I thought that the guy was either acting bravely in a tense situation or he was lying. Turns out, it was the latter. Nice way to chalk up your 15 minutes, dude.

A teen lied on national television about trying to stay with six girls taken hostage in a high school classroom because he "wanted so much to help them," his mother said Thursday.

The teen said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that he told the gunman he wanted to stay and that "he told me that if I didn't go then he would pretty much kill me."

David Pogue reviews simple, basic cell phones.

First, there’s the Motorola C139 ($40): a small, black capsule that’s quite possibly the worst cellphone on earth.

You could write a whole booklet about the failings of this phone — a five-way controller whose middle button isn’t Select, a tiny screen that fits only two lines of menu text at a time — but the worst part is how many steps it takes to do anything. Somehow, Motorola has managed to strip down this phone without actually simplifying it.

Let us count the taps. To turn off the ringer: 7 steps (press the volume-down key repeatedly). Open the phone book: 1. Open the Recent Calls list: 2 or 3 (for no good reason, incoming and outgoing calls are listed separately). See your own phone number: 8.

You know what? Life’s too short.

Only goes to show you that hardware vendors can still produce truly awful crap - even ones who have been at it for decades and should know better and are known for producing cutting-edge phones.

Motorola's C139 cellphone is "the worst cellphone on earth".

I doubt we'll see an ad like that soon.

China looks to dominate Valentine's Day next. Unless some other Asian or African country (maybe a Central or South American country may have a chance if they get coordinated) decides to go 100% at this, I think Chinese flowers will become the #1 low cost choice. China is throwing tons of money at developing their infrastructure and India seems to be doing diddly squat in comparison. China has done this before in other areas, now they just copy-n-paste the template and extend their dominance.

The government has dedicated a huge effort to making all this possible. Extending its top-notch infrastructure inland, it is building 12-lane roads, sturdy bridges and international airports in this strategically critical area. Elsewhere in China’s poor inland provinces, similar investments are helping industries making everything from shoes to electronics to cars.

China is mainly trying to export roses, which have a high value per pound and can most easily be transported long distances with limited damage. Carnations can withstand air shipment but have a low value per pound, and tulips have a high value but must be packed very loosely, which drives up air freight costs so that China cannot easily compete. Lilies can be shipped by air and have high value but must be handled with considerable care, so China is starting to export them to closer markets like Singapore.

China sells all grades of flowers, and growers here, like growers everywhere, are trying to boost production of top-grade flowers, those that grow tall, straight and without blemishes. But the top varieties of roses — those that command a premium around the world — are scarcely grown in China because of disputes over the evasion of royalty payments by Chinese growers.

The cost of air shipping works out to about 30 cents per long-stemmed rose, a little less without thorns and leaves. By comparison, farms in Yunnan sell their flowers at wholesale for 4 cents to 16 cents apiece, a price that soars to 28 cents each just before Valentine’s Day. Depending on the time of year, these roses cost as little as half the price of roses in other developing countries, excluding air freight.

The comedy superstar called Mr. Stevens, who had represented him for 15 years, guiding his success from “In Living Color” on television to “Ace Ventura” in movies to a rare stratosphere of $20 million roles, to tell him that his services were no longer required. Instead, Mr. Carrey was moving on to that sprawling behemoth of Hollywood talent agencies, the Creative Artists Agency.

The comedy superstar called Mr. Stevens, who had represented him for 15 years, guiding his success from “In Living Color” on television to “Ace Ventura” in movies to a rare stratosphere of $20 million roles, to tell him that his services were no longer required. Instead, Mr. Carrey was moving on to that sprawling behemoth of Hollywood talent agencies, the Creative Artists Agency.

In particular, the studios began balking at the budgets of recent comedies and at the percentage of gross revenue they were expected to pay. In May, Fox pulled the plug on “Used Guys,” a futuristic comedy starring Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey, to be directed by Jay Roach, saying that the $112 million budget and back-end revenue deals were too high.

Shortly thereafter, another star vehicle for Mr. Carrey, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” was suspended at Paramount, when the studio protested as the budget climbed over $150 million and the star demanded changes to the script.

In particular, the studios began balking at the budgets of recent comedies and at the percentage of gross revenue they were expected to pay. In May, Fox pulled the plug on “Used Guys,” a futuristic comedy starring Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey, to be directed by Jay Roach, saying that the $112 million budget and back-end revenue deals were too high.

Mary Parent, a producer at Universal Pictures, said the breakup would not necessarily affect the movies that got made. “It’s like a divorce with people who have kids,” she said. “You figure out how to work with each other, for the kids’ sake. They’re all smart and know their core business. They’ll always do what’s best for their clients.”

Another thing that apparently hasn’t changed is the price tags of comedies. At Universal, “Evan Almighty,” the sequel to the Jim Carrey comedy “Bruce Almighty,” has soared far over budget to $175 million, according to executives close to the film, although the studio will not confirm that figure. And at Fox, “Night at the Museum,” starring Mr. Stiller, is so far costing close to $120 million, according to an executive close to the production.

So it is not without some irony that a hedge fund named the Fortress Investment Group may be the first to tear down those walls of secrecy. Fortress is considering an initial public offering this fall in a deal that could value the company from $5 billion to $7 billion, according to people who have been briefed on the plans.

Kohlberg Kravis has gone further than its private equity rivals and put its toe into public markets: in May it sold shares in an affiliate that trades in Amsterdam on the Euronext exchange. Investors bought shares in the $5 billion fund, which entitled them to a piece of the profits Kohlberg Kravis makes buying and selling companies. But the offering also allowed Kohlberg Kravis to keep the management company under control, holding on to its privacy and secrecy.

The Man Group, a London-based hedge fund first went public as a commodities broker with hedge fund operations. Today it is the largest hedge fund group in the world with $54 billion in assets under management and $1.2 billion in profits for its 2006 fiscal year. Other funds have imitated Kohlberg Kravis by taking funds public, using the money to invest. But no one in the United States has undertaken what Fortress is considering: taking the central nervous system of a hedge fund public.

Fortress is not a typical hedge fund. It manages $24.3 billion and has 500 employees, according to its marketing materials. It calls itself a “global alternative investment and asset management firm.” The description seems apt, considering its size and the fact that it has offices in London, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto, Dallas and San Diego.

The firm is a prime example of convergence in asset management: it operates private equity and hedge funds and it competes against banks to lend money directly to corporate clients. The result is a firm with various lines of business that looks more like Goldman Sachs than a traditional hedge fund.

The firm has $11.1 billion in private equity. Since 1994, its five principals have invested in 77 private equity transactions representing more than $55 billion of assets, according to its marketing materials.

It operates about $10 billion in hedge funds that invest in everything from global stocks and currencies to fixed income, or debt-related securities; it also has $3.2 billion in dividend-paying companies. Drawbridge Global Macro, one of its hedge funds, has had an annual return of 14.6 percent since it was founded in May 2002, according to the HSBC Private Banking Report. Annualized returns on its private equity funds top 40 percent, according to a person familiar with the returns.

The tab for the large-scale evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon during Hezbollah's conflict with Israel cost taxpayers $85-million, CTV News reports.

Canada hired several ships and chartered aircraft to ferry about 15,000 of the estimated 50,000 Canadians living in Lebanon to safety between July 19 and mid-August.

As a rule, Canada asks citizens to reimburse the government for their evacuation from foreign lands, but decided in this case that taxpayers would foot the bill.

That's about $5,666 per person evacuated. Sheesh.

"They were long March and short April," former commodities regulator Michael Greenberger said, citing his own sources on futures trading desks within the industry. Greenberger, who headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's division of trading and markets in the late 1990s through the Enron collapse, said it appeared Amaranth was hoping to capitalize on the spread between prices at the end of the heating season and the start of the cooling season—a premium of $2.14 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) that collapsed in two weeks to 75 cents by Sept. 18, when Amaranth threw in the towel.

Amaranth's contracts were not on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Greenberger explained, but were over-the-counter trades with big investment banks like Goldman Sachs (GS ) acting as market-makers and counterparties. That complicates Amaranth's attempt to unwind itself, because an OTC contract nine months out is decidedly less liquid than its counterpart on the NYMEX, sources said.

"BORDERS ON SINFUL." According to Greenberger, "the positions Amaranth took were too large to have any relationship with the underlying fundamentals"— trades that if made on a regulated exchange such as NYMEX would have likely earned disapproval.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) "would have either talked them down or threatened them down," Greenberger surmised. He said Amaranth's woes highlight the need for the CFTC or Congress to start tightening the presently nonexistent reins on OTC energy derivatives.

See NYTimes - Billions in Losses Dim a Star Manager’s Glow too.

A day after disclosing that a disastrous bet on natural gas prices had produced losses of more than $3 billion, Amaranth Advisors, once among the nation’s largest and hottest hedge funds, was scrambling yesterday to salvage something from its battered portfolio of energy trades.

The losses at Amaranth have followed another blowup in natural gas at a smaller fund, MotherRock, but financial markets have hardly felt a murmur, largely because the volatility has been contained — so far — to a corner of the energy market, and is not tied to markets in stocks and bonds. And with so much investment money pouring into energy, it is likely that others profited from the billion-dollar losses.

Indeed, the effects have been fairly limited, confined mostly to the natural gas market. Amaranth’s portfolio, valued at $9.25 billion as recently as a few weeks ago, was apparently halved by a wrong-way wager that natural gas prices would rise, a bet that had produced enormous gains for the fund in recent years. Amaranth traders had reckoned that the difference, or spread, between the prices of gas futures in the months of March and April in coming years would increase. But rising gas inventories caused prices to decline, putting Amaranth on the wrong side of a brutal and accelerating market trend.

From Globe and Mail - U.S. hedge fund walloped on bad gas bet:

A major U.S. hedge fund with strong links to Canada appears to have lost about $3.3-billion (U.S.) -- 35 per cent of its capital -- after betting the wrong way on plunging natural gas prices.

Nicholas Maounis, chief executive officer of Amaranth --which takes its name from a mythical flower that is always in bloom -- warned in a letter to investors yesterday that the firm's "multi-strategy funds sustained significant losses in their energy-related investments" last week "following a dramatic move in natural gas prices."

Amaranth's troubles appear to stem from decisions by Brian Hunter, who heads the firm's gas-trading operations from an office in Calgary. Trader Monthly magazine said earlier this year that Mr. Hunter was paid between $75-million and $100-million in 2005 after capturing about $800-million in profit.

Besides the 15-per-cent stake in Cinram, Amaranth has holdings in a number of other Canadian companies. These include about 35 per cent of Counsel Corp., a Toronto investment company with which it has had a loud and litigious relationship, 13 per cent of Dynatec Corp., a mining and metallurgical services company, 15 per cent of Frontera Copper Corp., a mining and exploration company seeking to develop a copper mine in Mexico, and 10 per cent of Vicwest Income Fund, whose operating unit makes metal building products.

Last year, for instance, the MW fast-food and ice cream restaurant in this city proclaimed a special promotion: “Overweight? Congratulations.” The limited-time deal afforded diners savings equal to 50 percent of their weight (in kilograms). The heaviest arrival lugged in 135 kilograms (297 pounds) and ate lustily at 67.5 percent off.

I think there are a lot of Americans and some Canadians that could've had 100% off.

Builders in St. John's are getting a tiny taste of Calgary's housing medicine.

Although Statscan does not track why labour rates rose, Mr. Sterns said one possible explanation is the discrepancy between what builders are paying in Newfoundland and in Alberta. That gap might be forcing builders on the East Coast to "increase their labour rates to keep their skilled labour," Mr. Sterns said. "We keep hearing stories of people moving out West to take advantage of the high rates."

Craig Foley, owner of Gibraltar Homes in St. John's, pays his workers above the local average in order to ensure he is not scurrying to hire new ones.

"My guys are happy and don't want to migrate but everyone else is finding that when it comes to plumbers and electricians, they can't find anyone," he said. "Everyone seems to be going to Alberta, to Fort McMurray."

In his view, the skyrocketing cost of raw materials is having the biggest impact. Copper and wood prices have "gone through the roof," Mr. Foley said, and those costs are being absorbed by the builder and passed on to the buyer.

"The last few years have been exceptional in Newfoundland, what with the oil boom and people coming home. We couldn't build houses fast enough," he said. "Now, there is a lot of excess inventory and if you look in the home buyers home, you are seeing a lot of prices getting reduced."

One of the two teammates who admitted using EPO while on Armstrong’s United States Postal Service team is Frankie Andreu, a 39-year-old retired team captain who had been part of Armstrong’s inner circle for more than a decade. In an interview at his home in Dearborn, Mich., Andreu said that he took EPO for only a few races and that he was acknowledging his use now because he thought doping was damaging his sport. Continued doping and denial by riders may scare away fans and sponsors for good, he said.

“There are two levels of guys,” Andreu said. “You got the guys that cheat and guys that are just trying to survive.”

The other rider who said he used EPO spoke on condition of anonymity because he said he did not want to jeopardize his job in cycling.

“The environment was certainly one of, to be accepted, you had to use doping products,” he said. “There was very high pressure to be one of the cool kids.”

Neither rider ever tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, but both said they felt as if they had to take EPO to make the Tour team in 1999. Andreu would not say specifically when he took the drug, and the second rider said he did not use EPO during the Tour. Anti-doping experts say the benefits of taking EPO, the synthetic hormone erythropoietin, which boosts stamina by bolstering the body’s production of oxygen-rich red blood cells, can last several weeks or more.

The New York Islanders have signed goalie Rick DiPietro to a 15-year, $67.5 million contract. The deal will pay DiPietro $4.5 million annually.

It certainly gets headlines, but I doubt DiPietro will be with the club until the end of the deal. His stats aren't that impressive.

“What I meant by it was that it was a small number of players,” Jansen said. “Being a football player, I’m not real good at math. When you do the numbers, it sounds like a bigger percentage than it really is. I meant it was a small percentage of guys.”

Aren't quarterbacks supposed to be pretty smart?

32-bit Vista is 2.6GB while 64-bit Vista is 3.6GB

I remember when the Windows brain consortium was wondering how they'd fit XP on a 700MB CD (or was it 650MB CD?)

Au Pair in America, the 20-year-old agency that sponsored the two young women in Connecticut, had received no requests for Chinese au pairs until 2004, said Ruth Ferry, the program director.

Since then, it has had 1,400.

Begun in 1986, the State Department Au Pair program requires that young nannies work no more than 45 hours a week and return to their home countries after one year. Host families have to provide their charges with a window into the American experience. It is only in the last few years that au pairs have been actively recruited outside Western Europe.

Among Chinese-Americans, it is difficult to come upon young women interested in child-care careers, nanny agency representatives say.

“This is not a field they evolve into,” Amy Hardison, founder of Nanny on the Net, said. “We just have a very hard time finding Chinese nannies.”

In China’s new culturally progressive climate, biases against such domestic work prevail. Ms. Zhang, one of the au pairs who arrived last week and moved in with a family in New Hampshire, said her parents had initially disapproved of her decision, especially because she was then working in customer service for Continental Airlines in Beijing.

Au Pair in America, the 20-year-old agency that sponsored the two young women in Connecticut, had received no requests for Chinese au pairs until 2004, said Ruth Ferry, the program director.

Since then, it has had 1,400.

Begun in 1986, the State Department Au Pair program requires that young nannies work no more than 45 hours a week and return to their home countries after one year. Host families have to provide their charges with a window into the American experience. It is only in the last few years that au pairs have been actively recruited outside Western Europe.

Among Chinese-Americans, it is difficult to come upon young women interested in child-care careers, nanny agency representatives say.

“This is not a field they evolve into,” Amy Hardison, founder of Nanny on the Net, said. “We just have a very hard time finding Chinese nannies.”

In China’s new culturally progressive climate, biases against such domestic work prevail. Ms. Zhang, one of the au pairs who arrived last week and moved in with a family in New Hampshire, said her parents had initially disapproved of her decision, especially because she was then working in customer service for Continental Airlines in Beijing.

Toronto's new downtown wireless network went live yesterday. Here's how it works:

1. Get into the zone. If you want to use it at home, and you live within the wireless zone boundaries, it's recommended that you buy a WiFi modem.
   
2. You will need a cellphone to register for and receive a username and password.
   
3. Using a wireless-enabled computer or PDA, open the software that controls your network connections and search for available wireless networks. When "SSID One Zone High Speed Internet" appears,
   
4. Open a web browser window and select the new user page. Enter in your mobile phone number. A username and password will be sent instantly to your cellphone via text message.
   
5. Enter the username and password into the web browser. Your login can be used by up to four people simultaneously, and is valid for free service until March.
   

Far from fleeing, an unknown number of insurgents are joining the battle against Canadian troops and their allies, says Haji Kheerdin, the Zhari District elder.

“One side is open,” Mr. Kheerdin said in an interview. “And these fighters can easily move in and out of this place.”

Lt.-Gen. David Richards, the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, says the alliance's estimate of the number of Taliban fighters is a “guestimate.”

He said ISAF is biding its time until the opportune moment arrives “to prosecute more decisively.”

“I wouldn't want to portray (the Taliban trap) as a complete encirclement,” he said, speaking to reporters in Kandahar. “It's a psychological encirclement, and as we sit here things are looking very good for us.”

“It is clear that some of the terrorists, the spoilers, think they can win in the south,” he told reporters.

“They are wrong, because they cannot win, they will not win,” the NATO chief said.

Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., has implemented a zero-defect policy for Fusion Applications, its next-generation suite of ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications expected in 2008.

"We don't think any bugs are acceptable," said John Wookey, the senior vice president at Oracle in charge of application development. "Getting it right in the first version is extremely important to us. That's an engineering issue, not something that's random at all."

I'd bet money that Oracle will have defects in this software, unless the software is trivial. They've gone from one end of the pendulum to the other. These guys are smoking some powerful stuff if they think that they can release zero-defect software in any reasonable amount of time with the initial list of features they proposed.