

The Strange Life of 'Lord' Timothy Dexter - samclemens
http://priceonomics.com/the-strange-life-of-lord-timothy-dexter/

======
Animats
Dexter was a little too early. The United States, although it had dumped the
nobility concept, still had the English feudal concept that big landowners
ruled, almost by right. Manufacturing hadn't yet displaced landowning as the
way to make money.

In England, that model held on until 1880 or so.
([http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/books/never-has-so-few-
own...](http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/books/never-has-so-few-owned-so-
much.html)) In the US, it ended earlier. But it was still in full force in
Dexter's day.

As for the follies of the rich, we still have that. Larry Ellison has a huge,
silly house in Woodside, where, through much cutting of rock, a sort of pseudo
rural Japanese landscape was created, complete with fog machine. In China,
where being rich is a new thing, people are still trying to figure out status
symbols. The results are amusing. ([http://www.gq.com/news-
politics/201501/chinas-richest](http://www.gq.com/news-politics/201501/chinas-
richest)). There are outfits selling titles of nobility on line.
([http://nobility.co.uk/](http://nobility.co.uk/)).

~~~
arethuza
Here in Scotland the last vestige of feudalism (fue duties payable by "owners"
of some property to the feudal superiors) was only abolished in 2000 as one of
the first Acts of the Scottish Parliament:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_Feudal_Tenure_etc....](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_Feudal_Tenure_etc._%28Scotland%29_Act_2000)

------
habosa
Timothy Dexter's Wikipedia article is probably my favorite page on the entire
site (I keep a list of my favorite weird finds, such as "List of Sexually
Active Popes").

I have shown this story to dozens of friends, and every one finds it
incredibly entertaining. This man's life should be a movie, and Steve Martin
should play the lead.

~~~
mintplant
Would you mind sharing this list? Sounds like interesting reading?

~~~
habosa
Here are my top 4: 1) Timothy Dexter 2) List of Sexually Active Popes 3) List
of nicknames used by George W. Bush 4) Toilet paper orientation

It's just amazing what kinds of things people take the time to write about on
Wikipedia. I wish I could remember some of my other favorites but my bookmarks
got all messed up a while ago so I only have those 4 from memory,

------
xacaxulu
This is really interesting. I'm wondering if he was just sandbagging or at
some point just figured out his own unique hustle with respect to his apparent
intellectual deficiency. Definitely is now on my list of 'historical figures I
would have liked to get drunk with'.

------
hyp0
As the first American eccentric, he was a hipster before it was cool.

The common wisdom is a model of the world, but must be wrong in some ways,
simply because the world is far more complex than any model we could
comprehend. Bed pans weren't brought to the tropics because they weren't
needed, therefore their other uses were not discovered. Acting on what you
think is a good idea, that nobody else does, can lead to success. (Plus
Luck...)

In investing, contrarianism can work, because the market often over-reacts to
bad news. By buying on bad news, you can come out ahead, especially if you
also do some checking. For example, Warren Buffett bought American Express
when it was involved in a fraudulent salad oil transaction. Because its
business (of credit cards) was based on trust, it was thought this would be
diastrous. But Buffett checked the local shopping center to see consumers
still using it. Their daily habits weren't affected by the news. So he bought
big, and made a(nother) fortune.

------
Pyret
This is the funniest thing I read in a long time. I find Dexter admirable.

~~~
keithpeter
I liked the picture reproduced from his book where he provides a supply of
punctuation marks for you to 'pepper and salt' the rest of the text as you
wish. Witty, and it recalls the practice of printing figures at the end of
books (presumably as they were printed from wood blocks rather than type and
had to be printed out of sequence).

I think this chap was less illiterate than the OA supposes...

------
ceejayoz
These days he'd probably wind up as a VC accidentally investing in a bunch of
hot startups.

~~~
lumberjack
To me he resembles Kim Dotcom.

~~~
squozzer
I was thinking more Wesley Willis.

