XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Lake Tahoe Park Officials Warn Hikers To Stop Taking Selfies With Wild Bears -

Lake Tahoe Park Officials Warn Hikers To Stop Taking Selfies With Wild Bears - 



Hike into most California state parks and you’ll be greeted by a slew of signs asking visitors not to feed wild animals. Now, parks officials in South Lake Tahoe are upping their warning: don’t take selfies with bears.
Taylor Creek Visitor Center staff say guests are getting too close to bears to take pictures, leading the US Forest Service to issue advisories warning visitors to keep a distance from the animals.

 “Bears are unpredictable, wild animals and may attack if threatened,” forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson told CBS Sacramento.
And if a bear attacks a human, it may be captured and killed.
Taylor Creek typically sees an increase in bears gathering for the kokanee salmon spawning season, which make their annual swim through the creek.
If the problem continues, park officials have threatened to close off the visitors center.

Read more - 
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/10/27/lake-tahoe-park-officials-warn-hikers-to-stop-taking-selfies-with-bears-animals-taylor-creek-salmon-black-bears-selfieswithbears/

Need a snuggle? Uber delivers kittens on demand -

Need a snuggle? Uber delivers kittens on demand - 



Cuddly kittens got busted Wednesday at the security desk of the Washington Post.

The Express decided to try out Uber’s Wednesday-only offer to pay $30 to have a kitten delivered to you for 15 minutes of snuggling. The delivery seemed to not be a problem: Two kittens, Sneezy and Sleepy, showed up in a crate at The Washington Post’s main lobby, according to pictures from our Express colleagues.

But apparently The Post’s security wouldn’t let them inside the offices, according to Holley Simmons, dining editor at The Washington Post Express.

She told us in an e-mail “security wouldn’t let us take Sneezy and Sleepy up to our office.”

It was not immediately clear why the fur balls weren’t allowed into the office.

Simmons said that at the end of the 15-minute kitten snuggle time, Uber took the little ones back.

Uber is running its kitten promotion Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m. in seven cities, including D.C. The six other cities — New York, Chicago, Austin, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle. But in New York, they say, kittens can be delivered only to offices.

Uber states on its blog, “Once the kittens arrive, you and your friends will get to enjoy 15 minutes of kitten cuteness!” And it gives a tip — “make sure to have an enclosed space purrrfect for playtime!”

Most of the kittens are eligible for adoption — although it is doubtful you can keep them under your cubicle for the rest of the day. Participants are advised to ask the kitten delivery person for more details on adopting the fur balls.

The money from the publicity stunt goes to local shelters participating in the event.

Read more - 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/10/29/need-a-snuggle-uber-delivers-kittens-on-demand/

Alan Greenspan: QE Failed To Help The Economy, The Unwind Will Be Painful, "Buy Gold" -

Alan Greenspan: QE Failed To Help The Economy, The Unwind Will Be Painful, "Buy Gold" - 



It appears it is time for some Hillary-Clinton-esque backtracking and Liesman-esque translation of just what the former Federal Reserve Chief really meant... As The Wall Street Journal reports, the Fed chief from 1987 to 2006 says the Fed's bond-buying program fell short of its goals... and had a lot more to add...

Mr. Greenspan’s comments to the Council on Foreign Relations came as Fed officials were meeting in Washington, D.C., and expected to announce within hours an end to the bond purchases.

He said the bond-buying program was ultimately a mixed bag. He said that the purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities did help lift asset prices and lower borrowing costs. But it didn’t do much for the real economy.

“Effective demand is dead in the water” and the effort to boost it via bond buying “has not worked,” said Mr. Greenspan. Boosting asset prices, however, has been “a terrific success.”

...

He observed that history shows central banks can only prick bubbles at great economic cost. “It’s only by bringing the economy down can you burst the bubble,” and that was a step he wasn't willing to take while helming the Fed, he said.

...

The question of when officials should begin raising interest rates is “one of those questions I cannot answer,” Mr. Greenspan said.

He also said, “I don’t think it’s possible” for the Fed to end its easy-money policies in a trouble-free manner....

"Recent episodes in which Fed officials hinted at a shift toward higher interest rates have unleashed significant volatility in markets, so there is no reason to suspect that the actual process of boosting rates would be any different, Mr. Greenspan said.

...

“I think that real pressure is going to occur not by the initiation by the Federal Reserve, but by the markets themselves,” Mr. Greenspan he said.
And finally - while CNBC's audience is told what a terrible thing gold is, "The Maestro" believes otherwise...

Mr. Greenspan said gold is a good place to put money these days given its value as a currency outside of the policies conducted by governments.

Read more - 
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-29/alan-greenspan-qe-failed-help-economy-unwind-will-be-painful-buy-gold