DTEJD1997

This is evidence in favor of rb's theory. But much of what you said I have no answer for. If they actually saw what they describe, it sounds like tech that is far beyond what is available to humans currently (never mind a decade ago). Yes, I forgot to mention that ALL of this is predicated on these reports being reported TRUTHFULLY. In this day & age, there is a lot of false information out there...and this certainly could be the case here.

You make some valid points DTEJD. But respectfully I think you're still off. Technology moves along a line. First you figure out A, then you figure out B, then you figure out C, and so on. In our world we are at a point where we have discovered radar stealth technology (I know it's not perfect but good enough for us to spend a lot of money on it). But we're also at a point where we're hoping that we're gonna have a manned mission to our second closes planet some decades from now. If an alien race have developed interstellar transport technology. They've surely developed radar stealth. Since they're not popping out in times square we can assume they're pretty shy so reasonably they would employ their stealth tech to keep a low profile and not dance with F-18s. It could be an aircraft of an adversary of the US. But I doubt it. While there are brilliant people all around the world that can design some really cool stuff the whole process takes money. A lot of money. So much money that we'd know that something was up. But I also don't think that if another country had this sort of tech they'd necessarily go for subjugation. The US had the tech to make the SR-71 and didn't go for subjugation that much. Just a little subjugation here and there. Now the SR-71. This beast went into service in the mid 60s and let's face it, back then it was totally UFO stuff. It had some stealth, and speed and acceleration like you wouldn't believe. But just because the US had the tech to design and produce the SR-71 it doesn't mean that they've implemented that across the military. In fact back then the navy was still goofing around with F9s. So if a carrier launched some F9s to intercept an SR-71 to the pilots of the F9s the SR-71 would positively look like an alien craft. I would say that these UFOs are probably an output of the US military complex. If we were to encounter actual aliens I would posit that they would employ a level of technology that would be incomprehensible to us. Not simply amazing or baffling. Which would probably make it a good thing if we don't meet them at this stage. RB, you make some valid points, but I think you are still a ways off... 1). When I was a kid, I was tremendous fan of the SR-71, and read a lot about it and the Lockheed "Skunk Works" that developed it. It most certainly was a TREMENDOUS jump forward in technology...and even pulled some other industries forward for it's development. It had some INCREDIBLE performance metrics that still stand (publicly) today... HOWEVER, a person that did not know ANYTHING about it (near the time of it's 1st flight), and saw a picture of it, would know that it is an airplane and is produced by humans. It clearly had a wing, cockpit, engines and so on. It had a clearly defined method of propulsion (burning fuel in the engines). It certainly was different than most other planes of the day, but you could tell that it is an airplane. Contrast that to what was encountered off the Pacific coast more than a decade ago. The pilots mentioned that there was no apparent method of propulsion, no wings, no engines, no nacelles, no obvious burning or combustion of fuel. One of the pilots stated that he thought it was "produced by something not of this earth". There was some talk that the UFO's encountered may have been going into/out of the water. We have nothing even close to doing that today. I am not aware of any work/research even being done on this. I am not convinced that whatever it was that was encountered is made by aliens...but I think there is a CHANCE that it is...or that it could be something else entirely (dimensional shift, time travel, another earth based intelligence NTI (akin to something seen in Abyss)...or something else entirely. I am surprised that the encounter(s) have been made public AND that it is not a bigger story than what it is AND FINALLY that the military does not seem to be more interested in them than they are.

If medical care in the USA is going to be comparable to court appointed attorneys...we are in for rough times indeed.

Nothing. It would be too far away for us to go there. I imagine we would do quite a bit of different things.... 1). We could probably only communicate through radio or lasers and probably would not be able to travel there. 2). I imagine that different countries & companies & organizations would different views of what to say when communicating. I imagine that the new planet would get plenty of messages for convenient time shares, Amway, Herbalife, other multilevel marketing schemes, religious messages, scientific messages & so on. There was a book where alien probes came to earth and a big part of their communications was a "chain letter" & other scummy type things. Was pretty fascinating to think that Aliens, while certainly different than humans, would have some similar ambitions & frailties.

I don't pay attention to the kidnappings or waking up to little green men stories. But UFO's around military installations or reported by pilots seems credible enough since the reporting party have lot to lose if this was a hoax. But both of them are treated the same way in the media. Yes, that is what is so very odd & mystifying about this latest round of revelations... If I read it correctly, the weird encounters in the Pacific were FIRST picked up by a carrier battle groups RADAR. Weird stuff was going on the radar, so they send out an interceptor(s) to check it out. Interceptor gets there and the pilot clearly sees something, does not understand what they are seeing. They are seeing something that was giving the radar signature though...so it isn't "swamp gas" or too much alcohol/PCP. Finally, that interceptor has part of the encounter on tape, showing something very strange and unexplained. Almost 100% sure it is not a drone OR anything currently in production. If we've got something like that, then how come we are goofing around with outdated F-18's? How come we aren't using these things to their fullest? Conversely, if it was the N. Koreans or Iranians, how come we aren't all subjugated & conquered by now? So in my mind, these revealed military encounters are totally different than any previous encounter/sighting.

Possibly, although I don't get the rational of flying clandestine warplane in the commercial alley. But who knows , maybe they are testing the F-U series. And I don't get the media attitude about covering this. Even if you strongly believe its not an alien craft, isn't there a huge story about security gap or pilot insanity? I do admit that I'm a UFO junkie. We barely understand the universe, our place in it, life's origin to conclusively state that we are alone. Maybe Musk is right that the odds of this world being a simulation are higher than this being a base reality. It could be that the military wanted to get a "real life" test of the craft's performance & stealth by flying it down a commercial alley. Hard to say... As a child, I was a UFO enthusiast...but most young boys are. I wanted them to be real. Then I grew up a bit and thought about it and the evidence that had been collected was a bunch of stories from half drunk hillbillies & whackos for the most part. There was little to no physical evidence. Most of the photos were grainy and/or looked like they had been staged faked. I also tried to put myself into the mind of an alien. I would probably go to Vegas, or New York City OR a very important city, NYC, London, Moscow...somewhere interesting or important. As an alien, why would I be preying on the poor people in trailer parks? Just did not make much sense. OR When the Soviet Union broke apart, they were selling stuff, secrets were getting out...why was little to nothing mentioned of UFO's? If the Soviets had conclusive or compelling evidence, would it not have been sold or come to light? So I figured UFO's were most likely the result of too much alcohol, drugs, or an over active imagination. NOW we get some pretty compelling evidence, MUCH more so than everything previously put together...and it largely gets a ho-hum. Most people that I talk with about it have heard NOTHING about the UFO's, or almost nothing. Nor do they seem particularly interested to hear anything. Everybody seems to be enmeshed in Facebook, what the Kardashians are doing, what Trump said, or what they are going to have for dinner tomorrow. Assuming that the media is not lying, AND that the government is not lying, these incidents I think are pretty conclusive evidence that SOMETHING is going on. What exactly it is, I am not sure.

I've heard most of those tapes, and they are very interesting. I think it is highly likely that is a military aircraft though. It's behavior was not anywhere as strange as what happened out over the Pacific in 2004.

Hey all: Over the past week or so, there have been some more reports on UFO's released. Nobody much is interested in them though.... Too much concern over Trump, school shootings, metoo, and on and on. Now there are reports that: A). F-18's encountered strange object off coast of Mexico in 2004 B). Object was about 50 feet long, shaped like a tic-tac with no wings or nacelles C). Report suggests it may have been docking with underwater craft D). Descended from 50k feet to 50 feet at "ballistic missile speeds" Here is one of the news reports on it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5776081/Leaked-Pentagon-report-reveals-startling-new-details-supersonic-Tic-Tac-UFO.html crazy times we live in!

Beating the market? You would think that the typical denizen of Detroit is prosperous from that video! You would also think that the typical Detroiter is walking around with bricks of cash and Detroit is the place to be! To be fair, carrying bricks of cash is only for the weekends and holidays....NOT everyday. ;) You guys don't have banks out there in D-town? 8) To be fair, if you were a banker, would you underwrite mortgages in Detroit? :P The banking situation in Detroit has changed RADICALLY and there are now SEVERAL mortgages written EVERY YEAR now. The "no more mortgages" are largely a thing of the past. Also, quite shockingly, there are even houses being built from time to time....Not a lot, but if you carefully, you can see this taking place. When I was growing up, there were MANY years when not a SINGLE house (new build) was built within the city limits.

Beating the market? You would think that the typical denizen of Detroit is prosperous from that video! You would also think that the typical Detroiter is walking around with bricks of cash and Detroit is the place to be! To be fair, carrying bricks of cash is only for the weekends and holidays....NOT everyday. ;)

Hey all: I forgot to mention that most of the people I know who have beat the market over long periods have paid NO or little attention to what the market was doing as a whole. They are looking for individual opportunities, and go from there. That is what they are focused, not what the DJIA is doing...and whether they beat it. They are also investing for LONG time frames in general.

There is not a doubt in any fiber of my being that an INTELLIGENT, PATIENT, DISCIPLINED investor can beat the market averages. I know they can do this over long periods of time too. I personally know people that have done this. There are also bargains to be had at almost all periods in time also. Obviously, some times have more bargains than others, and some times are easy to operate in than others. You can also do incredibly well just finding/executing 1 or 2 ideas a YEAR. Of course, if you are limited to mega-caps and are managing hundreds of millions or billions,your task is going to be that much more difficult. Most of the time, you are going to have to deal in small/nano cap stocks...but not always. There have been times where I've found nano-caps that are just "lead pipe cinches"....way better than buying Google at even 10X earnings even. I've been investing for 25+ years. I got started early in life...beating the market has always been difficult, but always possible.

Hey all: There is not a doubt in my mind (in America) that people are getting more & more stupider as time progresses. In many places in America, the edukation system is broken OR rapidly breaking down. People graduate from high skool with no knowledge of finances OR economics. They don't even know how to balance a check book. They have no knowledge of insurance, mortgages, how the stock market works, real estate, time value of money and dozens of other concepts....so if they don't have any exposure to these things, how are they going spot a bubble? Have they even heard of "bubbles"? How would they know? I am now middle aged...but sometimes I work with "younger" attorneys (30 years old). A good number of these people have little to no knowledge of finance/economics. These are supposedly highly educated people. Another thing I've started to notice is the SHOCKING number of children being raised in single parent households. These single parent households usually are missing the father. I've heard about this for a long time, but it is only in the past 3-5 years that I've really started to notice it. This is not a good way to raise children. Another factor I've seen is that SO MANY children are being raised in daycare centers. The parent(s) drop the child off at day care while they work. Sometimes this is with almost newborn children! Obviously there is no other way for a lot of people...but once again, this is not a good way to raise children. Obviously, another factor has been low interest rates. That may be the single biggest factor in the blowing of bubbles. I think a LOT of people have put money into the market, real estate, bit coin, beanie babies, or whatever because they can only get 1% in savings accounts. Finally, I'm starting to see another bubble in real estate. Here in Detroit, housing prices are going UP! WTF? Over time, housing & real estate usually goes down! So if it is going up, you know something crazy is going on!

Hey all: I suspect there are a LOT of things going on in the REIT space.... 1). Some REITS are most definitely mis-priced. There is opportunity here. 2). Some areas of REITS are having trouble AND are going to have trouble going forward. Retail is one of these...especially lower grade malls. 3). Interest rates have gone up, and are going up for the foreseeable future. Rising rates equals lower asset values. 4). Some REITs have to rollover debt on a pretty much constant basis. Credit is becoming more expensive. What happens if underwriting criteria tightens? What happens if credit markets constrict or even close? Trouble for REIT's. 5). I am sure there is some form of herd mentality going on. Fund managers in NYC suddenly think that AMZN is going to take over the grocery industry. They (and those they associate with) shop at WFM...so they think everybody else in the country does this. Reality is that WFM has maybe 1% market share? So they double and go to 2%? Hardly a wipe out of the grocery industry. 6). Some REITs were probably mis-priced in the past in that they were "too expensive". 3- 4% cap rate? I don't care how high quality that property is, that is simply too low a rate of return. Now that share price has gone down, things that were too expensive to begin with have come to a more reasonable rate. Interesting things are going to take place in this area, that is for sure!

Hey all: I try and exercise my mind & body in the AM, before I get started with my business for the day. I used to use the website "Lumosity". They have some excellent games for memory & cognition. I will also sometimes play Tetris. I find that game gets my mind going. Perhaps it has something to do with thinking about the shapes & combinations they make? So my question to the board is "is there anything that you specifically do to get your mind going?"

I can't agree with this ENOUGH!!! I've attended some meetings of "nano" cap auto parts supplier(s) near/around Detroit. They are shocked that an outside shareholder bothered to show up. After going through formalities & the annual vote, I got to ask questions of the CEO, top level management AND the Board Of Directors. They answered my questions and we had a conversation for almost 2 hours! This has happened more than 1 time. I learned a lot about the company, their plans & strategy, history, and information on the industry and competitors. If I can do it, I suspect other members on this board can also. If you can do this, you will get up to speed fast. They also had a really nice spread(s) of food, so I got a free meal(s) too!

Hey all: Poker is certainly interesting and is sometimes an enjoyable game. I do not know the specifics of Annie Dukes situation...but I would caution people about taking advice from "poker professionals". Many of those "professionals" are simply broke, degenerate gamblers. They may win $5 million playing in a big tournament where they win or place highly....but they've lost $6 million trying to get there and or playing in cash games. Obviously not all of them are broke/degenerates, but a surprising number are!

The problem I've got is that in some of my accounts, the daily gain/loss does not make any sense during the trading day. It frequently says I'm UP even though I may be down...OR it will say I'm up $750 for the day, when in reality I'm only up $200... I've called them several times now, and they admit/know they've got a problem...but it is beyond their technical expertise to fix. It makes me nervous that if they can't fix something as easy/simple as this, where/when will they have other problems?

Hey all: Years & years ago, I wrote a guest posting on the blog "Ragnar is a Pirate" about Rurban Financial. This is a small bank with most of it's operations in NW Ohio. They have since changed their name to "State Bank Financial Group" (SBFG) and have done reasonably well. Anyways...Seeking Alpha REPOSTED THE ARTICLE FROM RAGNAR'S website. They had an agreement with him that they could repost articles on his website that they were interested in and thought were quality pieces...so they republished my article. They acknowledge that I am the author, but I can no longer gain access to it, as I don't have a premium membership to "Seeking Alpha".

Hey all: Well, the property tax board appeals decisions came out today.... I didn't get what I was asking/arguing for, but I got a 35% reduction on one property, and a 37% reduction on the other property's assessed value. I am not 100% sure, but I think this is probably "close enough" and not worth going to Lansing to appeal...I will have to check some records and make sure my figures are correct though. So finally, after two years of arguing & going in front of the board, I finally think I've come close to what things should be. So that is a bit of good news!

Hey all: My family & I had multiple trading accounts at Scottrade for years. TDAmeritrade bought them out a couple months ago. The accounts then went to TDAmeritrade. Some accounts are just fine...no apparent problems. Some accounts are not tallying the daily changes in value correctly, not even close to correct. I've called TDAmeritrade's tech support a few times now and they admit there is a known problem with this feature and they are working on it. I also called today and have been told that high level management has been told of the problem... This has been going on EVERY day since day 1 of the accounts being moved. While it is a relatively minor issue, I am starting to wonder if there are other problems...and if they won't/can't fix it, WTF? Is anybody else noticing this with their accounts?

Hey all: I am listening to a news segment on WJR about Uber in Tempe AZ. Turns out one of their self driving vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian about 10PM Sunday night. I can't even imagine how a big a lawsuit this is going to be. Uber has shut down all of their self driving vehicle testing programs at this point. This is going to be HUGE setback for Uber's self driving vehicles. It is going to damage the company. Will the public tolerate more than a couple/few fatalities in the testing of these vehicles? I think this is just another piece of evidence that Uber has a defective business model.

Perhaps a board packed with "big names" is a warning sign in of itself? Maybe, just maybe, the puppet master of the scam is packing the board with "big names" to bamboozle the weak minded. Further, what do all these "heavy hitters" know about high tech blood testing devices? What do they bring to the OBD other than their names & reputation? There are PLENTY of people who are competent or even good at running businesses that do not have "big names" and the $$$ that those names command. Heck, maybe I've got a good new marketing pitch for a short fund? Short the "big names"! hahaha

So let me get this straight? Elizabeth Holmes is going to pay a $500k fine AND won't be able to be in C-suite of a public company for 10 years, and will give up 19mmm shares? She also won't be able to profit from Theranos until $750mm is paid back to investors? What about all the money already paid to Ms. Holmes from Theranos? What about all the benefits & perks she already got? It would interesting to see what Ms. Holmes CURRENT life style is like...does she live in a house? Does she drive a nice vehicle? Does she frequently go out to eat & drink & party with friends? I am skeptical about a lot of these "financial settlements". I would wager that while a lot of the people making these agreements lose some $$$$, their lifestyles are probably similar to what they were living BEFORE the settlement. These things look like little more than slaps on the wrist. I could be wrong, but I would be willing to wager that Ms. Holmes is not living in a 1 bedroom apartment, taking public transportation (or riding a bike) and eating ramen noodles, bananas and peanut butter.

Hey all: I wanted to share my thoughts & insights on casinos. When I was a child and growing up (70's), I often heard tales of "junkets" to Las Vegas. Stories of the mob & organized crime running things. This was at the tail end of the mob running Las Vegas, just before the corporations finally took everything over. I had visions of casinos being slightly dangerous...but yet a sophisticated and wild place. Kind of outside the bounds of normal society and right on the fringe. I also saw James Bond movies and imagined that casinos were generally sophisticated, elegant, luxurious and rich places. Patrons were worldly, sophisticated, well to do. Men dressed in suits and tuxedos for the most part. Women were gorgeous, sophisticated and dressed in cocktail dresses, evening gowns and such. Such is the imagination of a child.... Fast forward many years. I am now a young man. Casinos have legally opened near my home. Fortune calls out to my Dad and I and we go to meet it. I found out that reality and fortune does not match my images of childhood...not even close! First of all, we had to wait in line to get in! Surprisingly, other people had the same idea that we did...This was when casinos were first legalized in the jurisdiction. The first one open had an incredible lead on their competitors. Once inside, the place was jammed with patrons seeking their fortune. We sat & played a bit of Carribean Poker, a "carnival game". As we play, a cocktail waitress comes around asking if anybody wants a drink. This poor woman has seen better days....all of the waitresses and servers I saw had. What a contrast with what I had imagined. I guess it does not matter what a server looks like as long as they can do their job....So of course I'll have a drink! Turns out that it costs $7 whut, Whut, WHUT? Drinks are not free? Where the hell do you think you are? VEGAS? After an hour or so I just did not get very much in terms of the cards dealt to me. I won a little, lost a bit more...won a little, lost even more, so I lost a good chunk of the money I had come with. Dad lost only a little bit. We decided to get up & walk around. After a bit of walking I decide to use the restroom, so Dad stays put and off I go to find it. I come back 10 minutes (or less) to a fuming, angry father....What is the problem I inquire? He was mad that I took so long..WHY DID IT TAKE ME TEN MINUTES TO FIND, and WALK TO & FROM THE WASHROOM????....He could not "sit on his hands" and just had to put a $100 bill into a slot machine. He was beside himself that he lost it all in the short time I was walking to & from the washroom. How could that have happened? How is that my fault? I shrug it off. That really should have been a warning to me...lose $100 in mere minutes... OK So Dad lost, maybe all of our bad luck is used up! I decide to show him how things are done and I put some money into a slot machine to get my riches....After a few pulls of the handle, I have not won, in fact I have lost almost half of my money! WTF? I slow down a bit and look at the machine closely. I notice that the characters on the wheel are NOT paying off. To add insult to injury they are not even lining up properly across the pay line! This machine must be broken...so I get a slot technician and she informs that the machine is acting "just the way it is supposed to". Now I get it, the casino can't even be bothered to have the characters line up properly on their slots. What must the "hold" be on these accursed things? I have no idea, but it has got be YUGE! Nobody wins here EXCEPT THE HOUSE. I laughed at the technician & slot machine and cashed out. No more slots for me, never again. As we left, I wondered where are all the suave and debonair men? Where are the beautiful, sultry, sophisticated ladies? Where are the jubilant winners yelling that they won a jackpot? That they "broke the bank"? The smiling faces, the laughing patrons slapping each other on the back, celebrating their good fortune? This place and it's patrons look like a bus stop depot. A sad, broken down bus stop. Nobody here "broke the bank", the bank broke them! What a let down. After that, I did not step into a casino for a few years.... (to be continued)