Price trend of Quill Condos in Downey using data from Redfin

I thought it would be interesting to look at the sale prices of condos in the condo complex where we rent in Downey, CA. The graph speaks for itself. Prices in Southern California were completely out of touch with reality. Look at the bubble in the early 90's. Prices only went up by 50% and then declined for 6 straight years. In this last bubble, prices increased nearly 350% between 2000 and 2007. Much of those gains have been wiped out in 2 years since the bubble burst.

This graph is quite useful because it is comparing identical units (~300 sq. ft. max difference) in close proximity to each other. Expanding the comparison to Downey as a whole would introduce comparisons between dissimilar homes in substantially different neighborhoods. It doesn't make much sense mixing the large sprawling homes of Northeast Downey in with the tiny houses south of the 105.

Does anybody really believe prices will continue to trend upwards with high unemployment, shadow inventory twice the size of what is listed and the upcoming wave of Option ARM recasts? Good thing Congress extended the $8,000 credit, wouldn't want housing to be affordable.

I think a big part of this migration is that the barrier to posting is very low on Facebook and the audience is quick to reach. I don't mind seeing what people did last night or checking out some of their photos, but I don't expect to have any deep discussions on Facebook. There's little incentive for people to post anything too meaningful because as soon it drops off the front page of everyone's News Feed it is essentially lost forever. Posts and comments on a blog are much more permanent and easily retrieved. I could easily find a blog post from last year, but I don't think I'd be able to find a Status Update from last year. Why invest time in creating content that might as well be deleted after it reaches an age of one week?

Of the 18 or so blogs on my Blogroll, I'd say only 5 or 6 could be considered active. All the people who's blogs are dead are active on Facebook. That seems like fairly good evidence that Facebook killed the casual blog. Not good or bad, it just is what it is.

1. Require dealers to obtain an ammunition seller's license and to collect a buyer's thumbprint, name, drivers license, address, phone number and date of birth.
2. Make handgun ammunition inaccessible to customers.
3. Transfer of handgun ammunition must be done face-to-face.

Fine, #1 and #2 are just annoyances, but what about #3? Requiring handgun ammunition to be transferred in person effectively bans all mail order and Internet sales of handgun ammunition. Right now you can count the number of places where this is the law on one hand and the motivation put forward is to improve the enforcement of other laws and aiding investigations. As long as you can order ammunition through the mail, then criminals will be able to buy ammunition for the guns they aren't suppose to own. So if a criminal doesn't obey one law surely they'll obey this other law if we pass it. Right?

That's the ultimate problem with laws trying to control firearms and ammunition. The only ones who abide by the rules are those of us who are law abiding to begin with. Criminals can't own guns, but they still find ways to obtain them. Now criminals won't be able to buy ammo online, but does anyone believe they'll have trouble obtaining ammunition illegally for their illegally possessed weapons? The criminals go on breaking the law and the rest of us are saddled with more regulations, rules, hoops to jump through and higher prices. What would be next, a background check and 10 day waiting period for purchasing ammunition like we have with firearms?

Funny thing is there's nothing in the law about the components used to manufacture ammunition, those will still be available through mail order and the Internet. So even if this passes, criminals could order bullets, cases, powder, primers, dies and a nice progressive reloading press and assemble their own ammo. Actually that's what I'm thinking of doing. How backwards is this state that the laws they try to pass encourage individuals to think like criminals.

I'll be mashing my F5 button this weekend on this page: AB 962 Status

The Koss PortaPro's feature a "Comfort Zone" that places an additional pad above your ear where it can be set to transfer most of the "clamping" feeling from your ears up to the side of your head. This makes the PortaPro the most comfortable open, over the head headphones I've ever used. Ear discomfort is gone and I'm able to wear them for extended periods.

Along with being comfortable, they sound great. In fact I think I like how they sound better than the PX100's. The PortaPro's pump out some very nice low end while staying balanced and clear. The PX100's are a little more laid back and sound darker. The PortaPro's just have that extra bit of punch.

As of this writing the PortaPro's are $32 at Amazon while the PX100's are $50. Between the comfort, price and sound quality of the PortaPro's they are easily my favorite headphones now. They definitely get my sound geek stamp of approval.

Koss PortaPro Headphones at Amazon

Oh hello CZ-75B SA 9mm.

Let's get you into something a little more comfortable.

But how does it shoot? Not bad for the first 10 rounds at 7 yards.

How about after 20 more rounds of practice?

I had been wanting a semi-auto in a caliber larger than .22 and I saw this posted for sale on Calguns and it met my two requirements: all steel construction and very accurate right of the box. I have nothing against the 9mm round and it is relatively inexpensive compared to .45 ACP so that ends up being a plus too. The plastic grips were fine, but I thought the cocobolo grips added some nice style and contrast to the gun.

The "SA" in the model denotes that it is single action only. Because of that the trigger is pretty nice with a fairly light and short pull. I've read that the only gun with a nicer stock trigger is a 1911. Pointability is good and it fits great in my hand. The gun is unique in that the slide is on the inside of the frame which lowers the axis of the barrel closer to your hand and it minimizes the profile of the slide. The only downside is there's a little less slide to grab onto which makes racking the weapon tougher.

And I think the accuracy right of the box speaks for itself.

S&W 686 4" revolver, .38 special, double action, 21 feet

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade

19999. Slick Shoes - Tired Of You
20000. Motion City Soundtrack - This Is For Real
20001. The Presidents of the United States of America - Last Girl on Earth

	Top 15 Artists Overall	Plays
1	The Presidents of the United States of America	943
2	Fountains of Wayne	858
3	Less Than Jake	741
4	The New Pornographers	567
5	Gnarls Barkley	494
6	Reel Big Fish	493
7	MxPx	480
8	Cake	459
9	Beck	452
10	The White Stripes	451
11	Goldfinger	446
12	The Hippos	428
13	Five Iron Frenzy	426
14	Incubus	415
15	Ben Folds Five	333

Noticed Paddy is coming up on 20k scrobbles too and we only share 1 Top 15 Artist yet our compatibility is VERY HIGH.

AN ACT EXEMPTING FROM FEDERAL REGULATION UNDER THE COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES A FIREARM, A FIREARM ACCESSORY, OR AMMUNITION MANUFACTURED AND RETAINED IN MONTANA; AND PROVIDING AN APPLICABILITY DATE.

If you aren't too familiar with interstate commerce, I found this excellent analysis of the original purpose for the federal government's power of regulating interstate commerce. The power to regulate was not meant to be on the actual items themselves, but the imposition of tariffs by states on each other and with foreign countries. If State A imports widgets from State B and State C, it would be harmful to state relations to allow State A to impose a tariff on the goods from State B and not on State C. State B could retaliate on State A and C with its own tariffs. It doesn't matter what the widget is, it is the actual "commerce" and "trade" that needs to be regulated.

The federal government has developed lots of powers using interstate commerce as a justification. Let's look at the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. In United States vs. Lopez, the government argued it could ban firearms in schools because possession of a firearm there would lead to violent crime which would cause damages, increase insurance rates and then spread to the greater economy there by affecting interstate commerce. The Supreme Court struck this down in 1995 because it gave the federal government nearly unlimited power to regulate anything that might eventually lead to violent crime. The powers of the federal government are enumerated in the Constitution and the court found that possession of a handgun was not a commercial activity or even remotely related to one.

So what's all this have to do with Montana? The law Montana passed makes firearm regulations justified by interstate commerce moot. If the federal government wanted to impose a 50 cent tax on each round of ammunition, it would use interstate commerce as a justification because that ammunition could move over state lines. Remember, there is no enumerated power given to Congress that specifically gives it the power to regulate ammunition. The Montana law says that if the ammunition is manufactured, sold, possessed and used in Montana, then the federal government has absolutely zero power to regulate that ammunition.

This is big. Utah and Texas have similar laws going through their state legislatures. States are telling the federal government that they want them to go the hell away. This isn't just about firearm laws either. The DEA has been prosecuting people here in California for marijuana violations even though the state okay'd medical marijuana over a decade ago. A similar law passed here could say that all marijuana grown, sold and used for medicinal purposes in California is exempt from federal law. This isn't about what issues you agree or disagree with, this is all about state rights and fighting back against unenumerated powers held by the federal government.

I truly believe the founding fathers never intended the government to wield such far reaching powers and any movement back towards the idea of putting the federal government in a box and leaving everything outside that box up to the states is okay with me. It will be interesting to see what happens with these laws and how things go down in the Supreme Court when they're eventually challenged. Something tells me the bureaucrats won't cede their power quietly.

• 1A - Extend tax increases for 2 more years with $16 billion coming out of tax payer pockets
• 1B - Takes money from 1A and gives it to schools
• 1C - Borrows $5 billion from future lottery "profits"
• 1D - Takes $600 million in tobacco revenues from some kids and gives it to other kids
• 1E - Takes $200 million of mental health money from some mental health programs and gives it to other mental health programs
• 1F - Politicians can't give themselves pay increases when there's a budget deficit

1F is the only one that even remotely looks like a good idea on the surface, but what the hell does it actually accomplish? Politicians aren't going to be more motivated to pass a balanced budget knowing they'll get a little bump in their salary when lots of them are already rich bastards. Funny how none of the propositions propose reducing the burden of government, the only option we have is to increase the burden or shift around who receives our money. If you missed it, here's my little quote I call The Encumbrance of Government.

So yeah, NO on all the propositions.