Month: July 2004

Two from Motley Fool

Interview with Bill Nygren, fund manager, including “favorite mistakes.”

And more on the housing bubble and Freddie Mac, going over six reasons why there isn’t a bubble– more agile manufacturing, longer hold times and higher transaction fees, etc. etc. But the fact is, people are speculating in real estate directly or indirectly (through REITs), and as agile as centralized homebuilders are, it still takes a long time for permitting and building. There’s an office/lab building on Third and Binney that I think is still unused two years after construction: finished building it just as the office rental market went from 1% vacancy to 10%. They’re still building, two years on: more office, more retail, more biotech, and yes, more housing (some 200 condos, I think). In Boston, supply really is behind demand, and over-regulation means construction is too slow to even come close to catching up, but even if construction is more agile than it was, it’s still not close to actually being able to respond to demand changes in less than six to twelve months.

Popularity

Judging by the Boston area motorcycle listings. the Kawasaki Ninja seems to be the bike most rapidly outgrown, followed by the Suzuki Katana. The Katana is probably the more sophisticated of the two. I wonder if people are selling them to upgrade to larger bikes, and therefore a lot of items in the used market is a sign of healthy demand for Kawasaki products, or whether people are selling them to move on to something that’s not so … crotch-rockety, in which case Kawasaki had better watch out. Would have to compare bike sales new and used for a few years, then factor out the economy… generally impossible.

Hey You

Felipe’s in Harvard Square has tacos al pastor, apparently. Those who love that dish should be informed. I still have that cowboy hat and those Jon Franzen books, and I should give them back to you at some point. I often wonder where everyone I once knew has gone. But then, once I find out, I often lose interest. Where did you go? Where did I go?

Studiously Ignoring the Convention

On this side of the river, there’s not much going on conventionwise. Bookdwarf went to see Al Franken talk, and spotted the Clinton ladies at Noir, and shook hands with Madeline Allbright. But the traffic hasn’t been bad– apparently everyone who could just got out of town.

The convention does provide corroborating evidence for an idea suggested by a New Yorker profile several months ago: Barack Obama is the next great hope for this country. That, my friend, is a speech. Plus, what a name!

Advice Columns This Week

What is it with advice columns this week? They seem to have started giving joke advice. Dan Savage, of course, is not known for being sincere, but telling someone “use staples to keep condoms on” is probably the most sarcastic piece of advice he’s ever given. But even the normally earnest New York Times Ethicist
column is getting weird:

I work in the United States Senate. Recently we had to evacuate the building, and some senators were pushing their way past others. Is it all right for an elected representative to supersede others in exiting the building?
Anonymous, Washington

As I misconstrue the customs of our great deliberative body, senators are to proceed in order of seniority when fleeing danger and trampling their slow-footed constituents before them.

Euphemisms

A friend writes: “I’m living in the Castro, a vibrant, cheerful part of the city.”
Marge says: “Isn’t your friend a little… festive?”

Junot Diaz: Drown

YOu all need to go read Junot Diaz’ book “Drown” … short stories of mostly poor dominican folks doing things that don’t quite work out right. People failing to live up to their ideals. Doing stupid things for love or lust or desire to be properly manly.

Secrets and Lies

There’s a story in The Torturer’s Apprentice where an atheist develops stigmata and powers of prophecy. He has a psychiatrist to deal with the implications of this, but as the underground religious groups begin to take care of him more, he stops seeing her. Months later, he calls her and says “don’t go on the trip next week.” She’s unsettled that knows about the trip in advance, but is genuinely terrified after she has a drunken hookup with another doctor at a reception, and gets pregnant with this other man’s baby. What does she do? She raises the child and lies to everyone about its origins. She’s certain she’s going to hell for this, but why should she be the one who’s happy? Confessing would make her feel better, but it would hurt everyone else immeasurably. Instead she holds the secret inside her, painfully, and plans to take it to the grave. “Why should I be the one who’s happy?” She did wrong, after all. She can punish herself.