A seething mass of turgid drama.

We watched about half of a '93 John Cusack film, Money For Nothing. Vaguely based on a true story, an unemployed Philly longshoreman finds $1.2mm in $100 bills that fell off an armored car. He flashes it around, tries to launder some through the mob, and ends up getting arrested as he attempts to leave the country.

We turned it off halfway, because the characters were annoying and stupid. It's a good think-piece, though. How do you spend or launder it when the feds are looking?

In fact, let's make it harder since the film was almost 20 years ago. Call it $2.5 million in $500 bills. The disappearance is on the news. What do you do with the money? Assume that (morals aside) you are keeping it. Discuss.
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I always liked Peppermint Patties as a kid. Especially when you threw them into the freezer for an hour. Junior Mints, same thing.
The line from a recent S*P cracked me up and made me wonder how others feel. So, a poll:

[Poll #1481362]

[Poll #1425359]

What I'm reading: Anton Stroud, Dead to Me

A slightly wacky senior attorney here has a "Post No Bills" sign on a message board outside his office. He then put up the following:

a $1 dollar bill
a thimble (oddly, it took me a while to figure that one out)
pictures of the following:
Bill Clinton
Bill Murray
Bill Cosby
Bill Gates
Billy Idol
Billy Bob Thornton
the Schoolhouse Rock "I'm Just a Bill"
Bill the Cat
the Buffalo Bills mascot
Bill Maher

[Poll #1389268]
My boss is out today and Monday, so I'm flying solo. Hence this...

A handful of bonus points for identifying the quote. But you have to answer the poll to collect your points.

[Poll #1230579]

[Poll #1071684]

[Poll #1039760]

Somewhat paraphrased - You're given the chance to live your life over, with your current personality and mind. You can go back to any part of your life and start over.

To narrow down the reasons a bit and clarify: you have your current personality and knowledge of your current life history, but not the world's. You can change events of your life by avoiding a car crash that crippled you, but you don't know about assassinations or the events of September 11. You don't know to invest in Microsquish stock at its IPOand you can't test out of high school at the age of six. On the plus side, Star Wars in the theater will still be an awesome experience.

Clear as mud? Okay then.

[Poll #941985]
Please give your reasons and where you'd re-start, if you would, in comments.

Personally, I see no benefit in re-living junior high school and the first half of high school - I'd still be a mouthy short nerd. Yes, I'd be comfortable in my skin (which I definitely was not then). But that wouldn't make me popular or a non-bully target.

(I changed the parameters because if I could re-live with my current knowledge, I might do so solely to make myself filthy rich as an adult by buying Microsquish and Home Despot stock, "inventing" Netscape Navigator, and so forth. And preventing some mass tragedies. That's a totally different motivation.)

The Wall St. Journal mentioned that wristwatch sales were lagging - that the only age range consistently buying them were people over 50. So, a poll:
[Poll #909920]

...which is most if not all of you.

A bit ago someone made fun of me for how I organize my books. My method is that used by Chevy Chase in Caddyshack to compare against other golfers - by height.

Strictly speaking, I organize my books by (approximate) height and alphabetically by author. I do it that way not because I'm obsessive-compulsive (although to a degree I am, of course), but because it maximizes the number of books I can store on a bookcase. I have rarely had enough bookcases that I can shelve inefficiently...

So, a poll. How do you organize your books? I'm referring to intra-shelf organization; I have different shelves for my cookery books and my fiction, so "subject" doesn't count.

What I'm reading: Ursula Vernon, Digger vol. II