House prices in the UK are starting to fall, says the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10915210 >
Scratches to Sketches
Monday, 9 August 2010
BBC: House prices fall say surveyors
Any doubts about the likely future trend of house prices in the UK? Buyers are sitting on depreciating assets in America and the UK. The jury is still out for Canada. Should commodity prices driven by wheat shortages lead to crazed speculative buying of commodities this autumn this could lead to relief for some home owners deluged by depressed valuations. Spill over effects of too much money in the system might start off an inflationary spiral, but the real growth would come from Asian demand as their economies accelerate.
Reading as a Pastime within a Canopy of a Forest complete with Wild Animals
In a world, in which movies and animation abound, in which ever increasing storage space is mounted onto disks, and in which it is increasingly difficult to be on your own, left in quiet, the habit of reading is still a most pleasurable pastime.
What is there to read? I find that I would not miss the massive paper-oriented newspapers of an inch in thickness. Such use of paper has a real cost in lost forest space that could be devoted to growing hard woods that could lock up CO2 for centuries. If your nearest forest is not a canopy then it probably could be if forest science were dedicated to a natural greening of our habitat. Replacing slow growing deciduous forest with short fast growing evergreens is not the best solution.
It would be better for each farm to have massively high oaks and cedars alongside rivers and streams flowing through them. Providing a barrier to destructive runoffs and slowing the departure of rains into lakes giving nature's filtration systems a chance, large hardwood tree forests interlaced with tall cedars and redwoods seem idyllic.
That growing hard woods helps in sorting out our environment and in creating venues for living that surpass the congestion of cities should not be a surprise. In a world of over production, it seems strange that we cram more and more people into unpleasant concrete avenues. Returning to dirt roads would even seem stranger, but a strangeness of a different quality.
If you like to read glance at this Internet source:
The Best Magazine Articles Ever
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/the-best-magazi.php
(via Instapaper)
Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.
The Internet remembers everything
There is nothing quite so scary as the thought that one might be called to task about something one has written that has acquired a new life on the Internet. I'm not so frightened about my own words or whether I appear silly. I both write and paint. My fears often get translated into images that are difficult to interpret. My handwriting tells me how I am doing psychologically so a few sentences in longhand allow me to interpret stuff that is very deep. I can also review my colour preferences to see where my health issues are going. Hair analysis tells me what new allergies are appearing in my system. A walk tells me whether I am healthy, and a visit to the dentist says a lot about my gums. So why not write a lot and get feedback from the Internet which will tell me how I fit into this new world of communicating ideas and feelings and interpreting many of the information streams coming at us. Well, the following article might illuminate some of the pitfalls for the unwary writer, blogger, Twitter, or Facebook contributor!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=print
(via Instapaper)
Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.
The Summer of 2010 Is Wrecking Golf Courses | Golf Journal by John Paul Newport - WSJ.com
Golfers get concerned when they see their grass browned off. It's strange that in the UK, I walked across a coastal golf course and could see the original turf drying up, browning off, and splitting apart. That does not seem to be the case in Ontario, and I recently found five balls at the Kincardine course before I had reached the club house! Mind you my shoes collected a chunk of muck from the creek and my legs hard to work hard to climb the banks of the ravine. In the end, I surprised a local player with a handful of balls properly cleaned. I had tried to hand them out to some lady players only to hear the words, "Eeek, they look yucky!" This started me thinking why some were better a business. They don't mind the free yuck on occasion.
If you think your course is drying up read this blurb:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409411501359450.html
Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.
Comments on Peggy Noonan: America Is at Risk of Boiling Over - WSJ.com
We all have a sense that unpleasant surprises are on the increase. In the case of America, being an outsider and yet understanding the people very well, I am not so panicked as I was as a youth when it seemed the orientation of American young was to flee their home country.
Tolerance worldwide has I believe grown net, but first read this article and see what you can make of the recent changes in the American psyche:
Lately, the fears of a major shortage of food have emerged again. The fires in Russia and the potential for plague in Australia. whatever happened to the concerns over the weakness in the strains of wheat. In any event, it is very possible that the price of wheat could trigger a bounce in the world economy if only because of the huge amount of unsatisfied liquidity looking for speculative outlet. Previous American war economies have spawned tremendous inflationary forces sparked by commodity price accelerations from items such as coffee, cocoa, and oil. It looks like a calm before a storm and it does not have anything to do with the excess of houses.
Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.
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The Internet User's Best Kept Secret
Sketches from scratches is a provocative blogspot that has grown out of the Wuh Lax experience. It is eclectic, which means that it might consider just about anything from the simple to the extremely difficult. A scratch can be something that is troubling me or a short line on paper. From a scratch comes a verbal sketch or image sketch of the issue or subject. Other sites have other stuff that should really be of interest to the broad reader. I try to develop themes, but variety often comes before depth.
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