ALERT: US CHOPPERS ATTACK SYRIAN VILLAGE!

Witnesses: US helicopters attack Syrian village - AP

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria’s state-run television and witnesses say U.S. military helicopters have attacked an area along the country’s border with Iraq, causing casualties.

The report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal.

Residents reported two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers raiding a village, Hwijeh, 10 miles inside Syria’s border, killing seven people and wounding five.

That’s an old cornea.

An 80-year-old man in Oslo, Norway can still see with a 123-year-old transplanted cornea, although his vision is no longer great. Bernt Aune received the transplant in 1958. The donor was a man born in 1885!

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the oldest living organ in the world,” eye doctor Hasan Hasanain at Namsos hospital told the Norwegian daily Verdens Gang.

In the 1950s, doctors expected it to work for just five years, Hasanain said. Such cornea operations date back to the early 20th century and were among the first successful transplants.

“It wasn’t unusual to use corneas from elderly people who had died,” Aune said.

Link

Via Neatorama via Microsiervos.

Student Loans

Chris (who doesn’t want his last name used) graduated with about $160,000 in student loan debt with a master’s degree in music.

What a genius. The most universally-marketable degree! Student loan companies must’ve been lining up to lend to this kid!

“At the time I thought I could handle it. I thought the most I’d be paying was $600 a month,” he says.

But his payments were $2,400 a month.

So he fled the country.

Student loan fugitives - CNNMoney

McCain supporter (not) attacked

If supporting the McCain ticket wasn’t painful enough (just look at the polls), now supporters are reporting being attacked by thieves and having the letter ‘B’ (Barack?) carved into their face.

Classy.

But the attacker got it all wrong…if anything, he should be attacking Nader supporters.

(For the record, I wish the perpetrator a horrible death.)

EDIT: Her account was a fake. She faked the whole thing. LINK

Pepsi White: Yogurt and Pepsi

This is the new hotness in Tokyo:

Via Akihabara News.

The Apolocalypse has arrived.

Found this on the Drudge Report:

Does Joe Biden Want To Invade Iran?

Joe Biden has said that the world will test newly-elected President Barack Obama with an international crisis within six months of taking office. “Mark my words,” Biden told donors at a Seattle fund-raiser Sunday night. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. [...] Watch. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. [...] And he’s going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it’s not going to be apparent initially; it’s not going to be apparent that we’re right.”

Biden is quite familiar with international politics, and to be certain enough as to make a comment on the record about this means that he knows precisely what is going to happen.

Does Joe Biden intend to invade Iran?

It makes sense. It fits in with his comments at the Seattle fundraiser. Also, when Israel asked Bush if they could pre-emptively attack Iran, the United States denied their request as well as any assistance for such a mission. Both Israel and the United States have said that they will not allow Tehran to go nuclear. Because the US denied Israel the opportunity, does that mean the United States is going to do it themselves?

What do you think?

JOE D’OH PUTS O IN ‘CRISIS’ MODE - NYPost

UPDATE: Biden now says that he was only referring to the fact that every president is challenged, and the Barack Obama is better prepared to face it than John McCain. He denies having any specific intelligence on a specific national security threat.

Discounts in Detroit

I met these German kids in San Diego last month and asked them what they were doing in the States. They told me they were about to start a year-long study abroad in Flint, Michigan. Talk about a horrible choice! I let them in on a little secret: Flint is a sh*thole. Ditto Detroit. I told them how you can buy homes in Detroit for $300. Why so cheap? Because if you buy one and try to renovate it, your renovations will be immediately stolen by thieves or laid-off GM workers.

I just got ahold of some new data on the Detroit real estate market, courtesy Portfolio.com’s Felix Salmon:

The median price on a house or condo sold in Detroit last month plummeted 57%, to $9,250, from $21,250 a year ago, according to figures released Monday by Realcomp, a multiple listing service based in Farmington Hills. [...] “We are seeing that low end of the market sell quicker. If you have a $75,000 house in the city of Detroit, there are not a lot of buyers for it,” Elsea said. “But if you have an $8,500 house, it sells very quickly.”

No, that’s not a misprint.

Detroit Housing Datapoint of the Day - Felix Salmon

How glossy is too glossy?

Just look at that screen! Is this going to be an issue? Are people going to hate these, and return them in droves? (Courtesy Engadget)

Apple Borrows Colors

I wonder who inspired Apple in its choice of iPod Nano Colors? American Apparel.

Inspired by AH

Could we make all politicians wear one, all the time?

Polygraphs proposed for Ind. congressional debate - AP

JASPER, Ind. (AP) — Two challengers for an Indiana congressional seat have agreed to be hooked up to lie detectors during a debate, but an official with the incumbent’s party dismisses the idea as “bizarre.”

Pakistani Plunge

“Unless something happens quickly, we are about to see what happens when you have a systemic collapse in a nuclear power next door to a terrorist hotbed.”

Uh oh.

Pakistan’s debt has been downgraded by S&P deep into junk status; it has just enough foreign reserves to pay for two months of imports; and will likely default on a major loan on Friday–plus it has $3-billion more in upcoming debt payments. The “badla” rate, Pakistan’s prime interest rate for loaning money to individuals and businesses soared to 100% per annum, which will grind lending (and hence business) to a halt.

Pakistan, The Land That Financial Bad News Forgot: Part II - Paul Kedrovsky

It’s getting bad when…

This week’s cover of the Economist:

via Newsgroper.

Recession Takes Another Victim; A Nosejob Postponed

A nose job in a hospital with a private nurse in attendance had been something of a rite of passage for Joan Asher’s children. But when her fourth and last child was ready for her own rhinoplasty recently, Ms. Asher asked her to postpone it.

“The other noses were more prominent,” the stay-at-home mother from a tony New York City suburb in Westchester County told her 16-year-old daughter. She could get hers done when things settled down.

This is what passes as a compliment if you’re a Westchester mom. (”Darling, your nose job qualifies as a luxury, whereas in the case of your siblings, it was more of a necessity.”) On another note, Joan, maybe if all four of your kids need nose jobs, the world is trying to tell you to stop having ugly children.

As Times Turn Tough, New York’s Wealthy Economize [WSJ]

Via Nicole Hancock.

Did the CIA Bomb the Islamabad Marriott?

Pakistan has been making noise about US incursions into its territory lately.

Did the CIA bomb the Islamabad Marriott? Doing so might solidify anti-Taliban sentiment in Pakistan, which could lead to Pakistan’s authorization of more cross-border raids, or perhaps a stronger Pakistani military stance toward the Taliban.

It’s a classic ‘focusing event’, e.g. 9/11.

Just wondering aloud…

Suicide bomb guts Pakistan Marriott hotel; 40 dead - AP

Lesson 1: Don’t Listen To Business Magazines

Much noise has been made about divining the future through magazine covers. The conventional wisdom is that you should do exactly what the magazine covers tell you not to do, and you will profit.

Consider the Time Magazine cover from 2005: “Why we are gaga over real estate”.

This bullish piece on real estate should be correctly interpreted as: Sell your house immediately!

The following is a fantastic Gawker article detailing the business magazines’ best efforts in telling investors to buy stock earlier this year in companies like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and AIG:

How Magazines Led Investors Toward Ruin - Gawker

Just another piece of evidence for why we should all consult professional financial advisers instead of taking stock picks out of magazines.

Magazine Covers as Contrarian Indicators - Seeking Alpha

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch, and Barclays bought Lehman Brothers.

Who got a better deal?

Bank of America paid $50 billion for Merrill, inheriting a strong pool of stockbrokers and a pile of toxic mortgage debt that is sure to sour the combined firm.

Barclays paid only $250 million (that’s right, 1/200th of what Merrill went for!) for Lehman Brothers’ North American investment bank, inheriting a strong mergers and acquisitions business, a sales and trading platform, stock and bond underwriting department, and all this WITHOUT taking on a pile of toxic debt!

Bank of America overpaid for Merrill Lynch by at least 2x; consequently, they’re caught holding the bag. Barclays, on the other hand, bought a golden goose for mere pennies.

I think we have a winner.

Benazir Bhutto Visits Nigeria

A new Nigerian scam uses Benazir Bhutto’s story to scam money out of unsuspecting do-gooders:

Hello,

Cheers,
John Mustapha.

If anyone falls for this, I’m sorry for you.

Ridiculous.

This is ridiculous:

Supreme Court rule smoking ban applies to private clubs

A deeply divided Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that smoking is illegal even in private clubs.

Government should keep their hands out of our personal lives. Why did the Supreme Court decide they had the right to rule on this in the first place? It’s the legislature’s job to make laws, not the courts. If the legislators wanted to specifically ban smoking in private clubs, they would’ve done so.

Airline Baggage Fees

With regard to my air travel experiences, I’ve always been the exception to the rule. While others complain about lost bags and missed connections, I’ve always found flights to have fantastic food, friendly stewards, and ne’er have I had a bag lost by an airline.

This year, that’s starting to change. In July, Olympic Airlines disappointed me by not allowing me to carry my skateboard onboard the aircraft (they confiscated it). The meal on that flight was inedible. Cornbread like a brick, a mini-hot dog that had a rubbery consistency, and a mini-brownie that tasted like chalk and felt like a sponge.

On my United flight last week, I was charged $15 to check my 1st bag. Now, Continental is doing the same.

As an economist, I think prices should reflect services rendered, in order to pass on costs only to those that use the service. What pisses me off about the United bag fee is that is was never disclosed to me before I bought the ticket. Fare-search engines like Kayak.com and Expedia.com should ask how many bags you plan to check, and adjust the flight cost accordingly. This way, you might find that a $250 roundtrip flight on Alaska might actually be less expensive than a $225 roundtrip fare on United or Continental, considering the $30 fee to check a bag each way.

If a fee is not disclosed, it’s unethical.

Daddy Yankee Endorses McCain

In the highly-prized demographic of reggaeton-listeners, a major coup has taken place: Daddy Yankee, king of the charts, has formally endorsed John McCain for president. Rumors are swirling that McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, will usher the Puerto Rican onto the GOP ticket as his VP in order to win more Latino voters in Florida, Texas, Colorado, and Nevada.

Check out the Wall Street Journal’s sedate and serious coverage of the endorsement:

“Daddy Yankee is known for the song “Gasolina.” Many in the press corps joked about the intersection of the song and McCain’s energy policy (the song’s lyrics, when translated into English, have a male voice yelling “She likes gasoline!” followed by a female voice responding: “Give me more gasoline!” ) . In fact, [WSJ's] Washington Wire is told the phrase has nothing to do with the traditional meaning of gasoline.”

I just love how lowbrow the song is, and how unwilling WSJ is to let its readers know the song’s real meaning. Classic.

McCains Yankee Doodle Dandy - WSJ

Chinese Athletes

Reports indicate that sprinter/hurdler Liu Xiang was unable to run his heat because Chinese government officials had worked him so hard in order to get a medal that his body couldn’t handle the training, and he became injured.

Liu Xiang’s Olympic prospects ruined by China’s sports system, claims coach - The Telegraph

I strongly recommend you read this article about Yao Ming’s own oversized contribution to the Chinese, and its effects on his body/career. His career will end much earlier than it could have due to the way the Chinese national team has trained his body into the ground. He’s a patriot, and let the state have its way at the expense of his career. It’s very sad.

Yao has delivered, now it’s China’s turn - Yahoo! Sports

Poland Nuked?

This whole thing is really getting out of hand:

“Moscow lashed out at Washington and Warsaw on Friday, saying the plan to site a US anti-missile defence shield in Poland would undermine the global balance of power and put Poland at risk of nuclear attack.”

That kind of threat from Russia will only impede progress, and it only serves to alienate countries all over the world who side with Poland with regard its right to freely ally — and sign treaties with — other nations.

Missile shield accord draws Russian fire

Isaac Hayes

First it was Bernie Mac who bought the farm, and now I’ve read that Isaac Hayes just did the same.

Is it just me, or does it seem like there’s some homicidal maniac going around, murdering black entertainers?