Inflation!

Paper lentil bean currencies were distributed to the membership at the Christmas festivities today. Since we're no longer limited to the number of steel balls to which we have access, the paper bean to steel ball exchange ratio was defined as 113.4 (approx. Ł113 10'3"/ball) and account balances were converted to the paper currency effective 12/30/06 at 2:30pm ET.

How to understand the new currency:
Whole lentil beans come in eight denominations, each with a cartoon silhouette of a different color. The denominations are: Ł1,000 (red), Ł500 (yellow), Ł341 (orange), Ł100 (blue), Ł50 (purple), Ł10 (gray), Ł5 (green), and Ł1 (white). Please observe that the Ł341 note is not a joke, and actually holds a value of Ł341.

Fractional beans are defined in "bits" and "pieces." There are 27 bits in a bean, and 4 pieces in a bit, yielding a total of 108 pieces in a lentil bean. Bits are denoted with a single prime, pieces with a double prime. The paper "coins" come in four denominations with different colored text: Ł0 09' (red), Ł0 03' (blue), Ł0 01' (green), and Ł0 00'1" (black).

Members may deposit their monies in the Cousin Club Bank at any time. Balances at the end of each month will be credited with interest in the amount of 0.359 pieces per lentil bean deposited (approx. 4.06% APY). Fractional pieces will be tracked to at least five decimal places, but will not be able to be withdrawn.

Enjoy your money, and Happy New Year!

Getting There

We've designed the color schemes for all 12 months. Now, only three tasks remain:

1. Finding cute little pictures for the corner of the January-November templates (à la cute Christmas tree with teddy bear both shown at left and featured for December),
2. Resizing them accordingly and making sure they're consistent with the color scheme, and
3. Programming a script that will automatically update the template at midnight on the first of each month.

And they must be done in that order. So for now, the template updates will be done manually on my part... and I'm not logging in at midnight on January 1 to change it instead of watching the ball drop in Times Square!

Bottom line, if the template doesn't change right at midnight, don't cry.

Limbo

Hey... for the next 48 hours or so, this blog will be "in limbo" amongst all 12 of our monthly templates. We've got to create them somehow!

So if you come and see a pumpkin picture, do not be alarmed. Simply look at a calendar and remember that it is December... (hey, that rhymes...)

Oh, and by the way, have a very Merry Christmas!

Template

We're currently in the process of creating our color scheme, so in the meantime, if you come to this site and it looks nothing like it did before, don't be alarmed.

Same deal for weird colors that seem out of place here and there.

We're thinking something Christmas-y for December. We'll change it in January, I'm sure.

Lentil Beans!

Current bank balances for the Cousin Club Bank (of Lentil Beans, of course) are posted in the sidebar. Something more secure will be in place eventually. In the meantime, blog admins should note that simply editing the balance shown here does not change your balance. I mean, honestly, there're only, like Ł250 in existence... or at least to which we have access. So if the blog starts saying you have even as "little" as Ł1,000, everyone will know you're lying.

Remember when we used to "print" our own money (i.e., draw it) rather than carry around little steel balls? Maybe a vote to go back to that in 2007?