patrick.net

I do not have an MBA but grew my business in LA year after year by double. I hired several Harvard MBAs. Super nice people but they wanted super high pay and were of little benefit. Great at writing papers, poor at motivating other employees.

MBA = More Bad Advice

As someone who has an MBA, I'd take a person with 10+ years of market specific experience over a $150,000 MBA grad any day and twice on Sunday.

Yeah, "luxury apartments" which means overpriced housing with vinyl plank flooring is the norm from what I've seen recently in Panama City Beach, Florida.

I call in MBA-ology. In other words, the most useless of all academic accolades. I mean sure, you may find a PhD Physicist or JD Attorney, not be able to manage but at least they know something about the physical sciences or legal issues in question.

keeprubbersidedown says

wanted super high pay

I live in Boston & the word about HBS is that their grads don't underbid each other for pay. This is why many simply opt for a McKinsey or Goldman Sachs career track because those starting salaries are guaranteed, meritorious or not. So if you find 'em outside of the big management consulting or financial services houses then they're not among the insiders league but regular HBS grads looking for a paycheck to measure up to their more well-endowed (no penis pun intended) classmates.

DooDahMan says

A few watts of power are necessary for lighting at night. The device used in the research generated 50 milliwatts per square meter, meaning just over 215 square feet of solar cell area would be required for nighttime lighting.

That's 10 watts. You could light a single light bulb with that or charge a couple of phones. That's a lot of surface area to run a light bulb.

DooDahMan says

richwicks says

That's a lot of surface area to run a light bulb.

Reading the papers from Stanford and U.C. Davis this is still in the infancy stage. Kind of suspect this will get attention worldwide and a mad scramble will be on - there are $$ to be made here.

I was really interested in Peltier junctions at one point and Stirling Engines. The amount of energy you can get from minor temperature differentials is low, even with 100% efficiency.

But then again, there's madness in hype. Even if you know something isn't feasible doesn't mean you can't cash in on it.

DooDahMan says

“The solar cell is a pretty good thermal emitter, meaning it likes to emit heat a bit at night,”

So is a plain old roof. Why not just put these thermo-electric modules on any surface that re-radiates heat at night? Even bricks radiate heat at night.

It's all fun and games until someone wraps you in copper mesh and tells you that you're the "hot side" of a TEG...

richwicks says

DooDahMan says

A few watts of power are necessary for lighting at night. The device used in the research generated 50 milliwatts per square meter, meaning just over 215 square feet of solar cell area would be required for nighttime lighting.

That's 10 watts. You could light a single light bulb with that or charge a couple of phones. That's a lot of surface area to run a light bulb.

in other words a battery array works better

richwicks says

DooDahMan says

richwicks says

That's a lot of surface area to run a light bulb.

But then again, there's madness in hype. Even if you know something isn't feasible doesn't mean you can't cash in on it.

I’ve been watching “The Dropout” on Hulu with the wife. Elizabeth Holmes basically took an idea for a blood test machine and talked a bunch of scientists and engineers into working for her company to design and produce it. She monetized the company with investment after investment while hyping the product that hadn’t even been created yet! This went on for like ten years and escalated so far that she was “worth” 4 billion dollars because she scared up so very much investment in her company. But it was all a fraud and the device was never created, only hyped. And eventually the scheme came crashing down when a whistleblower sounded fraud. She lost it all and went to jail.

5 days late, mate.

She's not in jail yet. Sentencing isn't until September 26.

Sure, the fraud was reported and investigated years ago, but for some people the justice system just seems to work for themShaman says

richwicks says

DooDahMan says

richwicks says

That's a lot of surface area to run a light bulb.

But then again, there's madness in hype. Even if you know something isn't feasible doesn't mean you can't cash in on it.

I’ve been watching “The Dropout” on Hulu with the wife. Elizabeth Holmes basically took an idea for a blood test machine and talked a bunch of scientists and engineers into working for her company to design and produce it. She monetized the company with investment after investment while hyping the product that hadn’t even been created yet! This went on for like ten years and escalated so far that she was “worth” 4 billion dollars because she scared up so very much investment in her company. But it was all a fraud and th...

She's not in jail yet. Sentencing isn't until September 26.

Sure, the fraud was reported and investigated years ago, but for some people the justice system just seems to work for them. She was finally convicted in January, but you know sentencing in September. I think that will get postponed, as well. I'm sure she has coin hidden from the government that she can use for bribes. Probably everything postponed until after her appeals (in a few more years).

Do you really think anything except maybe a wrist slap is going to happen to her?

DooDahMan says

A Dallas neighborhood that's being demolished for high-rise condos shows how the housing crisis is changing the face of American cities

I've been renting my entire life, and never once have I had a crises in housing.

Long game here is government housing for all, you'll own nothing and be fucking delirious!

DooDahMan says

possession of a machine gun

"Machine gun?" As in a fully automatic weapon? Tommy gun? AK-47? M-4?

DooDahMan says

Middle East oil that now goes to China will have to be redirected to Europe, again spending more time on the water.

Huh? That guy needs to see the map pronto.

Speaking of Credit Suisse, Putins invasion covers banking scandal. Always take care of their own.
Can hardly stop listening to his sons piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTa4QHXAviU&source=patrick.net

Exactly, Biden and Democrats are promoting demand side economics only. Think about him postponing student loan payments. That is like dropping cash from a helicopter onto the masses of freeloader Democrat voters.

Reagan was right as far as focusing on supply side economics. We are being destroyed cause we don't value production and supply. All we want to do is drop cash from a helicopter.

AD

I remember a concrete lighthouse in Baja California Sur Mexico, in Guerrero Negro.

It had a concrete spiral staircase which was crumbling.

Evidently concrete is porous and salt air gets to the rebar, which rusts and expands, degrading the concrete.

I once knew a woman who sold a concrete sealer to towns (parking structures) and builders, it’s a big market in Florida.

clambo says

Evidently concrete is porous and salt air gets to the rebar, which rusts and expands, degrading the concrete.

Yep that is why you want to properly seal it and make sure it is coated. This may mean re coating it every 7 to 10 years.

richwicks says

But then again, there's madness in hype. Even if you know something isn't feasible doesn't mean you can't cash in on it.

So true. To this day, people still buy those hydrogen conversion kits for automobiles which promise them "free energy" and "increased MPG". They do work, but the amount of hydrogen produced is so miniscule ... I'm not even sure it's enough to boost your speed idle by 50 rpm.

The new 40 year mortgages will make housing "affordable" again.

Who cares? It's like Allen Iverson's practice press conference. "We're talking about spreadsheets? I mean really, spreadsheets...."

I love humidity. I've been saying for a while that Mississippi is underrated, unless you really actually don't like black people. 5 hours from the Gulf from anywhere in the state. Tornados are a bitch for sure. If you're inland 50 miles hurricanes really shouldn't be a factor. Mostly warm (and humid) year round. But you can get cheap as fuck property. Maybe something 30-50 miles or so outside of Jackson. Rural. But still have a decent sized airport if you like travel.

Georgia is the blueprint for it. Only difference is easier access to the Atlantic versus Mississippi. MS just needs better economic development. From Tennessee to the Gulf the MS river is kind of a ghost town. I've never understood why the river cruise business has not gotten bigger here. From MN down to MS, the Mississippi river valley is beautiful. I guess people are just that averse to humidity.

DooDahMan says

WookieMan says

Who cares?

Going to be some outward ripples here and more than a handful of hopeful people will experience some real financial pain.

Eh... you take gambles in life. I've said you can make money in crypto, but it's not a logical gamble in my mind. I'd rather play roulette before messing with crypto.

In essence, BlockFi would become or is a bank? If so, I'd think this could be a winning investment...invest in BlockFi stock?

Go back to around 2012 when most home prices were stabilizing after the housing crash of 2007-2008.

The market price should be about 4% to 5% annual appreciation from the 2012 price levels.

"The Californians are coming. We're going to need a bigger can of RAID!"

Instead of selling life insurance policies to older people with bad vision, making me their beneficiaries on the policies they don't read and killing them, I think I'll start torturing crypto holders for their passwords. It seems a lot more profitable and quick.

Homes in Virginia are surprisingly reasonably priced. And yes, it is all relative. Plus, slavery is still legal in a few counties.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1824H-Springhill-Rd-Staunton-VA-24401/2065555327_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/698-Suncrest-Ct-Rockingham-VA-22801/222306824_zpid/?source=patrick.net

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3045-Morewood-Ln-Charlottesville-VA-22901/79016965_zpid/

Florida is ending the 10-15 year cycle "Peak Phase". Probably accelerated by Yankees fleeing COVID rules, Weak Law Enforcement, taxes (as usual), and Wokeness.

5 years ago I brought a studio and got my Mother into a 1Bed/1Bath. Both were in the mid $70k range including some flooring and paint upgrading.

Today, my studio is $125k, and the 1 Bedroom is $159,000.

The studio rent (Space Coast) is $1600/month from $1200 last year (I lowered to $1500 so it would be snapped up fast, 9 showings last week which is unheard of going into Summer). Efficiency Bungalows for rent in my neighborhood in somebody's backyard are getting $1500+ also, so my price is market or better. The 1 Bedroom (Broward) is also $1600 for comparables.

In a couple of years, when rising rates and the inevitable crash happens (30% of new Floridians leave the state within 2 years), properties like these will probably decline 20-30% easy in price, and maybe $100 in rent if at all. That's when I'm a buyer.

One reason Florida has a big Yankee Leave Rate is that neither Trades nor Government Employees get within 20% of their IL/NY/NJ pay. If you make $30/hr as a carpenter or $80k as a teacher in NY, expect $22/hr and $65k in Florida. Part of the reason DeSantis is offering a $5k bonus is that Florida cops make 20-30% less than NY/NJ cops. While home prices used to be much cheaper, the recent COVID onslaught has caused a bubble making the wage differential less do-able.

There are a ton of 3-bed/2.5 bath homes, built in the 80s and 90s, going for $300k than were around $150k 2-3 years ago. Everybody knows they're ridiculously overpriced and will crash.

Meanwhile, spit out your window and hit the neighbor's wall Zero Lot homes - "Palmetto Springs: Luxury Living starting in the $400s" types are being built all over Central Florida. $500k in South Florida, way the hell out West far from work. Wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

Buy condos near the water when the market collapses in Florida. The Prices may swing, but the rents go up over the years.

EDIT: This $300k one will be ~$200k in 3 years, I'd bet. It was in the Upper $100k just a few years ago.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3799-S-Banana-River-Blvd-APT-112-Cocoa-Beach-FL-32931/54607786_zpid/?

I think house prices in Florida will drop when the boomers die off in 25 years.

AmericanKulak says

One reason Florida has a big Yankee Leave Rate is that neither Trades nor Government Employees get within 20% of their IL/NY/NJ pay.

Yup. That's one of the things that people don't realize about Florida, the pay scale is so much lower over there, and I've had many former colleagues turn down jobs even in Miami because they could get way more money in California or even Texas.

I'm not aware that people are leaving Florida, it seems to be the contrary.

Hircus says

They do work, but the amount of hydrogen produced is so miniscule ... I'm not even sure it's enough to boost your speed idle by 50 rpm.

It's an even tougher sell with today's highly efficient and tuned engines. That said, I really wished I could have tried it out with an old diesel Benz that I drove at one point.

This is from 2017, though still interesting. (Bear in mind Florida picked up a congressional seat as well in 2020).
Two States, A Third of Counties Have More Deaths Than Births
Florida had the highest percentage of its population age 65 and over in 2015 (19.4 percent), followed by Maine (18.8 percent) and West Virginia (18.2 percent). One county, Sumter County, Florida, has a majority of its population (54.8 percent) age 65 and over.
...
The locations of the counties with the greatest natural decrease shifts when only larger counties (those with populations greater than 100,000) are considered. Of counties above this population threshold (shown in the table below), Citrus County, Florida, has the highest rate of natural decrease at 10.5 per thousand. Seven of the top 10 larger counties with the highest rate of natural decrease are in Florida.

clambo says

I think house prices in Florida will drop when the boomers die off in 25 years.

I can't wait that long!

It's a bit upsetting to see prices skyrocketing in Florida over the last two years, but prices in silicon valley have been skyrocketing too. At a higher starting point, the absolute price increase in silicon valley is much higher. My shack added something like $1MM since the start of the Wu Flu. Zillow estimates another 20% increase in the next 12 months for my zipcode.

Some of us have lots of family in the SF Bay area / Sacramento area. We don't want to go too far.

For us, the Reno - Carson area, with no State Income Tax, beckons.

DooDahMan says

No. 3 Massachusetts’ reputation for top-notch schools and healthcare is a key lure as it was top-ranked for nurturing. It also scored high for livability (third-highest) and foundation (No. 14). The Bay State had mid-range grades for popularity (21st) and wealth (22nd) tied to its high cost of living.

From what I've seen, Californians do not like the weather of Massachusetts, with humid summers and cold/windy winters. If anything, the only Californians who're actually happy here went to school in places like Boston Univ, Harvard, etc, and have made their round of friends during those formative years and decided to trade off the weather for everything else.

Other CA folks do a 5 year stint and either move back home or find a warmer climate to hang up their boots. Read: MA, believe it or not, is highly nativist unless you went to college in the environs.

clambo says

I'm not aware that people are leaving Florida, it seems to be the contrary.

The 30% leave rate is constant, been true for decades. Of course, 2/3rd of the massive annual number stay. Florida's population has almost doubled in the past 30 years; when I first came it had a third less than NY's population. Today it's got a million or so more.