rhino

Amazing only 5 or 10 died. My nephew said he went across about 5 minutes before it collapsed :o

Well, if third worlders actually came to America, they would probably have their faith in our "superior" systems renewed. Compared to most of the world, we are still par excellent. But I'd guess many see US as too big for our britches, and maybe even rejoice a little at our failures. I'm hearing that al qaeda "thanks allah" for this. But I'll take our roads over these ... Part of the infra structure "problem" is keeping up with ever increasing growth. Farmers keep producing more, making barge traffic busier. We have big houses and use more electricity, so need to move more coal and oil. On the Mississippi a big question is doubling the length of the locks, so the large barges can go through in one piece, instead of having to break apart at every lock and dam. But then again, too much ease of movement can be bad for local farmers, as it might become too easy to import cheap Brazilian soybeans. So a few billion on improving locks might help the Brazilians most. This one bridge incident does seem to stir people to consider spending on infrastructure, so I guess that is good. The term "structurally deficient" sounds ominous, but it might be seen as a tribute to how closely we examine our structures. For one thing, any bridge with a load limit is labelled structually deficient, so it is not clear how many that makes up. Many of those are 30 foot bridges on back roads. The media will hype the story, becasue it is what they do. Politicians will play it up as a reason to raise taxes, and to get people's attention off their corruption. Most infrastructure money is for a good cause, but not always efficiently used. Is "the Big Dig" in Boston really money well spent? Should we spend a half trillion around New Orleans so people can move back below sea level? My little bridge just got improved, still needs some work. I could use one of those "SWORDS" to prevent home invasion. But I would like it to also pull a planter.

In light of talk is cheap, I said this morning "I bet it goes negative by the close" ... of course I put no money on it, and saying I said it, after the fact is even cheaper. :) I like the old candlestick charting interpretations ... by the Japanese. It is almost a religion, but based on trading. A neat thing about watching how people move money out of fear and greed, it shows where they really are at. Anyway, I had some book on candlestick stuff, dark clouds, doji star, dawn attack ... it was all kinda neat ... So the nazzie looks like an inside out day, which is bad (not a japanese candlestick term) ... opens higher than yesterday's high, closes below the low (IIRC) ... fun to watch, like a baseball game, only it may be YOUR money. :) Bumpy, I'll drink a beer now, since I figure you are drinking some wine Hey .. let us know when you get in ... we can play along at home. I "reinvested" my one dollar lottery win plus one dollar ... so there may be a big party coming up,'cuz i am due ... but I did read the odds are twice as great that you will die on the road to get your ticket than that you will hit the big prize ... :o edited again to say ... WOW, even DOW and S&P managed to close below yesterday's lows ... very bearish ... grab your nuts ...

cool ... I thought the toy soldiers looked like more fun ... But $61 is awesome. I;m sure I had that book somewhere. :)

Thanks guys .. I saw that post I put up was over 2 years ago ... I've ordered probably 25 things with PayPal with no problem. I do look at the record of the person selling ... good to hear they respond if there is a problem.

Some scars never go away I guess ... but I'm no therapist ... it does seem a constant reliving of the bad is not helpful. Having arrived here a couple years ago, I first wondered if twi still existed, and really went years with barely a thought of twi. But it is a little fun to be in touch with people from that decade of my life. Kinda like old folks that remember the days of horse and buggy maybe. :) I can't even relate to folks that were in during the Martinfail era after '86 ... but it is fun to run in to chaps like bumpy and evan and jardinero (where did she go?) ... it is a group of chatters that have a common bond ... The cult forums and pain forums are areas I don't dwell on ... I can understand support groups, not sure how much help is gotten here, but there are other forums ...

Thanks Catcup ... I have a PayPal account for buying, but I was thinking of the seller side. I searched the site I read the article on, but only found some other complaints about paypal restricting some purchases (even legal ones, like firearms), and that they were not real competent. I didn't find the long term commitment complaint. Here's the link if it matters ... :)

One thing that made me wary about Ebay ... someone article saying the PayPal agreement basically commits you to them for life, or something like that. I wasn't ready to really research all the details. I guess you don't have to take PayPal, but that seems the easiest way to be sure to get paid. It seems everyone here had transactions go smoothly. But people buying "Holy Grail" items would maybe tend to be honest.

Thanks Catcup ... Too bad I threw out a garbage full of those SNS tapes ... we were so diligent at labelling and even had a special shelf built for all of them ... every bit of revelation had to be saved ... At least maybe we can get some cash and let someone else "live the dream".

left is right and right is wrong is what I recall from a straight guy with an earring meaning the right side was the gay side heh... like act2 said :) and excie... so if women wear both, are they ...? good that Elena wised up ...

That is cool act2 ... I think I might have 10 or so of those binders somewhere, with mags from 75 to 82 or so ... cha ching :) I might have some early 70 ones too, that twi sold at later dates. Or the mice might have eaten them by now :unsure:

Well, that's what I like about talk, it is cheap ... but everyone has money somewhere, so all are invested ... and our limited amount of time is invested as well ... :) But here is an article on derivative games ... for those that want to play along at home ... not that I get it all, but it cleared up a few things to me ... The best analogy would be to picture watching a poker game and around the table are the biggest Wall Street Sharks. A lot of chips are on the table and depending on the accounting treatment used, each player would claim to have won the entire pot even though the last cards have yet to be dealt. The problem is, those cards will be dealt eventually and someone is going to have to book a loss. In this type of poker game, if you don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy! A number of investors in some big subprime mortgage hedge funds just found this out. For the past couple of years, 40 percent of profits in the S&P 500 have come from financing activities, and financial profits have a long way to fall just to get back to historical averages. Remember, the U.S. economy has been driven by the financial system which has created an unprecedented level of debt. For those of you celebrating when the Dow edged up toward 14,000 and the S&P 500 hit a new record high, you may find the next celebration a long time coming. The recent stock market slide is caused primarily by worries over credit quality and excess leverage. The problems are just beginning. So I don't know, the DOW could go to 10,000 again and still be in the uptrend I think. Party on Garth ... and everyone else too :)

Lingo .. you mean you don't get a weekly check from Pawtucket for your comments? I thought everyone was getting paid :o

If it is unpublished, maybe it would go for $5000 on Ebay ... surely someone would treasure such a work? And yes act2, please post what your old twi stuff goes for.

Here is one ... looks like it goes on a collar ...

so if I drink a firkin of beer ... that's a firkin lotta beer

congrats TL ... great you got your life back ...

Well, the DOW stopped going down ... for today anyway. Thanks for the info Hey ... I will consider those options ... The trend is your friend, but it depends what time frame you are trading in. My trend is to grab a beer about 3pm central time ... Bumpy, I'd be afraid to invest in high priced wine ... if things did ever get tough, that might lose value. I see they have $2.99 wine selections at Aldi's now ... I just can't see competing with that, so will have to drink my stock. Or I could store it in my cave ... we have an old limestone quarry with some caves ... they don't look too safe though.

Hey ... I won the lottery, so the party is on ... :) But I only hit the powerball, so I made $3 and spent $2 ... it will be a small party, BYOB. A little farm land should be a hedge. Corn, fruits, vegies, eggs, milk? ... should keep up with inflation. But inputs keep inflating, and it is a little harder to be efficient in a small operation. Being in the country and enjoying life counts for a lot. But you can't put retirement accounts in a farm ... I guess a little in foreign currencies would help with a dollar decline. I was a fan of Jimmy Rogers 10 years ago, but never got around to investing in commodity markets as he suggested. Some would wonder if Europe also is going to be challenged by cheaper input countries like China. But China is scary since they seem to cook their books (worse than US). And then there is the concern of military conflict ... Gold had a nice run, but some question its tradability. Survivalists seem to believe in bullets as being more practical. Anyway ... it is interesting to hear opinions.

You are believing for me to win excie? I have two dollars in ... haven't bought a lotto ticket in many years, surely I am due. So with my 39 million cash, I will throw a party with bump and excie and other friends. Of course people with millions have lotsa friends ... :) I want to know how much Tom makes trimming hedges ... I thought that market was saturated with illegals ...

One word ... plastics powerball hey ... it's all gambling, and the government is going to take half the winnings ... but with the lottery they take half twice :unsure: I remember a trader, when the market opened saying "the casino is open" of course now they trade around the clock ... get your forex account here ... pay for that new condo in a week of evening trading ... It is exciting, but the players become million or billionaires (or just go bankrupt again) while regulars working stiffs remain wage slaves ... kinda s ucks ... I just played on the edge a little, life is good with a few acres of corn and some grapes for wine. That's all I need .. ad this chair ... :) How are you hedging, Tom?

I just meant "consider your options", not trade in options. I've never traded options, though I did sell 900 bushels of corn when it was up 80 cents from now :) Hopefully I can deliver another 1500 on top of that come October. I may try some corn options next year as protection if I sell in advance. I guess puts are options ... it's all kinda blurry to me ... my current options ... beer or wine

I don't think the market is going to fall 50 to 100%, I was just saying it is good to plan when you would get out. How much pain can you take? There were a lot of smart guys that went bust doing the dot com boom. Of course they were shorting stocks or heavily leveraged. But there are some different concerns now than before ... hopefully it all works out. Debt is one cause for concern. Some solid minded citizens even refinance their homes so they can put the money in the stock market where they assume they'll average 8 to 15%, and only pay 6% on their loan. That is genius as long as they are right. And this article may be of interest to some ... in a global economy it seems, cheap labor is found elsewhere, and intellectual property is sent by broadband to Kolkatta. In the mean time, we have become a huge debtor nation, counting on our GDP continuing to grow ... We can all rejoice as poor and middle income countries are brought up to Western levels of affluence, but our rejoicing will presumably be sharply diminished if we come to realize that much of their gains may be at the expense of our children's living standards. It does seem the new global economy and huge debt might make a difference, but maybe Caterpillar & GE have that all figured out. I'm not smart enough to know. But it is fun to chat about.. no gloom and doom here. :)

If I was really really concerned, I would not trust any financial institution ... I just think the risks are greater than most think. ( a real correction would be more like 5-10% from here) It does seem wise to consider options though ... some say you don't lose unless you sell ... I'd say once you pay your money, you are in till you sell, so there should be some rules on when you will get out. If you are willing to lose half, or all, that is fine. Just have a plan. The dollar looks jittery ... I'm not sure what happens if oil gets traded in Euro's, or if the American dollar is not the world's currency ... Bumpy is really George Soros (isn't he in France?)... he may have the answers ... :)

So Bumpy, if we want to visit your tourist mecca, maybe we should pay in advance? If we are using those funny money american dollars I mean. ... :) There may be a blow off top, DOW 16,000 ... then the end ... gather your nuts ... can I pay in bottles of wine? But that is just the conspiracy angle ... just invest and hold ... all is hell well ... I don't know ... maybe those Tracker skills will come in handy one day ... or maybe I should invest in a better rifle and ammo ... I guess we are looking at the market down 2% today ... or are we talking about the tragedy of Lindsay Lohan?