<\/a><\/p>","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/12\/24\/happy-95th-birthday-federal-reserve-are-you-dead-yet\/","img_url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7a\/Fed_Reserve.JPG","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1230164283","modified_date":"1230164283","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"336","image":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7a\/Fed_Reserve.JPG","datetime":"Dec 24, 2008 4:21 PM PST","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Dec 24, 2008 4:21 PM","timelines":[],"index":2,"even":true},{"eid":"11f0b1a4e440947a","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Human Capital","utc_ts":"1228702119","descrptn":"<\/a>\n\nNow that I have graduated college I have been blessed with the fantastic gift of a ginormous pile of debt.\u00a0 Lately, this burden has brought me a large amount of anxiety and I'm almost positive it is actually interfering with my productive labor. It's a strain on my own mental health to be constantly worrying about repayment.\n\nFor the past couple months I have been doing some thinking around a new type of investment vehicle. I'm calling it investment in human capital. I have to be honest in saying that I have done very little real research on this topic, and maybe some sort of derivative of this already exists. However, to my knowledge, I have never seen or heard of anything remotely close to what I am proposing, and for all I know, maybe for a very good reason.\n\nSo how would something like this work? What the hell does investment in human capital even mean?\u00a0 I'm going to use myself as the \"human capital\" that will seek investment for this thought experiment. I'm going to further define\u00a0 \"investment in human capital\" as the act of exchanging capital for a percentage of all potential productive wealth from labor in hopes of a greater return. In other words, if an investor believes that my lifetime productivity were to return[1] him a greater value of his initial investment, and I, the store of human capital, prefers capital now rather then later, we would both agree to such an exchange.\nHe [a consumer] buys because he believes that to acquire the merchandise in question will satisfy him better than keeping the money or spending it for something else.\u00a0 -Mises. The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science<\/em> p76\nFirst of all, for me to be seeking such an exchange in the first place it means that my marginal willingness to pay for relief from debt now, rather then later will be higher. In fact, my real willingness to pay, would be a number well over the principle + interest of my current debt. My next step would to seek investment, much like a firm does for venture capital. I would literally give them my pitch. This would be a process of due diligence between the firm and myself. Since there is a significant amount of imperfect information prior to this meeting(s), this process of getting to know each other would be a an opportunity for the investing party to get a better of my character. Even with a simple set of facts, the investor could probably quickly come up with a term sheet. I could imagine simply plugging in some facts about my height, education, weight, birth place, and looks into a statistical model that could spit out the appropriate profit-making magic numbers. I would guess that even more prevalent would be the process where successful investors would mix in some of their own \"secret sauce\". Like many companies, it's not always a black and white process understanding which firm is going to give you a 10x return on your investment.\u00a0 Some investors may simply just have a hunch! Depending on how risk averse the investor or firm is, they may believe that they know what sort of special characteristics in finding the individuals with highest return.\n\nI think it is also important to realize these investments don't have to be exclusively about debt recovery. Perhaps some individuals have, what they believe, the next huge business Do not confuse an investment in human capital as the same function of a loan. They are two very different tools with two extremely different incentive structures. An investor in human capital would have long term fiduciary incentives to promote the success of the individual where a lender is only concerned about the return of his principal and interest. The objectives of both parties align in their own self interest. There is of course always the risk that the human capital takes a trip to Europe for a soul searching session and comes back to forever retire his labor and becomes a street performer. (Although I hear they do pretty well) It is also true that the individual does not have the urge to default, since his repayment is always a proportion of his income and he will face the same financial burden as the investor. Even with such aligned incentive structures problems may arise such as the most obvious, death. Like with all matters of uncertainty in trade, the market has provided signaling through the price system and produced products and services to account for such risk. Even more interesting then these differences in incentive structures is the difference in time horizons. When a self-employed entrepreneur seeks capital through debt financing, or venture capital, the focus is completely on the near term success of the company, not the individual. Although an individual may seek human capital investment for a particular business the investor is much more concerned about the individuals long term success, and will probably be less interested in immediate success.\n\nLets say after a few months of talking to \"SuccessStartsWithUs.com\" they are ready to offer me a term sheet. During these months I gave them my school transcripts, my grandmas phone number, my favorite type of scotch, and my favorite dance move. I knew from the beginning that the process with this firm was going to be an arduous process, especially since this firms usually makes well informed decisions for \"home run\" investments. Sure, I could have gone for firms who have a 5min process, but I was willing to spend time and reveal a lot more of myself so they could get a better understanding of my potential life long value of labor. As the market usually provides choices for consumes, we could assume that various types of investments in human capital would take place.\n\nLet us now imagine that the investment company or individual has offered me a term sheet of $77,334 in exchange for 1.234% of all my earned income until death. At this point it is difficult to say exactly how the exchange contract will look. My guess is that there would have to an extremely transparent payment with low overhead. There would need to be a system set up that would allow the human capital to pay his investors quickly and easily, or perhaps automatically. There also needs to be an efficient way for the investor to know that the human capital is not committing fraud by hiding income. I imagine that these services could free ride off the god awful service of the current IRS administration. My guess is that it would not suffice and entire services would arise to assist in lowering the costs of such transactions.\n\nI know there will some of you screaming something absurd like \"slavery!\" or \"feudalism\" which only proves how ignorant you really are. I'm also certain there are a bunch of you moaning \"Zomg! That is a rip off! $77,334 for 1.234% for life is a crime, and people would just take advantage of someone in an irrational state.\" Shame on you. Just because it is a subjectively bad deal for you doesn't mean it is for the person making the exchange. I don't know whats more absurd, you, some white rich power-tripping bureaucrat looking out for the irrational, or you, the individual that gives 40% of your entire earned income while gleefully listening to all things considered talking about the next bailout. If you were so concerned for the poor, stop raping them and the generations to come before you start regulating exchange.\n\nAgain, let us remind ourselves.\nIn a game there are winners and losers. But a business deal is always advantageous for both parties. If both the buyer and the seller were not to consider the transaction as the most advantageous action they could choose under the prevailing conditions, they would not enter into the deal. -Mises.The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science p90\nBuyers remorse happens to us all, but these things are always considered at purchase time. We act in order to lessen our displeasure. If we later find that we have miscalculated the magnitude of this outcome, or our own preferences change, it is invalid to suggest that the purchase was irrational. In making such arguments, we fail to recognize the opportunity cost of not acting. What was the next best alternative of not making the exchange. Buyers remorse has nothing to do with fraud. When you make an exchange, and someone commits a crime, the feeling of disappointment (anger, sadness, etc etc) is not buyers remorse. It's a crime, and you are a victim.\n\n[1] That \"return\" doesn't have to come in the form of money, eg. altruism","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/12\/07\/human-capital\/","img_url":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/3575615_fa81afe79c.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1228757491","modified_date":"1228757491","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"301","image":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/3575615_fa81afe79c.jpg","datetime":"Dec 7, 2008 6:08 PM PST","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Dec 7, 2008 6:08 PM","timelines":[],"index":3,"even":false},{"eid":"89042c8ac616fa13","username":"rromanchuk","title":"A guide: How to survive the depression. ","utc_ts":"1224359044","descrptn":"","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/18\/a-guide-how-to-survive-the-depression\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3158\/2951675065_1e347264be.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1224376678","modified_date":"1224376678","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"229","image":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3158\/2951675065_1e347264be.jpg","datetime":"Oct 18, 2008 12:44 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 18, 2008 12:44 PM","timelines":[],"index":4,"even":true},{"eid":"7ea304cad44964b2","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Planet Granite!","utc_ts":"1224286612","descrptn":"On recommendation from our friend Tyrus, I just went down to Sunnyvale last night and checked out Planet Granite <\/a>- a rock-climbing\/functional fitness gym with a couple of locations in the Bay Area.\n<\/a>\nI walked out with a membership. At $70\/month, it's not cheap, but I'm extremely excited about it and I'm feeling I'll get more than my FRN's<\/a> worth.\n\nFor starters, a day pass to climb or lift costs over $15, so if one goes regularly the cost of membership is more than recovered.\n\nAnother key point is that while big box gym memberships are 30-50 per month, they are just that - big box gyms. The workout facilities at Planet Granite are like a jungle gym - tons of cool toys like money bars, rubber plates, rope climb, gymnastics rings, etc - everything a good CrossFitter<\/a> could ever want. I can learn to climb seriously, boulder all I want, and get into the gym to CrossFit anytime from 6am-11pm weekdays. Another cool perk is that the type of folks that would hit up a place like this are, I dare say, more *serious* and outdoorsy than those at a regular gym, so that's neat. They also have free yoga\n\nWill keep you updated on all things PG!\n\nPS - I rowed 2 sets of 500M, did ring push ups and dips, and some pull ups mixed with squat lunges. Damn. I've let myself slip a bit. Whereas 10 ring dips used to be no problem (back when I owned rings), 5 was a struggle. 20 pull ups was easily within reach; now 15 burns. 1:50 on the C2 for 500M was a nice warm up; now its 2:00. Most tellingly - while a year ago I could touch up on a 5 minute mile, now 5:45 is a good effort. This is all fine, of course, and relatively fit. But if I let things slip when I'm a young 22, my guess is it won't get any easier. I think I'll just work my ass off and peak several years down the line, thank-you-very-much! I want to be one of those 100 year olds who goes water-skiing every other weekend, so 22 is a bit young to start getting lax :)","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/17\/planet-granite\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/82\/205309055_c412972f6b.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1224302689","modified_date":"1224302689","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"237","image":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/82\/205309055_c412972f6b.jpg","datetime":"Oct 17, 2008 4:36 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 17, 2008 4:36 PM","timelines":[],"index":5,"even":false},{"eid":"704cee17bc2b9c9f","username":"rromanchuk","title":"We Need Your Help","utc_ts":"1224301739","descrptn":"<\/a>No, we're not asking for your money.\n\nWe're asking for your help in asking our government for money.\n\nYou see, we've noticed that some folks who have made some shoddy decisions are now able to get preferred money-recipient status from the government.\n\nWe're interested. We figure we're even more attractive candidates for the relief programs because, as reasonable folks who have lived within our means and, not fancying modern and borderline-criminal \"banking\" practices, we haven't a steam of toxic debt oozing from our asset books.\n\nSo, where do we sign up?\n\nAny information on how we can apply for a TAF<\/a> loan from the Fed would be much appreciated!\n\n","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/17\/we-need-your-help\/","img_url":"http:\/\/mises.org\/images4\/HelpCoyote.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1224302688","modified_date":"1224302688","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"246","image":"http:\/\/mises.org\/images4\/HelpCoyote.jpg","datetime":"Oct 17, 2008 8:48 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 17, 2008 8:48 PM","timelines":[],"index":6,"even":true},{"eid":"e23fa1b12468a5d8","username":"rromanchuk","title":"The Most Honest Ad I Saw Today","utc_ts":"1223415046","descrptn":"1400 Diggs and Counting...\n\n\"They'll say anything to get your vote. We just want your money.\"\n\nEntrepreneurial spirit + a refreshing acknowledgment that politics as we know it is a giant cess-pool. I didn't know that people still thought like this in Palo Alto!\n\n<\/a><\/a>\n\nSomebody has found his new bike shop...\n\nread more<\/a> | digg story<\/a>","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/07\/the-most-honest-ad-i-saw-today\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3095\/2920722992_7907ecba55.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1223415621","modified_date":"1223415621","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"219","image":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3095\/2920722992_7907ecba55.jpg","datetime":"Oct 7, 2008 2:30 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 7, 2008 2:30 PM","timelines":[],"index":7,"even":false},{"eid":"30628adc2f9bd519","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Humbug Canyon","utc_ts":"1220815071","descrptn":"About a month ago I took a hike to Euchre Bar <\/a> from the north side of the North Fork near the town of Alta. My prior attempt from the south end, which I have yet to write about, was a complete failure. But with failure comes\u00a0 good things, especially since it was that trip which I ran into the claim that I have today. This last weekend though, I was determined to find the south access route to the river which drops from the 5,000ft near Forresthill Divide down to Humbug Canyon and which then travels some 5miles parallel with the American North Fork to the Euchre Bar footbridge.\n\nHere is an overview of getting to the Euchre Bar from both directions.\n<\/a>\n\nThe trail head from the north has plenty of information about it's location and its mileage, but the south end has extremely vague descriptions about its locations, usually only giving GPS coordinates on its location. Coming from the south also had this peculiar notice about its trailhead.\n\n\n\nThis is indeed true, the south access point is at 4,000ft and its seasons change rapidly. But even more frustrating is that these trails are near impossible to locate and are often begin at locked gates making it extremely confusing if you are unfamiliar with the area.\n\nMy friend Blake and I left around 4am Monday morning to head up to Gold country. I've been making this drive so frequently now I can't even remember it to be honest. (this is a good thing) There is always the routine breakfast and \"premium\" coffee stop at McDonalds, and then in the blink of the eye my little Honda is burning rich on the winding trails to Forresthill.\n\nThe supposed trailhead was actually a few hundred yards from where I descend to my claim. It turns out that my first attempt wasn't too far off. Surprisingly there actually was a trail marker that read \"Euchre Bar Trail\" but it wasn't very much help. Behind the sign was what looked to be a normal hiking trail, and next to that a road with a locked fence and signs reading \"private property\" and \"no vehicles allowed.\"\u00a0 Just a flat sign, no arrows, no trail markers left by other hikers, a fenced road and a small trail. You would think the trail head would be the trail, right? Yeah,\u00a0 not the case. We started walking on the trail which seemed to head into the correct direction, almost immediately the trail was lost and it eventually merged us back into the road. What the hell!? We walked back down the road to our car and I looked up our path via GPS, and sure enough it wasn't the path we needed to take. The only possible option was the locked fenced.\n\nThe most frustrating aspect of this trail is that its description starts at the END of the road we were looking down, and since there is obviously no vehicle access allowed, that means we had to walk the entire thing. From descriptions I found on the Internet, the trail factors in millage and elevation profiles from the end of this road, not the top. Below is the trail down Pioneer Mine Road which is by foot only. The yellow marker is where the trailhead officially starts.\n\n<\/a>\n\nThe walk down took 1hour and 45 minutes to complete at a 22-year old pace. This is before the 5mile hike through the canyon to actually get to the footbridge. Let me remind you that this starts at the highest point of the mountain down to the river. Yikes! It makes me wonder how many people a year -actually- make this hike. My new guess is fewer then five. There is no way that people would make this hike as a day trip, it's just too painful. An overnight trip, no problem, just can't imagine people putting themselves through the climb back out of the canyon. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a second, the day was amazing.\n\nOn the way down we were able to find a whole slew of oddities. The first thing we ran into was a horrifying cave-something. Either an old mine, mining ditch, natural cave, I don't know. The theme was down the lines of \"There is no way in hell I'm walking a foot inside that thing.\"\u00a0 A few switchbacks later we found a van off to the side laying in brush with a sign that read \"free.\" Again, both of us really wanted to go near it, but it's one of those times you remember Curious George and for once, your remember the parable of the story and make decisions accordingly. The sign itself had the makings of a sick joke. No, it was a sick joke, how could it be anything but.\n<\/a>\n<\/a>\n\nThen things just got plain weird. We started seeing PVC piping laying all around the edges of the road and laying up the mountain walls. A few hundred feet later we heard what was obviously running water, and sure enough there was some bizarre water tank system that was collecting the water that was being transported through the pvc piping. I really had no what the hell it was.\n<\/a>\nI always thought from looking at satalite imagery that these scars were just old abandoned mines.\u00a0\u00a0 I have done extensive research about the history and the mines further south near my claim, but I have no about the history of Humbug Canyon, and pioneer mine specifically. It turns out that pioneer mine isn't abandoned at all, and there are actually land owners living on the entire scarred area at the bottom of the road. The tanks and piping were supplying water for the entire compound. Although I did see claim boundary markers alongside the road, I have no if the area is being actively mined, and if this land owner is mining himself. I'm not even entirely sure how this land could have been acquired since its surrounded by public land in the Tahoe National Forrest. Perhaps the mine had a patented claim (rights to land + minerals vs unpatented give rights to extraction of minerals only) One thing is for sure; I was insanely jealous of this paradise.\u00a0 Only in my dreams could I have imagined this compound now sitting at on an old mine.\n\nI wanted to take so many pictures, but we both had feeling that we were not wanted there. All of the doors and windows were open, and it felt like we were being scoped in as we walked through his land to get the trail. To be honest, I really wanted to just walk up to the door and sit down and have some coffee with whoever lived there. Seriously though, I'd say there would be a pretty good chance that we would have a LOT to talk about. If only I had a white flag, something to signal that we were not San Francisconites who accidentally took the wrong turn from Starbucks and now fumbly bumbling all over his heaven. Well, OK, I do live in San Francisco, and we were stomping all over, but my point is understood. A crazy person can never have enough fellow crazy friends these days. That's my motto. The next time I am down there, I am going to try to make contact, either with a note, or try to catch them outside. Not that a note is going to befriend them, but I can at least vent my jealousy.\n\nLets just say not many people can call this their backyard.\n<\/a>\n\nWe were finally at the \"described\" trailhead for the Euchre Trail, now just another 5 miles along the river to go. Just some few hundred yards from the house was the American River. Absolute paradise I tell you. The owner had set up a hammock along side the river and conveniently had a rope for easy access in and out of the river for swimming.\n\n<\/a>\nEven though we were at the river, it was still a little difficult to find the correct trail that runs parallel with the river. There were a lot of false trails which simply dissapeared causing us to backtrack and start over in search of the real trail. It's really easy to start hiking along a mining ditch and other trail-like looking clearings. And of course there are no \"signs\" or even trail markers from previous hikers to help the situation. I find its always best to stop immediatley when you have doubts about the trail you're on, especially if you do not have any GPS capabilites. It's really easy to get disoriented, and the second it happens, a day of fun immmedialty turns into a day of hell. We found the obviousl trail a couple hundred feet higher then where we were looking. Minus the bugs, it was a pretty straightfoward hike, with very little elvevation changes, which was a welcoming break on the knees. With the little information I know about the area, the one thing I do know was that Humbug Canyon was mining town during the gold rush, and this was clearly evident with all of the strange massive equipment we saw laying everywhere. How in the hell did they get stuff like this down there???\n\n<\/a>\n\nThat is insane! We also saw some other extremely eerie things walking along the river. It really reminded me of many of\u00a0 the \"stations\" from LOST. In a way it's pretty similar. At one time this was a bustling area that has long since disappeared. Walking around places like this you can feel and hear the past, even when you know nothing about it, you can -feel- the people who lived and worked here. I don't mean this in a supernatural way, well, I don't think I do.\n<\/a>\n\nIt's hard to really see the scale of this creepy-do-hinger because of the perspective, but this thing is GIANT. This picture was taken from the other side of the river. At the very top of the cliff, that motor is taller then the average human. This ginormous tube drops all the way into the river and under the rock bed. It obviously is something for moving lots of water long ago, but where, when, how, who??\u00a0 I know one thing for sure, I don't want to go swimming anywhere near it. I just don't get it! I think about the location of these things and can't even begin to think how these people transported\/built this stuff! We called this location along the trail \"McCain Point.\" We thought it was a fitting name, and rolled off the tongue with ease.\nAnd then there was the way back, which I really don't want to be reminded of. This trail is great, but for god sakes, if you're going to do it, spend a night! Or at least take a few hours to rest, cool off, eat, or nap before you try to climb back out. If you don't hike at a fast and continuous pace, don't be surprised if takes you three hours to get back up with a lot of cursing along the way. Next time I want to try using my ipod with maybe a book on tape. Music would be OK, but the point is to distract your mind. I think taking your mind off the walk would be incredibly beneficial. If not, you start torturing yourself trying to remember \"Is this the last switchback???? Oh I think I remember this one!\" It never is the last switchback, even when you KNOW it's the last switchback.\n\n[imgset:72157607119947513,thumbnail,true]\n","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/09\/07\/humbug-canyon\/","img_url":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1220824755","modified_date":"1220824755","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"","lat_lon":"37.775196,-122.419204","remote_id":"110","image":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","location":"San Francisco","datetime":"Sep 7, 2008 12:17 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Sep 7, 2008 12:17 PM","timelines":[],"index":8,"even":true},{"eid":"fe5c9c1e9c91243f","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Humbug Canyon","utc_ts":"943948800","descrptn":"About a month ago I took a hike to Euchre Bar <\/a> from the north side of the North Fork near the town of Alta. My prior attempt from the south end, which I have yet to write about, was a complete failure. But with failure comes\u00a0 good things, especially since it was that trip which I ran into the claim that I have today. This last weekend though, I was determined to find the south access route to the river which drops from the 5,000ft near Forresthill Divide down to Humbug Canyon and which then travels some 5miles parallel with the American North Fork to the Euchre Bar footbridge.\n\nHere is an overview of getting to the Euchre Bar from both directions.\n<\/a>\n\nThe trail head from the north has plenty of information about it's location and its milage, but the south end has extremely vague descriptions about its locations, usually only giving GPS coordinates on its location. Coming from the south also had this peculiar notice about its trailhead.\n\n\n\nThis is indeed true, the south access point is at 4,000ft and its seasons change rapidly. But even more frusterating is that these trails are near impossible to locate and are often begin at locked gates making it extremely confusing if you are unfamiliar with the area.\n\nMy friend Blake and I left around 4am Monday morning to head up to Gold country. I've been making this drive so frequently now I can't even remember it to be honest. (this is a good thing) There is always the routine breakfast and \"premium\" coffee stop at McDonalds, and then in the blink of the eye my little Honda is burning rich on the windy trails to Forresthill.\n\nThe supposed trailhead was actually a few hundred yards from where I descend to my claim. It turns out that my first attempt wasn't too far off. Surprisingly there actually was a trail marker that read \"Euchre Bar Trai\" but it wasn't very much help. Behind the sign was what looked to be a normal hiking trail, and next to that a road with a locked fence and signs reading \"private property\" and \"no vehicles allowed.\"\u00a0 Just a flat sign, no arrows, no trail markers left by other hikers, a fenced road and a small trail. You would think the trail head would be the trail, right? Yeah,\u00a0 not the case. We started walking on the trail which seemed to head into the correct direction, almost immediately the trail was lost and it eventually merged us back into the road. What the hell!? We walked back down the road to our car and I looked up our path via GPS, and sure enough it wasn't the path we needed to take. The only possible option was the locked fenced.\n\nThe most frustrating aspect of this trail is that its description starts aaat the END of the road we were looking down, and since there is obviously no vehicle access allowed, that means we had to walk the entire thing. From descriptions I found on the internet, the trail factors in millage and elevation profiles from the end of this road, not the top. Below is the trail down Pioneer Mine Road which is by foot only. The yellow marker is where the trailhead officially starts.\n\n<\/a>\n\nThe walk down took 1hour and 45 minutes to complete at a 22-year old pace. This is before the 5mile hike through the canyon to actually get to the footbridge. Let me remind you that this starts at the highest point of the mountain down to the river. Yikes! It makes me wonder how many people a year -actually- make this hike. My new guess is fewer then five. There is no way that people would make this hike as a day trip, it's just too painful. An overnight trip, no problem, just can't imagine people putting themselves through the climb back out of the canyon. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a second, the day was amazing.\n\nOn the way down we were able to find a whole slew of oddities. The first thing we ran into was a horrifying cave-something. Either an old mine, mining ditch, natural cave, I don't know. The theme was down the lines of \"There is no way in hell I'm walking a foot inside that thing.\"\u00a0 A few switchbacks later we found a van off to the side laying in brush with a sign that read \"free.\" Again, both of us really wanted to go near it, but it's one of those times you remember Curious George and for once, your remember the parabole of the story and make decisions accordingly. The sign itself had the makings of a sick joke. No, it was a sick joke, how could it be anything but.\n<\/a>\n<\/a>\n\nThen things just got plain weird. We started seeing PVC piping laying all around the edges of the road and laying up the moutain walls. A few hundred feet later we heard what was obviously running water, and sure enough there was some bizarre water tank system that was collecting the water that was being transported through the pvc piping. I really had no what the hell it was.\n<\/a>\nI always thought from looking at satalite imagery that these scars were just old abandoned mines.\u00a0\u00a0 I have done extensive research about the history and the mines further south near my claim, but I have no about the history of Humbug Canyon, and pioneer mine specifically. It turns out that pioneer mine isn't abandoned at all, and there are actually land owners living on the entire scarred area at the bottom of the road. The tanks and piping were supplying water for the entire compound. Although I did see claim boundary markers alongside the road, I have no if the area is being actively mined, and if this land owner is mining himself. I'm not even entirely sure how this land could have been acquired since its surrounded by public land in the Tahoe National Forrest. Perhaps the mine had a patented claim (rights to land + minerals vs unpatented give rights to extraction of minerals only) One thing is for sure; I was insanely jealous of this paradise.\u00a0 Only in my dreams could I have imagined this compound now sitting at on an old mine.\n\nI wanted to take so many pictures, but we both had feeling that we were not wanted there. All of the doors and windows were open, and it felt like we were being scoped in as we walked through his land to get the trail. To be honest, I really wanted to just walk up to the door and sit down and have some coffee with whoever lived there. Seriously though, I'd say there would be a pretty good chance that we would have a LOT to talk about. If only I had a white flag, something to signal that we were not San Francisconites who accidentally took the wrong turn from Starbucks and now fumbly bumbling all over his heaven. Well, ok, I do live in San Francisco, and we were stomping all over, but my point is understood. A crazy person can never have enough fellow crazy friends these days. That's my motto. The next time I am down there, I am going to try to make contact, either with a note, or try to catch them outside. Not that a note is going to befriend them, but I can at least vent my jealousy.\n\nLets just say not many people can call this their backyard.\n<\/a>","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/?p=110","img_url":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1220657170","modified_date":"1220657170","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"","lat_lon":"37.775196,-122.419204","remote_id":"110","image":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","location":"San Francisco","datetime":"Nov 30, 1999 8:00 AM GMT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Nov 30, 1999 12:00 AM","timelines":[],"index":9,"even":false},{"eid":"fe1437687c188537","username":"rromanchuk","title":"O RLY? ","utc_ts":"1219894741","descrptn":"<\/a>\n\nToday a report<\/a> suggested that\n\"Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures, the Wall Street Journal reported.\"\nAnd? Is this supposed to be a surprise?\n\nDeposit \"insurance\" <\/a>\n\nBut in all seriousness.....\u00a0 As John Mauldin<\/a> says, we will be just fine, we can \"muddle\" our way through this \"slow down.\"\n\nI leave you with this clipping<\/a>\nAug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- A failure of U.S. mortgage finance companies ","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/08\/27\/o-rly\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3010\/2544302836_d6294c740a.jpg?v=0","media_url":null,"year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":"0","hash":"","creation_date":"1219895297","modified_date":"1220551801","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","dur":"","res":"","te_score":"0","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"100","image":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3010\/2544302836_d6294c740a.jpg?v=0","datetime":"Aug 28, 2008 3:39 AM GMT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Aug 27, 2008 8:39 PM","timelines":[],"index":10,"even":true}] }; var dipity_badge_shell = function() { this.go = function() { document.write(''); document.write(''); this.outStyle('http://www.dipity.com/badge.css'); this.outScriptSrc('/lib/yui2.5.2/utilities/utilities.js'); this.outScriptSrc('http://www.dipity.com/lib/js/sz_util.js'); this.outScriptSrc('http://www.dipity.com/lib/js/badge.js'); } this.outStyle = function(src) { var headElem = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; var styleNode = document.createElement('LINK'); styleNode.href = src; styleNode.rel = 'stylesheet'; headElem.appendChild(styleNode); } this.outScriptSrc = function(src) { document.write("<script src='" + src + "'></script>"); } }; var dbs = new dipity_badge_shell(); dbs.go(); // vim:syn=javascript
![<\/a>\n\nNo one really seemed to bat an eye when the Secret Service, along with the FBI, walked into a business and took over 2million in precious metals, computers, books, and political literature.\n\nWell I did. Because some of my property was taken.\n\nMy property has yet to be charged with any specific crime and the DOJ has now filed a secret sealed Motion for another six month extension.\n\nIn response, the now ex ceo, Bernard von NotHaus has filed a motion.\nWell, I was not happy with that secret extension so on January 30, 2009, I filed my own pro se Rule 41g Motion. And while the Motion only asks for the recovery of confiscated material that was not covered by the Search and Seizure Warrants, it puts the government on notice that this matter should be resolved, the sooner the better. Please click](\"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/195343924_b1605e64db.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a><\/p>","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/12\/24\/happy-95th-birthday-federal-reserve-are-you-dead-yet\/","img_url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7a\/Fed_Reserve.JPG","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1230164283","modified_date":"1230164283","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"336","image":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7a\/Fed_Reserve.JPG","datetime":"Dec 24, 2008 4:21 PM PST","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Dec 24, 2008 4:21 PM","timelines":[],"index":2,"even":true},{"eid":"11f0b1a4e440947a","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Human Capital","utc_ts":"1228702119","descrptn":"](\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Fed_Reserve.JPG\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>\n\nNow that I have graduated college I have been blessed with the fantastic gift of a ginormous pile of debt.\u00a0 Lately, this burden has brought me a large amount of anxiety and I'm almost positive it is actually interfering with my productive labor. It's a strain on my own mental health to be constantly worrying about repayment.\n\nFor the past couple months I have been doing some thinking around a new type of investment vehicle. I'm calling it investment in human capital. I have to be honest in saying that I have done very little real research on this topic, and maybe some sort of derivative of this already exists. However, to my knowledge, I have never seen or heard of anything remotely close to what I am proposing, and for all I know, maybe for a very good reason.\n\nSo how would something like this work? What the hell does investment in human capital even mean?\u00a0 I'm going to use myself as the \"human capital\" that will seek investment for this thought experiment. I'm going to further define\u00a0 \"investment in human capital\" as the act of exchanging capital for a percentage of all potential productive wealth from labor in hopes of a greater return. In other words, if an investor believes that my lifetime productivity were to return[1] him a greater value of his initial investment, and I, the store of human capital, prefers capital now rather then later, we would both agree to such an exchange.\nHe [a consumer] buys because he believes that to acquire the merchandise in question will satisfy him better than keeping the money or spending it for something else.\u00a0 -Mises. The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science<\/em> p76\nFirst of all, for me to be seeking such an exchange in the first place it means that my marginal willingness to pay for relief from debt now, rather then later will be higher. In fact, my real willingness to pay, would be a number well over the principle + interest of my current debt. My next step would to seek investment, much like a firm does for venture capital. I would literally give them my pitch. This would be a process of due diligence between the firm and myself. Since there is a significant amount of imperfect information prior to this meeting(s), this process of getting to know each other would be a an opportunity for the investing party to get a better of my character. Even with a simple set of facts, the investor could probably quickly come up with a term sheet. I could imagine simply plugging in some facts about my height, education, weight, birth place, and looks into a statistical model that could spit out the appropriate profit-making magic numbers. I would guess that even more prevalent would be the process where successful investors would mix in some of their own \"secret sauce\". Like many companies, it's not always a black and white process understanding which firm is going to give you a 10x return on your investment.\u00a0 Some investors may simply just have a hunch! Depending on how risk averse the investor or firm is, they may believe that they know what sort of special characteristics in finding the individuals with highest return.\n\nI think it is also important to realize these investments don't have to be exclusively about debt recovery. Perhaps some individuals have, what they believe, the next huge business Do not confuse an investment in human capital as the same function of a loan. They are two very different tools with two extremely different incentive structures. An investor in human capital would have long term fiduciary incentives to promote the success of the individual where a lender is only concerned about the return of his principal and interest. The objectives of both parties align in their own self interest. There is of course always the risk that the human capital takes a trip to Europe for a soul searching session and comes back to forever retire his labor and becomes a street performer. (Although I hear they do pretty well) It is also true that the individual does not have the urge to default, since his repayment is always a proportion of his income and he will face the same financial burden as the investor. Even with such aligned incentive structures problems may arise such as the most obvious, death. Like with all matters of uncertainty in trade, the market has provided signaling through the price system and produced products and services to account for such risk. Even more interesting then these differences in incentive structures is the difference in time horizons. When a self-employed entrepreneur seeks capital through debt financing, or venture capital, the focus is completely on the near term success of the company, not the individual. Although an individual may seek human capital investment for a particular business the investor is much more concerned about the individuals long term success, and will probably be less interested in immediate success.\n\nLets say after a few months of talking to \"SuccessStartsWithUs.com\" they are ready to offer me a term sheet. During these months I gave them my school transcripts, my grandmas phone number, my favorite type of scotch, and my favorite dance move. I knew from the beginning that the process with this firm was going to be an arduous process, especially since this firms usually makes well informed decisions for \"home run\" investments. Sure, I could have gone for firms who have a 5min process, but I was willing to spend time and reveal a lot more of myself so they could get a better understanding of my potential life long value of labor. As the market usually provides choices for consumes, we could assume that various types of investments in human capital would take place.\n\nLet us now imagine that the investment company or individual has offered me a term sheet of $77,334 in exchange for 1.234% of all my earned income until death. At this point it is difficult to say exactly how the exchange contract will look. My guess is that there would have to an extremely transparent payment with low overhead. There would need to be a system set up that would allow the human capital to pay his investors quickly and easily, or perhaps automatically. There also needs to be an efficient way for the investor to know that the human capital is not committing fraud by hiding income. I imagine that these services could free ride off the god awful service of the current IRS administration. My guess is that it would not suffice and entire services would arise to assist in lowering the costs of such transactions.\n\nI know there will some of you screaming something absurd like \"slavery!\" or \"feudalism\" which only proves how ignorant you really are. I'm also certain there are a bunch of you moaning \"Zomg! That is a rip off! $77,334 for 1.234% for life is a crime, and people would just take advantage of someone in an irrational state.\" Shame on you. Just because it is a subjectively bad deal for you doesn't mean it is for the person making the exchange. I don't know whats more absurd, you, some white rich power-tripping bureaucrat looking out for the irrational, or you, the individual that gives 40% of your entire earned income while gleefully listening to all things considered talking about the next bailout. If you were so concerned for the poor, stop raping them and the generations to come before you start regulating exchange.\n\nAgain, let us remind ourselves.\nIn a game there are winners and losers. But a business deal is always advantageous for both parties. If both the buyer and the seller were not to consider the transaction as the most advantageous action they could choose under the prevailing conditions, they would not enter into the deal. -Mises.The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science p90\nBuyers remorse happens to us all, but these things are always considered at purchase time. We act in order to lessen our displeasure. If we later find that we have miscalculated the magnitude of this outcome, or our own preferences change, it is invalid to suggest that the purchase was irrational. In making such arguments, we fail to recognize the opportunity cost of not acting. What was the next best alternative of not making the exchange. Buyers remorse has nothing to do with fraud. When you make an exchange, and someone commits a crime, the feeling of disappointment (anger, sadness, etc etc) is not buyers remorse. It's a crime, and you are a victim.\n\n[1] That \"return\" doesn't have to come in the form of money, eg. altruism","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/12\/07\/human-capital\/","img_url":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/3575615_fa81afe79c.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1228757491","modified_date":"1228757491","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"301","image":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/3575615_fa81afe79c.jpg","datetime":"Dec 7, 2008 6:08 PM PST","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Dec 7, 2008 6:08 PM","timelines":[],"index":3,"even":false},{"eid":"89042c8ac616fa13","username":"rromanchuk","title":"A guide: How to survive the depression. ","utc_ts":"1224359044","descrptn":"","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/18\/a-guide-how-to-survive-the-depression\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3158\/2951675065_1e347264be.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1224376678","modified_date":"1224376678","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"229","image":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3158\/2951675065_1e347264be.jpg","datetime":"Oct 18, 2008 12:44 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 18, 2008 12:44 PM","timelines":[],"index":4,"even":true},{"eid":"7ea304cad44964b2","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Planet Granite!","utc_ts":"1224286612","descrptn":"On recommendation from our friend Tyrus, I just went down to Sunnyvale last night and checked out Planet Granite <\/a>- a rock-climbing\/functional fitness gym with a couple of locations in the Bay Area.\n<\/a>\nI walked out with a membership. At $70\/month, it's not cheap, but I'm extremely excited about it and I'm feeling I'll get more than my FRN's<\/a> worth.\n\nFor starters, a day pass to climb or lift costs over $15, so if one goes regularly the cost of membership is more than recovered.\n\nAnother key point is that while big box gym memberships are 30-50 per month, they are just that - big box gyms. The workout facilities at Planet Granite are like a jungle gym - tons of cool toys like money bars, rubber plates, rope climb, gymnastics rings, etc - everything a good CrossFitter<\/a> could ever want. I can learn to climb seriously, boulder all I want, and get into the gym to CrossFit anytime from 6am-11pm weekdays. Another cool perk is that the type of folks that would hit up a place like this are, I dare say, more *serious* and outdoorsy than those at a regular gym, so that's neat. They also have free yoga\n\nWill keep you updated on all things PG!\n\nPS - I rowed 2 sets of 500M, did ring push ups and dips, and some pull ups mixed with squat lunges. Damn. I've let myself slip a bit. Whereas 10 ring dips used to be no problem (back when I owned rings), 5 was a struggle. 20 pull ups was easily within reach; now 15 burns. 1:50 on the C2 for 500M was a nice warm up; now its 2:00. Most tellingly - while a year ago I could touch up on a 5 minute mile, now 5:45 is a good effort. This is all fine, of course, and relatively fit. But if I let things slip when I'm a young 22, my guess is it won't get any easier. I think I'll just work my ass off and peak several years down the line, thank-you-very-much! I want to be one of those 100 year olds who goes water-skiing every other weekend, so 22 is a bit young to start getting lax :)","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/17\/planet-granite\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/82\/205309055_c412972f6b.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1224302689","modified_date":"1224302689","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"237","image":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/82\/205309055_c412972f6b.jpg","datetime":"Oct 17, 2008 4:36 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 17, 2008 4:36 PM","timelines":[],"index":5,"even":false},{"eid":"704cee17bc2b9c9f","username":"rromanchuk","title":"We Need Your Help","utc_ts":"1224301739","descrptn":"<\/a>No, we're not asking for your money.\n\nWe're asking for your help in asking our government for money.\n\nYou see, we've noticed that some folks who have made some shoddy decisions are now able to get preferred money-recipient status from the government.\n\nWe're interested. We figure we're even more attractive candidates for the relief programs because, as reasonable folks who have lived within our means and, not fancying modern and borderline-criminal \"banking\" practices, we haven't a steam of toxic debt oozing from our asset books.\n\nSo, where do we sign up?\n\nAny information on how we can apply for a TAF<\/a> loan from the Fed would be much appreciated!\n\n","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/17\/we-need-your-help\/","img_url":"http:\/\/mises.org\/images4\/HelpCoyote.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1224302688","modified_date":"1224302688","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"246","image":"http:\/\/mises.org\/images4\/HelpCoyote.jpg","datetime":"Oct 17, 2008 8:48 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 17, 2008 8:48 PM","timelines":[],"index":6,"even":true},{"eid":"e23fa1b12468a5d8","username":"rromanchuk","title":"The Most Honest Ad I Saw Today","utc_ts":"1223415046","descrptn":"1400 Diggs and Counting...\n\n\"They'll say anything to get your vote. We just want your money.\"\n\nEntrepreneurial spirit + a refreshing acknowledgment that politics as we know it is a giant cess-pool. I didn't know that people still thought like this in Palo Alto!\n\n<\/a><\/a>\n\nSomebody has found his new bike shop...\n\nread more<\/a> | digg story<\/a>","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/10\/07\/the-most-honest-ad-i-saw-today\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3095\/2920722992_7907ecba55.jpg","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1223415621","modified_date":"1223415621","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"219","image":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3095\/2920722992_7907ecba55.jpg","datetime":"Oct 7, 2008 2:30 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Oct 7, 2008 2:30 PM","timelines":[],"index":7,"even":false},{"eid":"30628adc2f9bd519","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Humbug Canyon","utc_ts":"1220815071","descrptn":"About a month ago I took a hike to Euchre Bar <\/a> from the north side of the North Fork near the town of Alta. My prior attempt from the south end, which I have yet to write about, was a complete failure. But with failure comes\u00a0 good things, especially since it was that trip which I ran into the claim that I have today. This last weekend though, I was determined to find the south access route to the river which drops from the 5,000ft near Forresthill Divide down to Humbug Canyon and which then travels some 5miles parallel with the American North Fork to the Euchre Bar footbridge.\n\nHere is an overview of getting to the Euchre Bar from both directions.\n<\/a>\n\nThe trail head from the north has plenty of information about it's location and its mileage, but the south end has extremely vague descriptions about its locations, usually only giving GPS coordinates on its location. Coming from the south also had this peculiar notice about its trailhead.\n\n\n\nThis is indeed true, the south access point is at 4,000ft and its seasons change rapidly. But even more frustrating is that these trails are near impossible to locate and are often begin at locked gates making it extremely confusing if you are unfamiliar with the area.\n\nMy friend Blake and I left around 4am Monday morning to head up to Gold country. I've been making this drive so frequently now I can't even remember it to be honest. (this is a good thing) There is always the routine breakfast and \"premium\" coffee stop at McDonalds, and then in the blink of the eye my little Honda is burning rich on the winding trails to Forresthill.\n\nThe supposed trailhead was actually a few hundred yards from where I descend to my claim. It turns out that my first attempt wasn't too far off. Surprisingly there actually was a trail marker that read \"Euchre Bar Trail\" but it wasn't very much help. Behind the sign was what looked to be a normal hiking trail, and next to that a road with a locked fence and signs reading \"private property\" and \"no vehicles allowed.\"\u00a0 Just a flat sign, no arrows, no trail markers left by other hikers, a fenced road and a small trail. You would think the trail head would be the trail, right? Yeah,\u00a0 not the case. We started walking on the trail which seemed to head into the correct direction, almost immediately the trail was lost and it eventually merged us back into the road. What the hell!? We walked back down the road to our car and I looked up our path via GPS, and sure enough it wasn't the path we needed to take. The only possible option was the locked fenced.\n\nThe most frustrating aspect of this trail is that its description starts at the END of the road we were looking down, and since there is obviously no vehicle access allowed, that means we had to walk the entire thing. From descriptions I found on the Internet, the trail factors in millage and elevation profiles from the end of this road, not the top. Below is the trail down Pioneer Mine Road which is by foot only. The yellow marker is where the trailhead officially starts.\n\n<\/a>\n\nThe walk down took 1hour and 45 minutes to complete at a 22-year old pace. This is before the 5mile hike through the canyon to actually get to the footbridge. Let me remind you that this starts at the highest point of the mountain down to the river. Yikes! It makes me wonder how many people a year -actually- make this hike. My new guess is fewer then five. There is no way that people would make this hike as a day trip, it's just too painful. An overnight trip, no problem, just can't imagine people putting themselves through the climb back out of the canyon. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a second, the day was amazing.\n\nOn the way down we were able to find a whole slew of oddities. The first thing we ran into was a horrifying cave-something. Either an old mine, mining ditch, natural cave, I don't know. The theme was down the lines of \"There is no way in hell I'm walking a foot inside that thing.\"\u00a0 A few switchbacks later we found a van off to the side laying in brush with a sign that read \"free.\" Again, both of us really wanted to go near it, but it's one of those times you remember Curious George and for once, your remember the parable of the story and make decisions accordingly. The sign itself had the makings of a sick joke. No, it was a sick joke, how could it be anything but.\n<\/a>\n<\/a>\n\nThen things just got plain weird. We started seeing PVC piping laying all around the edges of the road and laying up the mountain walls. A few hundred feet later we heard what was obviously running water, and sure enough there was some bizarre water tank system that was collecting the water that was being transported through the pvc piping. I really had no what the hell it was.\n<\/a>\nI always thought from looking at satalite imagery that these scars were just old abandoned mines.\u00a0\u00a0 I have done extensive research about the history and the mines further south near my claim, but I have no about the history of Humbug Canyon, and pioneer mine specifically. It turns out that pioneer mine isn't abandoned at all, and there are actually land owners living on the entire scarred area at the bottom of the road. The tanks and piping were supplying water for the entire compound. Although I did see claim boundary markers alongside the road, I have no if the area is being actively mined, and if this land owner is mining himself. I'm not even entirely sure how this land could have been acquired since its surrounded by public land in the Tahoe National Forrest. Perhaps the mine had a patented claim (rights to land + minerals vs unpatented give rights to extraction of minerals only) One thing is for sure; I was insanely jealous of this paradise.\u00a0 Only in my dreams could I have imagined this compound now sitting at on an old mine.\n\nI wanted to take so many pictures, but we both had feeling that we were not wanted there. All of the doors and windows were open, and it felt like we were being scoped in as we walked through his land to get the trail. To be honest, I really wanted to just walk up to the door and sit down and have some coffee with whoever lived there. Seriously though, I'd say there would be a pretty good chance that we would have a LOT to talk about. If only I had a white flag, something to signal that we were not San Francisconites who accidentally took the wrong turn from Starbucks and now fumbly bumbling all over his heaven. Well, OK, I do live in San Francisco, and we were stomping all over, but my point is understood. A crazy person can never have enough fellow crazy friends these days. That's my motto. The next time I am down there, I am going to try to make contact, either with a note, or try to catch them outside. Not that a note is going to befriend them, but I can at least vent my jealousy.\n\nLets just say not many people can call this their backyard.\n<\/a>\n\nWe were finally at the \"described\" trailhead for the Euchre Trail, now just another 5 miles along the river to go. Just some few hundred yards from the house was the American River. Absolute paradise I tell you. The owner had set up a hammock along side the river and conveniently had a rope for easy access in and out of the river for swimming.\n\n<\/a>\nEven though we were at the river, it was still a little difficult to find the correct trail that runs parallel with the river. There were a lot of false trails which simply dissapeared causing us to backtrack and start over in search of the real trail. It's really easy to start hiking along a mining ditch and other trail-like looking clearings. And of course there are no \"signs\" or even trail markers from previous hikers to help the situation. I find its always best to stop immediatley when you have doubts about the trail you're on, especially if you do not have any GPS capabilites. It's really easy to get disoriented, and the second it happens, a day of fun immmedialty turns into a day of hell. We found the obviousl trail a couple hundred feet higher then where we were looking. Minus the bugs, it was a pretty straightfoward hike, with very little elvevation changes, which was a welcoming break on the knees. With the little information I know about the area, the one thing I do know was that Humbug Canyon was mining town during the gold rush, and this was clearly evident with all of the strange massive equipment we saw laying everywhere. How in the hell did they get stuff like this down there???\n\n<\/a>\n\nThat is insane! We also saw some other extremely eerie things walking along the river. It really reminded me of many of\u00a0 the \"stations\" from LOST. In a way it's pretty similar. At one time this was a bustling area that has long since disappeared. Walking around places like this you can feel and hear the past, even when you know nothing about it, you can -feel- the people who lived and worked here. I don't mean this in a supernatural way, well, I don't think I do.\n<\/a>\n\nIt's hard to really see the scale of this creepy-do-hinger because of the perspective, but this thing is GIANT. This picture was taken from the other side of the river. At the very top of the cliff, that motor is taller then the average human. This ginormous tube drops all the way into the river and under the rock bed. It obviously is something for moving lots of water long ago, but where, when, how, who??\u00a0 I know one thing for sure, I don't want to go swimming anywhere near it. I just don't get it! I think about the location of these things and can't even begin to think how these people transported\/built this stuff! We called this location along the trail \"McCain Point.\" We thought it was a fitting name, and rolled off the tongue with ease.\nAnd then there was the way back, which I really don't want to be reminded of. This trail is great, but for god sakes, if you're going to do it, spend a night! Or at least take a few hours to rest, cool off, eat, or nap before you try to climb back out. If you don't hike at a fast and continuous pace, don't be surprised if takes you three hours to get back up with a lot of cursing along the way. Next time I want to try using my ipod with maybe a book on tape. Music would be OK, but the point is to distract your mind. I think taking your mind off the walk would be incredibly beneficial. If not, you start torturing yourself trying to remember \"Is this the last switchback???? Oh I think I remember this one!\" It never is the last switchback, even when you KNOW it's the last switchback.\n\n[imgset:72157607119947513,thumbnail,true]\n","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/09\/07\/humbug-canyon\/","img_url":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1220824755","modified_date":"1220824755","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"","lat_lon":"37.775196,-122.419204","remote_id":"110","image":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","location":"San Francisco","datetime":"Sep 7, 2008 12:17 PM PDT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Sep 7, 2008 12:17 PM","timelines":[],"index":8,"even":true},{"eid":"fe5c9c1e9c91243f","username":"rromanchuk","title":"Humbug Canyon","utc_ts":"943948800","descrptn":"About a month ago I took a hike to Euchre Bar <\/a> from the north side of the North Fork near the town of Alta. My prior attempt from the south end, which I have yet to write about, was a complete failure. But with failure comes\u00a0 good things, especially since it was that trip which I ran into the claim that I have today. This last weekend though, I was determined to find the south access route to the river which drops from the 5,000ft near Forresthill Divide down to Humbug Canyon and which then travels some 5miles parallel with the American North Fork to the Euchre Bar footbridge.\n\nHere is an overview of getting to the Euchre Bar from both directions.\n<\/a>\n\nThe trail head from the north has plenty of information about it's location and its milage, but the south end has extremely vague descriptions about its locations, usually only giving GPS coordinates on its location. Coming from the south also had this peculiar notice about its trailhead.\n\n\n\nThis is indeed true, the south access point is at 4,000ft and its seasons change rapidly. But even more frusterating is that these trails are near impossible to locate and are often begin at locked gates making it extremely confusing if you are unfamiliar with the area.\n\nMy friend Blake and I left around 4am Monday morning to head up to Gold country. I've been making this drive so frequently now I can't even remember it to be honest. (this is a good thing) There is always the routine breakfast and \"premium\" coffee stop at McDonalds, and then in the blink of the eye my little Honda is burning rich on the windy trails to Forresthill.\n\nThe supposed trailhead was actually a few hundred yards from where I descend to my claim. It turns out that my first attempt wasn't too far off. Surprisingly there actually was a trail marker that read \"Euchre Bar Trai\" but it wasn't very much help. Behind the sign was what looked to be a normal hiking trail, and next to that a road with a locked fence and signs reading \"private property\" and \"no vehicles allowed.\"\u00a0 Just a flat sign, no arrows, no trail markers left by other hikers, a fenced road and a small trail. You would think the trail head would be the trail, right? Yeah,\u00a0 not the case. We started walking on the trail which seemed to head into the correct direction, almost immediately the trail was lost and it eventually merged us back into the road. What the hell!? We walked back down the road to our car and I looked up our path via GPS, and sure enough it wasn't the path we needed to take. The only possible option was the locked fenced.\n\nThe most frustrating aspect of this trail is that its description starts aaat the END of the road we were looking down, and since there is obviously no vehicle access allowed, that means we had to walk the entire thing. From descriptions I found on the internet, the trail factors in millage and elevation profiles from the end of this road, not the top. Below is the trail down Pioneer Mine Road which is by foot only. The yellow marker is where the trailhead officially starts.\n\n<\/a>\n\nThe walk down took 1hour and 45 minutes to complete at a 22-year old pace. This is before the 5mile hike through the canyon to actually get to the footbridge. Let me remind you that this starts at the highest point of the mountain down to the river. Yikes! It makes me wonder how many people a year -actually- make this hike. My new guess is fewer then five. There is no way that people would make this hike as a day trip, it's just too painful. An overnight trip, no problem, just can't imagine people putting themselves through the climb back out of the canyon. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a second, the day was amazing.\n\nOn the way down we were able to find a whole slew of oddities. The first thing we ran into was a horrifying cave-something. Either an old mine, mining ditch, natural cave, I don't know. The theme was down the lines of \"There is no way in hell I'm walking a foot inside that thing.\"\u00a0 A few switchbacks later we found a van off to the side laying in brush with a sign that read \"free.\" Again, both of us really wanted to go near it, but it's one of those times you remember Curious George and for once, your remember the parabole of the story and make decisions accordingly. The sign itself had the makings of a sick joke. No, it was a sick joke, how could it be anything but.\n<\/a>\n<\/a>\n\nThen things just got plain weird. We started seeing PVC piping laying all around the edges of the road and laying up the moutain walls. A few hundred feet later we heard what was obviously running water, and sure enough there was some bizarre water tank system that was collecting the water that was being transported through the pvc piping. I really had no what the hell it was.\n<\/a>\nI always thought from looking at satalite imagery that these scars were just old abandoned mines.\u00a0\u00a0 I have done extensive research about the history and the mines further south near my claim, but I have no about the history of Humbug Canyon, and pioneer mine specifically. It turns out that pioneer mine isn't abandoned at all, and there are actually land owners living on the entire scarred area at the bottom of the road. The tanks and piping were supplying water for the entire compound. Although I did see claim boundary markers alongside the road, I have no if the area is being actively mined, and if this land owner is mining himself. I'm not even entirely sure how this land could have been acquired since its surrounded by public land in the Tahoe National Forrest. Perhaps the mine had a patented claim (rights to land + minerals vs unpatented give rights to extraction of minerals only) One thing is for sure; I was insanely jealous of this paradise.\u00a0 Only in my dreams could I have imagined this compound now sitting at on an old mine.\n\nI wanted to take so many pictures, but we both had feeling that we were not wanted there. All of the doors and windows were open, and it felt like we were being scoped in as we walked through his land to get the trail. To be honest, I really wanted to just walk up to the door and sit down and have some coffee with whoever lived there. Seriously though, I'd say there would be a pretty good chance that we would have a LOT to talk about. If only I had a white flag, something to signal that we were not San Francisconites who accidentally took the wrong turn from Starbucks and now fumbly bumbling all over his heaven. Well, ok, I do live in San Francisco, and we were stomping all over, but my point is understood. A crazy person can never have enough fellow crazy friends these days. That's my motto. The next time I am down there, I am going to try to make contact, either with a note, or try to catch them outside. Not that a note is going to befriend them, but I can at least vent my jealousy.\n\nLets just say not many people can call this their backyard.\n<\/a>","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/?p=110","img_url":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","media_url":"","year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":null,"hash":"","creation_date":"1220657170","modified_date":"1220657170","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","type":"","lat_lon":"37.775196,-122.419204","remote_id":"110","image":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png","location":"San Francisco","datetime":"Nov 30, 1999 8:00 AM GMT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Nov 30, 1999 12:00 AM","timelines":[],"index":9,"even":false},{"eid":"fe1437687c188537","username":"rromanchuk","title":"O RLY? ","utc_ts":"1219894741","descrptn":"<\/a>\n\nToday a report<\/a> suggested that\n\"Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures, the Wall Street Journal reported.\"\nAnd? Is this supposed to be a surprise?\n\nDeposit \"insurance\" <\/a>\n\nBut in all seriousness.....\u00a0 As John Mauldin<\/a> says, we will be just fine, we can \"muddle\" our way through this \"slow down.\"\n\nI leave you with this clipping<\/a>\nAug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- A failure of U.S. mortgage finance companies ","link":"http:\/\/09ers.net\/2008\/08\/27\/o-rly\/","img_url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3010\/2544302836_d6294c740a.jpg?v=0","media_url":null,"year":null,"month":null,"day":null,"hour":null,"minute":null,"second":null,"score":"0","hash":"","creation_date":"1219895297","modified_date":"1220551801","tid":"bf6bb41acc9f563c","dur":"","res":"","te_score":"0","type":"wordpress","lat_lon":"","remote_id":"100","image":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3010\/2544302836_d6294c740a.jpg?v=0","datetime":"Aug 28, 2008 3:39 AM GMT","specificity":"n","disp_date":"Aug 27, 2008 8:39 PM","timelines":[],"index":10,"even":true}] }; var dipity_badge_shell = function() { this.go = function() { document.write(''); document.write(''); this.outStyle('http://www.dipity.com/badge.css'); this.outScriptSrc('/lib/yui2.5.2/utilities/utilities.js'); this.outScriptSrc('http://www.dipity.com/lib/js/sz_util.js'); this.outScriptSrc('http://www.dipity.com/lib/js/badge.js'); } this.outStyle = function(src) { var headElem = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; var styleNode = document.createElement('LINK'); styleNode.href = src; styleNode.rel = 'stylesheet'; headElem.appendChild(styleNode); } this.outScriptSrc = function(src) { document.write("<script src='" + src + "'></script>"); } }; var dbs = new dipity_badge_shell(); dbs.go(); // vim:syn=javascript](\"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/3575615_fa81afe79c.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>No, we're not asking for your money.\n\nWe're asking for your help in asking our government for money.\n\nYou see, we've noticed that some folks who have made some shoddy decisions are now able to get preferred money-recipient status from the government.\n\nWe're interested. We figure we're even more attractive candidates for the relief programs because, as reasonable folks who have lived within our means and, not fancying modern and borderline-criminal \"banking\" practices, we haven't a steam of toxic debt oozing from our asset books.\n\nSo, where do we sign up?\n\nAny information on how we can apply for a](\"http:\/\/mises.org\/images4\/HelpCoyote.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>\n\nThe trail head from the north has plenty of information about it's location and its mileage, but the south end has extremely vague descriptions about its locations, usually only giving GPS coordinates on its location. Coming from the south also had this peculiar notice about its trailhead.\n\n\n\nThis is indeed true, the south access point is at 4,000ft and its seasons change rapidly. But even more frustrating is that these trails are near impossible to locate and are often begin at locked gates making it extremely confusing if you are unfamiliar with the area.\n\nMy friend Blake and I left around 4am Monday morning to head up to Gold country. I've been making this drive so frequently now I can't even remember it to be honest. (this is a good thing) There is always the routine breakfast and \"premium\" coffee stop at McDonalds, and then in the blink of the eye my little Honda is burning rich on the winding trails to Forresthill.\n\nThe supposed trailhead was actually a few hundred yards from where I descend to my claim. It turns out that my first attempt wasn't too far off. Surprisingly there actually was a trail marker that read \"Euchre Bar Trail\" but it wasn't very much help. Behind the sign was what looked to be a normal hiking trail, and next to that a road with a locked fence and signs reading \"private property\" and \"no vehicles allowed.\"\u00a0 Just a flat sign, no arrows, no trail markers left by other hikers, a fenced road and a small trail. You would think the trail head would be the trail, right? Yeah,\u00a0 not the case. We started walking on the trail which seemed to head into the correct direction, almost immediately the trail was lost and it eventually merged us back into the road. What the hell!? We walked back down the road to our car and I looked up our path via GPS, and sure enough it wasn't the path we needed to take. The only possible option was the locked fenced.\n\nThe most frustrating aspect of this trail is that its description starts at the END of the road we were looking down, and since there is obviously no vehicle access allowed, that means we had to walk the entire thing. From descriptions I found on the Internet, the trail factors in millage and elevation profiles from the end of this road, not the top. Below is the trail down Pioneer Mine Road which is by foot only. The yellow marker is where the trailhead officially starts.\n\n](\"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-111.png\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>\n\nThe walk down took 1hour and 45 minutes to complete at a 22-year old pace. This is before the 5mile hike through the canyon to actually get to the footbridge. Let me remind you that this starts at the highest point of the mountain down to the river. Yikes! It makes me wonder how many people a year -actually- make this hike. My new guess is fewer then five. There is no way that people would make this hike as a day trip, it's just too painful. An overnight trip, no problem, just can't imagine people putting themselves through the climb back out of the canyon. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a second, the day was amazing.\n\nOn the way down we were able to find a whole slew of oddities. The first thing we ran into was a horrifying cave-something. Either an old mine, mining ditch, natural cave, I don't know. The theme was down the lines of \"There is no way in hell I'm walking a foot inside that thing.\"\u00a0 A few switchbacks later we found a van off to the side laying in brush with a sign that read \"free.\" Again, both of us really wanted to go near it, but it's one of those times you remember Curious George and for once, your remember the parable of the story and make decisions accordingly. The sign itself had the makings of a sick joke. No, it was a sick joke, how could it be anything but.\n](\"http:\/\/09ers.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/picture-13.png\"){kind=link}