bearer instrument

In what sounds to me like the clever plan Bart Simpson once concocted to get Krusty the Clown’s autograph by sending him a cheque to cash (which if I remember right, inadvertently alerted the tax authorities to the entertainer’s off-shore bank accounts), as Weird Universe reports, a magazine sent measly, trifling cheques in 1990 to several billionaires to see who was miserly enough to expend the extra effort to cash them. Out of the two takers, one is currently campaigning for presidency of the United States.

champion charlie brown

On this day in 1950, Charles Schulz’ Peanuts four-panel comic strip (setting the format for others to follow) debuted in around a dozen major newspapers and slowly, over the years, the cast of children was introduced to boldly face a very sociologically and philosophically adult framework—with no grown-up supervision. What are some of your favourite memories from the franchise—arguably the longest story in the telling from a single narrator?

press, depress, mash, hit, punch

With a sense of nostalgia that really is resonant, Messy Nessy Chic curates a vintage gallery that pays tribute to the disappearing push-button—those real, physical knobs and switches that arrayed dashboards, control panels and cockpits as well as gadgets and household items that felt so satisfying to push, and highly tempting to do so despite what catastrophic results might ensue. It’s certainly worth scrolling through all the images, especially the concept cars of future-past, and worth it as well sticking around and exploring more of her website.

continuing-resolution

And here we go again, conscientious bureaucrats, with some reflections on the fiscal new year that’s really a frightening collusion of window-dressing scenarios but I think that the American public is as estranged or disengaged as it is divided to have much tolerance for speculation.
Amazingly and for the eighth consecutive year—though it seemed few were watching with baited breath (I believe that the Heisenberg principle applies to the news and governments and the mere act of looking at it changes outcomes)—the US government avoided a shut-down due to a deficiency of funding just thirty-six hours before FY 2017 began. With a day and a half to spare, that’s hardly exciting. And with the elections just a month away, no party wanted to be seen as forcing the other’s hand—despite that this manœuvre only gains the operations the purchase until Christmas recess and then it’s a lame-duck presidency and congress and whatever the results, half the country will be gravely disappointed and in denial. I am sure that we’ll be dusting off those tried-and-true toolkits that we’ve honed to keep the bureaucracy grinding along.