Topic: The Lounge / Debt

Well, wasn’t Friday a bunch of fun on the markets

Part of me wants to move all my funds into local shares now, our economy is not nearly as stuffed as the USA.

Interesting thing people are now talking about this as the last gasp of American Imperialism, i.e. the US period of global dominance is basically over now. They are going to have to go through a painful adjustment to just being an ordinary country.

Can they bounce back I wonder?

With all the “Cold War is over, we won” malarkey, I think the Yanks just lost track of the fact that the Chinese were just buying their country out from under them.

Topic: The Lounge / Islam - what do you think?

OK, but that was petty council bureaucracy about safety regulations, the flagpole not the flag.

I don’t think anyone has managed to outlaw our national flag just yet

Topic: The Lounge / Islam - what do you think?

and don’t celebrate xmas with decorations anymore or fly the Australian flag?

I don’t think you can move more than 50m during Nov / Dec without being hit in the face with Christmas decorations and marketing. Santa is still going strong in my local shopping centre. The carols are still on television… what exactly has stopped?

And what do you mean about not being able to fly the flag?

Topic: The Lounge / Islam - what do you think?

The way the article is worded is inflammatory to say the least. I guess there is always some tension when a new wave of immigration takes place. In Australia we had phases of Southern European migration, then immigrants from SE Asia, now we are seeing greater numbers from Africa and the Middle East. Every time some groups have pointed the finger and called them “un-Australian”.

You can’t expect or demand all new citizens to abandon their values and culture on arrival. Even if they are supposed to cherish Don Bradman.

Is there any evidence that Muslim immigrants cause more issues than others?

Topic: The Lounge / Islam - what do you think?

Well, this seems to have turned into a “all religions are stupid and bad”, “hey, I’m not religious and I’m still a good bloke” exercise.

Fair enough.

But a lot of people seem to take their values for granted without taking a moment to inspect where most of those values might have come from. No man is an island, we inherit most of our values from our family, from our community and the country in which we were born, and like it or not, for most Westerners those values were originally based on the teachings of that Jewish guy people talk about whenever they hit their thumb with a hammer. “Judge not, lest ye be judged”, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” and so on. The people that founded our countries and wrote our constitutions and laws were Christian. yet still were careful to allow for religious freedom and diversity.

And just as an aside, there are plenty of Christians that are serious intellectuals and scientists, that understand the universe is millions of years old, and still find good reasons to trust in a personal God. (And who cringe when they see some of the ignorant stuff some churches / religious groups still spout…)

Topic: Golf Talk / 2008 ISG Vision PGA Tipping Tour - Fedex Playoffs

A bump here, I still don’t have AndyHammers contact details for the Vision Prize pack for making the top 3 placings in the FedEx Playoffs.

Name, delivery address, mob. # plz.

Topic: Golf Classifieds / Brand New Callaway Fti 3w - $250 + post

Here are some pictures of the actual club:

Topic: Golf Classifieds / Brand New Callaway Fti 3w - $250 + post

According to Callaway…

Callaway Golf FT-i Squareway Wood with Graphite Shaft:

Squareway Inertial Design positions discretionary weight to the extreme corners of the FT-i Squareway Wood clubhead, raising the MOI for unparalleled resistance to twisting. This provides straighter and more forgiving shots hit over a wide area of the face. Fusion Technology construction combines a stainless steel face, sole and body with a lightweight, carbon composite crown, allowing Callaway Golf engineers to move discretionary weight where it is needed most, resulting in better stability and distance. The club’s oversize head shape allows for a higher MOI to increase forgiveness and stability at impact for better accuracy. VFT Technology maximizes ball speed and perimeter weighting for more distance and forgiveness, while S2H2 increases discretionary weight by removing it from the hosel and repositioning it in the perimeter of the clubhead.

This club was won at a local Holden Scramble qualifier, and has never been used or demoed. Still in the original shrink wrap, this could be that perfect Christmas present for your Dad, or golfing buddy who needs a dependable option to keep the ball in play off the tee, or to help you set up eagle putts on par 5s.

Comes with matching FTi magnetic head cover. Shaft is a Fujikura Fit-On M Grey Reg flex graphite shaft. (This is the stock shaft.)

Golfsmith and other sites list this option at US$299 which works out to AU$450 + delivery.

Yours for $250 + delivery. Prefer local pickup / dropoff in Melb if possible.

Topic: The Lounge / Debt

houses will remain the same

I suspect so, but it won’t be uniform, some suburbs will suffer in comparison to others

the overall picture is that there is a much more concentrated urban population in Australia than other countries, and everyone wants to live a short drive from the CBD. Those suburbs will continue to be in high demand. But there have been some spikes in some areas – in Melb for example – where every house in the street has doubled in value in the last 5 years to over a mil – you can only buy if you are selling something almost as valuable.

With stamp duty taking a huge whack, the number of people wanting to play that game will decline.

How many upper / middle managers are going to be downsized by the banks and investment houses now that the debt orgy is over? I guess we have forgotten what it is like to have a real recession. It may take a while to gather pace but unemployment will head up past 6%-7%, as well plenty of people will be stuck in part-time employment due to casualisation, workforce on tap

that will ratchet up the number of defaults and forced sales, but the effect will probably be most acute in the middle to outer urban areas

it’s a house of cards though, with mining companies getting caught by projects suddenly becoming uneconomic who knows how fast we could go back into banana republic territory

the rest of the world doesn’t want to fund our plasmas any more

Topic: The Lounge / Debt

It has to go somewhere each week.

The thing that everyone forgets is that for every stock seller, there is a buyer

I moved all my super into a conservative asset profile last year, and since then have been buying high growth units, all the things going down in the current fire sale… those units have gone down in the last few months obviously, but I’m getting a serious discount compared to buying the same units 12 months ago.

Topic: Rules of Golf / what to do

where does one get a rule book from ?

yes otto, there is a little slim volume that you should be able to pick up from any pro shop for free (there are even starter guides that simplify the rules even more with lots of pictures)

read the rules once from cover to cover, and re-read the definitions a few times, make a note of anything you find surprising

do a few online rules of golf quizzes

when you get something wrong, re-read that section and ask the boffins that hang out in this section

do all that and you will know more about the rules than 98% of golfers I have played with

Topic: The Lounge / Debt

Any predictions on the Aus$ in the next few months?

At the moment the AUD is just a big crap shoot. Massive volatility due to spooked people bailing out of commodity exposed currencies, and everyone else sitting back waiting for everything settle down.

I guess in the longer term it all comes down to one question: is the China / commodities / mining boom kaput? Or is this just a speed bump along our road to riches from supplying raw materials to manufacturers in India / China / etc?

Topic: The Lounge / Debt

housing interest would be around 5 percent come January

well then, time to hop on the next bubble – woo hoo !

Topic: The Lounge / Debt

Just thought I would bump this cheery thread.

What keeps this whole roundabout of debt / wealth whizzing around?

Apparently not as much as we thought…

Topic: Golf Talk / Team Muntz Wins Box Hill Holden Scramble

Did anyone else from ISG play yesterday?

Topic: Golf Talk / Team Muntz Wins Box Hill Holden Scramble

14th: 379m par 4, index 5. A good drive from the pro left us about 155m out, and AB did the right thing and got us on the green. We were a long way from the cup though, and ended up with a tap-in PAR.

15th: 511m par 5, index 7. This started what we hoped was going to be a late rally with five holes left. Although AB only had 1 drive to his name at that point, the pro walked past his ball so we had a real chance at eagle or birdie. I hit a nice 3 wood, then MC hit one even further… the pro stuck his pitch close and I knocked in the 5 footer for another celebrated BIRDIE to raise our spirits.

16th: 403m par 4, index 3. Our approach shot was about 180m into the green, into a headwind, and our pro hit an absolutely gorgeous 3 iron to about 6 feet, which I think MC stuck in for another BIRDIE. This was definitely a bonus shot, and with three easy-ish holes left we felt like we might actually have a sniff.

17th: 154m par 3, index 11. A strong wind was in play, coming R to L, and felt like it might help. I hit what looked like a perfect 7 iron, which came back on the wind straight at the pin. The ball landed bang in the front bunker. Sadly, MC and the pro both hit pretty much exactly the same shot, right into the same bunker. The pro splashed us out to 6 feet, but all of our putts edged past the hole. A BOGEY and the end of the dream.

18th: 467m par 5, index 11: We totally hashed this one. Not surprising I guess when we had just blown a good birdie chance and had given up the game. We sprayed our approaches, then couldn’t get a 40m pitch to hold the green. More rubbish chip shots, aaargh…. BOGEY.

1st: 357m par 4, index 12: Pretty much disinterested in the score at this point, we scrambled a meaningless PAR and went back in.

Looking back, if we could have birdied 17, 18 and 1, we would have ended up with a nett 59, enough to make the top five placings. If we’d just taken one more club each on 17, we would have had 3 birdie putts to choose from, and we might have kept the run going. At the end of the day, meh, just wasn’t our day. I’m sure everyone except the winners would have similar hard-luck stories…

It was fun while it lasted, thanks to our scorer, and thanks to MC and AB for getting us to the regional final in the first place.

Topic: Golf Talk / Team Muntz Wins Box Hill Holden Scramble

8th: 197m par 3, index 4. I hit a reasonable 3-iron a few metres short of the green, the pro hit a hybrid through it. We took my ball, and just managed between us to snake a 10 foot putt into the hole. Phew, a shaky PAR.

9th: 409m par 4, index 2. Into the wind, everyone playing would have been happy with a par here. AB got a good drive off which we took – then the pro hit his 3 wood pretty close to the green. We scrambled another clutch PAR, almost as good as a birdie.

10th: 400m par 4, index 1. The last of a tough stretch of holes. Can’t even remember the details of this hole, other than having another birdie putt lip out. Another PAR.

11th: 139m par 3, index 13. I put a 7 iron in the back bunker, the pro got his ball on, and we missed our putts again, from about 20 feet. PAR.

12th: 349m par 4, index 9. Someone got a good drive off, the pro stuck his ball on the green. First two putts miss. Muntz (with his knees trembling) finally sinks a long putt in the left edge of the cup. Apparently I pirouetted in jubilation. BIRDIE!

13th: 295m par 4, index 15. After all of our travails, this was a real kick in the teeth. MC and our pro both hit into the L fairway bunkers, I had ripped off a beauty which faded R. When we got there we found my ball in the first of a series of bunkers guarding the approach to the green. So we eventually took one of the longer bunker shots as there was a clearer line to the pin, but AB and I both came up short, and the pro went over. Some more indifferent chipping, and somehow we managed to miss all the par putts – mine was on the right line but I didn’t get it to the hole. Curses. BOGEY and realistically the end of our day. We simply had to birdie the easier holes to have a crack.

Topic: Golf Talk / Team Muntz Wins Box Hill Holden Scramble

If anyone is interesting in the details…

2nd: 480m par 5, index 12. The pro and I hit the same drive up the middle, so we took my ball and the pro / MC both hit nice shots just short of the green. Sadly, none of us hacks had the intelligence to putt the ball to the pin, and we ended up having to settle with PAR after some very ordinary chipping over a little bank. Effectively a dropped shot.

3rd: 300m par 4, index 16. All of us pulled our drive into the trees on the dogleg, but MC’s ball bounced back out. I hit an 8 iron that just managed to hold the green, about 12 feet from the pin. All our birdie tries just missed. Damn! Another PAR when we should have made birdie.

4th: 251m par 4, index 18. I drove the green! Woo-hoo! Then our pro stepped up and did the same thing, right in the heart. All three eagle putts missed, but we had a kick-in BIRDIE. At last.

5th: 168m par 3, index 10. MC stuck the ball on the green leaving us a downhill putt of about 15 feet. No good, another PAR.

6th: 511m par 5, index 8. Into the wind, this played pretty damned long. MC, pro and I ripped off three nice drives, took MC’s as the best line, then I striped a 3 wood up the middle, still leaving us 100m out. The pro hit a wedge on, but again we couldn’t convert a reasonably long putt, and trudged off with another PAR.

7th: 341m par 4, index 6. A tight drive downwind, we took a nice long drive from MC, and the pro stuck a wedge to 8 feet. All of our putts grazed the hole but stayed out. PAR. Just not our day….

Topic: Golf Talk / Team Muntz Wins Box Hill Holden Scramble

Sad to report that Team Muntz couldn’t deliver the goods at Woodlands, despite two of our squad having good days out last Saturday. With a pro accompanying every team, the nature of the day’s competition boiled down to a putting contest… although we had lots of birdie chances, we just couldn’t convert them early and often enough to be in contention at the end of the day. And at the end of the round we had a couple of sloppy bogeys just to rub it in. Dang it.

We finished with a 71, four birdies and three bogeys. So about a nett 64, well off the pace of the winners at 57.5. Well done to them.

Overall, Woodlands was a tough assignment, with a bit of wind about, although rain the day before slowed the greens down to a manageable level (they were a bit bumpy in places).

Curiously there were a few little things that took some of the gloss off the day… there was no breakfast or snacks provided at any stage despite an 8:00 shotgun start, and being asked to arrive at 7:00 am. There was only a temporary pro-shop due to renovations and therefore no food to buy either. So the other guys in my team were basically hungry for the entire round having assumed they could grab some nosh when they arrived. (I had a couple of muesli bars.) Lunch didn’t include any drinks, we had to pay for everything, even soft drinks. Considering it cost $90 to play in a regional final, I would have thought things could have been a little bit more laid-on.

The giveaways were a bit mystifying too – we got the shirt, check, but then Callaway gave us a free Callaway / Holden driver head-cover, erm, so we can put our Ping / TM / Cobra / Titleist / Cleveland drivers inside…

On the flipside, with the renovations underway, there were clearly a lot of constraints on the hosts buit the staff were unfailingly polite and helpful throughout the day, I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed any issues had we won… It was a pretty cool thing to be able to play on one of the top 20 courses in Australia instead of going to work.

BTW – Tony Shaw was in the group behind, not bad for the scorer we brought who is a Collingwood fan.

Topic: Golf Talk / Your worst hole ever?

he put 6 brand new hx tours in the piss off a different par3

as soon as I get a good ball wet, I pull out one of the cheapie two-pieces from the bottom of the bag

the pain of dropping $40 worth of balls is probably just as bad as the score sometimes

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / The Biggest Cut

Came down a smidge on Saturday (15.7 to 15.1) but still above the 14.5 I hit earlier in the year.

Started on 17.1

6 Jan: shot 78 and dropped to 14.7
28 Jan: shot 83 and dropped to 14.5

By 26 July I had drifted out to 15.8, but since then I have shot an 87 and an 86… I need to break 80 again !!

Topic: The Lounge / USA Presidential Elections

the economy is sound – to a point!

Our economy has been based on debt and asset fuelled consumption as well… what goes around comes around. We’ve been running current account (cash) deficits for ages. Normally run a big trade deficit too.

When cheap credit dries up a lot of “consumption” businesses will hit the wall, and that has a knock on effect on the whole economy. Hope we have a soft landing, but we are no way immune to the global credit market seizing up. Our property prices are artificially inflated by cheap credit and tax distortions as well.

Topic: Golf Talk / Eagle, Eagle, Eagle - Jason Day

I’m 2 for 3.

3 wood, 3 wood, 20 ft putt on a par 5.

And recently I holed out from a bunker on a short par 4.

With short par 4s / par 5s an eagle isn’t really that brilliant, sorta like a really good birdie.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Playing GOLF in melbourne who wants to play

AlexS… be sure to look me up when you get here

amunter at hotmail dot com

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / The "Muntz trying to play golf" thread

Single figures by Chrimbo!

...if Guru drops by Melbourne, maybe…