Real Life^TM has caught up with me over the last few months and blogging will still be intermittent, but as the social planners have scented the blood of the capitalist pigs* and are soaping each other up I feel I need to add at least a small voice to the side of liberalism (no qualifier needed) and to help keep that scarlet standard furled for a little longer.

* Now, before you all start crying into your home-grown cornflakes and putting on a Billy Bragg CD to calm yourselves down, I know this is all a sweeping, crash generalization, but as the attacks on anything approaching a libertarian/classical liberal frame of mind have been incredibly clichéd I thought a bit of jocularity wouldn’t go a-miss. After all, you are the ones with the sense of humour, aren’t you? Comrades? Good. Now look loftily unto the horizon and, after me, 1, 2, 3, 4, … Debout, les damnés de la terre, Debout, les forçats de la faim, …

From the FDIC press release:

“For Wachovia customers, today’s action will ensure seamless continuity of service from their bank and full protection for all of their deposits.” said FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair. “There will be no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual.”

And Wachovia’s press release in full (although I haven’t received anything from the bank):

September 29, 2008
Wachovia Announces Bank Subsidiary Divestitures to Citigroup
Wachovia Corporation to become a focused leader in retail brokerage and asset management.
CHARLOTTE, NC—Wachovia today announced intentions to sell its retail bank, corporate and investment bank and wealth management businesses to Citigroup. Wachovia Corporation will remain a public company with two main operating subsidiaries:  Wachovia Securities, the nation’s third largest brokerage firm, and Evergreen Asset Management, a leading provider of asset management services.

“During recent weeks, the financial landscape has changed significantly and presented us with unprecedented challenges,” said Robert K. Steel, CEO and President of Wachovia.  “Today’s announcement is the best alternative for the company, enabling a resolution on the Golden West portfolio.”

Under terms of the transaction, Citigroup will pay $2.1 billion to Wachovia and assume the senior and subordinated debt of Wachovia Corporation.

The transaction is expected to close before year-end. It has been approved by directors of both companies and is subject to shareholder approval of Wachovia and the appropriate regulatory approvals.

Customers of both companies should continue banking as usual, and feel confident that their deposits are secure. Also, employees and vendors should continue to operate business as usual.

At this time, there are no changes to Wachovia’s board of directors and two Wachovia directors will join Citigroup’s board.

Wachovia Corp. will remain headquartered in Charlotte, NC.  Wachovia Securities will continue to be headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Citigroup will headquarter the retail bank in Charlotte and the investment bank in New York.

Wachovia’s investment bankers were Goldman Sachs, Perella Weinberg Partners and Wachovia Securities, and its legal advisors are Sullivan & Cromwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Just in case you were wondering, it wasn’t my fault!  I owe ‘em nowt.

Silly meme: Choose a singer/band/group — answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group.

1. Are you male or female? I’m a Poseur
2. Describe yourself. M.E.
3. What do people feel when they’re around you? Pure
4. How would you describe your previous relationship? I Nearly Married a Human
5. Describe your current relationship. We Take Mystery (To Bed)
6. Where would you want to be now? Down In The Park
7. How do you feel about love? A Prayer For The Unborn
8. What’s your life like? Complex
9. What would you ask for if you only had one wish? One Perfect Lie
10. Say something wise. Listen To My Voice

So either a black President or a female VP - exciting times.

The Gatsby Charitable Foundation (Gatsby) is delighted that the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome) is collaborating with them for the purpose of developing a new Research Centre in Neural Circuits and Behaviour, to be called the Sainsbury–Wellcome (S–W) Centre, and to support individual researchers in the field of Neural Circuits and Behaviour elsewhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Gatsby and Wellcome, advised by an international panel of eminent neuroscientists, have selected University College London (UCL) as the preferred host for the Centre. It is hoped that a final decision and formal agreement with UCL will be reached before the end of the year. Further information about the initiative will be made available in due course.

UCL already has a strong neuroscience department so this will really set out the university and London as being the centre for neuroscience within Europe.  From Nature News:

The institute will reportedly work mainly with model organisms such as mice, fruitflies and nematodes. It will employ newly developed techniques such as optogenetics, which allows researchers to switch genetically modified neurons on and off using light. It is believed that the institute will eventually host some 12–15 research groups at a new £60-million building on Huntley Street in Bloomsbury, near both the Wellcome Trust and UCL’s central campus.

Exciting (if you’re a neuroscientist)

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A quick trip to the site gives us the reason

Yep, Muxtape, a site that was doing no harm to anyone, that linked each song to where you could buy it on Amazon, that had had no complaints from any artists, a site designed to spread the word of unknown music has been taken off the air while they deal with the RIAA.

The say the outage is just temporary and I hope so.  When it comes back up I urge you all to go and make your own mux to spread your own eclectic tastes to the word.