Trying to hammer in the idea that the risk you take depends on your expected reward.
Pinboard's Bookmark Archive
Big fan of pinboard here. I used to use Delicious back in the day, but after they were bought out by Yahoo the service was neglected and became filled with spam which quickly destroyed the site.
Anyway, pinboard's archiving service allows you to store a permanent copy of all the pages you bookmark, which is invaluable, especially if you bookmark webpages in China that are scrubbed once discovered by the authorities.
Millennials a Non-nomadic Generation
“... a combination of relatively low-paying opportunities, the burden of student loans and an aversion to taking risks explains the reluctance to relocate. ... ‘It is a lot more expensive to get started, to move, to find a job. In terms of social mobility, job mobility, overall geographic mobility, they are not doing as well as their parents and grandparents.’”
If Foxconn pays for the flight, would they be willing to come to China and start assembling iPhones for a dollar an hour?
916 Stewart Avenue
Ithaca Property Sales of Note #2
This is the second in my series, Ithaca Property Sales of Note. (Link to #1.) Here's the recent price history of 916 Stewart Avenue, courtesy of Zillow:
Price History
Date Event Price $/sqft
01/24/14 Sold $965,000 $369
10/18/13 Listing removed $995,000 $380
10/07/13 Pending sale $995,000 $380
01/19/13 Price change $995,000 $380
05/06/12 Listed for sale $1,150,000 $440
07/16/07 Sold $389,000 $148
09/04/97 Sold $270,000 $103
We can see that it sold at the peak of the bubble (July 2007) for $389,000, but I think it was in very rough shape then, a real "fixer-upper." (This is confirmed by the newspaper article linked to below.) It was bought by a professor of film named Stuart McDougal. Judging by the pictures at Zillow, he sunk some serious money into renovating it -- a lot of custom woodwork, built-in bookcases, stone patio ... it looks really nice. I can't judge how much money he put into it, but buying at 389 and selling at 965 had to be a profitable turn.
It was originally listed at $1,150,000 in May 2012 and finally sold for $965,000 in January 2014, which means it was on the market for around 628 days and sold 16% below the original asking price. The house sits on a tiny 0.62 acre lot and overlooks a gorge and the Ithaca Falls. In 2013 it was assessed at $450,000 and is newly assessed in 2014 at $900,000, which must mean the property tax bill has doubled.
Found this in an article on the house from September 2013 in the Cornell Daily Sun:
The [McDougals were] awarded the 2012 Award of Merit in Historic Preservation by Historic Ithaca for their effort in renovating this historic property.
Update: more detail in this Ithaca Times article which includes this horrible bit: "the home was sold [in 1997] and split into rental units, eventually falling into disrepair."
The owners worked with local architect Charles Hoover to design the transition back to a single family. Carpenter Joe Thompson designed and handcrafted period appropriate windows, doors and interior woodwork and mason Peter Smith restored the exterior brick and stonework.
ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- May 9, 2014
No changes this week.
My Tiny Tower
Hate to think how many hours I spent perfecting my Tiny Tower, maxed out at 193 stories. The tower is run with ruthless efficiency, but my 360 perfectly outfitted model workers/tenants are all reportedly happy.
Trading idea for Mon. May 12, 2014 | Adobe Systems (ADBE)
The Addis Ababa-Adama Expressway in Ethiopia.
A Remarkable Aptitude for a High Material Civilization
Excerpts from Francis Galton's letter to the editor of The Times, "Africa for the Chinese," dated June 5, 1873.
The Chinaman ... is endowed with a remarkable aptitude for a high material civilization. He is seen to the least advantage in his own country, where a temporary dark age still prevails, which has not sapped the genius of the race, though it has stunted the developed the of each member of it, by the rigid enforcement of an effete system of classical education which treats originality as a social crime. All the bad parts of his character, as his lying and servility, spring from timidity due to an education that has cowed him, and no treatment is better calculated to remedy that evil than location in a free settlement. ... [The Chinese] are good-tempered, frugal, industrious, saving, commercially inclined, and extraordinarily prolific. ...take a globe and examine it, and consider the huge but poorly-peopled bulk of Africa, by whose side the areas of India and of China look insignificant, and think what a field lies there for the development of a suitable race.
Gilbert Malcolm Sprout concludes his rejoinder to Galton's letter by writing:
Chinamen, for many generations, are likely to have quite enough to do in their own country without taking Africa in hand.
Brought to my attention by @BarbarianCap.
Along the Addis Ababa-Adama Expressway in Ethiopia.
Above is a screenshot from Google Earth ... you can see the housing for the imported Chinese labor. These temporary housing structures are familiar to anyone who has been to a Chinese city; they are used to house migrant workers ("民工").
Addition to Clay Figure Collection -- 猪八戒
猪八戒 is a character from Journey to the West, a story which all Chinese people (and a few barbarians) know. There are now five clay figures in our collection.
Dissemination of Content Deemed to be Socially Destabilizing
Interesting bit from Weibo's Prospectus:
Risks Relating to Doing Business in China
Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the internet in China may adversely affect our business and subject us to liability for information displayed on our platform.
The PRC government has adopted regulations governing internet access and the distribution of information over the internet. Under these regulations, internet content providers and internet publishers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet content that, among other things, impairs the national dignity of China, is reactionary, obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory, or otherwise violates PRC laws and regulations. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the revocation of licenses to provide internet content and other licenses and the closure of the concerned websites. The website operator may also be held liable for such censored information displayed on or linked to the website.
In addition, the MIIT has published regulations that subject website operators to potential liability for content displayed on their websites and for the actions of users and others using their systems, including liability for violations of PRC laws prohibiting the dissemination of content deemed to be socially destabilizing. The Ministry of Public Security has the authority to order any local internet service provider to block any internet website at its sole discretion. From time to time, the Ministry of Public Security has stopped the dissemination over the internet of information which it believes to be socially destabilizing. The State Administration for the Protection of State Secrets is also authorized to block any website it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to meet the relevant regulations relating to the protection of state secrets in the dissemination of online information.
Although we attempt to monitor the content posted by users on our platform, we are not able to effectively control or restrict content (including comments as well as pictures, videos and other multimedia content) generated or placed on our platform by our users. In March 2012, we had to disable the Comment feature on our platform for three days to clean up feeds related to certain rumors. To the extent that PRC regulatory authorities find any content displayed on our platform objectionable, they may require us to limit or eliminate the dissemination of such information on our platform. Failure to do so may subject us to liabilities and penalties and may even result in the temporary blockage or complete shutdown of our online operations.
In addition, the Judicial Interpretation on the Application of Law in Trial of Online Defamation and Other Online Crimes jointly promulgated by the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which became effective on September 10, 2013, imposes up to a three-year prison sentence on internet users who fabricate or knowingly share defamatory false information online. The implementation of this newly promulgated judicial interpretation may have a significant and adverse effect on the traffic of our platform and discourage the creation of user generated content, which in turn may impact the results of our operations and ultimately the trading price of our ADSs.
Although our active user base has increased over the past several years, regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the internet in China may adversely affect our user experience and reduce users’ engagement and activities on our platform as well as adversely affect our ability to attract new users to our platform. Any and all of these adverse impacts may ultimately materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.