When I started this website a very long time ago, didn’t expect anyone to read it except for a few friends. So I decided to amuse myself by writing in the guise of a somewhat unhinged Victorian-era scientist. Here, for example, was the intro to the original site:
Professor Piggington is an amateur practicioner of the Dismal Science who has constructed a vast difference engine in order to aid in his analysis of real estate market cycles. Day and night he toils amidst the thrashing gears and noisome coal smoke of his beloved San Diego Real Estate Chrono-Collapsometer.
and the occasional tincture of opium.
Mr. R____, the Professor’s put-upon assistant and scribe, is responsible for the publishing of the Econo-Almanac. Because he is a coarse and disgracious member of the Working Class, you will find that he has abandoned the faux-Victorian theme in the day-to-day entries. All correspondence to the Professor should be sent care of R____ via electronic-post.
the Professor’s lengthy diatribes.
The maintenance of the Chrono-Collapsometer is exhausting and dangerous work. For this purpose the Professor employs a team of child-laborers and passes the savings along to you.
an ill-deserved break.
I definitely succeeded in entertaining myself (possibly only myself, but I’m fine with that). However, as the site started to spread far beyond the initial intended audience, readers who came looking for housing content were confused about the topical relevance of, e.g., swilling laudanum. That also didn’t enhance my analytical credibility, I am guessing.
So for better or for worse, the Professor became a little less prominent over time. But his memory lives on.