James Watson’s Nobel medal sold for more than expected. He’s very happy.
After the sale, he said: “I’m very pleased. It’s more money than I expected to give to charity.”
What about the Hockney?
It’s pretty clear he’s desperately trying to buy a better reputation than his own words have given him. I don’t think it will work.
Ah yes, I always cry a few dry tears at all the good rich people giving all that extra dosh to charity when middle-class twits like me have to take extra work to avoid the red before Xmas..
Sorry if that sounded off: I’m just very touchy about “variously large random disposable income”. I’m luckier than most..
“More than I expected to give to charity.”
And, likely, more than you *will* give to charity.
This is “charity”?
Oh, so sad. Now they’ll only get some punching bags and maybe an exercise bike.
But of course, it’ll be the James D. Watson Memorial Punching Bag. That’s still nice, I guess.
I would like a James D. Watson Memorial Punching Bag for my lab. Do you think he’ll give me $100 to put it up?
Hmm… It’ll have a nice, dignified portrait of James D. Watson on it, right? Yeah, he’s such a charitable guy who cares about your health, I bet he’d be down with that.
razor @ 5
Unfortunately, it comes with a platform built around the bag so you can only punch down.
gmcard @8
Well played
Gmcard, you win today’s Internet!
sez watson: “I’m very pleased. It’s more money than I expected to give to charity.”
Exactly how much money did Mr. Watson expect to give to charity? Depending on the answer to that question, his current statement could be true even if the medal only brought him 50 cents.
I almost want to feel mildly bad for him, but he brought it on himself. If he had kept his racist crap to himself, things would have been fine. But he went and opened his mouth. Too bad for him.
Why would anyone buy that? And for 4 million dollars?
Whoever bought it, the totally non-frivolous nature of the purchase means that we need to cut that person’s taxes so that he or she can create jobs!
Oh. It’s a new day!
Area Man #14 wins Today’s Internet.
Unfortunately, the best possible outcome didn’t happen – that it received zero bids.
@ gmcard & Area Man
Superb, the both of you. Thanks for a slight lightening of the day.
#12 NateHevens. He who hates straight, white, cis-gendered, able-bodied men (not really)
There’s an old sentence that comes to mind:
The best quote, in my view, was in Nature:
Crick’s went for $2.27 million. Even if Watson was kidding (which I actually doubt), it would be one of those jokes that reveal something about the joker.
consciousness razor #4 wrote:
Funding science and education? Yes, I think that counts. So would giving money to the arts.
Not that they’re in dire need of any money; but yes, I know that University of Chicago, Indiana, Cambridge, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory do science and education. A gymnasium, or some such monument to his ego which is more visible than a hunk of gold collecting dust on his mantle, doesn’t exactly do that though. It’s also not the sort of thing that comes to my mind when someone says “charity,” but maybe I’ve set my expectations too high.
A petty ($600K) quibble: AP says the prize medal went for $4.7 mill.
Pierce:
So, somebody paid roughly $4.8M (if we round up) for this lump of metal, while about $4.1M is what Watson got in the deal, “most” of which will be used for his “charitable” purposes.
What do you do with someone else’s Nobel Prize medal?
See this? This is for the discovery that someone else made, I’m very proud of it.
U Frood @24:
You know, that’s something I wondered as well.
“What do you do with someone else’s Nobel Prize medal?”
Well they aren’t making any more of them.
Oh hold on, they are.
I think this is an “Ask Bender” question.