Are we seeing an unprecedented public meltdown?
10 years ago
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- 10 years ago
- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
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Is Anything More Frugal Than Not Mowing?
Comments (14)Despite the original posters overly extensive post, with certain questionable content, the central point is still quite vaild. We as a nation spend more money on grass than on any other crop. That by itself should be reason enough. Read up on the history of lawns and you'll find that they were orginally created as a means of demonstrating wealth (aka, I have this big area and I can afford to do nothing with it except grow grass I can't eat) Regarding the comments of junegem13 and zachslc, you might want to read up on the legal history of this movement. As it turns out, most weed laws (ones based on hight, not on noxious weeds) are unconstitutional. Nonetheless, if you are in a city or subdivision and decide to do a wildflower meadow where there is not an reasonable ordinance, then you should notify your neighbors and the city about why you are doing and the legal preceedants. The EPA has all this information. Regarding property values, that was the original complaint neighbors made against one landowner when she converted her lawn into meadow. When they were unable to demonstrate an actual decrease in property values, the city ordinance was ruled unconstitutional. Afterwards, the neighbors decided if they couldn't beat her that they'd join her and replace their own yards with meadows. Property values in that one neighborhood are now some of the highest in the city (Specific names and places, are available if you want them). Time and time again, lawn alternatives done correctly have shown to raise values, not lower them. In Charlottesville, VA local government is working on an ammendment to exclude native meadows from our weed ordinance. Other cities are doing the same very quicky, especially since the weed ordinance as written by many localites constitutes a legal liability to local governments....See MoreAre we going to have a Winter this year??
Comments (57)Snowdrops in full bloom all over town now. Ginny: Yes...the storm about 2 weeks before was indeed snow...everywhere. But there was a storm between that one and the Bilzzard of 78 which was rain in southern New England. That intervening storm is called the "Great Blizzard of 1978" in the Midwest. The link I provided describes the details. If you look closely at the weather map it shows southern New England in the warm sector---rain. That storm melted a lot of the snow from the 1st blizzard away--even in metro Boston. Most people just don't remember this one because it was rain. But it was a storm of historic magnitude in terms of barometric pressure and snowfall in the Midwest. That intervening storm was a blessing for us because it melted some (or all depending on your location) of the snow from that first blizzard....and then our Blizzard of 1978 happened about 1 week after that! Here is a link that might be useful: Great Blizzard of 1978...See Morefires in CO, meltdown in WA/ID, January?
Comments (30)Well, I'm inclined to think that the "Vortex" is an optical illusion. However, I haven't been there in years to be discombobulated by first-hand experience. I was there both as a child and as an adult and thought that some of the phenomena had been explained. The measuring of height as referred to in the Public Broadcasting article takes place outside the little building. You are just standing there outdoors and your companion circles around you. What explains the perception of a difference in height whether the person is standing to your left or right? Got me! The Vortex is just a few miles from the town of Gold Hill. In the 1850's it was a major gold mining area. When I was told that there was a varying mass of minerals beneath my feet - it made some sense to me. Certainly, "gravity" weighs on me to varying degrees throughout most any day . . . You know, at higher altitudes - you weigh less. And centripetal acceleration means you will weigh less at the equator than at the poles. There's no question, I would be seriously light-headed if I was standing on a high mountain in Equador, right now. There's no question. digitS...See MoreBanking Crisis Entering a New Stage?
Comments (5)With pension programs disappearing, it seems to me that some middle-aged people's idea of borrowing against the equity in their houses in order to consume is foolish, in most cases. It is easy, as our employment income doesn't increase as fast as the cost of living, to decide to continue living at our earlier level, withdrawing equity from our home to finance it. Far better, it seems to me, to decide that we are going to live within our current income. And not only that, but to take the long term view and see whether our asset base looks as though it will fund an extended retirement. On the other hand, with a lot of the baby boomers retiring in a few years, there'll be a shortage of staffing, and quite likely a number of people may well be offered incentives to continue employment rather than retiring. In contrast with the current situation, where a number of pre-retirement highly paid employees are being offered incentives to leave, so that companies can take on lower paid younger people to replace them. But would it be wise to count on that? I think not - unless one has some definite plans for a source of self-employed income following official employment, to subsidize that (inadequate, on its own) retirement income. Retirement planning is different than it was 30 years ago, for people on average are living longer, so need a larger fund on retirement in order to be able to eat and operate comfortably in their last year of life. As pensions die, our equity in our homes becomes more important as one of our sources of funding for our retirements, along with tax-deferred retirement programs and regular savings. As interest rates have dropped, with the requirement to pay part of the earnings in tax, and put part of current income with principal to maintain purchasing power of our shrinking-in-value dollars, there's little actual current gain ... in many years, none at all. If we have no net gain on investments in a given year, it becomes even more important, in fact crucial, that we make new savings in a year in order to add to that highly important retirement fund. The exact opposite of pulling equity from our house-asset now in order to live as high on the hog as we've been used to, in current years. Not only that, many unsophisticated investors are unwilling to get involved in even the equity-based mutual fund segment of the stock market, with the reduced net income that most face annually due to the substantial payments made to the managers, let along being willing to learn how to manage direct investment into the stock markets on their own, with a potentially higher rate of return (as the shrewder investor puts at least part of the money that the mutual fund manager was making into his/her own pocket). Some money management concepts to chew on - if you're interested. Good wishes for increasingly shrewd management of your own income and assets. ole joyful...See More- 10 years ago
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