RIAA: Layoffs February 27, 2009
Posted by Joey in Internet, Media, Music.Tags: Filesharing, RIAA
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Suing your potential customers is not a good way to survive in business.
Neither is clinging to an obsolete business model.
Report: RIAA Undergoing Massive Layoffs.
The Recording Industry Association of America is firing scores of workers, a “bloodbath” as some have described it.
The recession, and its announced pullback of its 5-year-old litigation campaign, are among the reasons.
Ryanair: Want To Pee, Pay A Fee February 27, 2009
Posted by Joey in Airlines.Tags: Pay to Pee, Ryanair
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I don’t think the stewardesses flight attendants are going to appreciate collecting all the water bottles filled with yellow fluids.
I’m just saying…
Ryanair Pay-to-Pee Proposal Pisses Off Customers.
Ryanair, the Irish airline that has elevated nickeling and diming passengers to an art form, has found another way to suck money out of people’s pockets — installing pay toilets on airplanes.
The CEO of the famously cheap company announced, with a straight face, that he’s toying with the idea of putting pay toilets in every one of the airline’s 168 Boeing 737s. The idea has pilots and passengers freaking out, the airline’s flacks scrambling to contain the damage and us wondering what happens to the poor schmuck who can’t break a tenner.
“One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound ($1.43) to spend a penny in future,” the windbag O’Leary said today during an appearance on the popular morning talkfest BBC Breakfast. He seemed genuinely perplexed to hear some passengers fly without cash. “I don’t think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound,” he said.
Friday Demotivator: Online Dating February 27, 2009
Posted by Joey in Demotivator.Tags: Demotivator, eHarmony, Online Dating
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US Deficit So Big, Even Taxing the Rich at 100% Can’t Pay It February 26, 2009
Posted by Joey in Economics, Government, Politics.Tags: Hyperinflation
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Well, this is certainly an interesting tidbit. I’m beginning to think hyperinflation is going to be the end game for this recession.
Via Instapundit, BobKrumm.com » Obama: a Rovian plant?.
But at least we can raise taxes on the rich to pay for it, right?
Wrong. If the government took 100% of earnings from those making more than a half-million dollars a year, it would add only $1.3 trilion to federal tax receipts. Even the most ardent demand-side economists who usually scoff at the Laffer Curve, will have to admit a 100% tax rate is going to yield significantly smaller receipts.
Mexico: Drug Gangs Winning February 26, 2009
Posted by Joey in War On Some Drugs, War on Terror.Tags: Mexico, War on Drugs, War on Terror
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In 1971, President Nixon declared the “War on Drugs“. In 2009, the War on Drugs is being lost in Mexico, where a defacto civil war between the Mexican government and various drug gangs is being lost in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The bulk of the money funding these drug gangs comes from illegal drug sales in the good ol’ Nanny States of America. We have, in our power, the ability to end the Mexican civil war by legalizing recreational drugs.
I’ll just barely mention that the Taliban is funded by poppy production. You know, that stuff that heroin is make from. So we get a wonderful “War on Terror” funded by drug prohibition as well.
But we love our failed war on drugs up in here in the 50 nanny states. After all, we have to keep all those police, prosecutors, prison guards and lawyers employed. That, of course, is the real reason we keep drugs banned.
Drug-Related Killings Skyrocket In Mexico.
In Mexico’s most violent city, Juarez, gunmen strafed a military pickup with more than a hundred rounds, killing the city’s No. 2 cop and three of his bodyguards. After the attack, signs appeared around Juarez threatening to kill an officer every 48 hours unless police Chief Roberto Orduna Cruz stepped down — which he promptly did.
“I can’t put my professional pride above the security of my men,” Orduna said as he gave into the cartels’ demands and quit.
Last year, according to a tally by the newspaper El Universal, 5,630 people were killed in Mexico in drug-related violence. Among the dead were 450 police officers and soldiers. The bulk of the killings were in the northern state of Chihuahua bordering Texas and New Mexico.
Pirate Bay Trial: Hilarity Ensues February 25, 2009
Posted by Joey in Culture, Internet, Media, Music.Tags: Filesharing, Pirate Bay
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Once I was on a jury, and an IRS agent testified that “the IRS never makes mistakes.” John Kennedy is equally stupid when he says that people would have bought every track they got free via filesharing.
John works for a consortium of music companies that have an obsolete business model. Soon enough, artists will sell their songs directly to music lovers and cut out the distributors. That time can’t happen soon enough.
Music Executive Ridiculed at Pirate Bay Trial.
Laughter filled The Pirate Bay trial here Wednesday when John Kennedy, the chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, testified that people would have purchased every music track they got free file sharing.
Kennedy answered an affirmative “Yes” to Pirate Bay defense attorneys when asked whether that was true. Bursting laughter could be heard from the audio room beside the courtroom where the trial’s sound was being broadcast.
The sleek executive, flown from London, was clad in a grayish-blue tailored suit and sported a helmet of stiff, reddish blown-dried hair. Or maybe it was a wig.
He explained that the IFPI is the industry organization of the record companies responsible for coordinating anti-piracy activities around the world and lobbying governments to pass laws making it easier to ding infringers.
Cabela’s: Stock Up, Way Up, On Gun Sales February 25, 2009
Posted by Joey in Economics, Politics.Tags: Cabela's, Firearms
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From Instapundit, we learn how Barack Obama has become gun salesman of the year.
Ahead of the Bell: Cabela’s surges premarket.
Shares of outdoor sports equipment retailer Cabela’s Inc. jumped 17 percent in premarket trading Friday after the company’s results beat expectations and an analyst said clearance sales of firearms helped shore up the company’s balance sheet.
Thomas Weisel Partners LLC analyst Jim Duffy said in a note to investors that Cabela’s capitalized on higher store traffic to reduce inventory, helping it to reduce net debt from prior-year levels.
“On the heels of a sharp downturn in the economy and the change of administration with the November elections, strength in firearms and ammunition,” Cabela’s fourth-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates, Duffy said.
Global Warming Causes Satellite Launch Failure February 24, 2009
Posted by Joey in Environmentalists, Oops!.Tags: Climate Change, Global Whining, NASA, Orbiting Carbon Observatory
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OK, global warming didn’t cause the satellite to fail. But just about every problem you can name seems to be blamed on global warming, such as cold winters, warm winters, hurricanes, lack of hurricanes, drought, flooding, etc.
Give me a freakin’ break!
Failed Launch Puts NASA Satellite In Ocean.
A rocket carrying a NASA satellite meant to track global warming has landed in the ocean near Antarctica after a failed launch.
The rocket with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory lifted off Tuesday morning from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, but a protective covering apparently failed to separate.
The observatory was to be NASA’s first satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide on a global scale. A similar Japanese satellite is already in orbit.
