Archive for June 18th, 2010

Smackdown: Hulk Hogan vs. the Flintstones

June 18, 2010

Punch line: Wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan says  a Cocoa Pebbles commercial degrades his image.

Gotta be stopped !  Otherwise, some jabrone will start claiming that wrestling is fake. Go Hulk !

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Excerpted from:  Tampa Tribune: Yabba-Dabba-Sue! Hulk Hogan files suit against Cocoa Pebbles maker,  May 21, 2010

Hulk Hogan is suing the maker of Cocoa Pebbles, accusing the company of appropriating his image in commercials for the cereal.

In the “Cocoa Smashdown” commercial, a cartoon character resembling Hogan easily beats Fred and Barney inside the ring. But then Bamm-Bamm steps in and pounds the blond-haired, mustachioed wrestler to bits.

Hulk, the federal lawsuit states, “is shown humiliated and cracked into pieces with broken teeth.'”

The commercial character goes by the name “Hulk Boulder,” which Hogan’s lawsuit says is a name he used early in his career until wrestling promoter Vince McMahon decided he should have an Irish name.

The wrestler contends he has been harmed by, among other things, “the unauthorized and degrading depictions.”

Source article:
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/may/21/211702/yabba-dabba-doo-hulk-hogan-sues-cocoa-pebbles-make/news-breaking/

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To view commercial click pic or link below

image 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7S7KFKmYP4

Posted in Laughs, Mktg - Brands | Leave a Comment »

“Keep your non-union oil skimmers out of our Gulf” … huh

June 18, 2010

“We’ve been doing everything we can since Day 1”

Oh really ?

Except for letting other nations send their oil skimming fleets to the Gulf.

Team O has turned down offers from the Dutch (on day 3), the Swedes, the Saudis, and the Mexicans.

Why ?

The Jones Act prohibits foreign flagged ships from our waters – except for single port loading or unloading of freight or people. It’s “an antiquated 1920 law mandating that goods shipped between U.S. ports be handled by U.S.-built and -owned ships manned by U.S. crews.”

Why the Jones Act?  Because unions say so.

Unions fiercely support the law as a means of preserving U.S. jobs.

Bush waived the Jones Act in the first week of Katrina.

Obama refuses waive it for the Gulf clean-up to because his union base says no.

Politics trumps clean-up.

Surprised ?

For more details:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310800313251666.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

Posted in Gulf Blowout & Clean-up, Obama Administration | 1 Comment »

Want a mortgage? … Then quick, what’s 300 divided by 2 ?

June 18, 2010

Punch line: If you can’t add & subtract, then you probably can’t do a budget … and will eventually end up in financial hot water.

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Excerpted from NY Times: Study Says Math Deficiencies Increase Foreclosure Risk. June 9, 2010

If you can’t divide 300 by 2, should you qualify for a loan?

That is one of the questions raised by a new study led by a Columbia business professor who found that borrowers with poor math skills were three times more likely than others to go into foreclosure.

Survey respondents were asked five questions, with the first requiring borrowers to divide 300 by 2, and the second to calculate 10 percent of 1,000.

About 16 percent of the respondents answered at least one of the first two questions incorrectly. The results were consistent among all levels of education and income.

Over all, 21 percent of the respondents whose math abilities placed them in the bottom quarter of the survey experienced foreclosure, versus 7 percent of those in the top quarter.

Mr. Meier said the study had at least two implications for mortgage lenders.

One alternative would be working to help borrowers improve their financial literacy before they took out the loan.

Another alternative might be to add math tests to the process and screen the math-challenged away.

“People say they’re doctors, so they don’t really need math … So what? We see doctors who took out loans they didn’t understand, and who are in foreclosure now.”

“Many of them don’t understand how to do a budget — which is basic math, I guess,” she said.

Full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/realestate/13mort.html?ref=business

Posted in Math & Quant Skills, Mortgage Crisis, Numbers | Leave a Comment »