The Writer's Life 11/15 - Big Surprise

In the tradition of Cabbage Patch and Tickle Me Elmo dolls, the most popular Christmas gift of 2017 is LOL Big Surprise, a purse-like product that contains many little trinkets inside it. I noted a wide price range, ten bucks to $180, so I guess it comes in several sizes and variations. Unfortunately, it is currently sold out. Here's what one model looks like:

If new shipments arrive, I hope it doesn't lead to brawls similar to the one that inspired Frank Costanza to invent Festivus. As if holiday family gatherings lack for the airing of grievances.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is taking a lot of heat for his testimony before congress yesterday. My hope is that his vagueness and evasiveness was due to the fact that he is not yet ready to show his cards, and not due to a lack of nerve in going after Hillary, who has always escaped prosecution. I'm not thrilled about the prospect of another special counsel investigation, but the Uranium One deal seems so egregious that it warrants scrutiny. Whenever I read about it or hear talking heads discuss it, I'm stunned.

I've always been fascinated by sports stats. Today that spilled over into economic numbers revealed in a NY Post article by Richard Morgan. Research by Credit Suisse has found that an additional 1.1 million Americans became millionaires the past twelve months, one every 30 seconds. The average U.S. adult is worth $388,585. Those worth $76,754 and above are in the top ten worldwide. A mere $3582 places one above the world average, a reminder that Americans should kiss their lucky stars to live in a land of such wealth and abundance. I doubt I'll ever join the millionaires club, but I'm above the average.

The Fast Takes column offers this interesting tidbit: the first six presidents of Princeton University were slave owners. Let the statue-toppling and building-renaming begin.

My thanks to the sweet elderly woman who did a three for one swap of books in Russian, and to the young man who bought The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. I'm always reluctant to point out books to minority customers for fear they will be offended, but if I hadn't spoken up that lone sale may not have occurred. At least the weather was beautiful.

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