April 2013
1 post
My Twitter Rant About the Boston Bomber
hamptonus @hamptonus25m
Again, people respond to incentives. People like easy answers and 100% set paths. “Do this and you get this.”
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hamptonus @hamptonus25m
The real question of whether one’s martyrdom is noble or evil can be easily ignored by someone desperate to redeem himself.
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hamptonus @hamptonus27m
… believe their soul is garbage...
March 2013
2 posts
Wherein I Troll A Craigslist Scam Artist
A while back I put one of my rental houses up on craigslist. Now mind you, Craigslist is a wonderful service that makes life so much easier for call girls and the American Trailer Hitch Small Business Association. But when I naively posted my ad, it took all of fifteen seconds for the sharks to circle. Within minutes, I received my first scam email. I decided, no. Not this time. Now...
Update on Whirlpool (WHR) Short
“Whirlpool Corp Issues FY 2013 EPS Guidance Above Analysts’ Estimates”
“Whirlpool Core Earnings Improve in Fourth Quarter”
And so on. Whirlpool reported a fantastic 4th quarter. The conference call was as strong as anything I can remember. Management was playing Flo Rida and the analysts were getting lap dances and handjobs, you should have been there....
February 2013
1 post
Wherein I Troll a Collections Agent
A while back, I rented an Avis car and after a series of very mysteeeerious circumstances, the tire was all jacked up. I returned the car to Avis and filled out their little form.
About a year passes, and this fellow Brent from Viking (a collection service) calls me. I’m cooking dinner. He gives me the spiel, and I say “alright what’s the damage?” He replies,...
November 2012
3 posts
Short Whirlpool $WHR: A New Consumer, and...
I became interested in Whirlpool some time in early 2011 based on 3 things.
1. At the time I was living with a chef who had a sub-$2000/mo income in a fairly poor neighborhood of New Orleans and I noticed that while folks lived paycheck to paycheck, sometimes requiring personal loans or payday advance, they would still buy consumer discretionary items like fashion, vacation, restaurants, prepared...
Why I'm Not Long Best Buy (BBY)
Best Buy is down 50% YTD and reports earnings tomorrow morning. I follow a guy on Twitter who owns BBY. I immensely respect him and his analysis. Here are some of his selected tweets, chronicling his hilarious agony at being a BBY shareholder.
Matt Rosen @given2tweet
$HPQ and $BBY could report a $10 loss and will end day up tomorrow
I think $BBY can come out tomorrow and say that they are...
testing
WHR Cash and ST Investments data by YCharts
October 2012
1 post
A Letter to My Friends and Family
Attached, please find a presentation with some startling quotations by great historic minds about Prophet Muhammad, including Napoleon Bonaparte, Mahatma Gandhi, and George Bernard Shaw. I consider it my duty to spread this message, because I know you ain’t gonna get it elsewhere. Please share.
Those of you who know me or even follow me on Facebook or Twitter (@hamptonus) know that the...
September 2012
1 post
We Reject the Embassy Riots
A petition by the peaceful Muslims.
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-world-violent-riots-do-not-represent-islam#
We are diverse. We are both men and women. Orthodox and secularists. Shia and sunni. Arab and non arab. There are those among us that love America dearly (such as myself), and those that do not.
But we are united on one issue. We categorically reject the foolish, violent, and...
4 Types of Sci-fi (and people)
Patton Oswalt claims that there are 4 kinds of sci fi stories and 4 kinds of sci fi fans. Which type are you? Wasteland: All society has collapsed leaving only pockets of civilization, and a lone survivor travels the world, trading found goods and practicing the art of survival. Fans of this genre are loners who think that their personality is more suited to a simple world of survivalism and...
August 2012
4 posts
Hadith on Judgment
On the matter of judgment there is this.
Abu Hurayra said: “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked, ‘Messenger of Allah! A certain woman prays in the night, fasts in the day, acts and gives sadaqa, but injures her neighbours with her tongue.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘There is no good in her. She is...
CJES Update and Metrics Model
So since I first dropped the recommendation, CJES climbed to a high of $21.25, which gave the call options a 6X return. The stock has since dropped by about 8% and the call options are back to $0.25, where we bought them. I was able to cover my cost when the call options hit $0.9, so I’m ok, although obviously pissed.
CJES had a blowout, awesome quarter. Top line beat, bottom line beat,...
Be the Amoeba
Placeholder.
July 2012
1 post
CJES Mega Play
Buy CJES Aug 18 call options at $20 strike price, limit order at $0.25, $0.2, and $0.15 (equal weight).
Buying options as a unidirectional play on a stock price is for suckers. Using short-dated options is even worse. But, well, that’s what I’m doing here, and you should as well.
I’ve explained the fundamentals of CJES’s business before, its shocking low...
