Free Republic

Continuing hard times at Harley-Davidson came to something of a head Thursday with the announcement that the company was killing its Buell line of sport bikes almost immediately and actively looking for a buyer for its MV Agusta brand. Harley, which is based in Milwaukee, also disclosed continuing losses at its finance unit and a decline in sales of its heavyweight Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Overall, Harley’s net income for the third quarter plunged by 84 percent from last year, which was also a down year for the company. The Buell brand, based in East Troy, Wis., will shut down later this...

Our rant about those $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables found its way to the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), and Randi offered $1 million to anyone who can prove those cables are any better than ordinary (and also overpriced) Monster Cables. Pointing out the absurd review by audiophile Dave Clark, who called the cables "danceable," Randi called it "hilarious and preposterous." He added that if the cables could do what their makers claimed, "they would be paranormal." We see that the Pear Cable company is advertising a pair of 12-foot "Anjou" audio cables for $7,250; that's $302 a foot! And,...

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The weekday and Saturday newsstand price of The (Baltimore) Sun will go up to 75 cents from 50 cents starting Monday, the newspaper said Friday. "This is our first price increase in 12 years," said Tim Thomas, vice president for marketing for The Sun. "We've maintained that price for a long time." Thomas said there will be no price increase for the Sunday Sun, which is $1.66, and no increase to the home delivery price. On Mondays through Fridays, The Sun sells an average of 37,000 papers at newsstands, he said, meaning the price increase affects...

Seattle's median home price in January was the lowest it has been in a year, according to statistics released Wednesday. The median price of $379,990 was down from $420,000 in December, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. A seasonal decline is consistent with recent years, but Seattle's January median home price also was lower than King County's median -- a first since at least 2001. King County's median home price in January was up 8 percent from a year earlier, while the median for all 19 counties in the Northwest MLS was up 10.6 percent. "That's odd," Bob Melvey,...

The house in the link above was listed at least once at $143,000. Then, 10 days later, it was listed for $130,000 here: Click here for 1st relist. Again, it was listed here on September 14: Click here for 2nd relist. The listing claims that they've reduced it 18,000 -- so perhaps it had been listed for even more earlier. That's a pretty good drop in price.

PALMDALE - In a giant hangar at Air Force Plant 42 where strategic nuclear bombers were built to win the Cold War, computer giant Microsoft has staked its future in the gaming industry, an $8 billion global market. An Internet underground marketing campaign brought 3,000 dedicated players from around the world to the Antelope Valley for Microsoft's North American launch of its newest game system. "It's basically a 30-hour party. There's never been anything like this," said Ricardo Torres, a senior editor at GameSpot.com, an online entertainment forum. In the virtual reality world of computer gaming, the giant from Seattle...