So the two giant Safari tanks arrived the other day and so I went ahead and emptied the bike… got rid of the old tanks (there are 2 on a KTM 950 adventure) and installed the new 40+ litre Safari Tanks. Yes -the bike looks pretty ugly now, or as I like to think of …
Author Archives: Lance Wiggs
Great mousetrap, lousy website
These guys (Turtlepac) make petrol and inflation bags. The products seem to be very high quality, and come recommended by a bunch of people. I’m thinking of getting one to add capacity to my bike. It’s a shame that the website is so unusable. Every product page is akin to a paper catalogue – nothing …
Goodbye NZ, nice to have helped, but I gotta go
So David Skilling does a fantastic job leading the NZ institute, influencing massive policy changes in saving (Kiwisaver), economy, climate change and broadband. So now that his 4 year stint is up, what does he do? Leave. Yup – David is off to Singapore. It sums everything that is right and wrong with NZ very …
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Apple is cool, but their partners are not
Apple does everything they can to make dealing with them a great experience. But they are let down by the little things, and by some pretty big things. The little things I’ve talked about before. The big things are more serious. Their partners suck. Vodaphone, Vodafone (that’s how you spell it in Australia and Optus …
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Go Fug yourself
I’ve been following go Fug Yourself for a while – a comic look at the paparazzi world and fashion disaster. Today’s effort is priceless. Interestingly from what was a simple blog, go Fug Yourself now seems to be part of Celebuzz – a bunch of celebrity site. This is big business folks – the lowest …
Are you easy to manage? 10 ways to be
Today I sat on the train on the way home, in a crowded carriage. A woman got on board, talking on her cell phone, and rather than hanging up she talked through the entire 30 minute journey. That wasn’t so much the issue in the crowded carriage. The issue was that she spent the entire …
Rent, don’t buy
Via Paul Krugman’s blog in the NYTimes: a salient graph if you are thinking of buying a house. Remember the US market is ahead of most of the rest of the world – the big falls re yet to come elsewhere. …the Case-Shiller 20-city index compared with the BLS measure of owner’s equivalent rent, both …
Child Drugging and Evil Psychiatrists
I was walking the streets of Fremantle the other day, and I saw this ad go past me several times: It was attached to the back of this truck: By the amount of airtime the ad was being given, I figured that whoever was putting on the show really wanted people to see it. Human …
It’s all too easy these days
Via Adventure Rider (Advrider.com) here are a couple of old motorcycling photos. Makes today’s stuff with modern bikes, roads and safety gear look pretty tame. more here.
Half year Portfolio update
so – am I following Baupost‘s advice in my own investments? I try to. It pays to be reminded again and again though, as like most people investing is a very part time game for me. But I’m happy about some of my decisions, like my short position on EQR, which I regard as vastly …
The Baupost story
Imagine making over 20% a year since 1983. Safely. $10,000 invested then would be worth about $1m now, but the original investors had $27m, and they have made over 6,100% after fees. Sounds like the sort of place you’d like to put your money right? Especially as Baupost boss Seth Klarman’s mantra is “Don’t lose …
Making the move
via the incomparable XKCD, more outtakes on life.
Trade Me lite is here – for your phone
Go to m.trademe.co.nz – even from your mac (or PC if you really must) browser. It’s simple, stark even and light. A staggering 6.9k home page, versus 292kb for the www home page. Forget about browsing any way but by search. Actually it is a really unfriendly place to just browse for stuff – but …
Around Australia madness take 2
On the one hand guys at work here in Perth say that the roads I’ve chosen to traverse are liable to get me killed if I go in unprepared. They are right – so I will be prepared. They also tell me that doing all of the route in a couple of months is lunatic …
What to do next: Crazy idea number 3
So the third (and final in the series) crazy idea is clearly going to be a motorcycle adventure – after all that’s what I keep ending up dong. The question is only where? One option is the Scandinavia and Baltics trip, which is something that I have not done yet as when I was on …
Lance Wiggs 