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I'm not surprised.

Those long, lean, pimpin' machines of yore, those boats of the '70s have been derided long enough by those of us who remember when Disco played on the AM stations. Left unloved too long, their original owners long passed away, these gas-guzzling relics have finally found a new, and adoring audience:

Gay car collectors.

In this piece in the Los Angeles Times, a writer by the unlikely name of Cocoa Efficient relates to us why gay collectors have flocked to the luxury land-cruisers popular in the 70s: They're fabulous. As spacious as an SUV, and even less fuel-efficient (hard to imagine, but true), these cars made use of colors and fabrics in a way that today's car designers could not imagine. Blue velour seats? Audacious.

Just feast your eyes on the photo above of a 1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham. Built for comfort and power with not a thought toward fuel conservation. Our modern-day equivalents, say Hummers or an Escalade, can't compare in the truly pimpin' style department. I'd cruise this baby to Vegas any day.

With our '70s-style inflation, it's no wonder these long-ignored cars have suddenly been noticed again. Call it fantasy fulfillment. You wouldn't commute in these cars, but could you resist a road-trip across the country? Just get six or seven friends (and they would easily fit), pool your money for the gasoline, buy appropriate road snacks and pop the Staying Alive soundtrack into the eight-track tape player. I guarantee you'd make a scene at every stop.

I hate sitting by the phone, so to speak, but my mail carrier came and went today and there is no sign of my economic stimulus check.

I was a loud and bitchy critic of the economic stimulus plan from the start. It always seemed more politics than fiscal responsibility (but then when was this Republican administration ever about smaller government and fiscal prudence?). What's $600 going to do for the average debt-burdened consumer? Buy a month of groceries? Notch down one credit card? Yeah, I rolled my eyes and ranted and raved.

And then I figured out that I would be getting $1,800. That's $1,200 for being married and filing jointly, and $300 for each kid. My husband and I looked at each other sheepishly. Then we launched into the Happy Happy, Joy Joy dance.

Is nothing sacred?

Madison Ave. apparently doesn't think so.

A special-effects entrepreneur has come up with a way to fill the sky with lush clouds as large as 4 feet across shaped like corporate logos, according to Wired. He calls them Flogos. Great. How clever.

Francisco Guerra, who's also a former magician, has developed a machine that produces tiny bubbles filled with air and some helium, forms the foam into shapes and pumps them into the sky.

You'd think a magician would know better. Aren't they supposed to hold the imagination sacred?

Naturally that biggest corporate dream maker - The Walt Disney Co. will use one of the machines next month to send clouds shaped like Mickey Mouse heads into the air at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., Guerra told Wired.

After that, no doubt, the floodgates will be open. No more laying on a grassy knoll picking out whales and cars and palm tree-shaped clouds with your kids or partner. It'll be "Hey! It's Coke!" or, "Look Mommy, Apple Computers!"

May the winds of change blow fiercely.

Drink this up. Despite what the marketers of bottled water have almost convinced us of, there remains little scientific evidence that drinking eight cups of water a day does anything more for your health than make you pee a lot.

A piece in last week's Health Section of the New York Times cites a new study in the June issue of The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, which reports that researchers can't even find where the "at least eight cups of water a day" rule came from.

"Under normal circumstances," Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a co-author and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania told the Times, "drinking extra water is unnecessary. I want to relieve people of the burden of schlepping water bottles around all day long."

Daily Deal for Monday, May 5 2008: Quick: What's the first thing you think about on Cinco de Mayo? Cervezas? Maybe. OK...Second thing you think of? That's right: margaritas.

But for those you need a blender and your blender is on the blink. Look no further than today's daily deal: Snap up this 14-speed Hamilton Beach blender for only $19.99 plus $5 shipping.

It's special "wave action system" continuously pushes down liquid so you can make the creamiest, most perfect margaritas in town. That's only fitting. And so what if you won't have it for Cinco de Mayo. Think of manana. Margaritas are one of the finest summer traditions here in El Norte, no?

Maybe you're thinking too much here. You can buy this blender elsewhere for $52 of your American dollars, but that would be muy loco. Pick it up on Woot! instead while supplies last and be ready for the summer fiestas. No need to think twice about that.

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

Picture this, thrift store brethren: A woman in a late model Mercedes parks next to you and wanders into your favorite thrift store. Once inside, you notice her picking through the clothes, the bags, the belts, and eyeballing one of several interesting pieces of furniture.

What's going on, you wonder, not a little put out by the sight of an apparently well-off member of society making use of "your" affordable consumer items.

What's going on here is an over-all belt-tightening. As the economy loses steam, people fear for the jobs, and the house-ATM machine dries up, people are looking at all the ways they can save. Frugality has suddenly become "in."

The economy isn't the only thing getting a (alleged) boost from the government's economic stimulus checks, being sent out to taxpayers beginning this past week. The political windfall is also stimulating a lot of creative fraud as well.

According to story on MarketWatch, scammers are calling and emailing consumers posing as the IRS or the Social Security Administration. The callers tell consumers they need detailed bank account information or Social Security numbers in order to process their economic stimulus checks. Those consumers who fall for the scam and reveal this information are then subject to identity theft.

The story recommends some steps consumers can take to prevent getting so scammed.

It's May Day, traditionally international worker's day. A perfect day to go out and support the working man's favorite food source: The taco truck.

Ask any Angeleno: Taco trucks are as much a part of the L.A. landscape as pho places and sushi bars. They provide a source of delicious -- and affordable -- food for the working people of this city, Hispanic, Anglo, African American and Asian alike.

But due to complaints from restaurant owners, the L.A. Board of supervisors passed a law two weeks ago that would slap a $1,000 fine on trucks parked in the same spot for more than one hour. That hits below the belt for most of these trucks, which are usually small family businesses. They argue that they serve a different population than restaurants, serving good food at affordable prices that even low-income workers can manage.

Kids may well count the days until summer vacation, but their parents are dreading it.

That's because when school's out, camps are in. And we've got to find a way to pay for it somehow.

Time was, summer meant three months of running free, finding ways to kill hot summer afternoons at the community pool or with friends or in your backyard campsite. Those days are over.

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

It was all set. Family friends in New York had invited us to come out and visit, and my two kids and I were all on board. In theory. Our plans were set at a reunion the previous summer. Fares are cheap! I told them. We'll all be out!

But that was before things got a little tighter. March came and went. I emailed my friends with the bad news: Sorry guys; the money's just not in the budget anymore. Can't justify the expense. They totally understood. They were hard up, too. Maybe next year, we imagined.

But maybe not. Seems a lot of people are canceling or dramatically altering discretionary travel these days.

Now that gas is, for all intents and purposes, at $4 a gallon, we can begin the exercise of looking for the cheapest gas in town. Because hey, the difference between a $50 fill-up and a $55 fill-up is significant when we're all counting our pennies.

You can do this the old-fashioned way -- drive around until you note which gas stations have a line down the street, (and take your place at the end of it). Or you can do it the high-tech way and plug this URL at GasBuddy.com into your Blackberry.

Enter your city, state and zip code, and it comes up with a simple text list of the gas stations in your neighborhood, from cheapest to most expensive.

Maybe you can do this as you're waiting at the end of the long gas line this week, in preparation for your next fill-up. Far be it from me to suggest you take your eyes off the road while getting this information.

This is going to be a serious life-skill going forward. With that in mind, here are five more ways to easily find cheap gas. (courtesy of LifeClever)

Papa's gotta brand new bag....

Or maybe you're interested in something else? The pickings promise to be funky when the singer James Brown's estate goes on the block in July.

Court-appointed estate representatives have selected 394 lots to be sold by New York auction house Christie's International by Aug. 1.

This is the second in a series of posts about why and how to collect art -- even when you don't have a lot of extra money

We've all heard the stories: Guy finds a painting in his attic, has it appraised, learns it's a long-lost Picasso, sells it to a collector for zillions.

Hope springs eternal. But these stories aren't all urban legends. There's enough stuff out there that you just never know. My colleague Zac Bissonnette wrote recently about the German woman who pulled a million dollar painting out of the trash.

The chances of finding a lost master at a garage sale are slim, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of high-quality art out there. And I'm not talking in the galleries, either. In one sense, art is where you look for it. In another sense, everyone's an artist. Find what you love, and go from there.

Here are a few places I've hit pay-dirt when trolling for art.

The Daily Deal for Monday, March 31 is 40% off any book at Border's Bookstore. Yes, you have to be a Border's Rewards member to snag this deal, but signing up is free and easy. Do it now and reap the many benefits.

Such as? Such as regular discounts sent to you via email (print 'em out, bring em in). Discounts on books, DVDs and other merchandise taken at the register. Also, every purchase you make as a member goes toward your "Borders Bucks," which earn you additional discounts.

Yes, you have to actually drive to a bricks and mortar Borders, Borders Express or Waldenbooks to redeem this and other discounts you'll receive as a member, but think of it as a small price to pay to keep a physical bookstore in business. You could use a little good karma, couldn't you? Hey, at 40% off, it's not bad.

Courts to fliers: Siddown, shaddup and eat your peanuts.

A New York appeals court overturned a state law that required airlines to provide food, water and access to bathrooms to passengers stranded on delayed planes. While it agreed the law, dubbed the "Passenger Rights Law" had merit, unfortunately, it's not the sort of law a state is allowed to pass. Only the Feds can weigh in on matters of price, route and service of an airline.

That explains a lot, actually. But I digress. The law was pushed through after thousands of passengers complained they were kept for hours without food, water or access to clean toilets on several JetBlue Airway flights at JFK International Airport in NYC last year. Bad weather prompted similar incidents on other airlines as well.

The law was challenged by the Air Transport Association of America, the industry trade group representing leading U.S. airlines. Can't have passengers getting uppity about basic necessities, you know.

This is just the opening salvo in a widening "Passenger Rights" movement. Expect this ruling to be re-appealed and other laws introduced. If the airlines wanted to see how far they could push passengers before they revolted, they're about to find out.