taks

politicians feed off of it. its a win for them when there is public outrage that they can direct at some evil entity other than themselves. how about the politicians, instead? taks

no, it is not. my point is that these credit default swaps wouldn't have existed in the first place, so your first point in regards to my comment is completely moot. most austrians and chicagoans agree (that is where i get my information, keynes did not understand demand so he immediately lost my attention). i don't disagree they misjudged the risk, btw. that is very true. the problem is that they could not have known the risk because the wonderful hand of government rigged the game. well, they could have known "our estimation of risk is based on government backing, if this becomes an issue, we could be doomed." more than likely, they did know, and simply figured we the people would give them a helping hand. no, i'm not underestimating anything. nor is the slippery slope of the domino collapse really provable. i'm certain it would be better in the long-term, which is ultimately what i am concerned with. it will be very painful in the short term, of that i am also certain. but ultimately, unless we the people stand up and say that we are not going to allow the government to continue to artificially prop up our economy, this crap will continue. it won't matter what happens if we end up in a hyper inflationary condition. the banks will get it all in that case (and there is a vast amount of historical precedent for current actions causing just that). as i noted, there are more benefits to the UK version, which was applied to a swedish bank at one point, over what we are actually doing instead. yes, it is a good idea to borrow our way out of debt. what idiot thinks that... oh yeah, krugman, gleithner, reich, rangle... morons. i hope the UK politicians aren't this stupid. they probably are because the average person doesn't even understand the basics, let alone much more complex topics such as these, and politicians are ultimately voted in by the average person. hence they pander. taks PS: based on what i understand, the economy is best described in terms of chaos theory, not random process theory, so any idiot that thinks he's found a way to model risks immediately loses my vote as someone of competence. it has been proven time and time again that stochastic modeling techniques simply don't work. why banks fall for this is beyond my comprehension. well, i think i know. see, chaos can have short term periods of stochastic behavior, even if it is very complex. it would seem, at least to me, without getting too deep into the details, that this david li fellow fell into the trap. apparently he no longer does anything related to finance.

i never pictured you in a white vehicle. i should post a picture of mine... hmmm. taks

i figured the first thing would have been to scratch a hole in your leg where it was itching. then a shower, some more scratching, and ultimately, a very large and thick bandage applied to the new found wound on your leg. that's what i did when i had my arm cast off years ago (when i was 7). taks

hehe, i think you missed the point. taks

no, that one didn't understand sound economic theory, either. what is it with people that think "well, if my guy is so bad, how about your guy?" what happens when both "sides" are wrong? cut off your nose to spite your face. taks

huh, the dead snow movie looks like its zombies can actually move a bit faster than molasses. the ultimate plot hole and zombie move killer for me is that nobody ever seems to be able to outrun something that can only walk. i hate it when the characters in any movie are that stupid. taks

yeah, but the "new fangled" underwear we get ain't so grand. i watched crazy as hell tonight. odd movie. i always love the devil/god themes as there is so much to work with. though i am a devout atheist, religion fascinates me. that said, eric la salle wrote and is one of the stars in this movie (he was the black doctor on ER). it was pretty good. there are plenty of clues to give away the ending, and ultimately the whole concept, that i wasn't really watching for, but if you're paying attention rather than lounging around with nothing else to watch, you'll probably be able to figure out the circumstances. since i didn't see the first hour, it took almost the next half hour just to understand what was going on. an interesting quote in response to "what would you ask the devil if you had a chance to talk to him," the nurse replied "I'd ask him why he spends his time punishing those that he's supposed to adore to make a point to a God that he's supposed to despise?" i have a very good answer to this question... taks

hehe, welcome to my world... well, the headaches and insomnia part. i agree, sometimes a good stiff drink does wonders. unfortunately, it does aggravate insomnia in the long run. i had a beer hangover today, which sucks. it doesn't take much beer to make me feel like crap the next day. i normally drink bacardi/coke, no lime, which doesn't do me nearly as wrong. i agree with walsh, don't give it up just because of an idiot. just make sure you aren't that idiot some day in the future. taks

[marketing ploy] oh, btw, smart people don't do pools in most of CO, particularly the high elevation areas in and around the mountains. this is, of course, null and void if you can afford a heated, or indoor, pool. you can only really use a pool in late june, july and august. we still get snow into may, and it still gets down near freezing into june overnight. snow starts up again as early as september, which likewise means colder weather. don't get me wrong, we don't get much snow in COS - our climate is very mild overall. we are an alpine desert with under 16 inches of precipitation per year (up to 6 feet of snow, unless you live near the palmer divide, which doubles the amount). denver gets lots more snow and rain, and it is also hotter in the summer. [/marketing ploy] taks

be my guest. COS is consistently rated one of the best cities to live in (in the US). besides the stunning mountain view i get every morning driving to work, it's just plain cool to be here. obviously living close to the mountain costs more, as does living north in the forested areas, but only the land. $250k gets you a beautiful 2.5 acre lot in black forest surrounded by millionaires. yeah, well, after the pad, the patio, 2-car driveway, sidewalk, and 4 foot rock bed around the house*, i have very little room left for a yard, and half of it is on a slope and basically unusable. of course, i suppose this much land would cost a fortune in heavily populated areas and europe. oof. our house (growing up) was just under 1800 sq. ft., and we were on about 0.25 acre lot. 10000 sq. ft. or so. mom still lives there with her dog, murphy. it's probably worth around $250k in north st. louis county (missouri). i want a dog. one of my teammates brought in her new black lab puppy (it's going to be a helper dog eventually) last night and i was almost in tears. my son needs a yard we can play soccer in. something big enough to set up goal posts. heck, if i move to the 2.5 acre lots as i intend, we can play baseball! ^enoch: that is why i turned down an offer, in 2002, to work for a company that was based somewhere along the road to quantico. can't remember the highway, nor the company name. i came out here for $10k less per year. i think i made out like a bandit in the long run (particularly since i got to get a phd from one of my heroes as an undergrad). when i was with DRS, our home office was in gaithersburg, so i was in DC rather often for various reasons. i'd be dead from stress by now. taks

today is a friend's birthday. that would suck. i told him he is getting old. taks

about $600k will get nearly 5000 sq. ft. finished here, from a high-end builder no less (about $450k for the house plus lot). of course, i no longer have massive amounts of equity in my current home, since it has lost at least 10%, so i'm not in any hurry to move (which is actually good compared to some areas - aspen has suffered a 50% hit, for example). 3000 sq. ft. home is going to set you back anywhere from $250k to $350k depending upon the builder, lot location, and lot size in colorado springs. i should mention, the only reason i am considering moving, besides the discount you can get on a new home, is that i have no yard. 6500 sq. ft. just ain't enough when you have a 6-year old child (well, he'll be 6 in just over 2 weeks). eventually we will move out to the sticks and a 2.5 acre lot. right next to schriever AFB, the base that runs the GPS system (among other things). taks

the phone cops are pretty scary, too. taks

it's been on on of the showtime channels lately, as i recall. not having plot holes seems intriguing, since so many slasher flicks are one big plot hole with stuff lined around the periphery. maybe i'll give it a watch. taks

yeah... maybe my health will deteriorate to the point that i won't have to live through that bankruptcy. i've been sick for most of the past 2 months, why not? taks

owning is sooo much better if you are responsible enough. in COS, rent for something i would like, at least, something suitably sized for my family that fits our lifestyle would be considerably more expensive than our house payment, and we're paying more than we need to. in fact, my rent in 2002 was actually less than my required house payment is now and the apartment was 1000 sq. ft., while the house is 3300 sq. ft. (barely a yard). property taxes in COS are quite low compared to most places, too. now if i could figure a way out of the 4% state income tax... grrr. taks

when and where? i'll get hell kitty involved for some stabbing, too. i actually had a job offer from the IRS when i first graduated in 1990. yes, they hire engineers. who better to audit large technical firms. i declined, obviously. yes, but what about the dude that converted his home into a male bathhouse complete with "special" services? taks

owning a home only helps if your interest is high enough to add significantly to your itemized deductions. we paid off so much principal the first 5 years (at 3.875%) that our deductions got to the point it was almost more equitable to take the standard deduction. in tax terms that means we don't own enough mortgage. last year it jumped to 6.5%, but that wasn't enough to offset the principal reduction (and corresponding drop in actual interest paid). we're back down to 4.5% for this year, so taxes next year are going to suck a whole out of my wallet. even our HELOC is low again. i almost have to buy a new house and be bankrupted by my mortgage just to keep from being bankrupted by the IRS. sigh... taks

the dead one it starred fez, from that 70s show. it sort of sucked. the IMDB reviews are pretty abysmal for a reason. fez was interesting without the high-pitched voice, and his female interest was very hawt. other than that, the movie did not have many redeeming qualities. i don't agree with those calling it a crow rip-off (the crow 6: fez of the dead). that's an insult to all the stupid crow sequels. the only similarity is that fez' character was brought back from the dead, though a full year after it occurred. he wasn't out for revenge, ala the crow movies. the first 90% of the movie could have been told in just under 10 minutes, IMO. sloooow and painful. then, in a bizarre "twist" (from a direction that made no sense, to another that made even less sense with some past life connection), all is revealed. then it twists again and ends even more confusingly. i guess you have to read the comics (el muerto i guess). some of the narration, or back voices, or whatever, that explained motivations were difficult to understand due to the poor quality sound mixing. also, IMO, motives shouldn't be so blind that characters should have to explain their motives and actions either directly or through narration. that makes me angry. taks

28 weeks later is sort of what you get with several generations of inbreeding: an utter lack of intelligence in the human population. taks

that's a soapbox? man... taks

of course, the exception is that the top graduates at the top schools are going to get the best jobs out of the gate, but it means nothing long-term, i.e., after 15 years not many people care where you went to school. taks

i got into several well known engineering schools, too, but opted for UMR due to financial reasons as well. doing well in any school is more important than simply attending a top-notch school (the university i attended ain't no slouch, neither, but we were none too big on grammar apparently). taks