I was on Fox Business Network yesterday bitching about all the ways the U.S. government has interfered with the residential real estate market, resulting in both our recent boom and our current bust. The topic itself is not new to me, but it’s not something I’ve addressed in a full-blown philosophical argument. Surely that would be Quixotic, but when did that ever stop me? But: I’ve been very busy, and I’m about to get a whole lot busier. So last night I set that idea and everything else aside to bake some Christmas cookies. It was fun, it made the house smell good, and it actually brought Cameron out of his cave for a while. As soon as I can clear the decks today, I think I’m going to make fudge. Here’s the thing, and I have to remind myself every year: It’s Christmas. I don’t ever not work, but there ought to be room for play in the working day — at least some working days.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, here’s a bunch of stuff I might-could be dealing with, but ain’t:<\/p>\n
Kelman<\/a> had a post on all the crap he was force-fed prior to going on TV. I’m not picking on the man (for a change), this is a segue: I think we’re fools to buy into that crap. First, the mainstream media, to the extent that it clings to its creepy Vaudeville past, is the enemy of truth. Second, weblogging is the best friend the truth has made so far. The conclusion that I draw from these premises is that, even when we are on their turf, we should still behave our way. I hate everything phony, but even allowing for that, I think we damage our own credibility by playing their game their way. There’s no shortage of commercials on TV, but there’s damn little authenticity.<\/p>\n Zillow<\/a> had a software release this week. How important was it? Important enough to be released eight days before Christmas, when no one is paying attention. What it amounts to, as far as I can discern from the effusive PR-speak in the press release, is smarter routines Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was on Fox Business Network yesterday bitching about all the ways the U.S. government has interfered with the residential real estate market, resulting in both our recent boom and our current bust. The topic itself is not new to me, but it’s not something I’ve addressed in a full-blown philosophical argument. Surely that would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6,5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blogging","7":"category-disintermediation","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","10":"category-technology","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10583,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10583\/next-year-were-going-to-splurge-maybe-starting-with-the-twenty-first-thousand-dollars-for-the-month\/","url_meta":{"origin":2399,"position":0},"title":"Next year we’re going to splurge — maybe — starting with the twenty-first thousand dollars for the month","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's my favorite Christmas card this year: I helped Stephen and Suzanne Kranick buy that house in the weeks before Thanksgiving. I think it's cool that they love it so much that they made it the star of their holiday card. I put two houses into escrow today. I've done\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11865,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11865\/pimping-tomato-real-estate-video-class\/","url_meta":{"origin":2399,"position":1},"title":"Pimping Tomato Real Estate Video Class…","author":"Ryan Hartman","date":"April 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi All, I just got an email from Jim Cronin, (Tomato Head) asking me if I've pimped the class I'm doing at 2PM East today over at Tomato University. Well Jim, I guess here's your answer: I'm a total procrastinating slacker.... this blog post is part of my last ditch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Video Mamma"","block_context":{"text":"Video Mamma","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/video-mamma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1516,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1516\/the-pup-growls\/","url_meta":{"origin":2399,"position":2},"title":"The pup growls","author":"Teri Lussier","date":"June 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The first thing Greg did as my coach was to throw me at the wall of Bloodhound contributors to see if I stick. His request was for me to write about the Project Blogger experience. Gulp. Deep breath. Here's an update. My inexperience coupled with my polite Midwestern upbringing, have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18474,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18474\/overnight-news-yearning-for-free-range-real-estate-brokerage\/","url_meta":{"origin":2399,"position":3},"title":"Overnight News: Yearning for free-range real estate\u00a0brokerage.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm rehabbing a house right now, and I'm good at it. I'll end up spending $15K, a lot for me, over two weeks, but in that time I'll take the property from trashed to treasured \u2013 and then I'll sell it wicked fast. As with everything, a praxis is just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13515,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/13515\/swallow-hard-make-it-happen-or-get-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":2399,"position":4},"title":"Swallow Hard — Make It Happen — Or Get Out","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"November 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"For the most part, it's human nature to have a love\/hate relationship with the results that have our name attached to them. I've failed far more often than I've succeeded. It's not even close. Name a category in which I've endured the ignominy of defeat, and my hand is more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dirty Laundry"","block_context":{"text":"Dirty Laundry","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/dirty-laundry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3308,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3308\/project-bloodhound-picture-this-a-big-wall-of-text\/","url_meta":{"origin":2399,"position":5},"title":"Project Bloodhound: Picture this: A big wall of text.","author":"Teri Lussier","date":"July 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes folks, it's the question that never goes away: Why don't you post more images? Short answer: I don't like to read posts with images. Unless we are talking about specific property, images rarely add to the writing, and to me, they almost always take away from the writing. 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