What Caught My Eye Today

Fred's Note: Seeing as it is a holiday, I thought in keeping with the spirit of the day that I'd give you a break from the headlines that have been dominating the scene for the past several weeks. So in today's edition you will see nothing on the economy, the 2008 presidential race, or the Iraq war.

Easter - If you are like me in thinking, "Man, it's Easter already," you are not alone. Easter has not fallen on the earliest of the 35 possible dates, March 22, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It will not fall on March 23 in 2008 again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times. No need to thank me. Just knowing that you will be greeted by stares of amazement at the dinner table as you dazzle your friends and family with your knowledge of Easter dates is plenty of thanks.

Bhutan - Geography lesson #1: Bhutan is a landlocked nation in the Himalaya Mountains, sandwiched between India and Tibet in South Asia. The command came from the king,the Precious Ruler of the Dragon People: "The age of monarchs is ending, he said, and power should be yours." That was a little over two years ago. Much of the country remains unconvinced there should even be a vote. Heck, I sometimes feel the same way. What most people want is what they've always had: a powerful king. By monarchy's standards, Bhutan's royal family is fairly new, coming to power in 1907 and bringing stability to a little-known region isolated by harsh mountainous geography and riven by unrest and war. Change came slowly, from the elimination of serfdom in the 1950s to the last king passing some power to an elected assembly and advisory council in the late 1990s — while remaining firmly at the center of government. Monday's elections will change that, leaving the monarch with the power to make top appointments, though only in consultation with elected officials, and a parliament empowered to impeach him. What catches my attention is that this movement has almost single-handedly been driven by the monarchy itself. I'm not sure I remember any other occasion when a ruling family when to such great lengths to put itself out of a job.

Gabon - Geography Lesson #2: Gabon is a country in west central Africa. Omar Bongo may be short in stature, but he is larger than life in the oil-rich Central African nation he has ruled for 40 years — so long that he's the only president most of his subdued 1.5 million people (life expectancy, 53) have ever known. Bongo became the longest-ruling head of state, not counting the monarchs of Britain and Thailand, after Fidel Castro resigned last month, ending 49 years in power. While most Gabonese genuinely fear the 72-year-old autocrat and there is little opposition, many accept his rule because he has kept his country remarkably peaceful and governed without the sustained brutality characteristic of many dictators. Gabon in first place among countries in mainland sub-Saharan Africa on the U.N. Human Development Index, which measures literacy, education and other markers of national well-being, ahead of Africa's richest economy, South Africa, and its most respected democracy, Botswana. But Gabon's wealth depends on dwindling oil reserves. Gabon once boasted world's highest champagne consumption per capita, but with oil reserves due to run dry by 2030 and production down by 30 percent in the last decade to 250,000 barrels per day, the party is largely over. Meanwhile, about 90% of the country's income goes to the richest 20% the population, while the bottom 30% lives on less than $1 a day. I'm not sure which surprises me more, that 30% of the population lives on a few cents per day or that Gabon had the highest champagne consumption. I'm gonna have to go with the latter on this one. And speaking of surprising, here's one more little nugget. Libreville, the capital, is the world's eighth most expensive city, according to Employment Conditions Abroad International. Some of the cities that rank higher than Libreville are kind of surprising as well. #1 Luanda, Angola; #2 Oslo, Norway; #3 Moscow, Russia, #4 Stavanger, Norway; #5 Copenhagen, Denmark; #6 Kinshasa, Congo and; #7 Seoul, South Korea. The United States didn't crack the top 20.

Auctions - Value is a fascinating concept driven almost entirely by subjective opinion. In this next story, one can only assume the value place on this particular item was based on the opinion of a complete whack job. Two sisters from Virginia sold their Illinois-shaped corn flake on eBay for $1,350. The winner of the auction, which lasted more than a week, is the owner of a trivia Web site who wants to add the corn flake to a traveling museum. The winner said he will likely send someone to Virginia to pick up the flake by hand, so it won't be damaged. This isn't the first corn flake that he has tried to buy. I rest my case. He said he purchased a flake billed as the world's largest, but that by the time it was delivered it had crumbled into three pieces. Maybe next time this guy is looking to unload $1,350 he might want to consider dropping it on some psychiatric consultation.