patrick.net

“I want 50% correction in my golf score! My swing is getting worse by the week. Perhaps I should just quit golf.”

To follow up, I have a suggestion: buy the Tour Tempo book, and then when you find which tempo suits your temperment, buy the Tour Tempo CD. It's not a miracle worker, but if you have a sound fundamental swing, it can really help.

What, this isn't the Bay Area Handicap Crash Continues blog?

Cheerio,
prat

What, this isn’t the Bay Area Handicap Crash Continues blog?

Handicap never crashes in the Bay Area.

"Handicap never crashes in the Bay Area."

There you have it. Peter P reveals himself as a shill for Big Golf Scores.

We've heard it all before:

"Handicaps never go down."
"You can curse your handicap, what can you do with a stock?"
"In this unsettled time, people want the comfort of a high handicap."
"Look at David Duval."

It's all bunk. If greenspan wasn't conspiring with Big Driver Makers to produce enormous clubs that spray balls every which way but forward, we wouldn't be in this mess. I, for one, advocate a return to the 475 yard par 5 and persimmon driver. Only when sanity and responsibility returns to the driver market will america be safe, once again, to pursue the american dream.

Really, Peter, I'm disappointed.

Cheers,
prat

"But in the BIG PICTURE, the Bay Area’s desireability trumps the power of the bad loans to cause a real “crash” here like it will in other places."

For me to poop on.

OK. I'm done. See you all in a month.

Cheers,
prat

TWIT,

Excellent!

"We're getting the band back together!"

So, since we've established beyond reasonable doubt for all rational men that Jack, Fake P and Face Reality are sand-poundingly wrong, and are probably covert fascist baby boomer real estate speculator aliens with very sharp and pointy fangs and clever little lying brains behind their narrow, red eyes... what else shall we discuss?

Did I mention that they eat babies? I'm not saying. I'm just saying. You may want to consider that when you read their postings.

Cheerio,
prat

"That was a short month Prat."

Some months are shorter than others. I'm an internet-time kind of guy.

Cheerio,
prat

A Hunting Fable

Once upon a time, there were three stalwart hunters: Face Reality, Fake P, and Jack. They were all experienced, confident and determined hunters who had many successful kills among them. One day, they decided to go hunting together in the Bay Area Wildlife Preserve.

They were all excellent trackers, who had long studied their game’s tendencies and habits, which for many years had paid off quite handsomely with many trophies. So, it came as no surprise that, before the morning was done, they had bagged an impressive number of smaller prey –mostly rabbits, grouse and raccoons. However, these kills (though more than enough to satisfy the average hunter) had only whetted their appetite for bigger, more challenging game, and so the Bullish Three (as they preferred to be known) pressed on.

Eventually, they came across a large clearing where a huge crowd of hunters was gathered. Most of these other hunters were rank amateurs, of the “weekend warrior” type –certainly not of the professional mettle of the Bullish Three. Nonetheless, despite their obvious lack of skill and experience, these novice hunters had managed to kill an even more impressive assortment of game than the Bullish Three. Some of them had even bagged elk and bison! Everywhere it seemed, big game was there for the taking, no matter how amateurish or clumsy the hunter.

The Bullish Three walked up to nearest game warden, who was so busy passing out new hunting licenses, he almost didn’t notice them. “What’s going on here?” the Three demanded. The warden briefly paused before the frenzied crowd of eager would-be hunters, turned to them and said, “It’s a Hunting Bonanza, boys! We’ve had good hunting seasons before, but I’ve never seen anything like this one! People who have never gone hunting before in their life are making out like seasoned Pros. It’s been going on like this now for five straight weeks, with no signs of slowing down. If anything, it’s been getting easier to make big kills, not harder.”

“This will not do!” resolved the Bullish Three, “If these fools can do this well, then by God we can do even better!” And so they charged off into the woods with renewed vigor and determination. Before long, Face Reality (expert tracker that he was) had spotted a set of larger-than-normal tracks. He pointed them out to Fake P and Jack. “I think we’re on to something, men!” he declared. “It looks like the tracks of a large adult grizzly to me!”

Fake P and Jack studied them carefully. “I agree they’re big, but those look more like elk tracks to me –probably a large bull elk,” said Fake P. Jack thought they looked more like bison tracks, but being the more modest of the three, politely offered, “Whatever it is, it’s gotta be huge!” All agreed this that was prey worthy of the Bullish Three. So off they went in hot pursuit…

About an hour later, the tracks were looking fresher, and the Three felt their Big Game must surely be near. Just then, they crossed paths with a large troop of Boy Scouts, being led by Scoutmaster Patrick. “Hi, fellas,” Patrick said amiably, “what’s up?” The Bullish Three briefly related their pursuit to him. Suddenly a hush fell upon the troop, and the scouts began exchanging nervous glances at one another. Patrick looked upon the tracks the Bullish Three were pursuing and considered what they had said. Finally, he spoke. “Guys, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news here, but I feel it’s my duty to inform you that the path you are on is very dangerous. I’m no expert in hunting –camping is really my thing—but my experience in these woods (and my intuition) tells me that the path you’re on can only lead to disappointment, or even worse. I know the Hunting Bonanza seems like a sure thing, but I can assure you that hunting during times like these is very dangerous. There are far too many amateurs chasing big game out there, and the game wardens are handing out hunting licenses to practically anyone. Eventually, someone’s bound to get hurt. I can further explain my reasoning to you, if you’re willing to listen.”

The Bullish Three stood in stunned silence for a moment and then burst out laughing. They laughed so hard, they nearly lost their balance. “Ridiculous! What could a Scoutmaster possibly know about hunting!” exclaimed Face Reality. “Absurd!” agreed Fake P. Face Reality declared, “They’re probably just jealous of our success and intimidated by our great skill and reputations –jealous, bitter Campers!.” Jack offered a more diplomatic explanation. “They’re probably just inexperienced and don’t know any better, guys. They really seem sincere about believing we’re in danger –they’re just trying to do what they think is the right thing.” Face Reality shook his head in contempt and stormed off, back in pursuit of the Big Game. Fake P (still chuckling) followed close behind. Jack followed as well, though he looked noticeably less confident than before.

A while later, Jack spoke up. “Maybe we should stop and think about what they said. What if it turns out they’re right?” Face Reality sneered, “What –are you on their side now? Are you joining the jealous, bitter Campers?” “Not at all,” Jack replied, “but what if there’s some truth to the dangers the Scoutmaster spoke of?” Fake P, now having had more time to reflect on what Patrick had said, nodded in agreement. This apparent betrayal really set off Face Reality. “If you two L-O-S-E-R-S want to go join the Scouts, be my guest!” he roared. I’m going for the Big Game with or without you!” With that, he charged off, back in pursuit of the Big Game. Somewhat reluctantly, Jack and Fake P joined him, looking noticeably more worried.

By this time, it was late in the afternoon and it would not be long before nightfall would put an end to the hunt. Undaunted, Face Reality pointed to the tracks ahead of them and declared, “Look at that, boys! Those are brand-new tracks –we have to be getting close!” The Bullish Three continued to follow the tracks, and sure enough, before long they heard the low, rumbling sound of thunder coming towards them. “Sounds like a whole herd of buffalo!” Face Reality insisted. “There must be hundreds of them!” The sound of thunder grew ever louder, until it was clear that the Big Game was nearly upon them. “Gentlemen, ready your rifles and take aim!” demanded Face Reality. The Big Three took up their positions directly in the Big Game’s path.

Suddenly, a train ran over them.

A little off topic but it feels like time to add some levity to our rantings about houses.

The comment earlier:
(Some people still do not believe that we have gone to the moon. I am not comparing you to them.)

I've always wondered about this one as there are quite a few people who really don't believe the moon landing took place. There was someone from Nexus magazine (think it was the editor) who accosted Neil Armstrong yelling that he hadn't set foot on the moon but that they had used Robots instead. So...we couldn't get people to land on the moon in 1969 but we were advanced enough to create robots that could, AND they could jump and move around across the surface with pretty fluid motion. This seems *highly likely*.

Although now I think about it, if so many of us on this list are completely wrong about a bubble and the market keeps going up then we might be exiled to the island of cranky dillusional bloggers and have to spend our days arguing about the moon landing, while having tea with Elvis and the Tsar of Russian's children.

Lololololololololololo...gasp...lololololololol....hiccup.....lololololo....holding stomach...lolololololololol......tears....

...and thanks for the bedtime story HARM:)

Well…..That should just about put the final period on this blog.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw Mom, I want another story!

I didn’t realize that I was in the presence of genius until I read the comedy stylings of Peter, Twit, Prat and Harm. I just had to take a shot of vodka to try and cope. To be so outclassed.. shameful. I just came for advice, I feel so inadequate.

Awww... shucks, folks, I'm speechless!

Thanks --it sounded pretty good to me, but it's easy to laugh at your own jokes. Glad y'all apprciated it!

Although now I think about it, if so many of us on this list are completely wrong about a bubble and the market keeps going up then we might be exiled to the island of cranky dillusional bloggers and have to spend our days arguing about the moon landing, while having tea with Elvis and the Tsar of Russian’s children.

Watch out! Hitler may emerge from his U-boat and ruin our party.

Welcome back, gabby.

Prat, I think, uses time travel. I think he finished at Stanford (just a guess), and controlled temporal displacement is freshman level work.

However, by posting on this blog, he has leaked information about the future, which has somehow changed the very fabric of the space-time continuum, creating a paradox.

The future is uncertain again. The discussion about the bubble goes on...

Controlled temporal displacement-- Freshman level
Traveling parallel universes-- Sophomore level
Faster than light speed travel-- Junior level
How to pick up chicks in bars-- Senior level-- priceless

Sorry
Too much vodka

HARM, can I modify the story a little bit? Let's have a happy ending for our friends:

...

Suddenly, a train ran over them.

The three woke up from the same nightmare. Still shocked, they began to discuss their situation.

The next day, the three hunter joined the campers and they lived happily ever after.

Epilogue

A week later, there were no more amateur hunters. It has been said that some were eaten by Bigfoot and some were scared away.

I, for one, advocate a return to the 475 yard par 5 and persimmon driver.

For now, we will have to bear with 475 yard "short" par 4's.

Personally, I doubt equipments can help much. It is unlikely that my un-coordinated body can produce smooth Ernie-style swings. I will give Tour Tempo a try though. Thanks!

Day-trading anyone?

Btw, I forgot to thank you Jack for your very detailed answer to my question. I think I already had a pretty good handle on your thinking, but it's nice to get some points clarified.

Since I'm new to this blog, I haven't reached the point yet where the repetition has become too overbearing yet. I do apologize if my questions or comments seem tedious at times or force the rest of you to repeat yourselves too often. You've been very gracious in allowing me to play on your course with such a high handicap. :D

Are momentum traders the same as trend-followers?

BTW, I think we might have over-estimated the role of unaffordability in a bubble bust. Stocks are always affordabe (except perhaps BRK.A) because one can always buy fewer and fewer shares as prices go up, but this fact did not prevent the 2000 tech stock crash.

SactoQt, consider yourself very welcomed in this blog. :)

You have added much more value to our discussions than you might have thought.

BTW, I heard that they are going to build condo towers in downtown, is it true?

BTW, I heard that they are going to build condo towers in downtown, is it true?

I'm not sure, I'll have to look into it. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Condo's are just starting to take off around here, so I expect it's probably true. I think this is a sure sign the market is going to go kaboom out here because we are not limited by space. The only reason condo's are being built here is because they're cheaper and the builders are trying to sucker the last 30% out here to overpay for a crap piece of property.

HARM, can I modify the story a little bit? Let’s have a happy ending for our friends:

A week later, there were no more amateur hunters. It has been said that some were eaten by Bigfoot and some were scared away.

Not a bad epilogue, Peter.

I hope you (and Jack, Face & Fake) know it's only a joke. I would never seriously want such a terrible ending for anyone, much less the nice folks who post here. It's meant to be taken as a tall tale --and a cautionary one-- whose characters happen to bear... um... some similarities to some of posters on this blog. (Ok, transparently screaming OBVIOUS similarities, but you get the idea...)

I actually thought of similar alternate/happy endings, but all of them lacked the "punch" that one short sentence delivered. Plus it's basically a re-write of an old joke, and I didn't want to change the punchline.

Thanks for the welcome too!

Exactly. In the article momentum traders are trend followers and arbitrageurs are flippers. The analogy really fits.

Hmmm... I always thought that trend followers suffer more from choppiness than from reversals. Perhaps trend-following is dead.

SactoQt, I finally found the link:

http://www.sactowers.com/

Wow, you're good.

Well, I gotta go for the nite. Gotta get up w/a 19mo old, and all this drinking isn't going to help. ;)

Fyi, this thread seems to be getting a little long in the tooth, so I started "Amazing Bubble Stories!"

"However, by posting on this blog, he has leaked information about the future, which has somehow changed the very fabric of the space-time continuum, creating a paradox."

I was wondering why all my photographs had people fading out of them...

Sadly, stanford's CS department doesn't offer a lot of time travel classes. I think that's more the physics kids. I have, however, written a very advanced housing market simulation program:

int main(int argc, char** argv){
printf("There shall be a 51.2383% housing correction by August 24th at 3:45 PM.");
}

This program firmly establishes that there will be a 51.2383% reduction in housing prices by August 24th at 3:45 PM. I look forward to vindication of my intellectual and programming prowess.

Cheers,
prat

Jack Says:
I guess the three of us too easily represent the vast numbers of people who make up the housing market.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

And Jack, the post needs you guys, otherwise it would just be a bunch of people sitting around saying, "yeah, housing bubble, definately a housing bubble."

Fake P, Prat did not say that the code is in C. I guess the language is "Temporal H", which does not have a return facility because the value can only be determined "temporally".

Fake,

Not only that, but remind Prat that he needs to escape a literal percent-sign in a printf format string. So, use %%. A trailing newline would be a reasonable choice, as well.

Also, ANSI doesn't require the args declarations for main(), and since we're not using them they can be omitted.

Sorry everyone. The topic has finally diverged into an area of my expertise. I couldn't pass it up.

ObOn-Topic: We're selling, taking a 300% gain (8 yrs), and choosing to rent for a couple years.

SactoQt, you may be interested in this Sacto story:

http://tinyurl.com/cybaq

Jack Says:
“…….awwww, and I thought you people APPRECIATED….. even NEEDED a little “balance” on this blog to keep you all “honest”. ( But that would be healthy….)

What does it say about the validity of the dialoge if you cant test it against even a few differing viewpoints?

Believe ME, the numbness of repetition is felt on our side of the table also.

It interests me that many of you seem a BIT too uncomfortable with not winning over three measely people. Yet Face Reality, Fake P and me have learned to deal with that every day that we write in here, and we live with it allright.”

Jack,

I hope that wasn’t (partly) directed against me. The “Fable” was just meant to be a bit of fun –I wasn’t trying to be mean-spirited. I don’t think anyone here (least of all me) expects to “convert” you 100% to the Posse/“Dark side” –whatever you like to call it-- anymore than you would expect to convert us. And, yes, we (most of us anyway) do immensely enjoy your (and Fake/Face’s) participation in the debate. You often provide new information and arguments we would never have thought of. As you said, what good is a one-sided debate?

To be honest, I wrote the Fable mainly because I was getting a bit tired of the usual bubble discussions –that “numbness of repetition” you so aptly pointed out. I think I’m developing Bubble Battle Fatigue (BBF). Like Prat, I feel like I’m mostly just repeating the same stats/arguments over and over. I wanted to try out a creative/satiric approach, just to liven things up a bit.

I didn’t mean you any “HARM” by it ;-). Maybe you, Face Reality & Fake P can write a fable about me, Peter P & Surfer-X. You could call it “Goldilocks and the Three Perma-Bears”.

Fake P,
Thanks for a being such a good sport, dude!

Thanks for the article Peter. I Forwarded that one on to my husband. Good info.

When you read stuff like that, you start to think, so it begins..........
At least I hope so.

Without Jack, I wouldn't currently be trying to figure out if we going to an inflationary or deflationary spiral. Don't go, man!

Jack doesn't hold grudge. He will be back. :)

Jack, good point. Too bad I am steering away from affordability arguments because it allows too many intangibles to come into play. :)

Earlier, I have said that:

Stocks are always affordabe (except perhaps BRK.A) because one can always buy fewer and fewer shares as prices go up, but this fact did not prevent the 2000 tech stock crash.

(Grannys bought stocks during the tech boom too.)

My primary talking points will be P/E ratio and PEG ratio. These are infalliable, whether affordability is at 0% or 100%.

"Prat: I observed that you’re merely an amateurish C programmer, you forgot that the main function needs to have a return value of type “int”, if not you will face compilation errors. These trivial mistakes are typical of new learners…:p"

_laugh_

Yup. The not escaping the er, escape character is particularly ghetto. _shrug_ I slave away in java for work, use ruby when I can, and dream about ocaml at night. On the upside, it does compile in gcc, even if the % get's dropped.

_shrug_ I'm an idiot. I've never claimed differently.

Cheers,
prat