Where Banks really Make Money On IPOs All of these numbers are hypothetical, of course, but the bigger point is simple: if Goldman manages to get kickbacks, in terms of extra commissions, of more than 7% of its clients’ profits, then it has a financial incentive to underprice the IPO. And Goldman’s clients were desperate to give it kickbacks: they didn’t just route their standard trading through Goldman, since that wouldn’t generate enough commissions. Instead, they bought and sold stocks on the same day, at the same price. Capstar Holding, for instance, bought 57,000 shares in Seagram Ltd at $50.13 per share on June 21, 1999 — and then sold them, on the same day, at the same price. Capstar made nothing on the trade, but Goldman made a commission of $5,700. Capstar’s Christopher Rule says that in May 1999, fully 70% of all of his trading activity “was done solely for the purpose of generating commissions”, so that he could continue to keep on getting IPO allocations.
Rigging The IPO Game [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns
on Mar 11, 2013 -
18 comments
“Solid Wood: All About Chopping, Drying and Stacking Wood — and the Soul of Wood-Burning” This best selling book by Lars Mytting highlights a passion for firewood and inspired a TV program in Norway about cutting, stacking and burning firewood.
The TV program, on the topic of firewood, consisted mostly of people in parkas chatting and chopping in the woods and then eight hours of a fire burning in a fireplace. Yet no sooner had it begun, on prime time on Friday night, than the angry responses came pouring in. “We received about 60 text messages from people complaining about the stacking in the program,” said [Mr.] Mytting .... “Fifty percent complained that the bark was facing up, and the rest complained that the bark was facing down."
posted by caddis
on Feb 20, 2013 -
81 comments
A boat blazes on a remote summer-scorched lake shoreline.
Onlookers are helpless to save the boat or prevent the imminent explosion of full gas tanks starting a grass fire. Or not. (SLYT - *Warning Bad Kiwi Language*)
posted by Catch
on Jan 1, 2013 -
45 comments
The festive season is approaching, so it's time for everyone's favorite giant Swedish straw caprid to suffer from repeated attacks. Already ("The front hoof smells of petrol") this year's
goat at Gävle has been attacked. Of the
76 goats to date, 33 have been burnt (includes goats burnt down more than once and goats only partially burnt), 7 vandalised (includes goats thrown in the river), 1 run over and 1 stolen, giving a survival rate of 45%. The goat attracts international attention and attacks; in 2001 a tourist from Cleveland, Ohio was jailed for 18 days [
Swedish] [
English] for igniting the goat. Last year's goat survived to December 2nd (
traumatic video). Gävlebocken is 13 metres tall and consists of 3.6 tonnes of straw. While intact it
tweets, and
blogs in Swedish and English.
[more inside]
posted by Wordshore
on Dec 3, 2012 -
30 comments
Why does some cave art feature animals with multiple limbs and heads?
French and
Finnish researchers claim that prehistoric man was deliberately creating animated art, with the animals appearing to move in flickering torch or fire light.
posted by Wordshore
on Sep 25, 2012 -
29 comments
August 5th marked the sixty-third anniversary of the
Mann Gulch fire.
PDF heavy, significant use of title text. Mobile users, and folks who just want the links, check the comments. [more inside]
posted by zamboni
on Aug 16, 2012 -
15 comments
...But most of all, I am emerging from this drama with a renewed appreciation for the value of my taxpayer-supported public services. The Berkeley Fire Department did right by me — not only by saving most of my house from burning to the ground, but also by demonstrating real human kindness and connection in the middle of fire and chaos. In the rubble, I found magic. And in a strange way, I feel like I deserved it. In Berkeley, we are addicted to high taxes — in the 25 years I’ve lived here, I can’t even count how many times I and my fellow citizens have said a resounding yes to yet another tax hike or bond measure. Two weeks ago, I got my money’s worth.
[more inside]
posted by latkes
on Jul 13, 2012 -
86 comments
"Blood and Fire" is an episode written by David Gerrold for possible use on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The script was commissioned and written, but never actually filmed because certain studio executives had a negative reaction to its positive depiction of an openly gay couple. It was eventually adapted by Gerrold into a
standalone novel.
With Gerrold's permission, Carlos Pedraza rewrote Blood and Fire for the fan series
Star Trek: New Voyages. Gerrold did a final draft polish and also directed the episode.
The entire two part episode is available on You Tube:
Part 1,
Part 2 [more inside]
posted by wittgenstein
on Jun 11, 2012 -
10 comments
In 2008 the
late Robert Fitch, author of "
The Assassination of New York", was asked to
foretell an Obama presidency before the Harlem Tenants Association:
If we examine more carefully the interests that Obama represents; if we look at
his core financial supporters; as well as his inmost circle of advisors, we’ll see that they represent the primary activists in the demolition movement and the primary real estate beneficiaries of this transformation of public housing projects into condos and townhouses: the profitable creep of the Central Business District and elite residential neighborhoods southward; and the shifting of the pile of human misery about three miles further into the South Side and the south suburbs... Obama’s political base comes primarily from Chicago FIRE—the finance, insurance and real estate industry. And the wealthiest families—the Pritzkers, the Crowns and the Levins.
posted by ennui.bz
on May 8, 2012 -
41 comments
You may have heard that they made a movie of the
The Hunger Games. While others discuss its dystopian vision of a barbaric future America, we will concern ourselves with something more important:
the clothes.
[more inside]
posted by Trurl
on Mar 25, 2012 -
84 comments
Moments before the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in the small town of Padua, Minnesota was about to begin, a truck fire broke out at the end of the block. Fortunately, the all-volunteer firefighting crew from nearby Sedan, Minnesota was on hand to celebrate their 125th anniversary, and to raise money to pay for their new fire hall and truck. One of their members was set to drive the new fire truck in the parade, and the others were on a float, dressed in drag to entertain the crowd.
Firemen in Drag Put Out Truck Fire.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 21, 2012 -
44 comments
Obion County, TN home burns while South Fulton firefighters watch, again. The City of South Fulton FD offers surrounding Obion County residents firefighting services for a $75 annual subscription, but not all county residents choose to subscribe (
previously).
The last time this happened, the city of South Fulton, Tennessee, received a lot of heat nationwide for this policy. That was more than a year ago but nothing has changed.
The mayor said it comes down to simple business. If they don't collect fire fees, the fire department can't survive and if they make exceptions to the rule, no one will ever pay the fee.
Obion County
lacks a fire department (pdf) and county residents, who do not pay taxes for firefighting, are provided firefighting services through local cities and towns, either by annual subscription or a per-call fee.
posted by 6550
on Dec 8, 2011 -
227 comments
This week has seen a lot of discussion of the American criminal justice system and its failings, and a lot of concern about what can be done to fix it.
In 1947, a working class black man looked like he was about to have the full weight of the system brought down on him for taking justice into his own hands. But after Chicago leftists - including labor unions, religious leaders, artists, civil rights activists & others - launched a movement,
James Hickman was set free after an all-white jury, in a trial presided over by a white judge, failed to convict, and the DA chose not to re-try because of the magnitude of public support for Hickman.
According to a
review in The Nation,
a new book tells the story in a way that turns the typical right-wing biases of the true crime genre on their head.
[more inside]
posted by univac
on Sep 22, 2011 -
11 comments
"I was daydreaming in class about who knows what, when I thought of my fire poofer project...I tried to think of ways I could apply a fireball shooter to things in ways that would be pretty awesome. I thought of using a microcontroller to sync the fire to the beat of music - now that would be pretty cool, and the patterns would always be different, so it wouldn't get as boring as fast. Then I thought of the game Guitar Hero."
High school student Chris Marion hacks a guitar controller and builds
FireHero. Facemelting ensues.
posted by therewolf
on Jan 19, 2011 -
28 comments
