patrick.net

For those interested in lighter reading, here's the latest Gawker recap of the NYT Wedding section:

http://gawker.com/news/altarcations/ad-hoc-altarcations-dont-mind-the-leaking-duffel-bag-246947.php

Sorry, that was the recap of the New York Post wedding section

No coverage of the NYT wedding section this week. This one is from last week:

http://gawker.com/news/altarcations/altarcations-patricia-haggerty--brian-dodwell-245275.php

Michael Holliday,

I think the Princess is right. If we don't like China's policies, then rather than blame China (and its provinces like Taiwan) for doing what China thinks is best for China, we ought to blame ourselves if we go along with it.

Try to remember that every time you vote for a democrat or a republican.

sybrib Says:

Michael Holliday,

I think the Princess is right. If we don’t like China’s policies, then rather than blame China (and its provinces like Taiwan) for doing what China thinks is best for China, we ought to blame ourselves if we go along with it.

Try to remember that every time you vote for a democrat or a republican.
_____

Well, I don't vote Democrat, so dont' worry about that.

But, let's have another look at that sentence you wrote above. Let's replace the word "China" with a phrase that elicits a truer meaning:

I think the Princess is right. If we don’t like the COMMUNIST POLICE STATE THAT STAMPS OUT HUMAN RIGHTS' policies, then rather than blame the COMMUNIST POLICE STATE THAT STAMPS OUT HUMAN RIGHTS (and its provinces like Taiwan) for doing what the COMMUNIST POLICE STATE THAT STAMPS OUT HUMAN RIGHTS thinks is best for the COMMUNIST POLICE STATE THAT STAMPS OUT HUMAN RIGHTS, we ought to blame ourselves if we go along with it.
_____

Precisely my point. We shouldn't go along with it. It goes against everything we are supposedly for: everything we fought a world war to stop; everything we fought a 50+ year Cold War to prevent.

Why grovel before the COMMUNIST POLICE STATE THAT STAMPS OUT HUMAN RIGHTS now, just because it's wearing a smiling face that implores "you can trust us; just do business with us, we're your friend!"

F-ck that!

HelloKitty Says:

> Randy H, Here is my business plan:
> Buy 5000 sq foot McMansions as REO’s
> then install 100 xtra large cubicle/beds
> in each house that I rent to SL junkies.

For some reason that business plan sounded familiar…

http://tinyurl.com/25fq7y

I wonder how long it will be before we have some people trying to leave “Real Life” and enter “Second Life”?

I can understand this crap if you live in the midwest, but here on the coast there is just too much fun to be had in the real world. These people need to get out and enjoy life. Why not put the same amount of effort into straightening your own life out verses trying to start all over in virtual reality?

Subprime hell hitting the bay area:

http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_5518220

FAB, HK

Cult Heaven's Gate is just what I was thinking as I read HK's business plan. I was thinking, "you forgot to add the black Nikes".

I will not be in the slightest surprised if we get a mass exodus of folks from First Life into Second Life. One of my hate-mails I received was about a 5000 word treatise on how Second Life was a blueprint for how everyone would be forced to live over the next 20 years. "You will be assimilated to the matrix or die", (said in 4991 less words). There were a few paragraphs about why you'd need virtual real estate, or be forced to rent from others who got there earlier.

I never did quite grasp how Furries figured into the new world order.

Furries are the true form of the alien spirits that moved into human form. If you're going to be trapped here waiting for the next comet pass, at least you can Second Life in your real form. Although most advanced species are not very fond of double indirection.

Randy H,

Maybe the Congressional bailout for FB's could take the form of free McMansions in, and subsidised subscriptions to, SL?

You guys should see this video about how Virtual Life is ALSO outsourced
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4

HK's idea is already implemented, only that the venue is in China.

I wonder if your SL avatar could be a Kzin?

OO,

Yeppers. And it hasn't even really started in earnest yet.

Busted Says:

> Subprime hell hitting the bay area:
> http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_5518220

When I first clicked the link above and saw FB’s James and Barbara Morgan I thought “Holy crap I bet those two weighs more than my race car”… Then I thought of a thread a while back where someone brought up that there seems to be a high correlation between FBs and “Super Chubbos”…

On my last flight trip, the woman in the middle seat looks to weigh 500+ lbs. I had flesh curtains spilling over the arm rests. Her stomach was inches from the seat in front of her.

I seated in the window seat, would not have survived an emergency landing.

The surprising thing is that she looked quite small when she left the plane, no bigger than one Morgan.

Are the reporters for these stories a special breed of idiots? Shouldn't the fact that the Morgans owned their homes for 30+ years set off some alarm bells? They're ex-shipyard workers so they probably have good health insurance coverage.

I would not be surprised if they refinanced to buy an investment home elsewhere.

It was kind of sad that they had to tell you that the husband was on the left. In most pictures, it's pretty darned apparent who is the man.

There needs to be a way to hack into Second Life causing any computer running it to explode in a manner emitting enough radiation to sterilize the user.

M. Holliday,

The European conflict in WWII was won with Soviet blood. We helped to arm them, but they did the fighting on dying on their front.

In a mostly ignored story of collaboration, on the Asian front Mao's legions pummeled the Japanese with hardware supplied by the USA. Japanese resources diverted to the battles against Mao in China helped to enable the USA in its island hopping to within bomber reach on Japan's eastern front.

What is my point? What was good for the Communists was also what was good for us, to defeat facism at the time.

I don't think the Communist thugs in China attacked us. Maybe they did in Korea. But that was in Korea. It wasn't here.

Who did attack us? Not the Chinese, not the Communists. A facist government in Japan in 1941, and nation-less Islamo-facists on 9/11.

Don't blame China for using our own trade policies against us.

I'm not apologizing for our trade policy with China, no way.
But if you want to bring police state into it,

... why are we exporting our capital to a POLICE-STATE MONARCHY in Saudi Arabia, to people who hate us, people who fund those Islamo-facists that attacked us and killed 3000 of us on our own soil?

sybrib,

I'm not sure if I'm the "princess" you were referring to, but overall, I agree. I'm far from an apologist for what the Chinese government (especially at the regional and local level) does to its own people, but America can't blame the Chinese for its own foreign policies.

The Chinese are not very hostile towards Americans at all. Yes, they appear to take away US jobs - except that if China didn't exist, those jobs would go to Malaysia or Bangladesh. They're not a cultural threat to the US at all. The Chinese government is far more fearful of religious extremism than the US.

And might I go so far as to say, as far as the head of government, Hu Jintao has been far superior to George W. Bush.

sybrib,

Cool it with the "Princess" crap.

The European conflict in WWII was won with Soviet blood. We helped to arm them, but they did the fighting on dying on their front.

The reason there are two "W"'s is because there was sufficient blood spilled across many fronts. 1 of every 26 Merchant Marines died, mostly in the Atlantic, which last I checked was a front in the European theater.

on the Asian front Mao’s legions pummeled the Japanese with hardware supplied by the USA

Where exactly did Mao "pummeled" the Japanese? Fighting Japanese was done mostly by Americans, neither Mao or KMT forces were very effective.

I for one am glad the Morgans have made their appearance. Coverage of this kind nearly always assigns some ethnic flavor or other to the subprime borrower (as this article wastes no time in doing), and the hidden implication is that imperfect language skills or incomplete assimilation are what make for 'predatory lenders' and 'victims'.

But here we have a couple who became homeowners at 30, with an implied history of multiple refinances - how else to explain the $355,000 they now owe? But they are very white, and the meager quotes in the article show no evidence of poor English comprehension.

On a guess, I'd say they've merely gone along all their lives with what everyone else was doing. Houses were expensive in 1977 when compared to the cost in 1970, and interest rates were high and rising. But when you're 30 it's time to stop renting. That's just what people do. Refinancing has been a common thing on several occasions during the past three decades. I'm tempted to say deep-fried tater tots and 64oz big gulps have enjoyed a certain popularity over the years as well, but I won't do that.

Passive people who find safety in crowds may be the real substance of trends and, consequently, of bubbles. If the Morgans ended up this way, how many others with non-hyphenated backgrounds did?

I should try to atone for the tater tots crack.

From what I can see in the photo, their house looks crisp and tidy, they themselves look well-groomed and pleasant (and a little shy of cameras), and I would not be surprised to find they are very nice people.

It's not necessary for people to be awful for them to have become a party to what has been, after all, a fairly common mistake.

HELP Says:

> i would like to apologize for yelling

Now that you have found the “Caps Lock” key look just below it for a (bigger) key called “Shift”. Press the “Shift” key and hold it before you type the letter to start each sentence.

> can i still qualify for 100% financing?

Yes, if you have a good job and a good credit score you can probably still get 100% financing.

Just because you “can” get 100% financing does not mean that you “should” get 100% financing.

Most people that have not been hard working and responsible enough to save up a down payment are not hard working and responsible enough to own a home…

astrid Says:

> On my last flight trip, the woman in the
> middle seat looks to weigh 500+ lbs.
> The surprising thing is that she looked
> quite small when she left the plane, no
> bigger than one Morgan.

Compared to a wide body jumbo jet even the biggest person will look small.

When my single seat race car is parked next to a Tony Kart (an Italian shifter kart that weighs as much as I do) it looks huge, but when parked next to a Morgan (a cool British two seat sports car with a wood frame that weighs quite a bit more than the FBs the Morgans) it looks small…

FAB says:
Most people that have not been hard working and responsible enough to save up a down payment are not hard working and responsible enough to own a home…

What if they spent 5 years travelling the world and broadening their minds, renting in London, then worked for a couple of charities, did another degree to improve their minds, etc etc

DS: That would imply that they are not "most" people in FAB's definition. He did leave room for legitimate possibilities, but I agree they are in short supply.

Brand and DS,
On the other hand, if you make a life choice to travel, "doing good", etc., you have for better or worse made a decision to go off the usual "track" of a daily job grind, saving, buying a house etc. Society has no mechanism to "compensate" you and allow you to buy a home. One should have obviously make that decision with full understanding. A "broadened mind" does not give you an excuse that entitles you to special treatment when buying a home.

Different Sean Says:

I Wrote:

> Most people that have not been hard working
> and responsible enough to save up a down
> payment are not hard working and responsible
> enough to own a home…

Then Different Sean Says:

> What if they spent 5 years travelling the world and
> broadening their minds, renting in London, then worked
> for a couple of charities, did another degree to improve
> their minds, etc etc

Websters definition of “most” is “the majority of”

While Websters defines “every” as “being each individual or part of a group without exception”

Let me revise this to make it clear for Different Sean:

Most (but not all) people that have not been hard working and responsible enough to save up a down payment are not hard working and responsible enough to own a home (so if a guy with a Masters in Engineering from MIT was in Europe getting a PhD. in Engineering and took some time off to travel (or even travell) write a couple books and do volunteer work before joining the Cal Engineering faculty I wouldn’t have a problem if he got 100% financing to buy a fixer upper in Kensington)…

I still don't see any right to home "ownership". I can understand a right to housing, so people have a roof over their head, though I don't even like that kind of government intrusion into the market place. I cannot comprehend why anybody should feel that they have the right to own homes. Has renting become akin to social diseases or illiteracy?

I still don’t see any right to home “ownership”. I can understand a right to housing, so people have a roof over their head, though I don’t even like that kind of government intrusion into the market place.

There is also my God-given right to consume meat products.

FAB,

On a slightly less facetious note, I'd argue even your MIT educated engineering professor does not deserve home "ownership" and is probably not qualified financially unless his position comes with tenure.

astrid Says:

> FAB, On a slightly less facetious note, I’d argue
> even your MIT educated engineering professor
> does not deserve home “ownership” and is probably
> not qualified financially unless his position comes
> with tenure.

No one “deserves” to own a home. I just used an MIT engineering grad as an example since the smartest guy I know has a masters in engineering from MIT (and a MBA from Wharton).

What I can’t figure out is how people who were not abele to save a penny while renting think they can somehow afford to buy a home with no money down paying more each month than they were paying while renting…

What I can’t figure out is how people who were not abele to save a penny while renting think they can somehow afford to buy a home with no money down paying more each month than they were paying while renting…

Because this time, it's DIFFERENT!

Peter P,

Which God?

I've been making sour dough bread this weekend. If I don't post for the rest of this week, I might be dead from food poisoning.

What I can’t figure out is how people who were not abele to save a penny while renting think they can somehow afford to buy a home with no money down paying more each month than they were paying while renting…

The logic typically goes like this: Tax savings. You save on taxes. Uncle Sam is paying you to own that home.

I cannot comprehend why anybody should feel that they have the right to own homes. Has renting become akin to social diseases or illiteracy?

Why do you hate our American Dream(TM)?

I’ve been making sour dough bread this weekend. If I don’t post for the rest of this week, I might be dead from food poisoning.

Gold help you. ;)

I have complete faith in your bread. Let us know how it goes.

It looks like the stock market recovered from it's collective pants wetting this morning when new homes sales info came in.

On the bright side, I made fresh pasta last night.

On the not so bright side, my wife got annoyed when I said we probably wouldn't be buying anything until 2008 at the earliest when my friend asked if we were still looking.