Through the early morning mists of October 12th, 1492, a sailor on board the Spanish vessel Pinta looked out toward the horizon and saw land land. The next day, the 90 crew members of Christopher Columbus's three-ship fleet ventured onto the Bahamian island he called San Salvador, ending a voyage begun nearly ten weeks earlier in Palos, Spain.
The twelfth day of October is celebrated throughout much of the Americas, particularly the Spanish speaking nations. But in the United States this year we celebrate Columbus Day on October 8th because the federal government prefers it that way. Which brings to mind Ambrose Bierce's quip that "History is an account, mostly false, of events unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools."
When it comes to holidays, at DealBreaker we usually take our instructions from the New York Stock Exchange. Except our publisher, who seems to have a special reverence for either Columbus or three-day weekends or the bond market, has declared that on this occasion we shall take our cue from Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who made Columbus Day a national holiday) and Richard Nixon (who declared that it would always fall on the second Monday in October). So last night we dutifully went down into the bowels of the Knights of Columbus hall on the far side of Prospect Park, and raised many a bottle in honor of Columbus and his great achievement, nothing less than bringing America to the attention of western civilization. In a strange twist, our drinking companions were firemen and cops who cheered for the Cleveland Indians to beat the Yankees.
We'll open up this comment thread so that our readers can comment on the financial news of the day in our absence. Another way of showing our appreciation and trust in our readership. Feel free to show our publisher that we're irrelevant and the site can keep going even without writers and editors!
Money may never sleep but on this special Monday the DealBreaker team will. Tonight we celebrate the spirit of Columbus with a good bottle of Italian red, perhaps a Fontodi. We return tomorrow for our usual mischief.
Update: It just occurred to us that today might be a great day for our newer readers to browse through our archives and see why everyone is talking about DealBreaker. Long-time readers might want to catch up on some of our classics. One year ago today, for instance, we discovered that some Yale Student improbably named Aleksey Vayner had sent a link to his video resume along with his regular, paper and ink resume. And a legend was born.
Update II: The nice folks over at TheStreet.com were kind foolish enough to invite us over for a wine tasting. We were joined by some very lovely women and everyone's favorite former hedge fund manager, Tim Sykes. Thanks TSC. And to the ladies, we're sorry we drank so much and acted that way. But the wine was terrific, you were beautiful, and we couldn't help ourselves!
Update III: More news from the mating market. The New York Times picks up the trail of the author of last week's response to the Craig's List girl who is now-known as Miss Golddigger. But they come up with nothing but denials. The hunt continues! (Oh, hey! If you are the author, or know who is, please contact us. We'd love to interview you. And, don't worry, we'll protect your identity with everything we've got!)
Update IV: It's our day off. So why are we updating so much? We miss you!
Update V: For all our Canadian reader s , happy Thanksgiving! If you are unfamiliar with this holiday, you can read here all about how it originated, was transformed by loyalists who fought against the American revolution, and later was moved by the government from its traditional date to the second Monday in October.
Posted by , Oct 08, 2007 11:00AM
9:47AM my ass