At least his house is made of money

An unemployed Irish artist has built a home from the shredded remains of around €1,400,000,000; a monument to the "madness" he says has been wrought on Ireland by the single currency, from a spectacular construction boom to a wrenching bust. Frank Buckley built the apartment in the lobby of a Dublin office building that has lain vacant since its completion four years ago at the peak of an ill-fated construction boom, using bricks of shredded euro notes he borrowed from Ireland's national mint. This is so amazing it would put a double rainbow to shame, especially when the house, whose walls and floor are covered in euro shreddings, is so warm you can sleep without a blanket. Pictures made from notes and coins decorate the walls, including one of a house, made from Irish 5 pence pieces. Even though Mr. Buckley isn't made of money, at least his house is, and if the euro fails as a currency, the notes won't fail as a great insulator. In other news, Karen Samford, a 72-year-old postal worker in Texas, has been suspended from her job after admitting she stole and kept literally truckloads of bulk mail over the last decade. Her boss reportedly became concerned with the excess mail in her office and asked if she had stashed any elsewhere, to which she admitted to renting entire storage units to hold the junk mail.