Jokes aside, the US maple syrup industry is really facing a tough future. You need a certain set of weather conditions to produce a good syrup yield (freezing nights, warmer days) at the right time. The southern range of the sugar maple sap production, like northern Ohio, are already starting to dry up. When I was a kid the maple syrup production was stable enough to be a reliable grade school field trip, but a lot of the trees just aren’t producing anymore.
17 Likes
Tangentially related:
When Disneyland first opened you could meet “Aunt Jemima” in person at the pancake house (yeah, she was literally a character like Mickey or Goofy), and also meet the Fritos Kid at the House of Fritos, which was next door in the same building before being relocated to what’s now the Rancho Del Zocalo restaurant. But I don’t know if the Frito Bandito had a presence.
4 Likes
I’m sure that’s true and that climate change is going to pose a major challenge but overall US maple syrup production has been at record highs in recent years.
2 Likes
Weirdly, I do. Several times a year…
5 Likes
The only thing that Ben Stein has ever contributed to society or culture is saying Bueller over and over again.
16 Likes
I’d watch that.
4 Likes
I watched some of his videos, it looks like he puts up a few seconds every evening, in one of them he was explaining how he’s not rich because people picked his pockets and he wasn’t giving certain people money anymore. His house looks very modest and small.
I’m sure he’s better off then most 78 year olds and his idea of not rich is very different than most people. He’s 78 and living indoors.
All this talk of maple syrup made me think of this scene smuggling maple syrup from Canada.
8 Likes
He’s the son of a famous economist, graduated Columbia University with honors and was valedictorian at Yale, worked as both a lawyer an a Presidential advisor, starred in several successful movies and clearly regards himself as a highly intelligent human being.
If he isn’t rich then surely that ought to be proof enough that we don’t live in the meritocracy that conservatives like Stein like to pretend we live in?
19 Likes
Starred is a bit of a stretch. “Appeared in” is a more accurate description. But he did a lot of those “Ben Stein” roles.
I told him buying pants with a wormhole to his bank vault was a bad idea. But would Mr. Famous-Ivy-League-Economist listen to me? NoooOOOOooooo…!
4 Likes
Plus a bunch of commercials and his own TV show and a financially successful (if critically and scientifically panned) documentary.
10 Likes
Perhaps he should not have gambled it all away…
4 Likes
Oh, he made bank on his media appearances. I just wouldn’t say he starred in much. The movie wasn’t called “Mr. Stein’s Interminable Roll Call,” after all. 
5 Likes
He also profited from the illegal drug trade:
8 Likes
Recommended by Ben Stein and Sauron.
11 Likes
Also, he did a whole-ass game show about winning HIS money that rested on him having wealth… but sure… he’s “not rich”…
Jinx, @anon52120741!
7 Likes
I was not able to read that without the voice in my head being Mandy Patinkin, or maybe it was Bob Odenkirk.
4 Likes
If you google “Ben Stein Net Worth” there are a few estimates out there (which, granted, may be total BS) saying he’s worth $25M or so. To any normal person that would definitely meet the definition of “rich,” but this guy probably does hang out with a lot people who are wealthier than him so he actually may honestly not see himself that way. Few rich people do, especially if even richer people are around.
Through an unlikely set of circumstances I once attended a gathering at the home of the former Premier (roughly equivalent to Prime Minister) of Bermuda. She unsurprisingly lived in a nice mansion. But I overheard her in conversation saying that she considered herself to be “upper middle class” rather than “rich,” which I thought was funny.
6 Likes
They want their wealth and their toys, and they want privileges available whenever they need them—but they also want to be perceived as “normal” by other normal people
I’m sure Elon Musk calls himself “middle class”
5 Likes
More like “homeless” - he’s such an asshole
5 Likes
And “stateless” (and thus, mega asshole).
3 Likes
