It was reportedly sold by media mogul David Geffen to Mexican financier David Martinez. So two Davids doing good business here.

The price exceeds the USD135 million paid in June 2006 for a 1907 portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt.

It’s a 4 by 8 ft work:

Created by dripping paint on canvas.

Zooming in, some details of the painting:

I am not a fan of abstract art, so suffice to say that if I had half a billion ringgit cash to spare, I’d probably spend it on other things instead.

But who was Jackson Pollock (above)?

Jackson Pollock is one of the 20th century’s most influential painters. His work had a major influence on art in the latter half of the 20th century, sparking the emergence of Abstract Expressionism. But in true rock star style, the artist battled alcoholism and depression and was generally regarded as a self-destructive, tortured genius. He died in a car crash in 1956, aged 44 while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Source

Need to do 2 posts a week (i.e. 8 posts a month), and the salary offered was USD10 a month! I think even Denver flower delivery jobs pay better. At least, as they say, I can wake up and smell the roses…

UPDATE: they’ve deleted the USD10 a month part and changed the sentence to: “To apply, please send an email to editor … with the following information…. A link to a writing sample and salary requirements.”

Source

The Port Klang Authority (PKA) oversaw the project.

The original cost of setting PKFZ up was less than RM2 billion but that amount ballooned to more than double when the project was completed 4 years later.

On 2nd September 2009, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) grilled former PKA general manager Datin Paduka OC Phang for more than 4 hours at the Parliament House.

Phang upon arrival

Conclusion: PAC chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said the financial management of Phang and her team were “weak and poor”, but the most amazing thing he said was:

She doesn’t even know what we mean by cash flow projection.

The general manager of a multibillion ringgit venture who does not know something that even small business operators regard as basic? Is such a thing possible?

Source
The Star, 3rd September 2009

His performance came after collecting the Diamond Award for having sold more than 100 million albums, the past winner of which included Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart and Bon Jovi.

The awards ceremony was televised to 160 countries.

Click here to view the embedded video.

His family business controlled a number of German companies, including pharmaceutical company Ratiopharm and cement maker Heidelberg Cement.

He had 100,000 employees and boasted an annual sale of USD41 billion.

He was awarded his country’s highest award, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, in 2005.

He was said to enjoy skiing and mountain climbing.

So it seems he had achieved everything a man could ever hope for in life.

But no, life then threw him a curve ball which even a seasoned businessman of his stature could not handle.

He became severely depressed when his business empire ran into trouble in the ongoing global economic crisis: losing more than half a billion US dollars in 2008 due to “wrong-way bets on Volkswagen shares.”

He killed himself on 5th January 2009 when he apparently allowed himself to be run over by a train. His body was found on the tracks about 7.30 pm, only 300 meters from his house. A suicide note was found, its contents not revealed.

His family issued the following statement:

Adolf Merckle lived and worked for his family and his firms. The distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to act, broke the passionate family businessman, and he ended his life.

He left behind his wife and 4 children.

Source
The BBC, 6th Jan 2009

Product: Clairol Mist Stick
What is it: curling iron
Failed where: Germany
Why: “Mist” is German slang for “manure” or “excrement”. Germans didn’t want to be seen using a “shit stick”

Product: Rolls-Royce Silver Mist
What is it: luxury car
Failed where: Germany
Why: well, same reason as above

Product: Parker pens
Failed where: Latin America
Why: the slogan “it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”, translated into Spanish could read “it won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

Product: Electrolux vacuum cleaners. Note: Electrolux is a Scandinavian company.
Failed where: USA
Why: the slogan “nothing sucks like an Electrolux”

Product: Apple Mac computers
Failed where: everywhere
Why: The “Lemmings advert” (1985) showed PC users, following one another over a cliff like lemmings, insulting them:

Click here to view the embedded video.

…The people responsible for the ad would’ve been in big trouble, perhaps it’s time to advertise themselves to one of those sites specialising in marketing resumes…

source:

San Francisco Chronicle, 6th Feb 2005

the largest online marketplace serving the global manufacturing community. Billions of dollars worth of discrete manufacturing services and industrial components are sourced online via MFG.com every year.

I wonder if they are aware that their company logo as prominently displayed on their website seems rather open to ridicule:

I think I heard someone say: What, you work for Oh My F**king God dot com???

The company’s website: http://www.mfgquote.com/

They had been the nation’s biggest provider of such services 7 years in a row and handles a whopping half a million applications every year.

The ideal customers for them are those that are looking into amounts of between USD10,000 and USD100,000. Any reasons are accepted: Business or Personal Loans.

Perhaps the thing most borrowers want to hear is that America One is exclusively dedicated to unsecured financing. This is in direct contrast to the practice of many financial instutions and banks. The result of America One’s practice is predictable: there are more approvals in Personal Loan applications and most importantly, satisfied customers.

So, check them out if you’re in the USA and looking for a Loan.

In comparison, the best selling book of all time is The Holy Bible, which has sold in the region of 5 to 6 billion copies. However, it should be noted that The Holy Bible has had a few hundred (or even thousands) of years head start, and is still selling now.

The rest of the all-time top 10 list is primarily made up of religious or political-type books, as listed below:

No.2: Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung by Mao Tse-Tung (also known as Mao Zedong), published 1966, has sold 900 million copies.
No.3: The Qur’an (Koran), revealed between 610 and 633 AD, has sold 800 million copies.
No.4: Xinhua Zidian (a pocket-sized Chinese dictionary and the world’s most popular reference work), published 1957, has sold 400 million copies.
No.5: Book of Common Prayer by Thomas Cranmer, published 1549, has sold several hundred million copies (actual number undetermined)
No.6: Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, published 1678, has sold several hundred million copies (actual number undetermined)
No.7: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe, published 1563, has sold several hundred million copies (actual number undetermined)
No.8: Book of Mormon, published 1830, has sold 120 million copies
No.9: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, published 1997, has sold 107 million. This is currently the world’s best selling non-religious, non-political fiction single-volume literature of all time.
Tied at No.10 are And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie, published 1939 and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, published 1954/1955, both at 100 million.

source

techchee.com reports today that UK-based zopa.com is the first web 2.0 loan shark website in the world. Why so? Because it provides a platform for lenders to lend and borrowers to borrow from the lenders. No financial institutions in the middle. That sounds very loan shark-friendly to me. Zopa (Zone of Possible Agreement) calls itself “the world’s first online lending and borrowing exchange.” Simply put, it works as follows:

1. Borrowers get their creditworthiness scored.
2. Lenders pick and choose which borrowers they like, then specify period and rate.
3. Borrowers then pick which lender they like.
4. Once both parties agree, they sign a contract. Repayment is via direct debit. Exactly how they’re going to enforce this, across potentially thousands of miles and false ID landmines, is unclear. Are they going to send on the next plane a few gangsters if the need arises?
5. Zopa’s management earn money by charging fees to both borrowers and lenders.

Tags: loans, financial assistance