Perspective

HOT CAKES

Rick (and others): “You ask: ‘Why do hotcakes sell so well? (And if they do, how come I – who buy everything – have never bought one?)’ From ‘Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins’ by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997):

SELL LIKE HOT CAKES – “Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American. First made of cornmeal, the griddle cakes or pancakes were of course best when served piping hot and were often sold at church benefits, fairs, and other functions. So popular were they that by the beginning of the 19th century ‘to sell like hot cakes’ was a familiar expression for anything that sold very quickly effortlessly, and in quantity.”

Emerson Schwartzkopf: “You think that one’s bad? How about: ‘Doing a land-office business in …’ Here in Southern California, you’d be hard pressed to pay for hotcakes if you were running a land office.”

OF WITCH HUNTS AND LYNCH MOBS

In case you missed the AIG letter – one of the bonus guys quitting and explaining why – it’s here. Undoubtedly, there are villains out there. Insofar as possible, we should string them up. But I doubt you will conclude that this guy, or many of his colleagues, were among them.

SEN. BYRON DORGAN (D-ND) GOT IT RIGHT 15 YEARS AGO

For those with 10 minutes for rueful hindsight, here is Senator Dorgan – in 1994 – anticipating the current financial crisis and trying to avert it. (Thanks, Eduardo.)

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE

One of you sent me this two-minute web-circling video, with the entreaty that we keep it circling. Corny? Perhaps. But in its own way, it’s as compelling as Tuesday’s two minutes of cascading beer bottles. The two actually make a pretty good contrast between First World and Third World challenges.