It's a flower, you nudnik!

Today I've been learning about history. This comes on the heels of having finally gotten around to watching The Last King of Scotland, and Forest Whittaker's beautiful performance. Half the time he seemed like a decent guy, and then, oh then, he was off raving lunatic, and you remembered how much power he had in his grasp and how disturbing that was.

Anyway, history. Turns out in the 1600s there was this massive mania stirred up over the ownership of tulips. Just in case you're not imagining the right kind of "massive", I'll give you a rundown of what you could get in exchange for one viceroy tulip bulb:

8 fat pigs + 4 fat oxen + 12 fat sheep + 24 tuns wheat + 48 tuns rye + 2 hogsheads wine + 4 tuns beer + 2 tuns butter + 1,000 lbs cheese + 1 silver drinking cup + 1 pack clothes + 1 bed + 1 ship.

Then one day the market just crashed, and all of a sudden there were people standing about, letting it dawn upon them that while they used to own a bevy of animals, food, clothes and boats, they were left to console themselves with a Single Freaking Flower. Ooo, de lally.

History is a funny little bugger.

Meanwhile, I'm going to have some chocolate, because I'm sure one day that the scientists are going to tell me how good it is for me.

O