Speaking of VA Linux's IPO, this is an interesting read now that we know what happened (hope he had some money by the end :).

But the odds are that there will not be a stock bubble of that size again in our lifetimes.

Are you going to live 35-40 years more? I'm guessing most around here will, so I wouldn't doubt we'd see it again, it is a cycle that keeps repeating itself.

Oh, ESR got some money. Just nowhere near enough for the alternative minimum tax. :-)

As for my claim about the size of the stock bubble, we undoubtably will live to see other stock bubbles. But the one just past is clearly not comparable with any bubble since the Roaring 20's. And even that comparison is unfair - the 1920's boom probably was smaller! So I stand by what I said, I have no expectation that I will live to see another stock market.

(A note on my life expectancy. I would like to live 40 years more, but have no confidence. If I do so then I will live to be older than my uncle Bill is now - and he is the longest living male relative that I have had since the Civil War. OTOH my health risk is heart attack and stroke, which is controllable, so I have a chance at least at making my mid-70's...)

so I have a chance at least at making my mid-70's

Watch what happens in biotech in the next 8 years (ref 7791851 ;), I think you'll be pleasantly surprised :).