Archive for January, 2008

Imagine, for a moment, that you are having a romantic moment with someone. Imagine that things get really hot, and you both have a real good time, if you know what I mean.

Now, imagine if the person you were getting hot and heavy with was recording the whole thing. How would you feel? That no longer matters.

Recording secret videos of sex with your partner is not illegal, Italy’s supreme court has ruled.

Rome’s highest appeals acquitted a 49-year-old man who, unbeknown to his girlfriend, had recorded and kept films of them having sex.

Apparently, the only reason he was acquitted was because he didn’t distribute the films, but we have no idea what would have happened if he did.

Moral of the story? Be careful or else your fat ass could end up on the adult video store shelves.

Countrywide stepped up. And stepped in it.

Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) said on Wednesday it helped more than 81,000 borrowers stay in their residences and avert possible foreclosures in 2007, by either modifying or otherwise restructuring their home loans.

The largest U.S. mortgage lender, which agreed last week to be acquired by Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), said it modified home loans for 55,801 borrowers, set up long-term repayment plans for 12,100 borrowers, and provided assistance to 13,355 other borrowers.

Countrywide said more than two-thirds of the workout efforts took place in the second half of the year, as U.S. housing troubles grew worse.

They make a big deal about announcing that they helped 81,000 borrowers stay in their residences. Wow. Big whoop. They are the nation’s largest mortgage lender, so I doubt 81,000 is a significant number at all.

What makes those 81,000 people any more special than the others who asked for help but were turned away. What makes those 81,000 people any more qualified to keep their homes than the person who sent you a letter that you returned to sender without opening? What makes Countrywide so special for helping a fraction of the people they service loans for?

Nothing.

Did these people see a UFO? Do you believe in UFO’s? I have seen strange objects in the sky before. Were they UFO’s? Yes, I could not identify those flying objects I have seen in the past. Were they aliens? How the heck should I know, my eyes aren’t that good you know.

In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

…

While federal officials insist there’s a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object’s lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.

…

Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.

Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.

“I’m 90 percent sure this was an airliner,” Lewis said. “With the sun’s angle, it can play tricks on you.”

Read that again. Seriously. Numerous people have seen this object in the sky over the course of the past “several weeks”, but Major Karl Lewis says it was a tricky light “mirage” caused by the angle of the sun and an airliner.

Say what?

Did all of these people look at this object from the exact same angle and the exact same time each day, and were the airlines so punctual that the aircraft was in the exact same spot at the exact same time each day? Probably not.

It sounds to me like Major Lewis is a bit on the kooky side. There is definitely something wonky going on here.

I have talked to a few people over the course of the past couple weeks that thought a Delta merger was in the works. Don’t you love how company execs will deny the undeniable right up to the last moment. We wouldn’t want to steal their thunder, would we?

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) has started merger talks with both Northwest Airlines Corp (NWA.N) and United Airlines parent UAL Corp (UAUA.O), and hopes to reach an agreement with one of them over the next two weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The report, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, said Delta’s board gave Chief Executive Richard Anderson permission last Friday to hold talks with both carriers simultaneously.

Delta aims to present a preferred partner when Delta’s board next meet in early February, with a deal announcement coming as early as mid-February, the paper reported.

I think a deal with Northwest is more likely, given the current conditions, but I also think that the moment a Delta/Northwest deal is announced that United will announce they are in talks with Continental or some other airline. It seems they all think that the only way to compete is to combine.

Is it me, or are an awful lot of U.S. banks and investment firms turning to investors in the Middle East “deals”?

There’s Merrill Lynch & Co,

U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER.N) is seeking about $4 billion in a second capital raising, and the Kuwait Investment Authority is expected to be a significant investor in the new deal, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

And Citigroup,

Citigroup Inc (C.N), the largest U.S. bank, may eliminate 17,000 to 24,000 jobs and write off as much as $24 billion for subprime and other credit losses, as part of a plan to cut costs and add capital, CNBC television said on Monday.

…

Citigroup may also reduce its 54 cents per share quarterly dividend, which equates to a 7.6 percent dividend yield. It may also raise billions of dollars of new capital from various entities, including from its largest individual shareholder, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, published reports said. The bank sold a $7.5 billion stake to Abu Dhabi’s government in November.

What’s up with that? At what point do U.S. banks become non-U.S. banks?

On German television they show people tossing their old Christmas trees out the window. It sounded fun to this guy, until he fell out the window with the tree.

A German man threw himself out of a third storey window along with a Christmas tree during a late-night attempt to dispose of his festive decorations.

The man fell 7 metres (22 feet) from his flat after he lost his balance throwing the tree onto the street on Saturday, police in the western city of Moenchengladbach said. The tree did not break the victim’s fall.

How many people, that we didn’t hear about, had trees land on them?

I knew it. I knew Macy’s wasn’t going to be only one. Less than 24 hours since my last post, we find that more retailers will be closing stores and cutting back. Many stores are cutting back their specialty lines, and some, like Home Depot are cutting back on their square-footage growth plans.

U.S. retailers will close stores and reduce square-footage growth plans this year to offset slowing sales, slumping stock prices, a saturated market and a penny conscious shopper, analysts said on Sunday.

“We’ve seen about 25,000 new stores open in our universe — publicly traded specialty retailers — between 2000 and 2007,” said Brian Tunick, a J.P. Morgan analyst who covers specialty retailers, speaking at the National Retail Federation’s annual conference.

“There’s a lot of (retailers) out there that are over-stored right now,” he said.

So, is it the economy? Is it the negative mall experience? Or could it be the price of gas? That’s what one person actually said. She said for retailers to do better, people need to unconsolidate their shopping trips.

Wow. Did she just say that people would buy more if prices were lower? Oh sure, she said they would if gas prices were lower. Notice how she shifted the blame for poor sales.

I don’t think it has anything to do with the economy. I don’t think it has anything to do with the malls. I think it has to do with the fact people want something for their money, and if you ain’t got it, they aren’t spending their money at your store. It’s as simple as that.

Imagine how far they would have gotten if they had actually thought ahead on this one. Of course it didn’t help when Mr. Miller sang like a canary.

Masking his appearance with a coat of drywall compound wasn’t enough to protect the identity of a bank robber, authorities said. A NASCAR plate on the getaway car led police right to him.

Robert Coulson Lavery, 56, was convicted Wednesday in the Nov. 24, 2006, robbery of the New Cumberland Federal Credit Union, which netted $7,910, Fairview Township police said.

He was charged along with Robert Steven Miller, 53, who drove the getaway car, which bore a Rusty Wallace NASCAR plate on the front. A tip from someone familiar with the car led police to Miller, who confessed to helping Lavery in the robbery, police said.

Was the compound still wet? I can’t get it to stick to the wall when I need it to, let alone my face (not that I have tried).

The moral of the story? The next time you plan to commit a crime, don’t ask a stick in the mud to help you.

December sales dropped by 7.9 percent, and this cut comes on the heels of them closing underperforming stores last year.

Retailer Macy’s Inc (M.N) plans to cut 271 jobs in the Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis areas, closing most of its in-store wine shops and several food operations, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

The layoffs, which will take effect in March, include store-level and corporate posts in areas such as alterations, food, marketing, visual and finance, the newspaper said in a report on its Web site.

Is Macy’s an isolated case, or are we going to see an increased number of people getting laid off from the retail sector? This doesn’t sound like the normal “post-holiday” cutback, that’s for sure.

You think you had a bad day? Try walking a mile in this guy’s shoes…

An obstetrician saved his wife and six children from a fire that ravaged their home, delivered a baby while the house was still smoldering – then got cited with building violations.

Yeah… It’s bad.

The 37-year-old awoke around 3 a.m. to the screech of a smoke detector and the sight of flames inching up an outside wall of his Long Island home.

He got his family to safety, then was paged and went to a hospital to deliver an infant around 6 a.m.

The fire brought scrutiny from building inspectors, who cited the Weisses with a discrepancy in plumbing plans and living in the house without a certificate of occupancy. Weiss said the family had hired a lawyer to get one.

I guess he’s not nearly as good of a builder as he is hero and doctor, huh?