A-Rod & Cynthia Rodriguez

Fascinating no? Of course Kravitz has issued a complete denial of any hanky-panky with Cynthia. (Didn't he say he's been celibate for the last three years?) But meanwhile....back at the ranch...the word is that A-Rod has been hanging with Madonna in her Upper West Side apartment. (Perhaps he was just showing her how to hold a bat?)

The 34 year old mother of two, Cynthia Rodriguez has been in Paris for the past four days. And she looked pretty good to my eyes. Paris has been quite hot this week and as I write this on Thursday night its raining (can't believe I'm scribbling this trite shit. Sorry...normal programming will resume shortly. I just got to get Mrs Rodriguez and Mr Kravitz out of my system).

Oh yeah...here Lenny's statement -

"Cynthia is a friend and is here with the godfather of her baby, who is also Alex's trainer, his wife and their baby girl. She came here to escape from everything happening in New York City," he said. "I opened my home to her as a friend and I find it extremely hurtful that I am now being referred to as an adulterer."

Cynthia and A-Rod cooling off?The link in all this is, of course, that Kravitz co-wrote and produced Madonna's "Justify My Love" - back in 1990. (Personally I can't stand the woman and think her music sucks)

For the enlightenment of my French and Australian readers (all two of you), A-Rod Rodriguez has a $275 million Yankee contract making him the highest-paid player in baseball history. Apparently he's been off-the-pace recently. Distracted perhaps?

Cynthias MySpace page says -

I’m his #1 fan. He may be your #13 but he’s my #1. We have three dogs; a Golden Labrador named Shorty and two German Shepard’s named Ripper and Gypsy.

She may have been a "high school psychology teacher" but she sure can't spell ("Shepard's). Ho-hum. C'est tout. Hmmm...Cynthia Rodriguez

Fag Talk - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Volkswagen

Ugly front

nice butt

assume the position

topless

not much room

The carbonfibre monocoque won't come cheap though - €30,000 is being mooted.

Interestingly, cameras replace the side mirrors to minimize the drag coefficient.

The 300kg body will be powered by a new two-cylinder turbodiesel with a mild hybrid system that would allow full-electric operation under some circumstances.

Your €30k will include ABS/ESP, a driver's airbag, sequential motorbike-style six speed transmission as well as LED head and taillights. Air-conditioning will be an option.

Looks like something Buckminster Fuller might have designed in the thirties eh?

The Economist magazine gives the following pricing options to people who want to subscribe:

* To persuade people, change their frame of mind by giving them a different anchor point. And they’ll decide in your favour.

There's also another interesting story on that site about an art gallery having trouble selling a $25,000 painting. Until they hung a similar but much larger painting next to it and priced at $40,000. The smaller painting sold within days.

Hmmm...how can I use this information? Hey maybe I should be trying to sell my paintings online? That's one of them up top. Yeah you can give me $25k for it if you like. How about $1500? Gouache on watercolour paper.

• 1. Fund.com $9,999,950 Pvt Sale 3/11/08
• 2. DataRecovery.com $1,659,000 Pvt Sale 3/4/08
• 3. Cruises.co.uk $1,099,798 Pvt Sale 2/5/08
• 4. SkiResorts.com $850,000 Moniker 4/8/08
• 5. iReport.com $750,000 Pvt Sale 1/29/08
• 6. Casino.de $625,060 Pvt Sale 3/18/08
• 7. Jobs.ca $600,000 Pvt Sale 5/6/08
• 8. Systematic.com $400,000 Pvt Sale 4/1/08
• 9.tiePorn.net $400,000 SnapNames 2/12/08
• 10. 770.com $343,208 Sedo 4/15/08

More here at dnjournal

• bizoid.com
• boatscrews.com
• bongsr.us
• cheapparishostel.com
• free-keywordtool.com
• greatbarrierbeef.com
• inyourfaceforbreakfast.com
• irolx.com
• lovingit.org
• metronicity.com
• mylifeasafrog.com
• uh-huh-uh-huh.com
• wahkazoo.com
• yourinternets.com

Most are up for offers over $200. Free-KeywordTool.com and CheapParisHostel.com even come with Google links and PageRank 3.

Go ahead - Make Money From Domian Name Trading

Credit Cards

Cards like Visa, MasterCard and American Express Company, are slashing back credit card limits. They are targeting clients with unsustainable large credit card debt and those that live in areas hit by the sub-prime mortgage crisis - like California, Arizona and Florida, where home prices have plummeted.
Self-employed entrepreneurs or those working in threatened industries are also in their sights.

You don't have to be Einstein to see what caused this - the weak American economy, the sub-prime mortgage scandal (yes, a scandal), rising American unemployment, the unsustainable Iraq invasion (note I don't call it a "war") and people living beyond their means propped up with credit cards and PayDay loans.

A big part of the problem is that people are using credit cards for household expenses like groceries, petrol and rent. While still lashing out on entertainment and luxury items. And to prop up the credit card debt they are taking out home equity loans. In 2007 half of all those who took out these kind of loans used the money to help reduce their credit card debt. The figures for this year will be even higher. But home equity loans are now not so easy to get.

Credit Card industry experts predict that credit card loss rates for lenders, now around 5.7 percent, could go as high as 10 percent in the next 18 months. Others are saying that 40-45% of oustanding credit lines will be slashed in the next two years - $2 trillion worth.

BTW disclaimers in the fine print of credit card applications pretty much give the credit providers carte blanche - they can cancel or alter credit limits any time, irrespective of a client's payment or credit history.

Credit Card Eye-Opening Facts

• In 1970 51% of Americans had a credit card. Today it's 93% today. The average cardholder has 7 cards.

• Americans owe $850 billion in credit card debt.

• A "preferred customer", according to credit card companies, is someone with a "taste for credit" who's willing to make minimum monthly payments—forever. Come on down sucker!

• 60% of Americans have been in credit card debt for more than a year. 60%.

• The average American household owes nearly $10,000 on credit cards - on a card with a 14% apr (the average interest rate) and making 2% monthly payments, it would take you more than 6 years to pay off that debt. And you'll pay $4,000 in interest.

• The average American household spends 14% of its disposable income paying off debts. And puts negative 0.5% into savings. Uh-oh.

• Americans charged $51 billion worth of fast food last year - a 29% increase since 2001.

• 1/3 of low- and middle-income households report going into credit card debt to pay for rent, utilities, and food.

I daresay the British and Australian figures would be similar.

You think there might be a Credit Card Crisis Looming?

Schapelle Corby

The Herald story quoted a Balinese prison official saying -

"At this time Corby is being guarded by two officials from Kerobokan Prison in front of her room in the international wing of Sanglah hospital.....she is being examined intensively, checking blood pressure and other checkups but so far it's suspected it is depression. There is still no explanation about the cause of the depression. Maybe we will get the results tomorrow.

"There is still no explanation about the cause of the depression"!!! Nothing to do with the 16 years stir she's still to serve I suppose. Or the fact that her Mother and Sister have both just won large defamation payouts, rumoured to be in the millions, from Channel Seven Television, Australia.

I wonder if we'll ever know the truth about this whole business. But still...20 years for a large bag of pot? Draconian. Wiki on it Here

Lagerfeld laying it down.

"It's yellow, it's butt-ugly, doesn't go with anything but it can save your miserable frog skin"

All part of a new safety campaign from Securité Routière - the French Road Safety mob. It's now compulsory for all cars to carry a yellow vest and an accident triangle. Yeah alright...the copy doesn't actually say that. Rather, it says "It's yellow, it's ugly, it doesn't go with anything but it can save your life".

Last year 4,620 frogs were killed on the roads and over 81,000 injured but French authorities are quick to point out that that's 1.9% less than 2006. And the 16th consecutive drop in the death rate.

Apart from the horrific accident figures, there are an estimated 300,000 French people driving without a license. And 75% of those have never had a license. Incredible figure isn't it? You gotta wonder where the cops are. And the French are still drink-driving - making it the main cause of fatal accidents. I think there's only half-a-dozen breathalyser units in the whole country. It's a joke.

Here are the latest French Road Safety campaign videos. This could be part of the problem. These are well lame. Nothing as graphic as the British or Australian campaigns.

And speed limits? Largely ignored. I drive down to Bourgogne (Burgundy) from Paris on the A6 motorway about once a month and sit on the speed limit of 140k but I'm regularly passed by cars that have got to be doing at least 200kph. And you hardly ever see les flics. When you do, its because there's been an accident.

And there are signs warning of "Radar ahead". C'est bizarre. Why have a radar trap if you're going to warn people its there so they can slow down and then speed up again?

Ah...the French. I have a perfect word for them - contrary. I've been having fun lately riding a bike through Paris. Pain in the ass. The French park their cars and vans across the bike track. The motorbikes and scooters dash in and out of them. People walk in them. Dogs crap in them. They are completely disjointed - one minute you're on a narrow bike-track - the next shunted back on to the road. And of course now that the Velib bikes are available for rent you have a whole other gang of bozo bikers wobbling all over the bloody place. The accident figures for bike-riding in Paris must be going through the roof.

Hmmm...I've just rushed out and bought LovingIt.org - that's got to be worth something hasn't it? You can take it as loving "it" or loving "i.t." - information technology. Make me an offer I can't refuse.