A Lemming Effect
A report from the Denver Post in Colorado. “Resort-style outdoor pools with cabanas. Yoga studios with on-demand classes. Bicycle repair stations and dog spas. Movie theaters and game rooms. Amenities like these have all but come to be expected when a new apartment building opens in Denver. Some real estate experts warn that developers are creating a glut of luxury properties. ‘The market is overbuilt,’ said Jay Rollins, managing principal of JCR Capital, a Denver-based real estate private equity firm that’s active in the apartment realm. ‘The most important thing to remember in the luxury market is the deals that are coming out of the ground, those were born two years ago,’ he said. ‘It was something of a lemming effect. Denver got really hot nationally very quickly and then everyone jumped in and tried to buy every piece of land and build a luxury apartment property.’”
“Downtown apartment vacancy rates have practically doubled over the past few years, said Cary Bruteig, principal at Apartment Appraisers & Consultants in Denver. In the first quarter, vacancy was about 8 percent, up from 4.34 percent at the end of 2014. ‘We are building them a little faster than we can fill them up,’ Bruteig said.”
From The Oklahoman. “Brookwood Village, Oklahoma’s largest apartment complex, fetched a high price — $60.5 million, or $53,635 per unit — even with rent concessions peppering the Oklahoma City apartment market, signaling weakness. However, any weakness in the metro-area market is limited to pockets of oversupply that are beginning to stabilize, said Tim McKay, who handled the sale. Further, he said, federal incentives supporting workforce housing make it easier for multifamily investors to borrow money, and at easier terms, than for other kinds of investment property.”
“‘Brookwood’s location — and the fact that it is quality, workforce housing — drove investor demand, particularly with the opportunity for its value-add potential and upside in rents,’ McKay said.”
“Construction needs to pause in the especially active areas for the market to return to balance, said broker Mike Buhl of Norman-based Commercial Realty Resources Co., who tracks the south side especially closely. ‘While it comes down to what is being built and where it is being built, speculation remains that developers will keep building product and adding inventory,’ Buhl said. ‘The amount of new construction coming to the market without some kind of slowdown does seem a bit aggressive in my opinion.’”
The Associated Press. “State budget cuts are putting stress on public universities, some of which are resorting to renting out empty dorm rooms to earn cash amid tight financial circumstances. The University of Missouri, one of the biggest football schools in the state, will rent out dorms this fall for visitors who want to stay to see the team play. The starting rate for a ‘furnished two-bedroom suite with four single beds’ is $120 per night plus tax, according to the school’s website. The plea for extra cash at the University of Missouri comes amid declining enrollment and a decrease in finances.”
“Missouri is not the only state where universities are tightening their belts. In Illinois, where Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings of five public universities to junk level amid an ongoing two-year budget impasse, the University of Illinois at Chicago offers guest housing in residences ‘intended for short-term stays by those other than UIC students’ for rates as low as $100 per night for a one bedroom apartment.”
“Other universities in the state, like SIU Carbondale, will seek to capitalize on the solar eclipse weekend in August by making dorm rooms available for rent. SIU Carbondale says it is in a remarkably good location to witness the event.”
The Real Deal on Florida. “Former Miami Heat basketball player Glen Rice sold a downtown Miami condo for less than he paid just weeks before it was scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction. Rice sold a two-bedroom, 27th-floor unit at the Neo Vertika condominium that he owned with his ex-wife for $310,000. He purchased the condo in 2006 for $317,000. He had lowered the asking price almost monthly since listing the condo for sale about two years ago for $460,000.”
“GossipExtra reported M&T Bank began to foreclose on a $250,000 mortgage secured by Rice’s condo, claiming that he stopped making payments. In addition, the condo owners association at Neo Vertika claimed Rice stopped paying a monthly association fee of $675.50 more than two years ago. Rice has been in poor financial condition because he has lost a fortune on bad investments and went through a costly divorce from his ex-wife Cristy, a former star on the reality TV show ‘Real Housewives of Miami.’”
From Bloomberg on New York. “Another luxury condo at Manhattan’s One57 is scheduled for a foreclosure auction — the second time in a month that a property seizure is being sought at the Billionaires’ Row tower following a mortgage default. And it might be the biggest in New York City residential history. The owner of the condo, a shell company listed in public records as One57 79 Inc., bought the 6,240-square-foot residence in December 2014 for $50.9 million, according to New York City records.”
“In September 2015, the company took out a $35.3 million mortgage from lender Banque Havilland SA, based in Luxembourg. The full payment of the loan was due one year later, according to court documents filed in connection with the foreclosure. The borrower failed to repay, and now Banque Havilland is forcing a sale to recoup the funds, plus interest.”
“Built by Extell Development Co., One57 has stood as a symbol of Manhattan’s luxury-development boom — and eventual slowdown. The tower, which broke ground in 2009, drew investors willing to pay large sums for lavish residences they rarely live in, and inspired other developers to build similar offerings, creating an effective ‘Billionaires’ Row’ along West 57th Street.”
“Last month, a June 14 auction was scheduled for a 56th-floor apartment at the same tower. The condo was purchased in July 2015 for $21.4 million. Public records have yet to reveal any transfer of ownership for that property. ‘This shows that too much leverage is probably not wise,’ Anna LaPorte, an Extell spokeswoman, said of the most recent default.”
‘bought the 6,240-square-foot residence in December 2014 for $50.9 million…In September 2015, the company took out a $35.3 million mortgage. The full payment of the loan was due one year later. The borrower failed to repay’
Huh, you know I could have sworn the media said these were all cash deals from super rich people who were parking money in the safe deposit boxes in the sky. The implication is, this box of air isn’t even worth 35M, but one must figure in all the interest and fees they racked up.
‘Built by Extell Development Co., One57 has stood as a symbol of Manhattan’s luxury-development boom — and eventual slowdown. The tower, which broke ground in 2009, drew investors willing to pay large sums for lavish residences they rarely live in, and inspired other developers to build similar offerings, creating an effective ‘Billionaires’ Row’
Like Scarface said, don’t get high on your own supply.
Ben, if you can find any stories like this one for the London Shard, it will make my day.
London FBs who asked insane wish prices for their residences are absorbing major haircuts even as their properties go unsold.
http://www.mouseprice.com/property-for-sale/kensington+and+chelsea+(royal+borough)?SortBy=5
Link works best if you cut & paste it into your browser.
Those are crappy flats in sh!tty, ancient buildings, some older than anything in America. They should be worthless.
The Shard is supposed to be London’s prime address for oligarchs, which is why I am curious about prices there.
‘It was something of a lemming effect. Denver got really hot nationally very quickly and then everyone jumped in and tried to buy every piece of land and build a luxury apartment property.’
‘The most important thing to remember in the luxury market is the deals that are coming out of the ground, those were born two years ago’
Jay, I was following this thing two years ago and it was overbuilt then. Check out the article on the many thousands they are still building, and the omnipresent developer declarations that everything will be fine. You go guys, it’s your funeral.
“You go guys, it’s your funeral.”
It will be somebody’s funeral, but it won’t be Jay’s.
Check this out …
“’The market is overbuilt,’ said Jay Rollins, managing principal of JCR Capital, a Denver-based real estate private equity firm that’s active in the apartment realm.”
“Managing principal” = He gets paid today, the owners of the private capital that he manages get paid sometime in the future - if they get paid at all.
‘he said federal incentives supporting workforce housing make it easier for multifamily investors to borrow money, and at easier terms, than for other kinds of investment property. Brookwood’s location — and the fact that it is quality, workforce housing — drove investor demand, particularly with the opportunity for its value-add potential and upside in rents’
Yes, lick of paint, stripe the parking lot and raise rents, all backed in some way by government loans. This has been going on for years and is largely unreported in the MSM. Then they point to the increasing rents and say, “it can only go up!” BTW, this student housing debacle in Missouri has been building for a while and I’ve had several posts on it. These are the “merchant builders” at work again.
“Further, he said, federal incentives supporting workforce housing make it easier for multifamily investors to borrow money, and at easier terms, than for other kinds of investment property.”
Does this mean we should thank Uncle Sam when multifamily rents eventually tank?
The FED will be ended. Patience, grasshoppers. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor did it end in a day.
“The FED will be ended.”
Yeah, right.
All good things must come to an end.
I suspect it will still be around long after we’ve left this mortal coil.
No, I think we’ll live to see it. Next crash, it’s a goner.
How are you imagining that will happen?
Blue, I’m not in any position to give a blow-by-blow on this, although recent reading has given me some ideas of (not to distant) future scenarios. Trust me, though, when things outlive their usefulness, when they become unworkable, they go away, one way or another. Maybe not quietly, but they go away.
We already have evidence of dementia but I’ve seen some sure to fail institutions drag on amazingly for many decades.
“I’ve seen some sure to fail institutions drag on amazingly for many decades.”
Yes, you have. Both my parents lasted for years with dementia and health issues, my father for about 25 years. Long time.
“We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we’re going to do our best to preserve that system.” —Timothy Geithner
But…but…the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed and central banks and their financial media touts and shills have repeatedly assured us that debt-fueled “growth” is the key to boundless prosperity!
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-23/the-fed-needs-to-acknowledge-slowing-economy
“But…but…the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed and central banks and their financial media touts and shills have repeatedly assured us that debt-fueled “growth” is the key to boundless prosperity!”
A totally dumbed-down population of pukes can and will accept and buy into such a story whereas a enlightened and reasonably informed intelligent population would balk.
As I like to say: Dumb ‘em down and profit.
I can see theoretically how a little bit of debt (i.e. pulling consumption forward from the future) can increase economic activity now.
But - when taken to its absurd extreme, where everyone has taken out their maximum serviceable debt, economic activity slows down as more is spent on debt service. Where’s’ that interest going? Certainly not to bank depositors.
The Fed could seek to spark an inflationary event (inflation is another stealth wealth transfer, like stimulus or interest rate suppression). But if there’s one thing that unseats politicians, it’s inflation.
They might try it, like the other experimental schemes. It’s curious they’re so willing to run vast experimental schemes, but have to have “metaphysical certitude” before even identifying a potential bubble.
Wall Street likes bubbles because they’re a surge beyond the normal wealth extraction from the public. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the Fed’s unwillingness to deal with them. After all, if there were a quasi-governmental agency in DC dedicated to the advancement of the computer industry as opposed to the FIRE sector, I don’t think it would do anything to reduce the profitability of the computer industry, even if faced with a glaringly obvious destructive-to-the-rest-of-society policy.
“Where’s’ that interest going? Certainly not to bank depositors.”
Do you really need to ask such a question?
No I guess not
The Fed is simply a Ponzi scheme. Create the nation’s currency and lend it into circulation. Collect interest. Lend at least enough more to allow the interest to be paid. Collect interest on that too. And so forth.
Yeah, and that interest is currently nearly $100 billion a year. It’s paid to the treasury and helps reduce the federal deficit.
Mickey found a penny!
$100 billion is a penny?
So in other words, a large portion of of the FedGov’s loans are interest free.
As we discovered long ago, it’s crazier than that. The Federal Reserve pays the US government some of what it earns on treasuries. So the more congress borrows, the more they make.
Bahahahahahahahaha … Check this out, here’s a justification for the Fed paying interest to the banks for the reserves the banks hold …
“More importantly, in recent years the Fed’s ability to pay interest on reserves has become essential to the smooth implementation of monetary policy. The Fed influences the economy by raising and lowering its target for the federal funds rate, the interest rate at which banks lend reserves to each other overnight.”
Link to follow.
This is not a link to the above story but is a link to a similar story.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ben-bernanke/2016/02/16/the-feds-interest-payments-to-banks/
Here’s a link to a chart that shows the amount of excess reserves that banks hold and that the Federal Reserve is paying interest on …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_reserves#/media/File:EXCRESNS.png
Again, pukes work, bankers reap.
God’s Plan.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
If you care to examine the chart on the above post you will notice that around 2008 or so the amount of excess reserves held by banks began to explode. The reason for that is …
(ta da)
2008 is the year that the Federal Reserve began to send money to the banks for their excess reserves, thus amply rewarding the banks for holding excess reserves.
Nifty, huh? What lender needs the hassle of shaking down the dumbed-down when he can just sit back and allow the Federal Reserve to shower him with money?
Here’s a chart that shows the velocity of M1. Note when it peaked and note the decline. Compare this chart with the Excess Reserve chart that is to be found above …
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1V
Sounds more like a monopoly counterfeiting scheme.
Rice sold a two-bedroom, 27th-floor unit at the Neo Vertika condominium that he owned with his ex-wife for $310,000. He purchased the condo in 2006 for $317,000. He had lowered the asking price almost monthly since listing the condo for sale about two years ago for $460,000.”
Hehehehe…just in turn for the knife catcher who took it off his hands to ride his depreciating asset all the way down as the Greater Fool pipeline dries up.
This is a typical scenario that loses money in Florida. For nearly 100 years Florida property has the feature of ‘buy high and sell low’. I personally know of a property in Tampa that was sold for $285k in 2006 and 11 years later sold for $275k with upgrades in the interim. I’ve lived in Florida three times in my life so far, and intend upon retiring there. Still, anyone who thinks that Florida property is anything but a bad bet should be given meds and treatment under a Doctor’s care.
Florida property is delusional.
Regards,
Roidy
If you’re making NBA money, then buying a 2 BR condo for $317k does not seem that excessive. Heck, that’s living below your means.
Even if he sold it for $310k,taking a $7k hit on the price, that’s a lot better than buying a $3 million dollar mansion.
I suspect that the condo was not his main residence. Still, he cut his losses by unloading it now.
“I suspect that the condo was not his main residence.”
+1 A bird’s nest in the city… a pied-à-terre?
“Can you dig it?”
Sell your house and get out of Chicago. Do it now.
And I don’t which gang is worse. The Chicago street gangs or the public union gangs.
++++
Chicago Police unable to control thousand-strong gang party lasting hours
americanthinker.com | 6/25/2017 | Thomas Lifson
At last we know why Chicago’s homicide level is so out of control: Gangs, not police control the streets. The gangs know it; the police know it; and now, thanks to DNAinfo.com/Chicago, we know it. A week ago, Chicago street gangs held a huge party in a park, with a thousand people attending, some brandishing firearms, terrifying neighbors for hours. The police sent 25 squad cars, yet were outnumbered and unable to really do anything.
“The Chicago street gangs or the public union gangs.”
There’s a difference?
Yah, that’s the warning bell for sure.
Keep it contained there. Don’t let them out.
Don’t have to. All that’s required is for other gangs in other cities to take note.
This is remarkable similar to the “no-go” zones in some European countries. It’s also similar to what goes on in Mexico, where people are squeezed between the cartels and the police/army. Chi supposedly has a large Mexican population. Some of those residents will be familiar with this.
Where’s Luis Gutierrez? He’s been rather quiet lately.
‘The police sent 25 squad cars, yet were outnumbered and unable to really do anything.’
How about send in some tanks and other cool crap that police departments are militarizing with? Maybe send in the army actually. Aren’t we going after M13 as a terrorist group in this country? Maybe gangs need to get a Quaddafi-type jet raid circa Ronald Reagan era.
Weakening oil prices are usually a sign of an economic downturn.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/24/north-sea-debt-battle-drag-oil-price-forecasts-slashed/
‘As if the internal failings weren’t enough, OPEC seems to have lost touch with reality. Ministers say higher prices are needed to pay for investment in future production capacity, issuing dire warnings of a future supply crunch. They said the same thing to justify prices soaring above $100 a barrel in 2008. It wasn’t true then, and it may not be true now.’
‘The oil industry has responded to the price slump by slashing costs. Projects that needed $100 crude to break even have magically been redesigned to be profitable at half that level.’
‘OPEC has completely misjudged the North American shale industry and seems not to understand how it is still evolving rapidly. As consultant Morten Frisch tells me, drilling horizontal sidetracks from abandoned wells in the Permian Basin is yielding a 91 percent internal rate of return on a $7 million investment and delivering 1,500 barrels a day of crude. He predicts large production increases from vertical wells in previously produced areas in the Permian.’
“Weakening oil prices are usually a sign of an economic downturn.”
High energy prices used to be seen as a drag on the economy.
High energy prices led to an increase in innovation to make more energy efficient products and processes.
Now I’m driving a car that gets over 30 mpg. My previous car got about 21 mpg. My guess is that many folks reading this blog can point to better efficiency in their current vehicles compared to what they were driving in the past.
Take a look at the efficiencies that have come about in the HVAC business. It takes a lot less energy to heat or cool a building or home now than it did in the past.
I guess we’re all a bunch of innovative cheapskates when you come right down to it.
Same here. Better mpg AND I work from home 2-3 days a week.
Here’s an article that contains a nifty chart that shows how the FIRE economy compares with manufacturing over the past few decades.
https://macromon.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/americas-fire-economy/
To provide an idea of how hollowed-out manufacturing is, check out this dehumidifier recall from 2013 and 2016. One company, Gree, a Chinese manufacturer, makes scores of different models for multiple companies:
1) List of initial companies: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/09/gree-recalls-more-than-2-million-dehumidifiers/index.htm
2) List of models: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2013/Gree-Recalls-12-Brands-of-Dehumidifiers/
3) 2016 updated Gree recall: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2016/gree-reannounces-dehumidifier-recall-following-450-fires-and-19-million-in-property-0
All of those dehumidifers, all the different brands and models are made by one offshore company.
Its like the melamine cat food recall,
The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of renal failure in pets. Initially, the recalls were associated with the consumption of mostly wet pet foods made with wheat gluten from a single Chinese company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_food_recalls
Bigger and bigger government with more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes will DESTROY your city/state.
And property taxes never go down.
++++
The Banana Republic Of Illinois
Investors Business Daily | 23 June, 2017 | Stephen Moore
Anyone who thinks this soak-the-rich scheme will solve Illinois’ long-term budget crisis should have their head examined. Illinois already ranks in the top three among the 50 states in state-local tax burden, so if raising taxes were any kind of solution here, the Land of Lincoln would be a Garden of Eden.
Instead the state has been a financial basket case for years.
This is a state that is now $14.5 billion in arrears in paying its bills, whose bonds have been down-graded to near junk bond status, and that is losing its most valuable resource: its businesses and citizens. Small business contractors have to wait 6 months or more to get paid.
The tax increase is a punt in dealing with the massive unfunded liabilities in its government pension system. According to the Council On Government and Financial Accountability, Illinois’ pension payments are the major contributor to spending growth.
Following the recent credit downgrade, Moody’s cited the state’s overwhelming pension debt level as a contributor to the poor credit rating and negative outlook. In November, the state reported having $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, but Moody’s calculates that level of pension debt as twice as high — or $251 billion. A recent Hoover Institution essay estimates Illinois’ pension funding ratio to be 29%, the lowest level in the United States.
According to Donna Arduin, a former budget advisor to Governor Rauner, if the pensions aren’t curtailed, soon as much as one in four tax dollars in the state will not go for schools, or roads, of health care, or police and fire, but pension payments to retired employees — many who no longer live in the state.
With a financial outlook like this, is it any wonder that some half-million more Americans left Illinois than moved there over the last decade? Only two states — California and New York, two other liberal pantheons — have lost more residents to other states than Illinois.
many who no longer live in the state ??
Income should be taxed in the state its earned just like all other income…You can move if you like, but your Illinois pension is going to be taxed in Illinois…
From the Net …
“On Jan. 10, 1996, P.L. 104-95 took effect. This federal law prohibits any state from taxing pension income of non-residents, even if the pension was earned within the state. Before the passage of this law, California, New York and several other states maintained a source tax on pension earned within the state. For example, a California teacher who retired to Nevada would have to continue paying the source tax on her California pension. Thanks to this law, people who earn a pension in California then move out of the state no longer have to pay taxes on these funds to California.”
Link …
http://finance.zacks.com/california-pension-income-taxable-outside-california-8191.html
Are you sure Illinois taxes pension income? NY does not. I think Illinois does not either. Possibly the concern is that those expats are spending their dime elsewhere.
Correction, NY has a partial tax exemption on pension income. Full exemption only for government employees.
Seems the question should be where the money is earned…If the state is writing the check apparently the money was earned there…If I move out of state, can I take my California rental income with me and not file Ca. tax ?? Answer is no…Just another boondoggle exemption for the unions…
It’s not that simple. I work for a company in PA. I pay income tax to NY, even if I’m working in Japan.
This is what a pro athlete’s tax return looks like
By Steven Kutz
Published: Aug 29, 2016 9:51 a.m. ET
NFL players receive 16 checks over the course of the 166-day season. And each away-game check can be different, based on the income tax rate of the state they’re playing in.
For example, if the Jets play a game in Florida against the Miami Dolphins, the Jets players’ checks will be higher than if it were a home game, since Florida has no income tax and New York does. But the players may need to make up the difference on their taxes.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-jock-tax-and-why-a-professional-athletes-tax-form-can-be-as-big-as-a-bible-2016-07-27
Foreign embezzlers and money launderers have been a prime factor in driving up high-end housing in NYC, San Francisco, etc. to unsustainable peaks. Astonishingly, some of these same grifters show no compunction about skipping out on their financial obligations.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-24/meet-money-laundering-nigerian-oil-magnate-behind-new-yorks-50mm-condo-foreclosure
Update on ecommerce and brick-and-mortar retail jobs
By Michael Mandel / 5.12.2017
This post updates our March 2017 paper on ecommerce jobs, based on the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (we also call this sector “advanced distribution”) . Here’s what we find:
1.Since the last business cycle peak, December 2007, the number of ecommerce jobs is up by 397,000. These gains are being driven mainly by the growth of fulfillment centers in states such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.
2.Since December 2007, the number of brick-and-mortar retail jobs, as reported by the BLS, is up 186,000. However, that’s a deceptive gain, because hours worked has fallen. In fact, the number of full-time equivalent jobs in brick-and-mortar retail has fallen by 76,000 since December 2007.
3.That means the gains in ecommerce jobs far exceeds the loss in full-time equivalent jobs in brick-and-mortar retail.
4.At an annual rate, wage and salary payments to ecommerce workers are up by $19 billion since December 2007, measured in 2016 dollars. Wage and salary payments to brick-and-mortar retail workers are up almost $4 billion, in 2016 dollars, over the same stretch.
5.In an upcoming piece, we do a detailed analysis of the wage difference on a local level between ecommerce (advanced distribution) and retail. Our conclusions–that ecommerce pays significantly more than bricks-and-mortar retail–remains the same.
http://www.progressivepolicy.org/blog/update-ecommerce-brick-mortar-retail-jobs/
Turns out Pense managed IN very well
Is that a joke? Because if it isn’t, I got some Tim Poole videos that show otherwise.
Lowest debt per c as pita,look at data on IN vs I’ll,oh,wi
Oh, ok. He left behind a lot of deferred maintenance, though. OTOH, ‘nois and oh have a lot of deferred maintenance, too, it would seem, so I guess he managed well in comparison.
Florida would have really been in the soup if JEB had had his way with Lehman. We really dodged a bullet there thanks to Alex Sink.
Boots ,July looks like inventory build a la 2005.
Maybe not as bad,but bad
We can close out the selection board for this year’s Darwin Award. The hands-down winner has just emerged.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/20/teenage-free-runner-died-sticking-head-train-carriage-take-selfie/
Mon Jun 26, 2017 | 5:25 AM EDT
Burn victims overwhelm Pakistani hospitals after tanker fire kills 146
A soldier stands guard amid burnt out cars and motorcycles at the scene of an oil tanker explosion in Bahawalpur, Pakistan June 25, 2017.
REUTERS/STRINGER
A general view of the scene of an oil tanker explosion in Bahawalpur, Pakistan June 25, 2017.
REUTERS/STRINGER
By Mubasher Bukhari | LAHORE, PAKISTAN
(Reuters) - Pakistani hospitals on Monday struggled to treat scores of severely burned victims of a fuel tanker explosion that killed at least 146 people, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew back from an overseas trip to visit the injured.
More than 118 people were injured in the explosion in the eastern province of Punjab, which came as people gathered to collect leaking fuel after the tanker overturned on Sunday, government officials and rescue workers said.
A report from the Denver Post in Colorado. “Resort-style outdoor pools with cabanas.
Anyone who lives on the Front Range knows that outdoor pools here are only useful June, July, August and maybe part of September. They traditionally open on Memorial Day and are closed and drained after Labor Day, as the days outside those months have weather that is too unpredictable. While it could be toasty May, September and October, it could also snow.
As a perk an outdoor pool is kind of worthless in Denver.
“They traditionally open on Memorial Day and are closed and drained after Labor Day…”
That pretty much describes our community swim park, and it can be really windy (dusty) during those three months.
Tesla car battery production releases as much CO2 as 8 years of gasoline driving
Anthony Watts / 5 days ago June 20, 2017
Ooops, looks like those “saving the planet” Tesla snobs just got their eco-ride de-pimped
From NyTeknik: h/t to Don Shaw (translated)
Huge hopes have been tied to electric cars as the solution to automotive CO2 climate problem. But it turns out the the electric car batteries are eco-villains in the production process of creating them. Several tons of carbon dioxide has been emitted, even before the batteries leave the factory.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/20/tesla-car-battery-production-releases-as-much-co2-as-8-years-of-gasoline-driving/
I’ve long held that the most environmentally friendly thing you can do is drive your existing car until it doesn’t work anymore.
Parking a perfectly good vehicle in favor of buying an “energy efficient” car is a waste of resources.
Thanks so much for the fake news.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/news/a27039/tesla-battery-emissions-study-fake-news/
30,000 buildings in Dubai were fitted with highly flammable cladding that has been linked to several hi-rise fires that spread out of control.
I’m sure it’s nothing “investors” who bought into the cladded buildings need to worry about, though.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-dubai-high-rise-fires-20170122-story.html
It’s a 2 year old article (Ben probably posted it) but even from 2015, the numbers are daunting.
Excerpt:
As of this writing, the median U.S. home price is just 3 percent shy of its 2007 peak. (Existing-home prices already are at a record high.) But that does not even begin to capture the story. In San Francisco, the median price of a single-family home has doubled since 2012. The median San Francisco home is now nearly $1.4 million, or 50 percent higher than it was at the peak of the last bubble. The median household income in San Francisco is about $77,000. Put another way: The median home price in San Francisco is now 18 times the median household income.
Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421990/housing-bubble-will-end-badly-too-kevin-d-williamson
Yep, that was worth reading. Thanks!
The Price Keeps Dropping on Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch
But anyone touring this Southern California property is undoubtedly wondering, ‘could I lay my head down in Michael Jackson’s bedroom?’
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/06/25/michael-jackson-neverland-ranch-molestation/