Jumbo

Jumbo squids invaded Orange County late last month. The 10-limbed creatures, weighing up to 60 pounds, swarmed the waters near Newport Beach, and anglers delighted at the prospect of calamari steaks. Bruce Robison, senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, talked about the life of squids and why we shouldn't be afraid of these marine cephalopods. Why did this invasion happen in Orange County? There has been a large-scale invasion of the entire California coast that started in 2002.

It was almost midnight when someone spotted the banana. Word on the boat spread quickly. Guys in the back corner were snacking on a bunch, people said, but it was unclear whether they had thrown the bad-luck fruit overboard. No matter - the damage had already been done. The Western Pride, a no-nonsense, 76-foot Ditmar Donaldson, was headed back to port without having hooked a single squid. The 75 or so anglers onboard had expected waters teeming with Humboldt squid, which are known for their mysterious sudden invasions of California coastal waters.

At first we had jumbo shrimp and military intelligence. Is our newest oxymoron now Supreme Court justice? LARRY WEISENBERG Santa Monica

If you're an NFL lineman or a basketball player, Samsung has got the phone for you. The South Korean company's Galaxy Note II is a massive tablet/smartphone hybrid with a whopping 5.5-inch screen. Samsung bills the phone as having the best of both worlds, and with its massive display, you really do have more to see than other smartphones on the market. That makes it a solid choice if you're looking for something that you can use for reading books and magazines or playing video games.

A Delta Air Lines L-1011 jumbo jet hit turbulence Friday and those people not wearing seat belts "were flying through the air," a passenger said. Twenty-five were taken to hospitals, including one person with broken ribs. "The kids were screaming and the food was flying and the people were flying," said Brenda Chevalier of Seattle, who was treated for a sprained back at South Fulton Hospital.

It is not yet time for a supersonic jumbo jet ("NASA, Boeing Abandon Supersonic Jetliner Project," Feb. 6). Research and development without commercial application in the foreseeable future is not what Boeing should be doing. NASA needs to continue the development of the space plane for low-cost delivery of cargo to orbit. When that technology is functional and costs are known, an informed decision can be made about how to build high-speed, long-range, high-capacity commercial passenger aircraft.

The new aircraft isn't a bad idea in and of itself [Airbus to Gauge Demand for Super-Jumbo Jetliner," Dec. 9]. The problem is the titanic endeavor of Airbus and the Europeans' egos to do it themselves. It would be better for the Europeans to enter into a partnership with one of the big U.S. aerospace firms, to share the costs, risks and benefits. This consortium would do better with multiple partners. California has a huge population of highly skilled aerospace workers. The super-jumbo jet in part could be assembled in our state, benefiting from professional aerospace engineers and assemblers here.

Although I intend to recover losses I have incurred from the closure of Lincoln Savings, I must point out that in my experience, American Continental debentures were never represented as being federally insured. Granted, whenever I came into a Lincoln branch I would practically fall over the huge ads for these debentures, and they were heavily advertised in all the bank statements I received. But I saw nothing that said customers would be buying a CD. In fact, when I called the bank and inquired, I was told plainly what the offering was. The Lincoln story sounds to me like a hard sell with a little deception, a little greed and a lot of confusion.

The confident smile Sam Rivero wore as he hunted for his first house had a lot to do with the buzz thumping in his ears. Ever since home values began sinking, pundits have touted the juicy opportunities for aspiring buyers priced out of the market before, and the young business-development executive heard that cue like a sonic boom.

Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65-million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. He secured a $1.32-million mortgage from Northern Trust in Illinois. The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625% on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at a time when such loans in Chicago averaged as much as 6%.

Whether your New Year's festivities include planning a big cocktail party or hosting a simple dinner, odds are you'll want something to feed your guests over the hours as they count down to 2012. Here are 25 easy-to-make little dishes to choose from - they're not recipes really, but ideas you can adapt to make your own. No matter whether you're planning fancy hors d'oeuvres or are looking for some simple nibbles to keep the natives from getting restless as the clock winds down, we should have you covered.Many can be prepared hours - even a day or two - in advance.

Do you have a big mortgage and good credit scores but not much equity — maybe you're even underwater? Do you see little chance that your home's market value will improve a lot during the coming three to seven years? If you answered yes to both questions — and thousands of homeowners across the country could do so — new research suggests that you are in a category that lenders need to worry about most: prime jumbo borrowers who once were thought to be among the safest bets, but who now are the most likely to opt for a strategic default and walk away from their homes.

Picture a mortgage program that seems to defy many of the lessons of the housing bust: • 91% of its borrowers make zero down payments. • Loan amounts go well into the jumbo range — to $1 million and sometimes above, even with little or nothing down. • Credit standards are flexible and generous. Underwriting rules encourage loan officers to look for ways to approve applications rather than to reject them. • Mortgage originations are up — almost triple what they were just three years ago and on track this year to exceed 2010's volume.

How big a deal is the upcoming cutback in mortgage limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration? Will buyers and sellers who depend on jumbo-sized loans find themselves in a financing squeeze after Oct. 1, when the limits plunge in key markets around the country? Housing and realty lobbies are pushing hard on Capitol Hill for a continuation of the $729,750 high-cost area maximum, but one industry is delighted by the prospect and is gearing up to fill the gap. From small community banks to megabanks, the message is the same: Bring on the switch to lower limits.

Barring another terrorist attack or recession that disrupts air travel, Los Angeles International Airport — long ranked among the nation's worst aviation hubs — is on a path that could restore its reputation as the West Coast's dominant international gateway. Modernization projects now underway mark the first major expansion of passenger facilities since the Tom Bradley International Terminal was built for the Summer Olympics 27 years ago. Since then, LAX has steadily fallen behind the modernization efforts of other big-city airports.

It's not easy to get a mental picture of the world's largest building. But tour guides at Boeing Co.'s aircraft assembly plant in Everett do their best by using some mind-blowing imagery. At 98 acres, its footprint is as big as 75 football fields - which makes it larger than Disneyland. But there are no whirling teacups here. The massive hangar, which rises 11 stories, is where Boeing builds its wide-body jets, including the new 787 Dreamliner. Airlines are expected to begin taking delivery of the new planes later this year.

Cable companies love to offer combo deals on telephone, Internet and a slew of TV channels you'll never watch. Product bundling also is standard in industries as varied as fast food, cars and software. It's the same with banks, most of which won't sell you a simple checking account except in a fixed-price package with add-ons such as debit cards, mobile apps, online bill payment or savings accounts. Now, in an effort to distinguish itself from the pack, Union Bank is offering customers an a la carte menu - the banking equivalent of breaking up the value meal and promoting burgers, fries and drinks separately.

Southern California experienced continued strong growth in home prices and sales last month as buyers shifted toward ritzier abodes in coastal markets. The median price in the six-county Southland rose nearly 21% from February 2012, real estate information provider DataQuick said Wednesday. A total of 15,945 homes and condos sold in February - the highest volume for the month in six years. The percentage of absentee buyers, those buying investment or vacation properties, hit a record high of 31.4%.

Last month, a team of researchers hunting extrasolar planets — those that reside around stars other than our sun — discovered a solar system with at least five and possibly seven planets. This is a remarkable discovery, bringing the number of known exoplanets to nearly 500. One of the planets sits smack in the middle of the star's "Goldilocks zone" — the area around the star where the porridge — er, water — might be just right for life.

It was supposed to be a cheap and easy way to steal sales from Airbus' hulking A380 double-decker jet. Boeing Co. would update its decades-old 747 jumbo for the large freighter market with cutting-edge technology borrowed from the 787 Dreamliner: powerful, new fuel-efficient engines. But five years later, Boeing is struggling to resolve design and technical issues with the 747-8 program that are partially a byproduct of the Dreamliner's production woes. Like the 787, the jumbo jet is late, badly over budget and is almost certainly headed for another costly delay, analysts said.