Who would deign to attack such a German institution as soccer?

November 4, 2018 3:36 AM

The Get-Rich-Quick Scheme That Almost Killed a German Soccer Team: An electrician’s odd plot to make $607,933.50.
posted by showbiz_liz (16 comments total)

That’s quite a scheme! Thanks for sharing the article.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 6:19 AM on November 4, 2018

It's a rare day where you read about a mastermind who attempts suicide by hang glider and fails...

Well...

It's rare you read about hang gliders...
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:34 AM on November 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

I’ve wanted to try my hand at stock manipulation from time to time, but this was dangerously sloppy. You start setting off explosives and anything is likely to happen.

Also, selling stocks short followed by blowing things up was the villan’s plot from the first Daniel Craig Bond movie. Never copy a Bond villan’s plot. It’s just asking for trouble.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:00 AM on November 4, 2018 [8 favorites]

Very embarrassinging that I spent the last decade being snotty about True Crime (lbr they're all grisly murders, often with sexual violence thrown in) only to find myself obsessed with True Crime: Schemes and Cons.
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:30 AM on November 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

If you’re into true financial crime stories, American Greed is really good.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:55 AM on November 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

According to investigators, Wenergold could have made as much as €570,000 ($607,933.50) in the unlikely event that BVB stock hit zero in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

I was quite intrigued by the specificity of the six hundred and seven thousand nine hundred thirty three dollars and fifty cents the subheadline claimed this guy was plotting for; it's disappointing to see that it's just another example of spurious significant figures being added during a unit conversion.
posted by What is E. T. short for? at 8:56 AM on November 4, 2018 [18 favorites]

A bit off topic, but"deign" seems the wrong word here. (It's not the OP's word; It comes from the article: The German media debated who would deign to attack such a German institution as soccer. )

But "dare" doesn't work either. Maybe "would even contemplate" or "be so low as to"? Hmm. I don't think there's a one-word verb that captures what the sentence is trying to say.
posted by mono blanco at 10:40 AM on November 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

“stoop”?
posted by Etrigan at 11:17 AM on November 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

Metafilter: Just another example of spurious significant figures being added during a unit conversion.
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:06 PM on November 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

just another example of spurious significant figures being added during a unit conversion

It’s more than that. That amount of money would only apply if the stock went completely to zero.

So it’s spurious significant figures being added to a completely imaginary number.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:12 PM on November 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Also, selling stocks short followed by blowing things up was the villan’s plot from the first Daniel Craig Bond movie.

And now that I think of it in this case it was an unnecessary and incriminating way to do things. He was right there when it happened. All he had to do was set the bombs off, wait a minute or two, and then short the stock before the news spread. Later he could just tell everyone he was just being mercenary.

I suppose it depends on how those particular options trade.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:59 PM on November 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

Never copy a Bond villan’s plot. It’s just asking for trouble.

Look, you get a good deal on a pair of space lasers, what would you do?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:11 PM on November 4, 2018

Look, you get a good deal on a pair of space lasers, what would you do?

Make popcorn?
posted by loquacious at 3:54 PM on November 4, 2018 [5 favorites]

Look, you get a good deal on a pair of space lasers, what would you do?

CHA
posted by saturday_morning at 4:51 PM on November 4, 2018 [9 favorites]

Thanks for posting!
posted by josher71 at 9:16 AM on November 5, 2018

Metafilter: spurious significant figures being added to a completely imaginary number.
posted by "mad dan" eccles at 9:29 AM on November 5, 2018 [1 favorite]