10 Interesting Links From February 21st
- Reading the Tea Leaves, Snapple Refreshes Itself – City Room Blog – NYTimes.com – The popular iced teas are losing the high-fructose corn syrup and the dated font. The bottles are becoming more svelte (to better fit into cup holders, which became a force after Snapple iced teas were originally introduced). The labels will also emphasize the green and black tea leaves used to make the drink. The changes are rolling out over the first few months of the year, and they are expected to hit New York in early March, according to Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which is now the owner of the brand.
Real sugar is replacing the corn syrup. (Sugar vs. corn syrup, by the way, is the difference between Mexican and American Coca-Cola.) In some cases, that has actually resulted in a decrease in calories.
- U.S. Bancorp CEO Davis rips TARP – TwinCities.com – There is no "A, R or P" in the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, quipped U.S. Bancorp Chief Executive Richard Davis Tuesday morning in front of about 300 business people in Minneapolis.
"It's just troubled," the 50-year-old CEO said at the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' Business Leaders Forum. The forum invites executives to discuss how business and their principles intersect."We were told to take it so that we could help Darwin synthesize the weaker banks and acquire those and put them under different leadership," he said. "We are not even allowed to mention that. … We were supposed to say the TARP money was used for lending."
- First Arizona jaguar captured, collared, released – Arizona Game and Fish Department officials captured, collared and released the first jaguar found in Arizona borders Wednesday.
The 118-pound male cat was found in a lug hold snare set out by department officials and fitted with a satellite-tracking collar and released.
Terry Johnson, Endangered Species Specialist at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said the jaguar was confirmed by his spotted pattern to be Macho B, a jaguar that has been photographed by trail cameras for about 13 years.
- Green Chile Chatter: SOS audit finds "severe mismanagement" – State auditor Hector Balderas has just released an audit of the Secretary of State's Office for the time period of July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007. According to the office, the auditors were "unable to express an opinion on the financial condition of the SOS due to questionable payments of $6,308,350 in federal voter education funds made to a contractor by the former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron’s administration."
- Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Ingredient Spotlight: New Mexico Green Chiles – I visited Albuquerque last week and although I wasn't in town at the right time for farmers' markets or the annual chile harvest, I did get to experience some of the local cuisine. Just about every other meal I was served contained the famous New Mexico green chiles. These deliciously hot peppers made their way into everything from omelettes to biscuits to enchiladas.
- Young man paralyzed in crash after underage drinking party settles lawsuit against Lake Forest homeowner — chicagotribune.com – A Lake Forest woman's homeowners insurance will pay $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a young man who was paralyzed in a crash that occurred after an underage drinking party in her home.
Unlike other lawsuits alleging that adults played a role in teenage drinking parties, Pfeifer did not buy the alcohol for the teens or know they were drinking in her home. Pfeifer did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, said Michael Borders, her lawyer.
- Books reject Wyatt Earp as hero at OK Corral gunfight – But not everyone agrees that Earp was preserving law and order when he led his band against the Clanton and McLaury gang, killing Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury.
A recent book and one that's soon to be published contend that the gunfight actually was a murderous ambush led by Earp, continuing a debate that has echoed since the incident.
- Hewlett Packard disappoints in so many ways – Top Stocks Blog – MSN Money – Although many corporate communication plans may be designed to confound and confuse, it is important that you as an investor understand how to read between the lines. The truth is that companies use differing tactics in an attempt to put a positive spin on the corporate outlook. Unfortunately though, that does not provide investors any real benefit since guidance is suppose to help investors understand more about a company's outlook, not to put an additional layer of lipstick on the pig…so to speak.
With that as a backdrop, let's have a look at the most recent earnings releases and guidance announcements from HP.
- Google Earth’s ‘Atlantis’ Just A Data Glitch — Google Earth — InformationWeek – The addition of sea-floor topography to Google Earth earlier this month revealed what some claim could be the lost city of Atlantis.
But Google says the undersea grid lines spotted by aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford while browsing Google Earth's ocean maps are data artifacts rather than sunken streets.
- Let’s put it to the tourists, or how to bite the hand that feeds you. – I got a notice today from TANM (Tourism Association of NM) via the NM Bed & Breakfast Association. Apparently there is a freshman Senator from Corrales who thinks it would be a good idea to add a statewide lodge tax of 10% on all lodging across the board – statewide. Let me tell you something about this.
John Sapien
NM State Senator – District 9 "
What a crock of shit. He is sponsoring the bill, FGS.
Here is what he told an innkeeper in Corrales:
"He was not at all sympathetic to any of my arguments why SB595 is not a good bill, especially in the current economic times. He said “no one looks at taxes when they are booking rooms- they just ask for the room rate and then may be surprised (and may be temporarily annoyed) when they check out and see what the ultimate price of the room was”. Nothing I said- based on our experience with potential guests would dissuade him."
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