I have known many masters of dollar bill origami. Wait. I’m now told “origami” is not a French word for “to make disappear.” In that case, I know nothing about dollar bill origami. But there is a new business in Lawrence that will teach me lots about that topic, plus many others.

Lawrence resident Katie Winter has started a new venture called The Lawrence Laboratory. It aims to figure out what area residents are interested in and then teach it to them quickly and for not much money.

“I think we ought to do something to make learning a bit easier for people these days,” Winter said.

So, if you want to learn about dollar bill origami — apparently it involves folding dollar bills into neat shapes — you can sign up for an upcoming class at The Lawrence Laboratory. Other examples on the laboratory’s roster include calligraphy, holiday postcard making, embroidery, a class on essential oils, how to play dominoes three ways and something called “Cocktail Mixer & Drinking Vinegar.” (Perhaps “vinegar” is also a French word I don’t know the meaning of.)

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Winter said each class will only take one evening, and prices are generally about $10 to $20 per person, plus materials, when needed.

“The tag line is informal and accessible classes with low cost and low commitment,” Winter said. “It is meant to be fun. The teachers come from the community. Anybody is welcome to teach. You don’t have to be connected with any sort of organization.”

Most classes will be held in the community room of the Peoples bank and Sandbar Subs location at Eighth and New Hampshire streets. Winter, who is part of the family that owns Peoples bank, has returned to Lawrence after having moved away for about 15 years. She worked in New Mexico, New York and Seattle doing education advocacy and other nonprofit work.

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People can see what classes are being offered by logging onto thelawrencelab.com. They also can makes suggestions for future classes. Winter said she has heard a lot of interest in classes related to home and garden, food and drink, construction and mechanics, and wellness. The website also allows people to sign up to be an instructor for a class.

Winter said the next phase for the venture is to begin partnering with community organizations. She said with that idea The Lawrence Laboratory could begin hosting classes for various organizations or using their facilities to host larger classes.

“I really want to see if people are interested in having The Lawrence Laboratory become a hub of learning in Lawrence,” Winter said.

In other news and notes from around town:

• One thing I’ve learned over the years is that Thanksgiving can be a time when you go through a lot of gasoline. Pulling the trailer full of mashed potatoes to grandma’s house can really put a dent in the fuel mileage.

Maybe you are going to do some traveling as well, so here’s a look at some news on gasoline prices. The biggest news is that gasoline prices in Lawrence aren’t nearly what they used to be. Yes, gasoline prices have fallen nearly everywhere in the past year, but Lawrence has seen the largest one-year decline of any Kansas community, according to one recent report.

AAA Kansas tracks the average price per gallon in 10 Kansas communities, plus the statewide average. Based on prices from Monday, Lawrence had seen a 7 percent drop in gasoline prices since the same time a year ago. That compares with a 2 percent drop in the statewide average and a 2 percent increase in the national average. On Monday, the Lawrence average was $1.81 per gallon compared with the statewide average of $1.90 and the national average of $2.14.

Yet, I still hear somewhat frequently from readers about how gasoline prices are out of whack in Lawrence. Well, here is a number that will cause those folks to have cranberry sauce come out their ears: Lawrence has the eighth lowest average gasoline price of any city in the country, according to the folks at AAA.

But the readers who complain about gasoline prices aren’t without some basis. Frequently, they point to gasoline prices in Topeka, or along the turnpike on the way to Topeka, or in small towns between here and Topeka. Well, the same report does show that Topeka does have an extraordinarily odd gasoline market right now. For some reason, Topeka has the fourth lowest average price of any city in the country, according to AAA.

Odds are, though, you will do pretty well anywhere you buy gasoline in Kansas. The study says Kansas has the fourth lowest average gasoline price of any state in the country. But wait, before filling up for the trip to Aunt Bessie’s, you may want to consider whether she lives in Missouri. There are probably several good reasons to know whether Aunt Bessie lives in Missouri, and only one of them involves opossum for Thanksgiving dinner. The other one is that Missouri has the lowest average price of any state in the country — $1.85 per gallon — as of Monday’s AAA report. Oklahoma was at the second lowest at about $1.90 per gallon. Colorado and Nebraska both were significantly higher at about $2.07 per gallon.

The report notes that Kansas’ statewide average for the Thanksgiving holiday is at lowest point since 2008, when the price per gallon was $1.81. The report also notes that gas prices for the Thanksgiving travel were $3.21 back in 2012.

But maybe you are going to stay closer to home. If so, here’s a look at gasoline prices, based on Monday’s price, for the 10 Kansas communities tracked by AAA.

• Emporia: $1.86, down 5 percent from a year ago.

• Garden City: $1.94, down 3 percent from a year ago.

• Hays: $2.01, down 6 percent from a year ago.

• Kansas City, Kan.: $1.89, 2 percent from a year ago.

• Lawrence: $1.81, down 7 percent from a year ago.

• Manhattan: $1.95, down 2 percent from a year ago.

• Pittsburg: $1.87, down 2 percent from a year ago.

• Salina: $1.83, down 6 percent from a year ago.

• Topeka: $1.77, down 6 percent from a year ago.

• Wichita: $1.89, up 1 percent from a year ago.

The numbers above really do show that there has been a significant change in Lawrence gasoline prices over the last year. At this time last year, Lawrence was a penny above the statewide average. Now it is 9 cents below the statewide average. Last year it had the fourth highest average price of the 10 cities on the list. This year it has the second lowest average price. What has happened? I don’t know. Perhaps impacts from Topeka’s extraordinarily low prices are starting to bleed into Lawrence. Maybe it is something else.

Something is causing downward pressure on gas prices, and not just in Lawrence. One of the more eye-opening statistics from the AAA report was this: The average price per gallon in Kansas has dropped for 41 consecutive days.

You know what that means? I can afford a bigger wagon.