“So You Want to Be a Journalist”
Some comic relief, hat tip reader Scott:
Read more...Category Archives: Curiousities
The 1677 Statute of Frauds: History We Neglect at Our Peril
Have you ever signed a document disposing of something valuable, like a house or your estate? Did you find you needed to get it witnessed, and that the witnesses couldn’t be family members, and had to put their addresses on the document too? Then it may surprise you to learn that you are following legal precepts established by a long dead Welshman; this one, in fact:
[caption id="attachment_14376" align="alignnone" width="631" caption="Sir Leoline Jenkins (hat tip Wikipedia)"]
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whose tomb is at Jesus College, Oxford; oddly, no more than ten minutes’ amble from where I am sitting, carving out this post. I like the way his “Llewellyn” has been semi-Englished to “Leoline”. Right now, he is probably spinning, at a fair clip, for he is the originator of the Statute of Frauds.
Read more...Seeking Reader Help with Evil Site Scrapers
In classic the cobbler’s children go unshod fashion, I do a horrible job of monetizing the site (but I have made some progress on that front) and have even fallen behind on the sort of thing I normally do religiously, submitting for expense reimbursements (still haven’t sent receipts off to my publisher for what they’d […]
Read more...How Virtual is Your Holiday Season?
I’m clearly a hopeless old fart. In my youth, the hot joke gift was a Pet Rock. No kidding, it sold millions and made someone very rich. But then Pet Rock 2.0 was Tamagouchi, the electronic pet that responded to how much care you gave it. Distressingly like a real pet, it would die of […]
Read more...Econoparody: The Dollar and Its Diving
From the folks at Versus. Enjoy!
Read more...Guess about Mish
Various commenters have noticed that Mish’s blog has vanished. My guess – a spurious “terms of service violation”. Google’s robot spam monitors sometimes screw up by giving false positives – something like this happened to Yves (see para 3) back when NC was on Blogger. I can’t imagine they’ll shut up Mish for long and […]
Read more...“The Blue Ocean in RED”
A short film by Howard Hall (hat tip reader Sundog) The Blue Ocean in RED from Howard Hall on Vimeo.
Read more...QE2: Bernanke Cuts Geithner Off at the Knees
The Fed’s announcement of $600 billion of intermediate and long Treasury purchase, informally dubbed QE2, teed off a peppy rally in stocks, and led to further weakening of the dollar. These trends were already well in motion thanks to the central bank’s winks and nods that it was going to embark on another round of […]
Read more...In Case You Had Any Doubts As To Who Is Really In Charge
From an alert reader: The United States of America in one short scene, from Politico: MILITARY OFFICERS TOUR JPMORGAN — JPMorgan Chase yesterday hosted about 30 active duty military officers (across all branches and agencies) from the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Va. The officers met with senior executives, toured the trading floor and […]
Read more...We are Number One on Technorati!
Well, at least we are number one as of yesterday, when Richard Smith noticed our rating, and today among business blogs. Don’t know how long this will last. But look how we beat blogs with a lot more people as dedicated contributors! And if you look at the Technorati ratings for business blogs + news […]
Read more...ForeclosureMom Raps
Warning: this is rap by a middle aged white woman, so adjust your expectations accordingly. There have been a number of reports of cases like hers, of borrowers told to become delinquent to qualify for a mod. They often fail to get the mod and lose their homes.
Read more...Field of Schemes: David Einhorn’s latest short
Einhorn is the famous Lehman short of 2008; he got a lot of flak from Clueless Charlie Gasparino for that. I seem to remember our own Lehman bear, Yves, getting snarled at by Charlie G somewhere along the line, too. But of course, Einhorn, via his vehicle Greenlight Capital, had it right; as did Yves […]
Read more...Song of the Robber Baron
The latest Versus econoparody: And since this is a Friday night, let me give you a couple of personal faves. This one from O Lucky Man! is similar philosophically but very different stylistically. This Lindsay Anderson film (with Malcolm McDowell) has the interesting device of treating the band as a Greek chorus. During the picture, […]
Read more...Jon Stewart on the Foreclosure Mess
OK, I know NC is in danger of becoming “all mortgages, all the time,” but I assume you’ll appreciate this clip nevertheless. Enjoy! The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Read more...Meet GMAC’s Robo Signer Jeffrey Stephan
See this video ofthe deposition of GMAC’s famed robo signer, Jeffrey Stephan, who estimates that he signs 10,000 documents a month. If nothing else, you need to watch from 5:00 to the end of the first segment. Hat tip reader Barbara W, from 4closureFraud.org. I wish the sound quality were better; you can also read […]
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