Old Money for a New Year

On New Year's Eve, as I was taking a cab to the train station to pop out to London to spend the night socializing at a friend's place, my cab driver leaned over while at a stop light and handed me a small bill about the size of Canadian Tire money. "Here, take this, it will give you luck!" he said. "And Happy New Year!"

As I would discover, the bill was 100 Iranian Rials, worth just slightly more than 1¢ Canadian. Certainly not a large sum of money. But I appreciate the notion of handing out cash to people as a sign of good luck. We arrived very quickly after that at my destination, so I didn't get a chance to get an explanation of whether this was some sort of typical tradition, or if this was just his own idea and a way to dispose of some currency he couldn't possibly convert, but that wouldn't really change anything anyway.

Partying With the Greats in Space

I won't be able to make this, but I thought I'd put it out there in case anyone on the West coast is interested. The Planetary Society will be hosting an evening on the 15th with Stephen Hawking, who will be receiving the Cosmos Award, and Buzz Aldrin, who is celebrating his 80th birthday.

Tickets will go quickly.. so jump now if you're interested!