$330,000

One of the biggest truffles found in decades has fetched $330,000 (£165,000) at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, London and Florence.
A Macau casino owner, Stanley Ho, made the record-breaking bid for the white truffle, which weighed 1.5kg (3.3lb).
Luciano Savini and his son found the highly-prized fungus after it was dug up by his truffle dog near Pisa, northern Italy, last week.
He said he was overwhelmed by the high price paid for his discovery.
He said: “I thought we were going to beat the record, but not to really get to this amount.
“The biggest truffle of the century and the most expensive truffle of the century. There are no more words to say – it is all very beautiful.”
Mr Ho outbid British artist Damien Hirst and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi to the prize, according to the South China Morning Post.
All proceeds from the auction were donated to charities.

Wild truffles are harvested all over the world, from the western United States to China, but France and Italy, where they grow in open meadows and dense forests, respectively, are the best-known sources. These highly coveted fungi germinate 10 to 35 inches underground on the roots of any of a dozen varieties of trees. When uncovered, they look like balls of soil and range in size from a pea to a potato.

The global market for this sought-after specialty food is more than $2 billion, Lima estimates. Global gourmands, especially those in New York City, the largest consumer of truffles after Italy, pay through the nose for the delicacies thanks to their earthy, rich, mushroomy essence.

Each of the four commercially available truffles has a distinct growing season and is only available fresh at that time. White truffles (which have never been successfully domesticated) are in season between late September and December. Black winter truffles are available from November through February. Black summer truffles, the most bountiful kind, are in season between June and October. Bianchetti, or Tuscan truffles, are in season from January through April.

To cook a white truffle is to commit a culinary crime: Heat spoils the pungent taste. White truffles are generally shaved thinly over the top of a simple pasta dish to preserve their intoxicating scent. Black truffles (with a subtler smell and a texture that lends itself to cooking) and black summer truffles (known for their nutty flavor) can be shaved and eaten raw or cooked. Tuscan truffles are almost always cooked because heat doesn’t diminish their pronounced flavor.

Domain name sales occurring in the aftermarket are frequently submitted to the DN journal. The sales are listed weekly and include the top aftermarket resellers which include but are not limited to Sedo, Traffic (auctions), Afternic, NameJet, Moniker and private sales.  To date, and according to Guinness World Records and MSNBC, the most expensive domain name sales on record as of 2004 were.

 Business.com for $7.5 million in December 1999
 AsSeenOnTv.com for $5.1 million in January 2000
 Altavista.com for $3.3 million in August 1998
 Wine.com for $2.9 million in September 1999
 CreditCards.com for $2.75 million in July 2004
 Autos.com for $2.2 million in December 1999

The week ending January 27, 2008, DNJournal reported that CNN, a cable news channel purchased iReport.com for $750,000. This signifies another turning point in domain name sales. This name has neither organic traffic, nor does it have a dictionary term alone. Instead it is a highly brandable domain name utilizing the second most popular prefix for a “dictionary” and commercial word.

http://en.wikipedia.org

 Many restaurants, merchants and virtually all larger hotels will honor credit cards. It’s not necessary to get Fijian currency prior to travel. One can exchange money at Nadi International Airport as soon as you land.

This guide covers selected resources on the history of money in the United States from colonial times to the present. Although the focus is on the United States, we have included a few selected resources that also briefly cover the early history of money elsewhere in the world. The guide includes general online and print resources along with hot links to relevant subject searches in the Library of Congress online catalog.