On being scared.

How to scare yourself:

1. Read Dan Geer on monocultures: http://geer.tinho.net/acm.geer.0704.pdf -- especially the bit where he casually mentions that there are 10^60 insects on this planet, and 10^50 of them are ants.

2. Read Charlie Stross' _Missile Gap_ http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring2007/fiction-missile-gap-by-charles-stross/

Shiver a lot.

On being scared.

How to scare yourself:

1. Read Dan Geer on monocultures: http://geer.tinho.net/acm.geer.0704.pdf -- especially the bit where he casually mentions that there are 10^60 insects on this planet, and 10^50 of them are ants.

2. Read Charlie Stross' _Missile Gap_ http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring2007/fiction-missile-gap-by-charles-stross/

Shiver a lot.

I'm right, two years late.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ConsumerLawPolicyBlog/~3/125064528/home_foreclosur.html

Summary: US mortgage foreclosure rates are at a 50 year high.

My prediction (made in the 2001 timeframe): all those idiots buying houses that they can't afford on 5/1 ARMs and other silly mortgage products are going to be really unhappy when the interest rates go back up at the end of the initial period. That should happen about 5 years after this silliness starts, so... 2005?

We got a 20 year fixed rate mortgage when we bought the house, refinanced when interest rates dropped, did it again to a 15 year mortgage. Thus ends my financial wisdom. And I admit that I was quite lucky to be looking for a house just before a housing market boom started and at a time of historically low interest rates. It was not luck, but rather hard work and good financial habits, that meant that I could put in a huge down payment.

Many thanks to my father for teaching me, largely through example.

I'm right, two years late.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ConsumerLawPolicyBlog/~3/125064528/home_foreclosur.html

Summary: US mortgage foreclosure rates are at a 50 year high.

My prediction (made in the 2001 timeframe): all those idiots buying houses that they can't afford on 5/1 ARMs and other silly mortgage products are going to be really unhappy when the interest rates go back up at the end of the initial period. That should happen about 5 years after this silliness starts, so... 2005?

We got a 20 year fixed rate mortgage when we bought the house, refinanced when interest rates dropped, did it again to a 15 year mortgage. Thus ends my financial wisdom. And I admit that I was quite lucky to be looking for a house just before a housing market boom started and at a time of historically low interest rates. It was not luck, but rather hard work and good financial habits, that meant that I could put in a huge down payment.

Many thanks to my father for teaching me, largely through example.