Same song, second verse

This coming Saturday is the Red Bull Flugtag, the event where amateur teams build humorous "flying machines", then jump off a ramp where they invariably "fly" all of 30 feet....straight down.

  

It sounds like it should be a hoot and a half.  As a cool front is coming through on Friday, and the temps on Saturday are expected to top out in the mid-80's, K and I are seriously considering going.

My only hesitation is the crowd/parking situation.  We tried to go to the Red Bull Soap Box Derby back in the spring, but it was an uphill hike both ways from the parking area 20 blocks to the event site.  We arrived there and my knees took a look around and said, "no thanks". 

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It was exactly 5 years ago that our economy began it's near-fatal meltdown.  Greed ruled over prudence back then, and lenders were making terribly bad loans, then selling them to unwary investors as top-quality thanks to phony bond ratings.

Now, with real estate loans again being packaged by banks and sold to investors, Standard & Poor's has again lowered it's bond rating standards in order to bring in more business.   

Talk about a conflict of interest!  Banks directly pay the rating agencies (the Big Three are S&P, Moody's, and Fitch) for a review of the bonds they are hoping to sell, and they are shopping around to see who will give them the most favorable rating.  "Tell me what I want to hear, I'll pay you lots of money."  Since lowering their standards, S&P's market share has jumped from 18% to 69%.

So what have we learned?  Five years ago banks were "too big to fail".  Today they're bigger.  Five years ago bond ratings were a joke.  Today it looks like they're headed that way again.  So much for "financial reform".  Bank Lobbyists, 1; The Public Interest, 0.

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Here's a thought....maybe we could make that Flugtag jump from 300 feet, and get all the Ivory Tower Bankers to enter themselves as a team.  :)

S

Red Bull and me, a winning combination

I was watching the news this morning where they did a recap of Felix Baumgartner's supersonic plunge to earth as he stepped out of a balloon at 128,000 feet.  His effort was, of course, sponsored by Red Bull.

Red Bull.  I don't get it.  It's an "energy drink" that consists mainly of caffeine along with a few other natural ingredients (taurine and glucuronolactone, found in fish, poultry, and grains....I looked it up).  That's it.  I tried the stuff a couple of times but found it had absolutely NO effect on me.  It's a glorified cup of Joe, which by the way doesn't have any effect on me, either.

Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz was traveling through Thailand back in the 80's when he discovered the locally brewed concoction.  He partnered with them and grew the brand into the international phenomenon it is today, and made a few billion bucks for himself in the process.  Last year Red Bull sold 4.5 BILLION cans at, what....$2-3 each?  As I said, I tried it and didn't feel squat. Nada!   Well, I felt like my wallet was $2-3 lighter.  Does that count?  I think they should call it Red Bullshit.

On the other hand, I do like the way they take much of their profits and use it to sponsor everything from F-1 race car teams to airplane races, yacht races, motocross racing, insane skiing, soccer teams, to guys jumping cars and motorcycles through the air for no obvious reason at all.   Oh, and so Felix Baumgartner can prove once and for all that Sir Isaac Newton was right. Their list of crazy things to sponsor is almost endless.  Good for 'em, I say!

Next I think they need to sponsor me as I attempt a leisurely stroll through a city park while towing a tiny little dog....a sure crowd pleaser if there ever was!  For enough cash I'll even wear their logo on a helmet or a cape.  That ought to sell another case or two of Red Bull, right?  *wonder why nobody thought of this before now?*

S

Our destination today....w/ EDIT

The Red Bull Soap Box Derby

A little levity would be welcome.

S

EDIT:  We couldn't get near the place. There were tens of thousand of people having to park miles away and walk in.  Big disappointment. :(

On your mark....get set....GO....

....to McDonald's.  


While there's nothing wrong with it, it just seems funny to me that McDonald's is a Top Sponsor of the Olympic games.  They're paying $100M to the IOC to sponsor one summer and one winter game.  "Big Mac....the Breakfast of Champions."  I dunno.


What's next?  The Buick Grand Prix of Monaco?  The Poligrip/Depends Molokai Surfing Championship?  Or to reverse things, the Red Bull Bingo Invitational? 


Marketing gone terribly wrong.  ;)


S

Just a couple of guys out for some Saturday fun

A friend recently sent me a link to this video that I found to be absolutely fascinating.  It's footage of some wingsuited base jumpers doing their thing somewhere in China.  It's apparently some sort of Red Bull stunt.  They wear suits that have webbing between their outstretched arms and their bodies and in between their legs that in effect make them human flying wings.  The first minute has footage of life in a big Chinese city....nothing to do with the theme of the video, but still interesting....then moves on to a tourist attraction somewhere in mountainous China.  It's definitely worth watching.  

I can only imagine the size of the cajones of the first guy who tried this.  Or maybe it was a woman.  Hmmmm....

S