February 9, 2001
Greetings Accumulators!
And so another wild week comes to a close. Maralyn got kicked off the Australian continent, Rachel turned thirty, and Britney Spears signed with Pepsi. And that concludes the future pop culture trivia portion of our program for today. Here's what else is going on.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU'VE ALREADY ENCOUNTERED THE
STUPIDIST PERSON IN THE WORLD, ALONG COMES ANOTHER CONTENDER
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What do college kids do when they get bored? Adam Burtle, a University of
Washington student, decided to have a little fun with eBay. He put his soul
up for auction. Since, according to People Magazine, he's an avowed
atheist, I guess he felt he wasn't risking much. His sales pitch featured a
photo of him wearing an "I'm With Stupid" tee shirt (almost accurate) and
described his soul as "near mint, with only minor scratches (unlike his
brain). Minimum bid on this treasure was five cents. His ex-girlfriend
allegedly bid $6.66 (she probably wants her tee shirt back, too), but the
bidding went up to $400, despite the fact that the seller proposed that
delivery take place after his death.
Enter eBay, who, as everyone knows, is very careful about what they allow
to be sold at their venue. Auctions of body parts are not permitted, even
if they are invisible parts and not technically from anyone's body. So,
they weren't going to allow any human souls to change hands on their turf!
They closed down the auction, and kicked Burtle off the site. Too bad. It
would have been interesting to see who the high bidder was.
SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE USES FOR YOUR COLLECTION DEPARTMENT
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The mayor of Miami (remember him from the Elian circus?) spent a night
cooling his heels in jail, after being hauled in on misdemeanor battery
charges. Joe Carollo stands accused of hitting his wife over the head with
a terra cotta tea service. After posting a $1,500 bond Carollo was released
and returned home to the wife from who he has announced he will soon be
divorced. No word on how, exactly, one picks up an entire terra cotta tea
service and hits a person on the head with it.
I TOLD YOU I WAS UP TO SOMETHING...
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My newest venture (it's actually an adventure) is a partnership with
Kaleden.com in a new site called WhatICollect.com. It's a conglomeration of
"communities" where you can pursue your collecting interests with forums,
"for sale" and "want" ads, articles, photos - you name it. You can put up
your own collector's page, keep track of your inventory, show what you have
for sale (and maybe sell it!), look for what you buy, post a bit of news,
read some news, start your own community. In short, it's collector's
paradise! And, best of all, it's all free! No fees to join, no rental fees,
no advertising fees, no nothing. The first of fourteen (yes, 14!)
communities I will be hosting is now live and running. It's the Disneyana
community. You can get there at http://Disneyana.whaticollect.com. Or, you
can go to the front portal of the whole shebang at http://whaticollect.com.
C'mon -make me look good. Go join the Disneyana community. We'll have fun!
Well, well, well, Accumulators. The weekend is here. Artie and I are going
up to Twin Brooks for the weekend. I'm sure that will include shopping of
some sort, although we are determined to lay a new floor down in our
workshop. Spring is just around the corner and we want to get the shop in
shape for all the outdoor projects we'll be doing. Hope some great hunting
and gathering opportunity is coming your way this weekend. If not, have fun
whatever you're doing. Have a great week, Accumulators. Happy hunting!
Best,
Judith
© 2001 Judith Katz-Schwartz. All rights reserved.
Antiques and Collectibles Newsletter #140
U.S. Library of Congress
ISSN 1520-4464
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Your comments, as always, are welcome. If you have something to say, write to me.
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