L. Neil Smith passes

It was brought to my attention that L. Neil Smith, author, has passed away. What you need to know about him was that he was never “L Neil Smith, the author” he was almost always “L. Neil Smith, the libertarian author”. He wrote books that enshrined, sometimes almost to reductio ad absurdum levels, libertarian ideals about liberty and personal freedom. His most notable book probably was “The Probability Broach” but my favorite was “Pallas“.

I don’t get maudlin or misty-eyed over the death of an author, but I do get a bit sad over the death of a like-minded individual. If he really believed the principles and ideas about the things he wrote, the he was my kinda guy and the world could stand to have a few more people like that in it.

Also worth pointing out that this last year also saw the death of Dean Ing…another author whose work resonated with me.

Tough time to be an author with libertarian and survivalist tendencies.

Waiting on bubbles to burst

Well, it’s September which is not really the actual beginning of fall but for me it’s definitely a benchmark that it’s time to get out the Filson, but away the summer gear, and make darn sure the winter gear modules are ready for the vehicle and the Bag O’ Tricks(tm).

I’ve been wanting to purchase a chunk o’ land somewhere and have been keeping my eyes open, as well as being rather aggressive in my investing. Thanks to some reckless disregard and a whole lot of covered calls I’ve hit my goals for my real estate fund a tad early. I was talking to someone the other day about when to buy and I mentioned that I thought the current super-hot market couldn’t last forever and I wanted to be in a position to take advantage of it when it eventually cooled/burst. I speculated that when the feds finally raise interest rates and mortgage rates go back up, the housing market will slump a bit. He opined that he agreed with that but he had another take on things that I found fascinating.

He thought that as the eviction moratoriums come to an end, and recalcitrant ‘tenants’ are finally shown the door, fed-up landlords and people who had been meaning to sell their properties will flood the market with houses, driving the prices back down and perhaps ‘bursting’ the current housing bubble. An interesting thought. Regardless of the cause, at some point the prices will eventually ‘adjust’ downwards and I hope to be there, cash in hand, ready to put Rancho Ballistica aka Commander Zero’s Post Nuclear Bunker O’ Love And Lingerie Proving Ground into reality.