I always felt bad for Mr. Peanut because he had vision problems in only one eye, which necessitated him wearing a ridiculous-looking monocle, absent the dignity of proper spectacles. It presumably interfered with his ability to attract a mate, as there never was a Mrs. Peanut that I'm aware of.
The loveless Mr. Peanut's woes aside, the monocle may be making a comeback, albeit in a slightly different form: Semiconductor company Kopin's forthcoming Golden-i, a "game changing concept in spontaneous, hands-free wireless telecom" that will be marketed and sold by Motorola, who also worked on the design.
It's a monocle in the sense that it covers only one eye, and the little tiny screen apparently mimics a 15-inch monitor placed a normal distance away from your face. Presumably this will enable you to walk around without bumping into things, but given the fact that even people using non-vision-obstructing iPods are getting hit by cars, this will probably be safer in a stationary situation.
And in case any of you are wondering whatever happened to Mr. Peanut, I'm afraid his story does not end well:
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