I was reading the Atlantic over lunch today and came upon Mark Steyn's piece on the death of the Duke of Devonshire. Apparently the Duke came up against the Inland Revenue Service in the matter of some death taxes (80% of the value of the estate) and he fobbed them off for 17 years. Why, you may ask, did it take 17 years to close this estate? Because the Duke noted how long it took the Inland Revenue people to answer his letters. He then adjusted his calendar by taking the same amount of time to send his reply but subtracting one day from that period. Genius. Pure genius.
Posted by Random Penseur at June 11, 2004 01:36 PM