Do you spend your Saturday morning traipsing from one open home to another?
Up till midnight most nights trawling through properties online to find that one that jumps out & says buy me?
Not comfortable to use a property, buyer!
Well, this list is for you.
After doing a brief survey around the Awesome Lending Solutions office we have compiled a list of the top ten secrets to buying a home.
Some are obvious, and some are not so obvious.
It's not wise to make any huge purchases or move your money around three to six months before buying a new home. You don't want to take any big chances with your credit history.
If you open new credit cards, amass too much debt or buy a lot of big-ticket items, you're going to have a hard time getting a loan.
There's a big difference between a buyer being pre-qualified and a buyer who has a pre-approved mortgage.
Anybody can get pre-qualified for a loan.
Getting pre-approved means a lender has looked at all of your financial information, and they've let you know how much you can afford and how much they will lend you.
Being pre-approved will save you a lot of time and energy so you are not running around looking at houses you can't afford.
Not sure what is the best loan for you.
Then give us a call at Awesome Lending Solutions and we will do all the research for you.
We put together a Property Acquisition Plan so you can see the best possible lenders, fees & charges, etc. all from the comfort of your living room without having to go door to door to each financial institution to find the one that is the best for you.
It's essential to get a survey done on your property, so you know exactly what you're buying.
Knowing precisely where your property lines are may save you from a potential dispute with your neighbours.
Also, your property tax is likely based on how much property you have, so it is best to have an accurate map drawn up.
Don't obsess with trying to time the market and figure out when is the best time to buy.
Attempting to anticipate the housing market is impossible.
The best time to buy is when you find your perfect house, and you can afford it.
Real estate is cyclical, it goes up, and it goes down, and it goes back up again.
So, if you try to wait for the perfect time, you're probably going to miss out.
Everyone's drawn to the biggest, most beautiful house on the block. But bigger is usually not better when it comes to houses.
There's an adage in real estate that says don't buy the biggest, best house on the block. The largest house only appeals to a very small audience, and you never want to limit potential buyers when you go to re-sell.
Your home is only going to increase in value as much as the other houses around you.
If you pay $500,000 for a home, and your neighbours pay $250,000 to $300,000, your appreciation is going to be limited.
Sometimes it is best to buy the worst house on the block because the worst house per square foot always trades for more than the biggest house.
The difference between renting and home ownership is the additional costs that go with home ownership.
Most people just focus on their mortgage payment, but they also need to be aware of the other expenses such as property taxes, utilities, and homeowner-association dues.
New homeowners also need to be prepared to pay for repairs, maintenance, and potential property-tax increases. Make sure you budget for these costs so you'll be covered and won't risk losing your house.
Buying a house based on emotions is just going to break your heart. If you fall in love with something, you might end up making some pretty bad financial decisions.
There's a big difference between your emotions and your instincts. Going with your instincts means that you recognize that you're getting a great house for a good value.
Going with your emotions is being obsessed with the paint colour or the backyard. It's an investment, so stay calm and be wise.
Would you buy a car without checking under the hood? Of course, you wouldn't.
Make sure you have a pest and building inspection done. It'll cost about $200 – $500 but could end up saving you thousands.
The building or pest company's representative's sole responsibility is to provide you with information so that you can make a decision as to whether or not to buy.
It's the only way to get an unbiased third-party opinion.
If any issues are found in the property, you can use it as a bargaining tool for lowering the price of the home.
It's better to spend the money up front than to find out later and you have to spend a fortune.
And what you believe the property is worth.
Not sure what it is worth, contact Awesome Lending Solutions and we will be able to complete a property report free of charge to ensure you are armed with the right tools to make an educated offer.
After you have decided to make your opening bid something that's fair and reasonable and isn't going to offend the seller.
A lot of people think they should go lower the first time they make a bid. It all depends on what the market is doing at the time. You need to look at what other homes have gone for in that neighbourhood and you want to get an average price per square foot. Sizing up a house on a price-per-square-foot basis is a great equalizer.
Also, see if the neighbours have plans to put up a new addition or a basketball court or tennis court, something that might detract from the property's value down the road.
Sellers respect a bid that is an oddball number and is more likely to take it more seriously. A nice round number sounds like every other bid out there. When you get more specific, the sellers will think you've given the offer careful thought.
Before you buy, get the lay of the land – drop by morning noon and night.
Many homebuyers have become completely distraught because they thought they found the perfect home, only to find out the neighbourhood wasn't for them.
Drive by the house at all hours of the day to see what's happening in the community.
Do your regular commute from the house to make sure it is something you can deal with on a daily basis.
Find out how far it is to the nearest shopping centre, local shops, and other services.
Even if you don't have kids, research the schools because it affects the value of your home in a tremendous way.
If you buy a house in a good school district versus bad school district even in the same suburb, the value can be affected as much as 20 percent.


It could have been because I had been stuck in grey-stricken Chicago for most of the winter or because I was finally getting the first opportunity to see the architecture and design skills of the man who made me fall in love with the game of golf, but I can't remember a round of golf that I was more excited for than Bluejack National.
One of my best friend's weddings took me to Houston, a friend who I have played nearly 100 rounds of golf with, and his wedding gift came early when I told him we could play Bluejack National.
Before Bluejack National, there was Blaketree National Golf Club, the dream of illustrious oil man Thomas Blake, who set out to build his dream course. Blake contracted Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to do the job, but halfway through decided he knew better, taking over the project and building the rest himself. This would be the first setback in the (at one time promising) course's tale. Blaketree National opened in 2000 and became one of Houston's best courses, but then the untimely death of Thomas Blake sent the course into a downward spiral, and ownership was taken over by his family, who eventually sold it to a new ownership group that quickly shuttered the project and closed the highly acclaimed course in 2005.
Rave reviews of the property were a common theme from people who played Blaketree. With its towering oaks and rolling hills, it was a setting that looked more like the sandy hills of the Carolinas than flat, flood-infested Houston, Texas.
Beacon Land Development saw the potential for the site and pounced on the deal, purchasing the 755-acre site in 2014. With the purchase, the Bluejack dream was born, guided by Beacon founders Michael Abbott and Casey Paulson's philosophy of delivering the best luxury experience in golf. The vision for Bluejack was set, a premier private club and community rooted in making a great experience for the whole family. Beacon made a big splash by hiring Tiger Woods and Beau Welling Design to build a brand new golf course on the site, making Bluejack the first Tiger Woods-designed golf course in the United States.
Woods and Welling broke ground in early 2015, and the course opened in 2016 to rave reviews, winning a handful of accolades like "Best New Private Course" from both Sports Illustrated/Golf Magazine and Golf Digest.
Reflecting back on the day at Bluejack, the golf course exuded some of my favorite aspects of design.
Playability: Tiger and his team were able to achieve the difficult feat of making a course very playable yet thought-provoking and interesting for the expert player. The way that he used mounding around the greens to allow for alternative routes to small targets was a genius way to keep the regular golfer in the game. I thought the width and wall-to-wall fairways were great, and our group (which had a scratch player, a five, and a ten handicap) didn't have to look for any golf ball… the least enjoyable aspect of golf.
Variety & Naturalness: Bluejack had par 3s, all of varying lengths, and its par 4s and par 5s had great balance. This variety was matched on the course, where no two holes played similarly to the other and each was distinctly memorable. Woods did this while never creating a hole that seemed out of place or manufactured on the terrain.
Fun: The endless options on and around the greens, the drivable par 4s and reachable par 5s, the wide fairways and the off-the-course amenities make Bluejack a place where you want to spend a lot of time. It's pure fun.
It makes sense that Tiger would be a great architect. As a player, he was the ultimate tactician. He knew exactly how he wanted to pick apart a golf course, and where he wanted to miss. At Bluejack, every corner I wanted to cut, and every spot I looked to bail, I found trouble. And while I found challenges, they were seemingly unobstructive to the everyday player.
I eagerly await the next opportunity to see another Tiger Woods design and am bullish on him becoming one of golf's great architects. As for Bluejack, I have a feeling it's a course that gets better with every trip around it.
On a buddy's advice, we left for Bluejack early to take in the vibe, hitting the road at 6am to make the hour drive from downtown Houston to a small town called Montgomery. The land began to transform as we neared the course. Houston's flat, nondescript topography was replaced by pines and hills, a promising sign for any golfer.
We got to Bluejack National's unforgettable gate just as the sun was coming up, and the friendly Bluejack staff was setting up the course. From the moment you arrive, a relaxed and luxurious vibe is cast over you. Unlike many golf developments, there are very few rules at Bluejack; the common theme of the property is fun.
"Fun" is embodied all over the property among the lighted short course, the 120-yard putting green, the driving range with music and a large target, the family-centric Fort (which is under construction), and most importantly, the golf course.
After chowing down a few breakfast tacos, a blanket of fog had strangely descended on the property as we headed out to the range to warm up and get ready to tee off.
As we walked to the first tee, the fog lifted and we were treated to clear blue skies, a slight breeze and 80 degree weather, perfect for golf. We opted to play the 6,959-yard back tees (not the Tiger Tees that stretch to 7,500+), which feature wall-to-wall Zoysia fairways and Bermuda green complexes.
Bluejack has a couple first tee traditions, the first a modified game of poison to determine the teeing order, and the second one akin to Riviera, where each player's name and hometown are announced before they hit their first tee shot.
The first hole gives players a feel for a few common themes ahead, width, well-positioned bunkers, and thought-provoking green complexes that allow for a vast array of approach shots and recovery options.
Off the tee, the ideal shot is a right-to-left shot that works off of the large and deep bunker that sits at about 280 yards from the tee box. The bunker's placement is perfect, only in reach of the long and likely expert player, a perfect line for a shorter and higher handicapper.
The hole plays slightly downhill, and a good drive will get considerable roll. The long and interesting green complex clearly rewards those who take a more aggressive line down the left side near the water with a shorter and better angle to approach the green, which slopes right to left and has a spine that divides the front and back halves of the green.
The pin was in the front part of the green, and the pronounced shoulder on the right lets players funnel the ball from the right side without taking on the bunker. Those that want to take on the flag better not miss left. Players learn quickly that the short side is not a good place to be at Bluejack.
Tiger clearly wanted to emphasize the ground game and imagination at Bluejack. To promote using the flatstick and bump-and-run shots, they keep the fairway surrounding the green complexes mown extremely short.
The view from the right bunker, playing safe makes for a longer approach shot.
The undulating front half of the first green.
At first glance, Bluejack's aesthetic appearance often gets compared to Augusta because of the towering pines, wide fairways and white sand bunkers with sharp edges. The second hole surely fits the bill as it looks and feels like it belongs at Augusta National.
Bluejack's first par five plays slightly downhill off the tee and doglegs sharply to the left. Woods wisely placed a large and treacherous fairway bunker right on the desired line. This bunker, which requires a 280+ yard carry, forces players to make a decision, go for the heroic line up the left side, or play it safe and hit it down the right side, leaving a significantly longer second shot in. I played a little fade off the bunker and was rewarded by catching the right side of the slope, leaving me a mere 225 into the green. For those who have to layup, the second shot becomes about angles to the green, which is shaped similar to a three leaf clover and has extremely deep bunkers protecting its right and left sides. A shot to the wrong section of the green makes for a nearly impossible two-putt, something I found out firsthand when my second shot found the front of the green, and I walked off the green with just a par.
The deep fairway bunker which dictates the tee shot.
Looking back at Bluejack's par 5 2nd.
After the scorable first and second holes, Bluejack notches up the difficulty with the beautiful uphill par-3 third. The third's defining characteristic is the expansive green with a lot of back-to-front slope. A prudent play is to stay below this hole location.
Left of the long par 3.
Looking back at the 3rd green.
The fourth is seamlessly placed over the back part of the third green. Tiger uses a little bit of deception with the pine trees on the fourth. There is plenty of room to the right, but a player can easily be blocked out by the large pines that guard the right side. While the right side presents the shortest approach and best angle to approach the green, it also carries the risk of being partially blocked out. The fourth played slightly uphill and into a freshening wind, leaving mid-iron approaches into the green (a green that perches naturally on a ridge that slopes from right to left). Any shot left of the green leaves a brutal short-sided uphill pitch. What I love about the fourth's green is the exterior contouring that funnels a running shot towards the green, a shot that a low handicapper would likely never consider, but one that allows a lower ball hitter a safe path to the green.
Approaching the 4th green from the left side.
Looking back from the behind Bluejack's 4th.
The tough fourth is followed by the expansively wide par-5 fifth, which moves slightly to the right and favors a left-to-right tee shot. The aggressive line is to take the tee shot over the right fairway bunker, which is about a 260-yard carry and will set up a chance of getting home in two. Woods uses a trick of deception with the large bunker on the left side of the green. To the eye, it appears to be pushed up on the green, but there is actually about 25 yards between its lip and the front of the green, making the ideal attempt to go for the green in two right over it. The green complex is long and narrow, with the back half of the green running away from the player and a drastic fall-off on the right side. A shot slightly left will funnel into the green, while a shot slightly right will meet impending doom.
The tee shot at the par 5 5th.
The approach to Bluejack's par 5 5th.
A closer look at the approach shot.
Left of Bluejack's 5th green.
Before the 6th, players are treated to one of Bluejack's signature comfort station breaks. This one is dubbed "The Fruit Stand" because players are treated to an expansive selection of fresh fruits and mostly healthy snacks for fuel. I tried out the mango slices on a recommendation from a friend and highly recommend!
One of my favorite holes on the property was the mid-length, par-4 sixth, which plays uphill and possesses some of the most interesting bunkers on the course. Like many holes, the fairway is made significantly more narrow at about 280 yards from the tee by a bunker, right where a longer player hits it. The reward for going up the right side is a shorter approach, but the better angle and view to attack the green is up the left side of the fairway. The second shot to the sixth is made intimidating by deep greenside bunkering that fronts the green's right side. The left half of the green will funnel a shot towards the middle but miss a little too far left, and your shot will tumble down a slope and leave a blind pitch up to the green. The best place to miss is long and right, which will leave a simple pitch back to the green that slopes hard from left to right.
The left side opens up the angle to the green.
One of the deep greenside bunkers at the 6th.
Continuing the tremendous variety in holes, Woods follows the medium length par 4 with the short and vexing par-3 seventh. The seventh plays over the lake it shares with the first hole and offers a stunning view of the beautiful pine backdrop. The green demands precision since it has two distinct tiers and is very shallow. A shot too short will find the water, and a shot slightly long will be pitching back to the small green.
Everyone loves a great short par 4, and Woods gives us two great ones at Bluejack. The first is the quasi volcano green 8th. The hole begs you to go for the green, and the tall pines obstruct the ideal left-to-right ball flight that the hole calls for. The green is long and narrow, and a perfect drive is rewarded with a great eagle chance. However, anything just short or right of the green will funnel into a collection area that is some 40' below the green. Any shot too far left will find a small swale that leaves a treacherous chip shot with a deep collection area to the right looming.
The eighth is one of those great short par 4's where scores of 2 and 8 are easily attainable.
The drivable par 4 8th at Bluejack.
The front of the drivable par 4 8th shows the heavy left to right slope.
Closing out the front nine is the long, uphill par-4 9th. Bunkers cut in on the right side and narrow the fairway for the longer hitters. The second shot is obstructed by a deep greenside bunker that guards the right side of the narrow green. The green complex is sloped heavily from back to front and has a severe fall-off on the left side.
Something I noticed on this hole (and thinking back was a common theme) was the use of the sloping fairways to enhance the challenge. I hit a great drive up the left side and had about 150 yards to the green. The fairway sloped from right to left, giving me a hook lie to a green that you don't want to miss left on, I overcompensated and short-sided myself in the front right bunker (not fun). This subtle little design trick is pure genius.
The uphill approach to the par 4 9th.
Right of the par 4 9th green.
Looking back at the par 4 9th.
If you didn't think Bluejack had an Augusta look to it yet, the par-4 10th will convince you otherwise. The dogleg par 4's tee shot was one of my favorites on the course. Tiger used a trio of cross bunkers down the left side to force a player to choose how much to bite off. The furthest bunker is about a 300-yard carry, with each successive bunker about 30 yards shorter. The reward for a bold play over the furthest left bunker is a mere flip wedge into the elevated green.
I took it over the second bunker and was left with a wedge into the perched green, guarded by two front bunkers. The ledge the green sits on forces players to exercise distance and spin control with their shots. One with too much spin can easily find its way to the bottom of the hill. Meanwhile, there is plenty of room over the green for the shorter hitter who has to play a low-running shot into the green.
Looking down the bunkers at the 10th.
Right of the 10th green.
Width. The 11th features a nearly 100-yard wide fairway that slopes significantly from right to left. The eleventh is everyone's chance to let the big dog eat. A long drive can yield a chance to go for the downhill par 5's long and narrow green in two. The green has a very steep fall-off on the left side, and any shot that is slightly too hot will find the right bunker, which leaves a tough sand shot to a green sloping away. A perfect attempt to go for it in two is rewarded with a chance at eagle or birdie, and any not quite up to snuff will have to scramble to make 5.
The view from the 11th fairway.
Looking back at the par 5 11th.
Quite the contrast from the fruit stand is the BBQ stop, where Bluejack's resident chef serves up juicy barbecue brisket and homemade jerky.
The most photographed hole at Bluejack is the downhill par-3 12th, which bears a striking resemblance to the twelfth at Augusta National (sans the front bunker). The shot plays downhill about a club, and any flag right of middle tests a player's nerve. The bailout option is left, leaving a lengthy putt, or if long, a dicey bunker shot staring back at the lake.
The picturesque par 3 12th.
Short left of the 12th green.
Looking back at the par 3 12th.
The thirteenth presents a great birdie opportunity to those who can find the fairway on the short par 5. The tee shot for a longer hitter is pinched by a bunker on the left and right sides, making the ideal shot shape a right-to-left shot that threads the needle. The deep fairway bunkers require layups for any player who finds them.
I love how Tiger and his team used one of the more bold greens on the course on the short par 5, employing a sideways Biarritz green that stretches some 60 yards horizontally. This width to the green drastically alters the strategy for the hole depending on where the pin position is. The toughest pin is the back left flag and requires players to take on the bunkers on the left side. Any player who bails to the middle of the green will be left with a tough two putt up the ridge.
The right side of the biarritz green at the 13th.
Looking back at the par 5 13th and biarritz green.
Off the tee on the short par 4, avoiding the deep fairway bunker is key. There is a lot of fairway to the left, but the angle from that side leaves a lot to be desired. The small kidney bean-shaped green has a deep bunker on the left that guards the middle and back parts of the green from a run-up shot. The vexing green's front portion has a subtle false front that is difficult to see, and the right side falls off into a collection area, requiring a very precise wedge shot to earn a good look at a birdie.
The second shot to the par 4 14th.
Looking back at the par 4 14th.
On the walk to the 15th tee, players get a look back at the tenth green and eleventh tee shot before they begin the final stretch. The mid-length par-3 fifteenth offers a small target that is guarded by a deep front left bunker. The wise play is to use the right bank to funnel the ball back to the hole and avoid taking on the flag. The green is another tough test as it slopes hard from right to left, making the ideal spot left of the flag, a tough spot to get to because of the bunker.
Left of the 15th green.
Looking back at the 15th and 10th greens.
The long dogleg left par-4 16th starts the closing stretch of par 4's. Woods placed the hole's lone bunker on the left side to obstruct players from cutting the dogleg and shortening the hole. The bunker is a 265-yard carry and rewards brave players with a short approach to the bunker-less green. The second shot plays downhill to a green that was seemingly laid on the land's natural contours.
The 16th tee shot at Bluejack.
The approach to the bunkerless 16th green.
Right of the subtle 16th green.
Looking back at the 16th.
Sandwiched between two of Bluejack's longer par 4's is another great and short par 4, the 17th, which plays uphill to a small and well-protected green. The hole's three bunkers on the left side protect the ideal angle to approach the green, and unless the hole is downwind and drivable, the wise play is to lay back short of the bunkers. If it is downwind, you have to let the driver rip and go for the green, but any shot right will leave a tricky chip. I found myself there with a middle-right pin, leaving a dicey 30-yard wedge shot over a bunker to a shallow green.
The perfectly placed left bunkers.
Looking back at the 17th green.
Bluejack's finale is the tough par-4 18th that plays back up the hill. The first challenge is to avoid the bunkers on both the right and left sides. Playing into the wind, we were lucky that our drives all came up short of the bunkers but left lengthy approach shots into the elevated green. The green has a large bank that runs along the back and right side of the green, allowing wise players to funnel shots into the green and avoid missing left (where there is nothing good).
The 18th tee shot at Bluejack.
The approach to the 18th green.


We, the residents of the idyllic island of Kaua'i, HI are facing a major environmental disaster! Here, where we are supposed to have the cleanest water in the world, and are facing unparalleled peril in paradise.
DOW, DUPONT, SYNGENTA, BASF, PIONEER (All based on Kaua'i and have sued Kaua'i County for their "right" to poison us, after Ordinance 960 was made law (Bill 2491, Kauai's "right to know" Bill).
An 18ft Pilot Whale washed up on shore after the military's RIMPAC war games filled with bullet holes, collateral damage (she was still breathing when she washed ashore before being confiscated by the military).
It is so incredibly bad here that top producers are presently making a movie about it!
PLEASE! I implore you! Do your job and PROTECT KAUA'i AND ITS CITIZENS!
Be assured I will also be contacting more agencies like the Coastguard, etc. immediately. Please act now to save us all. Thank you for your swift attention to this dire matter and I look forward to each of your immediate response.
Be ready, this is just the beginning… PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE!


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D, K and Z in Hawaii, Day 1
May 17, 2014 November 1, 2018 ~ Activated Adventurers
May 17: Portland to Honolulu
Having spent the night in Vancouver, WA, we woke up at about 6:00 a.m., a couple of hours before our alarm went off, and drove just across the river to the Clarion Inn Portland Airport. We'd already booked the night of the 24th at this hotel, the night we land at about midnight on our return from Honolulu. We'd figured that we'd have to stash our RV and trailer at an RV storage lot, which wouldn't be accessible at such an hour, so we'd need a place to stay the night, lest we end up like Tom Hanks in "The Terminal".
In the interim, though, we'd heard that it might be possible under such circumstances to store your vehicle at the inn where you'll be staying. So we called the Clarion a few days ago and inquired about this possibility, and the fellow we spoke to told us that yes, we could do so for 8 dollars a day — which is considerably less than the 30 dollars a day we would be charged by the airport lot. So we told him we wanted to do it, and he said it was all set.
When we pulled in this morning, however, it appeared less certain from the get-go. The parking lot was the size of a postage stamp that had gone through the wash, and it was already pretty full, with no pull-through spots. And Matt, the young man to whom we'd spoken only three or four days before, seemed to have little recollection of the conversation at all. Even though he'd assured us then that there'd be no problem fitting us in, he seemed at a loss as to how to do so now. And oh yes, that 8 dollar per day fee? He said that in fact the fee was $129 for up to two weeks. Upon further investigation, however, he decided that the fee should be 8 dollars per day after all.
Despite all the confusion and uncertainty, Matt did make every effort to accommodate us, and ended up giving us a spot normally reserved for a hotel van. So then we had an hour or so to finish packing, carry out trash, put things in order in the RV, and clean out our refrigerator — unfortunately, we forgot to leave the refrigerator open, so it may be a bit odorous when we return, especially given the record heat Oregon's been having lately. And then we hopped on a shuttle and it was off to Portland Airport.
Yes, we're finally taking the Hawaiian getaway we've talked about for years. It was almost a Hawaiian performance tour as well, as we were contacted by a school on Oahu about a possible booking there. But it didn't come through, so we'll just have to settle for a tropical vacation instead. Oh well. For Kimberly, it's a homecoming of sorts, as she lived on Oahu as a child, and has been back to visit only once, some 20 years ago. For me and Zephyr, it's totally new territory, which is increasingly difficult for us to find in the U.S.
The dream of all of us making an excursion to the 50th state came true in large part because of Kimberly's parents. Being retired, they have membership in a timeshare program, which allows them to spend x number of days per year in one of a large number of vacation resorts. And every year they give us a week of their time. In the past, we've used it in Las Vegas (3 or 4 times), Orlando, and Ruidoso, NM among other places — the location we select is subject to what works with our touring itinerary. Last year we stayed in Panora, Iowa. This year, we opted for something a little more exotic.
Because Hawaii is more in demand as a destination than Iowa, we had to book our lodging nearly a year in advance, and even then we were probably lucky to secure billeting. Then we immediately started searching for the best airfares available, and spent a few months following the price fluctuations. Finally, in October, we snagged what we figured would be the best deal we'd find. And boy, were we ever right. Not long after that, gas prices began punching holes in the moon, and airline fares followed suit. Had we waited much longer, we would have had to pay double or more, assuming we could have afforded it at all.
At the Portland Airport, we saw a display of bicycles custom designed and built in Oregon. One of them was a collapsible edition, which perhaps we should get next time, so we can take them along on trips like this. We'd hoped to lug our own bikes along this time and see Oahu in style, but it would have cost 50 dollars per person, so we scratched that thought, hoping that we'll be able to find some for rent over there at an affordable rate. We'll see.
The 6-hour flight went smoothly enough, and even landed a few minutes ahead of schedule, despite the difficulty the pilot was having communicating over the intercom; we were only hearing about every other syllable, and we just hoped and prayed he wasn't trying to give us vital information, or that he wasn't having the same problem talking with the airport. But since we made it to our destination in one piece, it appears that all other systems were functioning satisfactorily.
Our one complaint about the flight is that, contrary to expectation, lunch was not provided. When we booked the flight, we were asked to specify a meal preference, and we selected vegetarian with dairy or egg acceptable; and this selection appeared on the confirmation the airline sent us. Wouldn't you assume this meant that the lunch of your choice would be included? But the only thing we received for free was water and other beverages. For 10 bucks we could have purchased a ham and turkey sandwich (not terribly vegetarian, is it) with a little dish of pasta salad. For 7 bucks, we could have purchased a microscopic tray of vegetables or fruit. For 3 bucks we could have purchased chips or candy. Welcome to Wishful Thinking Airlines, where you can order whatever your heart desires, as long as we don't have to give it to you or something.
To top it all off, flight attendants issued us produce declaration forms from the State of Hawaii, so we could fess up if we were packing any fresh fruits or vegetables to stave off starvation — and they didn't give us a pen to fill it out with, but just announced that if we didn't have one, we'd have to borrow one from a "neighbor". No, kidding, they actually said this.
Well, we did have some pens on hand to use for our own form, and to lend to our neighbors. We also had the foresight to bring along a few goodies, so we didn't have to shell out more money. Not a regal repast, mind you — just some boiled eggs, a PBJ, one apple, some prunes, and some Clif Bars. But it was enough that when our flight touched down at 3:15 (6:15 West Coast time) we were merely hungry, and not ready to devour each other.
Since all of our baggage was carry-on, we didn't have to linger to claim that ours was ours, but just got right on a bus and took the hour ride through downtown, and on to our hotel in the resort district, only 4 blocks from fabled Waikiki Beach. We're staying at the Kuhio Banyan Resort, which hardly looks like a resort in any ordinary sense of the word; it's certainly not on a par with the other timeshares we've stayed in, but more like a standard 2-star motel, especially from the outside. It's in a nondescript building, with the entrance in a courtyard flanked by a Subway sandwich shop, a bar, an ice cream shop, a pedicure place, and one of the many tattoo parlors tattooing the Honolulu cityscape. On the mainland, it hardly would command resort prices, but here it benefits from the three golden keys of real estate: location, location and location.
We entered the tiny office and were checked in by a large woman in a muu muu, uttering her spiel in a machine-gun patter hardly stopping to catch her breath, as if she could do it in her sleep. And then she adorned our necks with leis, in the classic Hawaiian manner. These were real leis, made of real flowers — not cheap plastic imitations.
Our room, on the fourth floor, is just that: a room. Normally, a timeshare is a 2, 3 or more-room suite. But this one is a single room plus bathroom, although one niche in the room is set aside as a fully equipped kitchen, including all the necessary dishes and utensils. These units are designed to sleep at least 4 people, but we had to do a little sleuthing to figure out where our "bedroom" is. The main bed, for 2 people, is a murphy bed — the first one we recall ever sleeping in, and the first one we've seen in we can't remember when. The two smaller beds are convertible sofas, and the one Zephyr chose (closest to the TV, of course) requires him to extend his feet under the lamp table. If all three beds were unfolded, they would take up so much room as almost to make one big wall-to-wall bed. The entrance to our unit looks over a narrow alley upon an apartment building adorned by some rather ratty curtains; but the front window looks out on bustling Kuhio Street. All-in-all it's not a bad place, despite the two imprints of an iron that once burned very distinct shapes into the carpet. (How could anyone manage to do that twice??)
After checking in and depositing our belongings, our first order of business was to go out and buy some food to stock our kitchenette. No, wait — on the way to do that, we must first stop to buy food to stock our stomachs. We don't eat out much, and when we do grab a bite on the run, there's nothing like one of the burrito/wrap franchises (Moe's, La Salsa, Baja Fresh, Chipotle, and in Florida, Tijuana Flats) for a tasty, healthy, filling, and inexpensive meal. But when we ran the names of these places by the lady at the reception desk, we drew only a blank stare. We were going to have to rely on serendipity.
Only a couple of blocks from the hotel, we discovered a shopping plaza that had a food court. And the food court included a wrap shop, and the wrap shop's menu included a chopped vegetable wrap. So we ordered these, and they were not too shabby. They were cold vegetables rather than the grilled variety, as we expected — rather like a wrapped salad — but they were satisfying enough for the moment.
As we sat and ate, we couldn't help noting how prevalent the Asian culture was in the shopping center — even more so, it seemed, than the Polynesian culture. There were so many signs in Japanese, and the atmosphere was so different from what we'd find on the mainland, that it felt like being back in Japan. Next to the table where we sat, a sightseeing tour bureau had all of its signs in Japanese except one. It said, "We speak English, too."
Then it was on to Foodland, a supermarket chain that, at about a mile away, was the closest food store except for quick shops of the 7-11 variety. Most of these, in fact were ABC (Aloha Brings Customers) stores, which had — we swear — at least one outlet on every block, and sometimes TWO on every block! We decided to walk there so we could get the "lei" of the land. It was a pleasant evening for a stroll, a bit overcast with a hint of breeze; not nearly as hot as one or two of us had feared. In fact, when we landed this afternoon, the temperature was only 80, and because the sky was mostly cloudy, it felt even cooler — cooler than what it felt like back in Portland.
En route to the market, we took a little detour to have a look at Waikiki Hawaiian village, a resort operated by Hilton, which was also on our roster of possible lodging places. And it certainly would have been more luxurious than what we ended up with. But they had nothing available at the time we were trying to book, and we didn't want to hold out for it and risk not getting anything at all. Just as well — we're not planning on spending much time in our room except for sleeping. Who cares if it's short on closet space? As we approached the property, we noticed one very possible reason why there was no availability: the grounds were being prepared for some sort of reception for the state GOP convention, and the place was swarming with folks wearing John McCain buttons and even Ron Paul buttons. (At least we didn't see any "Hillary is the Antichrist" T-shirts.) If you're going to have a political, or any other type of gathering, there are certainly worse locations you could pick for it. The Hilton is right on the beach, with a view of Diamond Head, and it has its own additional little lagoon for swimming. Since dusk was approaching, a pair of young men dressed in native garb (which, for one of them, meant a grass skirt) ran along the thoroughfare with torches in hand, lighting the torches that line the curb, and that pop up everywhere at night in Hawaii, lending an even more festive atmosphere. In the courtyard where the banquet was being set out, a group of Polynesian musicians warmed up their chops. Nice work if you can get it.
Continuing our walk, we came to a shop that drew Kimberly in like a chicken coop draws a fox: a tea emporium, and a very extensive one at that. She was out of tea at home, and so had none to bring along. And that's a crisis situation, as tea comprises a large percentage of her food pyramid [Since that time, I myself have become the tea fanatic of the family]. On the plane, she had to settle for Lipton's; and determined to spare herself from such a fate again, she bought a packet of Assam (her favorite variety) whileI bought a packet of Lapsang Souchon, which is very similar to Russian Caravan (my favorite variety). We then were all braced to face a week of brutal tourism.
Nearby was another shop she popped into, having the dubious name of Crack Seed Store. It sported jars and jars of dried seeds and nuts and fruits and even cuttlefish and other marine animals, all salted and preserved and just waiting to be dished out to folks who actually crave such things. And Kimberly is one of them; while living in Hawaii as a child, she developed a fondness for "salty seeds", which are dried and (extremely) salty plums. She's continued loving them all these years, though they can be very difficult to find. So she couldn't resist buying a few ounces, and with both her epicurean cravings fulfilled, we went on to Foodland.
We anticipated that groceries would be a bit higher here than what we were used to, but we weren't at all prepared for what we found. It was, quite frankly, the sticker shock of our lives. It's understandable that milk would be 8 to 10 dollars a gallon, and cheese more than 8 dollars a pound. After all, there's only one dairy here. But everything else was in the same stratospheric league. Granted, we shop whenever possible at Trader Joe's (none of those in this neck of the Pacific), which sells quality food at 30 to 40 percent less than what other supermarkets do. Well, at Foodland in Honolulu, these same items can be had for twice as much as we usually pay — or more! Healthy bread is more than 5 dollars per loaf (even the white pasty variety is about 3 dollars), and whole grain cereal more than 6 dollars a box. Bananas were $1.29 a pound. Even locally grown produce was higher than average.
Hoping to scout out a supermarket later that would not require us to sell our firstborn and consume his share too, we decided to buy just enough food for now to get by for a day or two. Even so, the total came to over 97 dollars, and we had such a light load that we easily could walk back rather than take the bus.
Along the way, we encountered quite a number of homeless people, more than we'd expected to see. We figured that in such a high tourist area, the police would chase them out regularly; but coming in on the bus this afternoon, we saw quite an encampment of them in a city park. Who knows what factors contributed to their being on the streets in the first place — maybe they bought groceries at Foodland instead of paying rent. But if you're going to be homeless, there are certainly worse places to be not officially living in; at least they don't have to worry about getting cold at night.
Back in our room, we started getting ready to turn in by about 9:00, which was probably our earliest bedtime ever — while the clock in our room said 9:00, our internal clocks said midnight plus 3000 miles. But before we drifted off to sleep, we were startled to hear the booming of a fireworks display, erupting for reasons we never heard about, on the beach right in front of our window. What a welcome to Hawaii. "Mahalo" (thank you) Honolulu. And good night.
Honolulu, HI, USA
Posted in Hawaii, U.S.A. travel day
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[Watch] Woman Who Allegedly Forced Fed And Hit Adoptive Child Arrested By Cops
The woman warned the child not to spill the food and to swallow everything while threatening the child with a stick.
People were shocked at a viral video showing a pink-haired woman hitting a child with a broomstick.
The woman kept warning the child that she will get hit if she spilt the food. The girl kept crying with food in her mouth and it was clear that she couldn't finish eating.
The woman also pressed the end of the broomstick against the child's neck and asked her to swallow her food.
The Vibes reported that Kajang district police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Zaid Hassan said the police were alerted of the case after receiving a report at 12.14am today (22 July).
The child is believed to be four years old and is an adoptive child of the couple. The child abuse incident is believed to have occurred on 18 July in a house in Beranang, Selangor.
The person who recorded the video, Aqil, 20, claimed that a husband and wife couple abused their foster child.
@theaqil7
⚠CHILD ABUSE⚠ tolong gunakan kuasa korang !!!
♬ original sound – AQIEL
The girl was allegedly beaten with a hanger, and broomstick and burnt with a cigarette lighter. She was also alleged to be a hyperactive child, Free Malaysia Today reported.
Upon receiving the report, the police rescued the victim at 2.30am and arrested a Malay woman and a Singaporean man from the house.
The suspects aged between 28 and 30 have been remanded for seven days until 28 July to assist in investigations under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001.
The victim was taken to Kajang Hospital, where a doctor confirmed the injuries were on several parts of the victim's body.
It was later revealed that the victim is allegedly an Indonesian and doesn't possess any birth or identification records.
The victim's biological mother handed her over to the suspects in April because they couldn't afford to raise a daughter any longer.
Initial investigations revealed that the victim didn't like to eat rice but was forced by the suspect to swallow the food, which resulted in the victim vomiting.
Anyone with more information is urged to contact the investigating officer, Inspector Suresh Krishnan at 017-433 3795 or contact the nearest police station.
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Brock Osweiler left Denver to escape shadows of Elway & Manning
campussportswriter | Mar 22, 2016 12:30 pm
The football world was shocked when quarterback Brock Osweiler left the Denver Broncos for a lucrative deal with the Houston Texans, and now we know why.
Speaking to reporters at the NFL Owners Meetings in Boca Raton, Florida, including Tania Ganguli of ESPN, Texans owner Bob McNair said that Osweiler wanted to create a legacy for himself and not be stuck in the shadow of former Broncos greats John Elway and the recently retired Peyton Manning.
"I guess the thing that really helped us is that he does like our offense, and Coach [Bill] O'Brien gives the quarterback a little more leeway at the line of scrimmage and all quarterbacks like that," McNair said. "I think that helped. And then of course he had played behind Peyton [Manning] and with [executive vice president of football operations/general manager] John Elway there. Their shadows were quite large. He was still going to be under that and compared to them. He has a chance to be a real hero in Houston. And we've got a good ball club so I think all those things entered into it."
Thus, save for the fact that Houston gave him a four-year, $72 million deal with $37 million guaranteed, Osweiler's choice to leave Denver becomes highly understandable.
Look at it this way. John Elway was Denver's star quarterback for 16 years and led the Broncos to five Super Bowls, winning two, and was also named to nine Pro Bowls before retiring as the franchise's all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns. Now, he's essentially in charge of Denver's front office.
And Peyton Manning is, well, Peyton Manning. Needless to say, Brock Osweiler would have had some big shoes to fill in the Mile High City.
Instead, he will look to create his own legacy on a Houston Texans team with a whole boatload of potential. Some may not agree with his reasons for leaving Denver, but he was just doing what he thought was best for him and nobody can fault him for that.
*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
Lifestyle,SportsBrock Osweiler,Campus Lifestyle,Houston Texans,NFL


Digital Cockpit, Bluetooth, DAB Digital Radio/CD Player With USB Input, Half Leather, Dual Zone Digital Climate Control, 17" alloy wheels, Multi-Function Steering Wheel, Auto Headlights, Electric Folding Mirrors, Split Folding Rear Seats, LED Daytime Running Lights, Speed Limiter, Start/Stop, Electric Windows. Colour: Black. This vehicle is VAT qualifying.


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The arts and achievement in at-risk youth: findings from four longitudinal studies
RDF+XML BibTeX RIOXX2 XML RDF+N-Triples JSON RefWorks Dublin Core Simple Metadata Refer METS Dublin Core HTML Unit Citation HTML Citation ASCII Citation HTML Profile Citation OpenURL ContextObject EndNote OpenURL ContextObject in Span MODS MPEG-21 DIDL EP3 XML Reference Manager RDF+N3 OAI-PMH RIOXX Multiline CSV
Catterall, James S, Dumais, Susan A and Hampden-Thompson, Gillian (2012) The arts and achievement in at-risk youth: findings from four longitudinal studies. Project Report. National Endowment for the Arts.
Official URL: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED530822.pdf
This report examines the academic and civic behavior outcomes of teenagers and young adults who have engaged deeply with the arts in or out of school. In several small-group studies, children and teenagers who participated in arts education programs have shown more positive academic and social outcomes in comparison to students who did not participate in those programs. Such studies have proved essential to the current research literature on the types of instrumental benefits associated with an arts education. A standard weakness of the literature, however, has been a dearth of large-scale, longitudinal studies following the same populations over time, tracking the outcomes of students who received intensive arts exposure or arts learning compared with students who did not. "The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth" is a partial attempt to fill this knowledge gap. The authors use four large national databases to analyze the relationship between arts involvement and academic and social achievements. This report displays correlations between arts activity among at-risk youth and subsequent levels of academic performance and civic engagement. For this task, the authors relied on four large longitudinal databases. Each source has unique strengths and limitations in terms of study sample size, age range, and the types of variables included--whether related to arts involvement (in-school and/or extracurricular), academic progress, or social and/or civic participation. Yet after accounting for these differences, three main conclusions arise: (1) Socially and economically disadvantaged children and teenagers who have high levels of arts engagement or arts learning show more positive outcomes in a variety of areas than their low-arts-engaged peers; (2) At-risk teenagers or young adults with a history of intensive arts experiences show achievement levels closer to, and in some cases exceeding, the levels shown by the general population studied; and (3) Most of the positive relationships between arts involvement and academic outcomes apply only to at-risk populations (low-SES). But positive relationships between arts and civic engagement are noted in high-SES groups as well. Meet the Databases is appended. (Contains 11 notes.)
Reports and working papers (Project Report)
Art Education, Music Education, Dance Education, Theater Arts, At Risk Persons, Economically Disadvantaged, Disadvantaged Youth, Socioeconomic Status, Academic Achievement, Citizen Participation, Outcomes of Education, Extracurricular Activities, Reading, Libraries, Education Work Relationship, Young Adults, Adolescents, Longitudinal Studies
School of Education and Social Work > Education
H Social Sciences
Daniel Hobbs
http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/51426
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Dos Passos, John Entries
By Emily on July 14, 2010 9:38 AM | 11 Comments | <« | »>
Do you ever start a series, and you're really digging it and read the first few books right in a row, and then decide you don't feel like reading the last book right at the moment, so you take a bit of a break, sure that you'll be back to finish up the series before any time at all because you like it so well, but then one thing leads to another and years have gone by since you devoured the first few books, and the details are no longer clear in your mind, so you put off reading the last book because you have a vague idea you might start the series again from the beginning to remind yourself of all the things you've undoubtedly forgotten in the meantime, but with all the tempting unread books on your list you never feel like making quite that large of a re-reading commitment, so the final book just sits on your shelves for years and years and possibly decades, caught in a kind of limbo, even though you're pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it if you'd just pick it up? Well, that's what happened to me with John Dos Passos's U.S.A. trilogy.
For those who aren't familiar with this trilogy, its novelty is in its form. Dos Passos, an American Modernist and contemporary of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein and the rest of that expat cadre, has assembled something less like a novel and more like a collaged portrait of the United States during three consecutive periods of history: The 42nd Parallel deals with the early years of the 20th century; 1919 is concerned with the American experience of World War I; and The Big Money, the long-awaited (to me) capstone of the trilogy, is concerned with the boom years following the War, during which America was hurtling unknowingly toward the Great Depression. (All three were written during the Great Depression, fro 1930 to 1936, so the shadow of coming events looms large over them, especially the last one.)
The novels in the series share a common structure: they are composed of four different types of sections, which alternate unpredictably with one another like an improvisational jazz piece. The "Newsreel" sections are themselves collages, juxtapositions of newspaper headlines, contemporary speeches, and fragments of popular songs of the time. Dos Passos is excellent, I think, at giving a sense of the sweeping progress of history as found in the minutiae of the popular media, and also a sense of its myopia and the self-serving language of politics, advertising, and the press. Forgive the lengthy block quote, but I think the easiest way to explain the Newsreels is just to show you how they work:
'Twarn't for powder and for storebought hair
De man I love would not gone nowhere
if one should seek a simple explanation of his career it would doubtless be found in that extraordinary decision to forsake the ease of a clerkship for the wearying labor of a section hand. The youth who so early in life had so much of judgment and willpower could not fail to rise above the general run of men. He became the intimate of bankers
St. Louis woman wid her diamon' rings
Pulls dat man aroun' by her apron strings
Tired of walking, riding a bicycle or riding in streetcars, he is likely to buy a Ford.
DAYLIGHT HOLDUP SCATTERS CROWD
Just as soon as his wife discovers that every Ford is like every other Ford and that nearly everyone has one, she is likely to influence him to step into the next social group, of which the Dodge is the most conspicuous example.
desperate revolver battle follows
The next step comes when daughter comes back from college and the family moves into a new home. Father wants economy. Mother craves opportunity for her children, daughter desires social prestige and son wants travel, speed, get-up-and-go.
MAN SLAIN NEAR HOTEL MAJESTIC
BY THREE FOOTPADS
I hate to see de evenin sun go down
Hate to see de evenin sun go down
Cause my baby he done lef' dis town
Juxtaposed with the Newsreels are sections of plain, accessible prose that tell the stories of fictional characters—the most traditional, novel-like elements of the book. These chapters are named for their main characters: "Charley Anderson," "Mary French." More on these later, but they probably make up between two-thirds and three-quarters of the text.
In amongst the Newsreels and story elements, there are also "Camera Eye" sections, in which Dos Passos relates his own experience in stream-of-consciousness prose. This is his attempt to expose the ostensibly "godlike" authorial voice for what it was: just another human living his life. And finally, in addition to the Camera Eye sections, there are also poems scattered through the books which tell the stories of famous real-life people of the era: Henry Ford, Rudolph Valentino, William Randolph Hearst, Thorstein Veblen. These are truthfully my favorite parts of Dos Passos's trilogy; his poem on Eugene Debs in The 42nd Parallel convinced me I'd found a new favorite writer. I think what I love about them is Dos Passos's mixture of resignation, sadness and anger at how, time and time again, complex and contradictory humans let their vices and petty prejudices mar their own endeavors. From "TIN LIZZIE," the poem on Henry Ford:
One thing he brought back from his trip
was the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
He started a campaign to enlighten the world in the Dearborn Independent; the Jews were why the world wasn't like Wayne County, Michigan, in the old horse and buggy days;
the Jews had started the war, Bolshevism, Darwinism, Marxism, Nietzsche, short skirts and lipstick. They were behind Wall Street and the international bankers, and the whiteslave traffic and the movies and the Supreme Court and ragtime and the illegal liquor business.
Henry Ford denounced the Jews and ran for senator and sued the Chicago Tribune for libel,
and was the laughingstock of the kept metropolitan press;
but when the metropolitan bankers tried to horn in on his business
he thoroughly outsmarted them.
For Dos Passos, Ford's absurd, rabid racism and oddly obsessive provincial nostalgia (his desire that the whole world be "like Wayne County, Michigan, in the old horse and buggy days") coexists with a storyteller's appreciation of his business prowess and the epic change his cars created in the American landscape. Every person is simultaneously great and small, Dos Passos seems to be arguing; every person is at once admirable and hateful. The fact that Ford himself longed for old-fashioned quiet and simplicity, and spent his final years on a restored simulacrum of his father's farm, removed from the noise of his own automobiles, is just the kind of poignant, contradictory detail Dos Passos loves.
The actual "characters" of U.S.A., the ones invented rather than just evoked by Dos Passos, who are the subjects of the trilogy's prose sections, come from a variety of backgrounds, but often work hard to end up in a different part of society than the one in which they started: working-class, middle-America Charley Anderson, for example, gifted with machines and a flying ace in WWI, starts his own aviation company with a friend and ends up wealthy, married to a society girl; meanwhile Mary French, daughter of the Main Line, goes against her mother's wishes and leaves college to be a union organizer and community activist. The common thread, however, is that no matter what Dos Passos characters decide they want, it seldom makes them happy, and they usually end up sabotaging their own efforts in one way or another.
Indeed, the one uniting element of all the U.S.A. characters is that they are slaves to, and undone by, their vices, whether those be for sex, alcohol, social position, or money. The characters who do best both materially and psychologically, like actress Margo Dowling, are usually the most pragmatic, the ones who acknowledge that they're playing a survival game, and look out for themselves and (sometimes) those around them with an utter lack of romanticism. Margo has no grand illusions, especially once she passes the age of about twenty, and that saves her from the pathetic fate of those who keep telling themselves stories about who they are and what they want—stories that get less true all the time. Former golden boy and flying ace Charley Anderson is a particularly pathetic example of the Dos Passos milieu: believing his every whim has a compelling reason behind it (that his lust is love, and his drunken well-being happiness), he descends ever-farther into debt, alienation and alcoholism while telling himself stories about his flying brilliance. Even the activist Mary French, who is probably closest to Dos Passos in her leftist outlook and untiring political work, becomes a victim of her own illusions as she falls in love with a series of condescending, emotionally unavailable fellow activists.
This compulsion, in Dos Passos characters, to let their vices sabotage their dreams didn't bother me as much in the first two books as it did this time around, in The Big Money. I'm not sure if the series actually does become more bitter as it goes along, or whether I've become more sensitive in the ten years since reading the last two books—my guess is that both might be true. It would certainly make sense that, as the country careens toward the crash of 1929, Dos Passos would become more condemnatory of the way Americans were behaving, since he laid the responsibility for the depression of the 1930s squarely on the shoulders of the irresponsible stock market speculators of the 1920s, and on American capitalism as a whole. And it's not that I don't relate to the pattern he lays out—obviously it does happen, and it's a classic setup for a tragedy of the everyday. I just can't help believing that it doesn't happen to everyone—that idealism and dreams, while dangerous as a sole frame of reference, can be an important asset if balanced by practicality.
Despite my qualms about the uniformly miserable characters, though, I remain in awe of Dos Passos's technical verve and audacity, and I love the way he simultaneously creates a broad canvas of events on the national level, and an intimate canvas of regular individuals making their way.
The Big Money was my fourth book in my personal TBR Challenge.
Library Tuesdays: USA
By Emily on December 12, 2006 6:40 AM | <« | »>
Not many things make me feel patriotic about the United States. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am about as far from flag-waving as a person can be; not only do I deplore current policies and past atrocities in this country, but I usually don't feel very connected to the huge entity that is "The United States." I feel very connected to Portland, and even Oregon, since I have lived here my whole life and feel I am a product, for better or worse, of this culture. Even the whole West Coast can sometimes conjure up feelings of fondness or belonging in me. But the entirety of this huge, unwieldly nation? Not a chance. There are so many distinct subcultures here with which I have never even had any contact: I have never been to the Deep South, or Appalachia, or the Midwest, or Texas. Even if I had been to one or the other, I would be as much of a tourist there as if I were visiting a totally different country. And yet, John Dos Passos' USA trilogy somehow accesses a deeply - but DEEPLY - buried patriotism in me, and I think for a moment that it's kind of appealing to imagine myself part of a long national narrative, even if most of said narrative is something I wish I could rewrite from beginning to end.
It's almost as if USA is specifically structured to get under my skin, making use of the modernist experimentalism I'm such a sucker for in other works, and using it to express a uniquely American perspective. Dos Passos's trilogy features many different types of narratives: third-person stories about regular American men and women, told in a succinct, newspaper-influenced voice; long, prose-like poems about the larger-than-life Americans of the time, from Rockefeller and Eugene Debs in the early years to Isadora Duncan and Henry Ford in the later; snippets of newspaper headlines and popular songs cobbled together into looser, "newsreel" poems; and the Camera Eye sections, told in a stream-of-consciousness style, from Dos Passos's own perspective. Together this variety of the large and small, journalistic objectivity and intensely subjective snapshots, regular people and giants of art and industry, lets me relate to America-as-vast-experiential-panorama, in a way I usually can't. And the way that the ridiculousness of newspaper headlines and semi-articulateness of a poignant song lyric interact with the complicated and compromised lives of real people rings true almost a century later.
USA also offers a leftist slice of history in a way that's very personal: witnessing a brutal anti-labor attack in rural Washington state in the 1910's, or the ins and outs of a strike in Goldfield, Nevada in 1905, really makes the history of those familiar places come alive for me, and become part of the larger patterns of pro- and anti-labor movements happening all over the country. (Unfortunately, the activists who undermine themselves through in-fighting and excessive drinking are eerily familiar as well.) There is a Kerouac-like love of the small towns and big cities of America, but Dos Passos writes about people who are actually invested in them one way or another, rather than people who are just passing through - an approach I find much more emotionally rewarding. For me personally, writing about the wide spectrum of American experience using a wide spectrum of (American) voices is very powerful, and I've never really seen it done as effectively as Dos Passos does it here. If there are any other lovers of experimental prose out there trying to connect with their American roots (or not), I highly recommend USA.
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The advancement of technology and the expansion of the internet has led to some rather extraordinary opportunities for businesses and individuals on the web; however, these opportunities have not come without some risks and annoyances. Spammers, direct marketers, hackers, identity thieves and more are now more aggressive than ever. This is why it is important for those who maintain a web presence to protect their personal and business data.
One thing that makes this difficult is the policies set forth by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — also known as ICANN — which requires that the mailing address, email address and phone number of anyone who owns or administrates a domain name be made publicly available.
There are many questions surrounding the rationale of ICANN's regulations that cause businesses and individuals owning domains to expose information that can be compromised and used against them. One thing is certain, and that is the fact that these regulations force these businesses and individuals to take the necessary steps to protect their own information.
According to ICANN, they are exploring a number options that would introduce changes to the current policies, minimizing the risk of data being compromised. In the meantime, many domain registration companies are offering domain privacy services to help their customers feel more confident that their information will be safe.
The simple explanation for domain privacy services is that when a user registers a domain name with a registration company, the company will offer a service in which they will replace the owner's information in the "Who Is" field with information from a forwarding service for both mail and email. This is normally accomplished through the use of proxy servers.
The truth is that there are some domain registrars that will release a domain owner's private information with very little persuasion. Some only require a phone request, or at most, a cease and desist letter.
There are other registrars that take the privacy of their customers more seriously, going as far as hosting the information offshore so that there is no direct access to the customer's information.
There are some domain extensions that have privacy caveats set by default, such as .at, .ca, .de, and .us. Obtaining information from these type of domains is much more difficult than the more common domains.
Because the current ICANN policy requires that a domain owner's information be made public, using a privacy service may be the only viable option to protect sensitive information that you don't want shared with the general public. As a general rule, a privacy service will display their information in place of your personal and private information. It is important to know that in some cases the privacy service may be listed as the owner of the domain, and this has created some legal issues in the past. It is something to be aware of. There are companies that allow you to retain complete ownership of the domain while using their services.
By using a privacy service, your private information remains private.
It is extremely important to understand why it is paramount for your personal information to be protected. Besides the fact that you can be harassed by spammers and direct marketers consistently, the more serious threat of identity theft is lurking in the shadows of this full disclosure policy. With ICANN's policy placing your personal information on a platform in which it can be easily accessed, you are extremely vulnerable to your data being compromised. By using a privacy service, you can drastically reduce the risk.


Golf Clap returns to their record label Country Club Disco with a seriously groovy tune in "Demo Tapes". A thumping kick with an ominous bassline and laser bursts from Bryan Jones and Hugh Cleal make this a sure-fire dance floor heater. Jones says that "rhythm makes people dance, melody makes people remember, and Golf Clap aims to keep you coming back for more", and this track will certainly have me coming back for more!
The Detroit based duo had previously impressed me with their remix of "Where The Wild Things Are" by Zeds Dead and Illenium. Golf Clap have also put their own spin on Zhu and Tame Impala's "My Life", Hotel Garuda's "Blurry Eyes", Louis The Child's "Better Not", and Autograf's "Dead Soon".
The song has been played by Dr. Fresch, Wax Motif, CID, and Pasquale Rotella on Night Owl Radio 185.


The condition could start with inflamed spots or pustules (pus-crammed spots) which will group together and form abscesses or lumps that leave areas of hair loss and scarring.
The kind of bacteria that was inflicting the infection would eventually be recognized, which allowed docs to prescribe the best antibiotics.
This is typically not a skin complication associated with diabetes so the coder should not query the physician.
Eat a well-balanced food regimen consisting of fruits and vegetables; such eating regimen can help velocity up the body's natural wound healing process and bolster the immune system. Barbara Woodward Lips Patient Education Center. Skin care. American Diabetes Association.
The area should be saved clear till the skin has healed over.
Esther S. Hong, MD, Richard C. Her left eye was swollen and crimson and seemed to be worsening.
Iodine: Povidone-iodine solutions appear to have broad-spectrum exercise in opposition to micro organism and have been used within the management of childhood bacterial conjunctivitis.
There is a threat that the infection can spread to the rest of the body, so cellulitis virtually always must be handled with antibiotics.
She will be talking and appears to get caught on a phrase and says it over and over and doesn't appear to comprehend what she is doing.
People with sure risk factors usually tend to develop facial cellulitis.
Avoid making use of any irritating or toxic chemical products to your skin while it's healing, together with perfumes, soaps, lotions, makeup, and many others., and instead go for pure cleansing merchandise.
Possible complications together with blood infection, bone infection, and tissue demise.
Individuals need to keep in mind that cellulitis just isn't contagious. June G. Borazjani R.N., S.N., C.P.H.Q.
The rationale medical doctors are fast to deal with and test instances of cellulitis is because you'll be able to undergo serious complications should the micro organism manage to spread out and infiltrate deeper into your programs.
Staphylococcus aureas, together with the strains resistant to methicillin (MRSA) is one other sort of micro organism that commonly causes cellulitis.
Cellulitis is not a contagious condition.
Many people wonder what the distinction is between impetigo and cellulitis. The next helpful information will help to differentiate the two skin conditions.
It disables and kills tens of millions and for survival, early suspicion in addition to treatment is critical. Cellulitis often infects the lower leg.
But different types of bacteria might have incubation intervals of a number of days. Cellulitis often resolves after a couple of days of antibiotic therapy.
Also, talk with your physician about over-the-counter salves and creams which may be protected to use to your skin.
Much of the soreness should have gone away, and the looks of the contaminated area should have improved.
Even with all of the best efforts, about 30% of horses that suffer septic cellulitis in a leg may get well with a stiff, enlarged leg.


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Home Latest News The Bourbon Women Association Names New President in Kimberl
The Bourbon Women Association Names New President in Kimberl
The Bourbon Women Association starts its second decade with the announcement of new leadership — spirits expert, speaker and journalist Maggie Kimberl is the organization's new president.
"Bourbon Women continues to grow, adding more members and branches across the United States," says Heather Wibbels, Bourbon Women Association board chair. "We're so excited to have Maggie on board to lead us in this next chapter."
The current content editor of American Whiskey Magazine, Kimberl has worked in the bourbon industry for a decade, from the retail package sector to her last seven years writing about whiskey for publications such as Whisky Magazine, American Whiskey Magazine, Relish & Whisky Magazine, The Alcohol Professor and more. She is a Kentucky native, and a Kentucky Colonel as well as a graduate of the University of Louisville.
"It is an absolute honor to take the helm at this organization which has helped so many women discover their love for Kentucky's native spirit and beyond," Kimberl says. "I can't wait to get to know more of the members and welcome new ones as we celebrate our love of all things brown water. Especially during these difficult times, building a community of women supporting women for fun and fellowship has never been more important."
Former Managing Director Sara Barnes has joined the Kentucky Distillers' Association as their new director of industry responsibility and sustainability. "Sara's supremely well-suited for this position," Wibbels said. "We'll miss her at Bourbon Women but we're excited for this next step in her career."
Barnes said she looks forward to working with Bourbon Women in her new role at the KDA. "The past few years working with Bourbon Women and its wonderful membership has helped strengthen this great industry," she says. "I am delighted to pass the torch off to Maggie — she will bring so many great things to the association!"


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An Earthshaker Emotional Moment
Bellydance as Sexualized Spectacle
The Significance of Dancing to the Music of Oum Kalthoum
These are thoughts about the significance of Oum Kalthoun for Bellydancers taken from articles I wrote as part of the Ask Yasmina Column for Gilded Serpent. Although written and published in 2009 and 2010, I feel they are still relevant for students today.
Understanding the importance of Oum Kalthoum and her music offers profound insight into Arab culture, poetry, art, nuance, and most importantly, the music that Bellydancers dance to. Almost every Bellydance CD on the market includes at least one or two instrumental renditions of her songs. You have heard the melodies so often.
Below is some information distilled from Wikipedia that sums up her importance musically.
" Imagine a singer with the virtuosity of Joan Sutherland or Ella Fitzgerald, the public persona of Eleanor Roosevelt and the audience of Elvis and you have Oum Kalthoum, the most accomplished singer of her century in the Arab world. "
— Virginia Danielson, Harvard Magazine
When the Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum died in 1975, millions flooded the streets of Cairo in mourning. Her songs deal mostly with the universal themes of love, longing and loss. They are nothing short of epic in scale, with durations measured in hours rather than minutes.
Jah Wobble, Bob Dylan, Jean-Paul Sartre, Marie Laforêt, Salvador Dalí, Nico, Bono, Farin Urlaub, and Led Zeppelin are just some admirers of Kalthoum's music. She was referred to as "The Lady" by Charles de Gaulle, and is regarded as "The Incomparable Voice" by Maria Callas. Oum Kalthoum is remembered in Egypt, the Middle East, and the Arab world as one of the greatest singers and musicians to have ever lived. She is also notably popular in Israel among Jews and Arabs alike, and her records continue to sell about a million copies a year. Even today, she has retained a near-mythical status among young Egyptians.
The movements that Bellydancers express are passed down through dancers like Tahia Carioca, Samia Gamal, Sohair Zaki and Dina etc. Whether they are new, old or revamped, all of the movements were created as an emotional reaction to Arab music. The music and poetry of the songs of Oum Kalthoum is the pinnacle of Middle Eastern music. Until one makes the profound connection to her music and finds oneself blissfully lost in one of her hour long songs, one has not really felt or experienced the meaning of the movement.
Since her songs speak of unrelenting love, one should also read the story of Majnun and Leila* to understand which is the love she is singing about and the love expressed in our dance.
*Majnun and Leila is the original love story told by word of mouth for generations by Arab Bedouins long before Romeo & Juliette or Tristan & Isolde. It was eventually written down by an Azerbaijani poet in Farsi. So much of Asia, North Africa and the Middle East claim this story their own. Every generation of young lovers relate to this story. It is an intimate part of all of these cultures.
I believe that mastering the art of dancing to taqsim is a prerequisite to dancing to the music of Oum Kalthoum. I also ask my students to listen to original recordings of her concerts 24 hours a days for 2 years or until one finds the magic in her songs and becomes addicted. When this happens the movement quality and nuance are transformed when dancing to all Arab music. Note that original recording of one to two songs on a CD since the songs are generally too long to fit anymore.
To study and listen endlessly to the original recordings of Oum Kalthoum's concerts will open movement pathways for a Bellydancer that will transform her/his physical expression. To eventually be able to express her music in one's dance is a sign that one is becoming a Raqs Sharqi dance artist. Dancing to the music of Oum Kalthoum is seen as significant and not to be taken lightly especially in the eyes of some audiences.
An Arab audience will have a more discerning eye for the artistic interpretation of this music and a much stronger emotional investment. All of her songs are of equal importance - some are more famous and popular and many have been adapted for Bellydancers. It is said that only a Maalema can dance to the music of Oum Kalthoum.
The following are some important factors to take into account on this subject. The music of Oum Kalthoum is often quite difficult with rhythm changes and thus a beginner dancer will find it difficult to apply short cut elements like combos that can easily be used with pop music. The music is generally slow and emotional, often in a sad maqaam so emotional expression is an important factor. Leave the dynamic hitting accents for the most part when dancing for drum solos, not when dancing to the music of Oum Kalthoum.
Dancing to an original recording of Oum Kalthoum singing live may seem disrespectful to some who revere her, it is best to use a recording by another singer or a musical arrangement. Many of her songs are 1-2 hours long so often the musical arrangements that are popular are only a small part of the song, often the beginning or just the musical parts which do not include the melody of where her voice would be.
Non-Arab dancers should note that when an Arab audience is listening to the musical arrangement of Oum Kalthoum music, they hear in their head the memory of the original version with her live voice and the profound lyrics, just like you hear Robert Plant's voice when a cover band plays Stairway to Heaven. Thus it is important to listen to the original before dancing to the musical arrangement so the dance artist can portray the same emotion and musical nuance the audience is experiencing, otherwise the audience may feel the dance artist does not understand the music.
Once you have danced to a good arrangement and recording of the music of Oum Kalthoum with the integrity of the original recording in your consciousness, there is no turning back. Pop music will never give you such a rich emotional experience.
For a wonderful documentary about Oum Kalthoum, see the film "A Voice Like Egypt".
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The style of the Hampshire range is created with chunky and contrasting lime washed oak tops, against the dove grey paint. Finished by adding clean chrome handles and metal drawer runners. This style is a modern classic!


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This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions), and as such we offer a high-resolution image of it. See our image rights statement.
Drawing, Elevation of a Gateway, Probably for a Kaffeehaus
This is a drawing. It was designed by Giuseppe Barberi and architect: Giuseppe Barberi. It is dated ca. 1788–1789 and we acquired it in 1938. Its medium is pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash on off-white laid paper, lined. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
It is credited Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund.
Image: 18.5 x 27.2 cm (7 5/16 x 10 11/16 in.)
Cite this object as
Drawing, Elevation of a Gateway, Probably for a Kaffeehaus; Designed by Giuseppe Barberi (Italian, 1746–1809); Italy; pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash on off-white laid paper, lined; Image: 18.5 x 27.2 cm (7 5/16 x 10 11/16 in.); Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund; 1938-88-2174
Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2C6fH/
Accession Number 1938-88-2174
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18358201/ |title=Drawing, Elevation of a Gateway, Probably for a Kaffeehaus |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=1 February 2023 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>


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To Solve the Climate Crisis, We Need to Drive A Lot Less — And Drive Electric
By Matthew Lewis
A Tesla driver parks in an unprotected bike lane. Image: Bike Lane Uprising
Editor's Note: this article originally appeared on City Observatory and is republished with permission.
The deadly heat waves, epic floods, and worsening droughts around the world are forcing a reckoning on climate change. We messed up, badly, and the earth's rapidly destabilizing climate system is the consequence.
There are many "mistakes" that have brought us to this moment of truth — powering our economies on coal and methane gas, cutting down rainforest to grow beef, soy, and palm oil — but one of the biggest and most intractable: Car culture, NIMBYism, and their incumbent challenges in energy use, land use, social equity, and human health and safety.
Cars are not only the leading source of climate pollution in the United States, they're also the leading cause of premature death for young Americans and a disproportionate cause of negative health outcomes: air pollution and sedentary lifestyles are major contributors to American morbidity and mortality, not to mention the 2 million Americans who are permanently injured every year by car crashes.
But there's a problem: We've spent 50 years tearing down our cities and remaking them for sprawling, single-family house development, entirely reliant on the automobile. The climate crisis is urgent, and we don't have time to completely undo this mistake and re-build our cities from scratch.
So, the question becomes: How much time do we have? Can we simply swap out electric cars for gasoline vehicles, and solve the climate crisis? The answer: Unequivocally, no. There are simply too many cars, too many of them run on gasoline, and most new cars sold today still run on gasoline.
To make matters worse, our current urban land use policies are still controlled, in most cities, by NIMBYs opposed to more housing; who defend parking as a divine right; who oppose safe street interventions that save lives and make communities more walkable; and who block efficient transit interventions, like dedicated bus lanes.
When it comes to climate change, NIMBYism is a huge factor in exacerbating pollution from cars, but it's also led to the point where we have no choice in the matter: By forcing workers to live far from their jobs, and by allowing the car industry to continue selling gasoline vehicles, we have foreclosed the option of achieving a climate-friendly car culture.
As of this writing, there are 280 million cars and trucks in the American fleet, and 278 million of them run on gasoline. In an average year, Americans buy around 17 million new cars. So, in a scenario where 100% of new car sales were electric in 2021, it would be 2037 before all U.S. cars and trucks are electric (assuming no growth in the size of the fleet).
But we're nowhere near 100 percent EV sales in 2021. Current estimates suggest the earliest date when the last gasoline car will be sold is sometime in the 2040s. In fact, the car industry is still focused on selling primarily gasoline cars, and primarily gas-guzzlers like pickup trucks and SUVs. And it's made clear that its intention is to continue selling these climate-destroying beasts for most of the rest of this decade.
What that means: It will be a long, long time before the U.S. vehicle fleet will be all electric. Exactly how long depends on a number of variables, but the various scenarios are not hard to imagine — and in fact, experts have run the numbers and are converging on broad agreement:
If electric cars are going to be a part of the climate solution, Americans will have to drive much less. How much less is somewhat of an open question; but the California experience is illustrative. In 2018, the California Air Resources Board did the math on fleet turnover. What they found:
California cannot meet its climate goals without curbing growth in single-occupancy vehicle activity.
Even if the share of new car sales that are ZEVs [zero-emissions vehicles] grows nearly 10-fold from today, California would still need to reduce VMT [vehicle miles travelled] per capita 25 percent to achieve the necessary reductions for 2030.
Furthermore, strategies to curb VMT growth help address other problems that focusing exclusively on future vehicle and fuels technologies do not. For example, spending less time behind the steering wheel and more time walking or cycling home, with the family, or out with friends can improve public health by reducing chronic disease burdens and preventing early death through transport-related physical activity.
California's existing plans for electric vehicles aimed to have 1.5 million ZEVs on the road by 2025, and 4.2 million by 2030. As of 2021, there are 425,000 BEVs registered in the state — meaning the electrified fleet has to grow 10x in the next 9 years, with sales that exceed the best-year ever, every year.
But even at that breakneck pace, it won't be enough to undo the damage done by the one-two punch of the car industry's focus on selling gas guzzlers, and California cities' commitment to defending NIMBY housing and land use policies.
In sum: With all the gasoline vehicles still driving around for the next 15 to 20 years, EVs won't be able to close the gap in pollution reduction fast enough. We're out of time.
Others have done their own calculations, with similar results; one of the more recent among these, by researchers with Carnegie Mellon University, did not mince words about the pickle we're in:
Transportation deep decarbonization not only depends on electricity decarbonization, but also has a total travel budget, representing a maximum total vehicle travel threshold that still enables meeting a midcentury climate target. This makes encouraging ride sharing, reducing total vehicle travel, and increasing fuel economy in both human-driven and future automated vehicles increasingly important to deep decarbonization.
In other words: In order for electric vehicles to solve climate, we need people to drive less. That combination — of less driving, and vehicle electrification — is the only pathway to climate stability.
Ironically, this problem of the need for fewer cars is entirely of the car industry's creation. For decades, the industry has fought efforts to make cars cleaner, to reduce air and climate pollution, and to transition their product away from deadly, inefficient, polluting machines to clean, efficient mobility devices.
If we had started the transition to clean, electric vehicles 20 years ago, it would be slightly more accurate to say we can continue our current, sprawling housing and transportation patterns and rely on fleet electrification. But the car industry has spent those 20 years pivoting to SUVs and pickup trucks as their primary product.
What this means: Urban land use reform, affordable housing, reliable transit, and safe streets are now top-priority, must-have interventions for climate change. We have to end the era of car-powered suburban sprawl, and make it legal — and less expensive — to build housing in our urban cores, or in the central business districts of suburban areas, near jobs, transit, and services.
Denser areas not only have dramatically lower carbon emissions from transportation than suburban and rural developments; but they also use substantially less energy per home — as much as 50% less.
The writing is on the wall. The car industry missed its climate window for electric sprawl, and the NIMBYs forced the issue with their selfish opposition to infill housing. At this stage, if electric vehicles are to play a major role in solving the climate crisis — which they must — they have to be paired with dramatic land use reform that shortens or eliminates a substantial portion of all vehicle trips, and replaces them with transit, walking, biking, shared vehicles, and other forms of mobility.
Only by combining a rapid deployment of electric vehicles with an equally rapid elimination of the need for most Americans to own and drive a personal vehicle in the first place can we have a shot at climate stability.
To Save the Planet, Kill Minimum Parking Mandates, 2021
Driving Down Emissions, Transport for America, 2020
Decarbonizing US passenger vehicle transport under electrification and automation uncertainty has a travel budget, Environmental Research Letters, 2020
Why housing Policy is Climate Policy, New York Times, 2019
California's Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act: 2018 Progress Report, California Air Resources Board, 2018
Moving California Forward: How Smart Growth Can Help California Meet Its 2030 Climate Target. Energy Innovation LLC, 2015
Right Type, Right Place: Assessing the Environmental and Economic Impacts of Infill Residential Development Through 2030. Terner Center for Housing Innovation, Haas School of Business, Next 10; UC Berkeley, 2017
Another Inconvenient Truth: To Achieve Climate Goals, California Must Remove Barriers to Sustainable Land Use. Bay Area Council Economic Institute, 2017
Proposed Update to SB 375 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Targets – California Air Resources Board, 2017
Carbon Footprint Planning: Quantifying Local and State Mitigation
Opportunities for 700 California Cities – Jones, Wheeler et al , 2018
Californians Must Drive Less, Says ARB at Historic First Joint Meeting with CTC, Streetsblog, June 29, 2018
Cities, traffic, and CO2: A multidecadal assessment of trends, drivers, and scaling relationships, PNAS 2015
Filed Under: California, Climate Change, Climate emergency, Electric Cars, Mode Shift, Promoted
PBS to America: Fight Global Warming, Drive an SUV
By Aaron Donovan	| Feb 16, 2007
In 2005, PBS came out with a widely promoted documentary narrated by Alanis Morissette called "Global Warming: The Signs and the Science." For people interested in learning more about the topic of global warming and climate change, this DVD is widely available. Being produced and distributed by a well known and highly respected organization, serves […]
Transportation Allowances in the Climate Bill: A Tale of Two Modes
By Elana Schor	| Oct 16, 2009
To understand why the climate change bill is a top priority for urbanists, it's crucial to understand the emissions allowances that the legislation distributes. The allowances essentially put the "trade" in "cap-and-trade" — whichever industry or state government holds them can benefit from their monetary value or use them to emit pollution under the "cap." […]
"My Other Car Is a Bright Green City"
By Brad Aaron	| Feb 13, 2008
As attention turns to the next federal transportation bill, and livable streets fans scan the platforms of presidential candidates for glimpses of what to expect from Washington over the next four years, Alex Steffen, editor and CEO of the blog WorldChanging, has posted an essay-in-progress called "My Other Car is a Bright Green City." Steffen […]
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Emissions Report: Cars Are Still Our Biggest Problem
By Kea Wilson	| Jan 10, 2020
United States greenhouse gas emissions are down —but our cars are still pumping out pollution like they always have.
Why The U.S. Needs a Bold 2030 Mode Shift Target
By Kea Wilson	| Mar 30, 2021
America needs to commit to transportation policies that will at least double the number of people who travel by foot, bike or transit by 2030, a leading advocacy group argues.
Road Widening Myths That Are Delaying Climate Action
By Doug Trumm and Gregory Quetin	| Dec 29, 2020
These convenient excuses help your transportation department justify widening and adding highways – but they're dead wrong.


The demand for condos is much greater than the supply, and that's translating into excellent returns for sellers. Both areas continue to be in a tight seller's market. And with new inventory being slated for Spring 2015 at the earliest, it will be seller's market for condo owners for quite some time.