Monday, January 09, 2006

Del Monte $20 & Wisconsin 8 year old Hunters


Last week a $20 bill that was printed with a Del Monte Fruit sticker imbedded in the paper during the printing process was sold at auction for about $25.000.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0106FlawedBill06-ON.html


I now am sticking those little peel-off fruit stickers on all the bills in my wallet. Yes, I know it is not the same, but some cashier or someone in the whole money exchange chain of events will get a momentary boost of adrenalin and a chuckle at this. At least I think so. Finding things, hunting for things, has me thinking. If we get that excited about a sticker falling into the money printing press that we would pay as much for it as a Toyota Prius we have some serious issues with our priorities. I would rather support the currency artist J.S.G. Boggs whose intentionally different-than-real currency art lands him in trouble with the feds. But his is performance art:

http://www.jsgboggs.com/whois.html

Back to hunting. What about getting kids to start looking for oddities around the house that could be valuable? A 3 armed Barbie Doll, an X-Box that maybe Bill Gates scribbled an "A-OK" on, a letter from the IRS with the logo upside down. No, we seem to think hunting means killing things in the woods. Or should I say "harvesting"? I heard this expression, harvesting, used to describe killing game on a talk radio program while driving in Wisconsin. I think the hunting lobby should not be allowed to use vegetarian terms. It was Joy Cardin who had this interview with a man pushing for a change to Wisconsin state law to allow 8 year olds to hunt game. Why not? In Wisconsin kids can drink in bars as long as they are with a parent. Why not be able to share all of the experiences of male-dom with your dad at an early age.



Now callers who supported this idea all commented that it would get kids away from their video games and into the fresh outdoors. The Pew Memorial Trust did a survey that shows kids spend 44 hours a week connected to electronic media. 44 hours a week! So how many hours a week can you harvest deer, bears and poor defenseless bunnies? But then again the video games that teach "harvesting" could give you good practice for the day that dad takes you out to start harvesting on your own. Oh, there are some rules I forgot to mention. You have to share the same harvesting implement and the child must be no more than arms length from the parent. I can see a whole slew of Cabelas products. Rifles with collapsable stocks, a modified dog leash to put around your kid that hooks to your camouflage jacket, all sorts of product ideas.

Maybe there is a new video game in this. EIGHT YEAR OLD HARVEST - "You and your Dad, side by side, waiting in the tree stand, it is only a matter of time when the big one is in your sights"

No, not your Dad!