Clearly a brilliant artist!!

When I was a hippy kid in the late sixties, my uncle and his friends traveled throughout Africa playing chess in order to rummage up odd jobs in exchange for food/shelter. They had a blast most of the time (except for the malaria part), but it doesn't seem to me to be any different whether you accept money or go straight to bartering work as long as you're at subsistence amounts. It really is the "money begets money" part that sucks. The rich get richer, etc. This guy doesn't seem to be making any point about that at all.

I'm sure I'll get raked for this, but there are a lot of human experiences that we don't have explanations for. It doesn't mean they're false or untrue. I always remember that in a hundred, 500, or a thousand years, people will think we were completely backwards. So, enjoy your glorious feeling of being right since you might be long gone before "proof" shows up. Keeping an open mind just isn't that hard.

@mioumiou: i wondered when someone was going to mention The Road... complete with real life baby-roasting survivors! ewww.

I love this video. It's even easy enough for my mother-in-law to understand. We are currently having the Christmas battles over unnecessary consumption. We have asked for no presents (we don't need any!), but my mother-in-law has decided this means we don't appreciate her. (She does insist that it's taking away her joy in giving, not the joy of receiving.) My grandparents were frightful racists. My children can't imagine that. I hope we can curb our materialism the same way. Thanks for the link Boing-Boing!

Favorite joke of my seven year old:

Why'd Tigger stick his head in the toilet?
He was lookin for Pooh!