Michael Gracie 

eBay has been successfully sued by Louis Vuitton & Company over brand fakes being sold on the site. eBay may have lost this case because the courts are unable to discern between platforms and the users of said platforms, but there’s a bigger issue at hand. eBay maintains that the companies suing them are more [...]

Cycled and fished instead – not regretting it either Sam Zell “bought a terrible business” – newspapers. I think Zell has it right when he says newspapers have to give customers what they want, not what some internal agenda prescribes. As a result, I admire the man, and hope he doesn’t wind up paying a [...]

Right up front – I’m declaring for the record a few rules of thumb worth following when you venture into the upper section of Cheesman Canyon. First, if you are addicted to cookies and milk, don’t attempt to put even moderate mileage on your freshened mountain cycle the day before you make the trip. And [...]

From The Big Picture comment section: When the bank for the British royal family (RBS) is “forecasting” continued credit market troubles … when the European Monetary Union is essentially declaring war on the Fed with threats to drive the exchange rate value of the dollar into the depths of hell … you must appreciate how [...]

My neighbors’ four year old daughter made cookies today. The family knows I fish. Rainbow trout and Bluefish A couple of Stegasauruses too, although I don’t think anyone makes tippet for those. I’ll note I’ve never see fish disappear so fast – they must have known I was coming.

Only happened once because the trout are now dead! Wyoming Gov. Dave Fruedenthal figured ten water skiers in Lowell were more important that tens of thousands of young brown trout. He ordered the flows to the Bighorn River cut to 1,500 cfs (i.e a trickle), and now an entire year’s worth of wild fish are [...]

Via WSJ: Do all Washington politicians get their loans directly from CEOs in the mortgage industry? Readers might be wondering after learning about Countrywide Financial and its VIP treatment for Senators Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D., N.D.)… Mr. Conrad then recounted how he came to receive preferential treatment from the country’s largest [...]

Via Bloomberg: Rising consumer prices will leave more U.S. consumers unable to pay their debts and may lead to a “financial tsunami,” according to Bennet Sedacca, president of money manager Atlantic Advisors LLC in Winter Park, Florida… Sedacca wrote that current financial-market conditions remind him of “someone standing on a lonely beach, armed with only [...]

This nifty resignation letter generator makes it easy. (h/t to P. Kedrosky)

No need to repeat what everyone knows by now. But Barry Ritholtz posted a kind of tribute page, and it’s well worth reviewing in it’s entirety (including the comments). Personally, I watched and read everything on it this morning, and can’t help but think George Carlin might have been the most observant human that ever [...]