You Can't Make This Stuff Up

[jk]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

New York Seeks to Pay Pension Fund Using Borrowing

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: June 11, 2010


ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed to allow the state and municipalities to borrow nearly $6 billion to help them make their required annual payments to the state pension fund.

And, in classic budgetary sleight-of-hand, they will borrow the money to make the payments to the pension fund — from the same pension fund.


etc


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/ny...ension.html?hp

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

This would appear to be sufficient grounds to call another summit of European leaders in Brussels next weekend...

EU to ban selling eggs by dozen

Shoppers will be banned from buying bread rolls or eggs by the dozen under new food labelling regulations proposed by the European parliament.

Published: 8:36AM BST 27 Jun 2010

Under the draft legislation, to come into force as early as next year, the sale of groceries using the simple measurement of numbers will be replaced by an EU-wide system based on weight.


It would mean an end to packaging descriptions such as eggs by the dozen, four-packs of apples, six bread rolls or boxes of 12 fish fingers.


The legislation could even see special unit-based promotional packs offering 'eight chocolate bars for the price of six' banned, according to a report in trade magazine, The Grocer.

It comes after MEPs last week voted against an amendment to the regulations that would allow individual states to nominate products that could be sold by number.

Individual countries are currently allowed to specify exemptions, but the proposed Food Labelling Regulations make no such provisions.
The changes would cost the food and retail industries millons of pounds as items would have to be individually weighed to ensure the accuracy of the label.

The Grocer said food industry sources had described the move as "bonkers" and "absolute madness". Its editor, Adam Leyland, said the EU had "created a multi-headed monster"...

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

The Grocer said food industry sources had described the move as "bonkers" and "absolute madness".

Agreed.

WTF, over?

[jk]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

This would appear to be sufficient grounds to call another summit of European leaders in Brussels next weekend...

EU to ban selling eggs by dozen

Shoppers will be banned from buying bread rolls or eggs by the dozen under new food labelling regulations proposed by the European parliament.

Published: 8:36AM BST 27 Jun 2010

Under the draft legislation, to come into force as early as next year, the sale of groceries using the simple measurement of numbers will be replaced by an EU-wide system based on weight.


It would mean an end to packaging descriptions such as eggs by the dozen, four-packs of apples, six bread rolls or boxes of 12 fish fingers.


The legislation could even see special unit-based promotional packs offering 'eight chocolate bars for the price of six' banned, according to a report in trade magazine, The Grocer.

It comes after MEPs last week voted against an amendment to the regulations that would allow individual states to nominate products that could be sold by number.

Individual countries are currently allowed to specify exemptions, but the proposed Food Labelling Regulations make no such provisions.
The changes would cost the food and retail industries millons of pounds as items would have to be individually weighed to ensure the accuracy of the label.

The Grocer said food industry sources had described the move as "bonkers" and "absolute madness". Its editor, Adam Leyland, said the EU had "created a multi-headed monster"...

at first i thought they were going metric: had to buy TEN eggs, not a DOZEN. but otoh, this kind of labeling rule will prevent the hidden inflation of shrinking the item's weight per unit.

[jiimbergin]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

at first i thought they were going metric: had to buy TEN eggs, not a DOZEN. but otoh, this kind of labeling rule will prevent the hidden inflation of shrinking the item's weight per unit.

It happens on weighted items all the time and most consumers don't notice. It happens on count items such as tissue or toilet paper or paper towels.

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Italian MEP Worried About UFOs

Mario Borghezio, a far-right Italian member of the European Parliament, says the European Union is not sufficiently focused on studying UFOs. He wants the EU to set up an “observatory” to catalogue incidents of people seeing UFOs in the sky. Serious, thorough research would expose a “systematic cover-up” of UFOs, he said.

In his latest press release, Mr. Borghezio quotes an Italian astrophysicist named Massimo Teodorani: “The phenomenon of UFOs, it is not a kind of tale, but it is a real manifestation which can be estimated through the physics and the astronomy.”

So far, like a lone flying saucer sailing through the night, the Italian MEP doesn’t have much company. He’s gathered only 18 signatures in the 736-seat parliament.

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up - Saudi Arabia Segregates Bankers

Men Selling Panties May End in Saudi Arabia

Sep 11, 2011 2:00 PM MT

When Saudi student Sarah Abdul- Mohsen asked the salesman for a nude, 32C padded bra, she didn’t expect an argument about her cup size.

After all, Abdul-Mohsen was wearing the mandatory black cloak and veil that disguise her shape, in a kingdom where custom forbids men from looking intimately at women...

...Abdul-Mohsen, like many women in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, is hoping that decades of embarrassing exchanges with salesmen about thongs, bras, frilly negligees and panties will soon come to an end. She may get her wish as stores begin implementing a July Labor Ministry directive to push male salesmen aside and hire women after a failed effort in 2006.

Managers representing three boutiques said last week their stores will soon be staffed by women, though the transition won’t be easy. Male guards may be stationed outside to keep men shoppers away, while storeowners are considering posting signs saying the establishments are for “Families Only” and hanging heavy curtains to shield store windows so that men won’t look in and see women working...

...The minister’s directive also includes shops that sell cosmetics and perfume, which have been given a year to replace their staff. Until then, women will continue buying make-up from men who smear lipstick or eye shadow on hairy wrists or rub cream on the back of their hands as they promote new products...

...Another reason she shops in Bahrain is that fitting rooms are banned in Saudi stores, which means women end up buying bras that don’t really fit.

“This is a country that covers you up and then sends people to strip you down,” she said.

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

It all starts with letting them vote. You give 'em a say in how the country is run. Next thing you know they're going to let them start driving cars. It's a slippery slope...

Saudi king says women will have political role

Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:55am EDT

JEDDAH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said on Sunday women in the conservative Islamic kingdom will have the right to join the advisory Shura Council as full members and participate in future municipal elections, meeting a key goal of liberal activists.

"Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term," he said in a speech delivered to the Shura Council.

"Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote," he added...

[shiny!]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

It all starts with letting them vote. You give 'em a say in how the country is run. Next thing you know they're going to let them start driving cars. It's a slippery slope...

Saudi king says women will have political role

Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:55am EDT

JEDDAH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said on Sunday women in the conservative Islamic kingdom will have the right to join the advisory Shura Council as full members and participate in future municipal elections, meeting a key goal of liberal activists.

"Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term," he said in a speech delivered to the Shura Council.

"Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote," he added...

That is indeed good news! But without the right to drive, how will they get to the polls and run for office if the men in their families don't want them to?

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Anyone who has spent any time in an Indian city, or tried to get between two of them on the pathetic road system in that country, will probably find the idea of owning a supercar in that country quite hilarious. If one is going to risk running into the back of an overloaded cart pulled by a bullock or one-lung tractor on a darkened Indian highway, I would rather be in something a bit more substantial than a Lambo with a lift kit...

Lamborghini to Drive Alongside Rickshaws in India

Oct 19, 2011 5:21 PM MT


Lamborghini SpA sees opportunity in the streets of Mumbai, where three-wheeled rickshaws zigzag through bumper-to-bumper traffic on pot-hole-infested roads.

Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s supercar maker plans to open its second dealership in India this year to meet increased demand for cars including the 36.9-million rupee ($750,600) Aventador, said Mohan Mariwala, managing director of Lamborghini Mumbai. Ferrari SpA, which opened its first dealership in the country in May, says it plans to open four more by the end of next year.

The surging number of millionaires, projected to more than double in India by 2015, is prompting supercar makers to expand in a country where the World Bank estimates more than 75 percent of people live on less than $2 a day. The demand for top-end models is a contrast to overall car deliveries, which have declined three straight months on higher borrowing costs.

“The wealth at the top of the pyramid is growing at a much faster pace,” said Deepesh Rathore, the New Delhi-based managing director in India for IHS Automotive. “Every month there is a new segment of buyers for these cars. People don’t take out loans to buy a Lamborghini.”

The number of millionaires in India will increase to 403,000 by 2015 from 173,000 in 2010, Julius Baer Group Ltd. (BAER) and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said in a report in August. The growing wealth is expected to drive demand for exotic cars -- including Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley -- to about 500 a year by 2020, from 180 last year, IHS estimates...

...Customers include members of the Super Car Club, who regularly meet and drive to Pune via a 100-kilometer (62 miles) expressway with their Lamborghini Gallardos, Porsche 911s and Ferrari 458 Italias. Membership in the club has grown 10-fold to about 200 since it was formed two years ago, according to founder Gautam Singhania.

“The roads in Mumbai are pathetic so we have to make do with what we have,” said Singhania, who is chairman of Raymond Ltd. (RW), a Mumbai-based textile and tooling company. “We cruise around the city and hang out.”

Lamborghini will likely sell 30 cars in India next year, Mariwala said. To cater to the local market, the company fits all vehicles in India with a so-called “lifting system” to raise the suspension on bad roads, he said. The cars can also run on regular gasoline instead of high-octane fuel, he said...

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Let's see if we understand this correctly. A group of Saudi university students knock together a prototype one-off, and the next thing you know the Kingdom is on the verge of becoming an auto manufacturing center. Sure...

Too bad they won't let any women drive them.

Ghazal 1, the 1st Ever Saudi-Built Car, Go for Production

In what is largely believed to be the cornerstone of a possible automotive industry in Saudi Arabia, the Ghazal 1, the first vehicle built locally, has been presented to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz on Monday, when it also received the green light to enter production.

The SUV, created from the ground up by students at the country's King Saud University in Riyadh, is purpose built for the country's rough terrain and benefitted from the help and expertise of Motorola, Mercedes and Magna.

Ghazal 1 is 4.8 meters long and 1.9 meters wide and, as any other SUV, is a four wheel drive, but, unfortunately, not many details about the car's engine and performances are available.

"This is a turning point in the path of the kingdom towards becoming a car-manufacturing country similar to other industrialised nations of the world," Abdullah Al Othman, president of King Saud University told Gulf News.

Previewed at this year's Geneva Auto Show by the concept wearing the same name (the concept was only an empty shell, based on a Mercedes G-Klasse model), the Gazal 1 will turn production version in the near future and, despite the infrastructure challenges Saudi Arabia faces in segment of the industry (lack of plants and trained personnel), 20,000 units of the SUV are planned to hit the desert sands over the next three years.

"Contacts are ongoing with Saudi investors for the mass production of the Ghazal 1," Said Darwish, industrial engineering professor at KSU was quoted as saying by Arab News.

According to initial estimates, in between $400 and $500 million are required to get things going.

And in case you might be wondering why I am a wee bit skeptical, well this sort of thing has been done a time or ten before. My alma mater, the University of British Columbia engineering department has a history of this sort of thing going back to the 1970s. But nobody ever tried to promote any of these as real cars.

Urban Vehicle Design Competition

The Wally Wagon was designed and built by a team of UBC Engineering students for entry into the 1972 Urban Vehicle Design Competition. The criteria for this continent-wide university competition called for the design of a safe, low polluting commuter car which would be maneuverable in city traffic and have low mass production cost. The Wally Wagon took about a year to build by a team of undergraduate engineers with the financial help of many organizations. When the judging was completed in August, 1972, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Wally Wagon beat out 92 entries from Canadian and American universities to win the over-all award for excellence. The UBC car also won an award for safety performance and was cited for excellence in maneuverability, parking and braking performance.

The Wally Wagon is a sporty, two-seater with fibreglass body and four-cylinder Fiat engine modified for liquid natural gas.

The vehicle, in case you were wondering, is named after UBC President Walter ("Wally") Gage.

[kriden]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Team USA To Be Decked Out in Uniforms Made in China

Bysharynalfonsi1

Jul 11, 2012 8:40pm





Image Credit: Ralph Lauren/AP Photo

They are the pride of America — Team U.S.A. — and for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in London, they’ll be proudly wearingred, white and blue, from beret to blazer.
The classic American style — shown in an image above — was crafted by designer Ralph Lauren. But just how American is it?
When ABC News looked at the labels, it found “made in China.”
Every item in the uniforms that the U.S. athletes will be wearing at the opening ceremony in London will carry an overseas label.
Nanette Lepore, one of the top U.S. fashion designers, said she was shocked that none of the uniforms had been made in the states. Further, Lepore said that it was “absolutely” possible that the athletes could have been outfitted in U.S.-made clothing. She said U.S. manufactures could have easily made the uniforms — and for less.
Here’s how much the uniforms cost:
Men:
Beret – $55
Tie – $125
Belt – $85
Shirt – $425
Blazer – $795
Trousers – $295
Shoes – $165
Women:
Beret – $55
Scarf – $58
Belt – $85
Shirt – $179
Skirt – $498
Blazer – $598
“Why shouldn’t we have pride not only in the American athletes, but in the American manufacturers and laborers who are the backbone of our country?” Lepore said to ABC News. “Why? What’s wrong? Why was that not a consideration?”
ABC News reached out to Lauren and the U.S. Olympic Committee and asked why American-made clothing had not been selected for the athletes.
The committee said: “The U.S. Olympic team is privately funded and we’re grateful for the support of our sponsors. We’re proud of our partnership with Ralph Lauren, an iconic American company.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...made-in-china/

[don]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Are those real people - they look like mannequins . . .

[shiny!]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I can not believe those prices! $125 for a tie? $498 for a skirt? $58 for a scarf? That's a simple square of fabric, for heaven's sake!

[GRG55]

Re: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Are those real people - they look like mannequins . . .

I was going to suggest they're Lauren models for the photo-shoot that was done in China...but it must have been indoors with that fake blue sky...