I was talking to David Andrew Taylor, we were mulling the airspeed velocity of an un-laden swallow, and he mentioned a new blog called Accrued Interest written by Tom Graff who manages a buy side bond desk.
I feel like I know his name but I cannot place it, maybe he has been quoted somewhere or maybe I grew up with a Tom Graff if not this Tom Graff.
Either way this guy knows his stuff and is good for a post every day. I will add him to my side bar links this weekend.
Now from the WTF file.
Last month we bought a new Tundra (we got zero% on a Toyota!). Yesterday my wife was driving it and the fan in the air conditioner started making a racket like there was a piece of paper or plastic stuck in it. We took it to the dealer and there was a rodent nest in there somewhere!
Who ever heard of such a thing? We have lived in the woods for quite a while and this has never happened to us. So $140 later it is ready for us to go pick up.
Wikinvest Wire
11 comments:
...of course you know it's not really 0% financing.....
g
Packrats are prevelant in the wooded Prescott/Walker area. They ruined my neighbor's hot tub by burrowing into it from underneath his deck and building a nest in the wiring. They can also get into engine compartments; particularly if vehicle is left parked outside.
You should consider yourself lucky. My sister ended up paying over $1500 to get a packrat nest removed from the engine compartment and dash of her Elantra. It would've cost over $4000 if she'd gone to the dealership. This is in Flagstaff, BTW. The guys that did the removal said this happens fairly often.
What about the warranty? Wasn't it covered?
George: Not 0%? Then, what?
thanks for all the worst-case stories, we just sold the truck (insert smirk).
George, I used to work with a guy named Steve. I had to buy a new suit one day and it cost me $200 (this was 1990).
I told Steve about this and the first thing he said was "why didn't you tell me, I could have got one for $80."
Anyone who buys a car is getting screwed. Please don't trample on the one positive we had with this experience.
Larry, nothing broke on the car--not covered.
Was the swallow flying to or fro Capistrano?
Discussions of swallow velocity are best accompanied by suitable libation; this makes the requisite Strouhal coefficient more, um, fluid.
In the meantime, someone else can do the heavy lifting viz: "Although a definitive answer would of course require further measurements, published species-wide averages of wing length and body mass, initial Strouhal estimates based on those averages and cross-species comparisons, the Lund wind tunnel study of birds flying at a range of speeds, and revised Strouhal numbers based on that study all lead me to estimate that the average cruising airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 11 meters per second, or 24 miles an hour." (Corum, J. http://www.style.org/unladenswallow/).
I had to pry open a section of my cabin wall to get at a packrat one time; cute little devil, at least at first.
Those expecting the 'usual' terrorist reflex bounce must have been disappointed; there is not much resilience left in this market. I may or may not be upset next week that my airlines were stopped out (below the limit) but today it feels okay. Everyone have a good weekend.
Title: The Swallows
From: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Transcribed By: Malcolm Dickinson ( CLARINET@YALEVM.BITNET )
The film begins. Out of a dense fog trots Arthur, accompanied on two
empty coconut halves by his trusty servant, Patsy. They approach a
castle. Suddenly a guard appears atop a high rampart.
Guard: Halt! Who goes there?
Arthur: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot.
King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, sovereign of all England!
Guard: Who's the other one?
Arthur: I am, and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length
and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my
court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
Guard: What, ridden on a horse?
Arthur: Yes.
Guard: You're using coconuts!
Arthur: What?
Guard: You've got two empty 'alves of coconuts and you're bangin' 'em
together!
Arthur: So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land.
Through the kingdom of Mercia, through...
Guard: Where'd you get the coconuts?
Arthur: (somewhat taken aback) We found them.
Guard: Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!
Arthur: What do you mean?
Guard: This is a temperate zone!
Arthur: The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house maarten or the
plummer may seek warmer climes in winter, but these are not strangers
to our land!
Guard: Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?
Arthur: Not at all! They could be carried.
Guard: (indcredulous) What, a swallow, carrying a coconut?
Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!
Guard: It's not a question of where 'e grips it! It's a simple question of
weight ratios! A five-ounce bird could *not* carry a one-pound
coconut!
Arthur: (exasperated)
Well it doesn't matter! Will you go and tell your master that Arthur
from the court of Camelot is here!
(pause)
Guard: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to
beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
Arthur: Please!
Guard: (patiently) Am I right.
Arthur: I'm not interested!
( A second guard appears on the rampart. )
G2: It could be carried by an African swallow!
G1: Oh, yeah, an African swallow, maybe, but not a European swallow, that's
my point.
G2: Oh, yeah, I agree with that.
Arthur: (extremely exasperated) Will you ask your master if he wants to join
my court at Camelot!!
(pause)
G1: But then of course, African swallows are non-migratory.
G2: Oh yeah...
(Arthur and Patsy give up and trot away)
G1: So they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway.
G2: Wait a minute! Supposing *two* swallows carried it together!
G1: Nooo..... They'd have to have it on a line...
G2: Well, simple! They'd just use a strand of creeper!
G1: What, held under the dorsal guiding feathers?
G2: Well, why not?
This is the reference to swallows I was searching for...Tom in Indy
Tom, Great work!
However that's no ordinary rabbit.
Not mean't to "trample". I really thought about it before I posted.
But what you said could really confuse some people who read this FINANCIAL blog. There are a lot of people that really think they are getting 0% financing. They do not have to hear it from you....because it is not true.
If the conversation was bewteen you and me, I would have known it was a tongue in cheek analogy. But the public deserves the truth.
g
I don't think we know each other. Thanks for the link though.
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