A Sign of Maturity

That's what I'd like to think, anyway. Because here I am to tell you how wrong I was. That's right, Fonz--I was WRONG and I can say the whole word.

In June, I posted about my irritation with irony. In it I said I disliked This American Life, a public radio program hosted by Ira Glass. And now I am here to take it all back.

While we were driving across several U.S. states, both red and blue (but mostly red), we heard a couple of different segments of This American Life that explained the housing market implosion and the credit crunch. They were informative and entertaining and only slightly voice-in-the-back-of-the-throat ironic.

You can listen to the first show here, and those who wrote that show have created updates you can find at that link, too.

I'm still no expert on the vagaries of money, and dealing in money that is only theoretical. I suppose money itself is theoretical, since the paper at one time represented a certain amount of gold hidden somewhere.

At the Shell Museum on Sanibel Island in Florida, there was a huge exhibit about the use of cowrie shells for money. Those days are gone and it makes life more convenient for people like me--I'm off to check my bank balances online, in two countries.