Big Blue Huddle

Brings back memories of my father telling me stories. He was born in a house on Farm-to-Market Road when it was a dirt road and there was no ME school or golf course or major senior living complexes, etc. There was actually only a few houses on the road when my father was a child. He had to walk to a one room school house called "Country School" towards the end of the road. A couple times a week he'd take the horse and a cart and go to the end of the road where it ended up at East Main Road. Last I knew, there's an old building up there near the fire station with the faded sign painted on a concrete wall that says "ICE". Haven't been there in a long time though so it might be gone. F-t-M Road has grown like crazy since his birth back in the 1920's as any local knows. My Dad would go to that old building that says "ICE" to pick up a block of ice for the ice box back home. He used to rabbit hunt in what is now "Endwell Greens". 

Anyway, my grandfather and great grandfather (on my father's side) both worked at EJ's their entire lives. My grandfather's brother (Uncle Archie) did not work for EJ's and was made fun of for working at International Time Recording Company. My grandfather and his friends used to throw snowballs at a guy name Thomas Watson and the guy's company was kind of a joke compared to high-riding EJs. Anyway, to make a long story short, EJ's took good care of my great grandfather and grandfather and they lived a honest man's life and didn't have to worry about the Great Depression and the basic needs of every family. However; my great uncle Archie who chose to work for the time recording company was promoted, and promoted, and promoted as the company's name was changed to IBM. He retired to Miami a millionaire living the good life, swimming in his pool still when he was 96 yrs old and of course, got the last laugh on everyone who thought he should've hitched his wagon to EJs like everyone else in the family...LOL.

There was a time when the triple cities area was flush with opportunity and had world leading industries like IBM, Singer-Link Simulators, E-Js, and more. A dozen high tech companies spun off of IBM that made the area grow and prosper. A lot has changed in the last few decades and the area is no longer a prime area to move to in order to find excellent jobs. Real shame.

I rarely drink hard liquor, maybe a couple times a year depending on the circumstances  . If I do, it's either a Grey Goose dirty martini or a Margarita...or of course, someone buys a round of shots and I feel obligated to show my gratitude by drinking it, which I would then choose Southern Comfort. I usually crack open a beer in the evening when calling it a day and if I go golfing or go out on a weekend I'll have two or three beers, but that's it. Haven't been drunk since 2000 during a St. Patrick's Day celebration with a bunch of NYC cops and firemen - holy cow those guys can drink. I told myself the next morning, "never again". I always wondered how many of those party animal cops and firemen lost their lives on 9-11 
Now, if I get a buzz, I'll switch to soda water. I refuse to even get close to being drunk. I never want to lose a day of my life because of a hangover.

Quote from: jimv on February 26, 2021, 04:44:43 PM
To pick up where I left off last night, I just devoured the Tom Clancy books.  When I started one, it was hard to put down. 

We have a famous author up here in Maine; Stephen King.  I really enjoyed his initial group of books because he often talked about places here in Maine.  In one book, I forget which, he described exactly the downtown area of Gorham, where I live.  My favorite is "Salem's Lot." When he wrote "The Green Mile," he did it as a serial.  When I'd get a part, I'd read it quickly and then sit on pins & needles until the next part came.  The movie of it was well done.   I knew the lady who had him in her H.S. English class.  She was holding a session on why authors wrote.  He popped up & said, "To make money."  Well, he sure has.

I've read all of the Kenneth Roberts' historical novels & I loved them all.  MGM did a really good job on Book I of "Northwest Passage," but they changed the ending drastically.  I've read & enjoyed Ken Follett's historical novels "Pillars of the Earth" & "A Place Called Freedom."  And, of course, I've also enjoyed many of John Grisham's books.   Another favorite of mine is "We Were Soldiers and Young," a true account of the Vietnam war experiences of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore.  The movie did an excellent job of it even while cutting out parts.

I've read books on the Giants and selected current events (political) books lately; and not that many at all.  I tend to fall asleep if I try reading too long.

I'm not a huge King fan, but I appreciate his writing style. Funny you mentioned the "Green Mile" coming out in series because like you, I'd read the small booklets in an hour or so and then chomp at the bit waiting a month for the next several chapters. By the sixth book, I was in agony waiting for it to be released as was a guy at work who was likewise reading it. He called me one night about 10:30 at night as I had just gotten to bed and told me he just bought the book that was released. I was about to go to sleep but I couldn't stop thinking about it so I got dressed, drove to Wegmans (open 24 hours) and grabbed a copy and stayed up reading it cover to cover as it is short as you know. The next day my buddy and I had a great time over coffee discussing the finale. One of the best books I ever read and I learned to really appreciate his writing style, his imagination, and ability to build suspense. The movie was okay, but didn't have any of the emotional kicks that came from reading the book and in my opinion, was a disappointment. Regardless, I'm not a horror fan so I kinda dismiss a lot of King's writings (even though I appreciate is unbelievable ability to write). I have to say though, that I loved "The Stand" and it was superb.

I've read another writer who uses Maine as the backdrop of the story and he too is from the area and was called by some critics a "King Wannabee". He writes such a variety of genres that it's hard to find his "mystery/thrillers", but there are some. "Mouth to Mouth" was a great book that gives you a feel for rural Maine and includes problems with coyotes, infidelity, semi-incest, murder, etc. Other books of his that are pretty good are "Undone" and "Green Girls", but "Mouth to Mouth" was my favorite of the group.

Quote from: philo43 on February 26, 2021, 03:30:09 PM
Great topic.

I agree with all the authors you mentioned and add to it Tom Clancy (may he rest in peace, favorite is Without Remorse), Stuart Woods - just humorous, Brad Thor and Brad Meltzer.  Hiaasen is great as you mentioned.  One of the things I like is authors like Flynn (Mitch Rapp), Clancy (Jack Ryan) and Cussler (almost all of his series - Pitt, Oregon Files, Fargo  etc) brought on coauthors so that their franchises continue after their deaths.

I probably have not "read" more than 2 or 3 books in the last 10 years, I fall asleep about a chapter in.  However, I have consumed 400 - 500 books (probably more ) in that period through audio books.  I have a free account to the New York Public Library (which has thousands of titles available) that I get my books from.  Anyone in NY can get an account.  My daughter gets hers through the Richmond VA library, so I assume the service is available in every state.

No purchasing a book and feel obligated to read it, no trips to the library to check out and return it.  Have tried many new authors this way - a few good, many not so - just quit listening and delete.

While you don't retain as much listening as opposed to reading, it was a great find for me.  80% of the time I am not being paid on the books, I have an earbud in and listening to a book.  Especially great when mowing the yard, doing menial labor, digging out stumps etc or traveling.  Never listen when working with power tools!

I've never listened to an audio book. I used to travel a lot for work - back in the day, and that would have been a great idea when driving from Bingo to Buffalo, Albany, LI, etc. I didn't mention every author I like, but Stuart Woods and Tom Clancy should have been added. I wrote Stuart Woods once and he was rather curt in his response. I told him that if Stone Barrington married his girlfriend Harrington, that her name would become Harrington Barrington. He replied that he already addressed that in book 7 or something like that and told me to go reread it. LOL

Clancy is classic IMO because he's been gone for so long...although, I did add Chrichton who has likewise drifted into the "classic" category...in my opinion anyway.

I agree with you that some of the co-authors from recently deceased great authors is nice - especially the variety of Cussler co-authors. I've read them all and like all of them. I was such a huge fan of Vince Flynn that I felt a pretty big let down when Kyle Mills took over the Mitch Rapp series and have never been able to fully appreciate his writing (flow and verbiage) the way Flynn used to write - which was superb in my opinion. Flynn's loss was America's loss. He had a brilliant mind and when he started writing, the CIA had to approve his books before being published because it was if he had inside knowledge of the everything the CIA was doing. Also, the TV show "24" was basically based on Mitch Rapp and the producers even had Flynn at the production site as an advisor. If I recall, Tom Clancy also had to have some of his books pre-approved by the CIA so as not disclose too much information that might compromise the things they do.

Quote from: Sem on February 25, 2021, 01:26:25 PM
One other author recommendation I have is Ridley Pearson, (action/mystery). While I haven't read of all his books I have read his entire Detective Lou Boldt series and all his stand alone novels listed on his wiki page. All those have been intense, engaging, and very enjoyable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridley_Pearson

Now that I know it was you who suggested I give Carl Hiaasen a shot, I want to thank you personally. 

I've read all the Walt Fleming series from Ridley Pearson and enjoyed them. Haven't read the Lou Boldt series, but I'm familiar with him because he showed up in one of the Fleming series (In Harm's Way I believe) to help out after finding a body in Seattle with connections to Fleming's town. Pearson is a good writer, especially if you want to become immersed in ultra-rural Idaho near the Sun Valley area to see how others live in different areas of the country. Much like James Lee Burke if you want to get a feel for what it's like to live in rural Louisiana. Burke is also a good writer.

I'm a movie buff and watch Netflix, Prime, and Hulu more than traditional television. I usually watch a movie each night, but since a movie tends to generate a certain intensity, I like to watch a half hour sitcom afterwards to laugh a bit and then call it a night. In the past, there were very few sitcoms that I really looked forward to...Seinfeld, Three and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc. I still watch the occasional Three and Half Men reruns. I felt bad when I read the news that Conchata Ferrell (Berta) died last year from Covid (may she rest in peace). Show was hilarious and still is...even if Charlie Sheen is a personal mess. Some of the best lines I've ever heard came from that show.

Regardless, there's a few rather obscure sitcoms I've found on Hulu that have really gotten my attention and figured I'd share. The one I'm watching right now is called, "The Guest Book". It has absolutely put me in stitches. Great cast, great writing, and just plain funny. Written by Greg Garcia who wrote "Raising Hope", "My Name is Earl", etc.

Another sitcom that is pretty funny is "Community" which I've watched in its entirety and got hooked (about a top notch lawyer in a firm that discovers he doesn't have a degree and is forced to go to community college). Worth checking out if you're bored. I liked it, my girlfriend did not. We have different senses of humor, LOL

Yet another sitcom that made me laugh a lot is "Quick Draw", a satirical western them where a Harvard educated man moves to the old west to take over a hostile town as Sheriff.

Anyway, just a few ideas if any of you are looking for something to watch and need a laugh. The Guest Book is really funny.

Okay, I'm a big reader and love certain genres like action/thrillers, mysteries, legal thrillers, and certain times of my life, history (middle ages, Egyptian, ancient Chinese, European, Early American, etc.) Since settling in with a girlfriend for the past 3 years or so and my getting into the stock market, I've not had the time or inclination to read a book a week like I did for many years. I'd like to get back to that but it doesn't fit in well with keeping my girlfriend happy and adequately playing the market.

My favorite authors are: David Baldacci, Vince Flynn (may he rest in peace), Daniel Silva, Robert Crais, Lee Child, Preston and Child (not Lee, but Lincoln Child younger brother of Lee Child), Michael Connelly, Clive Cussler (may he rest in peace), Michael Chrichton (may he rest in peace), John Grisham, John Lescroart, etc.

Anyway, to get to the point of this thread, whoever on here suggested I give Carl Hiaasen a try, I want to thank him. I picked up "Bad Monkey" and "Razor Girl" a few months ago but just finally got around to reading one of the books...i.e., "Razor Girl". I haven't had a book captivate me like this since I read Chrichton's "Jurassic Park" in 1990 when I pick up the book at an airport and read it on my way to San Francisco for a business trip (probably the best book I ever read and the worst movie about a book ever made - turned a great story into multiple chase scenes...for visual effect and excitement I suspect).

I like thrillers that take place in various parts of the world because it's like taking a free trip. I like novels about Florida (as I've lived there in the past) and have read many of Randy Wayne White's novels, but by far, Hiaasen really paints a picture with words, develops a keen interest while injecting just the right amount of humor to keep me both deeply interested in the story while finding myself chuckling along the way. I think the term, "couldn't put it down" is a grossly overused term in book reviews - IMO, but it actually applies to "Razor Girl" (for me anyway).

Regardless, I want to thank the guy on here again for suggesting giving Hiaasen a try. Great author!

Quote from: Shoelessjoe on February 13, 2021, 10:40:09 PM
I have one basic premise that I follow.  I'm not privy to the information that people that do this for a living have at their disposal.  As a result I have an investment firm that I'm comfortable with handle it for me.  I guess I'm more like Lenn then some us but I feel that there is no way that I can compete with the big guys who have too many tools that they they use.

There's a lot of information at our fingertips that are the same numbers the big boys use. However, they have a lot of advantages. Where we might buy a 100 shares of stock "WXYZ", a hedge fund like BlackRock might buy 20 million shares of the same stock. Their volume alone can easily effect the stock price whereas our buys and sells is like spitting in the ocean trying to raise the tide. Also, the big boys have big media at their disposal and they release "analyses" that can make a price go up or down. A good example was in Barron's a couple of weeks ago when one of their analysts were downgrading a stock from "buy to neutral". In the comments section, one of the writers wrote, "this means they are about to buy a million shares and they want the price to go down first before pulling the trigger"....which was probably right because the stock price dropped and two days later lit up.

Regardless, no way the little guy can expect to profit from the market the way the big dogs get to profit. However, with interest rates at basically net-zero, the market is the only place to put your money and even though you might only get a 10% return compared to a mega-millionaire getting 20+%, 10% is better than the pennies you get in return for leaving your money in a bank somewhere.

Yeah, I watched "Justified" and always liked Olyphant. Like you, I was taken aback a bit at his demise. There was a lot of dark humor in this series - a whacko nurse, the girl literally crapping her pants over and over while in the midst of a robbery, the idiot brother with the bug eyes tripping and "bang", etc. The nurse saying, "can you kill him first so I can watch him die" was just a sample of her whacked out brain. All in all, a good watch.

Quote from: LennG on January 29, 2021, 05:22:41 PM
Agreed, but try an I might, even though she was a psychiatrist and understand human behavior, and then realizing that the man she married showed no remorse, but he had to show love and tenderness etc. He wasn't a so-called mindless, remorseless zombie. AND that doesn't make him a killer. Sure she was pissed at him but she still stuck by him until that point.
Her lawyer wanted suspicion pointed at the dead girl's husband. he really had the most interest in seeing her dead. I still can't get how that proverbial 'lightbulb' went off in Kidman's mind, and the plot was hatched. Throughout the show, you couldn't be definitely sure it wasn't the other husband. Granted that Hugh Grant's story was so ridiculous, he was there, they made love, he left, then came back--silly, but people did believe it.

And we are so attuned to never suspect the obvious, that we look for, who is the most unlikely guy to be the murderer--Sutherland, that we immediately go right there. Good stuff anyway.

PS, ever get to watch the last season of Fargo?

Finally got around to it and loved it. It started slow, but built in intensity until it was a "must watch" whenever I had the chance to sit down and watch tv. Disappointed with the ending, but then I remembered how pretty much every Fargo series ends.... 

I thought Chris Rock did a superb job and I was highly skeptical that he could pull off a serious bad guy role. He certainly pulled it off. I liked Timothy Olyphant's role and was surprised how his role ended...again, this is Fargo LOL

Quote from: MightyGiants on February 06, 2021, 01:58:41 PM
JBG,

I watch the left and the right of the political spectrum with equal interest.  Before I address that point, I need to back up.   It sounds like you are not really familiar with the pump and dump scheme that Blue4Life correctly noted.   A pump and dump scheme was one investor or a handful of investors would buy a penny stock.  They would then use social media to pump up the stock providing fake insider tips, talking about how the company is on the verge of taking off, etc.   With their coordinated PR campaign, they would get people to buy the stock and pump on the price of the stock.  Once it went as high as the manipulators think it can go they sell out of their positions, abandon the PR campaign, and leave all those who fell for their stunt holding the worthless stock and losing a fortune.

Here the scam artists recognized stocks that were excessively short (allowing their scheme to work) and did the same thing.  They coordinated their efforts to convince people to buy the stock-raising the price, selling out (making a fortune for themselves), and then leaving all the people who bought into their hype and bought the overinflated stock holding worthless stock and losing a fortune.   Sure the short-sellers got hurt but so did the vast majority of people they conned into helping them with their money-making scam.  As Blue4Life said, just a sophisticated pump and dump scheme.

To circle back, I said I watch the left and the right with equal interest.   I was truly impressed to find the scammers had created a narrative that played as well with those on the right as it did those on the left.   That was truly an impressive feat of manipulation.  They united those on the right and the left cheering as the scheme they believed stuck it to the elites or the wealthy (depending on your ideological flavor)

I am well aware of the "pump and dump" method of driving up stock. It's only been happening for decades. I just don't see any political connection whatsoever. If you look at those in high places in politics that have taken advantage of the stock market because they have "inside information" about pending bills that will pass before a vote is cast, and it would list politicians from both sides of the political aisle. Republicans Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler dumped their stock holdings just before the Covid shutdown because of advanced knowledge of a pending shutdown that was not yet public knowledge. Burr and Loeffler received a ton of negative Press over it. Left out from the main stream media was that Democrat Diane Feinstein did the exact same thing with nary an eyebrow raised or a story to be found. Regardless, not wanting to get into a political discussion, I fully believe that greed effects the entire political spectrum and I suspect most politicians in D.C. are worse than shady used car salesmen or the cigar smoking whales in Wall Street. At the center of this Gamestop phenomena is basically nothing more than the "haves" vs the "have nots" and politics has nothing to do with it. In short, the "haves" are really, really pissed that the "have nots" played them. Boo hoo! They can sell one of their five Bentleys or one of a hundred priceless paintings used as decor in their foyer or stair case to cover their losses.

Quote from: MightyGiants on February 06, 2021, 10:23:52 AM
Yeah, in the end, the whole Game Stop market manipulation was just a more elaborate version of a pump and dump that played on people's emotions and political ideologies.   As is always the case those doing the manipulating made out like bandits and everyone else got screwed.   What I found truly impressive if that they found a selling point that both liberals and conservatives could get on board with.   This was a doctorate level class on manipulating people for profit.

Like you I hope new laws and regulations will be put in place to stop this sort of nefarious activity.

As for computer trading and the speed of trading, I suspect that is toothpaste that will never be put back in the tube.

Out of curiosity, I am confounded about the political angle you seem to bring up. I don't see anything political about this. Wall Street is equally divided between both sides of the political spectrum and in fact, the majority of wealthy elite are politically active for the left (Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, George Soros, etc.) and in fact, the wealthiest of the elites in Wall Street work(ed) for BlackRock (assets measured in trillions of dollars) have left BlackRock for positions in Biden's administration. Before that, many of Trump's advisors in the financial world were from Goldman Sachs. But I would not conclude that BlackRock big wigs are liberal or that Goldman Sachs big wigs are conservative. In fact, I guarantee the people who work at both places have both liberals and conservatives sitting in their cubicles staring at computer screens all day.

This is more a story of David and Goliath where individuals who don't have private jets and a multi-million dollar escape pads in Miami and 200 ft yachts to play on, and in fact probably tend to live in one or two-story homes stuck there for a year because of the pandemic. I personally know five people who are trading regularly on Robinhood.  Two of them are Trump fans, the other three Biden fans (one in particular tends to lean obnoxious in his hatred of Trump). I just don't see how individuals playing in the market have anything to do with their political affiliations. The rich have both political leanings as do the middle class and the poor.

I'm reminded of a great scene by Leonardo DiCaprio in the "Wolf of Wall Street" when he went through a fit of rage and obscenities saying, "This is OUR #%$#^ HOUSE, and we - not them - built this @#@$ system and no one else is allowed...." etc. This is simply classic small guys vs. the wealthy elite who have built a money making system for themselves and only want outside players willing to lend money to their system money for their own gain.

But don't worry, the wealthy are going to survive and come up with new ways to fleece the little guy as they relax on their yachts being waited on by a bevy of gorgeous 20-somethings to serve their every desire. No matter what his or her political affiliation, he or she will enjoy the good life til the day they die. I'm also reminded of Bill Gates saying, "you have to be a genius to turn a $1.00 into a $1.01, but if you have a 100 million dollars, you can't stop it from becoming 101 million". Money begets more money, lack thereof begets misery.

Quote from: Blue4Life on February 01, 2021, 11:25:32 AM
Call it what you want, but principally, the GME stock had been a "victim" of the "pump and dump" type of scheme. In the case of GME and other stocks, this scheme worked very well, especially after the Occupy Wall Street 2 moniker had been attached to the "buy and hold" advise. The OWS2 resonated with many, many people and they purchased as much GME stock as they could afford. This pumped up the stock price to an insane level, that not supported by any investment metric. The institutional investors had sold their GME and other stocks and cut their losses. They can afford to and may even get some financial aid from the feds. GameStock employees had also sold their existing stock and/or exercised their stock options.

The people initiated the "pump and dump" schema will be investigated by SEC and probably will come down hard on them. Reddit will, or already did provide the logs and the content for GME stock discussion. Based on that, it really not that hard to determine the timeline for how it started up, when OWC2 entered the picture, etc.   

What left by now the many, many people, who had purchased GME stock at the inflated price. Like my daughter, who purchased two GME stock for $400, against my advise. At least she listened and put in a stop loss order. Hopefully, she'll learn that trading based on ideology isn't the best way investing in stocks.

In my view, shorting stocks, or betting, should be outlawed. It servers no other purpose, but accelerate the demise of a company and provide a windfall to the trader.

In addition, automated, digital training should be substantially restricted, like delay the actual trading. A lot of investment/trading companies run digital trading, where the latency is measured in milliseconds. This latency determines how far ahead they can get of others trading and make couple of pennies by executing the trade before others.

I recall, back in the late 90s trading companies installed direct fiber connections to the stock market, cost did not matter as long as the latency improved. Nowadays, it's short radio wave installation preferred to the stock market. The reason is simple. Fiber transfer speed is roughly 1/3 of the speed of light, while short radio waves are roughly 2/3 of the speed of light. Basically cutting fiber connection latency in half and beat other traders, who still use fiber connections...

Superb analysis. I concur with everything you said, but I wonder how the whole Wall Street system (that probably runs on a bank of Cray-type computers) could differentiate between a digital buy/sell vs. a non-digital trade. I think it would be great if it's possible, but I can't think of any way to enforce it. No doubt, the heavies have an unfair advantage with superior equipment to work with; however, even a little schmuck like me can make some serious profit as long as I "buy low - sell high" of proven stocks. Of course the big guys will make more, but at least if I stick to the fundamentals there's plenty of profits for everyone. The "new millennials" (or "Robinhooders", as I like to call them) have sure made it more interesting than the stodgy old days of ticker tape and cigar filled offices. Just got to keep fully aware of the new players attempts at creative manipulations.

Quote from: Grime Time on January 30, 2021, 09:41:07 AM
Just give me the same rules.  It

Quote from: LennG on January 29, 2021, 05:22:41 PM
Agreed, but try an I might, even though she was a psychiatrist and understand human behavior, and then realizing that the man she married showed no remorse, but he had to show love and tenderness etc. He wasn't a so-called mindless, remorseless zombie. AND that doesn't make him a killer. Sure she was pissed at him but she still stuck by him until that point.
Her lawyer wanted suspicion pointed at the dead girl's husband. he really had the most interest in seeing her dead. I still can't get how that proverbial 'lightbulb' went off in Kidman's mind, and the plot was hatched. Throughout the show, you couldn't be definitely sure it wasn't the other husband. Granted that Hugh Grant's story was so ridiculous, he was there, they made love, he left, then came back--silly, but people did believe it.

And we are so attuned to never suspect the obvious, that we look for, who is the most unlikely guy to be the murderer--Sutherland, that we immediately go right there. Good stuff anyway.

PS, ever get to watch the last season of Fargo?

I watched the first 5 episodes and was into it, but my girlfriend absolutely hated it (no big deal, she hates most of the shows I like) and then Hulu was canceled by mistake after I was forced to cancel my credit card after someone (a slimeball) in California got my numbers and tried to use it. Took forever to get Hulu back up, but I still haven't had the TV to myself anyway and have had too much stuff going on (surgery on my head, a friend's death, another friend's father passing, dealing with a lawyer on a tough case, trying to get my elderly parents vaccinated....and just a whole lot of stuff). Anyway, I will get back to it at some point. Wish my girlfriend had a job (that she has to go to) right now, LOL