All Saints: The work ethic remains underrated: When Ice Was a Hot Gift

Almanac: Nero Wolfe on time

“Come, sir, is time really so precious? Mine isn’t. If yours is, all the more tempting to steal a little.” Rex Stout, A Time to Die ... read more

Happy October and Happy Halloween! Did you know that Halloween originated in Vrbov and Ireland? Thinking of black cats, I found this fun, quick read on Halloween superstitions - remember to sleep facing south!

Vrbov cemetery: All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day

Memories of Tato, Mamka, Aga, Vlado, Tomas, Ondrej, Milan  ...

“Such a negative, jealous, maybe not jealous, but mean-spirited attitude toward this generality of people from Hollywood!” Streisand complains about Wieseltier, who nevertheless has become her friend and adviser, sending her books on 
Judaica and even giving her pointers on spinning the Hanukkah dreidel.

The work ethic remains underrated: The Very Busy, Very Unproductive Life of Leon Wieseltier

"For all that we read about the murderers and thieves and bullies, the vast majority of us aren't bad people. We go to work and earn our money and pay our taxes. We buy Legacy badges and take our shift amid the smoke and spitting fat of the junior footy club's barbecue. We drive on the correct side of the road and allow other cars to merge without fuss. We generally try to pick the lesser political evil when we have to vote. Collectively, we help our neighbours after flood and fire and feel sorry for the kid next door when the dog dies. We somewhat instinctively know that unrestrained selfishness is not the best policy."
We don't recline. We keep The Bingham Code. We're not Donald Trumps.


Dated November 1, 2017 this report is clearly watermarked on every page with the word DRAFT, but the White House announced today that this is the commission’s final report: “The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis has submitted its final report, recommending how the Federal Government can address the drug addiction and opioid crisis. We are grateful for the Commission’s extensive work since March, and look forward to reviewing these recommendations as the entire Administration continues to work to lessen drug demand and the opioid crisis.”

Michael Pascoe: The 11 rules frequent flyers     Via BC  Government missed out on about 250 million frequent flyer points in one year Fun and profit trading NSW public housing – just ask Smokin' Joe Tripodi    How secure are the decisions of a disqualified minister? Professor Anne Twomey explains which decisions are safe, and why some cabinet decisions aren't really cabinet decisions Drug Traffickers For Jesus Financial Times Aiming for the top in business? The boss of BHP says work less, not more. "According to BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie, "the more senior I've become, the more important it is that I work fewer hours". (ABC)  Rod Dreher, MEdia Dragon blogger: “I’m a social and cultural conservative, and I think Trump is a disaster,” says Dreher, 50. Asked why, he spits back, “Because of his incompetence, his recklessness and his malice. Plus, he is destroying conservatism as a credible public philosophy. The conservative movement needed serious reform, but this is annihilation.” By -- Dan:   When Ice Was a Hot Gift

Walk into just about any grocery store in America and you can buy a huge, 10-pound bag of ice for about $3. Most people have freezers and many have ice makers on their refrigerators, but if you’re having a party, it may be a good idea to invest in a big bag of ice, especially given the price. It’s a product of convenience, nothing more. Unless it came from Greenland. The big bags of ice you’ll buy for your 4th of July barbeque are typically made from regularly-accessible water and probably come from a local source. While a long time ago -- in the days before ubiquitous refrigeration and freezing -- there was a robust ice trade, one which involved capturing icebergs and chopping them up, those days were long past by the mid-1980s. And yet, for a brief moment in 1984, imported Greenland glacial was all the rage. The idea to do such a thing came a year earlier when a television executive named William F. Baker traveled to the North Pole. An adventurer by nature -- he had previously visited the South Pole -- Baker wanted to share his experience with some people back home. So he brought back with him about 120 pounds of glacial ice, had it chipped up, and gave it with a bunch of people who would be impressed by chipped bags of imported glacial ice. It was a hit, and some of his friends wanted to get in on the action. One thing led to another and by the spring of 1984, a new product, known as “Glazonice,” was exclusively available at Bloomingdale's, the iconic Manhattan department store. Glazonice was ice, but not any ice --  it was formed perhaps as long ago as 100,000 years earlier and therefore, Bloomingdale’s claimed, was as pure (whatever that means) and clean as any ice you can get. Some believed that the ice melted slower and therefore didn’t dilute your drink as much, although there weren't any meaningful scientific experiments to back up that belief. But the novelty was the major selling point anyway. The marketing team came up with a pretty good selling point for Glazonice, asking “'What's more perfect for celebrating the birth of a child or a wedding than 12-year-old Scotch with 100,000-year-old ice?'' At $7 for 35 ounces -- that’s about $32 for ten pounds -- it wasn’t unaffordable, either. (But that’s pretty pricey for ice.) The product, perhaps surprisingly, proved popular. Some wanted to test the special ice for themselves; others thought it'd be a good gift; still, others just wanted to be part of the moment. Buyers came in from a few hours away to purchase the product -- spending more on gas and tolls (or train tickets) than one would normally spend on ice -- and it seemed that Bloomie's had a winner on its hands.The AP reported (via Untapped Cities) that Bloomingdale’s sold sixty bags of luxury ice in the product’s first two days alone. But the fad didn’t last -- the product wasn’t offered during the 1985 spring shopping season. Since then, new parents and newlyweds everywhere have had to resort to regular old ice for their Scotch.

Bonus fact: Perhaps the only thing weirder than selling 100,000-year-old ice from Greenland is having to figure out the import tax on importing 100,000-year-old ice from Greenland. The New York Times reported that, when Baker brought back his first 120 pounds of ice, there was a debate over the levy:  “At Kennedy International Airport the customs agents gave a cold shoulder [ha ha] to the suggestion that since the ice was more than 100 years old it should be regarded as antique and therefore allowed in duty free. It was, customs declared, food and thus subject to duty. Finally, however, they decided it was merely ice and duty-free at that.” From the Archives: The Ice King Cometh: The man who made a fortune importing ice.  Do bureaucrats care? A take on talent in the public sector. Talent, expertise and deep understanding can be found at the coal face of service delivery but is still undervalued by those who develop policy, argues Martin Stewart-Weeks. They can hear voices from the front line, but are they listening?