Disqus - Latest Comments for Dave

Re: Rumor: QuikTrip to Relocate Bevo Location

Dave — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:34:30 -0000

totally unrelated... but can anyone tell me what's going in on Chippewa/Landsdowne (I think... it's where Steak n Shake and Taco Bell once stood)?

Re: Tutorial : Developing your First Ruby on Rails 2 Application

Dave — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:44:59 -0000

Thanks for the tutorial i have 2 questions
How do you custimise the page? (e.g. the page where yoou view the news article).

Is ROR better then PHP?

Re: Internal Meeting: Peter Jackson Insiders To Discuss 3D Options

Dave — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:42:09 -0000

This pisses me off because due to an astigmatism, I cannot properly view 3D movies :\

Re: Jake And Amir Dot Com - Friend Quiz

Dave — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:31:40 -0000

"You...you were gonna be straight wrong so..." was my favorite part by far. I can't tell if Amir was about to laugh or if he was just doing a new voice.

Re: UN Admits AIDS Hysterics

Dave — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:51:27 -0000

The first problem is that the U.N. ISN'T a scientific organization, but a political one (and BAD politics at that). You'd have to be an imbicile to buy into the lies they come up with. The United States should have left this loser organization long ago, and thrown them out of the building that they have on our soil. (I am also amazed that the Nobel Prize board gave the UN scientists ANY kind of prize (and Al Gore? I mean, really. Get a clue)

Re: The Sun Is The Center Of The Universe (And The Hottest Star, Too)

Dave — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:46:35 -0000

Funnily enough, since the universe is expanding in every direction away from every other point since the big bang, every point is also the center of the universe.

So our star the Sun is at the center, in a weird kinda way.

Re: Aziz is Bored

Dave — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:08:14 -0000

Awesome....I'm gonna see this for sure! Good stuff Aziz.

Re: Smoke & a Coke

Dave — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:29:02 -0000

its a lot of cardboard boxes, thats it! completely sad and pointless

Re: Cranky McCain is back and mad at Obama

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:47:17 -0000

Anyone who thinks stimulus money to states and districts is a horrible mistake is free not to take it.

So, John McCain should flatly reject any cash headed for Arizona.

Re: Google Buys Jaiku

Dave — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:03:37 -0000

"And now that Google acquired them â€” Iâ€™m sure weâ€™ll see additional development pop in some interesting ways."

Oh sure. That worked well with dodgeball, huh?
/sarcasm

Re: Why Advertising on Perez Hilton Beats the Hell Outta TV - mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

Dave — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:42:42 -0000

Perez linked to ya.

And I agree with all the above! Especially with the brides war and those type of ads.

I didn't even know that Nip/Tuck was still on air - but thanks to ads on his site I do! Lol(im planning to buy the dvd boxes,and those ads reminded me)

Re: Bye MG Siegler, we’ll miss you — especially your headlines

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:26:30 -0000

TechCrunch - The Evil Empire of Blogging

Re: New song from The Tailors (UK)(Outtake from upcoming record “Come Dig Me Up”)

Dave — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:56:02 -0000

more brit americana
www.thescuffers.co.uk

Re: The Butter Room - @ Search Engine Strategies NYC 2008 / Day Four

Dave — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:28:25 -0000

i think you got yer pictures wacked up. check check check it out.

Re: MMS: Still a piece of shit

Dave — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:24:57 -0000

I've been on T-Mobile for years, and received a few MMSes... and I've never had this experience.

No doubt the real WTF is the iPhone.

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:51:12 -0000

You gals really need a better hobby. All of this self-congratulatory patchouli-soaked profanity-laden backslapping is really unbecoming.

"Fairer sex" indeed. :-/

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:08:16 -0000

What's funniest is that you folks don't seem capable of expressing yourselves or disagreeing with someone, without resorting to schoolyard insults and profanity.

It's sad, really.

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:10:05 -0000

PS - I know for a fact that the people you are accusing of sockpuppeting are not doing what you accuse them of.

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:36:58 -0000

I believe his point was that your childcare analogy was just the sort of "coded misogyny" that tends to perpetuate the traditional view of the female's role as the childcare provider.

But you can't see through your fem-rage to actually read what was written.

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:19:46 -0000

"(it's like being a freshman and walking into a senior graduate seminar)."

My, you sure do have a mighty high opinion of yourselves, don't you.

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:34:48 -0000

"Shall I giggle and say that was just a joke, now?"

Whatever blows your skirt up, darlin'.

Re: Biden Has a Gorgeous Wife with a Doctorate

Dave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:15:21 -0000

"Well, get cracking, Sparky. Start wielding your authority. Start waxing that back. Lose weight while you're at it. You don't need to? OH, yes, you do. Trust us. We haven't even SEEN you and we know you need to lose weight. And buy this manscaping equipment."

And you ladies think wymyn are held to "unattainable and impossible beauty standards"?

This thread gets more hilarious every time I read it.

Re: You know....

Dave — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:03:13 -0000

Hi. Just thought I'd extend an invite to you folks. We've been having a rather lengthy discussion about Palin, sexism, feminism and how it pertains to the election.

http://www.npboards.com/viewtopic.php?id=13755

You may recognize some of the posters there as the "trolls" you encountered a few days ago. We're always seeking out new and interesting people to spar with on a variety of political topics. Drop in and say hi, if you like.

We don't exclude people for having different opinions; can you cope in that environment?

Re: You know....

Dave — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:30:21 -0000

@Pizza
I can't say I'm surprised at the tone of your comment, given this gem of a quote:

"How much fuck would a fuckneck fuck if a fuckneck could fuck fuck? None, unless there are other fucknecks around willing to fuck."

But I was really amused by the irony. Thanks for making my morning!

Re: You know....

Dave — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:02:25 -0000

@Acrimonious
Calling it a "little forum" may make you feel all warm inside because you're able to be subtly dismissive, but I really don't care. Also, it's not "my" forum; I just post there. If that's enough reason for you to dismiss it out of hand, well I feel sorry for you. I guess your "little echo chamber" here is the biggest pond in which you can play.

As far as sexism being an opinion... I don't even know what you're talking about in the "context" of my post or that forum. Sexism isn't an opinion; it's a way of life.

But you already know that, being a sexist yourself.

Re: Michael Phelps Regrets Bong Pic

Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:32:08 -0000

Dude, don't sweat it....you're still a great athlete. Get baked if you want.

Re: Title

Dave — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:00:08 -0000

Hello this is a comment

Re: USB "Shock" Drive - Archives PCLaunches.com

Dave — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:19:40 -0000

These are fun, had a shock pen once like this and it HURT when you got zapped.

Re: WAYDig: What Are You Digging?

Dave — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:10:26 -0000

I love the shop suggestions for this WAYDig !

Re: WAYDig: What Are You Digging?

Dave — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:10:57 -0000

Asian Sex Sandwich

Re: Western Digital My Passport Studio

Dave — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:37:49 -0000

They wont boot a powerpc mac though, what's the point in suggesting it is for mac users, useless piece of kit!

Re: Eurosong

Dave — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:02:41 -0000

Unless it's fox news?

Re: Who’s Reckless?

Dave — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:30:54 -0000

I personally agree with the sentiment of Don's letter, but I assume someone will point out that our government supposedly has a system of checks and balances. Unfortunately, one of those, Congress, faces the same short term incentives that the President does.

Re: 40K NEWS: New Bitz Additions

Dave — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:53:20 -0000

Old news these have been there for awhile

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:47:45 -0000

Yes.

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:04:53 -0000

Dude, my Mom's dead. That's so freaking sick.

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:13:15 -0000

Nah, you're the only person to guess it. I doubt anyone else will.

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:24:59 -0000

Still, that's really, really weird. You should claim your profile now!

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:25:36 -0000

Man, I am GOOD!

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:40:35 -0000

Seriously, no need. It's not like people are using my picture with their comments.

Re: 40K RUMORS: Space Wolves Minis?

Dave — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:35:43 -0000

wooooooooooo Dave!!!

Re: Petraeus Talk Seems to Bolster Obama

Dave — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:31:20 -0000

evangelical christians have a different version of jesus than the rest of us do. they have a self serving, racist and homophobic jesus that has america as the godhead.

the real jesus would be considered a 'terrorist' and a 'librul'

Re: Truck Bearing Kibble

Dave — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:32:40 -0000

Frag-all's?

Re: Battle Fighter: Alpha

Dave — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:28:45 -0000

arne_ i think the breathing mask is most likely a homage to Sub Zero or Scorpion (or Cyrax, Kabal or Reptile etc etc...) from the Mortal Kombat series

Go on purple ninja, you can do it!!!

Re: Truck Bearing Kibble

Dave — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:30:14 -0000

disturbing.....

Re: Battle Fighter: Alpha

Dave — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:21:05 -0000

Sorry arne_ didn't realise you were kiddin' :p

Re: Phantom Pain

Dave — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:38:20 -0000

Well thats what you get for claiming to be an ethereal entity when you are really just a mentalist, scar faced musician

Re: Battle Fighter III: Hyper Edition

Dave — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:42:32 -0000

Purple Ninja FTW!!!

Re: Truck Bearing Kibble

Dave — Wed, 28 May 2008 06:46:40 -0000

heh heh, you witty b-stard you

Re: Top 20 Rock Stars Of Web 2.0

Dave — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:44:32 -0000

Kind of a joke. Ev is behind Winer. In other words, the guy that developed blogger AND twitter is behind a guy that writes about twitter 24/7.

Re: Realtor Remarks

Dave — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:32:05 -0000

I would have thought that "Seller Motivated" would be a good idea but I get what you are saying. It does sound desperate. Thanks.

Re: Hourly Real Estate Services

Dave — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:34:24 -0000

What happens if the hourly charges exceed the your normal commission? I guess that would be unlikely with more expensive homes but I have seen agents claim to work 20+ hours on a listing.

Re: Comparing the candidates’ energy plans

Dave — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:50:22 -0000

Mccain's plan looks more like a flat tire with a bunch of drills sticking out.

Re: Administrivia & Poll

Dave — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:58:33 -0000

Re: How to get People in Glass Houses to stop throwing stones

Dave — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:35:38 -0000

its far better to watch the http://bravenewfilms.org/ corrected version of any faux footage whatsoever... watching it without the buzzes makes it hard to distinguish all the different lies.

Re: Swift Boathouse

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:05:48 -0000

just remember...

he didn't earn it, he married it.

she didn't earn it either, she inherited it.

Re: Romney says McCain earned his homes, Obama didn’t

Dave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:10:06 -0000

Mccain earned his homes the old fashioned way. he married into them.

and his wife earned them the old fashioned way too. she inherited them.

Re: Political Irony › Overplaying Cards

Dave — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:02:33 -0000

HAHAHA oh no

Re: Subliminal advertising at its worst

Dave — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:03:47 -0000

and don't forget all the phallic symbols.. .note the two choir singers vests... left sides...

these ads really are meant to appeal to the chimps in our population.

Re: Just before they picked Palin as VP nominee

Dave — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:40:17 -0000

wow. a rare moment when republicans are telling the truth. frame this.

jed needs to take this and then put it right next to the same people lying about her, hours later.

Re: Political Irony › Governor Sarah Palin Vlog #1

Dave — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:19:24 -0000

ROTF

Re: Lessons Linux Should Learn From Windows and Mac

Dave — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:10:53 -0000

Imagine if Windows or OSX were Open Source.

What would it be like? Well, there would be dozens if not hundreds of customized versions of Windows and OSX, all made by different people with different ideas of what to do with them.

With Linux everything is as it should be, there is no need to worry. Yes it would be nice to unify some of the projects out there, but that requires a great organizational effort, which requires an enormous amount of time. Not everyone has that free time to work for little to no money. I wouldn't sweat it ... I think Linux is doing great.

Re: Liverpool 8 - 0 Besiktas: Record-breaking Reds

Dave — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:51:21 -0000

liverpool were awesome last night any way you look at it. you don't just get the best ever champions league result for no reason. it amuses me to see the negative remarks by a few people who are clearly jealous of liverpool's beautiful style.

all we need to do is get rid of those 'off days' which have plagued us for years and cost us leagues. it's hard to understand with the current strength of our bench.

so glad for peter crouch as well - that man must stay and get in on the goals!

Re: Deputy Chris Bieze Tasers Kathryn Winkfein, 72, During Routine Traffic Stop, Dashboard Camera Shows Encounter

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:33:11 -0000

If I see this this piece of crap out, I WILL kick the dog crap out of him.

Re: London Shop Fronts - Simply the Best Fish Bar, Hackney Road E2

Dave — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:36:17 -0000

This is an awesome shop front. Thanks 4 sharing!!!!!!

Re: SciFi author Greg Bear will answer redditor's questions

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:45:46 -0000

What's your favorite movie?

Re: 7 Ways to Optimize Your Blog

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:25:00 -0000

Plessed be the child that bringeth the blog money and traffic.

Re: 2007/06/11/rss-toolbox/

Dave — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:12:49 -0000

i have been using rsscram.com and loving it

Re: 2008/11/06/youmail-transcription/

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:32:53 -0000

Nuance do voicemail to text? Where can I get this service?

Re: WRITER’S TOOLBOX: 35 Best Tools for Writing Online

Dave — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:12:26 -0000

You made a giant list. Congrats. And blogging continues to die.

Re: Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication?

Dave — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:45:59 -0000

This isn't new technology, this isn't the first time it's being implemented, and this isn't unique aside from a Google stamp.

Not to say it won't be good, but it isn't the "revolution" that its being hailed as - Microsoft OneNote has done this for _years_

Re: Gender and per-application targeting starts

Dave — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:31:12 -0000

$.50 cpm's.. you are driving down the value of the inventory

Re: First cat on Google Streetview UK - and it’s Felix from next door

Dave — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:56:56 -0000

GOOGLE CATS

http://www.sissyfight.com/wwwthreads/showflat.c...

Re: Fucked in Park Slope - Embrace the Hate. - Home - BREEDER, IS THAT YOU? [Talking To Your Kids About Sex]

Dave — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:34:01 -0000

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Re: Fucked in Park Slope - Embrace the Hate. - Home - Who Gives A Shit: Do You Think Sarah Silverman Is Funny?

Dave — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:12:55 -0000

Funny and Hot.

Re: Fucked in Park Slope - Embrace the Hate. - Home - FIPS UNDERCOVER IV: Target, Atlantic Center Mall [A Final Plea]

Dave — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:54:10 -0000

This Target sucks monkey balls.

Re: Bill Maher: Obama obsessed with being on TV

Dave — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:38:15 -0000

I love when people compare FedEx/UPS with the USPS... apples and oranges. And the part about doing it for less and being profitable... lie. FedEx/UPS are both posting double digit losses these days.

Re: Conan's new stage looks like Super Mario

Dave — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:05:21 -0000

ehhhhh

Re: This is a demo post

Dave — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:27:48 -0000

hello you

Re: Dell's new Z: I am throwing away my Mac when this comes out:

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:58:52 -0000

Wow is that ugly.

Re: 8-Word Search Queries Up 34,000% in Last 5 Years!

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:35:20 -0000

34,000% of 0 is 0.

Re: George Lucas Announces Two More Star Wars Movies

Dave — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:38:18 -0000

Yub nub, eee chop yub nub,
toe meet toe pee chee keene, g'noop dock fling oh ah.
Yah wah, eee chop yah wah,
toe meet toe pee chee keene, g'noop dock fling oh ah
Coat ee chah tu yub nub,
Coat ee chah tu yah wah,
Coat ee chah tu glo wah.
allay loo ta nuv
Glo wah, eee chop glo wah, ya glo wah pee chu nee foam,
ah toot dee awe goon daa.
Coat ee cha tu goo (Yub nub!)
coat ee cha tu doo (Yah wah!)
coat ee cha tu too (ya chaa!)
allay loo tu nuv (3 times)
Glo wah, eee chop glo wah.
Ya glow wah pee chu nee foam,
ah toot dee awe goon daa
allay loo tu nuv.

Re: The Joker Revealed

Dave — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:48:08 -0000

If you got to the ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com it says page not found but if you highlight it. It says "ha ha" all over the page. And if you look closely letters mixed into the "ha ha"s spell out see you in december.

Re: Indiana Jones 4 Movie Reviews

Dave — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:55:01 -0000

What a shock - the people you'd expect to like it do (Harry Knowles, Ebert, people with close ties to the industry) and the people not tied to the industry are giving honest critiques. You don't need to be a critic to see for yourself that this looks like crap.

It's never a good thing when a movie refers to previous entries in the franchise, and without IJ 1,2, and 3, this movie would never have been made. A movie should be able to stand on it's own, and IJKCS isn't such a movie.

Enough with the money-grubbing sequels, Spielberg, Lucas, et al - put you minds to work on something original for a change.

Re: A Handy User’s Guide to the Academy’s New Best Picture Voting Rules

Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:40:28 -0000

Yup... this is the way we vote in our Government in Australia. It seems to have been working well enough here for quite a while.

Re: The Sun Is The Center Of The Universe (And The Hottest Star, Too)

Dave — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:46:35 -0000

Re: Court to seize Count Me In assets, Drayton calls it a 'sad day'

Dave — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:47:00 -0000

investigate the Ramp connection. I am sure CMI did not have any "assets".

This is what we have attorneys for... not suing McDonalds for having hot coffee

Re: This weekend: LinuxFest NW

Dave — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:00 -0000

Their numbers never have,Dave. Microsoft often quotes their sales figures of servers vs Linux sales figures of servers yet for the longets time people would often purchase and install their own Linux distro. Meaning those Windows servers were never used.

Netbooks are moving to ARMS anyway, Dave, and Microsoft doesn't work with the ARM processor. Though they dominate the market now, Google and Apple who work with ARMs and are Linux or BSD/Unix based will soon turn that around.

Do not worry Dave. All 800 lb gorilla's consume all resources around them and get fat and lazy until they can no longer move. That's when they are ripe for harvesting.

Re: List of Cracked iPhone Games and Applications

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:13:36 -0000

Hi there

I have a problem with moleskinery+ 1.2, the settings not appear and I can't setup google docs... any ideas?

Re: Wages at Wal-Mart

Dave — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 02:00:00 -0000

Political pressure and coercion may be the primary reasons for Wal-Mart's stance. Here's another possible explanation, although it begs the question of why Wal-Mart didn't back this policy before now (were they waiting for a Democrat to be in office?). Another point which may be relevant is that Wal-Mart has a pharmacy business, and more insured workers means more potential business.

Certainly an interesting change of heart.

Re: Wages at Wal-Mart

Dave — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 02:00:00 -0000

Ha, whatever... I'll just concede! Thanks for pointing it out, Billy.

Re: David Henderson on Robert Frank

Dave — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:09:37 -0000

The tragedy of the commons occurs when no one owns the resource: thus the word "commons." But those who hire hedgefund managers own their resources, so one would not expect overinvestment in being the manager.

Wow. This guy's an economist? In the tragedy of the commons, the "commons" refers to pasture that is being grazed. The animals that graze it are privately owned. In the hedgefund analogy, the managers are the animals, and the exploitable market opportunities are the pasture (or so Frank implies).

Re: Should Americans Worry That Foreigners Hold Lots of Dollar Assets?

Dave — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:08:13 -0000

This sounds like a case of "ignoring sunk benefits." We shouldn't embrace a potential problem just because we have benefited in the past.

It is similar to saying, "I found a $100 bill on the street yesterday, so I shouldn't care about losing a $20 bill today." Two days ago, I'd be happy to find $100 and then lose $20. But given that I already found the $100 bill, if I lose some money later today, I will be worse off.

Re: Stimulie, I

Dave — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:42:58 -0000

I agree that the example conversation is unrealistic. You really expect the same Americans who are running themselves into bankruptcy with debt can comprehend that the government will have to recoup this money later?

Having said that, I agree that people are unlikely to spend one-time windfalls (because it only raises their long term means by the interest of the money gained). So I'd expect it to either be saved or used to pay down debt. My biggest problem is with calling them "stimulus" plans instead being more honest that they are wealth transfers to help keep lower income households above water.

Re: More on debt

Dave — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:37:42 -0000

Look at the line called Goods and Services. Flat. That's trying to measure people living beyond their means, using debt to buy furniture, food and so on.

Actually, the percent of debt on Goods and Services is flat. If the inflation adjusted amount of debt has increased by 151%, and the percentage of that debt used on Goods and Services is flat, then the inflation adjusted level of debt used toward Goods and Services has risen by about 151%, right?

Re: Bear Stearns debacle

Dave — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:28:14 -0000

Why no mention of Bear's bond holders? Bear's leverage ratio was 33:1. Seems like they were the real winners of the bailout. Shareholders lost a lot of their value, but these loose lenders will retain most of theirs. Despite being first in line for Bear's assets, they were worried that that the deal wouldn't go through.

Re: Measuring inequality (with contest results)

Dave — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:28:28 -0000

Charlie, the divorce rate may be declining, but a smaller percentage of adults are getting married in the first place. So, the point that fewer adults are cohabiting, which is what is relevant here, could still be valid, even if it wasn't phrased correctly.

This is the link cited in the comments at MR for data.

Re: Cassidy on the meltdown

Dave — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:57:09 -0000

LowcountryJoe,

The total money supply is dependent on two things: the monetary base, and expansion via credit. The Fed directly influences the monetary base, typically through buying and selling government securities.

Fractional reserve banking allows banks to lend out most of its deposits. The money lent is used to create new deposits, where most of it can be lent out further, and so on. This process allows expansion of the monetary base, and accounts for most of the money supply.

Right now, we're in a credit crunch. If credit is contracting and the monetary base remains the same, the money supply will shrink, and by Friedman's logic, deflation will ensue. The Fed is trying to combat a decreasing money multiplier by expanding the monetary base. Skeptics refer to this as "pushing on a string."

Notice that what I described before about the Fed's influence on the monetary base is different than simply printing money. In theory, if the monetary base is expanded too much and credit recovers, the Fed would be able to fight the ensuing inflation by selling the government securities on its balance sheet to "soak up" the excess liquidity and reduce the monetary base. The danger this time around is that the Fed's balance sheet has become full of illiquid, lower quality assets which may hinder its ability to reign in the monetary base in the future, resulting in hyperinflation. The other fear is that the US government will take on enormous amounts of debt in fighting the current crisis and that its borrowing costs will increase in the future, in which case it will monetize the debt by simply printing money, which would also be inflationary.

That's how I understand it, anyway. I'd recommend checking out wikipedia's entries on money creation, money supply, and fractional reserve banking.

Re: Finally, someone noticed

Dave — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:55:28 -0000

This is the best explanation of the housing boom. It lays out a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the Fed's policy and the decline in lending standards.

Of the four factors you list, I believe that the GSEs had a significant but smaller role, and the CRA played a relatively minor role (why did some countries in Europe experience housing bubbles of similar or even worse proportions with no CRA in place?). The capital gains tax change got the ball rolling, but the Fed dropping its rates accelerated the bubble and had the biggest impact as my first link explains.

Re: Finally, someone noticed

Dave — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:05:29 -0000

I'd just like to add to my original comment that another piece of the puzzle is the role of regulatory arbitrage in raising the demand for mortgage securitization. The ritholtz link I provided is good explanation for the increased supply of risky mortgages. Kling helps fill in the blanks on the demand side.

This was enabled by ratings agencies, which are protected by the government as "Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations" helped to encourage demand by lowering their criteria for AAA ratings in order to gain business of securities issuers. Also, other lazy investors who relied the ratings (b/c of the trust granted them by the government) would've also led to increased demand.

Re: Finally, someone noticed

Dave — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:17:38 -0000

John,

The link I presented above isn't quite the standard Austrian argument, but still implicates the Fed, by showing the low rates, in my view, as an enabler of the principal-agent problem.

Here's the relevant quote:

After the Greenspan Fed took rates down to ultra-low levels, home prices began to levitate. More and more mortgages were being securitized — purchased by Wall Street, and repackaged into other forms of bond-like paper. The low rates spurred demand for this higher yielding, triple AAA rated, asset-backed paper.

In this ultra-low rate environment, where prices were appreciating, and most mortgages were being securitized, all that mattered to the mortgage originator was that a BORROWER NOT DEFAULT FOR 90 DAYS (some contracts were 6 Months). The contracts between the firms that originated mortgages and the Wall Street firms that securitized them had explicit warranties. The mortgage seller guaranteed to the mortgage bundle buyer (underwriter) that payments were current, the mortgage holders were valid, and that the loan would not default for 90 or 180 days.

So long as the mortgage did not default in that period of time, it could not be "put back" to the originator. A salesman or mortgage business would only lose their fee if the borrower defaulted within that 3 or 6 month contractually specified period. Indeed, a default gave the buyer the right to return the mortgage and charge back the lender the full purchase price.

What do rational, profit-maximizers do? They put people in houses that would not default in 90 days — and the easiest way to do that were the 2/28 ARM mortgages. Cheap teaser rates for 24 months, then the big reset. Once the reset occurred 24 months later, it was long off the books of the mortgage originators — by then, it was Wall Street’s problem.

Also see his explanation for the earlier part of the bubble in his reply to a comment here. The relevant quote:

[...]you had the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 — that dropped cap gains to 20% from 28%, and exempt the first $500,000 for married couples selling house (allowable once every two years).

Around that time, guess what else was going on? The stock market boom and tech dot com bubble put ALOT of money in people’s hands in 1997, 98, 99 and even 2000. I had many discussions with clients, real estate agents and traders about rotating money from equities into Houses back then.

Re: Finally, someone noticed

Dave — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:41:14 -0000

John,

The Fed funds rate has been used to control nominal short term interest rates quite effectively in recent history. The Fed has less influence on long term rates. The ARMs that inflated the bubble had low teaser rates enabled by the Fed's easy money policies. Greenspan's defense has been that the Fed doesn't control long term rates. But the use of ARM teaser rates were dependent on short term rates.

Henri,

I'm not sure why you are skeptical that there was a severe housing bubble. Even in the graph you provide, there is a clear break from the historical trend. Try establishing the trend from 1940 through 1990 or 2000 and then comparing it to the growth in prices from 2000 to 2005/2006 (also try using inflation adjusted home prices). Even in your linked graph, you can see that prices rose from about $120K to $180 in 7 years (a 50% increase). The previous 50% increase started between 1970 (~62K) and 1980 (~97K). For the sake of argument, we'll say that the price hit $80K around 1975. That means that there was a 50% increase from about 1975 to 2000 (a span of ~25 years), and then a subsequent 50% increase from 2000 to 2007 (a span of 7 years). That seems like quite an acceleration during a time of relatively mild inflation.

Re: An Inauguration Day Thought

Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:01:44 -0000

I'd love to hear the Cafe's thoughts on Structural Libertarianism vs Policy Libertarianism.

It seems to me that a reduction of political power is unlikely without structural changes because politicians are reluctant to voluntarily reduce their own power, and most voters seem to have collectivist tendencies and think that it's the government's job to "protect" them in many facets of life and therefore want to grant them power. So how would you propose to go about this structural change in a peaceful manner?

Stating that the government should have less power is an idea that appeals to me and many of your readers. But a more useful conversation is: how do we get from A to B?

Re: Here comes inflation

Dave — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:56:31 -0000

I too worry about high inflation eventually. I certainly do not know for sure, but I suspect that rampant inflation will not return for awhile though, based on the experience of other popped asset and credit bubbles.

Here are long term rates during debt deflations of the past. They tend to continue their downward trend for quite some time, indicating that inflation was not problematic. Of course, this time could be different, and politicians seem hellbent on throwing money at our problems, which may lead to monetizing our public debt, but I also suspect that credit still has much farther to contract and won't recover anytime soon, providing downward pressure on prices for at least a few years.

Long story short, I wouldn't expect that a 5-year forward-looking inflation indicator to pop up too high anytime soon, although this time might be different.

Re: Calling all extremely ardent libertarians

Dave — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:40:26 -0000

"The government has now extended $400 billion or roughly $4000 per household to keep Fannie and Freddie afloat."

That stat might be mathematically correct, but we all know that the direct costs of this will be paid mostly by future high income taxpayers. That's why most of the public goes along with this nonsense.

Re: Understanding what happened

Dave — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:17:39 -0000

I'd be interested in hearing his take on the role of the GSEs. Was their participation a primary cause of the housing bubble/financial crisis? Were they leaders or followers in chasing low quality mortgages for securitization? Did they crowd out the role that non-GSE firms would filled anyway? How was their implicit government backing a factor? Basically, how does he view their marginal impact on the crisis? Thanks.

Re: Why macro is nonsense

Dave — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:22:05 -0000

Here is a good example of the latter type of storytelling, which is nonsense:

It’s no longer “sell the collapse” but much more “buy the dips”; this is the essential ingredient needed to stave off bank runs and to keep markets from spiraling downward in self-fulfilling collapse.

How did the Obama team pull this off? In part, it was with the huge fiscal stimulus enacted in February. While increased government spending feeds through into the economy only slowly, the big push to spend demonstrated that the government was willing to borrow heavily to offset any likely fall in spending by households and firms. This in turn reassured everyone that the economy could not decline too far or too fast.

Re: Cloverfield and 2 Alternate Endings coming to DVD

Dave — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:09:12 -0000

Rumor has it that there will be a Blue-Ray edition a few months after the regular edition. This was originaly made for HD but since they folded there isn't enough time to have it ready for Blue-Ray. I've read it could be two to three months after the release date.

Re: Tropic Thunder Trailer

Dave — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:54:21 -0000

The trailer explains that his character goes "over the top" and gets surgery to become the "token" black guy for the film. Looks to be a funny movie.

Re: How long is too long for a sequel?

Dave — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:42:50 -0000

Money is more or less the reason sequels are made. The studio sees the green "$" signs that are made from the first movie and always try to get more money for the bang with a second one. However some sequels aer made that should never have been made.

"Clerks 2" is a good example of a movie that was not needed. BUT Kevin Smith made it to wash away the bad taste that was "Jersey Girl" and try to restore faith into his fans. To be honest some if not all of his Clerk like films weren't that great and after time are very dated to the pop-culture references made.

However on the other side you have the James Bond series that has been going strong for a while. The recent reboot brought the series back to the gritty image that Bond is about. He wasn't a ladies man like the 80's and 90's made him.

To comment on your post I'd say it all depends on the movie and the plot. For the Terminate franchise the break in years helped with the story and allowed the actors to grow with their characters. However the "Matrix" series were ruined due to ego and poor scripts for the second two.

We'll all leave the "Highlander" movies out of this as there should have only been one.

Re: Rolling Stones ‘Shine a light’ press conference

Dave — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:31:23 -0000

Stones are over rated if you ask me. Yeah they have some good songs and have been around forever but they weren't the best of their time.

Re: 21 Movie Review

Dave — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:49:11 -0000

I actually thought it was a fair movie that never knew what kind of movie it wanted to be. Yeah it was based on the novel which was based on real life facts. But the way the story played out on screen made me want to scratch my head and figure out what the director was aiming for. Was it a Teen College flick? Seemed that way with Ben and his friends at the gym and at the bar. Was it a heist flick? Seemed that way with all the money they were winning at the various hotels. Was it a buddy picture? Seemed that way with Lawarence Fishburn's character and his assistant. Was it a drama? Seemed that way with Ben's delema of getting enough money to go to Harvard Medical. All in all they never gave us a clear enough picture to figure out what was the main goal of the story telling.

Now for the movie. The acting was mediocre. Spacey and Bosworth were the only two that knew how to act. The rest were just wooden and plain or playing sterotype characters that were easy to play. The subplot of Mickey's past and how it connected to Cole's past seemed forced, almost as if it was an afterthought and a way to connect the two characters.

I will say the Las Vegas scenes did capture the "fast-time high-rolling flavor of the city that never sleeps cause it's hopped up on caffine pills and beer all the time" vibe to it. Anything outside of Vegas, to me, was a Lifetime movie of the week.

Bottom line...rent it on DVD or wait till TNT airs it one weekend. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

-Plus 1

Re: New Hellboy 2 trailer

Dave — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:21:36 -0000

Looks good. Liked the first one and can't wait to see this in July.

Re: Indiana Jones is over 2 hours long (who cares!?!)

Dave — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:52:31 -0000

The movie will only seem long if there are dead spots in plot and action. Otherwise I don't see a problem. The original three were all close to if not over the 2 hour mark. The only one that will care are the Theatre owners as they can get more runs per day if the run time is low. Those high run times screw up the scheduel...BUT they will have it on four or five screens so it will make up the money difference.

Re: The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP

Dave — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:26:50 -0000

Great tips and great links. For anyone getting to grips with Windows, this is a brilliant starting point +++++++

Re: Broncos survive Bengals, elements

Dave — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 12:47:38 -0000

Speaking as a Cincinnati fan Cutler looked pretty good. Overall what you were treated to was watching our totally undisciplined team (both on the field and off) implode. How many teams have 3 penalties that either give you the ball or allow you to keep it longer and have success? Not to mention the penalty on the TD that was called back and the off sides on the kick off. It would be very easy to tell ourselves that the officiating was to blame. However, any real Bengal fan knows that really wasn't the case. Until someone in the organization demands discipline off the field, we will have to expect more of this garbage on the field.

Congrats to the Broncos on a win. You took advantage of all that was given to you and that is what good teams do.

Re: viral marketing

Dave — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:20:43 -0000

The music was awful.

Re: iPhone App Ported to Zune HD in 12 Hours [Video]

Dave — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:57:37 -0000

xna apps/games are pretty easy to develop but a proper native SDK would be better.

Re: Looking in the Mirror

Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:21:08 -0000

I don't think any libertarian is obligated to pass up the best opportunities available to him or her in the current state of the world, no matter how they arise. An individual has to live in current landscape with limited power to change it significantly alone. As long as the libertarian does not ask for special treatment while advocating for a reduction in government interference, I see no hypocrisy even while that libertarian is making use of public goods, services, or jobs. This is particularly true if the government good, service, or job is crowding out private sector rivals.

Re: A Chat With Jane At The Carousel Opening

Dave — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:01:52 -0000

When will it be said that this blog is run by Two Trees?

Re: OnLive to start Cloud Gaming Service

Dave — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:45:15 -0000

This idea is made of lag fail.

Re: OnLive to start Cloud Gaming Service

Dave — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:52:44 -0000

Oh here is a nice article explaining why. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/gdc-why-onliv...

Re: OnLive to start Cloud Gaming Service

Dave — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:58:56 -0000

Oh and one more thing. If this system was the defacto way of playing games now, and someone came along and offered you a guaranteed no lag, higher definition always on way of gaming, such as a 'console' in your own home.....most gamers would jump at the chance.

Re: Just 57% of US Residents See Evidence of Global Warming & 23% Know About Cap-and-Trade

Dave — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:15:19 -0000

I think it's not so much distrust of scientists as it is a consequence of the pervasive anti-intellectualism in US culture. In other words, this is a symptom of the disease rather than the disease itself. Creationism and anti-vaccine movements are other symptoms of this growing trend. Opinion is increasingly valued over objective, demonstrable reality, and my belief is that the majority of people using that value system will need to experience significant hardship before owning up to the idiocy of their ways.

Re: Amarok 1.4 in Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04)

Dave — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:49:00 -0000

Thanks!

Not only did Amarok 2 not bring in my playlists automatically, it wouldn't let me load them in manually. Or, at least it was impossible to figure out within the interface how to do it.

And that's just my static playlists. God only knows what one needs to do to bring in all the dynamic playlists I had.

Amarok 2 needs some serious rethinking to get back to the greatness of Amarok 1.4.

Thanks so much for letting me get back to 1.4. It's like stepping into a warm bath.

Re: http://disqus.com/preview/

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:21:16 -0000

This is a test

Re: Christuraja 2000 - 101 Best Websites

Dave — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:16:03 -0000

Nice Site!

Re: Chart of the year

Dave — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:03:01 -0000

I had been worried about this situation, but it seems that the industry is intent on a prepayment plan and does not want to be seen as receiving a bailout from the Treasury. Normally, I'd be skeptical of such a claim, but it makes sense: the FDIC protects them from bank runs, so they do not want a populist movement against it. Of course, the Treasury is still the ultimate backstop, so the possibility for a taxpayer bailout always exists in the event of a catastrophe much bigger than what they are expecting now... I'm not trying to defend the FDIC, just hoping to help clear up what's likely to happen in the near term.

Re: Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex – A Designer & Developer makes the switch

Dave — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:33:36 -0000

Quanta Plus is the closest thing to Dreamweaver.
It is a great tool but needs a bit of updating.

You should really consider XP in VirtualBox, it will run Photoshop/IE/etc with none of the problems of WINE. You can even run it seamless mode if you realllly want.

Re: Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex – A Designer & Developer makes the switch

Dave — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:36:34 -0000

I also have XP and Ubuntu dual boot but cant remember the last time I booted back to XP. VirtualBox does 99% of what I need. The only thing missing is full on 3D support, for which I have to boot up XP.

XP was the best operating system of its time but that time is long gone.
Kudos for moving to Ubuntu, it can be painful at first but after 6 months you'll never look back. Windows is so archaic and outdated in comparison that it makes me nauseous thinking of being stuck with it.

Re: Recalculating

Dave — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:49:42 -0000

Mish had an excellent rebuttal to Krugman's Hangover Theorists post (linked to in the quote above). Highly recommended.

Re: A&E Television To Acquire Lifetime

Dave — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:21:20 -0000

The consolidation continues.

Re: What If Apple Blocks Spotify's iPhone App?

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:44:23 -0000

Apple has already okayed imeem on the app store, which is an on-demand streaming platform -- unlike Pandora and Last.fm -- so there is no reason Spotify won't be approved too. (come on, again, more research pls Paidcontent).
most of the Apple staff use Spotify themselves, so there's a natural fanbase built into the company.

Re: What If Apple Blocks Spotify's iPhone App?

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:07:37 -0000

Staci, what Apple may or may not have done in video is conflating the issue. this is about music, and there seems to be a perpetuation of a myth that Apple is anti-Spotify -- with no evidence so far of Apple having ever sought to limit free streaming music services via the app store, nor they ever having viewed free music streaming as a direct competition to the iTunes Store (which frankly has a very different USP and business model).

I appreciate blogs are meant to be provocative with their headlines - but this 'what if' scenario is about as newsworthy as 'what if the moon was the sun?' - neither Apple's strategy in music, justifies any of the frankly weak arguments being perpetuated. Robert Andrews is seriously clutching at straws with the argument I've pasted below -- which tries to very clumsily use the Apple objection to NIN's profanity as some kind of obscure reason why they would object to Spotify (this argument makes no sense). for the same reason of profanity, they could have blocked imeem, but they haven't.

"but itâs been treading forward awkwardly, once banning the Nine Inch Nails app for containing a link to a song with profanity. Even if Apple were unconcerned by any cannibalisation threat, if it applied the same logic as that, it would block Spotifyâs app for offering access to the hundreds of tracks out there with sweary lyrics."

Re: LA Beer Festival- April 4th and 5th

Dave — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:04:35 -0000

$40 for only 3hrs in the middle of the day? That is a misprint right?

Re: All hail Sir David and the BBC

Dave — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:08:57 -0000

precedent not presidents

Re: A Grave With No Name – Silver

Dave — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:55:41 -0000

whoever chosses the music for these posts is the fucking don. Every one is a gem.

Re: Zune HD Screen Flicker

Dave — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:54:49 -0000

mine flickers like this too. I only really notice it on white pages and it seems to happen when loading data.

Re: http://disqus.com/preview/

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:20:46 -0000

This should hopefully post