufala campana is more watery than American mozzarellas which are mostly mozzarella fior di latte (Mozzarella made from milk) which is made using the milk of domestic cows and has a firmer consistency.

Prior to the innovation of putting mozzarella on the pizza, the inhabitants of Naples and the surrounding province of Campania made their pizzas with feta and other soft cheeses, which were sprinkled over the bread rather than baked into it.

Pizza was enjoyed mostly in Naples and Campania during the period before the establishment of the nation of Italy. One king of Naples, Ferdinando II of Borbone, enjoyed the pizzas made by one particular maker, Ntuono Testa, and by the mid 1800’s, people were traveling to Naples and sampling the local food – pizza – which the Neopolese consumed for both lunch and supper in tremendous quantities.

I’ll Take One Large to Go!
By 1830, the Neopolitan pizza had taken shape as a round pie covered with tomato and mozzarella. They were sold from open carts and baked in central bakeries. In that year, however, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba – the first pizzeria – was opened in Naples.

While Antica served something similar to modern pizza, it still varied somewhat. In 1889, Raffaele Esposito made three special pizzas for the visiting king and queen, Umberto I and his wife Magherita of Savoy. Supposedly, Magherita preferred the pizza that she considered “most patriotic” because it incorporated the colors of the Italian flag – green bay leaves, red tomato sauce and white mozzarella cheese. This set the standard that most pizzerias used.

Coming to America
In 1897, Gennaro Lombardi opened a small family grocery store in New York’s Little Italy. He hired Antonio Totonno Pero to make pizzas for his customers and Totonno hit on the idea of selling pizza by the slice rather than whole. An entire pizza cost 5 cents, and was generally cut into 1 cent slices.

In 1905, Lombardi opened a pizzeria with Totonno still working for him, but in 1924, Totonno started a competing restaurant – Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven.

In 1926, Anthony Polcari opened Pizzeria Regina in Boston’s North End and started the New England addiction to Pizza that remains a driving force in our economy to this day, but consumption was generally limited to Italian immigrants. People outside of the Italian-American community were still essentially unaware of its existence.

Incidentally, the original Lombardi’s was shut down in 1984 and reopened in 1994 in a different location. Frank Pepe’s and Polcari’s still operate today.

World War II and Hungry Soldiers Change the Way We Eat
Then came World War II. The American troops landed in Italy and fought their way up the boot-shaped country in some fierce engagements. The Italians, with their priorities in the right place, immediately began to sell food and drinks to the hungry Americans. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower toured the country during the Allied occupation, he found the local pizzeria owners scrambling to meet the demands of the Americans who gladly traded a huge portion of their income for palatable food after living on ships and eating C-rations.

When the war was over, the Americans of every nationality returned to their home land with a longing for the Italian food they had relished during the war. They sought out pizzerias and being one of the wealthiest and best established generations of their time, began a boom.

In 1943, Ike Sewell developed the deep dish pizza. His restaurant, Pizzeria Uno’s, struggled until the returning G.I.’s discovered it.

In 1959, another non-Italian, Tom Monaghan, borrowed $500 from his brother to start a pizza shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Monaghan, who had served in the Marine Corps, hit on one of those rare, genius ideas. His pizzeria, DominiNick’s, delivered pizza to people’s homes. The dormitories of a nearby University of Michigan became their biggest customers as college students discovered the art of the late night pizza cram.

Just So You Know
Pizza sauce is not the same as tomato sauce. It is thicker, which keeps the bread from getting soggy.

Also, there are four recognized form of pizza:

1. Neopolitan pizza – a hand-tossed crust is covered with pizza sauce and mozzarella and baked until the cheese melts
2. Greek pizza – a thicker crust is pressed to a pizza pan, covered with pizza sauce and then topped with assorted cheeses, usually including mozarella but also harder cheese like parmesan and Greek cheeses
3. Deep dish/pan – a crust is pressed into a deep pan, then sauce and toppings are mounded on the crust; cheese is generally added last
4. Sicilian pizza – this is like neopolitan but the crust is much thicker and it is formed into a square or rectangle rather than round

The Devil’s Fruit
Coffee’s unique properties as a stimulant were discovered by an Ethiopian shepherd named Kaldi. On a long, meandering trip with his sheep, Kaldi observed that some of his sheep were acting a little tipsy after eating certain berries.

Being an apparently reckless and thoughtless individual willing to do anything for a trip, Kaldi sampled some of the berries. He got a little tipsy himself and began chasing the sheep around, probably with less than natural intentions since when a monk happened on the scene he immediately branded the berries as “the Devil’s fruit.”

Proving that monks everywhere are a few crackers short of communion, the monk eventually gave into the temptation and also sampled the berries. Discovering that the berries kept them awake during their prayers (really, is there anything more exciting than Coptic midnight vigils?), the monks did what all good individuals who have taken a vow of poverty do, they immediately began profiting from it.

The Muslim Monopoly
The monks sold it to the Arabs who decided no one else should have it. So, they killed the monks and transplanted all the coffee plants they could find in their own lands.

It was the Turks, also Muslims, who thought up the idea of making a drink out of the beans. One has to wonder how exactly they came up with the idea of grinding up the beans and straining hot water through it, but nonetheless they did. Since sugar had not yet been discovered (it was a New World thing), the Turks dumped every spice imaginable into their coffee to make it palatable.

Mocha Anyone?
I should mention, however, that the Arabs do not given the Ethiopians credit for discovering coffee. They say that two men were banished into the desert to die, and the two exiles decided, before trying to kill each other and eat themselves, they would make a desperation attempt at survival. They took an unknown berry and boiled it in water. The berry was coffee, and after drinking the broth, they both survived. Since their survival was considered miraculous, the beverage was named after a nearby town – Mocha.

There are a few holes in this story. For example, how would they have had water to boil since they were sent into exile to die? Second, who sends people into exile near a town? Third, why boil the berries rather than just eating them raw? See what I mean?

Top Secret Weapons
Once the Arabs allowed other Muslim countries to have the stuff, things got ugly. There were actually a number of countries who considered coffee a military secret. Fortunately, whenever a government tries to make something a secret, people just keep trying to let it out until it finally happens.

In this case, it was a disgruntled Arab named Baba Budan. He stuffed some coffee beans in his underwear and walked to Mysore, India, where he planted them. They grew and once other countries got wind of coffee’s euphorial effect, the Arab secret was out.

And then there was Khair Beg
With every good beverage, there’s someone who is oversensitive. In 1511, the governor of Mecca, Khair Beg, banned coffee because he feared it would lead to uprisings. How exactly drinking coffee would cause unrest is unclear, and we’ll never know since the Sultan found out and ordered Khair Beg executed.

I’ve seen people get upset over not getting the right coffee order at Starbucks, but clearly the Arabs took the mocha latte to an entirely different level.

Meanwhile, Back in Christendom
Most Christians viewed coffee as Beelzebub’s beverage and wanted nothing to do with it. They even tried to get Pope Vincent III to ban the drink, but he, being a good Catholic, decided that before he bans the brew as the Devil’s drink, he should try it. This makes good sense in some twisted papal way.

Anyway, Vincent liked the stuff and declared: “Coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.” Of course, he probably declared it in Latin or Italian, but that’s the gyst of it.

On to the New World
In 1607, Captain John Smith and his band of swarthy Brits (there’s a term you’ll not hear often!) landed in Virginia and established Jamestown. Smith was apparently a coffee junkie because one of the first things he did, prior to developing an odd relationship with a teenage Pocahontas, was plant coffee beans. The coffee must have been ok, but its hard to find a Virginia style coffee these days since it grows in warmer climates.

By 1668, the morning cup of joe had replaced beer as the most popular breakfast drink in New York. One can only wonder how different breakfast would be in Manhattan if people still downed a brewsky with their ham and eggs. We can be thankful for small things, I guess.

Also that year, a guy named Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house in London. His place became a popular gathering for merchants and today is the leading insurance holder in the world – Lloyd’s of London. I wonder if he could get my order right at Starbucks because the people who wait on me certainly aren’t going to do anything like that.

The Reason the Dutch Don’t Run Things
The Dutch gave Louis XIV a single coffee bush as a diplomatic favor in 1713. Louis took the bush and used it to plant bushes throughout French holdings in the new world. By the middle of the 18th century, there were 19 million French coffee bushes on just the island of Martinique. Believe it or not, 90% of the coffee in today’s world is directly descendant of that single bush!

This is the reason why we have the UN building but the Dutch have the Hague. If you’re wondering what they Hague is, it is about the most useless international institution outside of anythin run by the French.

The Boys from Brazil
In 1727, Francisco de Melo Palheta is sent to Guiana to try to convince the French and the Dutch not to kill each other. He strikes up a conversation with the French representative’s wife, which leads to a dangerous liason. As a going away present, she slips de Melo Palheta some coffee bush cuttings in a bouquet of flowers. He takes them home to Brazil, plants them and ends France’s monopoly on New World coffee. By 1907, the Brazilians account for 97% of the world’s coffee harvest!

Americans Oust the British Tea
George III, king of England, decides to tax tea in the American colonies around 1770. The colonists revolt and decide to place an embargo on tea. They look around for something else to drink with crumpets and find coffee. By 1773, it is every American’s patriotic duty to dump the tea bags and get a coffee maker.

Coffee remained a popular drink, but it was prohibition that made it the staple of American existence. When alcohol was banned, Americans wandered the streets bleary eyed and beaten down. Men had to actually face their wives sober, and the only way to do that was hopped up on caffeine. Coffee sales soared!

The Italian Contribution
Not content with just straight coffee, Achillies Gaggia invented expresso in 1946. Apparently their defeat in World War II was so depressing that they needed the extra jolt to make it through their pathetic after-war roles as absolute nothings on the world stage.

And Lastly
Lest you think I forgot, there are two other important notes to add to this history. 1) The first Dunkin’ Donuts opened in 1950 in Massachusetts. At present, there are thousands of locations worldwide, most of which are located in New England. 2) Starbucks opened in 1971 and pioneered the over-priced underflavored tastes which has made its founders filthy rich.