patrick.net

Not very easily. In China, I could go to a neighborhood roast meats place and buy duck almost as easily as I buy chicken. But duck meat is pretty expensive and require going to restaurants or to Chinatown. And I don't think I've encountered squab at all.

But duck meat is pretty expensive and require going to restaurants or to Chinatown. And I don’t think I’ve encountered squab at all.

Try Draeger's or Whole Foods. There are at least several restaurants in Palo Alto that serve squab.

I'd heard recently that there was a $1.3 mil. lawsuit against a guy (not far from here) that intentionally ran over someone's family dog of 15 years. Now I definitely think the defendant was a J.O but wouldn't awarding a settlement like this cheapen human life? They also said there had been several settlements against veterinarians b/c "Fluffy" died. Weird huh?

Yeah, geese is really hard to find. You have to go to traditional French restraurant, and even then the odds are 99-to-1 against finiding it.

I bought a goose myself once, and tried to cook it (it was for a celebratoy dinner for the staff of a Boy Scout camp whose mascot was the "Blue Goose"), but it didn't turn out very well. Fatty, greasy, and tough. You've got to be a pretty good chef to prepare one of those.

I'd heard recently that there was a $1.3 mil. lawsuit against a guy (not far from here) that intentionally ran over someone's family dog of 15 years. Now I definitely think the defendant was a J.O but wouldn't awarding a settlement like this cheapen human life? They also said there had been several settlements against veterinarians b/c "Fluffy" died. Weird huh?

Well, a pet is not quite the same. Moreover, this lawsuit is about intentionally causing harm.

Yeah, geese is really hard to find. You have to go to traditional French restraurant, and even then the odds are 99-to-1 against finiding it.

I agree.

Joe,

You might have better luck at big Chinese restaurants. It's not nearly as common as duck, but it's worth asking about and a lot cheaper than French restaurants.

Peter P,

I agree, the guy basically went out of his way like off the shoulder of the road and onto their property to "do him in". People were understandably upset. Oregon has strange laws when it comes to animals (as property). We have a friend that hit someone's cattle at the edge of town that had gotten loose. By law, she was found to be liable for the rancher's loss. But take heart! The "victim" was a realtor driving a big ass Suburban. True story.

Oregonians have all the weirdest tort cases.

Animals have three functions:
To purr or bark appreciatively and catch pesty squirrels
To wear well
To taste good

@astrid,
Hear hear!

Leave it to Peter P to steer the conversation back to food!

Joe Schmoe,

Care to weigh in here? My limited understanding is that the animal owner's compensation (up to this point) has been limited to the "economic value" of the animal. I dunno, the cow produced X gallons of milk a day with an avg. life expectancy of Y so you Famer Jones Z dollars.

What's different here is that they are suing for damages and emotional distress?

astrid,

We rule the roost in bizarre court cases.

OK, who fucked the monkey, fess up.

tinyurl.com/flxa8

OK, who f_cked the monkey, fess up.

Perhaps someone shared a syringe with a month.

If you were really drunk and squinted just so, a female chimp looks like a very hairy woman with bad posture.

DINOR,

That is exaclty right. In general, you cannot recover non-economic damages (i.e. .emotional distress, loss of consortium, etc.) for the death of a pet. The recovery is limited to the value of the animal. Since a lot of pets have no fair market value, courts generally give the owner a few hundred bucks as a form of rough compensation.

If someone intentionally kills an animal in your presence -- i.e. tortures the family to death while the owner watches helplessly -- you might theoretically be able to recover non-economic damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Tort law sometimes alllows for bystanders to recover for the psychological injury of, say, watching their loved one get
run down by a drunk driver.

I don't know of any reported cases involving pets that get run over, but if the owner of the dog is proceeding an intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress theory, he might have a shot.

Perhaps someone shared a syringe with a month.

huh?

OO said:

My perfect house is situated atop a rolling hill somewhere spanning around 5+ acres, studded with oak and fruit trees. Sunshine all year round, with occasional clouds hanging over the mountain range in sight. My piece of land will not look on to the urban center directly, it will steal a small peek of the city lights from behind the knolls and woods.

Jack Kerouac described this place in the Dharma Bums, where Japhy had his shack up a hill, and the big main house was full of carpenters, kids, bongo drums and poets.

Sigh.... I expect the actual house Kerouac was describing is now under a strip mall somewhere...

Anybody ready for a new thread?

What if they're right?

I always wanted my own teak plantation

Idea for a new thread.

What's next ?

I think we can declare that we reached the first point on the trajectory. Sales are down big time, inventory has exploded, price appreciation has stopped, bidding wars are out of vogue, and we are even seeing some price reductions (not in all areas, but in many).

This was how it was supposed to happen. It did. No surprises so far.

What's next ? What should be the next set of conditions we should look forward to ? When do we expect to see it ? What kind of market do we see in Fall ? Or do we have to wait for next "spring selling season" for another checkpoint ? What might surprise us ?

The inventory up, sales down story will likely continue its course if left untouched. Can the Fed or anyone try to tweak things here and there ? There are reports/rumours that Bank Of Japan is taking liquidity out of the market. This can only hasten the downfall. What else is also probable ?

jerky,

Perhaps. However, would you really be paying more if you sold and rented? You could dump that 90% gain in an income producing asset and that'll probably pay for your rent.

I acknowledge that doing so would bring you a different set of risks, but I don't think you can discount your current equity in the house when you do present value analysis.

Disclaimer: not investment advice