Ithaca Hours, for those who aren't in the bongo circle, is a form of currency that works in (you guessed it) Ithaca and only in Ithaca.  The system of Ithaca Hours works on the premise that people should all make the same amount of money in an hour (roughly $10 and hour). 

I mean just because a garbage man doesn't perform brain surgery doesn't mean he should suffer in his wages.  Until someone wants to crack open their skull for him, I think the only fair thing to do is to assume he is more than capable of mastering the essential wirings of the human form and pay him as such.

The Hours (not the movie, the currency) are meant to stimulate local commerce because, like gift cards, they force you to spend your money only where they are accepted and, like gift cards, they suck as gifts because they can only be spent where they are accepted.  But unlike gift cards, Ithaca Hours leave the possibilities nearly endless.  You can buy tapestries, quilts, waterpipes, regular pipes, tapestries, and on and on.  The possibilities are, in the loosest sense of the word, limitless!

My favorite part of Ithaca Hours is that they are broken down into eighths (see image above).  For those of you who know the community but don't get why the irony: don't worry.  The rest of us are laughing.

NOTE:  Ithaca Hours really do exist.  Ask about them at Collegetown Bagels if you don't believe me.  But you should believe me.  My God, how you should believe me.