from a hollywood point of view, this story keeps getting better and better. forget the upcoming madoff biopic - i'm talking about a dark, twisted business/crime drama. too bad it's a true story, and therefore probably too legally dangerous to make such a movie.

Quoted: Jeffry M. Picower, a prominent philanthropist accused of reaping about $7 billion in profit from Bernard L. Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme, was found dead on Sunday afternoon in a swimming pool at his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla.

Quoted: Mr. Picard has also sued others, including Stanley Chais, a Los Angeles investment manager whose clients lost millions in the fraud.

Several years ago I was helping to haul a mountain of books to a high school basement in Durham, where Frank McCourt was furiously signing them before his reading for the Regulator. The very pompous principal walked in and grandly introduced himself, then started introducing the other school administrators. After a couple minutes McCourt cut him off, saying "in the time I've been listening to you, I could have signed fifty books."

supposedly the lego bible is still a work in progress. i'm looking forward to revelations.

So FDIC got Chase to buy the assets, and the insurance fund didn't get emptied.

Quoted: As the debate over a $700 billion bank bailout rages on in Washington, one of the nation's largest banks - Washington Mutual Inc. - has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market.

check if your bank is considered strong or likely to have problems

if you drive your car into a group of bike riders and run people over because you're "late for a reservation", you and your car deserve what they get.

the driver's story (http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/the_driver_speaks) about just wanting to rev his engine and not knowing the car was in gear is somewhat plausible, but still, you can't blame people for how they responded.

the driver does get decency points for saying the critical mass people should not be prosecuted.

mmm....g.t.a. is the pinnacle of western civilization

Quoted: LIBERTY CITY—I was shot 14 times on my way to work today, including twice by police, said one Algonquin-area resident. That is unacceptable.

Quoted: Many blame the LCPD directly for the increase in criminal activity, citing the department's lax procedure for arresting criminals, which involves taking 10 percent of the suspect's money, confiscating his weapons, and simply releasing him from custody later that day. Outraged citizens say this is not enough, especially in a city where assault rifles can be found on factory roofs and grenade caches are located under the globe at the old World's Fair site.

Quoted: messaging.sprintpcs.com