Drunken Pumpkin

I found this article on Smithsonian a few days ago, but it’s still pretty snazzy.

I just finished reading Terry Pratchett’s Making Money about a week or so ago, and it reminded me of the fact that a lot of the things that we hold precious, like gold and diamonds, are effectively useless. Well, that’s not really true, but we hold them precious for useless reasons.

We like gold because it’s shiny, and diamonds for their sparkle. But they also have rather more practical reasons to have worth. Gold doesn’t corrode, and is incredibly conductive, which is why it’s used in vehicle airbags. Diamonds are not only sparkly, they are one of the hardest substances on the planet, and therefore can be used to cut through softer things (i.e. everything else) where more abundant materials fail.

I like Pratchett’s idea that we should place value in work, not in shiny. Yeah, a gold watch looks neat, but a potato will keep you alive. And if you’re smart, you can use one potato to make a bunch of potatoes, but a watch is just a watch.

And there’s you some philosophy for the weekend.

Tune in tomorrow when I rant about students’ inability to follow simple instructions, and try to find some recipe for chicken that I haven’t used yet.

Oh, and thanks to Sarah for all of the awesome Steampunk ideas.

When everyone is somebody, then no one’s anybody.

I am not superstitious…I’m just a little stitious.

Micheal Scott (played by Steve Carrell), US version of “The Office”

I spend a certain amount of time each week reviewing what links have led people to the Drunken Pumpkin. It’s always useful to know what types of material people are looking for as well as seeing where and when people are posting links to our site in various forums. Over the past week or two we’ve had a noticeable number of people searching Google for Calvin and Hobbes pumpkins and arriving at our site. We have had no Calvin and Hobbes pumpkins on our site, but have made various other references to Calvin and Hobbes over the past year or two and when including the word ‘pumpkin’, it’s kind of certain that they would check our site when it comes up in the search results.

In the interests of providing the people what they want, I went ahead and tried my hand at pumpkin sculpting. It doesn’t include Hobbes, but hey, what do you want from me? It’s free for you and was my first attempt. May try to get a pumpkin done with both Calvin and Hobbes on it before long. Included are both day and night shots so you can see it in all it’s glory.
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Now I have finished with all earthly business, and high time too. Yes, yes, my dear child, now comes death.

Died October 24, 1948