primer

Saturday, May 14, 2005

imer 29/5/5


In a move sure to strike fear into the hearts of hoodie-wearing tots everywhere, a shopping centre in Kent, England, has banned outfits with hoods.
Described by BBC news as zero-tolerance approach to intimidating behaviour, the ban extends to baseball caps, and has been backed by local police.
The Bluewater shopping complex has its own dedicated group of bobbies.
Almost 400 cameras will track shoppers (described by management as “guests”) as they browse the aisles. Detection of a hood or cap will be swiftly followed by a polite request to leave the premises.
The architecture at Bluewater is based on English folklore, according to its web site; excluding Robin Hood, presumably.



A US$2 billion ($2.62 billion) financial flurry has taught gullible traders worldwide a hard lesson about believing what they read.
The US dollar dipped earlier this month, and traders rushed to cover themselves as a story of a revaulation of the Chinese yuan flashed onto their screens.
The story, from the respected Bloomberg news service, said that the yuan would be revalued upwards in a week’s time. Bloomberg had drawn the story from the web site of the People’s Daily, once considered the direct voice of the Chinese government.
Unfortunately, the People’s Daily story was a hopelessly garbled translation of an analysis story by a Hong Kong-based journalist, and just plain wrong, the Wall Street Journal says.
Eventually an experienced bank trader smelt a rat, and the word went out that everyone should just calm down – and double-check their information next time.

Urban jungle
New York fashionistas have always been a bit catty, and their latest status symbol confirms it.
The “Savannah”, a cross between a domestic cat and the long-eared, leopard-coated African Serval, has become the hottest pet on Manhattan.
Keeping them is illegal, but that hasn’t stopped New Yorkers from signing up to long waiting lists. The New York Times says the cats sell from $5000 for first-generation crossbeeds, but breeders still can’t meet the demand.
They weigh up to 15 kilograms each and, according to one pet-serval site, require their own bedroom. At New York real estate prices, that would add a hundred thousand or so to the cost of keeping one.

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