Great moments in Italian - American history: the final deliverable

. . . after what must have been weeks of work, the relief was finished. I've seen it, while sitting back in a chair in the Oval Office during one of my many meetings - no, but I did get to peek in twice, thanks to my eldest daughter's spelling prowess.

Look carefully at the two images. Apart from being white and not having the surrounding text, notice anything else?

The plaster relief has fifty six-pointed stars. The "official" version has five-pointed stars. This issue is actually addressed elsewhere - the original spec for the very similar Great Seal of the United States does not specify five or six points, but tradition has held five.

I'm pretty sure the spec that the Italian artist was using did not include this detail.

(And this would be delicious rumor-fodder for the many, many conspiracy theory websites that claim the New World Order is being orchestrated from within the White House. You see, the Star of David also has six points, and the number of the Beast. . .)

This little story has an important message for those of thus in the software industry, as well as for those who get paid for creating anything for anybody else any time.