Posts by James Green
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And do you reckon it did its wondering at your place because you have a lot of books?
You'd like to think so. However, it may in part be explained by us also being cat free, so a lot of the neighbours' cats like to try to claim our property as theirs as well. After successfully stopping the cat's shitting in the strawberry bed, I'm quite happy to have the cats around as long as they're not fighting. Dogs get on my nerves, mainly because I can never quite predict when they're going to decide to have a go, and because they usually have a good element of surprise.
On a more pleasant note, I have to say that I'm enjoying working at home today, and making myself lattes from different single origin organic fairtrade beans. So far I've had Mexican, Sumatran, and Ethiopian. Must be time for some Guatemalan, Dr Ropata?
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Well I am rather sick of dogs and their negligent owners. It occurred to me recently that having a dog for protection is a bit like having a gun for protection. They tend to make life less rather than more safe.
And that's not to say that dogs that aren't for protection aren't annoying either. Our neighbour's dog was (I think) taken away by dog control. Actually, it was a pretty agreeable most of the time, but I didn't like the way it was frequently wondering around our house. The clincher was probably when it ended up on our deck, while chasing a cat. The deck is about 3m off the ground, and the access is around the corner of the house. So needless to stay I was stunned to find a dog up there.
The other neighbour's dog is more annoying in the grand scheme of things, however. The owners are blind to how it behaves a lot. It already has one bite on its record, and has the very endearing habit of sitting silently behind a low fence, and then leaping up and putting its paws on the top of the fence and having a bit of a snap. Conveniently, the only way to access our laundry is a set of steps right next to this fence, so the dog is more or less in biting distance. Mostly its well-behaved enough, but I'm somewhat resigned to the fact that it's probably going to bite me eventually. -
Mine are probably best characterised as "How the?" injuries.
First up, I've only ever had one broken bone, playing one of the most notorious sports for injury: four square. Technically, I think we were playing Eight Square, and the ball was a touch flat, so on a big reach, rather than me deflecting the ball, the ball deflected my little finger.
I've also been amusing the School of Physiotherapy here lately with my thumbs. Typical thumb injuries involve them being yoinked backward as you fall (e.g., snowboarding). It's uncommon to injure them by pushing them too far in their preferred method of flexion. More uncommon yet, I managed to do both thumbs simultaneously and symmetrically. A chocolate fish to anyone who can work out how you can injure your thumbs, and only your thumbs, in this way, skydiving. -
oh yeah. Most common effect of dirty air is blade damage, and if you don't get to the blade damage in time, the vibration can root the turbine.
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On home wind turbines...
Wind turbines are much better off with "clean" air. So if you see people with home wind turbines out in the country, they tend to put them on bastard big poles. Basically, trees, houses, various other things, induce a high degree of turbulence. This make the turbine less efficient, and also causes a higher degree of wear. The height of a sensible tower in a built-up area is thus very likely to annoy your neighbours.
I know a couple of people with small scale hydro and it seems to work pretty well.
The biggest issue with going off-grid is the cost. The deep-cycle batteries are expensive (c. $600), and you need a few. They need replacing after a while, and if you try to use fewer you drain them lower reducing their life. You also need to spend a lot more on appliances (extra-energy efficient fridges etc.), educate your guests (e.g., a guest's hair-dryer causing too much load). You also need to arrange water-heating alternatives. Solar obviously, but probably an efficient wood-burner with wetback for back-up. Ditto cooking. You're likely to have to go gas.
One intermediate option is I believe some lines companies can install a current-restricted line for cheaper, negating issues about batteries, but you're still probably going to have to find hot-water solutions.
Friends seriously considered going off grid, with a house a reasonable distance from the road, but concluded that by the time all costs had been included, plus the environmental impact of battery production etc., that it just didn't stack up. -
I don't know if the web has really improved my prose skills, but all this typing has certainly destroyed my already pretty poor handwriting...
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Rich, I don't see that as a problem, but a clearly defined risk. And unlike a house, the risk is finite. If both the housing market dips, and you have job issues, then you have a liability greater than your initial investment.
Also, on a 2 year term, I would expect that any "dip" would not take that investment out of the money. A more prolonged change of fortune would, but long before May 09, when you might (or might not) still be able to sell your derivative for something. -
Hi Marcus,
I expect that the group with which I mingled where rather motivated by seeing people with rather wealthy parents getting allowances, support from their parents etc., while if your parents had a job such as teaching, or some other salaried occupation, you'd get neither.
And you're very right, they're not the sort of things that easily accessible. Interestingly, none of the people I'm thinking would have touched a commerce subject, but a good research background (and/or perhaps a background in sciences, which tend to necessarily involve some complex math)...
I think it is much the same with random missives that NZers should invest. The barriers to investment per se are not high, but the the barrier to successful investment is.Just as a more abstract point, I think the basic idea of leverage is an interesting, and not well understood, one. All too few people understand the differences between "good" debt and "bad" debt. And what I mean is debt for lifestyle, versus debt for income earning purposes. Student loans are an example. Business owners take out loans all the time to finance better income earning opportunities, and certainly don't view the loan as something that should be paid a.s.a.p. Students don't see it that way, however. I think many people would be better off if they didn't see the loan as something to get rid of right away, but were more happy to pay it off over time.
This is totally not to say that I'm a fan of the loan system. I think the most hard done by are those who live in small towns who don't have the choice of living at home. But I don't think people are making the best economic use of the system as it stands. -
Marcus, I fear that your cynicism is doing a disservice. Middle class I'd cede, but rest is fanciful. Plenty of time spent working for $8/hr, and then thinking with better quality of jobs that $10.86 was really in the money! The kind of middle class where you were just ineligible for an allowance but not able to expect much help from your parents. So part-time work and uncle loan. Come postgraduate time there were scholarships, tutoring for $15, but no inheritance. The idea of investing in shares was borrowed from genuinely wealthy families, and then we applied the academic research skills to this investing biz.
So while the capital wasn't raised at $8/hr, the budgeting skills and spending discipline were. -
And then there's that Palm Oil!
Sorry James I had to do it, I'm a bad machine and I lived through The Crash.Again, it's a counter argument to the idea that housing is the only source of leverage. Also, FWIW, in the case of warrants, your exposure is very low. Sure you can loose all of the money you paid for the warrants, but your exposure is a lot less than if you owned the same number of head shares. You also have to consider your risk profile, and how much you can afford to lose before you make an investment. This is hypothetical, but I'd be a lot more likely to buy the warrants than a lotto ticket.
I really do not believe that anyone is going to be lending sizeable amounts money for securities to twenty-somethings with pre-existing minimal net worths and salaries well below the $70-$90k numbers you are throwing around.
And there you'd be wrong. The actual ownership of your margin shares rests with the bank, they only let you borrow a certain percent, and can and would forcibly sell them before they were losing money. I'm aware of postgrad students with margin accounts, and they fit pretty comfortably into that demographic.