October 11, 2015

Bits Bucket for October 11, 2015

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120 Comments »

Comment by Jingle Male
2015-10-11 02:41:58

Heading out to watch the Blue Angels air show for Fleet Week in San Francisco. Wonder how much it cost Uncle Sam to keep us entertained?

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 04:29:43

Stick with the data Jingle_Fraud.

Rocklin, CA Housing Prices Sink 4% YoY As Housing Bust Resumes

http://www.zillow.com/rocklin-ca/home-values/

 
Comment by Goon
2015-10-11 04:32:54

$600,000,000,000+ a year. My favorite is the A-10:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II

 
Comment by taxpayers
2015-10-11 04:41:37

F18 are cheap vs. F35

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 05:11:48

The Blue Angels are PR for the Navy. I’m sure the Armed Forces spend far more on TV ads.

 
Comment by AmazingRuss
2015-10-11 07:32:17

Hope Uncle Sam got a cut of the Geico skywriter revenue.

 
Comment by scdave
2015-10-11 07:54:02

Blue Angels air show for Fleet Week in San Francisco ??

Cool…Been to it many times…Just one of the burdens we have to deal with in this crime ridden hell hole we call the bay area…Going with your daughter ??

Comment by Jingle Male
2015-10-11 20:25:36

Yes. It was awesome.

 
 
Comment by inchbyinch
2015-10-11 08:03:20

The Blue Angeles were at the Point Mugu airshow recently as well. The govt wastes so much $, at least we’re enjoying something. The Camarillo airshow (last month)had a WWII veteran pavilion, that was just wonderful. Met some of the few true heroes still breathing.

 
Comment by rms
2015-10-11 10:06:37

Used to enjoy the air shows at Moffett Field in the south bay because NASA Ames would wheel out their latest toyz.

 
 
Comment by Goon
2015-10-11 04:43:23

Article for the neocons:

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-stabs-2-israelis-jerusalem-shot-dead-medics-082719844.html

The United States Congress is controlled by a constituency that believes the Earth is 6,000 years old. These people are racists, they think that Jewish people are God’s pets, and they think that Palestineans are subhuman.

Some of their religious practices include full immersion baptism, anointment in oils, handling snakes, speaking in tongues while rolling around on the floor of the church in convulsions. Incest is an accepted, albeit unspoken, alternative lifestyle for them.

The Drudge Report website links to many sources that promote this, among them World Net Daily and the Washington Times. Those links are often reposted here, so when you see them, understand where they came from, and why they are here.

And now back to your regularly scheduled real journalists.

 
Comment by taxpayers
2015-10-11 04:45:55

Twitter lay off makes silly con valley oil patch part deux

Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 05:17:49

Only if the venture capitalists and “angel investors” slam their wallets shut.

What I learned talking to my Silly Valley colleagues is that it’s much harder to get a job with a startup than with an established company. Why? Because people hope to make a killing off the start up stock options, so start ups are extra picky about who they hire. At any bigger and more established company all you’ll get is a paycheck.

Comment by inchbyinch
2015-10-11 08:35:07

Colorado
My husband worked for a firm bought by Intel and the stock options were the reason he put up with an enormous amount of stress. His salary was great, but the options were the real payoff. He doesn’t miss Intel, but does miss the collaboration of an R&D team. He now works on projects in his “cave” when it interests him. His eyes can’t deal with the stress of a FT position.

Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 09:35:21

Did the options have the potential to make millions, or was it much less? I also have been awarded a few options where I work, but I don’t expect to make much more than 100K off them, and that’s only with a strong bull market.

I suspect that your husband was an “indispensable” at his firm, and Intel didn’t want him to leave after the acquisition. But the truth is few worker bees are awarded a non trivial amount of stock options in Corporate America.

Anywho, the guys and gals I spoke with all want to work for a start up, so that they can be millionaires before they’re 30.

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Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2015-10-11 10:02:40

It’s a casino and only few hit the jackpot. Most hop around for the next big dirty. I am glad I got mine.

 
Comment by inchbyinch
2015-10-11 21:49:41

Colorado
Hubby didn’t make even a million, but it was almost $1M before taxes. The dark side was we blew through the mortgage write off income level and had to pay a shit load of taxes that year. He enjoyed the travel in the beginning, and Intel had fabulous benefits. Some of the R&D team started tech firms and got rich.

He likes start ups and has been invited to work in the new fashion district area of downtown L A by a new start up. He is going to do some R&D PT. Being over 65, he’s a dinosaur in Engineering, so he’s happy anyone was interested in him.

When we met, his first project for me was a Heath Kit light photocell project. Some chicks get flowers, I learned to solder.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-12 12:54:20

A million dollars later you’ve got MT Pockets.

 
 
Comment by inchbyinch
2015-10-12 00:41:58

Colorado
The stock options were in the 100’s of 1,000’s net after taxes.(been a while) Didn’t make us rich, but it sure helped when the eyeball shtf.

Hubby told me tonight, he wants to work for a boutique start up PT for the hell of it. That’s how he usually gets jobs he likes. He knows some dreamers he hits it off with. 65+ he’s a dinosaur EE, but his name on patents still pulls a little weight. No much, but some.

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Comment by dwkunkel
2015-10-11 11:29:21

I was recently part of a successful startup.

Most of the people hired were there because they were well known to the founders. A startup has no time or money for anyone that can’t really produce.

Working at a startup is a truly rewarding experience if you’re lucky enough to be part of a good one.

 
 
Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 07:17:07

Tech bubble 2.0 has popped. It was based on fraud, as usual. There is no money there from all the “eyeballs”. It’s entirely stone soup pets.com. Remember Myspace?

Comment by scdave
2015-10-11 07:59:32

It’s entirely stone soup pets.com. ??

Google is a sham….

Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-10-11 08:45:17

Out of curiosity, why do you single out Google? In my opinion, they are a company with remarkable revenue ($17.7 billion, as of the last quarterly release)—in other words, significant real dollars coming in.

If any Bay-area companies are shams, it is far more likely to be the ones that are NOT generating real revenue, but instead burning through VC and IPO dollars… My $.02.

Full disclaimer: I hold Google shares.

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Comment by drumminj
2015-10-11 08:52:53

In my opinion, they are a company with remarkable revenue

I agree. There are tech companies that have real healthy businesses that are making money and will continue to make money. Then there are those (generally “sharing economy” startups, IMO) that seem to simply be able to get funding and burn through it.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 19:55:30

Google is a debt funded outfit.

 
Comment by Jingle Male
2015-10-11 20:43:01

HA. Cash = $400 billion. Debt = $8 billion.

Go away.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-12 04:24:57

Not including debt for stock buyback.

And we’re not going anywhere Jingle_Fraud

 
 
Comment by scdave
2015-10-11 08:53:40

I was being sarcastic responding to TT’s post;

“Tech bubble 2.0 has popped. It was based on fraud, as usual. There is no money there from all the “eyeballs”. It’s entirely stone soup pets.com. Remember Myspace”

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Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-10-11 10:12:05

Ah, sorry, dave—I totally missed the sarcasm tag. :-)

 
 
Comment by Shrimpsaladsandwich
2015-10-11 08:55:41

South Carolina Dave is heavily invested in the Bay Area stone soup

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Comment by scdave
2015-10-11 09:19:14

South Carolina Dave ??

LOL….

 
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-10-11 10:13:05

I always thought it stood for Santa Cruz Dave…

 
Comment by ibbots
2015-10-11 10:25:31

Oh geez people, it is Santa Clara….

Recently someone posted about having a mental image of various posters. On other boards I go to , there are occasionally threads where posters post up pics of themselves. Aside from the occasional stalker, it is always interesting. I picture HA as a cartoon character IRL.

 
Comment by Shrimpsaladsandwich
2015-10-11 11:14:58

It’s obviously Santa Clara. That’s why I said South Carolina.

Santa ain’t gonna bring no presents to the tech scam startup kiddies.

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 11:30:20

Falling prices my friends. Falling prices. Why?

Remember…. Houses are depreciating assets that never put a dollar in your wallet.

 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-10-11 09:33:03

Say what you will about google, those eyeballs paid for a LOT of google trucks to bring the street level view of anywhere in the us and most places in the world. You could even play pac-man on those streets.

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Comment by MightyMike
2015-10-11 10:42:30

Tech bubble 2.0 has popped. It was based on fraud, as usual. There is no money there from all the “eyeballs”.

Many years ago I saw something in The Economist that said that spending on advertising in the US was 2.5% of GDP. That’s a lot of money. What was also interesting is that the number was 1.25% in the UK and 1% in Germany. So we just waste at least 1% of our national income trying to convince each other to buy things that we don’t need.

 
 
 
Comment by oxide
2015-10-11 05:52:46

OK so it’s another Sunday, which means football, which means another barrage of ads for several dozen entertainment platforms, all of which promise to bring you “all your favorite shows.” Evidently, there are millions of people who need the capability to record 3-4 favorite shows which air simultaneously, need sufficient memory so they don’t have to delete a favorite show in order to record another one, need to take the favorite shows on their phablets to watch anywhere, and need to “binge watch” their favorite shows at some point in the future.

My q is: does anyone know anybody who actually does all this? Is this what they are all doing in their hi-rise apartments at night — in between working out and arranging tinder dates? Are these the same folks who complain they can’t afford to pay their college loans?

Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 06:16:17

Evidently, there are millions of people who need the capability to record 3-4 favorite shows which air simultaneously

I can’t even think of 3-4 shows I’d want to record, much less watch.

does anyone know anybody who actually does all this?

Oh yes. I know more than a few households where the TV is blaring 24/7 and they have the full satellite/cable package with the DVR.

Is this what they are all doing in their hi-rise apartments at night — in between working out and arranging tinder dates? Are these the same folks who complain they can’t afford to pay their college loans?

Not that demographic. From what I’ve seen, it’s mostly younger families who have the 70″ TV on 24/7. Older geezers like me find it boring so we just stick to Netflix or Hulu, and have an antenna to watch Saint Peyton Manning throw interceptions. And the young pups are too busy being iPhone zombies to watch cable TV.

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 07:00:59

Cutting the cable is the first step to reclaiming a life worth living.

Comment by inchbyinch
2015-10-11 08:18:34

“Cutting the cable is the first step to reclaiming a life worth living.” R K Hessel

Absolutely. Haven’t had cable since *1996, and never looked back. I guess we’re early adopters, cutting the trash on cable,TV in general, and radio as well.

*The developer of our PUD, owned the cable co to our master planned community. What a racket.

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Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2015-10-11 09:02:44

Never paid for cable television intentionally—but it was included in the rent in an apartment that I shared back in college. That’s almost 25yrs ago now, though.

Though I did just sign up for fiber-to-the-house (CenturyLink), and sadly the internet/tv bundle was cheaper than the internet alone (during the promotional period), so I won’t be able to say that much longer. :-( But I sure hope the wife doesn’t get the idea that it is here to stay!

 
 
Comment by Ol'Bubba
2015-10-11 09:46:02

I dropped Cable TV about a year ago and now go with the over the air antenna. I’m able to get most of the major networks.

I did notice that I don’t get major league baseball over the air, and that’s fine with me.

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Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 07:20:26

The young pups are cutting the cable also.

The people with the full package cable and DVRs are the well established fat of the land types whose kids are in their late teens or older.

Look at their waistlines.

Comment by MightyMike
2015-10-11 10:49:34

Supposedly the young pups are watching stuff over the internet, in other words a different cable.

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Comment by scdave
2015-10-11 08:05:16

I can’t even think of 3-4 shows I’d want to record, much less watch ??

+1….

 
Comment by MightyMike
2015-10-11 10:50:51

Not that demographic. From what I’ve seen, it’s mostly younger families who have the 70″ TV on 24/7.

I’ve known some retired couples who have a lot of free time and have the TV on all day.

 
Comment by CalifoH20
2015-10-11 11:56:00

Breaking Bad
Sons of Anarchy
Walking Dead
House of Cards

 
 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2015-10-11 06:51:26

I think radio personalities such as Mark Thompson in L.A. on 103 must record shows. They keep talking about football, movies, tv shows. They either sleep 2 hours a night or they work only four hours a day. That is my only explanation. I don’t know anyone I have worked with the last fifteen years into regular fitness or who has kids even, who ever watches a complete game or even sitcom.

Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 07:22:55

At least half of the people I know, all of whom have regular jobs and kids, work out pretty regularly and also participate in serial binge watching, usually a show a night after kids asleep.

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 09:39:11

I don’t know anyone I have worked with the last fifteen years into regular fitness or who has kids even, who ever watches a complete game or even sitcom.

Agreed, they don’t watch it, but the TV is blaring and they loyally send their $100 to Comcast or DirectTV every month

Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 09:42:33

Anecdote: I was once at a party and the gigantic, state of the art, expensive TV was blaring, while no one watched it. I suggested to the host that he turn it off. The way he glared at me you would have thought I had asked him if I could bang his wife.

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Comment by Anonymous
2015-10-11 16:53:02

LOL, I’ve had that experience before. People seem baffled or even frightened by the prospect of not having the noisemaker blaring at all times.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Jingle Male
2015-10-11 20:47:56

I cut the cord about 2 years ago. No cable. HD digital broadcast is free. Have a Simple.tv DVR. All free. Saves about $1200/year. I have high speed internet for $60/Mon.

 
 
Comment by Senior Housing Analyst
2015-10-11 06:22:18

33,420 nearby properties found Washington, DC Real Estate and Homes for Sale

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Washington_DC?ml=4

13,379 nearby properties found Washington, DC Price Reduced Homes for Sale

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Washington_DC/show-price-reduced?ml=4

A full 40% of all sellers in Wash.DC reduced their price at least once.

Comment by azdude
2015-10-11 06:52:27

Do u have any idea how many people r still squatting in homes they haven’t made a payment on in years?

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 07:34:37

Easily in the millions.

 
Comment by inchbyinch
2015-10-11 08:26:47

azdude
Great question. Ca passed a Homeowners Bill Of Rights effective Jan 1 2013, but I’ve read conflicting articles as to if it has really helped homemoaners live free in their homes longer. Anyone know?

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 08:30:37

MT Pockets,

That’s the point of foreclosure moratoriums.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 06:33:01

More and more iceberg warnings, while the Keynesian lunatics at the helm of the Titanic party on.

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/10/09/last-time-this-ratio-reached-that-level-stocks-crashed/

Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 07:24:53

We are at a point now where, if a crash happens, people would be totally shocked. They’ve entirely forgotten what happened just a couple of years ago. And those who remember, remember everything being bailed out.

Comment by AmazingRuss
2015-10-11 07:33:49

They will be again. When the crash comes, I’m going all in.

Comment by rms
2015-10-11 10:37:29

“When the crash comes, I’m going all in.”

So you don’t think the fed will let desirable Mamma June or the virile American negro male starve in the streets Ayn Rand style?

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 07:35:07

95% of the electorate voted for pro-bailout Wall Street water carriers in 2008, i.e. Obama and McCain, when the greed and recklessness of the banksters should have been allowed to result in the miscreants going bust. So those same voters, who gave their explicit sanction to crony capitalism and fraud, have no right to be “shocked” when bad behavior is rewarded and the banksters go right back to the same fraud and criminality that led to the 2008 financial meltdown.

Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 07:58:05

The majority of the public wants bailouts and QE Infinity and more government dollars in their pockets and to their employers and to their schools and local union bosses for “infrastructure” and for jobs. Government will solve it all. A chicken in every pot.

Enjoy those toilet papers lines comrades.

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Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 09:26:21

Enjoy those toilet papers lines comrades.

As far as the USD remains the world’s reserve currency (and so far there is no replacement in sight) that won’t happen and we’ll be able to kick the can.

 
 
Comment by scdave
2015-10-11 08:10:47

95% of the electorate voted for pro-bailout Wall Street water carriers in 2008 ??

Ah Bush was President in September 2008 as I recall…

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Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 12:13:54

Yep, it happened right in the thick of the 2008 campaign season AND IT WAS NOT EVEN AN ISSUE WITH EITHER PARTY!!!!!!!!!

I recall its nonissue status being discussed at the time on this blog.

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 17:56:08

Bush was a supreme Wall Street water carrier, and his Goldman Sachs-appointed economic team conveyed over to Bush Lite, aka Mr. Hope ‘n Change.

 
 
 
 
Comment by WPA
2015-10-11 08:55:51

Keynesian lunatics

… and once again Hessel repeats his lie that QE=Keynesianism. He knows QE is not Keysenian, but he repeats the lie anyway. Nothing wrong with debating opinions but you don’t get to make up your own facts.

Comment by The Order Of The Golden Chainsaw
2015-10-11 10:58:12

But they both work in same way. They just expand and expand but never contract.

 
Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 12:18:07

From Merriam-Webster.com:

Definition of KEYNESIANISM

: the economic theories and programs ascribed to John M. Keynes and his followers; specifically : the advocacy of monetary and fiscal programs by government to increase employment and spending

Pumping huge amounts of liquidity into the economy seems like part of it

Comment by WPA
2015-10-11 12:47:49

Not one of M-W’s better definitions. Keynes did not hold monetarism in high regard; he was a fiscal policy advocate. And what many people miss is that he believed that government budgets should be reduced and shrink during periods of economic expansions, that fiscal stimulus and deficit spending should be temporary measures during recessions.

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Comment by MightyMike
2015-10-11 10:55:51

More and more iceberg warnings, while the Keynesian lunatics at the helm of the Titanic party on.

They might be better described as Chicken Little warnings - regular warnings of disasters that never materialize.

Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 12:20:51

The DebtDisaster simply gets larger. It’s fun to watch you ignore the elephant in the room though.

 
 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 06:36:56

Glowing claims of success aside, I wonder if the Russian airstrikes are having the desired effect.

https://www.rt.com/news/318284-russia-syria-isi-airstrike/

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 06:42:05

The Fed is getting ready to take its War on Savers to the next level with NIRP.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-officials-seem-ready-to-deploy-negative-rates-in-next-crisis-2015-10-10

Comment by azdude
2015-10-11 07:37:53

why keep your money in the bank? I dont get it.

Comment by drumminj
2015-10-11 08:49:54

why keep your money in the bank?

Where else would you keep your cash? Would you keep $100k at home? Put it in short-term treasuries instead? Gold? Bitcoin?

Comment by azdude
2015-10-11 10:04:03

I would rather keep it in my possession somewhere.

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Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2015-10-11 12:02:07

Paper wallet for bitcoin
Paper wallet for Litecoin
Paper wallet for Dogecoin,
In the form of gold (behind the oatmeal)
In cash under the mattress

guarded by lead, with a security alarm tied to my smartphone and the Sheriff. And several eyes watching my windows from neighbor apartment buildings.

BTW I like the apartment complex that has separate buildings with few units per building. less chance of someone ten units away starting a fire from burning down my place.

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Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 06:45:39
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
Comment by palmetto
2015-10-11 07:46:24

From an interview with Danny Boyle, about a scene from the movie “Millions”.

http://movies.about.com/od/millions/a/millions030105_3.htm

“This is a weird question, but in “Millions” the police come and warn the community about the fact they will probably be burglarized during the holidays. Is that realistic?

(Laughing) Yes. It’s silly but there’s an element of truth in it. Britain is plagued by burglaries at the moment. Everybody is paranoid about it. It’s kind of making fun about it, how it’s inevitable you’re going to get burgled.

And it is if you live in a city. It’s inevitable you’ll get burgled. In fact, I live on my own and while I’m here in America, I’m pretty convinced I’ll be burgled by the time I get back.”

Interviewer: The scene plays a little strangely to American audiences. The police here don’t usually come around and tell us to prepare to get burglarized.

It’s maybe very idiosyncratically British, a guy coming around saying that. That gets a big laugh in Britain. People really recognize that copper with that kind of fatalistic approach to crime.”

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 07:52:20

The British sheeple let themselves be disarmed, therefore burglars and other criminals have no fear of getting shot and no qualms about breaking into occupied dwellings. The coppers there are singularly useless when it comes to deterring or punishing crimes, hence, the “fatalistic approach” to crime, like the fatalistic approach ‘Muricans have to letting the banksters rip them off.

 
Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 08:00:40

Burglars in America are usually heroin addicts needing something to a sell or a fix.

Enjoy that in your home?

 
Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 09:18:06

One thing I noticed in the UK: everyone’s house, even in the most podunky, sleepy towns, has a burglar alarm.

When the topic of American gun violence came up, I mentioned to the Brits that there is a silver lining: burglars know you might be armed, and thus home invasion type burglaries are not as common in the USA.

I also told them about Colorado’s “Make my day” law. Needless to say, that you can legally shoot a home intruder, even if you don’t see a gun on him, left them rather wide eyed. They couldn’t believe it. They asked if I’ve ever fired a gun (yes, I have). That also left them wide eyed.

On the other hand, none of them knew of anyone, not even a friend of a friend of a friend, who had been shot in the UK. When I told them that my BIL who lives in Tampa was shot once (he survived), the eyes would go wide again.

Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2015-10-11 12:22:04

“Make my day” = castle doctrine in Arizona.

My own preference is to live in a relatively safe zip code. Second to that is my burglar alarm which is wired to an alarm company and also I know whenever the door is opened or closed even by maintenance who have my passcode. Third level is my firearms, tucked away where I would know for awhile if someone is inside (and cops too) before they get to my firearms. And I have the serial numbers in separate areas.

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Comment by In Colorado
2015-10-11 09:21:31

People really recognize that copper with that kind of fatalistic approach to crime

I think Brits are rather fatalistic about everything. The attitude shows up in their comedy.

 
 
 
Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 07:27:38

I wonder, if WPA will discover the “Easter egg”?

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 07:36:09

Are you ready for HillaryJeb?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/16629031224/

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 07:40:28

How much longer can unaffordable, unsustainable housing prices last?

http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/94673/how-much-longer-can-our-unaffordable-housing-prices-last

Markets discover price via supply and demand: Big demand + limited supply = rising prices. Abundant supply + sagging demand = declining prices.
Eventually, prices rise to a level that is unaffordable to the majority of potential buyers, with demand coming only from the wealthy. That’s the story of housing in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and other desirable locales that are currently magnets for global capital.

In the normal cycle of supply and demand, new more affordable housing would be built, and prices would decline.

But that isn’t happening in hot real estate markets in the U.S. What’s happening is rental housing is being built to profit from rising rents and luxury housing is being built to meet the demand from wealthy overseas buyers.

With limited land in desirable urban zones and high development fees, it’s not possible to build affordable housing unless the government subsidizes the costs.

Meanwhile, the supply of existing homes for sale is limited by the owners’ recognition that they won’t be able to replace their own home as prices soar; it makes financial sense to stay put rather than sell and try to move up.

Some homeowners are cashing in their high-priced homes and retiring to cheaper regions. But this supply is being overwhelmed by a flood of offshore cash seeking real estate in the U.S.

 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 08:05:28

How much longer can Chinese embezzlers and money launderers prop up west coast real estate?

http://nypost.com/2014/07/26/why-10b-of-chinas-money-is-laundered-every-month/

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 08:58:32

I think the next $2 million climate change grant should go to some blind squirrels, cause at least they find an acorn every once in a while.

In light of the extreme flooding in South Carolina which led many, including state Gov. Nikki Haley, to invoke the “1,000-year” flood terminology. It’s a real shame that this wasn’t one of the many predictions of the well paid climate science community.

It would have been so much easier than Chris Turney, a professor of climate change at Australia’s University of New South Wales than getting stuck in his own experiment.

“We’re stuck in our own experiment,” the Australasian Antarctic Expedition said in a statement. We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by trapping ice. We … are now ourselves trapped by ice surrounding our ship.

Although living in SE Florida I am grateful for the umbrella of the failed Global Warming hurricane predictions.

“Warming seas cause stronger hurricanes“, Nature, 2006 — “Mega-storms are set to increase as the climate hots up.”
“Are Category 6 Hurricanes Coming Soon?“, Scientific American, 2011 — “Tropical cyclones like Irene are predicted to be more powerful this year, thanks to natural conditions”
“Global warming is ‘causing more hurricanes’“, The Independent, 2012.
“A Katrina hurricane will strike every two years“, ScienceNordic, 2013 — About a widely reported study in PNAS by geophysicist Aslak Grinsted of the Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen U. Also see “‘Katrina-Like’ Hurricanes to Occur More Frequently Due to Warming” in US News & World Reports.
“Hurricanes Likely to Get Stronger & More Frequent“, Climate Central, 2013 – About a study in PNAS by Kerry Emanuel et al.

Those people up in Boston shoveling 8 foot snow drifts and saving parking spots with furniture are sure disappointed.

For well over a decade now, climate alarmists have been claiming that snow would soon become a thing of the past. In March 2000, for example, “senior research scientist” David Viner, working at the time for the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, told the U.K. Independent that within “a few years,” snowfall would become “a very rare and exciting event” in Britain. “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he was quoted as claiming in the article, headlined “Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past.”

One NASA scientist had a quote about older people in Boston telling stories of walking through knee high snow on their way to school that their children and grandchildren would never see. I posted it here last winter but for some reason I can’t find that NASA article now.

One Useful Loon here gleefully posted some prediction that Florida would be underwater within a year, that was about a year ago.

Meanwhile back at the ranch Al Gore buys an ocean view house and Obama’s buddy buys the oceanfront Magnum PI house in Hawaii.

Yup, I think it’s about time to fund some blind squirrels.

Comment by Oddfellow
2015-10-11 09:20:53

Talkin’ bout hey now, hey now,
RICO RICO one day

What Exxon knew about
the Earth’s melting Arctic
By SARA JERVING, KATIE JENNINGS, MASAKO MELISSA HIRSCH AND SUSANNE RUST
OCT. 9, 2015

Back in 1990, as the debate over climate change was heating up, a dissident shareholder petitioned the board of Exxon, one of the world’s largest oil companies, imploring it to develop a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its production plants and facilities.

The board’s response: Exxon had studied the science of global warming and concluded it was too murky to warrant action. The company’s “examination of the issue supports the conclusions that the facts today and the projection of future effects are very unclear.”

Yet in the far northern regions of Canada’s Arctic frontier, researchers and engineers at Exxon and Imperial Oil were quietly incorporating climate change projections into the company’s planning and closely studying how to adapt the company’s Arctic operations to a warming planet.

The gulf between Exxon’s internal and external approach to climate change from the 1980s through the early 2000s was evident in a review of hundreds of internal documents, decades of peer-reviewed published material and dozens of interviews conducted by Columbia University’s Energy & Environmental Reporting Project and the Los Angeles Times.

“We considered climate change in a number of operational and planning issues,” said Brian Flannery, who was Exxon’s in-house climate science advisor from 1980 to 2011. In a recent interview, he described the company’s internal effort to study the effects of global warming as a competitive necessity: “If you don’t do it, and your competitors do, you’re at a loss.”

http://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-arctic/

 
Comment by WPA
2015-10-11 09:21:57

There have been more powerful hurricanes lately — all in the Pacific, very few in the Atlantic.

Of course, the sudden disappearance of Atlantic hurricanes is yet another data point demonstrating that the climate is changing before our very eyes, but you’ll never admit that.

Rapid polar ice melting, Greenland melting, permafrost disappearing, coral bleaching, record global temperatures in 2015, one thousand year floods and droughts happening every year since 2010… no, the climate isn’t changing. Deniers gotta keep denying…

Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 10:03:54

I bet when oddie and WP are in the pool there is warmer water and pool level rise.

Give me a couple of million $ and I’ll do a study and you won’t even have to send icebreakers and helicopters to get me out of my own experiment.

Comment by Oddfellow
2015-10-11 10:16:48

“Greenhouse gases are rising “due to the burning of fossil fuels,” [Exxon scientist] Croasdale told an audience of engineers at a conference in 1991. “Nobody disputes this fact,” he said, nor did anyone doubt those levels would double by the middle of the 21st century.”

(Comments wont nest below this level)
Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 12:00:54

1991?

Wasn’t that when 97% of scientists agreed that Man made Global Cooling was the problem?

Oddie gives yet another lecture on why the Global Warming or um Climate Change predictions by the well paid researchers continue to fail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04 - 283k -

 
Comment by Oddfellow
2015-10-11 12:52:35

Apparently the Exxon scientists were well aware of global warming in 1991, and were making plans to deal with it, all while still telling the simpletons that global warming wasn’t happening.

And they’ve still got you fooled all these years later.

 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 18:09:40

By Sara Jerving, Katie Jennings, Masako Melissa Hirsch and Susanne Rust -

Do they live in Dumbo or Madison? :)

 
 
 
 
Comment by Anonymous
2015-10-11 17:13:02

Did the computer models predict the current Western drought?

Would be nice if they could confidently tell us when it will end, so we know if we really need to build desalination plants or take other major steps.

The Aussies would have liked to have known that their drought was about to end, before they spent AU$1.8 billion on a desal plant in Adelaide.

 
 
Comment by WPA
2015-10-11 09:15:27

Only idiots, misguided sheep, Fox drones and the unaware vote Republican. Trump, Bush, Rubio, Carson, etc. all continue to buy in to the proven FAILURE called voodoo trickle down economics.

While Raymond K. Hessel bleats about bank bailouts, that is chump change compared to the massive fraud called “tax cuts for the wealthy.” Reaganomics, Bushonomics and Trumponomics are the crime of the century, where tax bills of the wealthy are paid for with enlarged federal deficits.

“Last week, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released his plan for changing the tax code. Trump wants big across the board tax cuts, with the largest tax cuts going to the wealthy. He claimed that his tax cut won’t lead to a loss of revenue since it would lead to a huge spurt of economic growth. His number was 6.0 percent annual growth over the next decade, topping Jeb Bush’s 4.0 percent growth rate by two full percentage points.

Many of the reports on the plan commented on the growth assumption and pointed out that few, if any, economists took it seriously. As a practical matter, we have seen this story before. Ronald Reagan put in place a large tax cut in the 1980s and George W. Bush did the same in the last decade. You have to try very hard to find a positive growth effect from either. Certainly no one could make the case with a straight face that these sorts of tax cut proposals could even get us to Bush’s 4.0 percent number, much less Trump’s 6.0 percent.”

Trump, Bush, Rubio, Carson, etc. are all mouthpieces of the wealthy oligarchy who want more tax cuts funded by deficit spending, which means you and I end up paying their tax bills when the public debt is financed.

Comment by Anonymous
2015-10-11 17:16:16

“Trump, Bush, Rubio, Carson, etc. are all mouthpieces of the wealthy oligarchy who want more tax cuts funded by deficit spending…” That is it in a nutshell.

Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 18:10:56

Solyndra

 
Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 19:07:48

At least WPA comes out entirely as a Democrat hack!

 
 
Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 18:00:50

I would tax the rich and tax the hell out of the super-rich, aka the Oligarchs. And have a higher corporate tax structure for companies that park billions overseas in tax havens or that offshore US jobs.

 
 
Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 09:31:25

Lewiston, Maine?

Why not Dumbo in Brooklyn N.Y. or Madison Wisconsin?

Oh, never mind.

BALTIMORE, Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — “FULL MEASURE with Sharyl Attkisson” is built on the premise of the best qualities of investigative journalism, seeking to expose the truth of issues that affect our lives, through a fearless and determined effort.

Ms. Attkisson will delve deep into the problems associated with asylum seekers already on American shores and how the Somali immigrants are overtaxing the resources of small town Lewiston, Maine. In addition, Correspondent Scott Thuman reports from Britain and France on the critical issues of the new diaspora and the security threat already alarming the continent.

http://www.prnewswire.com/…tes-and-through-streaming-at-wwwfullmeasurenews-300152850.html - 254k -

Comment by TBoom
2015-10-11 12:47:14

Comment by phony scandals
2015-10-11 09:31:25

“FULL MEASURE with Sharyl Attkisson” Debuts Sunday, Nationwide on Sinclair Affiliates and Through Streaming at http://www.fullmeasure.news
prnewswire.com/news-releases/full-measure-with-sharyl-attkisson-debuts-sunday-nationwide-on-sinclair-affiliates-and-through-streaming-at-wwwfullmeasurenews-300152850.html

 
 
Comment by Professor Bear
2015-10-11 10:12:42

Your Money
Reopening the Bank of Mom and Dad, to Help Adult Children

OCT. 9, 2015
Virginia Illiano is helping her daughter financially, but that has forced her to dip into her own retirement funds.
Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Retiring
By CONSTANCE GUSTKE

Cutting the financial cord with adult children can be hard to do.

Just ask Virginia Illiano, a substitute teacher who lives in Brooklyn. After her daughter graduated from an expensive private college, Ms. Illiano thought her days of paying big bills for her daughter were over.

She was wrong. Her daughter, who is in her 20s, was not able to find a good-paying job and ended up moving in with her mother. That was just the beginning. Ms. Illiano co-signed for a leased car, repaid some of her daughter’s credit card debt and even paid for her nails, vacations and some clothes.

“My teacher benefits are awesome, but she won’t have any of that,” said Ms. Illiano, 55, who is divorced. And that’s just fine with Ms. Illiano.

“I told my daughter to go for her dream,” she said, explaining that she wanted her “to have her financial legs.”

Ms. Illiano’s financial leg up for her daughter, however, has a downside. She is dipping into her own retirement funds, which means she is now looking at a couple of difficult choices: working longer or selling her home, which is already being used as collateral for her daughter’s student loan.

Comment by rms
2015-10-11 10:56:10

“…and even paid for her nails, vacations and some clothes.”

Yep… absolute necessities. :)

 
Comment by The Selfish Hoarder
2015-10-11 11:17:45

So Mrs. Illiano is dipping into her teacher benefits to pay for her unemployed daughter. Last time I checked, retirement funds usually have matching contributions, which is a benefit. My parents did this with my oldest sister who had three kids. Spent a lot of money on them. After my mom died, my dad continued spending money on them, though my sister was in her 40s. After he died, there was no more economic outpatient care for that sister. So she finally got a job. Now her own adult kids are unemployed living with her while she supports them.

Uncle Bill hides his financial independence, partly because of relatives who do not want to work.

Comment by TerribleThings
2015-10-11 14:38:39

Do not want to work? Everyone wants to work. Don’t you know? There just aren’t any jobs. No one can get a job. I

 
 
 
Comment by frankie
2015-10-11 13:20:54

Bankrupt 50 Cent drops asking price of his massive Connecticut mansion to $8.5million in the latest attempt to sell property he has been trying to unload since 2007

50 Cent, whose real name Curtis Jackson III, first listed it for $18.5million
But the price has been dropped several times in subsequent efforts to sell
Jackson bought 21-bedroom pad for $4.1million from Mike Tyson in 2003
He then spent more than $6million renovating the mansion and grounds
The 40-year-old filed for bankruptcy in July after he was ordered to pay $7million to a woman who said he posted her sex tape online
His lawyers said Jackson would try to sell the mansion again to raise funds

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3268634/Bankrupt-50-Cent-drops-asking-price-massive-Connecticut-mansion-8-5million-latest-attempt-sell-property-trying-unload-2007.html

 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 14:05:03

massive.mortgage.debt.

Comment by azdude
2015-10-11 14:43:44

u folks need to sacrifice your interest on your savings to keep the national debt serviceable!

Comment by Raymond K Hessel
2015-10-11 18:02:24

Wait until Yellen the Felon institutes NIPR. Even then the sheeple will go on with their grazing.

 
 
 
Comment by Mafia Blocks
2015-10-11 18:26:11

SanFrancisco 69′ers getting kkkkkkkkkrrrrrrrushed by NY Giants. :mrgreen:

 
Comment by "Auntie Fed, why won't you love ME?"
 
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