[BigGlen]

Alton attorney accidentally sues himself
By Steve Korris



Alton attorney Emert Wyss thought he could make money in a Madison County class action lawsuit, but he accidentally sued himself instead. Now he has four law firms after his money - and he hired all four.

Wyss's boomerang litigation started in 2002, when he invited Carmelita McLaughlin to his office at 1600 Washington St. in Alton. Acting as her attorney when she bought a home in Alton and when she refinanced it, on both occasions she had chosen Centerre Title--a company that Wyss owned--to close her loans.

In the course of the attorney-client relationship, Wyss advised McLaughlin she might have a claim against Alliance Mortgage, holder of the first mortgage. Wyss believed Alliance Mortgage might have broken the law by charging a $60 fax fee when she refinanced.

He produced a retainer agreement providing for his legal services and those from the Lakin Law Firm of Wood River, Campbell and Brinkley of Godfrey, Freed and Weiss of Chicago, and Diab and Bock of Chicago. McLaughlin signed.

The Lakin firm filed a class action complaint against Alliance Mortgage in 2003. The complaint identified the Chicago firms and Campbell and Brinkley as other attorneys of record, but not Wyss. According to the complaint, McLaughlin objected to the fax fee at closing.

Alliance Mortgage retained attorney Don Brown of Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider, of Washington, D. C.

In a deposition last year, Brown asked McLaughlin if she objected to the fees in general or the fax fee. She said, "To the fees in general."

Brown asked if she saw a payoff statement. She said she did not recall it.

"If you didn't see this document at loan closing then how would you have known that you were being charged a fax fee?" Brown asked.

"I knew I was being charged fees but I didn't know that it was particular, you know, that it was a fax fee," McLaughlin responded.

"Did you review this complaint for accuracy before your attorneys filed it?" Brown countered.

McLaughlin replied, "no."

"Centerre Title is the one that collected the fees from you that you are now complaining about, is that right?" Brown questioned.

McLaughlin said, "yes."

"Mr. Wyss was suggesting to you that you might want to complain about fees that his employee collected from you. That's right, isn't it?" Brown questioned.

McLaughlin said, "yes."

Brown asked what Wyss said about the fax fee. But in the deposition, attorney Paul Marks of the Lakin firm objected.

"Attorney client privilege," Marks said. "Confidential in nature."

Brown countered, "If he is her attorney maybe he should be here, but he is not her attorney."

Directing his questions again to McLaughlin, Brown asked if she knew how other law firms came to represent her. She said she did not.

"Were you ever asked whether you would consent to have any of these other law firms represent you in this litigation?" Brown asked.

"I was told there, you know, might be other people, and I did not have a problem with that," McLaughlin replied.

"The fax fee of $60 represents two payoff statements, is that right?" Brown asked.

McLaughlin said she did not know.

"That would represent a fax fee of $30 per payoff statement, is that right?" Brown asked.

McLaughlin said, "If you say so. I don't know."

Brown asked if she understood that her lawyers would seek compensation for her as a class representative if the suit succeeded.

McLaughlin said, "That is my understanding."

"But you have no understanding of what amount might be involved, is that right?" Brown asked.

McLaughlin said, "no."

Brown deposes Wyss

Turning his attention to Wyss, Brown asked if plaintiffs he referred to the Lakin firm were told that he might receive part of the fees.

"They have signed an engagement, a retainer agreement which indicates that I am one of the attorneys representing them," Wyss responded.

"You have retainer agreements then, in your possession, to give to people that include the Lakin law firm as one of the firms that will represent them, is that correct?" Brown asked.

Wyss said, "yes."

Brown asked what prompted him to refer mortgage cases to the Lakin firm. Wyss said attorneys told him they were aware of lender abuse and suggested that he review Centerre Title files to see if his clients were victimized.

When asked who told him that, Wyss replied "Tim Campbell."

Brown asked what prompted Campbell to talk to him.

"I consider him a true consumer advocate," Wyss said. "I don't know how he became aware, but he apparently was aware of other lender abuse in the area that I was not privy to."

Brown asked if Campbell had a retainer agreement in the McLaughlin case.

Wyss said, "yes."

"The true consumer advocate hopes to make some money out of this case, doesn't he?" Brown asked.

Wyss said, "probably."

"You yourself hope to make some money out of this case, don't you?" Brown asked.

Wyss replied, "I would like to."

Brown asked Wyss if he was McLaughlin's attorney for purposes of this litigation.

Wyss said, "I am one of her attorneys."

Brown asked if he was her attorney at the time Centerre Title closed the loan.

Wyss said, "no."

"Emert Wyss, wearing his hat of Centerre Title company, collects the fees from Ms. McLaughlin, and now we have six, seven, eight months later, Emert Wyss wearing his hat as Ms. McLaughlin's attorney suggests she file suit over the very fees his title company collected from her, is that right?" Brown asked.

Wyss replied, "That is right. It oversimplifies it, but that is correct."

Brown asked Wyss if he had an agreement with the Lakin firm, and he responded that he had a verbal agreement.

When Brown asked what it was, Wyss replied, "I am to receive 10 percent of the attorney fee collected on these cases."

"Since Ms. McLaughlin signed a written retainer that included your name on it as one of her attorneys, can you tell me why your name is not on her complaint?" Brown asked.

Wyss said, "I see no reason why it has to be on the complaint."

Brown asked if he reviewed the complaint before it was filed and Wyss answered, "I do not believe I did, but I am not really sure. I may have."

"You have no recollection of reviewing it before it was filed?" Brown asked.

Wyss said, "No recollection at the moment, no."

Case status

After completing the depositions, Brown moved Circuit Judge Phillip Kardis for summary judgment.

In a separate motion, Brown asked Kardis to dismiss the suit for failure to join Centerre Title as a necessary party. He asked Kardis to disqualify all of McLaughlin's attorneys for improper solicitation, arguing that they used Wyss as a straw man to obtain cases from Centerre Title clients whom they could not directly approach.

In December, Kardis denied the motion to dismiss but ordered Alliance Mortgage to add Centerre Title and Wyss himself as third party defendants. Kardis denied the motion to disqualify McLaughlin's attorneys.

Apparently, Wyss surrendered his ten percent. Kardis wrote, "Defendants were provided with a fee renunciation letter." Kardis sealed the letter.

McLaughlin responded to Alliance Mortgage's motion for summary judgment on March 3.

Alliance Mortgage must reply to McLaughlin's response by March 24. Kardis has told the parties he would hear arguments on summary judgment after that.

[HogwartsExpress]

Snake Slithering on Door Handle Leaves Two Men Trapped Indoors


Two radio show hosts in Forrest City, Arkansas were unable to leave their radio station after they discovered a snake "rattling and shaking" on a door handle of the building.



The snake was seen slithering on the handlebar of the glass door in a video of the incident captured by Lamont Swanigan, one of the two men who host a gospel radio program, shared with Arkansas' THV11.

They were trapped inside while waiting for the police to arrive to provide assistance. "Y'all. This is real. We cannot get out," Swanigan said in the video.

Swanigan said he was nearly prepared to spend the night at the station, yelling: "Look at his tongue, Kimble! Ew! Ew! No, sir!

"Man, you laughing. I'm serious. Don't do that, man!" Swanigan told the other radio host, Miles Kimble, who tapped the glass with a golf club in a bid to shake the snake off the handlebar.

"Leave that thing alone until the police get here! Leave him alone! You can hear him rattling! That's a rattlesnake. Look at him rattling," Swanigan claimed in the video.

"Don't know where he came from...you could hear him rattling and shaking," Swanigan said.

Drama ensued again when Kimble partially opened the door after a police officer arrived and managed to get the snake onto the ground. Kimble attempted to poke the snake to scare it away.

Swanigan shouted: "No, Kimble! He's fixing to come in! Oh, Lord, he done came in!" while running towards the back of the room.

The pair were eventually able to leave the station after the police officer killed the snake.

Asked if he knew what type of snake it was, Swanigan told THV11: "I was too busy running."

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission says: "It is illegal to kill snakes in Arkansas unless they pose an immediate threat to people, pets or property.

"Most cases of snakebites are the result of people accidentally stepping on an unseen snake or purposefully agitating or trying to kill it."

Lori Monday, a regional educator with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, says misidentifying venomous snakes could potentially put them at unnecessary risk.

Monday explains: "A common misconception is that all venomous snakes have slit or 'cat's eye' pupils. That may be true for rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths, but the coral snake which is a venomous snake native to Arkansas has round pupils.

"And if you're close enough to tell what kind of pupil they have, you're probably getting too close to the snake," she adds.





src: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/ ... r-BB1gq6Bi

2,000-year-old marble head of Rome's first emperor discovered



A 2,000-year-old marble head of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, has been discovered in Isernia, an Italian town in the south central region of Molise.
Archaeologist Francesco Giancola made the exceptional discovery during restoration works to repair a medieval wall that collapsed due to strong rains in 2013.
Giancola was following the works on behalf of the municipality of Isernia, but told CNN Thursday he didn't expect such a major find.
"While we were digging behind the wall, I saw that the earth changed color," he said.
"So we continued digging with precision trowels and a block of marble has come out. I immediately saw that it was a head that I recognized as belonging to a statue of Augustus due to the hair and the shape and cut of the eyes."
Giancola said he immediately called the authorities, the mayor, and the cultural heritage ministry.
Rome's Colosseum to get new gladiator arena floor
The 35-centimeter (13.78-inch) high head can be dated to between 20 BC and 10 AD, according to Maria Diletta Colombo, an archaeologist at the regional department of the ministry.
"It was an important statue, but we do not know why it was here," she told CNN. "It could have been placed in a temple dedicated to the cult of the imperial family, or in the forum. But these are just hypotheses, since we don't know where the forum was."
Some of her colleagues cried with joy when they made the discovery, Colombo added, and it was a moment she said she will remember forever.
The head is likely to have been detached from a statue that was more than 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches), Colombo said. It is made from the same Lunigiana marble used by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo, and it depicts a young Augustus Octavian, who became Rome's first emperor in 27 BC.
Isernia, known as Aesernia in the ancient world, was the home of an Italic people named the Samnites. It later became a Roman colony. The town was partially destroyed during World War II but was rebuilt.
Elaborate Roman mosaics discovered beneath an apartment block get their own underground museum
"Isernia has a very ancient history... there are archaeological remains underneath the whole city," the town's mayor Giacomo D'Apollonio told CNN. "It is a very important find for Isernia because it demonstrates the presence of buildings of a certain importance."
The excavation also revealed empty medieval tombs and terracotta artifacts, said the mayor.
The head is currently being studied and both D'Apollonio and Colombo would like to see it stay in the town's Santa Maria delle Monache museum, where they believe it would attract more tourists.
"Even Isernia, although it is not among the main tourist destinations, is an area rich in history since the Palaeolithic [era]," said D'Apollonio.
Augustus built an empire that would eventually stretch from the UK to Egypt, and boasted on his death bed that he "found Rome built of bricks and left it marble."

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/r ... index.html

[PennySerenade]

Toronto film festival plans return to in-person, digital hybrid model for 2021



TORONTO -- Organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival say they're sticking with a hybrid model as they plan for September.

In an email outlining this year's press accreditation process, organizers say they hope to offer both digital and in-person screenings at the fest.

TIFF experimented with that format last year when health authorities restricted gathering sizes to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.


TIFF offered a dramatically scaled-down film slate, public screenings at a reduced capacity and drive-in shows for a select number of titles.

Some TIFF films were available for public ticket holders to stream at home.

Media representatives for the festival declined to offer further details on their plan for 2021. TIFF runs Sept. 9 to 18.

https://www.tiff.net/

[Fivetide]

Sherpa guide scales Mount Everest for record 25th time


In this May 20, 2018, file photo, Nepalese veteran Sherpa guide, Kami Rita waves as he arrives in Kathmandu, Nepal. Rita, 51, an ace Sherpa guide scaled
Mount Everest Friday for the 25th time breaking his own record for the most successful ascents of the world’s highest peak. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.

Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides reached the summit at about 6 p.m., Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said.

They are the first group of climbers to reach the summit this year and were fixing the ropes on the icy route so that hundreds of other climbers can scale the peak later this month.

Everest was closed to climbing last year on both its southern side, which is in Nepal, and its northern side, which is in China, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nepal has issued climbing permits this year to 408 foreign climbers despite a surging COVID-19 outbreak.

China has opened the northern slope to only a few dozen mountaineers who will be tested for the coronavirus and must keep their distance while climbing.

Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers who head to Nepal each year seeking to stand on top of the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain.

His father was among the first Sherpa guides, and Rita followed in his footsteps and then some. In addition to his 25 times to the top of Everest, Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world’s highest, including K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.

He was at Everest’s base camp in 2015 when an avalanche swept through, killing 19 people. After that tragedy, he came under intense family pressure to quit mountaineering, but in the end decided against it.

Forty-three teams have been permitted to scale Everest during this year’s spring climbing season and will be assisted by about 400 Nepalese guides.

Each May, there are usually only a few windows of good weather at the summit during which climbers can attempt to scale the peak.

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
SATURDAY MAY 8
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You may post One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can enter only once a day
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -5)
2:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them to under a minute, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[Fatima99]

Enormous frog 'as big as a human baby' discovered lurking near village

Villager Jimmy Hugo said it was the biggest frog he had ever seen and one incredible photo showed the reptile was nearly as big as a baby. It was found near Honiara on the Solomon Islands



A ginormous frog “as big as a human baby” has left a small village in shock after it was captured roaming the area.

Timber mill owner Jimmy Hugo, 35, was hunting wild pig on the outskirts of Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, when he came across the enormous amphibian.

Insane footage shows the reptile perching on local Mostin's knee after being found in the nearby bush.

It seems to be as big as his entire thigh and carries plenty of weight – supposedly 1kg.

Another photo of the huge hopper – believed to be a Cornufer guppy frog – shows the frog’s full outstretched length.

Jimmy says the mutant reptile is the biggest frog he has ever seen.

“It was the same size as a human baby,” he added.

“We call them 'bush chicken' because some villages seem to like them more than chicken, but they're difficult to catch.

“A couple of dogs had caught this one and were playing with it in the bush, which is how I managed to get the photos of it.”



Sadly, there wasn’t a happy ending for the mammoth frog.

Despite its eyes being open in the video, Jimmy says it had already died by the time it was caught so the villagers decided to eat it. As you do.

“Hopefully the next time we see one it will still be alive and we'll keep it that way,” he continued.

[BigGlen]

Oakland's notoriously aggressive turkey captured by wildlife expert posing as frail woman



SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Gerald, the inordinately aggressive turkey that forced the closure of Oakland's Morcom Rose Garden, is off to greener (albeit less rosy) pastures.

After five months of attacking unsuspecting Grand Lake residents, Gerald was captured Thursday and released onto wild land near Orinda.

The solution to this months-long saga was quite similar to the problem that started it, when a wildlife capture expert posed as a frail, old woman to lure Gerald in. (His preferred victims seem to be older women, according to complaints to Oakland Animal Services.)

"I baited him in with blueberries, kibble and sunflower seeds," said Rebecca Dmytryk, director of Wildlife Emergency Services. "Then my husband actually had to run down to the truck. So I was left alone with the turkey."

Dmytryk played the victim, pretending she was scared of him and retreating slowly. That's when Gerald start puffing up and showing aggression.

"I saw his reaction to me and I said, 'Oh, you want a piece of this? I'll give it to you.'"

Predictably, Gerald charged straight at her. But 40 years of experience prepared her for this moment. She "scruffed" the turkey, grabbing him by the neck in a way that doesn't hurt the bird.



From the rose garden it was a short drive to the East Bay hills, where he was released.

"After being at this for five months... to be on the other side and to know the turkey is now in a wild area, situated with other turkeys where he will be safe, it feels like the best possible outcome," said Anne Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services.

She looked back on the last five months of truly terrifying complaints as residents tried to fend off Gerald.

"His favorite target seems to be older women, although young children are also at great risk," reads one resident complaint sent to Oakland Animal Services.

"I swear I was getting flashbacks to the velociraptor scenes in 'Jurassic Park' as he was 'cooing' at me, sizing me up," reads another. "And before you laugh at all this, I'm telling you he was relentless!"

"Initially it looked like he was going to have to be euthanized," said Dunn. But that didn't sit right with her, nor the folks that knew Gerald back in his gentler days.

Animal services worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to find a suitable home for Gerald, where he's less likely to be aggressive. Capturing him was also a months-long effort.

The root of the problem, Dunn and Dmytryk suspect, is that he was being fed by humans. That habituated him to human interaction, when typically turkeys instinctually keep their distance from people.

Confused about his role in society (and the animal kingdom), Gerald lashed out and relentlessly attacked Rose Garden visitors.

"If we didn't catch him today, he probably would have been euthanized," Dmytryk said. "And an animal shouldn't have to die because a human screwed up."

Both animal experts implore Bay Area residents not to feed any wild turkeys (or any wild animals, for that matter). Unless you, too, want to have "Jurassic Park" flashbacks.

Neil Gaiman Encourages a Young Fan to Write Coraline Fan-Fic
Neil Gaiman offers words of encouragement for a young fan who's infatuated with Coraline by suggesting she turn to fan fiction.



Gaiman was contacted on Twitter by the parent of a 9-year-old Coraline fan. According to her dad, the young viewer has seen the Coraline film well over 30 times and has a plethora of ideas on a sequel. Gaiman, who has a young child with musician Amanda Palmer, replied, "Tell her about fan fiction-- she should tell her Coraline stories!" The suggestion had a positive reaction, with the dad writing back, "Shes very excited about that indeed."

This interaction comes a few weeks after Gaiman explained why he hasn’t made a Coraline 2 yet. "I'm waiting for a Coraline story that's as good as or better than Coraline," he tweeted.

Gaiman has historically supported the creative writing community. He recently came together with a number of writers’ associations to form the DisneyMustPay Joint Taskforce following reports of Disney not honoring royalties on newly acquired titles.

Coraline was published in 2002, receiving numerous awards. The story follows protagonist Coraline, who discovers a secret door to an alternate universe after she moves to a new house. LAIKA adapted the story to film in 2009, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.



https://www.cbr.com/neil-gaiman-encourages-coraline-fan-fiction/

[prokroustis]

Man plays with 'slimy' creature he found on beach unaware it can kill humans
A man who filmed himself picking up what he thought to be a jellyfish washed up on a beach seemingly had no idea that what he was handling was actually a creature nicknamed the 'floating terror'


He picked up and even appeared to lick the creature

A man had a very lucky escape after he filmed himself handling and even licking a 'slimy' creature he stumbled across on the beach - completely ignorant to the danger it posed.

The clip shows a sea animal washed up on the beach, with a transparent balloon-like float and blue colouring, as well as long strands of tentacles coming off the bottom.

TikTok user Alexa_reed2 says: "Look guys, a jellyfish is still here", while prodding at it with his finger, commenting on how cold and slimy it is before adding: "I'm going to pick it up."

He pinches it between his fingers and says: "This is how it looks like. Yes, it's a jellyfish, look how big it is. And it's still moving, oh my god, I'm going to lick it."

But what he seemingly didn't know was that the creature was actually a Portuguese Man O' War, nicknamed the 'floating terror', which has been known to kill humans.

Although its rare for humans to be killed by the venom the animal uses to paralyse and kill prey, the sting can cause shocking welts on exposed skin, leaving victims in "excruciating pain" for days afterwards.

The post was replied to by Mndiaye_97, who shares informative videos about nature, and warned others not to copy what they had seen, saying: "This is why women live longer than men, s*** like this.

"That is not a jellyfish, it's a Portuguese Man O' War, also known as the bluebottle, also known as the floating terror.


Mndiaye_97 issued a stark warning about the animal

"It's a species of siphonophore armed with millions of explosive stinging cells powerful enough to make Nemo an orphan and occasionally turn a person into past tense.


"This Man O' War is responsible for up to 10,000 stings a year in Australia alone and the venom can cause excruciating pain for up to three days, leaving a nasty, whip-like welt as a souvenir.

"But honestly, you're lucky if that's all you get because the venom can trigger an allergic-like reaction that results in throat-swelling, heart issues and difficulty breathing, as you suffocate, possibly to death.

"And fun fact, not only can they write your obituary days, even tentacles that have been separated from its body contain enough venom to incapacitate you.

"Getting stung by a Man O' War is nowhere near a death sentence. Most of the time if treated quickly, it's very survivable.

"But even though being put in a coffin by one is rare, the agonising pain that comes with it might make you wish it wasn't."

So it's probably best just to stick to the golden rule of not going round licking unidentified sea creatures.

Rare calico lobster rescued by Red Lobster workers in Virginia



A Red Lobster restaurant in Virginia gave a stay of execution to an extremely rare calico lobster that was delivered to the eatery.

The restaurant chain said employees at the location in Manassas spotted the colorful crustacean in a delivery of live lobsters and decided it was too rare of a find to end up on a dinner plate.

The lobster's calico coloring is caused by a rare mutation found in an estimated one in 30 million lobsters, experts said.

Red Lobster nicknamed the lobster "Freckles" and said the invertebrate will live out the rest of its life at the Virginia Living Museum.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/05/07 ... 620413996/

[Zbignieww]

It’s Now Illegal to Order Too Much Food or Share Binge-Eating Videos in China
Chinese people are required by law to order just the right amount of food at restaurants, though what that means is up for interpretation.



China has passed an anti–food waste law that bans diners at restaurants from ordering more than they need, a sweeping and somewhat confusing piece of legislation that could upend the experience of eating out for millions.

The law, which came into effect last week, was part of an anti-food waste campaign that swept across the country last year after Chinese President Xi Jinping called food waste a “distressing” problem that threatened China’s food security. Filming or sharing videos of binge-eating, a type of eating shows known as mukbang, is also prohibited.

China is not facing imminent food shortages. But Xi launched a food-saving campaign in August, saying the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call that the country needed to secure its food supply. The United Nations’ World Food Programme has said supply chain disruptions during the pandemic were pushing tens of millions of people to the brink of starvation.

Local authorities in China have come up with various measures to enforce the president’s order.

Officials were sent to check for food waste at company canteens. Culinary industry groups have promoted so-called “N-1” meals, meaning the number of dishes should be less than the number of guests.

Some restaurants have pledged to offer small-portion options. One restaurant in the central city of Changsha put a scale at the entrance, and gave food recommendations according to customers’ weight.



Censors also took down the once-popular binge-eating videos from short-video sites like Douyin, TikTok’s mainland Chinese version.

About 35 million tons of food goes to waste in China every year, according to Chinese state media. In comparison, at least 66 million tons of food is wasted in the United States per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

According to the new law, restaurants could be fined up to $1,550 for misleading consumers into ordering excessive amounts of food and causing waste.

TV stations and online media companies could be fined up to $16,000 if they were caught making or showing binge-eating videos.

The law also requires banquet organizers and diners to order the right amounts of food when eating out.

It’s not clear how regulators will enforce the rule on individual ordering, and the new law does not stipulate a fine for offenders. It’s a common practice in China for hosts to order more food than needed, especially at business or family gatherings, to demonstrate their wealth and hospitality.

On Tuesday, regulators in the eastern city of Nanjing issued the first warning under the anti-food waste law to a bakery. The shop was found to be throwing away pastries that did not look nice or could not be sold on the same day they were made.

The shop owner later promised to donate the leftovers or turn them into free samples for customers, local newspaper Yangtse Evening News reported.

Some internet users have questioned if the crackdown on food waste is going overboard and infringing on people’s freedom on their most basic form of enjoyment.

The government has also suspended a popular boy group contest this week that asked viewers to buy milk products to support their favorite contestants. Some of the drinks were reportedly poured down the drain.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg88kp/china-bans-food-waste-mukbang

CME Group to Close Most of Its Chicago Trading Pits Permanently



The exchange operator CME Group Inc. CME -0.70% said it would permanently close most of its open-outcry trading pits in Chicago, ending one of the world’s last vestiges of old-fashioned floor trading.

CME said Tuesday that a number of trading pits that it closed temporarily in March 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid-19 wouldn’t be reopened. Many U.S. workplaces are coming back to life as the pandemic eases.

Some of the CME pits being shut down include pits for trading agricultural commodities, where traders had haggled over options on soybeans, wheat, cattle and hogs.

Floor trading for agricultural commodities has existed in Chicago since the mid-19th century and has long been part of the heritage of CME Group, which took its name from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, now one of the company’s subsidiaries. The rise of electronic trading has made floor traders nearly irrelevant in most financial markets, and exchanges have been shutting down trading pits in Chicago and elsewhere during the past two decades.


The only part of CME’s trading floor that will remain open is the Eurodollar options pit, which the exchange operator reopened in August with social-distancing requirements and other measures to protect traders from the coronavirus. Eurodollars are a type of interest-rate contract and represent one of CME’s biggest marketplaces.

CME is also permanently closing its pit for the trading of futures and options on the S&P 500, the exchange operator said.

Traders who worked on CME’s floor before March 2020 might now need to find new work, or switch to trading electronically, if they haven’t already done so.

Ryan Carlson, an independent futures trader who worked on CME’s floor in the 2000s, said he wasn’t surprised that the pits were closing.

“For the people who work down there, it’s sad,” said Mr. Carlson, the creator of tradingpithistory.com, a website that documents the hand signals used by floor traders at various exchanges. “But all the people who worked there knew the hammer was going to come down on them.”

Following CME’s move, only a few outposts of floor trading remain in the U.S. Those include the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor in Manhattan and several options trading floors, including one at CME’s crosstown rival in Chicago, Cboe Global Markets Inc.

Overseas, the London Metal Exchange is considering permanently closing its open-outcry ring, where traders sitting on a red couch swap metals such as copper and lead. Like CME, the LME temporarily closed the ring in March 2020 as a coronavirus precaution. The closure reignited longstanding discussions over whether open-outcry trading was still needed.

In 2016, CME shut down the Manhattan energy trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange, one of its subsidiaries. The next year, CME ended a daily auction on its Chicago trading floor that had helped set the national price of cheese, replacing it with an electronic process.

[goldie0608]

Son makes mom's bucket list journey into a documentary



At her New York premiere, Rebecca Danigelis was pulled in all directions. Everyone wanted a picture with the most unlikely star of the silver screen.

"It was really bizarre because I'm like, 'This is just my mom. We just showed up out of an Uber,'" her son Sian-Pierre Regis said. "She went from hotel housekeeper to household name over the last four or five years."

The journey began in 2016 after she left this voicemail for her son: "I just got fired. Just want you to know that. Call me. Bye."

She had been fired at 75 years old. "I was in shock. I never expected it to happen to me," Danigelis said.

"My biggest worry was like, if she loses her job, what else does she have?" Regis said.

Danigelis tried finding another job. She went to career centers and scoured job listings. But found nothing. "Ain't no reason anybody is going to hire somebody that is 75 years of age," she said.

Which is why her son, a freelance journalist, took a different tack. "She worked her hands to the bone. She deserved to feel joy. And that's what I wanted to give her," he said.

So the mother and son hit the road and started checking items off her bucket list. Milk a cow in Vermont. Done. Take a hip-hop lesson. Check. Learn how to use Instagram. It's still a work in progress.

Regis chronicled their adventure in a new documentary titled, "Duty Free." The film, now showing across the country, is his gift to her.

Although Danigelis couldn't be more grateful, she said it was hardly necessary. She said no one needs to roll out a red carpet for their mom on Mother's Day. They just need to follow the sidewalk to her door.

"The most important thing you can give your moms is time. You want to spend time with her," she said.

[hija]

New walking routes were proposed for London



Its tube network is legendary, its bus routes a triumph of town planning – even its cycle superhighways are winning plaudits. Now campaigners are calling on London to embrace the oldest, most egalitarian form of transport available: walking.

As Londoners went to the polls in mayoral elections, the walking charity Ramblers laid out proposals for six walking routes across the capital, including some that follow the capital’s buried waterways. The proposed network, the body argues, would link up green spaces and provide millions of people with a greater incentive to walk. It wants the next mayor to adopt the plans.

Des Garrahan, of Inner London Ramblers, one of the charity’s regional groups, said: “We’ve all been out walking locally a lot more in the last year. But in learning to value and cherish our parks and green spaces we’ve also discovered that London could really do with some routes that help connect them all together.”