- From the “Financial Advice” – An associate of Warren Buffett has asserted that “civilized people” do not purchase gold. I personally don’t own gold. I put my metal investments in brass, copper, and lead, and stock up on things like food, fuel, and barter goods. If things get bad enough that I’m having to buy groceries with Krugerrands or junk silver, I think I’ll be more likely to be able to buy a bag of potatoes in exchange for a bottle of vodka or the meat off a rabbit I shot that morning. But if gold is your hedge against inflation, have at it. You’re probably at least as likely to keep or add value to your money than you are if you put it into any of the markets.
- From the “More Teeth Than Meat” Department – A stream in Japan has been closed to children swimming in it because three piranha have been found in it. No word on how the South American fish, known for its ability to chew the meat off an animal in minutes, got there. My guess is that someone had a few in his aquarium and they got set loose. My question: What lure do you use in a piranha stream? Do you go with a spinner, a popper, or a spoon? Or are you more likely to succeed using a well-tied fly? Something tells me that the best way to take care of this problem is to hold a piranha fishing tournament some weekend and have Bass Pro Shop give away a $10,000 shopping spree to the person who catches the most piranha. You’ll see Japanese men stocking up on poles, gear, and flat-bottomed boats for that.
- From the “Bad Juju” Department – A rare white buffalo, which had been taken as a sacred sign by some Native Americans, was found dead and skinned recently at its home on a ranch in Texas. Authorities are investigating, and I hope they find the perpetrators before anyone who believed the buffalo was sacred does. The Lakota I’ve known were peace-loving people, easy to work with, and absolutely ferocious when forced to violence. That being said, I hope whoever did this is found and severely punished, preferably using rather medieval methods. Other than the fact that they killed a yearling buffalo, they destroyed something that other people consider sacred.
- From the “Bite Me” Department – Spirit Airlines has bowed to consumer pressure and agreed to refund the airfare of a dieing man, who had purchased a ticket with them before being told by doctors that his system just couldn’t take it. The man happens to be a veteran, and Spirit has also promised to donate $5000 to the Wounded Warrior Project. To be honest, Spirit is very open about their no-refund policy, but this turned into a PR nightmare of legendary proportions. While I give Spirit credit for resolving this in a way that was favorable to their customer, they could have handled this in a much better manner.
- From the “No Kidding” – A British official at a security conference has informed the world that the World Wide Web has a slimy underside. Shocked, yes shocked I am that there is gambling in the casino room! I’m guessing that about 20 minutes after FTP was invented, someone used it to transfer a picture of a redhead wearing nothing but a smile, followed quickly by an early email exhorting the receiver to send the originator their credit card number. My introduction to IT was searching hard drives on government computers for ‘adult content’. The things I found in 1994 are pretty tame by today’s standards, and no-one was trying to use ‘pictures of naked women doing things with things while doing other things’* as a means to steal anyone’s identity or disrupt businesses. He also cautions against knee jerk reactions and more regulation of the Internet. I tend to agree. There will always be con men, thieves, and jerks. They existed before TCP/IP, and they will exist when we revert back to banging rocks together for entertainment.
- From the “Local Cuisine” Department – Fox News is listing out the five weirdest foods available in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. They list burgoo as a ‘weird’ food, so I guess spicy vegetable and meat stew is weird. If you’ve never had a Kentucky Hot Brown, save up your cholesterol points and indulge. Just make sure you work out beforehand, because all you’ll want to do afterward is take a nap. They missed the Frickled Pickle, which is where a chef takes dill pickle slices, dips them in batter, and deep fries them. They mentioned pecans, but they left out Derby Pie, which is what you get if you take the best candied nut pie you ever had and add chocolate. Hey, no-one ever said that Kentucky cuisine is good for you. Some of this stuff would make Paula Dean tap out.
*Actual quote from my supervisor at the time. She was one of the last innocents, and was very uncomfortable when asked exactly what we were supposed to be looking for. However, the shade of red she blushed to while briefing us was absolutely priceless, and I’ve never seen it reproduced in real-life or on-line.
DaddyBear’s Den 
derfreiheit
/ May 6, 2012I had missed a few of those. Good roundup.
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DaddyBear
/ May 6, 2012Thanks! I use these roundups to comment on the news items that are too coincidental to warrant a post of their own, but I will want to say something about.
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MaddMedic
/ May 6, 2012WordPress, huh? I like it. Made the switch a while back..
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