7/5 Sundry: Freedom links

My uncle played the rum runner in season one

What a coincidence! My uncle defended your constitutional right to publish shameless name-drops by strafing villages full of communist sympathizers in ’Nam.

Great post, though!

I want more of these posts in the future. Fantastic!

I was gifted an ounce of gold when it was at $900/oz. Thought about selling it immediately. I might buy a vault for it.

The Lyles’ Oregonian article is a pretty good read. Say what you will about him, he is doing a pretty good job of damage control and presenting himself in a better light than Chip Kelly. Guy might not have been smart enough to run a complex business operation, but he was smart enough to hold onto plenty of records.

I love Lyles stating that we hate his guts and always have. Certainly leaves little room for the imagination of people that want to point fingers toward us.

And yes, that is a bunny shitting gold coins.

I’ve actually gained a minimal level of respect for Lyles in this whole debacle. He seems to be laying it out there, which is the way to go if you get busted.

I’ve actually gained a minimal level of respect for Lyles in this whole debacle. He seems to be laying it out there, which is the way to go if you get busted.

Really? He is only “laying it out there” against the one school dumb enough not to follow Andy Staples’ rules for cheating. Not a word about any of his other clients, who were smart enough to always pay the full freight and always follow rules #1, #4 and #7.

dedfischer -
 
It’s a consistent failure of imagination from smart people to read intelligence or wiliness in the actions of really stupid people.
 
Will Lyles is profoundly dumb. There’s no angle here. He’s a drowning man windmilling about looking to pull under whoever will get in the water with him.
 
And that’s why you don’t get involved with a street agent:
 
 http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2009/07/23/why-not-deal-with-street-agents-why-does-the-sec/
 
Prophetic, yes?

"At least they tell me they hate me instead of saying one thing about me, then saying things behind my back."

We need to get Lyles a “UT HATE ME” jersey.

That would be saying things behind his back.

Not that I think Lyles is a candidate for a MacArthur grant, but I would give the man some credit for wiliness in skirting Texas academic rules by having kids transfer to a high school in Arkansas that doesn’t require certain standardized tests, getting Seastrunk to Oregon by getting around his mother’s consent and even if it is windmilling, his interviews are presenting him in a better light than I would have thought possible.

parlin,

with a NIKE swoosh logo next to it.

dedfischer,

I am willing to forgive your empathy for Lyles knowing your true dream in life is to become a Dallas street agent.

Big Ern -
 
That’s a time honored practice since Texas instituted the test. Lyles didn’t invent the idea. And since the heat has been turned up, his actions have been nothing but windmilling.
  
His interviews are of a street agent who is rolling over on the procurer of his services after they dissed him. Which is what happens when you enter into a power relationship with someone with nothing to lose and you have everything to lose. Hustlers don’t care about their rep. That’s where their power comes from.
  
Again – people have this bizarre need to imbue genius on the lowest level of hustler. I’m not sure what the disconnect is – maybe it’s just a lack of street smarts. Avoid Bourbon Street and don’t carry a backpack from that friendly Australian guy in Thailand.

the backpack seemed harmless… and i figured, when am i going to be back in thailand?

What’s weird to me is that Wetzel wrote that semi sugary piece about what a good guy Willie is, you know, just trying to help the kids.

Wetzel has always seemed smart and has always gone after big targets. Does he have an ulterior motive? Or is Willie wily enough to dupe Wetzel?

the only thing i would say is there is a wide gap in between “imbuing genius” and “profoundly dumb”. i expected him to come off in the interviews as clearly the latter, and instead i think he has come off fairly well in the interviews. that doesn’t make him a genius and you are probably entirely correct that this is not a well-thought out PR campaign, but rather the only option he has. and he is fighting against an opponent whom i am sure is receiving legal counsel to shut their mouth and keep mum.

UT actually took their position on gold in ’09. What made headlines was their taking physical possession of it. Theyve made a shit load more off that position than 10 mill.

Dick,

When I was at UT, a jeweler friend told me gold was going for $32 an ounce. My reaction was to think about buying a pound’s worth, but it would’ve taken all the money I could get my hands on at the time. (Not sure why I couldn’t have been content with a half pound.)

I thought about buying a pound of gold again after I graduated, but it was up to $80 an ounce by then. I was sure the run-up was over and the price would soon settle back to reality.

The point of this ramble is that I don’t need the use of your vault.

Large gold vaults like HSBC charge .5% to 1% of your holdings per year to use their space. Probably not worth it unless you have a chunk of bullion big enough to crack the foundation of your building. Which admittedly, UTIMCO does.

Fair warning to the gold investors out there: presuming the US doesn’t pseudo-default and China’s RE sector doesn’t completely implode in the next few months, then if no major Euro countries default due to the Greek mess (major, meaning Spain or Italy; Portugal can probably off itself if it likes) and a final settlement is reached with the EU and IMF, then it will finally be clear that there will be no major global banking crises a la post-Lehman in the immediate future. And systemic banking risk is the primary concern of the largest gold-holders – sovereign wealth funds and such – rather than the dollar inflation that small investors seem to be concerned about (not saying ANYTHING about inflation, other than it’s not driving the gold market right now).

So if the EU mess is put away for good, then I think the price of gold will likely take a modest hit, shudder for awhile as peak buyers swoop in and the big dogs trickle out, then fall substantially – not back to pre-spike levels (the longer-run US/China issues will still be out there), but probably a lot lower than $1500/oz. That pop shouldn’t happen soon – the recent Greek settlement is more can-kicking than anything – but it won’t be forever either.

And FYI, I’m not trying to start angry arguments here; my mind is changeable on this – in fact it’s changed about four or five times over the last couple of years. But looking out in the business press especially, I’m concerned that there’s too much happy-talk about gold and not enough concern. So if you disagree, be constructive and tell me (in a friendly tone) why buying gold isn’t feeding a bubble right now. I’m genuinely interested in what y’all have to say. Cuz y’all fart smellers smart fellers.

You know what? I take it back. All of it. It’s not appropriate to dig into non-sports controversial topics on a sports site; I’m inviting mayhem. So I take it all back. Sorry, folks.

Back in 2000 this would’ve been called “7/5 Sundry: French links.”

Dagga,

Macro economics is a perfectly valid topic for discussion as long as you can avoid the politics behind those issues, which you did an admirable job of considering how the two are inextricably linked.

Rule #2. Never apologize.

That has to be the best lead-in image ever?