This & That, Ceci et Cela

Another reason to start keeping your money under your mattress: "Along a crowded stretch of highway just south of central Miami is a shopping area that might be called the data theft capital of the United States. Criminals have obtained the cardholder information of tens of thousands of customers at four major stores there, including the retail chain DSW Shoes. Recent investigations reveal that the thieves targeted stores with strong ...

Zopa demonstrates an interesting use in P2P (peer to peer) technology: lending. Works like eBay, but no banks involved; users lend to other users. I imagine restrictive regulations prevent such implentations in North America? Can't otherwise imagine why nothing like that has been seen/tried here.

Luxe yacht company adver-story via Escape Artist article; interesting concept of living if you've got the moolah.

"Get A Second Passport -Purchase a luxury yacht in Panama and you qualify for citizenship in your adopted country, even while you travel! ... But why limit yourself? If you own a yacht, Europe awaits, as does South America. ...

I don't know bout y'all but I have hereby been ordained a world citizen. How? Well, I called up this fur company and the Chinese lady who answered asked me if I spoke Chinese! I said no, why? "oh, your accent sounds like you can/do speak Chinese"! WORD. I speak a couple of languages, but nothing even close. So my spin on that is: forget the UN, ...

Say what? The $200,000 Parmigiani Bugatti Type 370 watch was designed to complement the $1million Bugatti Veyron car, but you still have to wind it up to get it going due to its vertically-oriented face.

And you thought the $10,000 price on the Mercedes SLR watch was offensive enough:

...

Just as it was celebrating its successful olympic bid, London gets bombed

Blighty pushes France aside in a winning bid for the 2012 olympics.

A heads up for those of you who have enough money to hide; Switzerland is to start taxing money deposited in its banks by European Union citizens.  The EU wanted Switzerland to pass on data on EU citizens to stop them avoiding tax, but they eventually settled for a withholding tax instead. EU members exchanging ...

"Author Terry McMillan's messy divorce action pretty much boils down to her contention that she unknowingly got her groove back with a scheming gay guy. In a blistering back-and-forth flurry, McMillan, 53, and hubby Jonathan Plummer, 30, have traded charges of duplicity, homophobia, and embezzlement, according to documents filed in California's Contra Costa Superior Court. The writer, whose best ...