Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[TightEnd]

did you watch the Peter Alliss documentary last night?

Great stuff

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b062nqp9/an-evening-with-peter-alliss

[OHCARRION]

did you watch the Peter Alliss documentary last night?

Great stuff

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b062nqp9/an-evening-with-peter-alliss

He used to be good but he been talking increasing levels of pish over the last 5-6 years.

[The Camel]

did you watch the Peter Alliss documentary last night?

Great stuff

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b062nqp9/an-evening-with-peter-alliss

He used to be good but he been talking increasing levels of pish over the last 5-6 years.

Excellent documentary. The Vorderman gag was fantastic.

He was one of my favourite commentators when I was growing up, but feel like he should have retired when the BBC lost nearly all their tournaments.

He does seem rather bitter these days.

[tikay]

STAKERS UPDATE

Afternoon all.

I have belatedly got round to sorting the repayments this morning.

Apologies for the delay, I've had the mother of all adrenalin hangovers since I got home & have been unusually lethargic.

A bad journey home, including somehow losing my Passport during the flight (how that happen?) did not help, so I became a stateless person in UK Immigration, & got placed in that little area where the naughty people are made to sit.

The Immigration Officer was very re-assuring though, he said "at least we can't deport you". He would not let me in, either, though I got through eventually.  

Then when I switched on my phone, there were texts galore of the "PANIC" version from my cleaner about complaints from my neighbours that "the garden is unkempt".....Marv.

Anyway, I'll Post where we are with Payments next. Everyone has been paid, EXCEPT where I don't have Bank Details, & I've written to all those from whom I need details.

[tikay]

Thanks for the correction.
I'm happy to make the adjustment.



The final schedule came to $13,280 and the return was $6,770.
Everyone gets 51% of their money back!

See: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lo83qbNr29QM07dTb4QjWRwomRnHDIzf2qUW5aGS6DI/edit#gid=2

The individual sums are:

redsimon - 1%   43.35
NAKOR - 1%   43.35
Sharplea - 1%   43.35
Mohican - 1%   43.35
Knottikay - 1%   43.35
booder   43.35
Forth Thistle - 1%   21.68
MANTIS01 - 5%   216.75
sonour   86.70
engy   86.70
Longines 1%   43.35
Omm      43.35
Redbull 1%   86.70
EvilPie   43.35
rfqqqabc   44.12
Sue & Dave 1%   51.00
Greekstein   43.35
MMD (Anon) 5%   216.75
Arbboy   43.35
Eso Kral   43.35
BobAlike 1%   43.35
Sicilian   43.35
Doobs 1%   43.35
Aaron Gale 5%   216.75
Animal Poker   43.35
Shipitgood 1%   43.35
MereNovice   43.35
RedFox   43.35
scotty77   43.35
chompy   Already settled
Lucky   86.70
Fraser   108.38
Mr Dickie   43.35

For reference, this is what was due to whom, & is what I have used as the payment schedule.

[tikay]

This below is where we are with everyone, as of right now.

redsimon - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
NAKOR - 1%   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
Sharplea - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Mohican - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Knottikay - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
booder   43.35 £21.68 paid to Tighty by Bank TX 24/7, £21.68 going to Reece via Red
Forth Thistle – 0.5%   21.68 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
MANTIS01 - 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
sonour   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
engy   86.70 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
Longines 1%   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS 24/7
Omm      43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS 24/7
Redbull 1%   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
EvilPie   43.35 GRMMED
rfqqqabc   44.12 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Sue & Dave 1%   51.00 PAID TO Reece via Red
Greekstein   43.35 POSTED QUESTION ON CONKY’s STAKING THREAD
MMD (Anon) 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Arbboy   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS 24/7
Eso Kral   43.35 PAID TO REECE via RED 24/7
BobAlike 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Sicilian   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Doobs 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Aaron Gale 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Animal Poker   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Shipitgood 1%   43.35 PID BY BANK TX 24/7
MereNovice   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
RedFox   43.35 PM SENT 24/7REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
scotty77   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
chompy   Already settled PAID
Lucky   86.70 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAUILS 24/7
Fraser   108.38 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Mr Dickie   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7

[tikay]

Some people requested their refunds (part or all) be donated to Reece, or a charity of my choice.

In some cases, these requests have asked to keep it "anon".

So here's what has been done.

I don't have Reece or Maureen's Bank Details, but Tom has them, so I have sent a sum of cash to Tom this morning for him to send to Maureen.

The sum I have sent is nearer £200 than £100, but I won't be identifying it exactly, so as to protect the anon donators.

For purposes of transparency or Audit, please feel free to send a PM to Tom to check that your donation has been paid.  He has a list of the component sums & names, but I have asked him NOT to reveal the anon donors. Tom is on board & knows what to do.

Thank you.

[redsimon]

monies received, ta. Did you find the Passport?

[Omm]

Tikay I've sent u an urgent PM

[Knottikay]

Money received with thanks. I spent it on beer, gambling, women, more beer.....and wasted the rest.

[nirvana]

Prior to Bernie's book, I read a right corker, & rated it even higher.

Entitled "The Greatest Trade Ever - how one man bet against the markets & made $20 billion".

It's about a quiet, unassuming chap by the name of John Paulson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paulson

In the years leading up to the credit crunch, he spotted that subprime mortgages were due to go underwater, so he did the weirdest thing - he sold insurance policies on them. Not exactly on single mortgages though, they were "bundles" of 1,000's of mortgages which Institutions had created as a bit of financial engineering.

Then, when the market went south, & everyone started foreclosing on the mortgages, he SOLD those policies for a lot more than he paid, selling them to the exposed institutions who had burned their fingers, having first protected himself via CDS's, which in themselves became worth a fortune.

The big Credit Rating Agencies came out of the story dreadfully - they got it completely qrong, assessing that less than 1 in 100 subprimes would go underwater, an incredibly naive assumption or calculation, however you look at it.

Bit hard to get into at first, with stuff like CDS - credit default swaps - & CDO's - collaterized debt obligations, but once you get your head round all that, it's a stunning expose of the financial system as then was. I can't pretend I fully understood it all, but it's like baseball stats, you don't need to understand them to enjoy baseball.

It's almost as good, in business/markets sense, as the story of Long Term Capital Management, who somehow leveraged up a tiny asset base to borrow some $40 billion before going tits up & almost causing the world financial stystem to collapse.

John was mocked by one & all, he was really swimming against the tide, but he hung in, & got his result eventually. Gotta be brave to keep betting when for 4 years, the market defied his beliefs, & moved against him, but he stood his ground, hung in, & got there. That takes guts. What a legend, though he is not universally respected, as some say he sort of caused the credit crunch. Mostly those who bet the wrong way, I might add.

Now that's a REAL degenerate.

Terrific read, & v highly recommended. It's by Gregory Zuckerman.

Read a couple of books on this subject and whilst I enjoyed this one I thought "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis was the best and if anyone is into this kind of thing and hasn't read "Liars poker" by Lewis I would highly recommend that.  One of the best books on the culture within the big financial firms i have ever read although i am sure someday soon someone is going to write a great book about Goldman Sachs.

By sheer chance, "The Big Short" is my current read.

Think it's the 5th book I've read on that whole subprime affair, & the weird & not-so-wonderful derivatives sidebar story, & in every one, of course, the identity of the villains & heroes change slightly, depending on who is telling the tale.

There is a common misconception that all of a sudden, when the balloon burst, there was a shortage of cash in the system, which is quite wrong, of course, the amount of cash in the system remained unchanged, it just moved to different places. It was the CREDIT that disappeared.

It was a crisis that was long overdue.

Just got "The Big Short", sorting my books to take on trip to Vegas. What were the other books you read on subprime and would you recommend any? (Might pick a few up at airport)

Bit behind the curve here but was given The Big Short for my umpteenth birthday a few weeks ago. Pretty incredible stuff. I got burned quite badly by the bubble there and realise now my only mistake was making any kind of deposit on the house I bought - totes unnecessary with hindsight to try and do something somewhat responsible in a generally irresponsible play.

Great fun read though

[nirvana]

Thought one of the best titbits in there was the case of a Mexican fruit picker on a salary of $14,000 p.a who was lent 100% of $724,000 to buy his preferred accommodations. Brill

[animalpoker]

This below is where we are with everyone, as of right now.

redsimon - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
NAKOR - 1%   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
Sharplea - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Mohican - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Knottikay - 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
booder   43.35 £21.68 paid to Tighty by Bank TX 24/7, £21.68 going to Reece via Red
Forth Thistle – 0.5%   21.68 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
MANTIS01 - 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
sonour   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
engy   86.70 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
Longines 1%   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS 24/7
Omm      43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS 24/7
Redbull 1%   86.70 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
EvilPie   43.35 GRMMED
rfqqqabc   44.12 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Sue & Dave 1%   51.00 PAID TO Reece via Red
Greekstein   43.35 POSTED QUESTION ON CONKY’s STAKING THREAD
MMD (Anon) 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Arbboy   43.35 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAILS 24/7
Eso Kral   43.35 PAID TO REECE via RED 24/7
BobAlike 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Sicilian   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Doobs 1%   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Aaron Gale 5%   216.75 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Animal Poker   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Shipitgood 1%   43.35 PID BY BANK TX 24/7
MereNovice   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
RedFox   43.35 PM SENT 24/7REQUESTING BANK DETAILS
scotty77   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
chompy   Already settled PAID
Lucky   86.70 PM SENT REQUESTING BANK DETAUILS 24/7
Fraser   108.38 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7
Mr Dickie   43.35 PAID BY BANK TX 24/7

Rec'd, thanks for the adventures.  C u again next year (assuming u get permission to go)

[Royal Flush]

Surely you need to buy yourself this Tikay?

https://www.facebook.com/yookartik/videos/478683055616042

[strak33]

That is in this place i think

http://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/