patrick.net

I thought ninjas are just hired assassins, in this case, we can only assume NINJAs are out to kill our economy.

Q: Were NINJAs hired by Al Qaeda to kill our wrong God/Godless economy?

Japanese knives are very light and very sharp. The downside is that they tend to be more fragile and may be harder to sharpen. You'll need at least a Chinese made cleaver (high carbon steel please) around to do the heavy work.

Anyone here own Kyocera ceramic vegetable peeler? Amazon has some for under $20, which seems like a good deal if they stay sharp for very long.

astrid:

I think you must be right.

We could ask Quentin Tarantino... ;o)

Btw, my wife recently chose the "J.A Henckels" 13 piece knife set for her 15 year company gift. They arrived last Friday and we noticed several "blems". The block had "short shots" in the coating and you could see the seams where it was splined together. The handles didn't feel all that solid and then we noticed the dreaded "Made in China" label.

What a great 15 year gift! (What kind of message are they sending?) Uh... we'd out-source your job if we could but haven't figured out a way yet? Pffft, we boxed it back up and she called yesterday for the return shipping label. (I think she opted for the ladies Movado watch).

Silly DinOR, it's not too late to return that and get her a nice set of Globals for not much more.

Oh, nevermind...silly Company.

DinOR could still get her Globals or Nenoxes or if he really wants to splurge...

http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/KDSeries.html#WIDTH:%20368px;%20HEIGHT:%20258px

Anyone here own Kyocera ceramic vegetable peeler? Amazon has some for under $20, which seems like a good deal if they stay sharp for very long.

My only problem is that it looks more like a toy than a knife.

A dangerous item should look more dangerous than it is, not the other way around.

NINJA loans would be useful for people who earn incomes without ever having a job. Not necessarily black market folks (like drug dealers and prostitutes), but gray market people, like those avoiding collection on judicial judgments -- especially from marital dissolution. It's not that hard to "earn income" meaning "have things paid for" with a small businesses or two and a collaborator you can really trust, like a sibling.

RE: gray market people

I am sure they come without warranty.

Randy H Says:

> FAB http://valleywag.com/
> If you want to become an invited commenter there
> I’ll see if I can get you a password.

Thanks for the offer, but I waste enough time making fun of FBs on this site that I don’t have the time to make fun of companies that allow people to chat with cats (or pay real money for “sex” with cartoon hookers) on another site…

Randy H:

Agreed.

Still, I wonder what part money laundering played in big coastal towns' RE bubbles. And if they'll exit. Why would they?

Astrid,

Holy crap. $300-$1,000 for 1 knife? Does it cook your food for you and give you a massage after dinner too?

"Holy crap. $300-$1,000 for 1 knife? Does it cook your food for you and give you a massage after dinner too? "

I can't afford them myself so I don't know.

Though I would warn you against accepting massages from kitchen knives. That's probably not safe.

astrid,

"Now THAT's a knife!"

Actually her choices were limited to any item listed in their 4 page catalog. Normally I try not judge product quality by it's country of origin. I have a Malaysian made Fender Strat copy that I play a HELL of a lot more than my U.S made 1974 Strat so none of that really bothers me. Then again, I don't work for Fender (TM)!

I always recommend cold hard cash in place of gifts, unless I'm giving to somebody who can't tell a Cutco from a Nenox, then I buy them a set of Analon and know that'll be the best knife they ever own.

I always recommend cold hard cash in place of gifts, unless I’m giving to somebody who can’t tell a Cutco from a Nenox, then I buy them a set of Analon and know that’ll be the best knife they ever own.

We almost printed the PayPal Accepted logo on our wedding invitations.

"We "almost" printed the Pay Pal Accepted logo on our wedding invitations"

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

Too bad we didn't. The result: many wine glasses. We do not even drink.

I don’t give wedding gifts. It’s called tough love.

I always give devaluing greenbacks.

I can't say it's a direct result of NINJA Loans but now when you go to C/L for formerly "hot" markets (like Phoenix and LV) most of the RE postings are "Save your home from foreclosure" and "We buy distressed properties". And of course the inevitable "How to profit from.... distressed/foreclosed etc. etc."

Wow. What a difference from just a few months ago.

Perhaps in 2012 C/L will have postings like "Save Yourselves From Hell". ;)

For now they should just read "Save Yourselves From HEL".

Does anyone have a contact for housingtracker.net?

I really can't believe the stats published yesterday.

http://www.housingtracker.net/askingprices/metro/California/SanJose-Sunnyvale-SantaClara/

That's got to be a bug. It's got to be.

Has anyone previously suggested minting "REIC Dollars"? I mean since the REIC has basically been printing their own currency over the last several years why not let them have it? Would it be possible to insulate the broader economy from the debacle of their choosing by having RE transact in a separate (but unequal) currency?

Since most RE is easily 4 to 5 times what it should be priced at we can start them off at... 5 "REIC's" to the dollar? They're backed by the ABX and your full faith and credit in overpriced POS, but can not be exchanged for anything other than pergraniteel. That way these lame bastards can, buy! sell! trade! themselves to death without dragging the rest of us down?

How different is it really from Randy H's fantasy world over at Second Life? Why were these people ever allowed to exchange their REIC dollars for real dollars?

Just a thought.

Uh... that didn't come out right. Should read "the fantasy world Randy H exposed" at Second Life.

I really can’t believe the stats published yesterday.

Why does that bother you? Everything points to a spring bounce. Save yourselves from being priced out! :)

One thing: I suppose inventory data is immediate while median price data is lagged by at least a month. Don't you see an anomaly?

Inventory drop should precede CONTRACT price increase, right?

When I got a C in Calculus, I was so sure the data must be wrong...

Bruce Says:

> I wonder what part money laundering played in big
> coastal towns’ RE bubbles. And if they’ll exit.
> Why would they?

I was just talking to a kid I grew up with about our plans for Historic Weekend at the end of the summer and he mentioned something that I had never really thought of before.

Much if the “appreciation” in Bay Area homes over the past few years was due to the massive amount of capX that flippers put in to the homes.

Classic Car buyers and sellers keep track of “restoration” cost (so the guy that owns an old unrestored Camaro will not ask $30K just because some restored Camaros sold for $30K)

In the past it was not possible to “flip” a home and make any money (people used to fix up homes after they bought them and sell when they were worn out), but over the past few years the people with older crappy unrenovated homes are asking as much as the “area comps” that may have been ripped down to the studs and have all new electrical, plumbing and fixtures…

FAB,

Sound as Barrett-Jackson Dollar!

Why does that bother you? Everything points to a spring bounce. Save yourselves from being priced out! :)

I thought the definition of spring bounce was that a heap of properties would come on the market, depressing the median prices.

but over the past few years the people with older crappy unrenovated homes are asking as much as the “area comps”

Oh, you mean like this one?

http://www.burbed.com/2007/03/20/1mil-open-house-house-not-included/

eburbed - There are two housing tracker sites. The other site shows an increase:

http://www.housingtracker.net/old_housingtracker/location/California/SanJose/

The numbers on this site are more consistent with my own, which show YOY:

2006 - 3666
2007 - 4324

eburbed,

The Portland Metro area has seen an EIGHTY % increase in listings over Feb '06. What makes that laughable is that like no other population on THIS planet Portlanders are at the core of DIY crowd. (Meaning we've always had an active FSBO market). Factor that in and you've got an exploding inventory.

I can’t say it’s a direct result of NINJA Loans but now when you go to C/L for formerly “hot” markets (like Phoenix and LV) most of the RE postings are “Save your home from foreclosure” and “We buy distressed properties”. And of course the inevitable “How to profit from…. distressed/foreclosed etc. etc.”

Those "formerly 'hot' markets" are now just hot. Phoenix and LV are miserable places. I can't imagine wanting to live in one of those blazing infernos--especially with global warming on the horizon. These markets are still way overpriced. I would much rather live in Detroit. At least Detroit has a native fresh water supply and liveable weather (winter in Detroit is more liveable than summer in Phoenix, IMO). Houses in Detroit are $30k - $100K. In Phoenix and LV, most homes are still over $200K. That's a long way to fall.

@ eburbed,

They were talking R E I C dollars!

The Case Shiller Index for Phoenix shows there's still *a lot* of pain yet to come there. San Francisco is notably _lower_ than Phoenix on the CSI, which makes sense when you consider the relative percentage bubble-prices versus historical trendline.

mmmmm....Globals....[drools]

eburbed - There are two housing tracker sites. The other site shows an increase:

But that page says that it's the old page, and that the new page has better data.

On creating a separate currency for REIC, we'll call them REIC dollars (R$):

You cannot do this by law in the US. It is illegal to mint and distribute a currency within the US (or most other nations for that matter).

"But wait a minute!" you say. How do these giant computer games that call themselves "virtual worlds" with bajillions of "residents" get away with it? How does Second Life get away printing Linden dollars (L$)?

The answer is not that complex:

a) No one has stopped them yet because its something new, and still relatively small. There aren't really bajillions of players, just a couple hundred thousand, even if there were bajillions of looky loos.

b) No one reads the License Agreement or Terms of Service agreement when they install the game. Just like you don't when you install MS Word. I mean, there's like dozens of pages and the font is really tiny.

c) If they did read the legalese they'd realize that they don't even own their L$. The game makers owns all the L$. They just let the players use it "as if" they owned it, and promise to always be nice and not steal their hard earned L$.

There's all kinds of sordid details on my blog. But most here won't really care. If the REIC tried to mint R$, they'd need to trick everyone with legal agreements they wouldn't read. That's actually probably possible. And lots of dumb people would believe the benevolent NAR would always be good guys and not steal their R$, and let them use their R$ "as if" it were real.

But the flaw is too many people actually give a shit about real real estate (versus "virtual" cartoon real estate). So as soon as the first guy lost some R$, even due to his own stupidity, he'd be interviewing trail lawyers to determine which he's going to award the prize of suing the shit out of the REIC.

Obviously the new page does not have better data since it's not even close to my own numbers, which I trust more than some random site on the internet.

"we'll call them REIC Dollars (R$)"

And why...NOT!

Backed 100% by cubic zirconia, they have the look, feel and smell of REAL money!