Interesting Links for 21-03-2013

[andrewducker]

• Google engineer spills the beans on DRM - It's about controlling hardware companies
  (tags: google drm )
• High-carb intake in infancy has lifelong effects
  (tags: diet metabolism children carbohydrates )
• Bolshoi ballet was 'giant brothel' claims former dancer
  (tags: prostitution sex russia ballet )
• Hyper-Realistic CGI Is Killing Photographers,

Comments

[steer]

The diamond article is mostly correct but "Diamonds, however, are not an investment. The market for them is neither liquid nor are they fungible."

Compare with "A house is not an investment. The market for a house is neither liquid nor fungible."

The market for a house is certainly neither liquid nor fungible yet you will still find people telling you they're a great investment (and a lot of the time they are correct).

[andrewducker]

About 50% of the time they're correct, IIRC (as in the value of the house is higher at the end than it was when you started paying for it, taking inflation into account). My brother did some digging into house inflation/deflation, and it's mostly a good investment if you buy one somewhere that then becomes desirable.

[steer]

I suspect that it strongly depends on the time period considered, whether you put cash down or buy a mortgage and so on. It's a very complex question.

My point is merely that "non fungible" and "non liquid" are foolish ways to mark something as not a good investment. I imagine the author was hoping that most people didn't know what the words meant and just nod. :-)

[andrewducker]

It does make something not as easily treated as a pure investment as, say, a lump of gold. The market in gold is very simple - you buy an amount of it, you sell an amount of it. Housing is a far more complex thing to treat as an investment - and treating housing as pure investment is much more likely to cause you trouble in the long run.

[octopoid_horror]

"14. Don't expect pubs to be the interactive experiences they are in America. They are a place for drinking and talking to your friends and will lack the bells and whistles you are used to."

What on earth happens in American pubs?

[andrewducker]

Lots of Karaoke, and "events", apparently.