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Policy

Culinary Countereconomics

Jesse Walker | 9.23.2010 11:25 AM

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Marketplace seems to have taken a special interest in black market foods recently, with stories on the underground trades in mooncakes and grilled cheese sandwiches plus a bonus online item about illicit lobster rolls. Here's an excerpt from the latter:

 

He used to run a secret lobster shack out of his basement apartment in Greepoint, Brooklyn, N.Y. But over time, neighbors began to get suspicious about the people coming in and out of his apartment with brown paper bags and notified local authorities. So, the doc decided to make deliveries via his black SUV. Potential clients would friend him on Facebook and after passing a security check (using what method -- who knows?), he would deliver the goods in agreed-upon locations by driving up in his black SUV.

So Dr. Claw had to take precautionary measures. He donned a beard, wore sunglasses and concealed his identity from customers. He watched his Facebook page to weed out potential inspectors.

But, he still got caught. The Department of Health notified him to cease and desist his lobster operations.

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Books Editor Jesse Walker is the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

PolicyEconomicsNanny StateFood FreedomRegulationBlack MarketsLobster Girl
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  1. Almanian   15 years ago

    Lobster Girl!!!! Yaaaay!!!!

    Of course, you know who else liked Lobster Girl...

    1. Trespassers W   15 years ago

      Me?

      It's like falling in love all over again.

      Come to think of it, it IS falling in love all over again.

      1. Suki   15 years ago

        Me too. I put her in all the whale sushi stories.

  2. Pip   15 years ago

    It's about fucking time.

  3. PicassoIII   15 years ago

    Mini threadjack, yet somehow related.
    URKOBOLD is now considered 'porn' according to Cisco/IronPort/Webcat.
    LOL

    Keep it up guys, you may be next. Or is this perhaps an establishmentarian plot?

    1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

      That explains Naga getting denied access. I wonder what set off the porn censor sensors?

      1. PicassoIII   15 years ago

        No idea. There is an a separate catagory 'adult', but we can still see VS and even Wicked Weasel.
        *shakes head*
        OTOH, Feministing is blocked as 'social networking'.

        Kinda bummed cause i really wanted to see the 'Steve Smith meets Epi' post.
        Absolutely NO time @ home for surfing xcept for medical necessity (30-54sec to rub one out).

        1. Guns for babies   15 years ago

          Steve Smith meets Epi post? Huh? what did I miss?

        2. SugarFree   15 years ago

          Please tell me what your spam filter thinks of:

          http://hrsugarfree.blogspot.com/

          I'd love it if Urky was blocked and I wasn't...

          1. MINION OF URKOBOLD   15 years ago

            SILLY MORTALS. EVEN INTERNET FILTERS CANNOT PROTECT YOUR SENSITIVE TAINTS FROM GETTING A HORRIBLE WITHERING.

          2. PicassoIII   15 years ago

            S'ok, for now.
            Not surprised as your perversion is far more ... verbal than visual.

          3. Naga Sadow   15 years ago

            Interesting. I can access SugarFree's blog but not Urkobold. I'm gonna have to bookmark your page, SugarFree. The market has spoken!

            1. SugarFree   15 years ago

              I am the approved filth! HAHAHAHAHA!

            2. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

              That's no market, that's a vice station!

          4. Yonemoto   15 years ago

            Holy shit you have no idea how long I've been looking for that.

  4. Tman   15 years ago

    (does the lobster girl dance...)

    You know you could probably fill up this Reason cruise like yesterday if you would just get lobster girl to come along.

    1. PicassoIII   15 years ago

      This dance involves flailing arms w/ contorted hands to the B52s i assume.

      1. Tman   15 years ago

        Why yes, yes it does. How did you guess?

        But it wasn't a rock.....It was a Rock....LOBSTER!!>

        1. PicassoIII   15 years ago

          Bakin' potatoes ... BAKIN' in the SUN!
          Well, Pisces are known to be a little psychic (if not psychotic ie Cobain).
          This was probably my absolute favorite tune that a 'wedding band' i was in did. Pretty easy guitar part, not much in the way of backing vocals, so i was free to bounce around like a fool.
          *grin*

  5. Daniel   15 years ago

    Lobster Girl is back....there goes the rest of my afternoon...

  6. PicassoIII   15 years ago

    Uh-huh, and NPR is blocked too .... lovely.

  7. Abdul   15 years ago

    Is there any chance lobstergirl could be delivered to our departments illicitly?

    Back in philly, a Laoatian family started an underground restuarnt under a blue tarp in their back yard. It became popular, and the neighbors complained about it. some customer helped them navigate the red tape and go legit. It's called Vientianne, and if you're in west philly, its a great place.

    NYT write-up on underground restaurants including Vientianne, here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f.....wanted=all

    1. Abdul   15 years ago

      I meant "apartments." I'm at work, and federal bureaucracy got stuck in my head.

  8. P Brooks   15 years ago

    Once again, dedicated public servants have save America from the scourge of unlicensed lobster rolls.

    Yay!

    1. Insp. Gadget   15 years ago

      Go go Gadget mercantilist code enforcement.

      1. EJM   15 years ago

        So Dr. Claw had to take precautionary measures. He donned a beard, wore sunglasses and concealed his identity from customers. He watched his Facebook page to weed out potential inspectors.

        Apparently, they were dealing with the head of M.A.D.

        1. Barely Suppressed Rage   15 years ago

          obscure "Get Smart" reference

          "Not 'the craw,' The CRAW!!"

          /obscure "Get Smart" reference

          1. EJM   15 years ago

            I don't consider that reference to be "obscure". 😉

  9. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

    Matt told me once that they were seeking the identity of this model. I think the only thing known so far is the name of the photographer and the fact that this picture was taken at a Miss Hawaiian Tropic competition in Colombia. I'm surprised they haven't found anything more, yet. I mean, these guys are the ones who put my then-apartment on the cover of their magazine!

    Having my own hot half-Colombian wife, I leave all the Lobster Girl research to the rest of you.

    1. rts   15 years ago

      Post the pic to /b/, I'm sure Anonymous will have her name and address in no time.

    2. Dagny T.   15 years ago

      Pro L, what's the story of the apartment on the cover? R U 4 realz, as the kids would say.

      1. DBN   15 years ago

        He's nothing special. We've all had our places featured on the cover of Reason. It's one of the perks of subscribing back in the day.

      2. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

        It's 100% true, though I wasn't the only victim. It's one of the great covers of all time, second only to this one.

        1. Dagny T.   15 years ago

          The Jacket is the man. That's pretty cool.

          1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

            Yes, it was under his reign--post-Virginia.

        2. JW   15 years ago

          The wife let my sub lapse (I have since retaken that role back from her, with great prejudice) and that was the *one* issue I didn't get. All the other back issues arrived ultimately, but not that one.

          I still haven't forgiven her.

    3. DBN   15 years ago

      Colombia

      That explains it.

    4. Mango Punch   15 years ago

      Which half of your wife is hot?

      1. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

        All of her, but if you're asking which ethnicity makes her hot, I'd go with hybrid vigor as a response.

  10. Abdul   15 years ago

    Miss Hawaiian Tropic competition in Colombia

    They tuk ur jobs and hot lobster girls!

    I'm starting to see where lonewacko was coming from.

  11. Madbiker   15 years ago

    Now I get the Lobster Girl references. For a while, I thought she was kind of like the kids with the cleft palettes asking for donations, only she had lobster claw hands and needed money to get regular fingers on her appendages.

    Silly biker.

    1. Tonio   15 years ago

      "One of us, one of us..."

  12. Warren   15 years ago

    *SHIGH*

  13. Jason   15 years ago

    Lobster Girl shows up in random places.

  14. Mango Punch   15 years ago

    Well done Jesse Walker!!!!!

    1. AlmightyJB   15 years ago

      I think we're all pretty happy with Jesse right now. It's the little thing's in life.

  15. Barely Suppressed Rage   15 years ago

    I've said it before, I'll say it again: she can kiss my lobster anytime.

    Oh yeah, and: sideboob!

  16. Sean Dougherty   15 years ago

    I flagged the mooncake story earlier on my business journalism blog. The post is here: http://seanreadsthenews.typepa.....ition.html

  17. Dr. Craw   15 years ago

    It's not Craw,it's CRAW.

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