The Ultimate Money Machine

[Casino moguls Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta bought a violent fight club called Ultimate Fighting Championship--and built it into a billion-dollar sports empire.

UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, 39, wandered tunnels around the arena. He dropped in on a broadcast booth to pepper producers with questions about which countries would be receiving the night's pay-per-view event, and then checked in with the commentator, Joe Rogan of NBC's Fear Factor, to learn more about the matchups. He made small talk with some of the 18 fighters on the bill before joining the crowd to watch the fights taking place inside an eight-sided ring surrounded by a chain-link fence.

Americans will never understand cricket. The British can't grasp American football. But you can't get much more universal than this. "What makes UFC so great," says Fertitta, "is that every single man on the planet gets it immediately. It's just two guys beating each other up."

It's the Ultimate Money Machine. That night before the Super Bowl 10,700 fans packed the arena, paying an average of $340 for a ticket to witness nine mixed martial arts fights. Another 500,000 fans paid $45 ($55 for high definition) to watch five of the nine fights at home. The total haul from the event: $25 million.

This year UFC is likely to generate $250 million, capturing perhaps 90% of mixed martial arts revenue. The majority of UFC revenues come from the monthly pay-per-view events. Additional cash is made from ticket sales to live fights and licensing fees from its Spike cable shows The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Fight Night . These shows in turn act as promotional tools to drive fans to pay-per-view events. More scratch comes from sales of DVDs and T shirts, as well as downloads from UFC's library of past bouts.

The brothers each own 45% of UFC (White owns the rest), which is operated through their holding company Zuffa (Italian for "fight"), LLC. Add in personal assets and their stake in Station Casinos (nyse: STN - news - people ), which they took private with buyout maven Thomas Barrack for $9 billion in cash and assumed debt last year, and each Fertitta has a net worth of $1.3 billion, ranking each 380th on The Forbes 400.]-Forbes

Read the rest at Forbes.Com

Its a superb article. . . to say thee least. Anytime someone is willing to write a story on how Billionaires made their Billions im alllll about it!!

Out of Sight out of mind

[WASHINGTON — With consumer confidence slipping and gasoline and food prices soaring, President Bush delivered an unusually dark assessment of the economy on Tuesday, saying the nation was in “very difficult times, very difficult.”

There are no quick fixes, Mr. Bush said, to ease the pain Americans feel. Mr. Bush used a Rose Garden news conference to go on the offensive against the Democratic-controlled Congress, accusing lawmakers of being uncooperative on bills that would address pocketbook issues.

Democrats pushed back, accusing Mr. Bush of trotting out old ideas and of favoring big oil companies at the expense of average Americans.

The sharp exchanges struck a different tone from when the two parties joined forces on an economic stimulus package, including tax rebates that are being issued. Since then, the president and Congress have not agreed on addressing the economic troubles, and by Tuesday they mostly blamed each other.

“If there was a magic wand to wave, I’d be waving it, of course,” Mr. Bush said, referring specifically to gasoline prices, which have climbed $1.40 a gallon in 18 months. “But there is no magic wand to wave right now. It took us a while to get to this fix.”

“He says he’s concerned with high gas prices and high food prices and student and home loan problems. But the truth is that the president has closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears as these crises have grown.”]-NYT

Little growth for thee American Economy

[The American economy remained stuck in the slow lane over the first three months of the year, expanding by a modest 0.6 percent annualized rate, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday morning.

The weak performance reflected the increasingly thrifty inclinations of American consumers in the face of plummeting real estate prices, tightening credit and a deteriorating job market. Economic growth was also hampered by a continued pullback in construction and business investment.

Still the number was slightly better than expected and helped to push the major market indexes higher on Wednesday.

The only factors preventing the economy from sliding backward were the growth of American exports — aided by a weakening dollar — and a buildup of inventories by businesses. Exports and inventories set aside, final sales of American goods and services domestically dipped at a 0.4 percent annualized rate in inflation-adjusted terms, the first decline since the end of 1991.

The very fact that economic activity expanded as opposed to shrinking challenged the broad assumption that the economy is ensnared in a recession. A government-appointed panel of economists ultimately decides whether a particular patch of trouble qualifies as a recession, which is defined as a “significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months.”

“It doesn’t get us across the chasm,” said Robert Barbera, chief economist at the research and trading firm, ITG. “It will make things look better than they are for a few months, but it doesn’t change the fundamentals. The underlying circumstances are unambiguously recessionary. It’s a fait accompli.”]-NYT

Cavs vs. Wizards

I really hope they close out this serious tonight. Wizards have been playing dirty in my opinion, trying to take LeBron out. Im a fan of success and hard work. I for sure want to see LeBron succeed. And speaking of LeBron he is a BEAST!!

Thee battle shall go down tonight on TNT.

Also for your delight. Some glory by Jay! Gotta love it!

Book of Glory: Volume 2

Its been a while since we were in the second round of the playoffs. "LETS GO LAKERS!!!!"

[They'll keep a low profile until the Utah-Houston series ends, which will be either Friday in Utah or Sunday in Houston. The Jazz leads the series, 3-2.
The Lakers will congregate today at their training facility in El Segundo, although it might be only a light workout.

Until an opponent is decided, they can ruminate on being the first team to sweep a best-of-seven series from the Nuggets in their 32-year NBA existence.

Along those lines, Kobe Bryant's 134 points were the most against Denver in four playoff games, easily topping the 112 scored by Kiki Vandeweghe for Portland in 1986.]-LAT

Basque on Fire

["We do have firefighters on three sides of the building to protect the nearby businesses," Davies said. Fire is on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine, in the center of numerous high-end redevelopment projects underway such as the new W hotel and residences. The building involved is home to Basque, a nightclub and restaurant.

The building on fire has not been declared a total loss yet but has been deemed as "under demolition," Davies said.]-LAT

Crazy!

Caleb Campbell: From Westpoint to the NFL

[When the Lions selected Army safety Caleb Campbell in the seventh round Sunday, the crowd at Radio City Music City Hall erupted into a "U-S-A" chant. Campbell is attempting to become the first football player to take advantage of a recently implemented rule by the U.S. Military Academy that allows athletes to play professional sports immediately upon graduation.

"This is unbelievable," said the 6-foot-2, 229-pound Campbell, who was wearing a Lions cap. "It gives me goose bumps."

On his off day, which is normally Tuesday in the NFL, he'll be required to speak to local high schools about opportunities in the Army.]-ESPN

More than literal groceries prices are rising. . .

"Food has moved around the world since Europeans brought tea from China, but never at the speed or in the amounts it has over the last few years. Consumers in not only the richest nations but, increasingly, the developing world expect food whenever they crave it, with no concession to season or geography.

But the movable feast comes at a cost: pollution — especially carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas — from transporting the food.

Under longstanding trade agreements, fuel for international freight carried by sea and air is not taxed. Now, many economists, environmental advocates and politicians say it is time to make shippers and shoppers pay for the pollution, through taxes or other measures.

Under a little-known international treaty called the Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed in Chicago in 1944 to help the fledgling airline industry, fuel for international travel and transport of goods, including food, is exempt from taxes, unlike trucks, cars and buses. There is also no tax on fuel used by ocean freighters.

The ability to transport food cheaply has given rise to new and booming businesses.

The European Union has led the world in proposals to incorporate environmental costs into the price consumers pay for food."-NYT

SHARP RAISE IN CREDIT CARD FEE'S!!!

"Even as the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates, financial institutions have sharply raised rates for credit card customers — even those who pay on time — as they grapple with losses from other bad consumer loans.

This month, Washington Mutual (WM) told some credit card customers that it was raising their rates by as much as 100%. Discover (DFS) is lifting its penalty rate to 31%, effective May 1, and may apply that maximum to consumers who exceed their credit limit twice in a rolling 12 months.

That's why even responsible consumers whose credit scores haven't changed are being hit, says Joseph Ridout, a spokesman for Consumer Action, an advocacy group.

He notes that as banks lose money on mortgage loans, it's logical they would try to boost credit card profits. "If one end of your business is suffering, you look to the other end to pick up the slack."

To boost profits, some banks have also imposed higher fees on consumers for paying late, transferring credit card balances and withdrawing money from an ATM.

The danger for card holders is that as some struggle to pay bills, steep rate or fee increases could nudge them toward default. Credit card delinquencies — a precursor to defaults — have been climbing, and overall consumer loan delinquencies are at their highest since 1992.

"If every (card company) raises your rate, you might have to write the debt off or go into bankruptcy," says Dan Blanton, of Pevely, Mo. He was notified this month that his Washington Mutual credit card rate would nearly double, to 24%."-USA Today

Cali Heat

This is how hot it was this weekend. . . .

LiveStrong: Practice Makes Perfect

If you cant Stop them, Hire Them

[PARIS — Jérôme Kerviel, the Société Générale trader who used his knowledge of the French bank’s electronic risk controls to conceal billions in unauthorized bets, has a new job — at a computer consulting firm.

Mr. Kerviel, who was given a provisional release from prison on March 18, started work last week as a trainee at Lemaire Consultants & Associates, which specializes in computer security and system development, a spokesman for the former trader, Christophe Reille, confirmed on Friday.

The news comes a few days after Société Générale held a farewell party for two managers of the derivatives trading desk who resigned in the wake of the trading scandal, which the bank blames for losses of about 4.9 billion euros, or about $7.1 billion.

A lawyer for Société Générale, Jean Veil, said that he was “delighted” that Mr. Kerviel had found employment. “It means he will be in a position to start repaying the bank.”]-NYT

"I'm going to send you six hundred bucks - spend it however you want."-Ol Uncle Sammy

[NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)
That's exactly what's Uncle Sam is about to do for millions of taxpayers. Here's what every tax filer needs to know about the soon-to-be-distributed stimulus checks.

The Treasury Department said it hopes to get the first $50 billion out by the end of May. People who use direct deposit will get their payments soonest. By the end of next week, checks will have been deposited into the bank accounts of 7.4 million people. Most people will get their payments by July 11.

One-time payments will be sent to at least 117 million low- and middle-income households, 20 million senior citizens living off of Social Security and 250,000 disabled veterans.

You must file a federal tax return for 2007.]

May or may not be just enough for gas. . . save it dont spend it on random items you dont need. . . .

Ferrari or Porsche Turbo?? . . . tough call.

[How much would you pay to puke in a Porsche 997 Turbo?

For Bruce McDonnell, the tab came to $4,990, plus airfare and hotel. He said he'd gladly do it again. "I tossed my cookies," said the 50-year-old computer salesman from Arlington Heights, Ill. "But what an amazing car."

This month, McConnell joined a group of exotic car enthusiasts at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana to participate in Supercar Life, the latest -- and fanciest -- in a growing group of four-wheeled fantasy camps that put drivers behind the wheels of cars that mere mortals cannot afford.

Under an overcast sky, he and several others steered Porsches, Ferrari F430s, Lamborghini Gallardos, Mercedes CLK AMG63 Blacks and Aston Martin DB9s (collective horsepower: 2,439) around the track. They flirted with 140 mph, then staggered out with legs trembling and grins on their mugs.

For just under five grand, clients get breakfast, a brief class in high-speed driving, and then buckle in and put pedal to metal. Throughout an eight-hour session, interrupted only by a lunch of beef medallions and chicken monterrey, they drive each car multiple times, trying 0-60 acceleration and braking, slaloms and open-track acceleration.]-LAT

Funny I just saw a burgundy version of this Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano its meeaannnn!!

First fatal shark attack in San Diego County since 1959.

[SOLANA BEACH -- A shark attacked and killed a 66-year-old triathlete this morning, biting his legs as he swam in a group off this beach city 20 miles north of San Diego, authorities said.

Authorities identified the man as Dave Martin, a retired veterinarian who has lived in Solana Beach since 1970.

"this almost certainly was a great white shark."]-LAT


Pretty Scary.

Debt collection from India.

[GURGAON, India — In a glass tower on the outskirts of New Delhi, dozens of young Indians are on the telephone, calling America’s out of work, forgetful and debt-stricken and asking for cash.

Armed with a sophisticated automated system that dials tens of thousands of Americans every hour, and puts confidential information like Social Security numbers, addresses and credit history at operators’ fingertips, this new breed of collectors is chasing down late car payments, overdue credit card debt and lapsed installment loans. Debt collectors in India often cost about one-quarter the price of their American counterparts, and are often better at the job, debt collection company executives say.

Companies like Encore buy bad loans from banks and credit card issuers for pennies on the dollar and pocket the cash they collect. The delinquent borrowers often owe at least a thousand dollars.

Telephone debt collection represents new, more aggressive territory for India. “This is really a sales job,” Mr. Hughes said. “It is commission-intensive, and you’re paid on your ability to collect.”

Just over 4.5 percent of all bank credit card accounts were delinquent in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the Federal Reserve, up from 3.5 percent two years before. Businesses in the United States put $141 billion in delinquent consumer debt up for collection in 2005, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey commissioned by an industry group, and debt collection agencies collected $51 billion that year. They kept nearly a quarter of that in profits.

Encore pays its collectors in India an average base salary of 17,000 rupees ($425) a month, and they earn bonuses — sometimes more than $1,000 a month — for getting customers to pay. In contrast, collectors in the United States, make about $6,500 a month. Thanks to the income, a windfall in India, where the average monthly income is $63, collectors are amassing some of the status symbols that probably got their clients into trouble in the first place — new scooters, iPods, Swatch watches and exotic vacations.]-NYT

Smog Kills. . . LITERALLY.

". . . .Concluding that smog is likely to be killing many people, a national panel of experts advised the Environmental Protection Agency to consider the economic value of lost lives when comparing the costs and benefits of setting new air pollution rules.

Ozone, the main ingredient of smog, is a lung-scarring gas created when fumes from vehicles, factories and consumer products react in the sun. Over the last two decades, many scientific studies have shown that on days when ozone or other air pollutants increase, deaths and hospitalizations from respiratory diseases and heart attacks rise.

The Los Angeles Basin has the nation's worst ozone levels.

....the EPA often calculates the lives that could be saved if a new smog rule were adopted, and then attaches a dollar value to each life, currently about $7 million per life.

In the Bush administration, the White House Office of Management and Budget has questioned the reliability of the science linking air pollution to deaths and has instructed the EPA staff to remove ozone mortality benefits when setting some rules.

"The nation's leading scientists have issued a wake-up call to the U.S. government to strengthen the clean-air measures that will prevent the death and disease from smog air pollution," said Dr. John Balbus, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund."-LAT

Politics trump science

[Such allegations are not new: During much of the Bush administration, there have been reports of the White House watering down documents on climate change, industry language inserted into EPA power-plant regulations and scientific advisory panels' conclusions about toxic chemicals going unheeded.

"Nearly 900 EPA scientists reported political interference in their scientific work. That's 900 too many."

"We have the best and finest scientific community in the world at EPA," Shradar said. "All of the issues we deal with are issues that we all are very passionate about. It's important that we let the scientists do the science and allow policymakers to do the policy work."

J. William Hirzy, an EPA senior scientist and union official, said that politics trumped science at times during the Clinton administration as well but that "what we're seeing now is . . . the favoring of energy interests, coal-fired power plants. That's something different in this administration." ]-LAT

"It's one of those hidden expenses you don't want to admit."

[Economic woes are percolating down to Americans' morning brews.

Starbucks has faced cut-rate competition in recent months from companies such as McDonald's Corp., which is rolling out a line of premium coffee drinks, and 7-Eleven Inc., which in February unveiled a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to talk about its freshly brewed coffee. Partly as a response, Starbucks this month introduced Pike Place Roast, a drip coffee, and has distributed coupons allowing consumers to get the blend free on Wednesdays.

Sarafina Rodriguez, assistant manager at the Groundwork coffee shop on 2nd Street downtown, said more customers are becoming their own baristas.

A pound of coffee costs $9.50 to $17.50 at her shop and yields about 40 cups. That would run you $56 at Groundwork.

"It's such a bad habit," Menna said outside a Coffee Bean in Larchmont Village. "It's one of those hidden expenses you don't want to admit."]-LAT


I dropped thee Starbucks habit a long time ago. ITs a complete waste when you can make it at home yourself for way cheaper. Its simple to buy the starbucks brand beans and brew it at home. Every penny saved counts.

Limits on the purchase of Rice

"April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club warehouse unit is restricting purchases of some types of rice to four bags a visit as prices reached a record in Chicago futures trading.

The higher commodities prices are also pushing up U.S. food prices and spurring inflation. The consumer price index climbed 0.3 percent in March, after no change in the prior month, the Labor Department said April 16. Inflation, combined with falling home values and mounting job losses, is leading to cutbacks in consumer spending that may push the economy into a recession.

Limits on rice purchases will be felt the most in California and Texas, which have large Asian and Mexican populations, whose diets include rice, Degen said."

This week in the market.

[The stock market has reacted well to the recent stream of glum earnings. But this week, Wall Street faces an even bigger flood of first-quarter results, and as General Electric Co.'s bleak report this month showed, bad earnings can even hurt a stock market with low expectations.

Out of the 30 components that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, Bank of America Corp., American Express Co., Merck & Co., McDonald's Corp., AT&T Inc., DuPont Co., Boeing Co. and Microsoft Corp. will be reporting quarterly results this week.]-LAT

The 76 million Baby Boomers are starting to retire. . . now what?

[With baby boomers preparing to retire as the best educated and most skilled workforce in U.S. history, a growing chorus of demographers and labor experts is raising concerns that workers in California and the nation lack the critical skills needed to replace them.

In particular, experts say, the immigrant workers needed to fill many of the boomer jobs lack the English-language skills and basic educational levels to do so. Many immigrants are ill-equipped to fill California's fastest-growing positions, including computer software engineers, registered nurses and customer service representatives, a new study by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute found.

Immigrants -- legal and illegal -- already constitute almost half of the workers in Los Angeles County and are expected to account for nearly all of the growth in the nation's working-age population by 2025 because native-born Americans are having fewer children. But the study, based largely on U.S. Census data, noted that 60% of the county's immigrant workers struggle with English and one-third lack high school diplomas.

Nearly one-third of all Americans -- 76 million people -- were born between 1946 and 1964. Boomer retirements are projected to open up nearly 1 million jobs in Los Angeles County and 3 million in California in the next decade.

The investments more than paid off: Every dollar invested in public education produces $8 in added tax revenues, according to Myers. He and others worry that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts in the education budget could cripple efforts to produce the well-educated and skilled workers California urgently needs.]-LAT

"Maybe its my fault"

I am obsessed with this commercial. Its soooo well done. Unless you have read every book/bio (Which I have) on Jordan or watched his old school tapes that show his story you may assume that it was "easy".

"SaberMetrics"

This was a rad segment. Its all numbers baby.

"Bill James, the wizard hired by the Boston Red Sox five years ago. Since then the team - that was a congenital loser for 86 years - has won two World Series. James invented something called "sabermetrics," loosely defined as the analysis of baseball through objective evidence. Whether it actually works or not is open to debate, but baseball, with its unshakeable reliance on superstition, believes the Red Sox have found themselves one extremely lucky charm."-CBA

Google up 20%!!

"Google rallied $89.87, or 20 percent, to $539.41, the most since its August 2004 initial public offering and the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The owner of the most popular Internet search engine said sales rose 46 percent as more users clicked on text advertisements. Overseas sales, accounting for 51 percent of revenue, increased 55 percent.

Based on the size of Google's price changes in the past, today's gain represents a 1-in-300,000 days' occurrence, Bloomberg data show. The stock previously never posted a gain that would qualify as a 1-in-100 days' or rarer occurrence.

Options on Google accounted for the four biggest gains among all U.S. stock options tracked by Bloomberg. Contracts that gave the right to buy Google shares for $520 through today's close surged 117-fold."-Bloomberg

Ca Unemployment 3rd highest in country.

"SACRAMENTO -- California's unemployment rate rose by a whopping half a percentage point in March, reaching 6.2% as a weakening economy shed jobs in the ailing construction and financial activities sectors. In all, 1.13 million were unemployed.

"This is a huge increase," said Howard Roth, chief economist for the state Department of Finance. He blamed the steady rise in joblessness -- up from 5.0% in March 2007 -- on deterioration of the crucial housing market. "The bubble has a slow leak, so it's hard to tell how long it will take" to fully deflate, he said.

The uptick in people losing their jobs "means more bad news ahead for state and local [government] budgets," said Stephen Levy, director and chief economist of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto.

Levy noted that California's unemployment rate is the third highest in the country, trailing Michigan with 7.2% and Alaska with 6.7%. California is doing worse than Pennsylvania and Ohio, Levy said, the two Rust Belt states that have figured prominently in the presidential primary elections because of their lost manufacturing jobs."-LAT

Through the Wire

Classic

J. Staple: Tour of his office

I love his office. For the longest I would save pics from his blog of mini- shots of his office because his Creative space is so rad. Love it. I randomly found this on YouTube. Gotta love it.

What will California look like in 20 years?

[Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to slash higher education funding by about 10% would deny education to tens of thousands of qualified students and have a devastating long-term effect on the state's economy, university and college leaders said Wednesday.

The governor's proposed cutbacks for the University of California, California State University and the state's community college system also would mean reductions in financial aid, fewer classes and a decrease in student services, such as counseling, they said.

With the new round of cuts, for example, UC and Cal State would have to reduce enrollment by 27,000 over the next 2 1/2 years, enough students to populate a campus, the study found.

To maintain the current level of quality at UC while making up for the cuts, annual student fees would have to jump to $10,500, from $7,511, the UC study found. Within a few years, fees at UC could rise as high as $18,000, it concluded.

"If we want to turn the economy around, this is the time to maintain our investment in higher education," she said.

"By 2025. if we continue on this same course of cumulative budget cuts on a cyclical basis, the California workforce will be 3 million short and California will not be competitive," Cal State Chancellor Reed said.]-LAT

No good. Clearly will have a heavy domino effect on the economy.

Billionaire to bring back an NFL stadium

"Ed Roski has been to the bottom of the Atlantic in a Russian submarine to view the wreckage of the Titanic. He has ridden his mountain bike the entire length of the Burma Road. He has climbed to base camp at Mt. Everest and has paid his deposit to travel commercially into space.

But his latest undertaking is his wildest, most improbable yet.

At a news conference Thursday, Roski will unveil the latest concept for an L.A. stadium. It's a dazzling, asymmetrical venue built into a hillside in the City of Industry, near the southern intersection of the 57 and 60 freeways. His stadium would be the centerpiece of a high-end shopping and entertainment complex, already in the works.

He inherited a fortune in real estate and continued to build on it, now ranking 195th on Forbes magazine's list of 400 richest Americans, with an estimated worth of $2.3 billion. Without Roski and Philip Anschutz, there would be no Staples Center.

The way Roski sees it, he could have shovels in the ground this fall and have a stadium ready to go for the 2011 season. By his thinking, a team could be in L.A. by the 2009 season and could play for two years in the Rose Bowl or Coliseum until its new digs are ready. He would want to own at least part of the team, but says he would be comfortable being a behind-the-scenes shareholder as he is with the Lakers and L.A. Kings."-LAT

Lol gotta love it. . . this is what you do when you have so much money that you cant spend it all in your lifetime. Pretty rad.

Can we maybe put this much "passion" into fixing the transportation system first. . . hmmm just a thought. . .

Oil $115

"Oil prices have surged to almost $115 a barrel as China builds up stocks before the Olympics and hedge funds pour money into commodity futures as a way to exploit the collapse of the dollar.

The Opec producers cartel yesterday defied calls from Gordon Brown for a boost in output to help ease the global shortage, sticking to its target of 32m barrels per day (bpd) for the next three months

There is some evidence that Opec has actually cut output by 350,000 bpd since the start of the year - a hostile move in the current climate. It blames the latest spike on "speculators", claiming that world demand will fall 1.4m bpd to 85.7m this quarter as the US grapples with recession." -UKT

The 100 most beautiful cars of all time

Check out the rest after the link.

My personal fav which is on my vision board is obviously #6 Aston Martin DB4/5/6

"Could have become a cult car without Bond, but the ejector seat, machine guns, tyre shredders, rotating number plates and so on probably helped."-UK Telegraph

VT Remembered

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Virginia Tech students began a day of mourning and reflection at the Blacksburg campus today as they marked the one-year anniversary of the deadliest U.S. shooting rampage.

``The world was cheated on April 16 a year ago -- cheated out of the accomplishments that were sure to come from these lives,'' Governor Tim Kaine said at a gathering on the campus's Drillfield. ``Their lives were just too short for all the promise and good within them.''

Thirty-two students and teachers were slain at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University when English major Seung Hui Cho embarked on a shooting spree in classrooms and dorms before killing himself.

THE WINNER EFFECT

[You can almost hear Gordon Gekko cheer. Financial traders are widely seen as filthy rich, brash, and, well, ballsy. Now it turns out that there's cash in those cojones. According to new research from the University of Cambridge, a male trader's daily testosterone level is higher on days when he makes more than he would in an average day. What's more, the higher a trader's morning testosterone level, the more money he'll likely have netted before the close of business that day. Testosterone, in other words, can be good for business.

Testosterone levels are known to rise during competitive encounters as much as they do during sexual ones, so it's hardly surprising that the hormone responds to the trials of financial markets. More remarkable, perhaps, is that no one had previously worked out how, especially considering the known risks — sensation-seeking and impulsivity among them — associated with persistently high levels of the hormone. The increased levels measured in Cambridge's brief study might have been acute, as opposed to chronic. And the research was carried out during a relatively calm period in the markets. But consider what scientists call the "winner effect": two athletes preparing to compete against one another will both experience rising testosterone levels. After the race, though, only those of the eventual winner would continue to climb; the loser's falls. The winner thus gets a persistent boost in confidence and appetite for risk, which increases the same competitor's chance of winning again.]-TIME

Magic Johnson has banked $1 billion for commercial developments in urban neighborhoods

[Magic still seems to have his touch.

At a time when many sources of financing for real estate projects are drying up, a fund co-founded by former Lakers guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson has banked $1 billion for commercial developments in urban neighborhoods.

Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund is expected to announce today that its third round of financing, which eclipses the combined $900 million total of its two predecessor funds, will make possible more than $4 billion in new development and upgrades of property in the country's largest metropolitan markets.

The need to upgrade urban centers is growing fast, said Bobby Turner, managing partner of the fund. The country's population is rising at a rate of 3 million annually, 90% of whom will be immigrants or people of color. Many of them head to urban centers with large minority populations.

Canyon-Johnson is also committed to making its projects environmentally friendly, Turner said. The fund has helped pay for $2 billion worth of green development, he said, including a $70-million residential and retail tower in downtown Nashville.]-LAT

One Word: FORESIGHT

"Will Hike to raise 10 Million"

[MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica — A group of pioneers in the “green business” were getting back to their roots with a two-day hike through a pristine rain forest in Costa Rica when they hit Fer-de-lance Hill.

The hike was so physically taxing — 28 kilometers, or about 17 miles, up and down mountains — that some older, or beefier, members of the entourage barely made it.

The trek, intentionally or not, served as a metaphor for the difficulty many of the executives are having as they transition from niche marketers to big-business men who have grown wealthy as demand for their products has surged. That is a good problem to have, of course, but it has stirred worries among them about selling out and has reaffirmed a desire to stay true to their cause.

The hike was organized, in part, to help raise $10 million to expand a swath of preserved forest in the northwest part of the country that includes the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest. Among those on the trip on Feb. 5 and 6 were Walter Robb, co-president of Whole Foods; Anthony Zolezzi, a founder of Pet Promise, a natural pet food company; and Bryan Meehan, the founder of Fresh & Wild Stores in Britain, who is now chief executive of Nude Skincare. They are, Mr. Newmark said, “the true spiritual warriors and visionaries of our industry.”]-NYT

2007 income: 3.7 BILLION!

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- John Paulson, founder of New York- based Paulson & Co., was paid an estimated $3.7 billion last year, the most in the hedge fund industry, according to Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine.

Paulson, 52, surpassed George Soros and 2006's top earner James Simons in a ranking of the 50 highest-paid hedge fund managers. Soros placed second, earning about $2.9 billion. Simons was third, making an estimated $2.8 billion last year.

Paulson & Co., which oversees about $28 billion, made money betting on the collapse of subprime mortgages in 2007. The Paulson Credit Opportunities Fund soared almost sixfold, helped by bets on slumping housing and subprime mortgage prices, according to investor letters obtained by Bloomberg.

``Paulson made all that money because his returns were absolutely exceptional -- he called the market right,'' said John Godden, managing partner of IGS, a London-based hedge fund consultant. ``The lucky people in his funds also made fabulous returns.''

Simple lesson here: Call the Market right = MAKE BILLIONS!!!

Student Loan funds take a hit.

[WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - Student Loan Corp (STU.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a subsidiary of Citibank N.A. (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Wednesday it will suspend lending at certain schools and withdraw from the Federal Consolidation Loan market because of market turmoil and federal legislation.

"These changes reflect the decisive action that is needed to manage our business through this difficult time in the overall economy," Michael Reardon, chief executive of SLC, said in a statement.

SLC said that beginning May 1, it will withdraw from the Federal Consolidation Loan market and will stop lending at schools where loans with lower balances and shorter interest-earning periods are less profitable.

Most U.S. college students depend on loans to help pay for their education. The federally guaranteed student loan program is the biggest source of loans, but students can also obtain private loans with no government backing or borrow through their colleges from the government's direct loan program.]-Reuters

Never good. . .

Springsteen for OBAMA

[WASHINGTON -- Bruce Springsteen, the rocker who made "Born in the USA" a signature of working-class pride, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president today.

"He has the depth, the reflectiveness and the resilience to be our next president," Springsteen said in a letter posted on his website and distributed by the Obama campaign. "He speaks to the American I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit, a place where 'nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.' "]-LAT

HOPEFULLY ALL HIS BUDDIES BEHIND HIM IN THIS PIC VOTE FOR OBAMA TOO.

#1

[LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Lakers began the season in chaos 5½ months ago. They finished it as the Western Conference champions.

Pau Gasol had 22 points, leading MVP candidate Kobe Bryant added 20, and the Lakers beat the short-handed Sacramento Kings 124-101 Tuesday night to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West and home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

I told the guys to celebrate, have a good time for two days," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We're back to business Thursday."]

Lets go Lakers! Its been an intense few months!

HOPS! Kobe

Pinkberry: Is it really frozen yogurt??

"Pinkberry is spooning out some cold hard cash to end a class-action lawsuit.

Ron Graves, chief executive of the Los Angeles-based company, said Thursday that Pinkberry had settled the suit filed by disgruntled customers contending that the popular frozen treat might not be yogurt.

"We're really happy to put the debate behind us," he said. "There was a lot of misinformation swirling out there -- everything from it isn't really yogurt to there weren't live and active cultures. . . . The product was real frozen yogurt then. It still is."

After the suit was filed, Pinkberry acknowledged that it wasn't in compliance with state food guidelines that require frozen yogurt to be mixed off-site, not in stores.

Pinkberry's product now is mixed at a dairy, Graves said."-LAT

eneral Electric Co. dropped the most since the 1987 stock market crash

"April 11 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. dropped the most since the 1987 stock market crash after reporting an unexpected decline in profit just a month after Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt assured investors 2008 earnings would be met.

GE declined as much as 13 percent in New York trading, wiping out about $46 billion in value, or more than the 2006 gross domestic product of Ecuador."

“If I Were King”

Clearly I don’t even have time to sleep. . . but every now and then I tivo something worth not deleting immediately and this Fashion Documentary on Sean John during fashion week was rad. I must say I loved it. Not because im a cult follower of diddy or because he makes it rain and drinks ace of spades. . . but one thing I do religiously do is study and observe successful people. Hes a pretty successful dude. . . lol. I loved how they showed the behind the scenes. Down to the bare: early morning in boxers making breakfast by yourself and eating it by yourself. The beautiful grind. . his is obviously a lot more glamorous than most. . . but all in all I strongly feel like there’s a few gems to be pulled out of this special.

Yes he may come off as an “ass-hole”, but I think if you look closely and think about anything you have ever felt strongly about its ultimately rooted from the fact that no one will ever care about your Creation/Dream as much as you do and it all stems from passion.

One of my favorite clips is below. Thee rest are on MTV.com

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Sunday Conversation with Tiger Woods

I LOVE this interview. So many gems you can pull out of it.

Masters 2008: Tiger and schedule

[What concerns me is something that should worry every player heading to Augusta: I've never heard Tiger speak as confidently as he has this spring. Stevie Williams, his caddie, said last year that Tiger's best was yet to come, and I think I heard Tiger say the same thing. What does that mean — another 10-stroke walloping in June at Torrey Pines? Frankly, I'd feel better about Augusta if Tiger were more like me and complaining about his putting.
I could be wrong, but I'd also swear that Tiger has shortened his driver and three-wood. Tiger's driver simply doesn't look 45 inches long anymore. (Don't forget, he used a 43-inch steel-shafted driver for years before upgrading to an oversized graphite-shafted club in 2004, when, coincidentally, he began spraying more tee shots.) It's easier to get a shorter club back in front of you, and you'd be surprised how much accuracy you gain by chopping off even half an inch. Tiger clearly has more control this year. I bet he shortened the driver and simply didn't tell anyone. At Bay Hill, I noticed that Tiger nailed a good drive at the 6th hole in the final round and was only 10 yards past Sean O'Hair.

One last take on Tiger: Who's going to putt Augusta's mean greens better? Tiger's the best putter in the world. It's as if he has robot hands — no flinching. When he misses, it's usually because of speed or a misread. One thing Tiger knows is that his putter is always going to be there for him. Every player on Tour wishes he could say the same.]-PGA



Im pretty pumped.

Masters 2008:

2008 Tournament Schedule

Practice Round
Monday, April 7 - Tuesday, April 8: Gates open 8:00 a.m., close approximately 6:30 p.m.
Practice Round
Wednesday, April 9 - Gates open 8:00 a.m., close approximately 6:30 p.m.
Par 3 Contest
Wednesday, April 9 - Par 3 course 1:00 p.m.
Competitive Round
Thursday, April 10 - Gates open 8:00 a.m., close 30 minutes after play
Competitive Round
Friday, April 11 - Gates open 8:00 a.m., close 30 minutes after play
Competitive Round
Saturday, April 12 - Gates open 8:00 a.m., close 30 minutes after play
Final Competitive Round
Sunday, April 13 - Gates open 8:00 a.m., close 30 minutes after Presentation Ceremony

Solid coverage: http://www.augusta.com/

Perfect Practice makes Perfect!

"How Did A-Rod Get So Good?
By STEPHEN J. DUBNER
When Anders Ericsson and his colleagues in the “expert performance” movement — we’ve written about them before, and we’ll write about them again — try to explain what it is that makes someone very good at what he or she does, they focus on “deliberate practice.” This means that, your level of natural talent notwithstanding, excellence is accomplished mainly through the tenets of deliberate practice, which are roughly:

1. Focus on technique as opposed to outcome.
2. Set specific goals.
3. Get good, prompt feedback, and use it."-NYTIMES

TRUE WITH ANYTHING! Inside and Outside of Sports.

MLK Jr. Special CNN Tonight

"n this first installment of CNN's Black in America series, Soledad O'Brien investigates how James Earl Ray, an armed robber and escaped convict, had already spent an uncommon year on the run just a month before his path collided with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. Tune in Thursday, April 3 at 9 p.m. ET"-CNN

Should be interesting. Can't believe its been 40 years. . . . unreal

BAALLLLLLIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will make more money this season than the 33-man roster of the Florida Marlins, the Associated Press reported.

Rodriguez, who signed a record $275 million contract extension in December, tops Major League Baseball's salary list at $28 million, exceeding the Marlins' opening-day roster and disabled-list total of $21.8 million, AP said, citing a study of contract terms. Rodriguez has been the highest-paid player for eight straight years.

Jobless claims sky high!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits soared by 38,000 last week, posting the highest reading since September 2005 and reinforcing fears that the U.S. economy has stalled, government data on Thursday showed.

A Labor Department official said there were no special factors to explain the increase in initial claims to 407,000 in the week ended March 29, but he said seasonal adjustments to the data owing to the early timing of the Easter public holiday this year may have influenced the reading.

Roc Nation

Thee Grind never stops. . . too much glory. It was hard to not just copy and paste thee entire article. Read the rest of the details in the New York Times.

[LOS ANGELES — In a move that reflects the anarchy sweeping the music business, the superstar rapper Jay-Z, who released his latest album to lukewarm sales five months ago, is on the verge of closing a deal with a concert promoter that rivals the biggest music contracts ever awarded.

Jay-Z plans to depart his longtime record label, Def Jam, for a roughly $150 million package with the concert giant Live Nation that includes financing for his own entertainment venture, in addition to recordings and tours for the next decade. The pact, expected to be finalized this week, is the most expansive deal yet from Live Nation, which has angled to compete directly with the industry’s established music labels in a scrum over the rights to distribute recordings, sell concert tickets, market merchandise and control other aspects of artists’ careers.
“I’ve turned into the Rolling Stones of hip-hop,” Jay-Z said in a recent telephone interview.

The overall package for Jay-Z also includes an upfront payment of $25 million, a general advance of $25 million that includes fees for his current tour, and advance payment of $10 million an album for a minimum of three albums during the deal’s 10-year term, these people said. A series of other payments adding up to about $20 million is included in exchange for certain publishing, licensing and other rights. Jay-Z said Live Nation’s consolidated approach was in sync with the emerging potential “to reach the consumer in so many different ways right now.” He added: “Everyone’s trying to figure it out. I want to be on the front lines in that fight.”

“In a way I want to operate like an indie band,” he said. “Play the music on tour instead of relying on radio. Hopefully we’ll get some hits out of there and radio will pick it up, but we won’t make it with that in mind.”]-NYT

Google: Mobile phone software

[April 2 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc., the biggest U.S. wireless carrier, is now ``very interested'' in using mobile-phone software developed by Google Inc. and its partners, overcoming its initial skepticism about the project.

The software, known as Android, is more flexible than AT&T had expected, Ralph de la Vega, chief executive officer of the carrier's wireless unit, said yesterday in an interview in Las Vegas. It will allow the company to alter phones to run features other than those Google is offering.

By adopting Android, AT&T could offer phones that download Web pages more quickly than current models and let subscribers customize their handsets. Google, owner of the most popular Internet search engine, wants consumers to use the Internet more on their mobile phones, helping to boost the ad revenue it collects from Web queries.

``I'm pretty impressed with what I have seen,'' de la Vega said. ``I like the progress they're making.'']

"Search Billionaires"

[LAS VEGAS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Wednesday unveiled new features to make Web search easier and more relevant to mobile phone users, the latest step in its battle with Google Inc in the next frontier for Web use.

Yahoo mobile chief Marco Boerries said his company aims to make millions of Web links more accessible on phones, by tapping deeper into the sites and by enabling consumers to use voice commands to search the Web.

"This is really a sea change. This is not about simple Web links any more," Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo's Connected Life unit, said in an interview ahead of a keynote speech at CTIA, the annual U.S. wireless showcase.

Yahoo unveiled the latest version of its oneSearch service as it forges ahead with its mobile Internet strategy in the face of an unsolicited Microsoft Corp takeover bid.]

Bernanke: US may slip into recession.

[April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke acknowledged for the first time that a U.S. recession is possible because homebuilding, unemployment and consumer spending will deteriorate.
``It now appears likely that real gross domestic product will not grow much, if at all, over the first half of 2008 and could even contract slightly,'' Bernanke said in testimony to Congress's Joint Economic Committee today. He also told lawmakers the Fed's emergency loan to Bear Stearns Cos. followed a March 13 warning by the company it ``would have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the next day.''

While the Fed expects the economy to return to its long-term growth pace in 2009, ``in light of the recent turbulence in financial markets, the uncertainty attending this forecast is quite high and the risks remain to the downside,'' he said.

IMF Cuts Forecast
Separately today, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global growth this year and said there's a 25 percent chance of a world recession, citing the worst financial crisis in the U.S. since the Great Depression. Also, orders to U.S. factories fell more than forecast in February, a Commerce Department report showed.]

Intense.

21

So on Friday I went to go see the movie “21”. Pretty solid. Every gambler and gambler to be was there and the line to get in was wrapped around the corner. This movie is based on the book by Ben Mezrich “Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions”. Pretty rad author. I must say im a fan of books more than books-to-films.

Here’s thee Description of the book: "Shy, geeky, amiable" MIT grad Kevin Lewis, was, Mezrich learns at a party, living a double life winning huge sums of cash in Las Vegas casinos. In 1993 when Lewis was 20 years old and feeling aimless, he was invited to join the MIT Blackjack Team, organized by a former math instructor, who said, "Blackjack is beatable." Expanding on the "hi-lo" card-counting techniques popularized by Edward Thorp in his 1962 book, Beat the Dealer, the MIT group's more advanced team strategies were legal, yet frowned upon by casinos. Backed by anonymous investors, team members checked into Vegas hotels under assumed names and, pretending not to know each other, communicated in the casinos with gestures and card-count code words. Taking advantage of the statistical nature of blackjack, the team raked in millions before casinos caught on and pursued them. In his first nonfiction foray, novelist Mezrich (Reaper, etc.), telling the tale primarily from Kevin's point of view, manages to milk that threat for a degree of suspense. But the tension is undercut by the first-draft feel of his pedestrian prose, alternating between irrelevant details and heightened melodrama. In a closing essay, Lewis details the intricacies of card counting.

Its one of those classic tales of up super high one day “living thee dream” and down the next.

Book: The Bin Ladens

"Steve Coll’s riveting new book not only gives us the most psychologically detailed portrait of the brutal 9/11 mastermind yet, but in telling the epic story of Osama bin Laden’s extended family, it also reveals the crucial role that his relatives and their relationship with the royal house of Saud played in shaping his thinking, his ambitions, his technological expertise and his tactics.

“The Bin Ladens” uses the prism of one family to examine the mind-boggling, culture-rocking effects that sudden oil wealth had on Saudi Arabia, while shedding new light on the “troubled, compulsive, greed-inflected, secret-burdened” relationship that developed between that desert nation and the United States, and the conflicts many Saudis felt, pulled between the traditional pieties of their ancestors and the glittering temptations of the West."-NYT

The rest of the article in New York Times is interesting.

Billionaire reshaping the oil business

"LONDON -- As a buccaneering oil trader, John Fredriksen shipped crude from trouble spots like Iran and used hardball tactics to build up the world's biggest tanker fleet. The son of a welder, this modern-day Onassis is now Norway's richest man, worth at least $7 billion.

He is also one of a new breed of entrepreneurs reshaping the oil business.

Mr. Fredriksen has amassed an array of state-of-the-art oil rigs capable of drilling in the world's deepest oceans."-WSJ

Interesting.