Friday, August 10. 2007
The wacky markets are losing a lot of money for some of the hedgies, and making a lot of money for others. It isn't the quant funds per se, it's the funds that do a lot of leveraged stat arb that are suffering from the market divergences. Some quant funds are doing great right now. But when a fund is down 15% in five days, people take their money out, and the overall market dips. Watch 2-3 big hedge funds shut their doors. I would be an equity buyer now, if I had some loose pennies, and I would shed no tears for the hedgies on the losing side of all of this: they (properly but unluckily) had a high risk strategery (aka gambling), which is what they are paid to have.
Thursday, August 9. 2007
 This will be a quiet weekend at the Farm, with most of us away from our keyboards. I am leaving tonight for Rhode Island for a three-day sail around The Islands, and I know Bird Dog will be away too. Hoping to stop by Cuttyhunk again, and hoping to find the mermaid in the photo somewhere in the harbor - if she isn't one of Theo's girlfriends.
Refusal to gloat about the Kos story. I will not gloat about the greedy Lefties. I will not gloat about the greedy Lefties. I will not... The UK's new official religion: Islam. Insult it, and you will be beheaded arrested. When is it OK to break the law? Wizbang Wisconsin tries universal health care. Good luck. Attack Machine If Al Gore had been elected. A thoughtful thought experiment from Assistant Village Idiot Bush gets it exactly right on bridges. The AP gets rough with The New Republic Pushing back against PC: Dust my Broom and Classical Values More on that study about how diversity is bad for people. Globe. Is Hillary "Clean for Gene"? Driscoll Gun nuts are right. Alphecca Why do polls show pessimism about a Goldilocks economy? Betsy Girls gone mild? Bummer. What fun is a girl with self respect? NOAA doesn't want you to know how they get their temperature data. I suspect they don't want further embarassment of people finding their thermometers on asphalt parking lots and next to A/C exhaust vents. Many more details from Ace. And Coyote explains it all in depth. Warmest recent year? 1934. They made a math mistake. And regarding that so-called bogus claim that people are being paid by Big Corn, Big Coal, Big Wind, Big Oil, Big Electricity, Big Car, and Big Peanut to be climate deniers - it's true. I don't know where it comes from, but every time we write a piece skeptical about climate change or whatever it's called, we receive, in the mail, $10,000 in cash. Ten 1000 dollar bills in a bank wrapper, with no return address on the brown envelope with a DC postmark. It's only right that we should come clean about this to our readers because our integrity is important to us. We assure our readers that this has no effect on our writings whatsoever. We have never asked, but we assume other bloggers get the same envelope and are just waiting for the right moment to mention it.
Preventive health care to save costs? An absurd idea, on the face of it. Unless we invent a form of healthy immortality, your terminal illness will cost about the same whether you die of colon cancer at 50 or heart disease at 80. Everyone gets sick and dies. The only reason to try to take care of yourself is for your own participation in, and enjoyment of, life. Since something like 70% of all medical care costs are in the last 12 months of life, the best way to cut costs is to euthanize folks when they get sick - as they do in nations with socialized medicine via waiting lists rather than saying directly what they are doing. Better yet, just abort them before they have a chance get sick. The "soul deadening effects of war." Yes indeed, war does seem to have a soul-destroying effect on the media. The soldiers, on the other hand, generally seem to handle it fairly well. Upside-down world. Brit homeowner could face life sentence. In the UK, I believe that one must offer tea to a home invader. Grading, when we were young: A: 95-100
B: 88-94
C: 80-87
D: 70-79
F: Below 70
Wednesday, August 8. 2007
 Heck, I'd pay not to read Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd. Times to drop Times Select
What is it about Wagner? TimesOnline I don't watch these candidate debates, but my take on the Repubs is not too far from Willisms' As you may know, it is a felony to practice private medicine in Canada. But Quebec's top court has now struck down that ban, which could rescue Canadian docs from serfdom. h/t, Dr. Bob. Watch the govt try to put a five-year hold on that decision. New tree ring data: normal climate fluctuation (h/t, Flares) How to pass a class in high school in NYC My excellent adventure at Yearly Kos. Rick Moran 16% of the American economy is related to medical care. That % is expected to go higher. Will people go for socializing 16% of the economy? They might, if they think it's a free lunch. h/t, Mankiw. My view is that if the Dems were a bit craftier, and less ideological, they could propose to make Medicare available to everyone who wants to sign up. It would be a budget-buster.
Tuesday, August 7. 2007
 Walking is bad for Gaia. Driving is better. No need to even try to satirize the warming movement: it satirizes itself.
Hillary Clinton's "experience." What experience? We missed this April piece by Dick Morris from The Hill. As we have asked before, What has she ever run? What has she ever done? Erik von Markovic: Master Seducer. I need this guy's book. Tom Wolfe on the Hedgies: Pirate Poseurs and Twinkie Wives. Modern Scouting in Dorset. Pitiful. Sounds like a program designed to turn men into Victorian girls mice. The critics and Jon Swift on Antonioni and Bergman. Lots of good news from Iraq that we aren't being told. This bit has been passed all around, but we found it first at Synthstuff. The Ask What Your Country Can Do For You Department: Here's a candidate who has a different view: “Government cannot take care of you. You’ve got to take care of yourself.” He said the marketplace, not the government “nanny state,” needs to do the work of fixing the nation’s health care problems. He said that “We’ve got to solve our health care problem with American principles, not the principles of socialism.”… “Americans believe in free-market solutions to the challenges we face, and I believe we can reduce costs, expand access to, and improve the quality of health care by increasing competition. America’s health care system is being dragged down by decades of government-imposed mandates and wasteful, unaccountable bureaucracy.”… “I don’t care what Michael Moore says in his movie,” he said. “I’ve never had anybody ask me for help to get into a Cuban hospital or a Canadian hospital or an English hospital. They all want to come to America. So let’s take what’s right about our system and let’s improve it.”
Monday, August 6. 2007
 It is my honor today to announce the MFBA winners for the blogs with the most interesting images and photography. Our editor and staff have voted unanimously this year.
Best Totty on a Non-Porn Blog: Theo Spark Best Historic Photographs of Real Life: Sippican Cottage Best Old Photos, General Category: Dr. X Best Images of British Military History: Free Market Fair Tales Congratulations to our winners, who we expect will wear their readily-recognizable MFBA medal proudly if and when they ever leave the house.
 How was my three-day AT hiking and camping trip? Wonderful. Gets cold up there at night. Only problems are that, between foot blisters and aching legs, I can hardly walk to the fridge. I think my life is too sedentary except during partridge season. Oh - I almost forgot the nice combination of sunburn and bug bites.
I missed this post by Taranto on Friday. It's almost like the Carnival of Insanities. No Looking Backwards' quote of the year: “CAIR can go to Hell and they can take their 72 virgins with them.” Read the lawyer's letter at Michelle. Silicon Valley update, from Never Yet Melted: “You’re nobody here at $10 million,” Mr. Kremen said earnestly over a glass of pinot noir at an upscale wine bar here. …
Money never protected anyone from being a total a-hole. I do, however, like Buddy's comment on this post: "You're nobody around here with $10, Mr. Kremen said earnestly over a grape soda at an upscale bait shop here..."
Sunday, August 5. 2007
Two excellent links from readers: US Forest fires, mapped and updated. You can click on each fire and learn the details. I wonder how that map compares with past summers. Montana and Idaho look rough. Mark Steyn implies that the media covers up for Saudi jihad-supporters.
Postcards of the hanging. Iran increasing numbers of public hangings. Jim Cramer is emotional about the need for a Fed rate cut. Core inflation is not a problem at present, home prices are falling fast in many regions - so why not? A good question about the autonomy of localities in dealing with illegals, from Wizbang. Lack of sunshine gives you breast cancer. Look how the AP characterizes Sarkozy. Did you read about Rep. Nancy Boyda? Reminds me of a kid plugging his ears and yelling "lalalalala" so as not to hear something he doesn't want to hear. Maybe doctors will begin growing some real ones. The Lucidicus Project. Militant Presbyterians charged with murder of Oakland reporter. The new Tacoma Narrows Bridge photo update. The 2007 Chap Olympics. Free Market Fairy Tales Department of Useful Idiots. Chavez and Sean Penn. Mutual exploitation. The Cap and Trade allowances market, at The Economist. Not exactly a thriving market yet, but the whole thing is pointless anyway, I believe. When visiting Dubai, make sure you don't have even a microscopic amount of pot with you...or even in your bloodstream. Should one bring one's faith to work? If so, how?
Saturday, August 4. 2007
A beautiful Tommy Makem solo. RIP to a fellow who brought so much Irish delight to the earth. Watch somebody try to say that this Army report on the TNR story is a "coverup." Love potion #9. Is love a mental illness? Is there a double standard for anger in the workplace? The women of the X Games. Kos says he will purge the Dem Party. Who is this guy, and why does anyone listen to him? Dems are anti-Semitic, says Kesler. Quoted by Tony Blankley in a piece at Never Yet Melted: On June 25, the following resolution was tabled in the House: “That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the Armed Forces, in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction of the war.” That would be June 25, 1942. The House would be the House of Commons in London, England. And the government in which no confidence was expressed was that of Winston Churchill.
Friday, August 3. 2007
 Sarkozy to vacation in New Hampshire. Good choice. Our News Junkie is up there right now, humping his way up Mount Moosilauke, upon which dwells the sacred spirit of Dartmouth College.
Armed robots on patrol in Iraq. Brits nix pain meds. Not "cost effective." Neither is life itself cost-effective after 70. God spare us such insanity. Photo: South peak of Mt. Moosilauke
 Camping this weekend on the AT in NH. Leaving now, without camera or anything with weight. Bringing buns for toasting though (toasting buns photo via Theo). Wish Theo could join us.
Who do we want in charge of medical care? A good piece on why the SCHIP is a bad idea (h/t, No Left Turns). I guess I just don't care about children, right? Interestingly, polls show Americans don't want to give up their medical freedom... as they have done in the UK, where docs owe their loyalty to the government, not the patient, as in this horrible example of organ-stealing. I thought grave robbing was against the law. The Death of Sweden. Brussels Journal. A sad story about a suicidal nation. I guess there has always been a lot of depression and self-loathing in Sweden anyway. Meet Dr. Mohammed Ahmedna - he is the guy who will save peanuts! More on talk radio and the Fairness Doctrine. Does anyone really want that Fairness Doctrine back? And is it even constitutional? TCS. (h/t, Insty) In NYS, Bruno and Cuomo are now gunning for Spitzer. As well they should. Imports beat American cars for the first time. Viking. Well, we still make better wine than the Japanese. The attempted Russki "land" grab in the Arctic. I guess we have to accept that this is just what Russians do. Who wants protectionism "to protect jobs"? Dems supported by unions, that's who. Protectionism damages the American economy and damages the American consumer. Is that too subtle for Americans to understand? As Coyote says, "Stop right there or I will shoot myself." The Euroland Left is moving towards the center, while the American Left is moving further to the left. Europe has already hit the rocks,, but the American Left still hears the syren's call. What does Africa need? Business schools!
Thursday, August 2. 2007
 Yes, it was spooky that we posted the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse video yesterday.
Sympathy for Hitler, in the UK? This could be a dubious news item. Westerners claim federal rules make wildfires worse. I have no problem with wildfires anyway. They are natural and necessary. Finding relatives lost in institutions "Promoting Diversity and Love with an iron fist", from Hot Air, via Dust My Broom: Hate ought not be a crime. It’s an emotion. Hate can lead to crimes, but so can many other emotions and attitudes that we haven’t (yet) criminalized. Greed, envy, lust, jealousy — all of these can lead to crimes just as often, if not more often, than hate does. Are we going to criminalize all of them, too?
Farming the government. Factory farming and federal subsidies. View from 1776 Fun with Chomsky. Attack Machine Is Iraq ready for self-governance? Rick Moran is fed up. LaShawn says that the fight against voter ID shows contempt for blacks. Where I vote, you have to show an ID with an address.
Wednesday, August 1. 2007
Don't be a victim! The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation (h/t, reader) Filson's semi-annual sale. Germany encourages incest? Is this for real? Right Wing News A mind is a terrible thing to lose. "Tillson executed." I learned in college that paranoia was about projection. Dems scramble to restore NSA eavesdropping ability Don't get kidnapped in Venezuela. The reasons here. In praise of Wendell Berry Journalists don't want to believe that they are part of an industry. Prof Bainbridge Even Rolling Stone editorializes against ethanol as fuel. Viking Antonioni: Here's one obit, via piece at Never Yet Melted. Here's his wiki entry Canada's nightmare health system. Kids take on the Lunch Lady Losing hope for the Korean hostages.
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