Socrates, when visiting the agora, the great marketplace of
Athens, and seeing all the things offered for sale, once exclaimed, “How many
things there are that I can do without!”
I feel much the same when receiving a Hammacher Schlemmer catalogue, as
I did today. And this item is perhaps the one I can do without the most. When I
first looked at the picture, which fails to convey any sense of scale, I
thought it a strange vehicle running on two wheels. I find, however, that it is
a special kind of hat. As for what it is alleged to do, I wonder that buyers—if
any there be—are not also furnished with some bottles of snake oil and a deed
to the Brooklyn Bridge. And the price… But I suppose it is good for our economy
that there exist mechanisms for separating some money from foolish
millionaires.
