Inario

All political lives, unless they are cut off in mid-stream at a happy juncture, end in failure.

Enoch Powell, New Yorker, November 28th 2011

Congratulations on the new library, because it isn’t just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you—-and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.

Isaac Asimov’s letter to the future patrons of a new library – Boing Boing

Teachers dislike personality traits associated with creativity.

Teachers Don’t Like Creative Students — Marginal Revolution

The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 ( $3.99 shipping).

Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies

Leslie Hall is the Quality Assurance Industrial Specialist for Tabasco Sauce. That means she tastes the hot Tabasco brand sauce all day, every day. It’s her job.

Hot Momma

Even though he is in his 108th semester, the university does not have the power to throw him out. He registered as a student in medicine when Konrad Adenauer was still chancellor and the Berlin Wall hadn’t even been planned yet.

The culture that is (was) Germany — Marginal Revolution

If you were really, really, really rich what part of your life would be American? If you had the money, I’d bet you’d drive a German car, wear British shoes and an Italian suit, keep your savings in a Swiss bank, vacation in Koh Samui with shopping expeditions to Cannes, fly Emirates, develop a palate for South African wine, hire a French-trained chef, buy a few dozen Indian and Chinese companies, and pay Dubai-style taxes. (From “America: Excelling at mediocrity”)

America: Excelling at Mediocrity – Umair Haque – Harvard Business Review

During the Clinton administration, one of the primary ways the US conducted diplomacy with North Korea was through Bobby Egan, owner of a barbecue joint in Hackensack, New Jersey. No, really.

North Korean diplomacy, with a side of slaw – Boing Boing