Actually, I'm shocked and awed by the pointlessness of it all. The Capital Fund for the Mark Twain House had raised $20 million by last December -- much of it from corporate contributors. That's a hell of a lot of money for construction of a museum dedicated to a single author.

And why did they begin construction on this addition last year if there was some question as to whether they'd be able to raise the remaining $10 million? (And that after spending millions in the 1990s restoring a house Twain lived in for just 20 years -- the funny thing is there are a number of Twain House/Museums that show up on a Google search. Better preserve every one!)