Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Petters bankruptcy case trustee sues BMO Harris
MINNEAPOLIS — The bankruptcy trustee recovering money for victims of the Ponzi scheme operated by imprisoned Minnesota businessman Tom Petters is suing BMO Harris Bank, accusing it as the owner of M&I Bank of aiding and abetting the fraud.
The lawsuit filed in federal bankruptcy court in Minnesota Wednesday accuses the formerly Milwaukee-based M&I Bank of turning a blind eye to $35 billion that flowed in and out of the main bank account that Petters Company Inc. used to finance the $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme for more than five years.
The Star Tribune reports ( http://bit.ly/SoJKST) the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, calls the account's deposits "astronomical," and says M&I was never given "a valid business reason for such a staggering amount."
A spokeswoman for Chicago-based BMO Harris Bank had no immediate comment.
Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com
Saturday, November 17, 2012
The 3 Best Places To Legally Watch Free Movies Online
You don't need to become a poster child for Hollywood's antipiracy campaigns and get smacked with nasty fines for downloading movies from the Internet.
You shouldn't have to worry about copyright law when you just need a couple of hours of entertainment. So find something from one of these sites and start watching. Rest easy and know that the Feds will leave you alone.
- The Internet Archive : One of the largest caches of royalty-free and public-domain video. There are plenty of movies to pick from. Check out the blog for occasional movie recommendations and announcements of new uploads.
- Babelgum : Babelgum offers free movies and other videos. Just like on basic cable, you have to watch ads. It's heavy on documentaries and indie productions.
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Friday, November 9, 2012
Man gets 45 years in 2004 Granite City murder
Brian Pinkas sought a new trial on the grounds that his initial 20-year sentence was not long enough.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Brazilian Student Sells Her Virginity For $780,000 Online
A Brazilian student has sold her virginity in an online auction for $780,000 as part of a documentary organised by an Australian filmmaker, according to reports.
Catarina Migliorini, 20, was the subject of 15 bids, with a Japanese man named only as Natsu winning on Wednesday night, Australian media reported.
They said Miss Migliorini would be "delivered" to her buyer on board a plane to Australia and that she would be interviewed before and after losing her virginity at a secret location.
Filmmaker Jason Sisely, who reportedly began his project in 2009 and caused outrage when he put posters up in Sydney and Melbourne saying "Virgins Wanted", said Miss Migliorini was ecstatic and had not expected such a high level of interest.
"The auction closed last night and Catarina is extremely excited. She was speaking to her family in Brazil online and they were extremely happy for her," he told Australian online news site Ninemsn.
"But I guess they didn't expect her to do something like this."
He said the act would be consummated, but not filmed, in the next few weeks.
"We will fly over the winner to Australia and obviously, for the sake of the film and privacy, we can't disclose where and when the act will take place," he said. "I have to leave some details for the documentary."
Miss Migliorini defended the move.
"I saw this as a business. I have the opportunity to travel, to be part of a movie and get a bonus with it," she told Folha newspaper.
"If you only do it once in your life then you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatically make you a photographer."
Sisely told Ninemsn that under the terms of the auction a condom was compulsory and Natsu must be tested beforehand for any sexually transmitted diseases.
"I'm looking forward to my audience's response to the film," he said.
Source: Agencies
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Monday, October 29, 2012
Massive Explosion At Lower Manhattan Con-Ed Plant [VIDEO]
This video supposedly shows a massive explosion at the 14th Street Con-Ed plant in Manhattan. The explosion starts at the 0.16 mark.
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Friday, October 19, 2012
We're Living In A Zero-Trust Economy
Trust is one of the most (if not the most) important values to build, grow and maintain in any type of relationship, whether professional or personal. It is one of those values that, once broken, can never be fully repaired. Unfortunately, for some time now the world has been in a “Zero Trust Economy," which has been growing and spreading around the world.
Today, if you speak to any well-experienced business person whose career spanned the 1980s and before, you will hear a number of themes connected by threads of confusion, disappointment and depression. You hear of days when things were easier, when people respected and looked out for one another’s interests. Not to say that there weren’t exceptions of betrayal, corruption and conflict; but it was not as widespread as what we see today.
The general atmosphere is that nobody trusts anybody anymore. Instead of one’s values following the business trends of partnerships, globalization and world-level purposes and goals, our values have recoiled internally to the individual and, in some cases, forgotten.
Today, not only may economies around the world be declining, but our values are also in a recession. It is extremely rare to find anyone who does not put their own personal interests ahead of anything or anyone else. The value of trust now comes with the questions, “What’s in it for me?” and “What do they get out of it?” It is a system of checks and balances.
What happened to what our parents and schools taught us, to thinking of others first, not doing unto others what we do not do unto ourselves, to putting our customers, employees and shareholders first? What happened to the trust we used to have in our leaders to protect our interests?
Our trust has been shattered by the incredible selfishness, self-centeredness and double standards that exist today; corruption, greed, lies and lack of empathy have all led to the Zero Trust Economy.
Out of all values (maybe with the exception of respect, which is highly correlated with trust), when trust breaks, so does everything else. This is dangerous because, even if rebuilt, the cracks, scars of experience and the permanency of memory will never fade. If businesses, politicians and individuals look at one another with distrust, doubt and skepticism, how are we to join hands in building a better world for our children?
We need to put together a global trust strategy and involve key people who can carry it through. But first, we must begin with ourselves.
NOW READ: 'False Consensus' Theory Explains Why We Trust The Wrong People
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