In other Monopoly news, in 2008 the American board was changed to bring it more in line with foreign versions. There were several changes, but the most important was that Luxury Tax no longer included a 10% option. Heresy.

McDonald’s Monopoly time. Here are this year’s rare pieces (according to Wikipedia):

Mediterranean Avenue – $50 – Odds 1 in 1,057,000
Short Line Railroad – $500 – Odds 1 in 21,956,000
Vermont Avenue – $1,000 – Odds 1 in 64,603,000
Virginia Avenue – $2,000 – Odds 1 in 34,165,000
Tennessee Avenue – $5,000 – Odds 1 in 256,235,000
Kentucky Avenue – $10,000 – Odds 1 in 427,058,000
Ventnor Avenue – $25,000 – Odds 1 in 320,293,000
Pennsylvania Avenue – $50,000 – Odds 1 in 640,586,000
Boardwalk – $1,000,000 – Odds 1 in 542,034,000

As always, except for Boardwalk, the rare property is always the last one alphabetically.

This is a RumorsDaily tradition.

A coupon for me. If you’re buying.

The amazing part about the moonwalk is that it looks like both of his feet are in motion.

I don’t get it.

The theoretically highest scoring word in Scrabble is “oxyphenbutazone“. Good luck actually playing it.

Surprising information from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post:

• He’s dying of cancer.
• “That ‘a bare-chested Bernie has been killing time at the prison participating in Native American religious purification ceremonies.’ The ceremonies involve ‘praying, using heated rocks to induce sweat and smoking from a ceremonial pipe.’”
• “Madoff is hanging out with a ‘homosexual posse,’ although the relationships are reportedly purely platonic, say sources.”
• “Various ‘gangs’ at the prison are trying to recruit Bernie to their crews. They’re regularly cooking sandwich wraps for him back at their cells.”
• “Madoff was quickly assigned a job in the prison’s engraving section when he first arrived, but last month he was transferred to a job painting fences.”

Also, how many fences could there really be to paint in prison? It’s not like we’re in Tom Sawyer land.

NYTimes: “Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a group that opposes fully integrating women into the Army, said women were doing these jobs with no debate and no Congressional approval.”

Eh?

You asked for it, you got it:

Almost nowhere on Earth could you drill through to the exact opposite side of the globe and arrive on land.

I find this disappointing.

Time really shows you how to haggle, for food that’s gone bad:

At Whole Foods, the upscale organic grocer that frowns on haggling in its pristine stores, Gault scours the bacon packages in search of one whose sell-by date has come and gone. She finds one and launches into shock-and-awe mode, firing questions at the guy behind the meat counter about possible combo deals that would include an unexpired package. After some back-and-forth, Gault winds up with two $6 packages of bacon for free. In the haggling world, getting free cured meat from Whole Foods is like winning the Super Bowl by eight touchdowns. Check those packages.

What a great bargain on putrid bacon! It’s like winning the Super Bowl and finding out you really do get the free trip to Disney World, but all of the rides are broken and the entire place is staffed by zombies.

Is Whole Foods even allowed to sell expired meat? I’m calling whoever regulates supermarkets.

I love Perot Charts:

Ensign Ro Laren’s had a pretty good career.

Guardian: “One swimsuit saleswoman said that going topless is no longer seen as a feminist act, as young women see equal pay and work-family balance as more pressing battlegrounds.” Yeah, hard to fault them for that.

This rule seems totally worthwhile:

Civil aviation officials in New Delhi accused Continental of gross violation of Indian security rules that prohibit pre-embarkation body checks on certain dignitaries like a former president.

I’m very popular in China. Or Japan.

Your pilot might live in a shantytown in the LAX parking lot.

Is it just me, or are Obama’s jeans rather dorky?

The ninth knifemaker from the 1981 Knifemakers’ Guild Directory is Les Berryman. According to his bio, Les is a part-time elevator mechanic and a part-time knifemaker. Sort of an unusual combination, I suppose, but I can envision situations in which it might come in handy. He was influenced by the work of Barry Wood and Bob Loveless, and if you don’t know who they are, why, you’ll have to join me in not knowing who they are. Unlike most of the previous bios, this one ends with a stark command: “Visit him in his shop, now!” Ok, I added the “, now!”

One thing about Les that I really like is the shirt that he chose for his formal Knifemakers Guild photo. It has an Escher-bird type pattern, which may have been standard photo fare in 1981, but is subtly interesting today.

Les Berryman today

Sadly, I can’t find much of anything about Les Berryman today. He is no longer a member of the Knifemakers’ Guild. His knives are still around and still show up for sale once in a while. This one, for example, is being sold for nearly $1,000:

There was a Lesley Berryman who appeared in a few films under the name Les Berryman in the 1960s and 1970s, though I think that Les Berryman would have been too young in 1981 to be the man pictured above. One site apparently has a photo of Les and Carol Berryman (listed as Les’s wife in his bio), but the webpage appears to be down and is not archived.

Where are you Les Berryman?

There’s a councilman Les Whinen joke in here somewhere, but I haven’t quite pinned it down yet.

Previous knifemaker: Ray Beers
Next knifemaker: Sid Birt

Other 1981 Knifemaker’s Guild Directory Pages: first page, all pages.

CNN chose an odd stock picture of Madonna to go along with a story about a staff member dying during the construction of her set in France:

Take that, laborer!

CNN has since changed the picture.

Cruise ships have brigs. Who knew?

ATL: “The abortion activist who was shouting at the 2:33 p.m. mark during the SS confirmation hearing yesterday was none other than Jane Roe (a.k.a. Norma McCorvey of Roe v. Wade).”

Only one actor/actress has participated in every Star Trek series, including the Animated Series, as well as both the Original Series-based and Next Generation-based film series — can you name him/her?

I could not. Answer here, for the curious.

Man Burned at Burning Man Assumed Risk of Being Burned by Burning Man.

NYTimes: “‘I disagree with the idea that this shows problems for the modern Republican Party,’ said Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, a group that applauded Mr. Sanford’s attempt to refuse some federal stimulus funds earlier this year. In reference to the fiscally conservative philosophies of Mr. Ensign and Mr. Sanford, he joked, ‘I think instead it shows that sexual attractiveness of limited-government conservatism.’”

Yahoo: “He made clear that one recent overture to Iran — the authorization for U.S. embassies to invite Iranian officials to Independence Day parties — was likely to disappear without changes. ‘That’s a choice the Iranians are going to have to make,’ Obama said.” Ooooh, tough.