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On Europe, and America
Wednesday, 2005 July 6 - 11:51 pm
Today's newsworthy happenings from around the globe. If even "The Daily Show" is too serious for you, you can start getting your news here.

London won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. They were very happy about it. I wonder why, though, because I've heard that the Olympics tend to be an economic drain on their host cities. Cities spend hundreds of millions of dollars building facilities and preparing the infrastructure, and they never recoup the costs with the additional tourism revenue. You especially have to wonder about smaller places like Lake Placid, New York. Does anyone visit Lake Placid for anything any more?

But I would like to visit London again. Maybe it'd be fun to go for the Olympics. If I start trying to line up a date NOW, I might be able to find one by 2012.

All three major American automakers are now offering the "employee discount" for all customers of most of their new cars. And the funny thing is, it's WORKING. Never mind that this "discount" really isn't much better than the usual factory incentives and rebates that people can usually get. And besides, since very few people pay sticker prices for American cars, how much difference does the advertised price really make, anyway?

I guess it's a pretty good marketing gimmick.

In Pamplona, Spain, protestors are stripping down to thongs to make a statement against the cruelty of bullfighting. They used to protest naked, until that was outlawed by a local ordinance.

I think it's typically European to protest violence by using nudity. Here in the U.S., we'd probably do it the other way around. If another boob got exposed on prime time network television, you might have the American Family Association bombing a TV station or something.

And speaking of nudity, a lawsuit challenging a Virginia law against a teenage nudist camp has been reinstated. Apparently, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals isn't so sure that nudity isn't a protected free-speech activity.

You know, I'm pretty liberal when it comes to free speech and nudity, and I don't think we should necessarily outlaw this, but is a teenage nudist camp really a good idea? I'm not so much worried about the teenagers having sex; I'm more worried that they'll have unreasonable expectations when they grow up. For boys, the teenage years are supposed be all about how difficult it is to get to see titties... that's what makes us appreciate them so much later in life.
Permalink  5 Comment   Bookmark and Share
Posted by Ken in: commentary

Comments

Comment #1 from Nicholas (Guest)
2005 Jul 7 - 8:00 am : #
I had heard that GM is in pretty poor shape. So they slash prices and thereby margins to just "sell more cars". Then everyone else feels they need to match the low prices. So everyones margins go down the drain. It happens everytime they have an airline fare war. All of the companies just weaken. It happens where I work too.

Have the foreign makers dropped price? I don't think so. Here is a quote from a news article.
"He pointed out that Toyota Motor Corp.'s (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) June U.S. incentives declined $45 from May to an average of $1,090, while its sales were up 10 percent. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) also lowered its incentives, while its June sales rose 14 percent."
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2005-07-06T225537Z_01_N06246282_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-AUTOS-INCENTIVES-DC.XML
Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Jul 7 - 10:19 am : #
Speaking of London... a series of explosions hit the Underground and a double-decker bus this morning. More news on this later.
Comment #3 from Tidmore (Guest)
2005 Jul 7 - 12:27 pm : #
I think the tourism to Lake Placid dropped drastically after that big Documentary "Lake Placid" exposed the giant Alligator that lived there and ate all the tourist. I mean I watched that documentary and couldn't belive that old lady would trin a gator to kill, and let it grow to like 20 times it's normal size. After watching it I promised myself to never, ever go there. I ain't gettin' eatin' by some giant 'gator!
Comment #4 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2005 Jul 7 - 5:55 pm : #
I'm just glad NY didn't get the Olympic bid. We can't afford it. The only people who really wanted it were the politicians (including Hillary) and the folks who want a new stadium.
Comment #5 from Jenn (Guest)
2005 Jul 8 - 12:49 am : #
TWhen my husband went to school in VT, he and some of his friends went down to Lake Placid and rode the luge. He said that he had to sign a huge stack of papers to do it, and it was scary as shit. I wish I would have known him then so that I could have gone along and taken pictures.

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