The Age of the Onion

No one with a heart would wish on any president the misfortune of holding office in the era of The Onion: "Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner."

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

(Thanks to Paul Stack for the link.)

The Art and Craft of Fine Book Binding

The Folio Society, an English publisher and reprinter of classic works of literature, old and modern, uses The Fine Book Bindery in Wellingborough, England, for some (all?) of their fine binding projects. For instance, this Folio Society centenary edition of Kenneth Grahame's classic, The Wind in the Willows, was recently published in a limited run of 1,000 copies at $1,195.00 each. And there are none remaining.

Bookbinding and illustration is hopefully not a dying craft. Paying for such works of art begs the same question of priorities as does any non-necessary expenditure. But perhaps fine art and craft are necessary for the soul to flourish. At any rate, though I can't afford to participate in such luxuries, I enjoy knowing that the fine art of bookbinding is still being pursued—not surprisingly, in England.

For those interested, there is a series of brief slide shows on The Fine Book Bindery web site showing the steps that go into the production of a volume such as the above—the volume illustrated in the slide shows is The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Animals—Smarter than We Think

This is an amazing sequence of photos by a National Geographic photographer—his encounter with a leopard seal in Antarctica. (Thanks to my friend, Robert Orr, for the link.)

I Cried Laughing

I was unaware of this: When Amazon.com lists a product for sale that is REALLY a dumb product—dangerous, in fact—the Internet comedians (and there are some great ones out there) rally to the cause. They give the product five stars, then write reviews that are hilarious and post even funnier pictures.

Case in point: the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk. (Does that sound like a bad idea, or what?) I laughed at the reviews and then cried laughing at some of the product pictures that people have submitted. (Hurry—I understand Amazon takes these down pretty quickly.)

(Credit to David Pogue, tech editor at The New York Times.)

Who Would You Sleep With?

A rabbi, a Hindu priest, and a hedge-fund manager were lost one night in Kansas. In the distance, they saw a light on in a farmhouse, drove up, and knocked on the door.

"Excuse us," the priest said when the farmer came to the door. "We know it's late. But we are lost and we're too tired to continue on. By any chance could we stay here for the night? We won't be any trouble, and we'll leave first thing in the morning."

"Happy to help," the farmer said. "But there's only one problem. I only have two spare bedrooms. One of you will have to sleep in the barn."

"Oh, I'm happy to stay in the barn," the priest replied immediately. "No bother at all."

They all bed down for the night, but after a few minutes there was a knock at the door. It was the priest.

"You didn't tell me you had a cow in the barn," he said. "It's not exactly against my religion to sleep near a cow, but I don't quite feel comfortable."

"No problem," the rabbi jumped in. "Don't worry. I've got no problem with the cow. You take my room and I'll sleep in the barn."

And so they went to bed again, but, lo and behold, in a few minutes there was a knock at the door. It was the rabbi.

"You didn't tell me you had a pig in the barn," the rabbi explained. "I'm awfully sorry, but it's like with the priest. There's no real religious issue with my sleeping with pigs, but it still makes me uncomfortable."

"Geez, Louise," the hedge-fund manager said, losing all patience. "I don't have any religious issues with the animals! I'll sleep in the barn. Come on, let's all get some sleep!"

So the priest and the rabbi went upstairs with the farmer, and everyone went to bed, confident that things had been taken care of once and for all.

But in a few minutes, there was a knock at the door. Opening it, the farmer found the cow and the pig.

(Adapted from Woody Tasch's Slow Money—Investing As If Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered, pp. 91-92)

It's a joke . . . just a joke. And a darn good one, I thought. Hedge-fund managers are definitely the target du jour.

What's a Dollar Worth?

In August, 1971, President Richard Nixon severed the connection between gold and the U.S. dollar, taking America off the gold standard. In a television broadcast to the nation he said, "Your dollar will be worth just as much tomorrow as today."

How'd that work out?

At the time of Nixon's action, it took 35 dollars to buy one ounce of gold. Today, 38 years later, at the market close, it took about 1,140 dollars to buy an ounce of gold. That represent a 97 percent loss in the value of the dollar.

Looks like that plan didn't work out so well after all.