bookofjoe

Dmitri Shostakovich performs his Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, 1st movement (Allegro) in 1958

With André Cluytens conducting the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.

[via Flautist]

World's First Bluetooth Cellphone Snowboard Glove

"I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera."

But I digress.

From the website:

Swany® g.cell Cellphone Ski/Snowboard Glove

Wearable technology is the latest story in the ski, snowboard and winter sports glove business.

Swany has developed the first hands-free cellphone ski and snowboard glove.

The g.cell glove has a fully-integrated Bluetooth adaptable cell phone in a totally functional ski and winter sports glove.


Features:

• Incoming calls detected by vibrating wrist action — push on back of hand to receive call

• Recharger included — phone will last for 12 hours on standby; 4 hours talk time

• Insulated water-repellent outer shell for hours of warm dry use

• Speaker and microphone integrated into palm and thumb

• Call-out voice command dial system

....................

Coming this holiday season.

$495.

Welcome to the Tightwad Bank — Located in beautiful downtown Tightwad, Missouri

No, you didn't accidentally happen on the website of The Onion but, rather, a story by Peter Slevin in yesterday's Washington Post about a thriving financial institution amidst the banking wreckage seemingly strewn everywhere these days.

Here's the article.

In Rural Missouri, The Place to Bring Your Cents of Humor

Banker Heard Name, and It Added Up

When Ellen T. Lindsey picks up the telephone in this flyspeck town, the first question, more often than not, is "Are you a real bank?"

Lindsey, the new manager, assures the callers that the institution is, indeed, real.

Tightwad Bank may be quirky and unproven, but it is a genuine bank with a real charter and a real vault and a pair of real bankers in charge. For good measure, the business cards say: "Tightwad Bank. Member FDIC."

"We're seeking the customers with a sense of humor," said Donald S. Higdon, 54, who opened Tightwad with his business partner in May after they grew bored with running a sober-sided bank in neighboring Kansas. "We thought the downside was limited, the possibilities were reasonable and the amount of fun was limitless."

If the concept does not work out — this is the second attempt at making a bank called Tightwad profitable — Higdon jokes that he can turn the place into a drive-through liquor store.

Coming from Kansas City, about 90 miles to the northwest, you have to drive through Peculiar to get to Tightwad. The next town east is Racket.

Not far away are Blackjack, Wisdom and Fair Play.

"Everybody just asks where it got the name," said shopkeeper Mark Huey, 37, whose family owns the Tightwad C Store on a main drag so short that "if there wasn't a curve in it, you could see both city-limits signs."



The story told by Huey and everyone else starts with a postman who coveted a watermelon. It was the early 1900s, and the mail carrier, making his rounds, made a deal with the grocer to set it aside until the end of the day. But when he returned, the melon was gone — sold to someone who agreed to pay 50 cents more.

As lore has it, the postman called the grocer a you-know-what, and the name stuck.

The first Tightwad Bank opened in 1984, the same year the town was incorporated. In fact, it was a branch of the Citizens Bank of Windsor, established first in a parked trailer with a safe bolted to the floor, and then in the formidable one-story brick building that is still standing.

Twenty years ago, Tightwad residents saw riches in the development of nearby Truman Lake, imagining a lively resort, maybe an amusement park or a water show. The bank would be well positioned to profit, but the boom never happened. To this day, the city-limits signs say "Pop. 63." Triple digits seem a long way off.

The Tightwad branch counted assets of more than $2 million at its peak, but managers closed the lobby in the late 1990s after two robberies. With the novelty worn thin and only a single drive-through window staffed, it did not take, well, a tightwad to see that the numbers no longer made sense.

The bank, then owned by UMB Bank, closed in January 2007.

Higdon heard the news one day when he was watching the local weather.

"The proverbial light bulb went off. I thought that might be fun to play with that name a little bit," explained Higdon, a career banker who had teamed with partner Jeff McCalmon to buy the 100-year-old Reading State Bank in nearby Kansas. He called his wife and McCalmon, expecting them to say it was the nuttiest idea ever.

They didn't. So Higdon contacted UMB about buying the building. He also set out to register the Internet domain name tightwadbank.com — only to discover that someone else in Kansas City had experienced his own proverbial light bulb. When they were unable to come to terms, Higdon reserved tightwadbank.net instead.

Higdon and McCalmon, who had built the Reading bank's assets from $4 million to $12 million, needed approval from state and federal regulators. They also needed a strategy, not to mention a bank manager, computers — and customers. Until the feds signed off this year, the bankers remained true to the Tightwadian code by refusing to spend money on new signs.

Along the way, the partners took another big step: They renamed the Reading bank, too.

"I thought, let's step out on a limb here and name the bank Tightwad," said Higdon. "To be really frank, the customer base in Reading, Kansas, was not too excited."

As Higdon was telling his story, he spotted a man and a woman climbing off their motorcycles to pose by the Tightwad sign. They turned out to be Lyndon and Debra Abell, D.C. residents touring the back roads.

"The Tightwad store was okay," Lyndon Abell said, explaining the photograph, "but the Tightwad Bank was too good to pass up."

That is what some of Lindsey's callers say, too. Like their predecessors during the bank's previous incarnation, they want to know how to open an account and draw checks on Tightwad Bank.

Higdon's challenge is to convert curiosity into cash.

To supplement the take from deposits, which have grown from zero to about $1 million, the bank sells Tightwad gear — $14 hats, a $9 mug, a $30 polo shirt.

The next product will be a Tightwad Bank gift card, designed for "your favorite uncle, also known as Cheapskate Charlie."

See-Thru Spinning Knife Block

Nicely done.

From the website:

See-Thru Spinning Knife Block — Brings Blades Out of Hiding

With wooden knife blocks all you see is the handle but our See-Thru Spinning Knife Block lets you spot the blade you need at a glance.

Stable non-skid no-tip design has 10 slots for your knives up to 8" long, with a hole for your 8" sharpening steel in the center.

Durable dishwasher safe plastic.

9-1/4"H x 5-3/4"Ø.

....................

$19.99 (knives not included).

Accent Game

"How good are you at spotting accents from around the world?"

[via Milena Castulovich]

What is it?

Answer here this time tomorrow.

Happy 50th birthday to Madonna from Lee J. Rowland

The British designer made her a wonderful present (above) to celebrate her first half-century on the planet as of last Saturday, August 16.

All she has to do is stop by to pick it up.

I'm sure Lee will be happy to have it delivered, should the Immaterial Girl find a personal visit incompatible with her busy schedule.

Just let him know: info@leejrowland.com

USB Necktie Cooler — Version 2.0

Somehow I missed Version 1.0.

From the website:
....................

USB Necktie Cooler 2

It has been a very hot summer this year!!

But you cannot take a necktie off while you are working …

but that necktie is preventing the air flow and that makes it feel even hotter!!

We had a great item that was Necktie Cooler 1. But it was made with a silicone material. Unfortunately, it didn’t look as nice as a regular tie. So this year, it came back as a regular tie looking version!!

The built-in fan will start sending you cool air once you connect it to a computer by the USB cable.

It looks like nothing but a regular tie when you disconnect the USB cable and store the fan away. You can hide them when you have to see guests and customers, but you can enjoy the fan when you are by yourself.

There is a controller on the USB cable.

You can turn it off without disconnecting the cable.

This controller has a dial button to adjust the fan, so you can control the fan just the way you like.

The battery case is sold separately so you can enjoy the cooling necktie without a computer when you use the batteries.

You can use the fan even though when you are out of the office.

It takes four AAA batteries you can easily find anywhere in the world, and that means you can take it to a road trip without worrying about running out of it.

Specs:

• Supported system: A computer with USB connections

• Materials: Cooling fan — plastic; Necktie: silk

• Size: 480mm x 95mm x 24mm (necktie)

• Weight: 120g

• Cable: 135cm
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$39.