Horns Up: UT keeps rent low for the postal service

According to an article published on the Daily Texan website Monday and in Tuesday’s paper, the United States Postal Service pays UT just $1 a year for its spot in the West Mall. That figure hasn’t changed at all in the Post Office’s 50 years on campus, according to campus real estate director Amy Wanamaker. That means that in terms of inflation, the USPS has been cut a very generous break over the years. To put numbers to it, $1 in 1963 had the same buying power as $7.65 today, an increase of 665 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator. With prices rising on nearly every other common good, it’s nice that the Post Office is being recognized for its value to the UT community, even if its days are numbered.

Horns Up: Microsoft invests in Texas wind power

On Monday, Microsoft announced that it is entering a 20-year deal to purchase energy from a soon-to-be-built wind farm near Fort Worth. While the computer giant didn’t say how much it was paying for the deal, it’s a good sign that major companies are starting to invest heavily in renewable, environmentally friendly energy sources — and in Texas, the nation’s largest producer of wind energy.