It began with a battery, stolen from my truck.

The stolen battery was irritating ... but even more irritating was the reaction of the people who manage the apartment complex in which I live. Their reaction was - nothing. They informed me that there was not one single thing they were willing or able to do. I offered them plenty of alternatives: put a light over my parking space (which is uniquely vulnerable as it is the only space in the complex that is right in a dark corner), put up a camera, or let me switch parking spots. They were unwilling to do any of those things, and while their manners were impeccable, they essentially told me that I was just out of luck. The one thing they could do was let me out of my lease.

So I decided to move to another apartment.

I found a place with secured parking down the road. It is in a new building, on the third floor, in a more central location, and a larger nicer apartment, for 50% more money. Ouch. But I decided to make the change; therefore I will be moving at the end of the month.

I am going to ditch my old furniture as well, and buy some new stuff. Money comes in, money goes out.

Bought	Stock	Qty	Price	Sold	Qty	Price	Profit/Loss
===================================================================
03/03	XMSR	 600	$33.73	03/08	 600	$33.40	($ 198.00)
03/03	XMSR	 100	$33.42	03/08	 100	$33.40	($   2.00)
03/03	XMSR	 300	$33.42	03/09	 300	$31.81	($ 483.00)
03/09	EQR	 400	$33.39	05/03	 400	$34.32	 $ 372.00
03/09	EQR	 200	$33.36	05/03	 200	$34.32	 $ 192.00
03/09	EQR	 200	$33.36	05/19	 200	$36.11	 $ 550.00
04/11	EQR	 800	=== DIV ON 800 @ .4325 ===	 $ 346.00
05/04	F	2000	$10.10	05/04	2000	$10.13	 $  60.00
05/05	F	2000	$10.04	05/05	2000	$ 9.91  ($ 260.00)
05/13	F	2000	$ 9.29  05/16	2000	$ 9.34	 $ 100.00
05/17	F	2000	$ 9.36	05/18	2000	$ 9.48	 $ 240.00
05/20	WMT	 800	$47.06	05.20	 800	$47.23	 $ 136.00
05/24	F	3000	$10.03	05/24	3000	$10.05	 $  60.00
05/25	F	3000	$ 9.80	05/25	3000	$ 9.86	 $ 180.00
05/26	F	3000	$10.03	05/27	3000	$10.10	 $ 210.00
05/31	F	3000	$10.02	05/31	3000	$10.06	 $ 120.00
06/02	F	3000	$10.30	06/02	3000	$10.25	($ 150.00)
06/03	F	3000	$10.00	06/07	3000	$10.08	 $ 240.00
06/07	MCD	 900	$29.68  07/15	 900	$31.03	 $1215.00
		
					TOTAL YTD:	 $2928.00

MCD has been climbing steadily over the past week and shot up $1.15 today :) My portfolio is back up to where it was before the decline started a few weeks ago.

Current Mood: chipper

The scenario: one hundred people are standing in a group. Suddenly, a rock is hurled from the midst of that group, striking you. You have no idea who threw the rock. All one hundred of the people in the group claim they have no idea who threw the rock.

How do you handle the situation? At one extreme, you could punish all the people in the group. This approach has the virtue of completeness; the guilty party will be punished. But innocent people may also be punished.

At the other extreme, you could decide that without knowing exactly who threw the rock, you can't take any action. This has the virtue of allowing you to feel very moral and pure as you get repeatedly pummeled by rocks thrown from somewhere within that group, until you die, presumably virtuous and happy because you are so good.

You also know that at least some of the people who did not throw the rock also know who did throw it. Are they as guilty as the rock thrower for not telling you who threw the rock in the first place?

You also have a few dozen people who are near the margins of that group, and who may or may not be a part of the group. Some of them cheer every time a rock is thrown in your direction; do they bear some responsibility as well?

I don't necessarily know the answers to these questions. I do, however, know that we cannot let our liberal westernized outlook put us at such a tactical disadvantage to Islamic extremism that we become incapable of acting against terror attacks.

Some old comment threads I have participated in.

Samizdata

I like to play a word game, when I am bored, wherein one tries to transform one word into another, changing single letters one at a time, in such a way that each change produces a new word. For example:

CAT
COT
COG
DOG

MEAT -> FISH
RAIN -> SAND (Note that this takes only 3 moves)
WARM -> COLD

HAND -> FOOT
SLIP -> MOOR

My favorite blogs (in no particular order):

Samizdata
Asymmetrical Information
InstaPundit
James Lileks

The recent Supreme Court decision regarding eminent domain is the perfect illustration of the slippery slope in action. Of course we need eminent domain for critical emergency needs ... and important public works ... and vital civic improvements ... and less-than-vital civic improvements that would make a really large amount of money for a lot of people and generally provide a boost to the community as a whole ... and not-really-vital or generally beneficial improvements that would make a few people a lot of money and increase the city's tax rolls ... and ???

The problem with things like eminent domain is that they violate a fundamental principle upon which this whole crazy thing we call western civilization is founded ... personal property rights.

You either get:

(1) The (weak and minimal) state may never seize personal property. It can make surrendering that property extremely attractive (by, say, offering 100 times the market value for the property) but it can never seize it.

OR

(2) The nefarious, all-powerful agents of the corrupt state may, at whim and with no other motive than personal profit and aggrandizement, seize your property at any time. Though some legalisms are required, obtaining them is pro forma as the corrupt agents control the mechanism through which those legalisms are observed. The subjects of this state have no property rights to speak of.

There is nothing in between those two choices but periods of transition.

An apology is something given by a remorseful person to someone they have injured. It is not a fine or tribute to be demanded by an injured party.

Demanding an apology is childish. If someone injures you, you can:

• attack them (injure them in return);
• make your injury public in hopes of embarrassing them;
• address the injury and undo it;
  
• or ignore it.

I went to Jillian's on Sunday night, after having dinner with my dad. I ended up playing nine-ball with a guy there ... and I got my butt kicked. This guy was much better than me. I was playing with my cheap Wal-mart cue and I had my glasses on instead of contacts, but that only accounted for part of the difference.

We played two races to 9. I won the first one, but all of my wins were little two and three ball runs after he missed a shot. He, by comparison, had two break-runouts in a row. I have only broke and run out twice in a row once in my life.

Another high point (for me) was watching this guy talking on a cell phone cradled to his ear while simultaneously shooting an 8 ball runout.

I lost the second race to 9 by a score of 9 to 4, and to put the quality of the match in perspective, we were tied at 3-3 during that race. The second half was a slaughter.

Anyway, I had a good time. I very much prefer playing with someone who is a lot better than me ... it makes me shoot better and it is fun to watch someone who is really good at the game.

Here are some Samizdata comment threads where I have jumped in today (as Bombadil):
First we crawl, then we walk
Microsoft... a willing partner in repression
If you're a libertarian ... how come you're so mean?

Also this thread on gun control a couple of days ago.

Notable birthdays today:

Helen Hunt June 15, 1963
Courteney Cox June 15, 1964

I went to Jillian's tonight to see if I could still shoot pool. Short answer: nope. My stroke is wobbly, which makes it impossible to hit firm shots well. My stance has morphed into a cross between a snooker stance and a classic billiards stance. It reminds me of the Miyagi saying: "Left side ok ... right side ok. Stand in middle - get squish like grape."

The woman at the register told me that there is a tournament on Wednesday nights at 7pm. I might try it out if I can make it across the water by 7 - traffic is usually horrible that time of day.

Recent notable birthdays:

Natalie Portman June 9, 1981
Elizabeth Hurley - (no official site) June 10, 1965
Ally Sheedy June 13, 1962
Yasmine Bleeth - (no official site) June 14, 1968

Some thoughts on gun control (in no particular order) re this comment thread:

1) Guns can never be removed from the world - there is no putting the genie back into the bottle, no "un-inventing" firearms.
2) By definition, the lawless (e.g. criminals) are not concerned with obeying the law - thus gun control laws by themselves will not deter them from possessing firearms.
3) The law-abiding, however, can be effectively deterred from owning firearms by gun control laws.
4) By (2) and (3), it is reasonable to state that gun control laws will, at least in the short term, remove guns from the hands of the law-abiding while leaving them in the hands of the lawless.
5) Even if gun control laws eventually result in a lower number of available firearms in general, those firearms that are available will end up in the hands of people who seek them out (basic law of markets applies here - goods and services flow to those who demand them). Thus, unless all firearms are removed (see point (1) - this won't happen) the lawless will always end up being the ones with the guns.
6) Though it is a somewhat subjective point, I submit that a societal condition wherein the lawless segment of the population is armed while the law-abiding segment is disarmed is a bad thing - something generally not to be desired.
7) For the sake of advancing the discussion, however, let us reverse (1) above. ALL guns are removed from existence; not only the firearms themselves, but the knowledge of gunsmithing and of the chemistry required for the manufacture of gunpowder. Guns are history.
8) If (7) were to occur, all but the (physically) largest and strongest would be helpless to defend themselves. There is a reason that inexpensive firearms were referred to as "Great Equalizers" - they allowed everyone to have an equal shot at self-defense; not merely the "Blutos" of the world, but also the "Wimpys" and even the "Olive Oyls" could protect themselves and their families once inexpensive firearms were widely available.

I finished reading KGB: The Inside Story this morning. It gives a pretty good overview of the scope of Soviet and pre-Soviet intelligence operations around the world from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1990's.

The book tends to get a bit bogged down in names and irrelevant anecdotal details, though. There are paragraphs consisting of almost nothing but names and acronyms thrown at the reader en masse.

It will make a very good cross-reference as I read other books on Soviet history. Overall rating: A-.

MCD is up 36 cents this morning. But I had 3000 shares of Ford until a few days ago. It is up 5% today (50 cents). Ouch.

I made about 20% in the market last year, but somehow I always seem to miss the big strikes.

UPDATE: closed at 29.51.

Current Mood: pleased

The "101st fighting keyboarders" meme is an interesting one. The fundamental idea: one cannot morally support a military conflict unless one personally joins the military.

See, for example, this Atrios comments debate.

I wonder if this also holds true for other types of action? For example:

1. You can't support an increase in the number of police in your city unless you join the force.
2. You can't support the idea of having a fire department unless you become a firefighter.
3. You can't criticize the school system or suggest any changes unless you become a teacher.
4. You can't propose a tax increase for the wealthy unless you are one of the wealthy.

It's at $29 even ...

Current Mood: disappointed

I bought 1000 shares of McDonald's [MCD] at $29.68 per share on Monday. Yesterday it continued to drop like a stone ...

Today it should go up.