The WTF? Thread

[jefe]

The WTF? Thread

A chain of Dutch restaurants employing mentally disabled people named Brownies and Downies

Unless I'm being trolled, as I don't understand Dutch.

[Ginger Yellow]

The WTF? Thread

Speaking of 1MDB...

[Eggchaser]

The WTF? Thread

The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote: Lord Lucan killed himself almost immediately and was fed to a tiger by George Osbourne's uncle.

Is that the same tiger that went on to bum a gymnast?

[Ginger Yellow]

The WTF? Thread

Italy's retail investment market never ceases to amaze me. I mean, southern Europe is pretty bad in terms of banks predating on their own customers to recapitalise themselves, but WTF:

TFA represents approximately 50,000 Italian retail investors, most of whom are retired and hold on average $25,000-$50,000 in bonds each. Of the original 180,000 bondholders represented by TFA, most accepted restructuring deals or have died.

What the hell were 180,000(!) Italian retail investors doing with holdings of Argentinian sovereign bonds in the tens of thousands each?

[Incandenza]

The WTF? Thread

San Francisco now has an open-air urinal in a park that has long had issues with public urination:



(note: the person behind the cloth isn't peeing on the wrong side, they're just standing there)

The problem is, I haven't seen any signs which would let you know what its purpose is, but I suppose that they figured that if people are just peeing in the open already, someone will probably do it here as well.

[ursus arctos]

The WTF? Thread

GY, save that question for the next time I'm over there.

But as to the short non-privileged version:

Italian retail investors had long been massively encouraged to buy Italian state debt, much more so than was the case in any other developed country.

As yields on Italian state debt began to fall with the introduction of the Euro, these investors (who had been used to high nominal coupons) became increasingly agitated.

The Italian banks decided that the way to address this concern was to offer them the possibility of converting their holdings to Argentine state debt, which bore a higher coupon (for obvious reasons). This may seem nuts to the likes of us, but made sense of a sort to many Italian retail investors who had extended family in Argentina as a result of the massive emigration there in the early 20th c.

[Ginger Yellow]

The WTF? Thread

There just seems to be not even a minimal standard of duty of care there, or at least not one that prevents obvious malpractice like that from happening again and again. I mean, in no conceivable universe is foreign currency debt of an emerging market nation a suitable substitute for domestic currency debt of your own sovereign.

For all the FSA's/FCA's faults, you'd never see that shit on such a scale in the UK, or if you did the firms involved would be paying billions in compensation, a la PPI. And yet it happens time and time again in Spain and Italy, where it seems banks are allowed to exploit their customers with impunity by, for example, selling them subordinated debt as a substitute for deposits.

[ursus arctos]

The WTF? Thread

*shuffles feet*

*whistles*

[Southport Zeb]

The WTF? Thread

Man chokes to death after eating cheeseburger whole

The odd bit about this story is the claim that the man had been drinking, but not enough to affect his judgement. Presumably there was some sort of evidence to show that the man would think that eating a cheeseburger in one bite was a good idea when perfectly sober.

[Sam]

The WTF? Thread

I've clearly been down here too long - or, perhaps, the right amount of time - because GY's Italy-Argentina story a few posts up registers about a 0.5 out of 10 on my WTF?-ometer.

The inflation here does make things tempting, though. My girlfriend could take out a fixed-term savings account which would tie her money up for a year or two but would pay roughly 35% interest AER. She hasn't got the minimum amount (about 20,000 pesos, I think) hanging around spare, but I bloody have. If it were as simple as just zapping her £10,000 quid and watching it turn into £17,000+, I'd do it.

Of course, it's not, for all sorts of reasons. But it certainly beats the fucking lousy rate of interest I get on my (UK) ISA.

[Ginger Yellow]

The WTF? Thread

Lots of things offer very high nominal rates of return. None of them are suitable as replacements for domestic sovereign debt, the entire point of which is to be "risk free". Especially for retirees, who should be looking at capital preservation rather than growth.

[sw2borshch]

The WTF? Thread

That bloke lurking behind the toilet looks like me.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The WTF? Thread

Roberto Martinez is still young and trendy. I think this belongs in here ahead of on the football board

[Incandenza]

The WTF? Thread

He seemed more natural than most managers probably would.

[ursus arctos]

The WTF? Thread

Irish gangsters shoot up the weigh in for a lightweight title fight

[Incandenza]

The WTF? Thread

The video for that was awful, hearing the little kid ask what happened.

There was also the crane collapse in NYC today captured on video, I just don't feel like sharing that though.

[Sam]

The WTF? Thread

Ginger Yellow wrote: Lots of things offer very high nominal rates of return. None of them are suitable as replacements for domestic sovereign debt, the entire point of which is to be "risk free". Especially for retirees, who should be looking at capital preservation rather than growth.

Yeah, I wasn't seriously expressing a temptation to put my money into an Argentine bank account. You'd have to be stark raving mad to do that, unless you had no other option (i.e.: are Argentine - and even a lot of them prefer to withdraw cash asap and stuff it into the mattress). But I'd love to know what these high interest, low risk savings options are for holders of a UK bank account. I haven't been paid a single penny of interest for the last two tax years.

[Sam]

The WTF? Thread

(True fact: I once got offered a job by a desperately pathetic startup 'football social network' here, and the thing they thought would convince me to say yes was telling me, 'we'll help you with your papers... and we'll get you a local bank account!' It was all I could do to stop myself asking whether they were joking.)

[tee rex]

The WTF? Thread

Politician hit by flying "sex toy" ...

New Zealand's Prime Minister says it's "appalling", everyone else thinks it's great, not least because the world's media have to check their reporting guidelines and decide how to describe the object thrown. Kudos to the BBC whose clip gives us the full frontal.

[Ginger Yellow]

The WTF? Thread

But I'd love to know what these high interest, low risk savings options are for holders of a UK bank account. I haven't been paid a single penny of interest for the last two tax years.

With a (meaningful) guarantee? They don't exist. That's kind of the point. It seems that southern European savers are constantly being steered often away from guaranteed deposits (or bonds issued directly by their own government) into other, higher yielding but extremely risky investments. And not in a "hey, have you considered buying shares?" way. In a "We're offering you this savings product to replace your existing safe (for Italy) product" way. Without mentioning that the reason they're doing it is, for example, so that the bank doesn't go bust.

[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

The WTF? Thread

The charming slogan on the side of a float that was not allowed to participate in the Sallands carnaval in the Dutch Overijssel region today:



"We are trying to combat the refugee problem before they ride our women!"

It also has a flag slogan "Alaaf Akbar". Alaaf is a traditional carnaval greeting.

After the slogans were painted over and the flag taken down, the loat was allowed to participate.

[Bored Of Education]

The WTF? Thread

Am I the last person to realise that homosexuality is punishable by life sentence in India?

[Bored Of Education]

The WTF? Thread

Florida man charged with 'throwing alligator' into fast-food restaurant

[Nocturnal Submission]

The WTF? Thread

All hail the mango.

[WOM]

The WTF? Thread

Excuse me Meryl, but you've stepped in something there...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-and-festivals/meryl-streep-on-all-white-film-fest-jury-were-all-africans-really/article28713409/