THE CLAW OF SUPPLY & DEMAND

An editor took me to lunch at Sandstone Café in Chandler, where I enjoyed a really delicious burger & fries. By the entrance was something I never saw before:

Not sure if my photography skills convey what this is—it’s one of those claw-grabbing machines, with live lobsters as the prizes. If you succeed in snatching one, Sandstone will cook it for you on the spot. A guy gave it a try while we were there, & though the handsome crustacean he grabbed for easily fended off his attack, he told us that it’s successfully been done. It's two dollars a try, & while two dollars for a Maine lobster would be an incredible deal, getting one in one try seems like a major long shot.

There was also something I found decadent, somehow, about making a game of catching a living creature to eat, though I guess I can’t make a rational argument as to why it’s any different, morally speaking, than recreational fishing.

This evening at the supermarket I came across another animal-related product that didn’t seem quite right somehow: Old Yeller Dog Food…

What’s next? Bambi’s Mother Salt Licks?