Your cool weird thing of the day:

TULIP MANIA!! This is Katy's find, to give credit where it's due.

"At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman." "This trade was centered in Haarlem during the height of a bubonic plague epidemic, which may have contributed to a culture of fatalistic risk-taking."


Goods allegedly exchanged for a single bulb of the Viceroy [a virus-infected tulip variety]
Two lasts of wheat 448ƒ
Four lasts of rye 558ƒ
Four fat oxen 480ƒ
Eight fat swine 240ƒ
Twelve fat sheep 120ƒ
Two hogsheads of wine 70ƒ
Four tuns of beer 32ƒ
Two tons of butter 192ƒ
1,000 lb. of cheese 120ƒ
A complete bed 100ƒ
A suit of clothes 80ƒ
A silver drinking cup 60ƒ
Total 2500ƒ

The details of this are somewhat contested, but even if it's a distorted account, it's still incredibly strange and interesting. Danny wanted to write a hideously cliche pulp fiction about a Dutch merchant family losing the farm over this--I wanted to call it 'Tulips to Kiss.' Delightfully revolting.