Sad news — a good customer lost

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Mary Unwin in her Aston-Martin

From England, a story about a minor celebrity pawn customer. Mary Unwin was featured on a British TV show about luxury pawnshops.

Following her divorce, she wanted to buy an Aston-Martin but was about 5,000 pounds (say nearly $10,000) short, so she pawned a diamond ring to get it.

She told the interviewer, “Since when do ladies want to wait for anything.”

Sadly, it looks as if her impatience may have cost her her life.

Since that show, according to the Mail Online, she had remarried her original husband and over the weekend bought a sailboat. (She paid by check, no word whether she had to resort to her pawnbroker.)

Jerry Hobkirk, who owns Falmouth Yacht Brokers, said he had warned the couple against trying to sail the vessel without proper training.

He said: ‘They came in and bought the boat, which was moored up in Falmouth marina.

‘Mrs Unwin seemed totally determined to take the yacht as quickly as possible.

‘She told us she had a ‘navy ticket’, which didn’t mean anything to us but which she said was some sort of qualification.

‘We urged them to go and get some proper sailing qualifications at a local yacht school and assumed she would do so over the next few months.

‘But the next thing we heard she had taken the yacht and set off.’

But it appears that the sailboat wrecked, and Mary Unwin, who couldn’t wait, is missing at sea.

 

 

 

Let Rick and the gang do it

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A columnist at the Washington Times gives10 reasons why Rick and the rest of the Pawn Stars should moderate the political debate.

Reason Number 6: The “old man” would let the participants know they are boring by nodding off.

Pawn reality TV coming to Britain

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The Pawn Stars franchise has announced it will televise a British version. The original, Nevada-based Pawn Stars is already big in Britain.

Apparently, television viewers just cannot get enough of us fascinating pawnbrokers — or is it the customers who keep them tuning in? In any event,

“We’re excited that Leftfield Pictures will be producing this new, original version of History’s most successful global brand,” Christian Murphy, senior VP of international programming and marketing for A&E Networks, said in a statement, reports WorldScreen. “This commission establishes a new model whereby History channels around the world will own this phenomenal franchise extension.”

It’s always nice to be a part of history.

 

 

And the winnah . . . is dead

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Yum!And wait till you hear what he won.

According to WESH.com in Florida:

Broward County authorities say the winner of a roach eating contest died shortly after eating dozens of roaches and worms.

He won a python. But he never got to enjoy it.

We are not making this up: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49335646/

 

 

A gold rush in Ghana

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A miner from a 19th century gold rush

According to Bloomberg News, Chinese miners have http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-08/ghana-s-gold-sparks-conflict-with-illegal-chinese-miners.html rushed to Ghana. Just as with American 49ers in California, the environmental results are not pretty.

Ghana is Africa’s second-largest gold producer. It was the original “Gold Coast” that Europeans ventured to 500 years ago, looking for the source of the gold dust that showed up in Morocco and Algeria after being carried across the Sahara on camels.

And as in California 160 years ago, the rush is violent:

In July, Chinese men mining near the village of Manso-Nsiana fired warning shots when residents protested their presence, Koffi said. He couldn’t confirm a report published in Accra’s state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper in July that two Chinese nationals have been killed this year in a mining dispute.

A bad recipe for our reefs

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The Maui News http://mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/565706/Task-force-s-plan-in-place-to-save–mend-coral-reefs.html?nav=10reports that after a lot of work, a local group in alliance with NOAA has come up with a summary of what is causing decline of West Maui’s reefs.

Unfortunately, diligence is no substitute for knowledge, and the West Maui Watershed and Coastal Management task force blew it. While some of their conclusions are valid, the big, expensive one is baloney. The Maui News says:

The county’s Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility role involves pouring 3.5 million to 5 million gallons a day of nutrient-rich treated water underground using injection wells, Hood said. These nutrients have been blamed, at least in part, for killing coral and feeding algae blooms that strangle it.

The truth is, the treated wastewater is not rich in nutrients. It is very low in nutrients. If it weren’t for the yuuck factor and the slight possibility of disease organisms, you could drink the stuff. Hundreds of millions of people drink water a lot worse that what goes down the injection wells.

For years now, and notwithstanding the EPA spent a million dollars back in the early ’90s trying to convict the wells and failed, a band of environmental zealots have been running a campaign against the effluent. If they had merely visited the Central Laboratory and observed the testing of the effluent (done daily), they’d know better. It’s not too late. The lab operates every day of the year.coral reef

There’s a lot of bogus “information” out there about the oceans. The same Sunday The Maui News helped publicize the wrongheaded West Maui report, the Los Angeles Times ran a http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-acidic-oceans-20121007,0,7494056.storystory about the dangers of an acid ocean:

Rising acidity doesn’t just imperil the West Coast’s $110-million oyster industry. It ultimately will threaten other marine animals, the seafood industry and even the health of humans who eat affected shellfish, scientists say.

Not worry though. The ocean is not turning acid, if you go swimming, your suit won’t dissolve. The ocean has been alkaline for billions of years and it will continue to be alkaline until the sun expands and burns us to a crisp.

The ocean is about as alkaline as a glass of Alka-Seltzer.

Reality TV fight

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According to gossip site TMZ, Wayne Jefferies, one-time manager of the Pawn Stars crew is suing them. The split came earlier this year:

But according to the suit, things fell apart earlier this year  . . . when network honchos became upset over a story Jefferies claims he leaked to TMZ. The story detailed how the “Pawn Stars” cast was blindsided when they learned A&E had commissioned a “Cajun Pawn Stars” spinoff.

First we’ve heard about Cajun Pawn Stars. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to watch hot pawn action around the clock.

Wonk alert! A hot issue in the pawn world

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All pawnshops are regulated by the states, and some municipalities add additional regulations. The national government is not involved.

But there’s a move to create a national pawn structure. It would be similar to the situation with commercial banks, which can seek either a state or a federal charter. (The majority of banks have state charters, including the big ones in Hawaii.)

The National Pawnbrokers Association is against http://act.nationalpawnbrokers.org/7851/federal-charter-hr-6139/ national regulation, but there is a minority of the membership that disagrees:

The National Pawnbrokers Association opposes any legislation that grants authority to the federal government to charter, regulate, supervise and examine non-depositary providers of credit services and products to consumers. These responsibilities have traditionally been managed by the states. The NPA has been monitoring, H.R. 6139, which authorizes the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to grant “federal charters” to non-depository providers of financial services who meet fairly exclusive requirements.   

This may not seem to be much of an issue for customers, but it can be.

Think of it like you do credit cards. Your credit card issuer is almost certainly domiciled in South Dakota, which has VERY credit card issuer-friendly laws. S.D.’s laws are not so friendly to credit card holders, though.

 

 

 

More pawn reality TV

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According to Zap2it, truTV is about to introduce yet another pawn shop reality show, Hard Core Pawn: Chicago:

Hardcore Pawn: ChicagoHardcore Pawn: Chicago – New series premieres Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 9:30 p.m. (ET/PT)
Hardcore Pawn: Chicago takes viewers behind the scenes at “the baddest pawn shop in Chicago.” One of the city’s largest and oldest establishments in the pawn and gold-buying business, Royal Pawn Shop is owned by Randy and Wayne Cohen, two brothers who don’t always see eye to eye, except when it comes to finding the best deals for the business. These over-the-top siblings will wheel and deal with just about anyone, from a sweet kindergarten teacher to an intimidating mob boss. Hardcore Pawn: Chicago comes to truTV from Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment. 

 

The original Hard Core Pawn is in Detroit, and is reported to be one of truTV’s biggest hits. Well, more power to ’em. I cannot see a “Hard Core Pawn: Maui” in anybody’s future, though.

That other reality TV pawn shop

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Crowds flock to Las Vegas pawn shop

Pawn Stars shop flooded with customers and celebrity hunters

Right. While we’re working on turning Kamaaina Loan into a reality TV show, that other shop in Las Vegas is livin’ the life.

Now, it is http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/sep/26/buy-items-featured-pawn-stars-online/reported, they are selling the stuff you’ve seen them buy on the show online.

Not sure why this is news; most pawnshops, ours included, have an online department.

Still, you might prefer to buy on line than to visit. We’re told that up to 4,000 Lookie Lous pass through the pawn shop a day, thanks to the popularity of Pawn Stars. The business has had to hire guards to separate the celebrity-seekers from the real customers. One stream to the left, one to the right.

Laughing all the way to the bank, we’re sure.