Living Small
In December 2009, the New York Post reported on the 175-square-foot Manhattan apartment recently purchased byChristopher Prokop and his wife for $150,000, with $700 monthly maintenancefees. But residents of even smaller Manhattandigs told the Post they wereunimpressed. For instance, Felice Cohen, 39, rents a 90-square-foot apartment($700) with a loft bed, and said that she must sit sideways on the toilet.Free-lance event planner Eddie Rabon rents a 55-square-foot palace for $800 amonth (closer to midtown than Cohen's place). He can almost touch two wallssimultaneously and cannot easily turn around while showering. However, therespective residents had the following comments about their homes: "Welove it," "I love it," and "It's fantastic."
Least Competent Deer
A seven-point buck was found dead in Viroqua, Wis.,in November, apparently having lost a head-butting contest with a cement-statuebuck. Ramming contests are common during mating season, and the cement buck wasabout the same size as the dead one (but weighs about three times as much).
Least Competent Criminals
- Two partners in crime were sentenced to four years in jail between themby England'sManchester Crown Court in December. Ali Abdullah, 28, and Muqtar Nuren, 22, hadoffered to take driver's license tests for people (both driving and writtentests) on contingency payment, so they would only receive money for passing thetests. Between them, they had 35 clients, took 43 tests and failed 33 (passingonly seven driving tests and three written ones). Although they did not chargefor their failures, it is of course illegal to take a driver's license test foranother person.
- (1) Brandon Stepp, 27, and two companions were arrested in Parkersburg,W.Va., in December after they became the most recent alleged drug runners tounsuccessfully hide their marijuana in the engine compartment of their car.(The engine got hot; the dope caught fire.) (2) A man fled without money from aTaco Bell in Haverstraw, N.Y., in October after being the most recentrobber to conduct his transactions out of order. He first announced therobbery, and then, before the cashier could gather money for him, he asked thestore manager for a job application. When the manager refused, the man walkedout, empty-handed.
Leading Economic Indicators
- He's a man of distinction, but that is of little comfort in this tighteconomy. Actor Jonah Falcon, 39, is out of work and once again living with hisparents in New York City,according to a January report on AOL News. A 1999 HBO documentary touted Falconas possessor of the world's longest penis (13.5 inches, aroused). He hasappeared in mainstream film and TV roles (including "Law &Order," "MelrosePlace" and "The Sopranos"), but has refused to do pornography."If I did porn, nobody would take me seriously," he said. However, headded, "I wouldn't be opposed to doing a nude scene (in a mainstream film)if I got the right part."
- The recent Christmas bonus season was rough at the RF Brookespizza-ingredient factory in Wigston, England, asworkers received gift containers of pudding ("plum duffs") with ause-by date of March 2009. Accompanying the pudding was a letter frommanagement assuring employees that food technicians had certified the productas safe to eat in January 2010, despite the printed use-by date. (Afternumerous employee complaints, the company apologized and offered fresh plumduffs.)
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
- In October, jeweler Colin Burn, of Broome, Australia, announced at theAsia Adult Expo in Macau that he will make the world's most expensive"personal vibrator," in 10 limited editions, out of smooth platinum,each with 1,500 white diamonds. He said he planned to shoot for a price of $1million and noted that he currently offers a similar sex toy with 450 diamonds(and a handle made of rare conkerberry wood) that he sells for $38,000.
- In 2008, Sweden, oneof only seven countries with embassies in North Korea, began trying to coax that country into the globaleconomy by encouraging the manufacture of jeans, which Sweden in turnwould arrange for sale in high-end stores. After a series of awkward missteps(e.g., a textile manufacturer, unfamiliar with the concept of"jeans," said no, but the director of a mining company decided toaccept the project), 1,100 pairs were finally shipped and priced at theequivalent of about $215 a pair, according to a December Reuters dispatch fromStockholm. (The "NoKo" jeans were initially given shelf space in atleast one store, but now are offered only on the store's Web site.)
%uFFFD 2010 Chuck Shepherd
