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Narwhal Horns Candy – $3.95
Are you crazy about narwhals? Well, you are going to love the Narwhal Horns Candy from the NeatoShop. This fantastic arctic mint flavored candy is shaped like little narwhal horns. Unicorns of the sea are awesome!
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Mints & Candies.
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The U.S. Mint is manufacturing, and will continue to manufacture, one dollar coins that just pile up in the Federal Reserve because no one wants to use them. They’ve already stockpiled over a billion dollars in coins, and may reach two billion!
In 2005, Congress decided that a new series of dollar coins should be minted to engage the public. These coins would bear the likeness of every former president, starting with George Washington. There would be a new one every quarter. So, far, the Mint has produced coins through the 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant.
Members of Congress reasoned that a coin series that changed frequently and had educational appeal would make dollar coins more popular. The idea came from the successful program that put each of the 50 states on the backs of quarters.
The reserve also has plenty of Susan B Anthony and Sacagawea dollar coins. If the public does not want to use dollar coins, why are they being made? The answer is a bit complicated, and is explained in this article at NPR. Link -via Breakfast Links
Moustache Mints – $3.95 | More Mustache Stuff
Attention, hipsters and mustache lovers! Now you can freshen up your breath and carry a mint shaped like the world’s most awesome/overused/so-overused-it’s-awesome real life meme.
That’s right – behold, the Moustache Mints from the Neatoshop (the ‘Stache Tin really does make it so much better): Link
(Hint: Also perfect for Valentine’s Day Gift for the hipsters in your life)
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When you chew a piece of mint gum and then take a drink, the drink seems colder than it would otherwise. It’s not colder, that’s an illusion from your brain and a protein called TRPM8.
TRPM8 doesn’t just respond to cold temperatures, though. It also activates in the presence of menthol, a waxy, crystalline organic compound found in peppermint and other mint oils. (It responds to other “cooling agents,” too, like eucalyptol and icilin. Why, exactly, is unknown; menthol just happens to fit the cellular “lock.”)
Read about how this works at mental_floss. Link
Once, the United States issued $5,000, $10,000, and even $100,000 bills. Why on earth would someone carry bills that big, especially back when they were really worth something?
Believe it or not, it wasn’t just to save space in fatcats’ wallets. When the Treasury started printing these giant bills, their main purpose was making transfer payments between banks and other financial institutions. Before sophisticated wire transfer systems were fully developed, it was apparently easier and safer just to fork over a $5,000 bill to settle up with a fellow bank. Once transfer technology became safer and more secure, there really wasn’t much need for the big bills anymore.
Mental_floss has the story on when and why such large bills were issued, what they looked like, and why they aren’t in circulation anymore. Link
The following is a Neatorama Shop Story, a narrative starring the products carried in this blog’s very own online store.
Sweet Nothings
Zurich, 1916. A foggy and bleak afternoon. Gazing upon an empty absinthe-scented glass, Jacques postulated…was the glass like the universe? Is there ever any there there?
Jacques makes mountains of nothing and would have droned on until dawn had not the vacant-eyed Swiss barmaid draped over my left knee roused herself and interjected with an uncharacteristic swell of a work ethic, “Will zair be anysing else tonight?”
Predictably, Jacques replied, “Nothing.”
Said the waitress, “When I desire nothing, I have one of zese.”
From the pocket of her dingy fondue-smeared apron, she produced a diminutive, elegant tin and held it before us. It was a befitting black, the absence of color. She sensuously slid back the lid to reveal “Nihilist Flavorless Mints.” Insubstantiality distilled to its essence, suspended in a delicate cocktail of maltodextrine and corn syrup, they tasted like nothing, and left us wanting more. They were the concrete manifestation of our nonexistence, with a hint of the sweet aftertaste of oblivion. Did these mints exist at all? If a mint that tastes like nothing is sucked in the forest…
What a paradox, so Seinfeldian, though we knew it not by that name at that time. It would have been the perfect gift for all of our friends, had we any other than ourselves. The unsettlingly uncharacteristic look of completion in Jacques’ eyes said it all: no longer would we exchange empty boxes at Christmas.
______
The story above is written by the dynamic duo Drs. Ernest and Convalescence Bidet-Wellville (hey, I didn’t name ‘em) of the University of Self-Conscious Consumerism in Olde Busytowne, Connecticut. I suspect they write cover stories for the CIA, so if I’m inexplicably missing the next few days, you know what happened.
Available from the Neatorama Shop: Nihilist Flavorless Mint | See also our vast selection of other Offbeat Mints and Candies
On the Isle of Man Scotland, the government has commissioned a three-sided coin to commemorate King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs’ exhibition at the O2 arena in London.
The copper coin which bears a portrait of the Queen and an image of Tutankhamun, is marketed by the Isle of Man’s Post Office as “a unique gift” that is “a must for all Egyptologists” and costs £15 ($30).
On one side, it shows Tutankhamun, the teenage pharaoh who died 3,330 years ago, and on the other, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
John Smith, the general manager of Pobjoy Mint, which is striking the coins, said he was “delighted to launch the first ever pyramid coin”.
Mr Smith also added that no limit had been set on the number of coins that could be produced.
Link: Telegraph
