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From the Archives: From Drugged Art, Pillow Fights, Toothpaste Theft and an Almost Fatal Proposal

Jon — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:36:59 +0000

From Arizona, not that customs officials didn’t appreciate art but the find they got was truly one to behold, 90 pounds of marijuana stuffed into the frames of several paintings that was supposed to be smuggled into the US. The daring ploy to smuggle the drugs almost succeeded till a nosy dog put his nose on something within the designated art that was enough cause for further examination and viola, x-ray reveals the marijuana leaves contained within the frames, sending the man into custody wasting seemingly very good art and very good frames. Just goes to show you that the need for cash makes people do stupid things.
Still in the US, Detroit police was called to a scene that would have been one to see indeed, an organized pillow fight that was to be held at the campus Maritus Park which they promptly halted, to the dismay of the organizers who questioned the legalities of owning the popular bedtime piece. Their remark, it wasn’t actually the fight they were afraid of or anybody getting hurt, but the millions of feathers that the city would have to deal with!
From Germany this time, GOD knows how clean and healthy teeth is something to smile about, right? Not this time, for police are after a man who had an unusually plump jacket. When questioned, he hit the poor woman at the store and 68 tubes of the teeth cleaning agent was sent all over the place. The police only had this to say, “Maybe he had a lot of bad teeth?!?” (well enough for a couple of years savings on those pearly whites). Lastly, from the ever busy city that is New York, a man who was to propose to his future wife almost turned into tragedy when the darned ring fell off the walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge, ending on the roadway, prompting the police to send in units to halt traffic and to just let the guy get on with the business of his proposal after finding his way through the metal work. (call it lucky, or it might be a very very expensive ring!’

Coffee – Signs of the Times

Jon — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:43:49 +0000

Need to know that the economy is doing bad.. really bad? Well get this budding entrepreneur who found a very innovative way to sell of all things, coffee. Take a drive last year into the business district and you’ll surely see coffee shops at every street corner. Now that the recession’s here, many have closed shop or trimmed branches for they just had to. Major brands have first been beaten by unknown brands that not only taste better but cost less. Now this guy opens his coffee shop, gets a couple of servers and in comes customers in groves, he earns a lot of money but ends up in controversy. The coffee shop has this posted outside :

“Over 18 Only.” another sign says, “No cameras, No touching, CASH Only.”

Now back to the best way to sell coffee, guessed his gimmick, they serve it in the nude! In the nude, COFFEE?!!. You know what’s weird? The coffee shop owner says there’s no shortage of applicants for the job, men and women. Now that’s sign the recession is hitting hard enough to get you to take your shirt off. Imagine ordering your morning espresso, served by a nude waitress(arghhhhh….. My aching Heart…….), bring those Nitroglycerin Tablets, you’ll need it if you….. drink too much coffee on an empty stomach with a heart condition.

You’ve gotta’ give this guy a credit for his method of selling something that has become so ordinary and boring and kicking a lot of life back into it in his little shop. Now the concept isn’t totally new with other, less baring ideas having the same themes out there. Now that’s business innovation/creativity at it’s best.

Seduction and insider trading

Jon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:59:33 +0000

US authorities recently filed 20 people with securities fraud in what is probably the largest inside trading case since the 1980s.

This news may be considered par for the course for greedy stockmarket brokers but what has made this case more titillating is inclusion of a 44-year-old former teenage beauty queen who used more than her business acumen to get a leg up on other traders.

Danielle Chesi, an analyst for New Castle Funds LLC, reportedly used her feminine charms to get insider information on various technology companies. Her tactics were so effective that she amassed an impressive list of contacts that included the former Chairman of AMD and other top executives in IBM and Akamai Technologies.

What’s surprising here is how such well-established and successful businessmen fell for the oldest trick in the book. I guess deep down inside these powerful men are still nerds who are hungry for the attention of the prom queen.

Facebook could earn loads with its games

Jon — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:45:24 +0000

Hi. I’m a Facebook user and I’m a Mafia Wars addict.

I’ve never been big Facebook user until after I actually discovered Mafia Wars. That game really hooked me on Facebook, and in the process I discovered how cool this social network is in finding long lost friends. And Facebook seems to have realized that Mafia Wars and the other games in the site is the ticket to profitability.

Facebook is currently testing a new payment scheme where it will get a cut each time a player buys an in-game item on the site. This will potentially earn Facebook a yummy piece of the financial pie that is already in the hundreds of millions being taken by Zynga, Inc., the creator of the some of the most popular games in Facebook, like Mafia Wars, and Farmville. Another company, Playfish, Inc., which makes Pet Society, is also a part of the pay system being tried out. With the social games market predicted to grow three-fold to $2 billion by 2012, this is the perfect time for Facebook to get in on the action.

The company is testing a payment system to gain a cut each time an online-game player buys a digital tractor, weapon or hat on the site. That would give Facebook a piece of the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being pulled in by Zynga Inc., creator of “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars,” and Playfish Inc., maker of “Pet Society.” The social-games market will almost triple to $2 billion by 2012, estimates ThinkEquity LLC.

Both Zynga and Playfish allow Facebok users to play its games for free but rely on selling virtual goods as part of its revenue. These items are sold through microtransactions. The companies’ success has made Facebook the largest game portal with over 100 million users.

The system being used by the site is Facebook Credits. The payment service will allow users to buy credits that they can use to buy items in different games. This is different from the present system where a player can only buy credits through the game he’s playing and only be able to use it in that game and nowhere else.

With new games coming (Civilization is particularly exciting), it will be awesome if Facebook finally earns some money from the social-network addicts that have made Facebook their virtual home.

Disney acquires Marvel, which leaves fanboys cold

Jon — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:55:15 +0000

The announcement that Disney has acquired Marvel for $4 billion came as a shock to many people.

The family-oriented company successfully made its buyout offer for Marvel Comics, which currently has over 5,000 characters in its stable. This includes, of course, such popular characters as Spider-man, The X-Men, The Hulk and Iron Man.

The thought of the Magic Kingdom coopting some of the most bad-ass characters existing today leaves me cold. Disney’s been known to “kid-ify” its properties. I don’t want to see my beloved comic book characters starting to pull punches just because of Walt’s evil influence. Yup, you read it right Disney’s the devil. Looks like the Marvel super heroes have one tough fight to deal with and it’s going to be from Mickey and friends. As far as I’m concerned I’m all for Wolverine goring Mickey’s ass.

People cashing in on Jacko’s death

Jon — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:43:37 +0000

The King of Pop is dead.

Michael Jackson died almost a month ago but the circus that has surrounded his life still hounds him to his death. It’s funny how people are trying to cash in on his death — something that people have already been doing when he was alive.

Just look at eBay and any of the other online auction and online buy and sell sites and you’ll see a huge increase in the sale and auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia. From CDs to t-shirts to buttons to magazines, anything with Jackson’s mug on it is getting sold at exorbitant prices — and people are actually buying it! It’s really amazing. I’m pretty sure that if someone actually kept Jackson’s original nose we’d see it on eBay, too.

Bailout and Chrysler – Capitalism at its Best

Jon — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:12:06 +0000

Chrysler tries to beat total collapse by getting aid from the government in the form of $4 Billion dollars last January is again getting protection with the blessing of the White House by filing for bankruptcy. The globally charismatic President Obama whom people simply cannot get enough of carries a sense of something everywhere he goes, call it charisma or call it the change he is promoting in the government but many favor his style, well not all. There will always be detractors for as the eternal battle between the Democrats and Republicans, there’s always two sided to a coin. The world of politics is again getting shaken up by the moves of the President to bolster and support the deal Chrysler and its foreign partners which sadly failed to meet the government’s standards is still getting support, too much support according to some political analysts that the president may be over-extending his powers over corporate matters.
In another bizarre yet annoying fact, most Americans are getting clean cold cash, $400 for singles and $800 for couples this year as part of the economic stimulus, that’s the good news. Now here’s the annoying part, you better be paying the IRS enough taxes of they’d be wanting a huge chunk of this cold cash next time you pay your taxes. Yep, there is a certain need for information dissemination that may have to be rolled out for this one for not much (if anybody at all) know of the said problem that may arise should you fail to know what you have to do. Even we were amazed at the news and if it weren’t for the breaking news we wouldn’t have known about it. Now That’s the capitalist mind at work, better check your tax records, you maight just end up paying the IRS more than you think you have to!

Capitalist Blunders from the UK and US

Jon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:25:02 +0000

Talk about the lack of control and forward thinking, in the UK, health officials released a drug-dependent schizophrenic on the grounds that his out-patient treatment would be monitored by health servicemen that just didn’t happen. The outcome, the drug-laden man goes on a rampage eventually killing a police officer in the process before being stopped by other police officers. The man was released to care for himself, expected to take all his necessary medication with NHS people supposedly to go check in on him regularly for progress and evaluation of his case. He misses his scheduled check-ups, eludes health officials who by the way fail to inform the police that a dangerous man is at large which could have gotten him back into custody for his and the general public’s safety. He goes missing, eventually killing Police Constable John Henry. Talk about a failure in the highest regard, these people should have known better and kept constant tabs on him. PC Henry leaves a wife and daughter behind who still calls out daddy when she sees his dad’s pictures on TV.
In the US, the capitalists in Capitol Hill are seeking to and end to the many secretive bailout agreements that are struck out of the eyes of the general public who are fuming with anger at rumors that they’ve been happening all over all through out the US’s long history. Information that has leaked shows that bailouts have always been a norm for executive action where the President is given the right to decide whether a company should live or die, falling ill due to it’s many debts and ill-policy making management. As we’ve been saying all along, why the hell should bailout’s be allowed when these people are responsible for their own demise. Take a look at these rich and famous a top executives, who amidst all the economic turmoil still have the guts to take bonuses from bailout funds, talk about a failure!

When the Going Gets Tough, The Capitalists Band Together

Jon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:46:13 +0000

The housing market crash that is currently bringing chaos to the many homeowners who stand to lose their homes even with the ton’s of bailout money the government is shelling out is far from over. From the idiots at wall street and the banking sector who conjured out home packages that required no collateral to the very top levels of the housing market giants, Freddie and Fannie who are two of the biggest players in the housing industry they all benefited from the billions of dollars that the market earned. To make matter worse, all the watchdogs watching the watchdogs all knew this was happening and they simply looked the other way, till the market crashed and everybody started pointing fingers at everybody else.
Fannie and Freddie are reporting losses in the billions of dollars (as if they didn’t earn many times that amount) as the housing market crashed taking along the effervescent status symbol that is owning a home of millions of Americans who stand to lose their homes due to the events that transpired against them. Now the government is issuing bailouts as if they were pancakes and who wouldn’t love free handouts but what about the saying, “rather than giving out fish, why not teach people how to fish”. Now the government has a budget deficit in the trillions of dollars and yet people are still losing homes. Now you be the judge and say that that is good governance! Just hope the Federal Government has trillions more for the crisis is still on a rampage!

Underdog Wins Giant Flunks

Jon — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:44:13 +0000

The economic crisis has many a companies fighting for survival and yet out of the blue an underdog in the It industry made it big and even managed to post earnings. Apple has managed to post good profits in spite of the economic downturn which may be reason for a former CFO ratting out on the company’s CEO Steve Jobs. They’ve been at it for a while and it seems that the capitalist mind is hard at work trying to get the better of both of them. The stocks issues and many other financial information that was leaked to the SEC has Jobs in hot water for seemingly unfair stock options in terms of ownership of the company. The truth is out there somewhere yet many questions still have to be addressed regarding their true form (maybe the SEC can finally do their job, properly?!?).
Microsoft the ever looming giant of the software market that has been forcing people to use their many corporate products for many years is accepting defeat as result of the economic downturn as it releases profit projections that is showing losses (well, you win some you lose some as they say) in their many products which failed forecasts. The software giant has established it’s place in the IT industry by first bullying it’s way to the top, pissing everybody else who then came up with many products to rival theirs. Now that the era of the free-ware and open-sourced software has come, they stand to lose a lot of the market they formerly held (on their own) and failure to adapt may spell the end for the software giant. Being the sole representative of capitalism in the IT industry, it is subject to attack after attack by people who make viruses and many other forms of malware as the most used software on earth. Hackers from the dark side hate their ways and seek revenge by plaguing the rest of us as they exact revenge on the giant.