I'll get ya some cheap!

Pricey coffee good to the last dropping:

Would you pay $175 for a pound of coffee beans which had passed through the backside of a furry mammal in Indonesia?

Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up.

Kopi Luwak beans from Indonesia are rare and expensive, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat.
...
Despite being carnivorous, civets eat ripe coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal.

Civet droppings are found on the forest floor near coffee plantations.

That must be an interesting job - rather like reading the NY Times.

Once carefully cleaned and roasted, the beans are sold to specialty buyers.

Glad to hear about the "carefully cleaned and roasted" part.

Indonesia produces only about 500 kilograms, or roughly 1,100 pounds, of the coffee each year, making it extremely expensive and difficult to find.

As with all rare commodities, I'm sure some er, "indistinguishable substitutes" will enter the market. I'll be ready with my offering as soon I transfer it from the Walmart bags.

Steve Jobs Movie Poster Fun!

Mike Davidson:

iPod Giveaway #7: Design a Steve Jobs Movie Poster

Ok, so it’s the day after Christmas and you didn’t get that iPod you wanted. Now’s your opportunity to take matters into your own hands and win one.

The theme of the final Mike Industries iPod Creativity Competition of 2005 is to design a movie poster featuring Steve Jobs. Like all competitions before it, the rules here are loose. Just feature the man we all know and love in a cinematic role, keep your image exactly 418 pixels wide, and insert your entry inline in the comments of this post. Please also give photo credit when appropriate.

There’s a decent chance The Steve will actually see this blog entry so please keep it clean and respectful. Anything overtly offensive will be removed.

Click through for the entries so far, but don't worry about that wimpy last part because it looks like mildly offensive is fine.

Break out the tinfoil and call your broker

Overstock shares fade as CEO warns of 'drugs or dead body' caper:

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne continues to break new ground as the head of a publicly traded company. In a single TV interview last week, he shocked investors by revealing that holiday sales were far below expectations, perplexed the financial crowd by talking about drugs and dead bodies being found in his trunk and initiated a verbal war with billionaire blogger Mark Cuban. This latest round of gaffes adds to a tradition for Byrne that includes admitting that he lied about being gay and a coke-head to financial analysts and initiating a program to uncover a "Sith Lord" seeking to ruin Overstock.

You can't make this stuff up.

Apparently ole Pat can. Hit the link for all the details.

I'm sure he really meant Quakers

Philadelphia School District Lawyer Calls Jurors 'Crackers':

Attorney Carl Singley has lost his role as lead counsel in a school district discrimination case after allegations that he called several white jurors "crackers" after their verdict.

The jury had awarded about $3 million in damages to four white plaintiffs who contended that their boss in the Philadelphia School District's purchasing department had fired them in 2003 for racial reasons.

Singley, who is black, was accused of making the comment to jurors in a courthouse elevator after last week's verdict. He soon found himself back in the courtroom before U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III.

Where he had his hand slapped for an excess of irony. Nope, no discrimination around there.