Views from the Tower

World’s Most Expensive Steak Served in Chicago

bconnolly@furthermore.com (Brian Connolly) — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:11:33 -0600

$8,000 for an 8 oz. filet? Imagine. Not counting various expenses, gratuity, etc., that’s about a thousand dollars a bite.

And who got to eat it? Not King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud. Not even Mogul Trump. Not even Bill Gates at Seattle’s World’s Famous Metropolitan Steak House. It was eaten by an average guy at his home in Chicago.

First, what makes for an $8,000 steak? Is it the breeding or how the steer was raised? Perhaps it was what went into preparation.

“Samson” (not his real name) was part of the 300-head heard, raised at the world-renowned Boyne Highlands Farm in Big Sky, Montana. He ranged free breathing the pristine air and drinking the crystalline ice runoff from the 11,000 foot snow-capped steeple of Boyne Mountain. He grazed on the timothy brome and clover pastures that blanket the valley below. Humanely stunned and expertly trimmed, “Samson,” produced a most tender cut of filet mignon.

On November 15, 2005, that cut was then flown to Chicago and taken to the kitchen of the legendary Chef Vikki (who, note, also happens to be my wife).

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Kelly Clarkson and the "Death with Dignity Act"

bconnolly@furthermore.com (Brian Connolly) — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:41:41 -0600

Here’s another one for "odd timing." Or, it just might be an indirect request for assistance. Okay, to Bob and Ray’s “Slow Talkers of America,” add three weeks of near constant rain, and what do you get? By a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Oregon's assisted-suicide law. All things considered, I was just now coincidentally thinking the exact same thing.

Here, allow me to expand a bit on the backdrop. It’s been slow... and “Dank” (that’s the right word). ’06 has started with all things thick, both weather and people. We’re in the “January doldrums” and not a lot is moving. I take that back, there’s movement but no progress, per se. The Existential Gravity hangs at about 8.7 on a scale of 10. The DOW is still at about 10,500. An insurgent killed 6 more Marines. And the topper: Kelly Clarkson Refuses to Let "American Idol" Use Her Songs. We seem to swim parallel to progress to avoid the post tsunami undertow... and “sameness” gets punctuated by sheer insanity.

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Vinnie Launches Home Security Business

bconnolly@furthermore.com (Brian Connolly) — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 12:18:04 -0600

Now this really takes the cake. As business stories go, it’s a keeper. It’s ironic to the extreme, something you might find under “Odd News.” A major PR firm, Ruder Finn, this week announced that it was launching an Ethics Practice of all things.

First, let’s put this into perspective: It’s not inappropriate like Father Kilpatrick Opens the Lollipop Daycare Center. It’s just an odd mix like Trixie’s Adult Books Adds Prayer Chapel. I mean; I guess. Maybe. But a PR firm and ethics practice? What challenges the announcement’s credibility most is that it comes from the bumbling stewards of credibility.

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