The Half-Half Tales-color comics-20

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News on the March-Addicted on Apple

Man wants to attend an Apple event so bad he’s willing to change his name to do it-Today in Tech,Yahoo News- April,27’12
I never thought one could be addicted on apple. Granny Smith, Elstar and Golden Delicious are all fine and a breakfast with an apple to sink your teeth into at the end is a pleasure I can still enjoy. But now I see people can lose their head over Apple.
Here is the current news:

Have a ticket to Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this June 11 that you’re just not going to be able to use? Well, there’s a man in San Francisco who wants to take that ticket off your hands — a man so desperate to attend the event that he’ll undergo a legal name change just to be able to use your ticket.
The anonymous buyer posted an ad on Craigslist, offering a whopping $1,600 for a ticket to Apple’s WWDC. The only catch is that tickets to the conference are non-transferable. That means that if the buyer wants to use someone else’s ticket, nothing short of a legal name change will do.”
Apple is some kind of religion, no doubt. In olden days religion was not good for some and ‘sudden conversions’ made them change their way of life and name as well. It could be said these days for Apple some are willing to change their name even for Apple experience.Tech. jargon must make them ‘speak in tongues’ and clap their hands looking at the style and feel of it.
benny

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pelican head-postcard

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The Half-Half Tales-color comics-19

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Illustrated Das Rhinegold-lorelei

Alberich spies on the Rhine maidens- Act I April,26,2012

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Stone lantern-graphite- April 26

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News on the March: Debt Collection Agencies

In a twist of irony, a West Virginia woman is trying to collect money from a collection agency. Diana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection company — more than $10 million.

“I’m a mom, and I’m a housewife, and I’m an accidental activist,” Mey said.

From her small-town home base in Wheeling, Mey went after a debt collection empire that hounds people nationwide and won. But she still hasn’t received any money.

“I don’t know that I’ll ever collect a dime, but if I can get their operation shut down, that would make me very happy.” 

Two years ago, a debt collector with a company called Reliant Financial Associates, or RFA, left a message implying that her house was in jeopardy if she didn’t pay a debt. The message stated:

“I’m calling in regards to a preliminary asset liability investigation. They are in the process of serving some court documents in regards to case 29369… They have some information now pending questions at the property,… Springdale Avenue, in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is in your best interests to contact the department. You are required to contact 866-764-9779.”

It is illegal for debt collectors to make empty threats about serving people with a lawsuit or seizing their home. And it was especially galling to Mey, who says she is debt-free.

“They threatened to take legal action against our property and it wasn’t even our debt,” Mey said.

Millions of Americans are victims of this kind of mistaken debtor identity, partly because of a new breed of collectors called “debt buyers.” They purchase old debts for pennies that the original creditors have given up on and then try to collect them for a big profit. Critics say debt buyers sometimes use outrageous tactics to get the money where others have failed. RFA is a debt buyer.

Debt buying is one way the agencies dice and divide up our personal information and it is profitable for others. Investment banking made money while it lasted. Below is how fools went about wrecking nation’s economy. It is heartening to know fools are in no hurry to change their ways or take extra precaution while doing their job.

Background info: 

In the old system, when homeowners paid their mortgage every month, the money went to their local lender.  And since mortgages took decades to repay, lenders were careful.

In the new system, lenders sold the mortgages to investment banks.  The investment banks combined thousands of mortgages and other loans — including car loans, student loans, and credit-card debt — to create complex derivatives, called collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs.  The investment banks then sold the CDOs to investors. Now, when homeowners paid their mortgages, the money went to investors all over the world.

The investment banks paid rating agencies to evaluate the CDOs, and many of them were given a AAA rating, which is the highest possible investment grade. 

This made CDOs popular with retirement funds, which could only purchase highly rated securities.

This system was a ticking time bomb.  Lenders didn’t care anymore about whether a borrower could repay, so they started making riskier loans.  The investment  banks didn’t care, either; the more CDOs they sold, the higher their profits.  And the rating agencies, which were paid by the investment banks, had no liability if their ratings of CDOs proved wrong.

 

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A Basque Shepherd-watercolor

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Portrait- Somali girl-Ayan

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The Half-Half Tales-color comics-18

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