Most Interesting Thing You've Read Open Thread

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So, I was thinking about the stuff I've been reading and I thought it might be a cool idea for an open thread, so....

What is the most interesting thing you've read in the past week?

It can be anything - a book, a news article, a blog post, a recipe, a cartoon, anything goes...

And please - if there's a link, link it; if it's a recipe post it. :D

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BTW...

triv33's picture

have I mentioned how I despise Sally Quinn and her ilk? There are quite a few of these DC social set shrews, but she may be the worst of the lot.

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I thought this story was darkly comedic

priceman's picture

This oil futures broker got drunk one night and pushed up oil prices globally.

Britain’s financial regulator disclosed on Tuesday that Steven Noel Perkins, a former oil futures broker, single-handedly engineered a jump in the price of oil a year ago and cost his firm millions of dollars with a string of unauthorized trades after a weekend of heavy drinking.

Mr. Perkins had just returned from a liquor-soaked golf weekend with colleagues in June of last year when he sat down in front of his laptop at his home east of London and started to place bets on Brent crude futures, according to a report by the Financial Services Authority. He continued to drink and place bets through the night, and by the morning of June 30, Mr. Perkins had placed more than $520 million worth of trades, at one point pushing the price of oil to $73.05, an eight-month high. The trades by Mr. Perkins were the main reason the price gained about $1.65 a barrel in just over two hours in the middle of the night, according to the report.

“Mr. Perkins’s explanation for his trading on 29 and 30 June is that he was drunk,” the F.S.A. said. “He claims to have limited recollection of events on Monday and claims to have been in an alcohol-induced blackout at the time he traded.”

"....Woke up in the morning and the whole world hates me! What happened?"

The CFTC is kind of a joke like the undefined rules in Dodd Frank on positions.

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Indeed. The folks in SoCali are getting royally gouged

priceman's picture

It's partly a problem with contaminated refineries, fires on one, and the gas tax there but other owners of refineries are withholding their supply making the prices higher to take advantage of them circa Enron style. Speculation is definitely part of it on top of this exploitative behavior and BS like this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/10/08/why-gasolin...

This story shows that the commodities market is already dysfunctional even without any supply spike and when there is one, refineries and speculators get in on the action to take advantage, always. Speculation is definitely part of it despite what analysts say and it definitely should piss people off.

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I haven't had time to read anything more substantive

Mehitabel's picture

than a recipe in weeks. Or rather, anything *interesting* that was more substantive than a recipe. But I did read a recipe and what's more I tried the recipe and it turned out pretty well. I'd been given a few pounds of plums and needed to use them up, so:

Plum Clafoutis

1 lb black or red plums, pitted and cut into eighths
2 tablespoons Armagnac or other brandy
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar, divided
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 400ºF with rack in middle. Butter a 2-qt shallow baking dish.
Toss plums with Armagnac and 1 Tbsp sugar in a bowl and let macerate 15 minutes. Transfer plums to baking dish with a slotted spoon and pour juices into a blender. Add eggs to blender with milk, butter, flour, salt, extracts, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and blend just until combined. Pour over plums.
Bake until puffed and just set in center, about 35 minutes. Cool 15 minutes, then dust with confectioners sugar.

Of course, Wonkette is *always* interesting, and I try to read it every day. I loves me some snark, and nobody does snark better than Wonkette.

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I shared this one elsewhere but I'll nominate it again.

Big Al's picture

"Voting for Death" by Linh Dinh. I've read Linh's articles many times but this one hit a nerve for me, and I think many who read it judging by comments I've read. He encapsulates the issue of voting for candidates who support and have ordered war and killing extremely well, covering all bases in a cutting, even angry manner totally deserved by the situation Americans face. It's an article I would write if I could, saying what I would say. There's no way in hell I'm voting for Obama or any politician associated with the military empire. I want no part of it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32649.htm

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