You Can't Make This Stuff Up

[Andreuccio]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

More American "culture"...

Woman sues Victoria's Secret claiming thong injury

Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:18pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - A woman who says she was hurt by her thong panties when a metal clip flew off and hit her in the eye has sued Victoria's Secret, saying in a TV interview on Thursday that the injury caused her "excruciating pain."

Macrida Patterson, a 52-year-old Los Angeles traffic officer, told NBC's "Today" show that she suffered cuts to her cornea from the small piece of metal that had been used to secure a rhinestone heart onto the blue thong.

"I was putting on my underwear from Victoria's Secret and the metal popped in my eye. It happened really quickly. I was in excruciating pain. I screamed. That's what happened," Patterson said on "Today."

Patterson's lawyer Jason Buccat, who also appeared on "Today," said the metal staple caused "severe damage" to her cornea that required a topical steroid.

The product liability lawsuit, which was filed on June 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court and first reported on the Smoking Gun Web site, seeks unspecified damages.

A spokeswoman for Victoria's Secret, which is operated by Limited Brands Inc, could not immediately be reached for comment.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifes...38991320080620

I once scratched my cornea. I got some piece of dust or grit under my contact lense. I can testify that it was excruciatingly painful. I ended up in the emergency room. For all I know, they might have applied a topical steroid too. A day later, it was all better. Turns out the cornea is one of the fastest healing parts of the body.

I wonder if I could sue somebody, maybe the contact lens manufacturer or the grit spewer. This might be worth a few million.

I watched the video of Patterson and her lawyer on the Today Show. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25258522/) My guess is Victoria's Secret was negligent. The lesson to take away here is we need more disclaimers in our society. Victoria's Secret should have included a disclaimer not to wear thong underwear that's too small, at the risk of severe cornea injury.

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Hmmmmm. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to unleash, on the unsuspecting global village, the internet, satellite rebroadcasts of Sex and the City, Walt Disney, Coke, and all those Happy Meals after all... :rolleyes:

More American "culture"...

Woman sues Victoria's Secret claiming thong injury

Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:18pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - A woman who says she was hurt by her thong panties when a metal clip flew off and hit her in the eye has sued Victoria's Secret, saying in a TV interview on Thursday that the injury caused her "excruciating pain."

Macrida Patterson, a 52-year-old Los Angeles traffic officer, told NBC's "Today" show that she suffered cuts to her cornea from the small piece of metal that had been used to secure a rhinestone heart onto the blue thong.

"I was putting on my underwear from Victoria's Secret and the metal popped in my eye. It happened really quickly. I was in excruciating pain. I screamed. That's what happened," Patterson said on "Today."

Patterson's lawyer Jason Buccat, who also appeared on "Today," said the metal staple caused "severe damage" to her cornea that required a topical steroid.

The product liability lawsuit, which was filed on June 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court and first reported on the Smoking Gun Web site, seeks unspecified damages.

A spokeswoman for Victoria's Secret, which is operated by Limited Brands Inc, could not immediately be reached for comment.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifes...38991320080620

[rabot10]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Hard to believe this site needs yet another thread, but I came across the following, figured it would take the edge off the sometimes serious tone we get into around here, couldn't figure out where to put it, so I started this thread thinking others could just add anything similar - amusing, incredulous, revealing, impossible to be true, whatever...

What follows is dead serious. You can't make this stuff up...

Saudi divorces wife for watching male TV host:
Date: 9/29/2007 4:25:00 PM

A Saudi man divorced his wife for watching alone a television programme presented by a male, an act he deemed immoral, the Al Shams newspaper reported on Saturday.

The man, whom the paper did not identify, ended his marriage on the grounds his wife was effectively alone with an unrelated man, which is forbidden under the strict Islamic law enforced in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the paper said.

Men in Saudi Arabia have the authority to divorce their wives without resort to the courts.

And Your Point is?

[Andreuccio]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Men in Saudi Arabia have the authority to divorce their wives without resort to the courts.

And your point is?

Maybe the Saudis are on to something.

[rabot10]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Hard to believe this site needs yet another thread, but I came across the following, figured it would take the edge off the sometimes serious tone we get into around here, couldn't figure out where to put it, so I started this thread thinking others could just add anything similar - amusing, incredulous, revealing, impossible to be true, whatever...

What follows is dead serious. You can't make this stuff up...

Saudi divorces wife for watching male TV host:
Date: 9/29/2007 4:25:00 PM

A Saudi man divorced his wife for watching alone a television programme presented by a male, an act he deemed immoral, the Al Shams newspaper reported on Saturday.

The man, whom the paper did not identify, ended his marriage on the grounds his wife was effectively alone with an unrelated man, which is forbidden under the strict Islamic law enforced in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the paper said.


Men in Saudi Arabia have the authority to divorce their wives without resort to the courts.

And your point is?

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Sounds like they have wholeheartedly embraced American culture and ideology.

Hmmmmm. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to unleash, on the unsuspecting global village, the internet, satellite rebroadcasts of Sex and the City, Walt Disney, Coke, and all those Happy Meals after all... :rolleyes:

[zoog]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Darned if I know jk. Probably a series of enclosed sites with air conditioning, with many of them connected at grade level so people can get around without going outside, or maybe a tram system or something. Anything outside, except a water park, is useless from June to September because of the heat and humidity.

I try to keep a detached perspective on this stuff and don't pay a lot of attention, as it seems so completely over-the-top artificial in every respect. A few people I know who live in Dubai seem to be getting caught up in it all, and I get the impression they are starting to think we should all live this way...

Sounds like they have wholeheartedly embraced American culture and ideology.

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

won't dubailand be awfully hot a lot of the year? or are they going to air condition the 107square mile facility?

Darned if I know jk. Probably a series of enclosed sites with air conditioning, with many of them connected at grade level so people can get around without going outside, or maybe a tram system or something. Anything outside, except a water park, is useless from June to September because of the heat and humidity.

I try to keep a detached perspective on this stuff and don't pay a lot of attention, as it seems so completely over-the-top artificial in every respect. A few people I know who live in Dubai seem to be getting caught up in it all, and I get the impression they are starting to think we should all live this way...

[jk]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

won't dubailand be awfully hot a lot of the year? or are they going to air condition the 107square mile facility?

[GRG55]

Re: Gov't blames itself for rising inflation...

Greg. Are you now in THE kingdom or at Disneyworld?

Jim: I am back in the sandbox (Arabian Gulf) for a little while, but some days it's damn difficult to tell the difference between here and a giant amusement park. A few more examples of the complete insanity going on around these parts to illustrate (sorry couldn't figure out how to get the pictures attached):

"...The Palm Islands in Dubai used a new Dutch dredging technology to create these massive man made islands. They are the largest artificial islands in the world and can be seen from space. Three of these Palms will be made with the last one being the largest of them all. Upon completion, the resort will have 2,000 villas, 40 luxury hotels, shopping centers, movie theaters, and many other facilities. It is expected to support a population of approximately 500,000 people. It is advertised as being visible from the moon.

The World Islands. 300 artificially created islands in the shape of the world. Each island will have an estimated cost of $25-30 million.

Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel. Entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai, it is scheduled to be completed by 2009 after many delays.

The Burj Dubai. Construction began in 2005 and is expected to be complete by 2008. At an estimated height of over 800 meters, it will easily be world's tallest building when finished. It will be almost 40% taller than the the current tallest building, the Yaipei 101. Considered the only '7 star' hotel and the most luxurious hotel in the world. [Actually Dubai has for many years advertised the existing Burj Al Arab as the world's only 7-star hotel - that's the sail shaped hotel with the projecting helideck that is pictured so often in stories about Dubai].

The Al Burj. This will be the centerpiece of the Dubai Waterfront. Once completed it will take over the title of the tallest structure in the world from the Burj Dubai. Recently it was announced that the final height of this tower will be 1200 meters. That would make it more than 30% taller than the Burj Dubai and three times as tall as the Empire State Building.

Dubailand. Currently, the largest amusement park collection in the world is Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, which is also the largest single-site employer in the United states with 58,000 employees. Dubailand will be twice the size. Dubailand will be built on 3 billion square feet (107 miles) at an estimated $20 billion price tag. The site will include a purported 45 mega projects and 200 hundred other smaller projects. Currently, the Walt Disney World Resort is the #1 tourist destination in the world. Once fully completed, Dubailand will easily take over that title since it is expected to attract 200,000 visitors daily.

The Dubai Mall will be the largest shopping mall in the world with over 9 million square feet of shopping and around 1000 stores.It will be completed in 2008.

Some other crazy stuff.. The Dubai Metro system, once completed, will become the largest fully automated rail system in the world. The Dubai World Central International Airport will become the largest airport in size when it is completed. It will also eventually become the busiest airport in the world, based on passenger volume. There are more construction workers in Dubai than there are actual citizens.

And we think that US real estate was THE mother-of-all-Bubbles. It's not Petrodollars that are primarily fueling this, but Indian, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Kazakh and other Mafia money.

I don't know what will pop this monster, or when, but when it goes the splatter zone is going to cover a lot of territory...:p

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Gov't blames itself for rising inflation...

This one got me laughing.

Oils Well in the UAE

Did you ever wonder, as gas prices soar, what our friends in the Middle East are doing with all that oil revenue? Well, while we struggle to pay at the pump, our carefree friends in the United Arab Emirates are bidding on license plates at auction.

It seems the lower the number the greater the prestige. And what would someone pay for that prestige? How about a combined total of $56 million for 300 plates at an auction in Abu Dhabi last year. The current world record for the most expensive license plate is $6.8 million for plate #5. The price is 10 times more expensive than the Rolls it was put on. The owner, Talal Khouri, is now gunning for plate #1 which will be auctioned later this month. He claims to be willing to pay $15-20 million.

My pleasure to pay more at the pump for your indulgence Talal baby. That would be like a year's salary for new Mets pitcher Johan Santana. http://www.4driversonly.com/50226711...in_the_uae.php

The Arabs love numbers, not unlike the Chinese I believe. The brother of one of my [former] shareholders is the head of the Traffic Directorate here. When I bought my first vehicle after moving to the Gulf, said shareholder arranged to get me a license plate with "good" numbers. It's a sequence, with every second number a zero (which is a dot in Arabic, and makes for a very unique looking plate). The cops think I have "wasta" (loosely translated means "connections" or "influence") and never bother to stop me at checkstops, etc. I constantly get approached by strangers offering to buy my plate. Not as good as Plate #1 though...

Greg. Are you now in THE kingdom or at Disneyworld?

[Andreuccio]

Re: Gov't blames itself for rising inflation...

This one got me laughing.

Oils Well in the UAE

Did you ever wonder, as gas prices soar, what our friends in the Middle East are doing with all that oil revenue? Well, while we struggle to pay at the pump, our carefree friends in the United Arab Emirates are bidding on license plates at auction.

It seems the lower the number the greater the prestige. And what would someone pay for that prestige? How about a combined total of $56 million for 300 plates at an auction in Abu Dhabi last year. The current world record for the most expensive license plate is $6.8 million for plate #5. The price is 10 times more expensive than the Rolls it was put on. The owner, Talal Khouri, is now gunning for plate #1 which will be auctioned later this month. He claims to be willing to pay $15-20 million.

My pleasure to pay more at the pump for your indulgence Talal baby. That would be like a year's salary for new Mets pitcher Johan Santana. http://www.4driversonly.com/50226711...in_the_uae.php

You wrote in another post about the difference between having enough money vs. having too much money. I'm thinking this falls into the second category. :rolleyes:

The cops think I have "wasta" (loosely translated means "connections" or "influence") and never bother to stop me at checkstops, etc. I constantly get approached by strangers offering to buy my plate. Not as good as Plate #1 though...

Pretty cool. Not worth 6.8 million.

Just out of curiousity, how much do they offer for your plate?

[GRG55]

Re: Oils Well in the UAE

This one got me laughing.

Oils Well in the UAE

Did you ever wonder, as gas prices soar, what our friends in the Middle East are doing with all that oil revenue? Well, while we struggle to pay at the pump, our carefree friends in the United Arab Emirates are bidding on license plates at auction.

It seems the lower the number the greater the prestige. And what would someone pay for that prestige? How about a combined total of $56 million for 300 plates at an auction in Abu Dhabi last year. The current world record for the most expensive license plate is $6.8 million for plate #5. The price is 10 times more expensive than the Rolls it was put on. The owner, Talal Khouri, is now gunning for plate #1 which will be auctioned later this month. He claims to be willing to pay $15-20 million.

My pleasure to pay more at the pump for your indulgence Talal baby. That would be like a year's salary for new Mets pitcher Johan Santana. http://www.4driversonly.com/50226711...in_the_uae.php

The Arabs love numbers, not unlike the Chinese I believe. The brother of one of my [former] shareholders is the head of the Traffic Directorate here. When I bought my first vehicle after moving to the Gulf, said shareholder arranged to get me a license plate with "good" numbers. It's a sequence, with every second number a zero (which is a dot in Arabic, and makes for a very unique looking plate). The cops think I have "wasta" (loosely translated means "connections" or "influence") and never bother to stop me at checkstops, etc. I constantly get approached by strangers offering to buy my plate. Not as good as Plate #1 though...

[GRG55]

Gov't blames itself for rising inflation...

Here's a headline you won't see every day!!

The link is at the bottom if you think I made this up...

Gov't blames itself for rising inflation

by Dylan Bowman and Reuters on Thursday, 06 December 2007
Higher government spending and more bank lending are driving domestic inflation, rather than more expensive imports through a weaker dollar peg, Bahrain's central bank governor has said.

"There is not sufficient proof that the fall of the value of the dollar contributed to the rise of consumer prices in the kingdom and inflationary pressure in the Gulf," said Rasheed Al-Maraj, quoted Arabic daily Al Ayyam on Thursday.

"Most of the pressure was from local issues tied to an increase in government spending, together with an increase in market liquidity and hence an increase in loans," the newspaper said, paraphrasing the governor's comments

Al-Maraj's comments contrast with the common perception that inflation in the Gulf is being driven by the rising cost of imports caused by the tumbling dollar to which all the GCC states, except Kuwait, have their currencies pegged.

Kuwait took the decision in May to depeg its dinar from the dollar, pointing to the rising cost of imports as one of the main factors fuelling inflation.

Bahraini inflation is expected to be 2.9% this year according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but other Gulf states are experiencing much higher rises in the cost of living, which is putting increasing pressure on central banks to either revalue their currencies against the dollar or drop their pegs altogether.

Annual inflation in Saudi Arabia accelerated in September to 4.8%, the highest level in at least a decade, inflation accelerated to almost 14% in Qatar at the end of the third quarter, while inflation stood at 7% in Oman and 6.2% in Kuwait in September. In the UAE inflation hit 9.3% last year.

Al-Maraj said Bahrain had no plans to change its monetary policy.

We do not see any reasons at the moment to change our currency policy in regards to the US dollar, and we do not see any negativity from the dollar... despite its change in value in past years," Al-Maraj is quoted as saying.

Al-Maraj's comments echo those of other Gulf central bank governors, who have all backed the falling dollar and claimed there is no planned shift in policy.

However, their remarks have done little stop speculators driving GCC currencies up to record highs on bets that revaluations or removal of dollar pegs are imminent.

Analysts have said on numerous occasions that it is not a matter of if, but rather when Gulf states change their monetary policies

http://static.arabianbusiness.com/50...nflation?ln=en

[GRG55]

Re: Ivy League Loan Sharks...

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. How else are you going to set a good example for all those I-wanna-join-the-FIRE-economy MBA students in your business schools? Let's face it, all those real world case studies from P&G and GE get pretty boring after a while, and don't really properly teach you how to wreck the global financial system and get wildly rich before your 35th birthday.

Loan-Sharking Accusation Hits Harvard, Yale, Princeton Funds

By Brian Kladko
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities' endowments are being accused of backing a loan with 42 percent interest, twice the legal limit, according to a lawsuit filed by a developer who borrowed the money.

The three Ivy League schools, along with three other universities and two foundations, are named in a civil complaint in state court in Boston alleging they violated a law aimed in part at loan sharks, who make loans with excessive interest rates backed by threats of violence. Fred Fahey, a Dracut, Massachusetts, developer who filed the suit, planned to build a golf course community with money borrowed from Realty Financial Partners, a firm in which the schools invested.

The lawsuit is a window into the rarely disclosed money management tactics endowments use. Nonprofit funds last year allocated 39 percent of their assets to alternative investments -- including real estate, private equity, commodities and hedge funds -- up from 23 percent in 2000, according to the Commonfund Institute, in Wilton, Connecticut. Yale's endowment gained 28 percent in the 12 months ended June 30, Princeton's 25 percent and Harvard's 23 percent.

In a case of charging 42 percent interest, ``you have to ask if there's an inconsistency between the public purpose'' of universities ``and this type of financial transaction,'' said Peter Kinder, the president of KLD Research & Analytics Inc. in Boston, which advises nonprofit endowments and pension funds. ``It's a hell of a burden to put on someone.''...


...Besides the Ivy league schools, the suit names the University of Notre Dame, near South Bend, Indiana; Oberlin College in Ohio; Spelman College in Atlanta; the Carnegie Corp. of New York; and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago, all also represented by Rich.

The defendants argue in court papers that the usury law's requirements don't apply to them because they had no involvement in managing the Meadow Creek investment, and that state law shields limited partners from such claims. The law was aimed at organized crime and loan-sharking, the three Ivy League schools said in a filing, not at limited partners of a lender...

Link to full article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...efer=exclusive