“NEW YORK—A former Credit Suisse Group AG employee pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminal charges over alleged misstatements regarding the bank’s mortgage-bond valuations during the financial crisis.”
Comments »So, Just How Safe Is Your Ship?
Giuseppe Modesti/Associated Press
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
IN the wake of the Costa Concordia catastrophe on Jan. 13 that killed at least 17 people and raised troubling questions about the ship’s captain, many tourists are wondering: How safe am I on a cruise?
Well, the chance of dying in a cruise accident is small. From 2005 to 2010, about 100 million passengers took cruises, and there were 16 deaths attributed to marine accidents, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.
But the Concordia, which ran aground off the Tuscan coast of Italy a few hours after departure, has the cruise industry on the defensive. “All of our members recognize the seriousness of these events,” said Christine Duffy, president of the Cruise Lines International Association, in apress briefing last month.
Still, no regulatory changes have actually been made, though there has been plenty of discussion about the growing size of ships and the 24-hour window after boarding in which ships must run safety drills.
At the time of the deadly wreck, just off the coast of Isola del Giglio, about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members were aboard the Costa Concordia, a massive vessel owned by a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation.
Some travel industry experts say the sheer size of the Concordia and other cruise ships may pose greater evacuation challenges because of the large number of passengers, but cruise officials point out that regulations have kept pace with the size of the ships. Evacuation routes and safety equipment, including the size and number of lifeboats, are “scaled in accordance with the increased size of the vessel,” said Capt. William Wright, a senior vice president at Royal Caribbean International, at the briefing convened by the Cruise Lines International Association.
There is no indication that size was a factor in the Concordia accident, but the 24-hour window for safety drills is being scrutinized. Some critics argue that the window should be tightened so that passengers will be better prepared in case an emergency strikes early on, as it did on the Concordia. Unlike airplane safety announcements, which take place before takeoff, cruise drills aren’t required before the ship leaves the dock. The Concordia passengers who had boarded before Civitavecchia had already been through the drill, but nearly 700 passengers who joined the ship there had not. The next drill had been scheduled for the following day.
While the Carnival Corporation said it will do “a comprehensive audit and review” of safety procedures, at least one other cruise line, Prestige Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas, has announced that it will hold drills on the day of departure. Previously, those drills were occasionally held the next morning.
The Concordia tragedy has focused attention on safety and operating standards, but there are other concerns that passengers should keep in mind.
VIRUSES
Cruise passengers are more likely to get a stomach bug than face shipwreck. Last year, there were 14 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses on 10 ships, affecting hundreds of passengers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illnesses included the highly contagious norovirus.
Cruise companies increase cleaning and disinfecting procedures if there is an outbreak, including scouring “high-touch” areas of ships, like banisters and elevator buttons. But such measures can’t prevent a sick passenger from infecting others. According to the C.D.C., the best defense against catching a stomach bug is simple: keep washing your hands, avoid shaking hands during outbreaks and use alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
CRIME
Crime on cruise ships has become such an issue that in 2010 Congress passed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. The law mandates reporting of kidnappings, sexual assaults and other crimes and requires vessels to be equipped with cabin peepholes and video surveillance systems, among other security measures. Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation closed 16 investigations involving crime on cruise ships, 13 of which were sexual assaults, according to data posted online by the Coast Guard. But that doesn’t represent the total number of incidents reported to the F.B.I., including any still-open or pending prosecutions.
While it’s easy to let your guard down on a cruise, travelers shouldn’t assume they’re safe just because they’re onboard, said Charles R. Lipcon, author of “Unsafe on the High Seas” and a maritime lawyer who handles cases involving personal injury, cruise-line sexual assault and wrongful death claims. Sure, a cruise may feel like a floating party — and no one has to drive home — but drinking too much can compromise your judgment.
“I like to tell people, don’t leave your common sense at the dock,” Mr. Lipcon said. “That’s typically what people do, and overdrink and get themselves into a risky situation.”
FIRE
Even though modern cruise vessels are designed with smoke detectors and sprinkler systems, fire is a risk. Last year, a fire aboard a Hurtigruten cruise ship off the coast of Norway killed two people, injured nine others and forced the evacuation of nearly half of the 262 people aboard. CruiseShipFires.com, a Web site dedicated to documenting blazes, explosions and other accidents on pleasure vessels, has photographs of similar events, including an engine fire on the Carnival Splendor in 2010. No passengers were injured, but the fire stripped the ship of its power, knocking out its operating systems and leaving its 3,300 passengers without air-conditioning, hot food or water.
Most of those fires started in the engine room in the lower part of the ship, said Janet Huggard, editor of CruiseShipFires.com and its sibling site, CruiseBruise.com, devoted to publicizing crime, injuries and other incidents on ships. She recommends avoiding cabins below deck. “Higher is better in almost all cases for evacuation purposes,” she said.
FALLING OVERBOARD
Although falling overboard is rare, it does occur. Last year at least 22 people went overboard on cruise ships and passenger ferries, according to Cruisejunkie.com, which lists cases reported by the media on its Web site, including passengers who jumped. One of the requirements under the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act is that ships must be equipped with rails not less than 42 inches above the deck, and with alarms and other technology to help signal and locate passengers who go overboard.
As a general rule, pay attention to safety announcements and make sure you try on your life jacket and know where your muster or lifeboat station is located. If you are traveling with friends or family, have a contingency plan so you know how to find one another in the event of an evacuation. “It is unlikely that something will happen,” said Ross A. Klein, who has written books on the cruise industry and operates Cruisejunkie.com, “but it is better to have a plan if something does happen than to be drawn into a hysteria when an emergency situation presents itself.”
Tripadvisor is Shadier Than You Think $TRIP
Tripadvisor must no longer claim that all of its reviews are honest or even from real people Photo: ALAMY
By James Hall, Consumer Affairs Editor
7:00AM GMT 01 Feb 2012
It follows complaints that some unscrupulous hoteliers have posted fake comments on the site to boost their own business or sabotage others.
Following a four month investigation, the Advertising Standards Authority found that it was possible for “non-genuine content” to appear on Tripadvisor, which is designed to allow holidaymakers to share tips and opinions on places they have visited.
The advertising watchdog said that because reviews can be posted on the site without any form of verification, Tripadvisor must no longer claim that all of its reviews are honest, or even from real people.
In a strongly-worded ruling, the ASA told Tripadvisor “not to claim or imply that all the reviews that appeared on the website were from real travellers, or were honest, real or trusted”.
The ASA’s ruling, which applies only to Tripadvisor’s UK site, follows a complaint last year from two unnamed hoteliers and a website called Kwikchex, which helps companies manage their online reputations.
They argued that wording on Tripadvisor’s website – claiming that the site contained “reviews you can trust” and “honest” opinions from “real travellers” – was misleading as Tripadvisor could not prove that the reviews were genuine.
Chris Emmins, co-founder of Kwikchex, said that there are a “substantial” number of fake reviews on Tripadvisor, which is being “abused by fraudsters”.
Fake comments range from unsubstantiated claims of food poisoning in restaurants to theft and credit card fraud in hotels, said Mr Emmins.
Tripadvisor, which has removed the wording from its website, said that the ASA had taken a “highly technical view” of its online marketing copy that was “used in a limited capacity”.
In a statement, the company said: “We have confidence that the 50 million users who come to our site every month trust the reviews they read on Tripadvisor, which is why they keep coming back to us in increasingly larger numbers to plan and have the perfect trip.”
A spokesman added that the average traveller reads dozens of reviews before making an informed decision on where to travel, rather than just “one or two” reviews. Travellers base their decision on “the wisdom of the crowds” rather than isolated reviews, the spokesman said.
“We know that our users approach Tripadvisor with common sense, and make an educated decision based on the opinions of many. If people did not feel the insight they gained from our site was an accurate reflection of their experience they wouldn’t keep coming back,” the spokesman said.
Creepy Voice Over Narration for Morgan Freeman’s Incestuous Marriage to Step-Granddaughter
Hit Dan BackA few weeks ago, a disturbing story broke that Morgan Freeman was maintaining a 10-year relationship with his step-granddaughter with whom he had a questionable sexual encounter when she was young. Yes, they are not related through blood, but Freeman is 72 and E’Dena Hines is now 27, which means she would have been 17 when they first… um… got together. Once Freeman’s wife found out about their secret affair she filed for divorce, and now the Enquirer is claiming that once proceedings go through, he and Hines are set to wed.
“Morgan has led her to believe that he wants to marry her,” says a family insider. Another source says, “Becoming Mrs. Morgan Freeman has been E’Dena’s goal.”
Consider us creeped out. Morgan Freeman is giving Woody Allen a run for his money! [HitDanBack]
Comments »Romney Will Rely on “Safety Net” For the Poor….Otherwise He Does Not Care About Them
As Facebook Prepares for IPO They Must Settle Up on Patent Lawsuits
Will Facebook deliver an IPO surprise?
Comments »NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg turns up at business conventions in a hoodie. “Cocky” is the word used to describe him most often, after “billionaire.” He was Time’s person of the year at 26.
So when he takes Facebook public, why would he follow the Wall Street rules?
The company is expected to file as early as Wednesday to sell stock on the open market in what will be the most talked-about initial public offering since Google in 2004, maybe since the go-go 1990s. Read More…
Another Day, Another Pervert Teacher Arrested
(via)
L.A. teacher charged with lewd acts on 23 children
A teacher who taught for three decades at Miramonte Elementary School in South L.A. has been arrested and charged with lewd acts on 23 children for allegedly tying them up, placing giant cockroaches on their faces and possibly feeding them his semen from a spoon.
Mark Berndt, 61, was taken into custody Monday after a nearly yearlong investigation by the L.A. County sheriff’s special victims unit that began when a photo processor turned over pictures of some of the alleged acts to authorities.
Capt. Mike Parker of the Los Angeles Police Department said the victims identified so far are 23 boys and girls aged 7 to 10 who had contact with Berndt between 2008 and 2010.
Investigators recovered photos from the processor and Berndt’s home that allegedly showed the young students bound and blindfolded and some with large Madagascar cockroaches crawling on them inside the school setting.
Some girls were allegedly photographed with a blue spoon holding a white substance near their mouths.”Early in the investigation, special victims bureau detectives recovered a blue plastic spoon and an empty container from the trash within the suspect’s classroom,” Parker said. “The recovered items tested positive for semen.”
Through further investigation, the suspect’s DNA was obtained and tested, and officials said it matched that of the DNA found on the spoon and container.
Parker said that, so far, 10 children in the photos recovered have not been identified. More than 80 children and staff have been in interviewed. Miramonte Elementary is in the Florence Firestone unincorporated area of Los Angeles.
Berndt was fired in March and was being held Tuesday in lieu of $2.3 million bail.
Coffee Break: We Have Everything Under Control
and for another mocking:
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aflbmnTzU8w 450 300] Comments »Newt Sued for Copy Right Infringement
EYE OF THE CHEATER! Newt Gingrich sued by “Survivor” Band Member for Using ‘Eye of the Tiger’
Gingrich sued by ex-Survivor band member for use of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ – Chicago Sun-Times
- Submitted 1 hour ago from
www.suntimes.com by editor
- via BreakingNews.com
Like Everything in a Debased World The Cost of the World Trade Towers is Going Up
FLASH: MORE SCANDAL ROCKING THE CHURCH!
- Submitted 4 mins ago from
www.nypost.com by editor
via BreakingNews.com
Disgraced Teacher is Worth $10M, makes $100K a year, Does Nothing, & Can’t Be Fired
By SUSAN EDELMAN
Last Updated: 8:31 AM, January 29, 2012
Hell no, he won’t go.
In a defiant raspberry to the city Department of Education — and taxpayers — disgraced teacher Alan Rosenfeld, 66, won’t retire.
Deemed a danger to kids, the typing teacher with a $10 million real estate portfolio hasn’t been allowed in a classroom for more than a decade, but still collects $100,049 a year in city salary — plus health benefits, a growing pension nest egg, vacation and sick pay.
Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo can call for better teacher evaluations until they’re blue-faced, but Rosenfeld and six peers with similar gigs costing about $650,000 a year in total salaries are untouchable. Under a system shackled by protections for tenured teachers, they can’t be fired, the DOE says.
“It’s an F-U,” a friend of Rosenfeld said of his refusal to quit.
“He’s happy about it, and very proud that he beat the system. This is a great show-up-but-don’t-do-anything job.”
Accused in 2001 of making lewd comments and ogling eighth-grade girls’ butts at IS 347 in Queens, Rosenfeld was slapped with a week off without pay after the DOE failed to produce enough witnesses at a hearing.
But instead of returning Rosenfeld to the classroom, the DOE kept him in one of its notorious “rubber rooms,” where teachers in misconduct cases sat idle or napped. As The Post reported, Rosenfeld kept busy managing his many investment properties and working on his law practice. He’s a licensed attorney and real-estate broker.
Since the DOE closed the teacher holding pens in June 2010, those facing disciplinary charges were scattered to offices and given tasks such as answering phones, filing and photocopying.
But Rosenfeld and six others whose cases have long been closed are “permanently reassigned.” Rosenfeld reports to the Division of School Facilities, which maintains DOE buildings, in a warehouse in Long Island City.
Asked what work he does, Rosenfeld laughingly told his friend, “Oh, I Xeroxed something the other day.”
Rosenfeld could have retired four years ago at 62, but his pension grows by $1,700 for each year he stays — even without teaching. If he quit today, his annual pension would total an estimated $85,400.
“Why not make it bigger?” the friend said.
Rosenfeld will also get paid for 100 unused sick days when he leaves.
New York has no mandatory retirement age for teachers.
That let rubber-room granddaddy Roland Pierre make a mockery of the system. He finally retired at age 76 last year — 14 years after he was yanked from PS 138 in Brooklyn and never taught again. Criminal charges in 1997 that he molested a sixth-grade girl were dropped. He got $97,101 a year.
“It’s a tremendous waste of money,” said Marcus Winters, a Manhattan Institute expert on teacher evaluation. “While we don’t want to remove people just because they’ve been accused, we also want the school system to cut ties with teachers it’s not going to put in the classroom.”
But Winters added, “If these people are actually dangerous, it’s better to waste the money than to put them back with kids.”
Additional reporting by Gary Buiso and Michael Gartland
Tom Brokaw Pronounces His “L”‘s Well Enough to Slam Mitt Romney for Ads
Via POLITICO’s Reid Epstein, NBC News and Tom Brokaw are loudly objecting to the Mitt Romney campaign’s use of footage from the 1990s in an ad blasting Newt Gingrich over his House ethics charges.
Brokaw, whose statement noted he was speaking on his behalf, said, “I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do no want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign.”
“The NBC Legal Department has written a letter to the campaign asking for the removal of all NBC News material from their campaign ads,” NBC News said in a statement, which added, “Similar requests have gone out to other campaigns that have inappropriately used Nightly News, Meet the Press, Today and MSNBC material.”
Romney aides said they hadn’t yet heard from NBC News.
On a basic level, the flap around the spot simply calls more attention to it, which is presumably part of Team Romney’s calculus.
Comments »Go Figure: Have We Not Better Things to do With Our Time?
Pentagon Sends Out a Commando Mother Warship to the Straits of Hormuz
3 Topless Protesters Held for Questioning in Davos
Twitter’s New Censorship Plan Rouses Global Furor
By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.
It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics – in a barrage of tweets – proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.
“This is very bad news,” tweeted Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who operates under the name Sandmonkey. Later, he wrote, “Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?”
Read the rest here.
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