Adano Ley (Swami Nitty-Gritty) told me I was Johannes Gutenberg’s assistant in a past life. I never tried to validate it, figuring who would bother to record historical data about Gutenberg’s assistant?

Adano informed me I quit working for Gutenberg following a disagreement. He said, “When I first met you and saw your printing, I told Margaret, ‘Ah, Gutenberg’s assistant has returned!”

Turns out Gutenberg’s business partner was actually his “most trusted assistant.” Nineteen years after Adano’s remark, I chanced upon this information in a college library. He was Peter Schoffer, a calligrapher, engraver, and designer, who callously and opportunistically took over Gutenberg’s printing business, ultimately becoming the world’s first international printer and bookseller.

Peter Schoffer credited his adopted father with the invention of the printing press after his father foreclosed on Gutenberg and turned the enterprise over to Schoffer.

John Man (Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words, 2002) wrote …

“People coming across Schoffer in the mid-1450s would have been well advised to admire his talent and watch their backs.”

“The specialist is one who never makes small mistakes while moving toward the grand fallacy.”

Three of my favorite “metaphysical” movies are related to gambling …

Croupier (1998)
The Runner (1999)
The Cooler (2003)