The! Biggest! News! of! the! Day! - Not Ameritrade and E-Trade Merger, or Fed Funds Cut Belief

Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• Speculation that Ameritrade (AMTD) and E-Trade (ETFC) are in merger talks...
• A look into Medtronic (MDT)...
• Expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut the fed funds rate in September...
• A look into the earnings report from Toll Brothers (TOL)...
• Concerns that the "mortgage mess" will hurt auto sales...
• Word that Google (GOOG) will start embedding ads in YouTube videos...
• A challenge to Apple's (APPL) iTunes as RealNetworks (RNWK) and MTV team up...
• A warning of a potential "crisis in confidence" as explained by Todd Harrison...
• A new CEO for Delta Air Lines (DAL)...

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest story is a combination of the two articles below which makes me wonder what some people are thinking:

• China Airlines hides logo on plane wreckage - "China Airlines painted over its logo on the charred remains of a burnt-out plane as investigators Wednesday sifted through the debris to find out why the jet blew up moments after landing"...A spokesperson from the marketing branch of the airline confirmed what television footage showed - "a maintenance crew in green suits whitening out the name China Airlines on the plane's mangled body"...
• Machine breaks man in Japanese game - "A Japanese game maker said Wednesday it would withdraw arm-wrestling machines from arcades after three players -- two of them foreigners -- broke their arms"...a company spokeswoman said "We had done careful simulations on the possibility of injuries before putting it on sale, but unexpected accidents can happen with game machines when people are too excited or fail to follow instructions..."

Maybe it is just me but it seems that painting over the logo is only going to add to the story. After all, I hadn't really taken notice of the event until I saw this...

And com'on, who couldn't foresee that there might be problems that involved having "feats of strength" against a machine? I guess my idea - which involved having people try to tackle a fire hydrant - probably isn't a good one either...