The Knight Life by Keith Knight for October 03, 2012

A bit is the amount of gold dust you can pinch between your thumb and fore finger.

As for Kevin Smith not a clue…I must have missed that strip.

From his Wikipedia page: Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob (from the movie Jay and Silent Bob).

I wonder how many cheerleaders understand the derivation of the “two bits” cheer? I hadn’t heard about the gold dust derivation though.

Pieces of 8. Colonial Spanish dollars were cut into 8 pieces (bits) and used throughout the colonies. When the US began minting it’s own currency a bit traded for the equivalent of 12 1/2 cents. Two bits, a quarter.

http://www.knightlifecomic.com/2010/04/05/kevin-smith/

JackiAnne’s info should answer all your questions about Kevin Smith, except one last item; he appeared in the movie DOGMA as Silent Bob. Almost stole it from Linda Fiorentino,Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.

Uh oh!

Long before television, Wall Street would telegraph its prices per share in 8 bits to the dollar.