Is there anything it can’t do?

 

Actual photo from FWIW’s “real quotes and pictures” archives

Missing Martian visitors? Blame global warming.

And it’s back, sort of

Col. Bolling keeps an eye on things down at the old post office

(A portion of) the original site of Colonel Bolling’s 1915 estate, “Greyledge”, has been returned to the market, minus the house itself, which was razed back in 2001 or so. The owner tore down the original building when he figured out the expense involved in restoring it, a sum that would daunt any mortal, but never replaced it. He paid $7.6 million for its 5.97 acres in 2000, so today’s price of  $8.170 doesn’t seem out of line. Still, a million-an-acre seems closer to the going price for land in the mid country  (assuming two lots here), so there may be a wait. On the other hand, there aren’t many parcels this size in this section of Greenwich so maybe ….  

But we’ll keep trying

 

Get outta here!

Connecticut ranked fifth on list of “10 worst states to [try to] make a living.”

At least Hawaii, number 1, has better weather.

Violence in the laundry room

This fight in Wilbur Peck’s laundry brings to mind Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion and their squabble over the meaning of Sartre’s works. Fortunately for the peace and stability of their community, the two ladies are able to resolve their dispute by rafting to Paris and asking Jean Paul himself.

No relationship that I’ll admit to, anyway

A reader sends along this poster he spotted at an open house, for Fudpucker Airlines, which, I learn, never actually existed. 

Which of course is the perfect business model for the founder of Lockwood & Mead Realty, Francis X. Fudrucker. I may change his name.

Someone must have been dying to get in

 

“As is” in real estate listing means “goodbye”

5 Buckthorne Lane, 1.3 acres abutting Putnam Cemetery, sold for $1.350 million in mere days. Land value.

Real estate news

Contracts reported include: One Ginkgo Lane, asking $3.225 million.

 

6 Highview

6 Highview Ave, Old Greenwich, $1.395

 

21 Pierce Rd

21 Pierce Road, Riverside, $1.750 (sold just about instantly)

 

17 Rustic View

17 Rustic View, Greenwich (off Stanwich) $2.595.

This will be interesting to watch

 

What, me work?

Court rules that teacher tenure deprives students of their constitutional right to education.

California’s teacher tenure statutes are unconstitutional and shouldn’t be enforced, a judge said in a preliminary decision handing a victory to a group of students in the broadest legal challenge to date against laws that guarantee public school teachers’ jobs.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf True, who heard two months of arguments, agreed in a tentative ruling today with the nine students who brought the lawsuit that the statutes violate their right to equal educational opportunity under the California constitution.

The ruling, when final, will prohibit the state from enforcing the tenure laws. True put the order on hold until any possible appeals are resolved.

Those appeals will likely take years, but kindergarten students today can take hope.

Obama on Bergdahl release: “I lied.”

 

Am I the cool master of smart diplomacy™, or what?

Two weeks after Mr. Obama took full credit for the exchange of private Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders, and one week after he defended that action, criticism of the president has reached a crescendo (my favorite:

Ralph Peters, a retired lieutenant colonel and intelligence officer, wrote in National Review that a “fundamental culture clash” exists between the president’s team and those in the armed forces, as reflected by Rice’s remarks on Bergdahl’s honor. “Both President Obama and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class,” Peters wrote. “They have no idea of how great a sin desertion in the face of the enemy is to those in our military. The only worse sin is to side actively with the enemy and kill your brothers in arms. This is not sleeping in on Monday morning and ducking Gender Studies 101.”)

Today, the president responded to his critics: he didn’t do it after all, and he shouldn’t have claimed he had.  It was Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. “Not me,”our president told FWIW, “no siree. It was Chuck – Chuck, and those damn Koch brothers.”

This profile in courage was undoubtedly inspired by his own former Secretary of State who, besides moaning about her financial hardships to Diane Sawyer yesterday, insisted she had nothing to do with the Benghazi massacre – in fact, she’d barely heard of the place.

In an interview with Clinton that aired last night on ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer [and Clinton] tangled over the preparedness of the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi for a terrorist attack. In defending her work on this front, Clinton stressed that she had delegated the particulars of security to the experts in the field. “I’m not equipped to sit and look at blueprints to determine where the blast walls need to be, where the reinforcements need to be. That’s why we hire people who have that expertise,” said Clinton ….

“I take responsibility, but I was not making security decisions.”

I long for the day when a politician of any persuasion will say “I take full responsibility” and stop right there. Adding the seemingly-obligatory “but” just invalidates everything that came before that conjunction, as most of us try to teach our children.

 

Here’s an obvious short sale I missed, and a fashion short sale opportunity

 

Good riddance

Radio Shack is dying. Good lord, all an investor had to do to avoid losing on this stock was, at any time in the past twenty years, to step into  Radio Shack store and observe. I’m surprised it lasted so long, and even more surprised that as recently as 2007 it was trading at $30. {Update – it was 2007 when the Onion published a piece, “Even CEO can’t figure out why Radioshack is still in business” – investors back then would have been better advised to read the Onion rather than the WSJ]

Oh dear

Of course, just as I was asking myself, “who are these fools”, Business Insider reports that mens “short suits” are the next hot trend. Bet they aren’t.

I’ll be back in fashion soon, I’m sure of it!

And I thought our family had problems

Ode to the Common Man

Back from Maine, John was sprung from the hospital and is in good spirits. His positive attitude can only be strengthened, however, when he contrasts his good fortune with this tale of woe from the woman who would be king:
Hillary: we struggled to buy two, 5-bedroom houses ( Chappaqua $1.75 million, and on Embassy Row, D.C., $2.85 million, after leaving the White House and while waiting for Bill’s appearance fees to kick in.