Yearly Archives: 2012

The World’s Most Expensive Rubik’s Cube, 7rl

Posted on by The Old Wolf


The Rubik’s Masterpiece, also dubbed “The world’s most expensive toy.” Created by Fred Cuellar, founder and CEO of Diamond Cutters International.

“Cuellar’s Rubik’s Masterpiece will be the centerpiece of the 40th anniversary exhibit. Valued at over $2.5 million, the fully functioning Rubik’s Cube required 8,500 man hours to be crafted in 18 karat yellow gold with 25 precious stones per panel set in invisible settings. Cuellar used 185 carats of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and white diamonds to create the classic colored panels of the Rubik’s Cube puzzle with one small difference. While the original Rubik’s Cube is colored red, green, blue, orange, yellow, and white, Cuellar—himself a lover of puzzles and codes—decided to replace orange with purple for a variety of reasons both clever and protective.” (Full article at PRWeb)

Other oddities in the Cube world include Oskar van Deventer’s “Over the Top”, a 17 x 17 x 17 cube which was produced on Shapeways‘ 3D printer.

There have been some really tiny cubes made as well, also from 3D printers:

These 6mm wonders were made by Tony Fisher based on a Callum core.

Nowadays with software it’s possible to work puzzles of this nature in more than three dimenions and with insane matrices.

I loved my cube puzzles; I have a standard cube and a 2 x 2 x 2 mini-cube, and at one point owned a 4 x 4 x 4 Rubik’s Revenge which I sold on eBay recently because I could just never solve it. When I was younger I had more patience for such things. Puzzles of this nature were sort of like the “Angry Birds” of the 80’s.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Some things never change

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Healthy? No way. Delicious? Nothing beats a well-made doughnut. As a kid, I would read McCloskey’s Homer Price over and over again, just because those doughnuts looked so darn good. Even today, I’d be hard pressed to find something I like better when I’m looking for a sugar fix.

The Old Wolf has *burp* spoken.

The wordiest cartoon ad of all time.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Winston Rowntree (a pseudonym for a breathtakingly perceptive and gifted cartoonist) advertises over at Subnormality! that he has provided “Comix with too many words since 2007.” One of my favorite examples is “The Mission.”

His creations are almost always terribly verbose – and worth reading, every whit, every jot, every tittle.

But I think this advertising copy for Colgate goes over the top – and while clever, as its only purpose is to hawk product and not entertain or inspire or prod people into thinking about the reasons for their existence or how to make the world a better place, it doesn’t measure up to Subnormality’s standard of excellence.

But here it is, just because it’s weird.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The Tele-Party

Posted on by The Old Wolf

The desk upon which my computer sits doesn’t have casters, but it’s from exactly the same era – red formica top and all, and has a set of matching red vinyl chairs. I love retro stuff like this. If my wife’s younger son ever gets out here with a truck or something, it’s his. Until then, I get to enjoy it.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Useless products from a bygone era

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Striptease Tie

The Nothing Box. I always wanted one of these, but the fact that it died hard after a year put me off.

The Pet Rock

The Invisible Dog – another brilliant idea from the 70’s.

Pogs. Originally the stopper for a glass bottle of milk – today the perfect example of a collecting craze created by marketing and based on nothing. Happily, short-lived.

Original pog.

Milk and Candy: The New Weapons of Democracy

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Milk isn’t the only thing that was airlifted into Berlin during those days.

Colonel Gail Halvorsen, the “Candy Bomber.”

“Between the years of 1948 and 1949 Berlin Airlift pilot Lt. Gail Halvorsen was so struck with the friendliness and excitement of the Berlin children that he wanted to do something special for them and to spread a little cheer to their beleaguered times in Berlin during the blockade. Lt. Halvorsen decided to start his own operation and named it “Operation Little Vittles” He practically bought out all the candy available where he was based and out of strips of cloth created miniature parachutes and attached the candy to them. At the beginning, Lt. Halvorsons buddies gave up their rations of candy and gum and also their handkerchiefs to help the cause. The American Confectioners Association asked Lt. Halvorsen how much candy and gum he could use. They sent tons of candy and gum to Westover AFB for processing. 22 schools in Chicopee Massachusetts converted an old fire station into a Little Vittles headquarters. They made parachutes, tied on candy or gum and sent the finished product to Lt. Halvorsen at Rhine Main AFB. When the supplies came on line at Rhine Main all of Lt. Halverson’s squadron and others helped drop the candy and gum. They then air dropped the candy over the city of Berlin (including East Berlin until the Russians told them to stop ) to the eagerly waiting children. By January of 1949 Lt. Halvorsen had air dropped more than 250,000 parachutes loaded with candy on the city of Berlin bringing a little joy to the nearly 100,000 children of Berlin during the Russian blockade.” (From konnections.com)

I had the privilege of knowing Gail when he was the bishop of a neighboring congregation in 1978. A kinder man you could never hope to meet. One man, with a powerful intention, who made a difference in the lives of countless children.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Government Douchebaggery: Get Informed

Posted on by The Old Wolf

From the October 2012 issue of the AARP Bulletin, this outrage:

Carol and Paul Kurland of Leavittown, PA, both in their late 80’s, added their daughter’s name to their bank accounts to allow her access to funds if they faced a sudden health crisis. “Given our advanced age, we thought it was a good idea,” Carol Kurland says. “But we fell into a trap.” Sadly, their daughter Amy, 56, died last October. Two months later, the Kurlands got hit with a tax bill for several thousand dollars. They were amazed to discover that, under Pennsylvania law, a third of the money in their accounts was considered to be Amy’s. They had “inherited” it and now owed 4.5% as tax. “Our daughter had none of her own money in the accounts,” says Kurland, “and in fact, had never even visited that bank. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue says it regularly hears from unhappy people in similar situations. Banks in the state are not required to inform customers who add names to accounts that they’ll owe taxes if the new person dies first.

Six other states – Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, and New Jersey – also tax inheritances. Four of them – Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, and New Jersey – exempt parents of decedents, according to Jonathan Griffin at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

After the Kurlands’ tax bill arived, bank officials suggested that granting their daughter a power of attorney could have averted the liability.

“Why didn’t they tell us this before?” asks Carol Kurland. “You lose your daughter, and then you have to go through this. It’s been a bear.”

Takeaways:

  1. If you live in Pennsylvania or the above-mentioned states, be aware of the potential for government thuggery if you add a person to a bank account and that individual passes away before you do.
  2. Ask all the questions you can think of any time you deal with a bank. They have no vested interest in serving you – they only care about churning your worthless assets into valuable fees and commissions. Better yet, move your funds to a credit union, which at this point in time are still a better bet for consumers.
  3. Write your legislators and demand that banks be required to divulge all information pertaining to tax law that touches their sphere of influence. You may also want to tell them that laws like this are the pinnacle of stupidity, and that you’re ready to vote your opinion.

The Old Wolf has spoken.