rosillo

LIFE

2005-11-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

Life
Life
Life
Life
Is
A
Cannibal

@ museum salvador rosillo
11/13/2005

http://www.atlantiscorp.com.au/applications/permeable_paving

2005-11-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.atlantiscorp.com.au/applications/permeable_paving

After Reading THIS, you'll NEVER look at a banana in the same way again!

2005-10-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

NEVER look at a banana in the same way again!

> > Bananas. Containing three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose
> > combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial
> > boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough
> > energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number
> > one fruit with the world's leading athletes.
> > But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also
> > help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions,
> > making it a must to add to our daily diet.
> > Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people
> > suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This
> > is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body
> > converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and
> > generally make you feel happier.
> > PMS: Forget the pills -- eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates
> > blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
> > Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in
> > the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
> > Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in
> > potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect way to beat blood pressure.
> > So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana
> > industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk
> > of blood pressure and stroke.
> > Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped
> > through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and
> > lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the
> > potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
> > Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore
> > normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to
> > laxatives.
> > Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana
> > milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the
> > help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk
> > soothes and re-hydrates your system.
> > Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you
> > suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
> > Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood
> > sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.
> > Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the
> > affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it
> > amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
> > Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
> > Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria
> > found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and
> > crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese
> > were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to
> > avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels
> > by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels
> > steady.
> > Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders
> > because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that
> > can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes
> > over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
> > Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling"fruit
> > that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant
> > mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure
> > their baby is born with a cool! temperature.
> > Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because
> > they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
> > Smoking: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6,
> > B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help
> > the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
> > Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat,
> > sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we
> > are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium
> > levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana
> > snack.
> > Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine,"
> > eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by
> > strokes by as much as 40%!
> > So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it
> > to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrates, three
> > times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other
> > vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best
> > value foods around.
> > So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana
> > PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS
Banana peel is also good for poison ivy

Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life

2005-10-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Some saddle designs are more damaging than others, scientists say. But even so-called ergonomic seats, to protect the sex organs, can be harmful, the research finds. The dozen or so studies, from peer-reviewed journals, are summarized in three articles in September's Journal of Sexual Medicine.
In a bluntly worded editorial with the articles, Dr. Steven Schrader, a reproductive health expert who studies cycling at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said he believed that it was no longer a question of "whether or not bicycle riding on a saddle causes erectile dysfunction."
Instead, he said in an interview, "The question is, What are we going to do about it?"
The studies, by researchers at Boston University and in Italy, found that the more a person rides, the greater the risk of impotence or loss of libido. And researchers in Austria have found that many mountain bikers experience saddle-related trauma that leads to small calcified masses inside the scrotum.
This does not mean that people should stop cycling, Dr. Schrader said. And those who ride bikes rarely or for short periods need not worry.
But riders who spend many hours on a bike each week should be concerned, he said. And he suggested that the bicycle industry design safer saddles and stop trivializing the risks of the existing seats.
A spokesman for the industry said it was aware of the issue and added that "new designs are coming out."
"Most people are not riding long enough to damage themselves permanently," said the spokesman, Marc Sani, publisher of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. "But a consumer's first line of defense, for their enthusiasm as well as sexual prowess, is to go to a bicycle retailer and get fitted properly on the bike."
Researchers have estimated that 5 percent of men who ride bikes intensively have developed severe to moderate erectile dysfunction as a result. But some experts believe that the numbers may be much higher because many men are too embarrassed to talk about it or fail to associate cycling with their problems in the bedroom.
The link between bicycle saddles and impotence first received public attention in 1997 when a Boston urologist, Dr. Irwin Goldstein, who had studied the problem, asserted that "there are only two kinds of male cyclists - those who are impotent and those who will be impotent."
Cyclists became angry and defensive, he said, adding: "They said cycling is healthy and could not possibly hurt you. Sure you can get numb. But impotent? No way."
The bicycle industry listened, said Joshua Cohen, a physical therapist in Chapel Hill, N.C., and the author of "Finding the Perfect Bicycle Seat." Manufacturers designed dozens of new saddles with cut outs, splits in the back and thick gel padding to relieve pressure on tender body parts.
Scientists also stepped up their research. Since 2000, a dozen studies have been carried out using sophisticated tools to see exactly what happens when vulnerable human anatomy meets the bicycle saddle.
The area in question is the perineum, between the external genitals and the anus. "When you sit on a chair you never put weight on the perineum," Dr. Schrader said. "But when you sit on a bike, you increase pressure on the perineum" sevenfold.
In men, a sheath in the perineum, called Alcock's canal, contains an artery and a nerve that supply the penis with blood and sensation. The canal runs along the side of a bone, Dr. Goldstein said, and when a cyclist sits hard on a narrow saddle, the artery and the nerve are compressed. Over time, a reduction of blood flow can mean that there is not enough pressure to achieve full erection.
In women, Dr. Goldstein said, the same arteries and nerves engorge the clitoris during sexual intercourse. Women cyclists have not been studied as much, he added, but they probably suffer the same injuries.
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THE WORLD

2005-09-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

THE WORLD
DISSOLVES
BEHIND ME
I KNOW
I HAD OTHER
WORLDS MANY
WORLDS BEFORE
THIS MOMENT
WORLD IN BROOKLYN
OR ST. ELSEWHERE
WHERE EVER IT IS
I AM
I HAD OTHERS
WORLDS BEFORE
THIS ONE WORLD APPEARED
IT IS A VERY LONG
AND A VERY SHORT
STORY
THIS WORLD WON'T
BE HERE TOMORROW
OR THE NEXT MOMENT
NO
IT WON'T BE
NO MORE
ANOTHER MOMENT
WORLD WILL TAKE
IT'S PLACE IN
A MOMENT'S
MOMENT IT WILL
AND THEN IT WILL
ALSO GO AWAY
BUT FOR SOME TIME
YOU AND I WILL
REMAIN MOVING ALONG
HOPSCOTHING ABOUT
CROSSING THE RIVER
OF MOMENTARY WORLDS
A STONE AT A TIME
A WORLD AT A TIME
MOMENT TO MOMENT
WHAT WE THING
WHAT WE WRITE
WHAT WE SAY
WHAT WE EAT
WHAT WE DRINK
WHAT WE DO
MAKES A DIFFERENCE
DETERMINES
WHICH MOMENTS
WE WILL LIVE THROUGH
ALL MOMENTS WILL
GO
AND OTHER WORLDS
MOMENT'S WILL COME
ALWAYS UNTIL THEY
STOP COMING IF
THEY EVER DO STOP
WHICH WILL STILL
BE A WORLD MOMENT
OF SORTS......
BEFORE ME
NOTHING IS
YET VERY CLEAR
WHERE
WHAT
WHY
WHOM
OR HOW
WILL THE WORLD
RE-APPEAR
RE-FORMED WORLD
RE-NEWED WORLD
SO I
AT THE TIMES
IN-BETWEEN
ETERNAL WORLD TIMES
AND
MOMENTARY WORLD
TIMES MOMENTS
I STEP OUT
AND GO FORTH
FULLY ALERT
WITH MIND ON
ITS TOES AND
MINDING WHERE
MY TOES ARE
NOT FLINCHING
AT ALL
ONWARD ONWARD
I GO FORTH
I GO AHEAD
ADELANTE
ADELANTADO
ADELANTE!
THE WORLD
THE LIFE
ARE PLASTIQUE
THEY MOLD TO
YOUR WISHES
AND NEEDS
AT A PRICE
EVERYTHING
HAS A PRICE
NOT EVEN
NOTHING
IS FREE!!!
07/20/05

museum salvsdor rosillo @ 2005

2005-09-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Intelligencer
Destabilized in Tribeca
Could a landlord’s innovative eviction
strategy threaten rent stabilization citywide?
Or just a few artist-pioneers with good deals?
By Aili McConnon
When Henry Meer opened City Hall restaurant in 1998,
the menu was inspired by the city’s grand old oyster bars and steakhouses.
And the location, 131 Duane Street,
was redolent with history: Its fluted, cast-iron columns were forged by hand in 1863, and the former coal room under the sidewalk was perfect for a private dining room. The restaurant’s walls are lined with black-and-white photographs of pushcarts and immigrants, some from the WPA, which provided work for struggling artists in the thirties. “I wanted an environment that breathed New York,” says Meer. But his preservation impulses don’t seem to extend to his current artist tenants—most of whom are sixtysomething Tribeca pioneers who live above the restaurant. He and his partners in Duane Street Realty want to evict them to create condo lofts, or possibly a hotel, using what the rent-regulated tenants, and even Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, describe as a dodgy new tactic: the sort-of demolition.
Last spring, the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal approved Duane Street Realty’s plans based on the provision that allows landlords to kick out tenants if they’re going to demolish the building. But 131 is landmarked, so they won’t destroy the exterior, and the restaurant isn’t closing. “They’re using this to demolish the tenants,” says housing advocate Bill Hall.
This summer, Community Board 1 urged the housing commissioner to reverse her decision and recognize that the “dangerous precedent . . . threatens all residential tenants in rent-stabilized buildings.” The demolition provision was originally intended to encourage landlords to replace dilapidated buildings; even pro-business Doctoroff wrote her to say “I believe [131 Duane] should not qualify.”
target="_blank">

A Duane Street Realty spokesperson says tenants haven’t been open to negotiation. “We just want to keep our homes,” counters sculptor Donna Dennis, 62, who moved to Duane Street in 1973 when it was lined with abandoned shoe warehouses. “I have limited resources and I don’t have a nest egg.”
Kara Rakowski, the owners’ attorney, doesn’t consider the case dangerously “precedent-setting.” Yet in her firm’s newsletters, she’s touted the demolition strategy under such headlines as LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE! The tenants’ attorney has appealed the commissioner’s decision, and most predict the case will eventually go to State Supreme Court.
Last year, Meer said, “The sad reality is that this building needs to be upgraded.” Today, he won’t discuss it, other than to insist, “There is no connection between the restaurant and the building upstairs.” Except himself.

November 3, 2004 Broadcast

2005-09-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

November 3, 2004
BroadcastTopic: At your beck and call
Just around the time
one listener contacted us
about the phrase
beck and call,
another listener—
apparently representing an
officeful of workers,
the whole
kit and caboodle of them—
got curious about the phrase
part and parcel.
Since we like to
consider ourselves at
the beck and call
of our listeners—
that is,
"in obedient readiness
to obey
any command
or fulfill any wish"—
we hastened to throw
our heart and soul
into the investigation
of these noun phrases.
It's easy to understand
the call in beck and call.
And the beck in that phrase
comes from shortening beckon.
The expression beck and call
has been available to English
speakers for hundreds of years.
The phrase part and parcel
has been an integral element
in our lexicon since the 15th century.
On its own, part can name
"an essential portion or integral element,"
while the stand-alone parcel
can refer to a
"company, collection, or group of things."
Put part and parcel together
and you get a powerful phrase denoting
"an essential or integral component."
We'll close with a caution
about confusing
part and parcel
with kit and caboodle.
While part and parcel
refers to something fundamental,
kit and caboodle
is used simply to name any lot,
or group of persons
or things.

Castro denuncia tráfico humano

2005-08-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

El presidente Fidel Castro denuncio la existencia de una red para el tráfico ilegal de personas a través del estado mexicano de Quintana Roo, con el fin de trasladar cubanos hacia los Estados Unidos.
La presencia de los Guardacostas obliga que más cubanos se desvíen hacia México."La organización del trafico de personas de Cuba a México está a cargo principalmente de cubanos radicados en el Estado de Quintana Roo, los cuales poseen medios idóneos para el traslado de estos emigrantes", expreso Castro.
El mandatario explicó que estos traficantes buscan en Miami a cubanos emigrados que quieran sacar a sus familiares de Cuba y agregó que les "cobran entre 8 y 10 mil dólares por persona".
Desde México los cubanos son trasladados hacia los Estados Unidos por vía aérea con pasaporte falso o por los puentes fronterizos, en ambos casos obtienen residencia automática gracias a la "Ley de Ajuste Cubano".
Emigración ilegal
La Ley de Ajuste Cubano, le brinda residencia y permiso de trabajo a todo cubano que logre llegar ¿por cualquier medio- a territorio de los Estados Unidos, razón por la cual La Habana afirma que promueve la emigración ilegal.
Durante décadas los cubanos recogidos en el mar recibían también residencia pero desde los acuerdos migratorios firmados en 1995 solo se les da acceso a Estados Unidos a aquellos que logren llegar a tierra.
Desde esa época las balsas quedaron atrás y se organizo un basto negocio de trafico ilegal de personas con lanchas rápidas, primero desde Miami y ahora, según explica Castro, desde México.
Sin embargo, la vigilancia de guardafronteras de Cuba y el Guardacostas norteamericano dificultan cada vez mas el uso de la costa norte por lo que al parecer ahora están saliendo por el sur rumbo a Cancún.
Tráfico de México
Según Fidel Castro la red mexicana saca de Cuba también a personas que no tienen dinero y los hacen pagar el viaje ejerciendo la prostitución o traficando drogas desde Colombia hacia los Estados Unidos.
El número de operaciones de tráfico marítimo vía México parece estar creciendo "en el primer semestre de este año se han realizado 18 intentos y se han materializado 9 operaciones", explicó el primer mandatario.
La vía mexicana lleva años usándose, ciudadanos de ese país ofrecen en La Habana el viaje hasta los Estados Unidos por 10 mil dólares, incluyendo visa, pasaje de avión y traslado hasta la frontera con Estados Unidos.
Una vez en la frontera sólo se trasladan hasta el puesto fronterizo norteamericano, dicen que son cubanos y piden asilo político, automáticamente son enviados a un centro de detención y pocos días después quedan en libertad.

Crystal Skull

2005-08-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.art-for-a-change.com/blog/2005/03/body-worlds-corpse-factory.html ........

The skull could not be Aztec, their rule and their very existance was only 98 years,before that there were no Aztecs,there were Nahuatl andthere were Mixicas and after it was the Spanish Empire ruling the area for the next 300 yearsunder the name of New Spain, until 1821 war of Independence and 1836 the beginning of the war of Dismenberment begun in Tejas (Texas) and ended in California in 1848.............

home buying

2005-06-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Inspecting a House
Before you buy any house, take the time to thoroughly inspect the structure and mechanical systems.
Costly repairs can often be avoided or at least anticipated by a preliminary inspection before a purchase offer is signed. If the house is inspected before a purchase offer is made, you will know in advance if heating equipment, rewiring, or any other costly repairs or replacements will be needed. If defects are found, you do not necessarily have to reject the house. A purchase offer can include a contingency clause that identifies what needs to be corrected before the sale is finalized. Another option is to offer a lower purchase price based on the cost of correcting the problems.
After an offer to purchase contract is signed (but before a loan is applied for or a title inspection ordered), a thorough inspection should be done. Some lenders require a mechanical and structural inspection by a qualified house inspector. Even if a lending institution does not require such an inspection, you may want one. Reserve the right to cancel or renegotiate a purchase agreement if a professional inspection reveals significant defects.
If you decide to hire a professional inspector, be there when the inspection is done. Follow him or her around. Ask questions. It is important to know what is being checked, why, and the condition of each area.
For more information, see Selecting Home Buying Professionals.
If you decide to do the job yourself, you might find it useful to study Preventive Home Maintenance Guide, or Identifying and Correcting Moisture Problems in the Home, or Lead in the Home: Sources, Hazards, and Solutions, or Health Effects of Drinking Water Contaminants, or Home Drinking Water Treatment Systems. Then review the following list of tools and procedures.
TOOLS
Pencil and paper to record information on the house.
Measuring tape (25 or 50 feet) to measure the dimensions of the house and individual rooms. (The measurements will show whether pieces of furniture will fit into specific rooms).
Stepladder, if needed, for access to an attic.
Flashlight with a strong beam for inspecting the attic, basement, and storage areas with poor lighting.
Coveralls to protect your clothing when inspecting the attic or crawl space.
Ice pick or pocket knife to test the condition of wood structure.
Hand level to check drainage of sidewalks, porches, and basement floor and to see if the floors are level.
Screwdriver to remove electrical faceplates to look for evidence of insulation and the condition of the wiring. (Turn off electrical power at fuse or circuit breaker box first!)
Three-prong electrical circuit tester to test receptacles.
Binoculars for inspecting roof shingles and flashing from the ground.
Plumb line and T-square.
INSPECTION PROCEDURE
Walk around the outside of the house at least twice. As you walk, note specific areas that you need to inspect more carefully when inside the house. Look first at the foundation, drainage, and siding; the second time check windows, gutters, and the roof.
Once the outside inspection is finished, move inside the house. Start in the crawl space or basement and work up through the house to the attic. Take plenty of time to look behind boxes, in dark areas, under cabinets, etc.
The items listed below will help you do a thorough inspection. Use this list as a guide when inspecting any house. The items do not include such personal preferences as interior decoration (color, carpet, window treatment, etc.) or the presence of optional equipment (air conditioning, security system, etc.) NOTE: The items are not listed in the exact order which you might follow when inspecting a house.
Answer YES or NO to as many of the questions as apply to the house you are inspecting.
LOT
Does the slope of the lot prevent water from standing next to the house? Water-saturated soil could indicate the lack of drain tile.
Is there easy and safe access to the lot?
Is the lot safe and convenient?
Are there signs of septic field drainage problems? These may include odor of raw sewage, extremely soggy soil over the drainfield, sewage discharged over the ground or in nearby ditches, broken or cracked white pipes that stick out of the ground, or an alarm flashing or beeping in the house.
For more information, see Environmental Considerations.
SOUNDNESS OF CONSTRUCTION
Are the foundation walls, interior walls, and ceilings free of cracks, especially horizontal ones? Check for door frames that seem to lean in one direction. These conditions might indicate excessive settling.
Does the structure sag? Are exterior walls plumb and square? Do floor or ceiling joists sag?
Are the floor and ceiling joists in good condition? Check the size and condition of the main beams, support posts, and rafters.
WINDOWS
Do all windows open easily and close tightly?
Is the woodwork surrounding all windows a good fit and in good condition?
Are the weatherstripping, caulking, and window pane glazing in good condition?
Are there storm windows and screens? Do they fit properly? Are any missing or broken? Check windows from both the inside and outside.
DOORS
Do all exterior doors fit tightly and operate easily? Check by opening and closing each door.If one tends to stick, check the fit. It could be swollen from too much moisture. Carefully check the weather-stripping to see if it is in good condition. Check the operation and security of locks and hinges.
Are the interior doors in good condition or are they warped? They should close and latch properly and easily. Check the door trim for good fit. Knobs, locks, and hinges should operate easily and be in good condition.
PAINT
Are the painted surfaces of the house in good condition? Check for peeling, blistering, and chipping both inside and outside the house. If any of these conditions are present, a paint job may be your first "project."
Keep in mind that paints with significant amounts of lead are common on interior walls painted before 1972 and exteriors painted before 1978. Paints with lead may present a health hazard to young children who might eat chips from the paint, as well as to other household members.
For more information, see Lead in the Home.
SIDING
Are the siding materials and the paint or stain in good condition? Peeling paint or white spots on stain could indicate moisture problems. Look for decay, split siding, or excessive rusting of nailheads.
Is there caulking around doors and windows, at corners, and wherever different building materials meet? Is in good condition?
ROOFING
Is the roof in good condition? Note the type of roofing material used. Try to determine its age from the previous owner. Are there broken or missing shingles, or some with curling edges?
Is the ridge beam of the roof straight, or does the roof sag?
Is there evidence of water leakage inside the house? Inspect rafters and insulation in the attic as well as ceilings and interior walls for water stains and discoloration.
Is the flashing in good condition and properly placed to prevent water from entering the attic? Make sure there is flashing around the chimney.
Are the gutters and downspouts in good condition? Are there any signs of leakage? Do downspouts empty away from the foundation?
BASEMENT OR CRAWL SPACE
Is there easy, clear access to the basement or crawl space? If heating equipment or water heater is located there, can it be reached easily for servicing?
Is the basement or crawl space dry and resistant to water penetration? Check for water stains on concrete floors and foundation walls. Damp spots on walls are not necessarily a sign of leakage; they can result from condensation. Even if floors and walls are dry, a damp or musty smell may indicate seasonal wetness.
Are there foundation vent openings in the crawl space? These openings are especially important if the ground has not been covered by a moisture barrier or if there is a radon problem.
FLOORS
Are the floors level and in good shape?
Does the floor squeak or "give" when you walk over it? A wood floor should be smooth, tight, and free from squeaks. Check the condition of its finish.
ATTIC
Can you get to the attic easily? In some homes, a permanent or fold-down stair provides easy access to the attic, but in other homes access to the attic is through a panel in a closet or hall. In the latter case, a stepladder must be used.
Do you see evidence of moisture, such as discoloration of the rafters; stains on the attic floor, masonry, and pipes; or damp insulation?
Is there adequate ventilation in the attic? Do all plumbing, heating, and exhaust fan vents extend to the outside?
Do you see streaks of light around vents, chimneys or roof seams? These are potential leaks.
INSULATION
Is the house insulated? There should be adequate insulation in the walls floor, ceiling, and attic. Check the thickness and general condition. The local utility company can provide recommended R-values.
HEATING SYSTEM
Is the heating system in safe and workable condition? Check for a sticker on the furnace or boiler that shows the last time a combustion efficiency test was performed. At what level of efficiency does the burner operate? Turn the system on and note its performance. Check for adequate air movement in each room if the system is forced air. Check for leaks from a hot water system. If the system is electrical, check the baseboard units to determine whether they are securely attached.
Is the thermostat located in a central location and away from doors or windows?
Replacing a heating system is a major expense, so it may be wise to have the system inspected by an expert. Ask the seller if an utility energy audit has been conducted. Ask for a copy of the report.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Does the service box have at least 100 amperes? Check the quantity and types of circuits for appliances and other electrical equipment to be used. Check to see whether kitchen and laundry circuits are adequate.
Are there enough electrical receptacles to meet your needs? Grounded receptacles have a third, round hole. Use a circuit tester to see if receptacles are wired correctly and are grounded.
Does the house have ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection in the kitchen, bathroom, garage, and outdoor circuits? Special GFCI receptacles can be identified by the "test" and "reset" buttons on the face of each outlet; GFCI breakers are labeled in the service box. If this protection is found in an older home, it indicates that the electrical system has been upgraded.
Is there visible electrical wiring in the attic, basement, or garage? Note the type of wire used and its condition.
As with the heating system, you may wish to have a professional check the electrical system.
WATER SYSTEM AND QUALITY OF WATER
Are the plumbing fixtures, especially in the bathroom and kitchen, in good condition? Look for water damage on the bottom of sink cabinets, around the bases of toilets, and on ceilings (below upstairs plumbing fixtures).
Check the water pressure at the faucets. Turn on all faucets and flush all toilets at the same time. How long it takes the tanks to refill under these conditions is a good indication of the water pressure.
Are there a shut-off valves on both hot and cold water supply lines to all sinks?
Look for signs of rust and leaks in the water heater. Is there a pressure relief valve?
Is there a private well? Has the water been tested? Acceptable water quality can be a contingency in your purchase offer.
You can get information on water testing from your county cooperative extension center.
For more information, see Lead in Drinking Water, or Removing Minderal Deposits from Household Surfaces, or Radon in Water, or Health Effects of Drinking Water Contaminants, or Home Drinking Water Treatment Systems.
SEWAGE DISPOSAL
If there is a septic tank, is it in good condition? What is its age? Has it been pumped regularly at 3- to 5-year intervals? Are there any signs indicating faulty or inadequate capacity of drain lines, such as a slowly draining sink, or a toilet that backs up?
APPLIANCES
Do some appliances remain with the house? These may include a built-in oven, dishwasher, garbage disposal, free-standing range, refrigerator, washer, dryer, and window air conditioning unit. All should be tested for efficient and safe operation. Ask the owner for any records of service and repair.
INSECT DAMAGE
Are there signs of wood damage from insects? The most destructive insect is the termite, which eats the interior of studs and joists. Termites may cause much damage before they are detected. Termite inspection is required by most lenders. Has the house been periodically inspected and treated for termites?
Are there piles of coarse sawdust beneath the timbers? This may indicate the presence of carpenter ants. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood, but they do nest in it. They are most likely to attack wood that has already begun to rot. These ants may also be heard within walls and may even be spotted inside the house in the winter. They are black and about 1/2-inch long.
Do you see deposits of sawdust on the floor and small pencil-lead size holes in wood beams and floor joists? This may indicate the presence of the powder-post beetle. To verify, check to see if the wood crumbles when an ice pick or pocketknife is pressed into the beams, floor joists, support posts, and sill plates.
If there is some indication of the presence of termites, carpenter ants, or powder-post beetles, your purchase offer can be contingent on the house being free from infestation by these or other insects. You can ask the seller to pay the cost of a professional insect inspection and treatment; however, inspection is usually paid by the buyer.
THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENT
Certain products or pollutants in the indoor environment can cause health problems. Asbestos, carbon monoxide, and radon are hazards that may be present. Lead, which can be present in water or paint, can cause health problems in children and during pregnancy. And some people are sensitive to certain products or pollutants like formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds. You may want to test for some or all of the following contaminants. Contact your local health department or county cooperative extension center for guidance on testing.
Formaldehyde is often found in particle and other composition board, plywood, paneling, wallpaper, and permanent-pressed fabrics.
Asbestos fibers may be found in thermal insulation, pipe and duct insulation, vinyl flooring, textured paint, exterior siding, and appliances, stoves, and furnaces. Removal of asbestos can be expensive and should be left to a professional.
Carbon monoxide may be leaking from defective or improperly vented combustion appliances, such as furnaces, gas dryers, and gas heaters. These should be checked by a qualified heating system technician. Try to avoid the use of wood stoves or kerosene heaters.
Radon, a colorless and odorless soil gas, can travel from the soil to the foundation and then to the inside of a house. It can have long-term health effects. If the house hasn't been tested for radon, you may want to ask the seller to establish an escrow account to cover costs of remediation, if necessary.
Volatile Organic Compounds are found in flammable and other household cleaning and maintenance products. You may want these products removed before you take possession of the house.
Lead may be present in house paints used before 1977 and in the piping system at soldered joints. If you have small children and suspect the presence of lead, you may want to have the house checked. Removal of lead-based paint can be costly.
For more information, see Lead in Drinking Water or Lead in the Home.
Adapted from the following publications:
John Merrill. 1990. Buying a Home: The First Time Around. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Madison, WI.
James A. McCarty and Joseph Laquatra. 1991. Basic House Inspection. Cornell University Cooperative Extension Service, Ithaca, NY.
Joseph Laquatra. 1991. Inspecting a Home. Home Buyer's Guide: Financing and Evaluating Prospective Homes. Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Prepared by Dr. Glenda M. Herman, Extension Housing Specialist, and Dr. Sandra A. Zaslow, District Extension Director, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University
This publication has

This file explains a variety of types of mortgages:
fixed rate, adjustable rate, and alternative rate,
graduated payment,
pledged account,
balloon,
renegotiated rate,
growing equity,
shared appreciation,
seller take-back,
wraparounds,
buy-downs,
FHA, VA, and FmHA.
It also discusses payment formats (regular, bimonthly, biweekly) and points.
Choosing the Best Mortgage
Selecting a mortgage can be perplexing, frustrating, and time-consuming. Mortgage lenders offer a variety of loan packages under different names with different interest rates, up-front costs, and fine print terms, all of which can change frequently. You need a lot of information to get a mortgage that best fits your needs at a competitive price.
Sources of mortgages include: savings and loan associations, commercial banks, federal and related agencies, life insurance companies, some credit unions, and family members.
When you start to shop for a mortgage, you will find a number of factors may cause interest rates to vary, such as differences in lenders, the size of the mortgage, the amount of down payment, and general conditions in the money market.
A number of mortgage types are on the market today, including: fixed rate, adjustable rate, graduated payment, growing equity, balloon, wraparound, and others. In addition, you have other choices to make:
Fixed versus adjustable payments.
Fixed interest rate with payments that usually do not vary versus adjustable and variable-interest rates where payments do vary.
Variations of fixed or adjustable payments.
"Creative financing" alternatives.
Form of payments.
Your challenge is to match a mortgage to your personal situation. You need to consider current market conditions, the age of your family, your attitude toward risk, and how long you plan to stay in the house. It may take time, phone calls, and leg work, but when you are ready to sell the house or pay off the mortgage, your investment in time and effort will pay off.
FIXED RATE MORTGAGES
The traditional, fixed rate mortgage (FRM) is considered the granddaddy of all mortgages. Its advantage is that neither the interest rate nor the monthly payment (principal and interest) ever changes over the life of the loan. If money is borrowed at 10 percent and rates go up to 18 percent, the rate stays the same. You know at the outset exactly how much the loan will cost each month until it is paid off. This is good if you place a high value on predictability.
The price paid for this predictability usually comes in the form of a higher interest rate than on an initial adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). Lenders often charge as much as 2 to 3 percentage points more. They do this to offset the risk that sometime during the life of the loan overall interest rates will increase but they will not be able to adjust the fixed rate. This same risk applies to you in reverse. If overall interest rates go down, you will still be locked in at the higher rate. This higher initial interest rate means you need a higher income to qualify. If interest rates drop, you will not pay less unless you refinance and incur the up-front costs of getting a new mortgage.
If your family's income is not high enough to qualify for a fixed rate, you might seek an ARM. However, 75 percent of borrowers choose to go with a fixed rate because they favor predictability and are averse to financial risk. The amount is set in advance and by prepaying they can substantially reduce the loan balance at any time. The rate can never increase.
Short-term mortgages of 10-, 15-, and 20-year maturity periods have become popular variations on fixed rate mortgages. They are often just like the 30-year loans but offer a lower interest rate because there is less long-term risk. You are rewarded by a dramatic reduction in overall interest charges. That means that you build equity faster and thus own the house sooner. However, higher monthly payments may make it more difficult for you to qualify.
An alternative to a shorter-term loan is to sign up for a biweekly mortgage. Biweekly mortgages are amortized as regular 30-year loans but the monthly payments are divided in half and you make a payment every other week. This amounts to 26 payments a year or 13 monthly payments in 12 months. It will shorten the length of time and reduce the interest charges for repaying the loan.
Three government-backed loan programs offer fixed rate mortgages.
Federal Housing Administration Insured Loans (FHA)
FHA guarantees the lender that it will pay losses resulting from foreclosure.
Interest rate is usually lower than conventional mortgages.
Mortgage insurance is charged.
Points may be charged.
FHA accepts higher credit risks than conventional lenders.
FHA appraises the house to be purchased and gives this information to the bank making the loan; loans take longer.
Seller may increase price of house to make up for points they may have to pay.
Low down payments.
Long repayment period.
Loans are assumable.
Veterans Administration Loans (VA)
VA guarantees the loan.
Only veterans or their survivors are eligible.
No down payment is required.
Lower interest rates.
Repayment period is up to 30 years.
No prepayment penalty is assessed to the borrower.
No cost for mortgage insurance.
Farmers Home Administration Loans (FmHA)
Administered by USDA for rural families Interest rate relatively low. Payment period is up to 40 years. No down payment. Amount of loan based on applicant's eligibility. Mortgage is insured. Must meet income guidelines.
ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES
If you plan to move or refinance in 3 to 4 years, you may want to forego a fixed rate mortgage and choose an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). Flexible or variable rate loans are two other names for this popular mortgage choice. They have one characteristic in common--the interest rate can and probably will change periodically during the life of the loan, depending on interest rates in financial markets.
With an ARM, you pay a lower interest rate at the beginning of the loan term. This means you can qualify with a substantially lower income than for a comparable fixed rate loan and your initial monthly payments are lower. The interest rate, however, can go up over the life of the loan, and you must consider whether your future income will be enough to meet the greatest possible increase in payments.
If ARM interest rates increase enough, the monthly payment may be more than that paid for a fixed rate mortgage. However, if interest rates decline, so do monthly payments.
To avoid constant and drastic fluctuations, most ARMs have caps or limits on how much the interest rate or payments can change, both per adjustment period (every time the rate changes) and over the life of the loan. Adjustments are made periodically, as specified in the loan contract. The most common adjustment periods are every 6 months, 1, 3, and 5 years. If you have an ARM with a one-year adjustment period, the interest rate can change only once a year on a specified date. Also, lenders may allow you to convert your ARM into a fixed rate mortgage under certain terms and conditions.
Some ARMs allow "negative amortization," which cancels out most of the protection offered by caps. This occurs if the monthly payment is capped, but the interest rate rises so the payments may not cover the full interest amount the lender is owed. The difference is added to the loan balance. That means that after you make your capped monthly payment, the mortgage debt will increase, not decrease.
Lenders use standard indexes plus a margin to determine the rate to charge on ARMs. Some frequently used indexes are:
Rate on 1-, 3-, and 5-year Treasury securities (or how much the Treasury is willing to pay on money it borrows),
Federal Home Loan Bank Board's national or regional average mortgage rate charged by major lenders on the purchase of previously occupied homes (or how much people are paying on new mortgages nationwide), and
Average cost of funds for savings and loans insured by the FDIC (or how much lending institutions are paying on the money they borrow).
Some of these indexes reflect what the market will bear across the country; others reflect local trends. The index selected should be one that can be verified easily. Its past performance may give an indication of how stable it is. Some indexes change monthly. You need to learn how much advance notice you will get before the new payment or rate goes into effect. The lender should be willing to tell you how the rate is determined. Ask your lender: Does the rate change monthly? Are there limits on the number of times and/or the amount the rate can fluctuate? The margin is an additional amount that the lender adds on to the index rate (usually 1 to 3 points) and it is constant for the life of the loan.
ARMs may be your only choice initially if you do not have income to qualify for a fixed rate mortgage. Look for ARMs which can be converted to a fixed rate interest at a later date. Remember, ARMs can be very complicated. It is very important that you have a clear understanding of the pros and cons of fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgages. Despite the lower initial interest rate of an ARM, the traditional, fixed rate mortgages may be the better choice for you based on your income, credit history, and lifestyle.
ALTERNATIVE MORTGAGES (FIXED AND ADJUSTABLE RATE)
There are a number of types of alternative mortgages offering both fixed and adjustable rates. The major ones are:
Graduated Payment Mortgage (GPM). This was one of the first alternatives to the fixed rate mortgage. It usually offers a fixed interest rate with low monthly payments in the early years. Payments rise at a set rate over a set period of time (usually 5 to 10 years) and then remain constant for the duration of the loan. Payments usually increase once a year. During the early years of the loan, the borrower will pay less than the interest rate requires but will make up for it in later years when the payment is higher.
This type mortgage may be a good alternative for first-time home buyers because it allows them to take advantage of their future earning power. They can gamble that by the time their payments rise they will have better paying jobs.
However, the disadvantages of the graduated payment mortgage are that salaries may not rise as expected, unemployment may be experienced, and the interest costs of a home purchased with a GPM may be considerably higher than with a fixed rate mortgage. Also, equity does not build very quickly and the borrower will need a larger down payment.
Pledged Account Mortgage. This offers an effective lower first-year interest rate because a large initial payment is made to the lender when the loan is originated. The payment may be made by the buyer, builder, or any other interested party. This subsidizes the interest payments over the first years of the loan, because the payment is put in an account where it earns interest.
This plan can lower the interest rate substantially. For example, if it shaved 5 percentage points off the first year's 10 percent interest rate to bring it down to 5 percent, one percent would be added every year until the payments matched the 10 percent rate. On a $50,000 loan, the first year's payments would amount to $305 monthly, rather than $438, for a savings of $133 per month (with the difference coming from the pledged account). During the next 5 years the interest rate would increase one percentage point per year (depending on the terms of the loan) and the borrower would continue to draw down his/her pledged account. By the end of the fifth year, the balance in the account would be zero, and the loan would become a standard fixed or adjustable rate mortgage depending on the contract.
Balloon Mortgage. This mortgage is not for the faint of heart. The amount of the mortgage usually is amortized for a 30-year period, but the borrower makes payments for only 3 to 5 years. After a period of time, the remaining principal, or balloon payment, is due in a large final payment. If the final payment cannot be made, it will be necessary to refinance. Often the lender will offer automatic refinancing as one of the contract terms. If automatic refinancing is not included in the contract, the borrower could be forced to start a mortgage search all over again and thus will have to pay closing costs and up-front charges again.
A balloon mortgage may be worthwhile if you plan to sell your house within a few years and expect the value of the house to appreciate quickly. Be sure there is an automatic refinancing clause that could save you from being forced to shop for another mortgage and pay closing costs again when the loan comes due.
Renegotiated Rate Mortgage. This is a variation of the balloon mortgage. The interest rate is fixed for a period of time, 3 to 5 years, after which it is renegotiated. The lender is obligated to offer refinancing with minimum or no fees, but the homeowner can shop around for more favorable terms. These are sometimes called rollover mortgages. The advantage is that monthly payments are fixed for 3-5 years and there is an agreement to refinance with the original lender.
Growing Equity Mortgage (GEM). This mortgage offers a fixed interest rate with a changing monthly payment that offers just what its name implies--speedy buildup of equity. The interest rate is usually a few points below market and does not change. However, the monthly payment increases according to an agreed-upon index. These increases are then applied directly to the principal on the loan. Thus, a 30-year mortgage could be paid off in 15 to 20 years.
The advantages of this method are that equity is rapidly acquired and the loan is paid off much sooner with low interest costs. The disadvantage is that income over the life of the loan may not keep pace with the increased payments.
CREATIVE FINANCING MORTGAGE ALTERNATIVES
In recent years, a number of creative financing mortgage alternatives have appeared on the market. These include:
Shared Appreciation Mortgage (SAM). With this mortgage, the buyer must agree to share with the lender an agreed-upon amount of the home's appreciation value (usually 30 to 50 percent) when it is sold or transferred or after a specified number of years.
Advantages of the shared appreciation mortgage are a relatively low interest rate and lower monthly payments. The disadvantage of the SAM is that the buyer may not be able to buy out the lender when the specified payoff time arrives. In that case, the buyer would be forced to refinance or sell the home. SAM is most advantageous when property values are rising. In declining real estate markets, the buyer may be liable for an additional amount of interest.
Assumable Mortgages. These mortgages became popular during periods of high interest rates. The seller of the home passes on the existing mortgage to the new owner, who takes over the remaining payments. The new owner assumes the lower interest rate, but the buyer must have a large enough down payment to make up the difference between the selling price of the home and the balance on the old mortgage.
Few lenders today allow mortgages to be assumed, so read all contracts carefully. Look for a "due-on-sale" clause, which means that the mortgage may not be assumable and that the seller must pay off any outstanding balance and the buyer must apply for an entirely new mortgage.
Seller Take-back Mortgages. If the buyer doesn't have a large enough down payment to cover the difference between the selling price and the balance on an assumable mortgage, a seller take-back mortgage may be used. It is considered a second mortgage because the buyer uses the new home as collateral and borrows an amount (from the seller) necessary to finance the down payment and equity buyout of the seller. Remember that the mortgage was assumed and is still outstanding.
These mortgages frequently involve paying only interest with the principal due in full at some later date. A borrower can take advantage of an assumable mortgage but will have to make a large balloon payment at maturity.
Wraparound Mortgage. This is a variation on the second mortgage. For example: Imagine a borrower has $25,000 for a down payment on a $75,000 condominium but cannot afford the payments because the current interest rate is 12 percent for the additional $50,000. The present owner currently has a $30,000 mortgage at 8 percent. The owner offers the borrower a $50,000 mortgage at 10 percent--a blended rate of 8 percent on the $30,000 and 13 percent on the remaining $20,000. The new loan "wraps around" the existing mortgage of $30,000. In essence, the borrower is assuming the existing mortgage and adding another. The borrower makes the payment through the seller, who then forwards the appropriate payment to the lending institution.
To take advantage of the wraparound, the borrower must make sure that the holder of the original mortgage is aware of the arrangement. Some lenders do not allow these mortgages, and may have the right to insist that the old mortgage be paid off immediately. Also, the borrower is relying on the seller to make the original mortgage payment on time. This can be very risky.
Buy-downs. In a buy-down, a developer or some other interested party offers to subsidize part of the interest for a set period of time (1 to 5 years) so that the buyer has a lower initial monthly payment. Before choosing this type of mortgage, a borrower should consider what the payments will be after the subsidy period ends.
If the loan has a fixed rate, the payment will rise to the actual amount of principal and interest. If it is a variable rate, the payment may go up even higher depending on the index to which it is tied. Borrowers need to give careful consideration about their ability to make future payments before getting a mortgage like this.
Buyers and builders may offer buy-downs to make financing arrangements look more attractive. They may increase the price of the home to make up for the money paid to the financial institution to buy down the interest rate for the first several years. Borrowers should ask what the price of the property would be if they did not choose the buy-down mortgage. They may realize substantial savings by taking a lower price and finding a mortgage elsewhere.
Personal Loans. Family or friends may be possible sources for a mortgage or a second mortgage. Because of the large amounts of money that may be involved, be sure to have a legal contract that spells out the rights and responsibilities of all parties. This is important at tax time since mortgage interest payments are deductible, but personal loan interest payments are not.
OTheR CONSIDERATIONS
In addition to choosing among the various fixed and adjustable mortgages, you can choose the way in which to make your monthly payments. The most popular payment formats are:
Regular--1 payment/month = 12 payments/yearBimonthly--2 payments/month = 24 payments/yearBiweekly--payments every other week = 26 payments/year
How much interest you pay on the overall mortgage will depend on how often the principal is reduced. If you make a bimonthly payment in which you pay $250 twice a month rather than $500 monthly, you will pay less total interest because you reduce the principal every time you make a payment. Even minimal reduction of principal can greatly reduce interest costs.
Biweekly mortgages save interest costs in two ways. First, with a regular monthly mortgage, you usually pay at the beginning of the month for using the bank's money for the previous month. With a biweekly payment, the financial institution doesn't have to wait for four weeks for their money--it gets half the monthly payment every other week and can use it to loan to other customers. In essence, you are paying off some of the principal earlier in the month.
Second, you are making two extra payments every year, which reduces the principal and also reduces the time needed to repay the principal. This is the equivalent of an extra month. If you select this option, you must be prepared twice during the year to make three payments within a one-month period. Although the loan is amortized over 30 years, you usually pay it off in 18 to 21 years. In the example, you would save over $39,000 in interest costs on a $50,000 mortgage and over $117,000 on a $150,000 mortgage. Check to see if there is a prepayment penalty clause.
Points may or may not be charged, depending upon the money market situation and other factors. A point is equal to one percent of the mortgage loan. Points are a one-time charge collected by the lender at closing to increase the return on the loan. By paying points, you may reduce the interest rate charged by the lender. On a conventional mortgage, points may be paid by either the buyer or seller or split between them. In FHA or VA loans, the borrower is not allowed to pay any points.
At some point in the application and settlement process, the points and interest rate to be paid are locked in. Some lenders will lock in the rate and points at the time an application for a loan is made or when they approve the loan application. Some lenders will allow points and interest to float up to the time of closing. Others will lock in the interest rate but let the points float.
When shopping for a mortgage, find out what will happen to the rate if market rates go up or down. Ask the lender when the interest rate and points can be locked in. Be sure to get any agreement of this type in writing. Some lenders charge a fee for locking in interest rates and points. How long the lock-in lasts may vary (30, 60, 90, and 120 days are most common), as does what happens to the interest and points if the lock-in period expires before closing.
Not every mortgage will fit all your specific needs, but once you determine your personal goals, you will have made a good start. To keep monthly housing costs down, consider the following:
Make as large a down payment as possible.
Take the mortgage over a longer period of time (although this will cost more total dollars to pay off the loan).
Shop for the lowest interest rate.
Keep the mortgage payment within affordable limits.
For more information, see Selecting Home Buying Professionals.
Adapted from:
Shelby, Wanda W. and Eleanor J. Walls. 1991. Mortgage Alternatives: The Risk and Opportunities. University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock, AR.
Peart, Virginia. Mortgage Alternatives: The Risk and Opportunities. University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Gainesville, FL.
Hogarth, Jeanne M. 1991. Financing Your Homes. Home Buyer's Guide: Financing and Evaluating Prospective Homes. Cornell University Cooperative Extension Service, Ithaca, NY.
Merrill, John. 1990. Buying a Home: The First Time Around. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Madison, WI.
Fannie Mae. 1991. A Guide to Homeownership. Washington, DC.
Prepared by Dr. Glenda M. Herman, Extension Housing Specialist, and Janice Holm Lloyd, Family Resource Management Specialist, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
This publication has been issued

This document contains information about:
real estate brokers, agents, and Realtors;
using a buyer's broker or agent;
dual agency situations; and
home inspectors, surveyors, architects, and mortgage lenders.
Selecting Home Buying Professionals
Buying a house can be confusing. Few people have the knowledge and experience needed to find, evaluate, and then buy a house without the help of various home buying professionals such as: real estate agents or brokers, home inspectors, appraisers, surveyors, attorneys, and mortgage lenders.
There is a big difference between professionals who can help you buy a house and those who can build or fix up a house. People who would not hesitate to question the qualifications or methods of a carpenter, plumber, mason, or landscaper are often reluctant to question the expertise or skill of other home buying professionals whose work is done on paper and not on the house.
Home buyers, especially first-time buyers, often hesitate to ask questions. But remember, the only dumb question is the one that has not been asked. If a home buying professional cannot or will not give you a simple answer or appears offended by your questions, look for someone else to help you. If a home buying professional is put off by simple questions, imagine what will happen when you get to complicated ones! Beware of the tendency to be in awe of certain professionals, such as lawyers.
Builders or contractors deal with physical products. When a carpenter builds a deck, you can examine the joists; when a roofer installs the roof, you can check the flashing. But most home buying professionals produce paperwork and opinions. There are no physical tests of quality. Without a questioning attitude, important decisions about your house purchase may rest on little more than the appearance of expertise and authority. All home buying professionals should be able to give you a clear idea of what they will do for you and how they will proceed. Some will put it in writing before you hire them. When a service cannot be summed up, ask to see samples of their work.
Always compare services and prices. Before using a business or individual, check the reputation of the firm or individual. Talk with people in your community who have used such a service recently and to local loan officers who may be able to make recommendations. Ask these important questions when searching for help:
Exactly what will be included in your services?
What will it cost?
Who pays the bill?
When will the work begin and how long will it take?
What kind of guarantee will you provide?
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS
(Real Estate Broker, Realtor, Real Estate Agent)
An efficient method of shopping for a house is to consult a real estate professional. How do you select one and what services can you expect? Try to find an experienced real estate professional who works primarily in the area in which you are interested and who has access to a computerized multiple-listing service (MLS). MLS is an automated system that generates a list of houses that match your requirements. There are some differences in what a broker, Realtor, or real estate agent can do for you.
A broker can show property for sale on behalf of a seller, and has a valid license to sell real estate.
A Realtor is a licensed real estate broker or an associate holding active membership in a local real estate board affiliated with the National Association of Realtors. Membership in the Realtor organization is available only to real estate professionals who agree to subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics that goes beyond the requirements of license law.
A real estate agent, associate, or salesperson can show property for sale on behalf of a seller, but may or may not have a license to transact the sale and collect the sales commission. Real estate agents, associates, or salespeople must operate under the supervision of a licensed broker, and they receive a portion of the commission paid to the selling broker. North Carolina State law requires real estate professionals to be licensed by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission in order to protect the public from fraud, dishonesty, or incompetence in real estate transactions.
Realtor designations are: GRI (Graduate Realtors Institute), awarded by the North Carolina Realtors Association; CRS (Certified Residential Specialist), awarded by the National Association of Realtors; and CRMB (Certified Residential Management Broker), awarded by the National Association of Realtors. These designations specify accomplishments, experience, and training of real estate professionals.
A real estate professional brings together sellers and buyers. Always remember just who the real estate professional is working for. Real estate professionals have a financial, legal, and moral responsibility to the seller--not the buyer. In return for representing the seller, they receive a commission from the seller when the house is sold. Most commissions are a flat percentage of the home's sale price, usually 6 to 7 percent. Because of the way the commission system works, real estate professionals want to sell homes quickly and at the highest possible prices.
BUYER'S BROKER OR AGENT
The concept of using a buyer's broker or agent is relatively new. There are pros and cons to this approach. The most obvious advantage is that the buyer's broker or agent is legally obligated to negotiate the best possible price and terms for you--the buyer--not the seller. A buyer's broker can help you locate potential houses to consider and determine the condition of the houses, such as water damage. They are particularly helpful in negotiating the sales contract and writing a purchase offer that favors your position. Finally, they may be able to give advice that the traditional real estate professional could not because his or her loyalty is to the seller.
The main disadvantage to using a buyer's broker or agent is that you will have to pay a fee or commission. This may be a flat fee, a percentage of the purchase price, an hourly fee, or a combination of the three. While the buyer is primarily responsible for paying the buyer's broker or agent, often, with consent of the seller, the fee is paid by the seller's agent. You will be asked to sign an agreement that spells out exactly what you want the buyer's broker or agent to do for you. In turn, you will be obligated to work with the buyer's broker/agent for a specific time.
DUAL AGENCY
At times a real estate professional may become the representative of both a seller and a buyer--creating a dual agency situation. Dual agency situations often come about when one real estate firm has a relationship with two clients, one wanting to sell and the other wanting to buy. When this happens, the real estate professional is obligated to notify each client and to modify his or her actions to ensure that duties and obligations owed to each client do not come into conflict. Primarily this involves the real estate professional's obligation to keep confidential the motives for buying or selling and other information obtained through the agency relationship with each client. This may limit the range of duties the real estate professional may perform for either party. Buyers or sellers should carefully consider the possible consequences of the "dual agency" relationship before agreeing to such representation.
WHAT A REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL CAN DO FOR YOU
A real estate professional can provide you with a broad range of services including the following:
Pre-qualify you so you know what price range you can afford.
Use your "wish list" to generate a computer printout of houses that meet your specifications.
Show you houses that meet your requirements. (Let the agent do the driving.)
Provide you with information about a community, including the prices and characteristics of houses in the area, the location of schools, property tax rates, unusual building code regulations, and availability of community services.
Provide you with basic data about each property, including zoning, lot and house size, age, systems, equipment, and utilities.
Present your offer to the seller.
Coordinate closing details.
Advise you regarding mortgage lenders, real estate attorneys, professional home inspectors, and title companies.
When working with a real estate professional:
1. Never let another real estate professional show you a house that you have previously been shown.
2. If you are seriously interested in buying a house, don't worry about wasting a real estate professional's time by looking at too many houses. It's in your best interest to look at as many houses as possible. A real estate person should not push you to make up your mind or make an offer on a house before you are ready.
3. Assume that anything you say to the listing agent or broker will be told to the sellers. The listing agent or broker represents the sellers and is legally obligated to represent their interest. You can put yourself at a disadvantage in negotiating a price if you have been too enthusiastic about a house on which you decide to make an offer.
4. Do not sign anything without first reading the document carefully. For a major purchase, you should try to have the contract reviewed by your real estate attorney before signing.
5. If you feel you are being steered to (or away from) particular neighborhoods, if the agent or broker continues to come up with excuses as to why a house is not available for viewing, or if he or she is hard to reach or doesn't answer your calls about a certain house, you may want to check into the possibility that discrimination is involved.
Concerns over discrimination should be reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federal agency in charge of enforcing the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, color, national origin, receipt of public assistance funds, sex, or marital status. You may file a complaint concerning that agent with your local Board of Realtors and your local HUD office. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission is committed to promoting fair housing in this state. Any conduct by a real estate professional that violates the provisions of the State Fair Housing Act is also a violation of the License Law. The State Fair Housing Act states that it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or familial status in real estate transactions.
As you look for a house to buy, you will probably do a lot of driving around in neighborhoods you like or checking listings in your local paper. You may come across for sale by owner properties. Feel free to explore these houses on your own, even if you are already working with a real estate professional. The main advantage of a for sale by owner property is that the real estate agent's commission will not be added onto the sales price, making these houses somewhat less expensive. However, take extra precautions to have the house inspected before you buy, and have an attorney advise you on drawing up the sales contract.
HOME INSPECTOR
A careful assessment of the physical condition of a house and the mechanical systems can save you time, headaches, and money! Costly repairs to the structure or mechanical systems may be avoided or at least anticipated by a preliminary inspection of the property before a purchase offer is signed. You will be in a better position to negotiate if you know about any needed repairs.
House inspection is a job that requires specific technical skills. While you may be familiar with common problems, which will help you eliminate certain houses from consideration, a professional home inspector can give you a better overview of the house and its potential problems. A professional inspector is likely to uncover things that you will not find on your own and may prevent you from making a potentially disastrous mistake. Your purchase offer should contain a clause that the purchase contract is contingent on acceptable inspection results. You will, of course, have examined the house to the best of your ability before making an offer on it. But before you go through with the purchase, you will want an expert to take a critical look at the property. Although you will pay for this inspection, it is well worth the cost in peace of mind.
A home inspection firm may offer a range of services including: examination of structural, plumbing, heating, electrical, and other systems; identification of wood-boring insects; collection of samples for radon and water quality testing; and location and examination of waste disposal system. Some companies may limit their work to one type of inspection, such as lead-based paint, asbestos, water, or radon.
You may need other building professionals for special advice. For example, an architect or a registered engineer might be consulted for structural defects. A roofing contractor might inspect the condition of the roof, gutters, and upper reaches of a building. Be sure the services for which you contract meet your specific needs. Every inspection should include an evaluation of the following:
Foundation.
Floors.
Walls and partitions.
Roof.
Windows and doors.
Plumbing system, including septic tanks, wells, or sewer lines.
Electrical system.
Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems.
Energy efficiency.
Environmental hazards.
There are several ways to find a professional home inspector. Look under "Building Inspection Services" in the phone directory. Your real estate professional, lender, or attorney may be able to recommend a reputable home inspector. Ask your friends for recommendations on inspectors they have used. Check with the local Better Business Bureau for reports on various inspectors. Look for an inspector who is a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) and preferably one who has a PE (Professional Engineer) after his or her name. Ask for references from potential inspectors and check at least three of them. The American Society of Home Inspectors has set standards for home inspection services, so finding someone who is a member of this group may be useful.
Go with the professional on the house inspection. You may pick up some valuable maintenance tips, get a chance to ask questions about things you do not understand, and learn more about possible problems. You will also be in a better position to understand the written report. Home inspections take approximately two to three hours and cost $200 to 400, depending on the complexity of the house and credentials of the inspector. Whether you are spending $40,000, $100,000, or more for your house, this is a small investment that reduces the chances of a costly mistake. Insist that the inspector write a detailed report and list:
Major problems and estimated costs to correct.
Minor problems and estimated costs to repair.
Estimates of the expected life of various items such as roof, furnace, electrical system, air conditioning, appliances, and costs of maintenance.
The inspection report can help you:
Identify problems before you purchase a home to prevent unpleasant surprises later.
Get out of a purchase agreement (and get your deposit refunded) if serious problems are identified.
Negotiate an adjustment in the purchase price if you decide to buy the house in spite of the problems.
Get the seller to agree to pay for needed repairs, either before the sale or after the sale using funds in escrow.
Feel confident about going ahead with the purchase.
Remember, a home inspection is not the same as an appraisal. An inspector evaluates the structural and mechanical condition (not the market value) of the property. The inspector's findings will be based on observable, unconcealed structural conditions. The inspector will not normally guarantee or warrant the condition of the house or determine whether a house is in compliance with local building codes.
For more information, see Inspecting a House.
APPRAISER
Real estate appraisers estimate a home's value in a specific housing market, usually on the basis of sales of nearby or comparable homes. Often, a seller's price is established by an appraisal. Lenders require an appraisal before they can determine the amount of money they will loan you. A professional real estate appraisal is necessary to determine if the asking price is a fair one. An appraisal is an educated opinion of the current market value of a specific house within the past 60 days, and it is determined by a set of factors. Making an intelligent offer to buy is difficult until you know the market value of the house. It is also difficult to know how large a mortgage loan will be granted by a lender because loans are based on a percentage of the appraised value and not on the asking price. You may choose to insert a contingency clause into your "offer to purchase contract" that the house must meet the appraised value or you have the right to withdraw your offer.
You can have your own appraisal done. Look for an appraiser who is familiar with the community and is an independent appraiser with the initials MAI, MAI/RM, or ASA after his or her name. MAI stands for "Member, Appraisal Institute," the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers. RM added means "Residential Member" with at least five years of experience in residential, rather than commercial, real estate. ASA denotes membership in the American Society of Appraisers.
If your loan will be financed by either the Department of Housing and Urban Renewal (HUD) or the Veteran's Administration (VA), the appraiser will be selected by computer. Appraisals for one of these types of loans will be good for either type of financing.
Do not be surprised if appraisals (seller's and buyer's) are different. While both may be based on comparable sales, market conditions do change, sometimes from day to day. If the appraised value is lower than the agreed-upon purchase price, a contingency clause gives you the right to renegotiate the sale price or even to withdraw your offer.
A qualified appraiser should have nothing to gain or lose from a sale and works only for one party to the sale. Findings should be provided in writing and include:
An accurate description of the property.
A purpose statement for the appraisal.
All of the data and criteria used to determine value, including at least three comparable sales and cost-approach figures.
A final estimated value.
Any special conditions, such as an easement.
Appraiser's certification and signature.
The appraisal is usually paid for by the buyer and will be included in your closing costs. The cost of a complete appraisal of a three-bedroom, two-bath house could range between $250 to $275 for a conventional loan and $175 to $300 for a government-backed or financed loan.
SURVEYOR You may want, or your lender may require, that a property survey be done. While a title and deed describe the property boundaries, a survey is the only way to locate the boundaries of the property and to chart the location of improvements. A survey will discover any encroachments that the seller must resolve before closing the sale.
Often a surveyor is hired by your attorney. To save time and money, many buyers choose to use a recently made survey, but that may be dangerous if recent changes have taken place. The recommendation is to have your own survey done.
A typical four-corner residential lot survey averages from $150 to $300. That is a small price to pay to know that you are buying what you think you are buying. Home owners have sometimes had to move fences or make other expensive changes because their property line was not where they thought it was. If you wish to have stakes placed in the ground to delineate your property line, you will pay more.
ATTORNEY A real estate attorney will be involved in several steps of house buying. He or she can help you:
Review or draft purchase offers and contingencies.
Obtain the mortgage loan. Your attorney represents you and will make sure all documents are correct and fair. You may, in some cases, use the same attorney as the seller if the transaction is not complex.
Arrange the title search and survey of the property, making sure there is clear title and that the home is free of liens.
Close the sale. Your attorney makes all of the disbursements, has sale documents prepared and signed, and records the deed of trust at the county clerk's office.
ARCHITECT You can hire a residential architect to give a professional opinion on the condition of a house you are considering, to design major renovations or additions, or to design a new house from scratch. This can be expensive. If you decide to use an architect, choose one who specializes in residential design and has practical field experience. Shop wisely for a qualified architect. Ask for references and call them. Study photographs of completed projects or visit the homes. An architect should be able to advise you on:
Selection of good building sites.
Different costs of materials and labor.
Skill and reputation of several building contractors.
Restrictions imposed by local building, health, sanitary, fire, plumbing, and electrical codes.
Evaluation of bids.
Preparation of a contract.
Supervision of a job and regular progress reports.
MORTGAGE LENDER
Shop for financing just as carefully as for the house itself! Begin comparison shopping at the bank where you have been doing business. Get recommendations for other mortgage sources from friends, your attorney and/or real estate professional, or the real estate section of the local newspaper.
Look in your local newspaper for the list of home lending agencies. Investigate mutual savings banks, savings and loans, commercial banks, credit unions, mortgage brokers, and private investors. This list probably is printed once a week giving the interest rate for homes and the points required for a loan for both conventional (fixed) and adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) for different loan times (15, 20, or 30 years).
Select several agencies and make appointments to find out about the loans that each has available.
Shop for services as well as rates.
Compare the total points charged by each lender as well as the total fees (application, origination, credit report, survey, appraisal, and attorney as well as "miscellaneous" fees, which can include such things as an underwriting fee, set-up fee, and tax service).
Factor in the years you expect to stay in the house before you plan to sell it.
When interest rates are moving upward, look for a lender who will "lock in" a mortgage interest rate in writing from the date of the application. If interest rates are falling, lock in the promised rate at the time of the commitment. Also get written insurance that if rates go down, you will get the lower rate.
Adapted from:
Walls, Eleanor J. and Shelby, Wanda W. 1991. Choosing Home Buying Professionals. University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock, AR.
Merrill, John. 1990. Buying a Home: The First Time Around. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Madison, WI.
Peart, Virginia. Choosing Home Buying Professionals. University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Gainesville, FL.
Jensen, Marjorie E. 1991. Getting Information and Assistance. Home Buyer's Guide. Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Fannie Mae. 1991. A Guide to Homeownership. Washington, DC.
Prepared by Dr. Glenda M. Herman, Extension Housing Specialist, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. This publication has been issued in print by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service as publication fcs-434 (January 1995).
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El Millonario next door: the untold story of Hispanic entrepreneurship.

2005-06-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

El Millonario next door: the untold story of Hispanic entrepreneurship.
by Tyce Palmaffy
Many Americans seem to regard the nation's Hispanics with apprehension. Their high poverty rates, low education levels, and tendency to create separate cultural enclaves feed a perception that Hispanics are not following the upwardly mobile immigrant path worn by their Asian, European, and Middle Eastern predecessors.
America, meet Bartolo Lopez.
In 1970, at age 17, Lopez crossed the Mexican border into California with barely enough money to pay the "coyote"-immigrants' slang for the guide hired to bring them illegally across the border. At first he, like many Mexican immigrants, labored in the fields of northern California. Finding that wearisome, he began working for a Japanese gardener, who taught him the art of landscape design: skills such as reading blueprints, placing boulders, and creating waterfalls.
After earning legal residency as a licensed landscape technician, Lopez joined a landscaping firm in Los Angeles for several years. But when a recession hit in 1982, his salary dropped by half. That setback drove him to start 3 Pinos Landscaping, a landscape design and maintenance firm.
At first he was...

latin states shun us plan to watch over democracy

2005-06-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Latin States Shun U.S. Plan to Watch Over Democracy

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By JOEL BRINKLEY
Published: June 9, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 8 - In a sharp setback for the Bush administration's Latin America policy, the Organization of American States rejected a United States plan on Tuesday to create a committee to monitor the exercise of democracy in the hemisphere.
Instead, the organization agreed, at a meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on a declaration that attaches equal or greater emphasis to attacking poverty because of what it calls "the interdependent relationship of democracy and social and economic development."
The organization, which represents 34 states of the Western Hemisphere, voted to approve the resolution at midnight on Tuesday, but the language was not completed until Wednesday by staff members who lingered after the formal meeting.
The United States professed to be satisfied with the final resolution, even though it bears little resemblance to the proposal the State Department introduced last week. The resolution does not include the element that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted it must have, a committee that would investigate troubled democracies.
On Sunday, en route to the organization's meeting of foreign ministers, Ms. Rice responded to a reporter's question about the growing opposition to the United States plan, by asking how the organization could be effective without a "mechanism that can help at times of crisis?"
Still, on Wednesday afternoon, Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that "we believe that the declaration and its contents will help" Secretary General José Miguel Insulza "and the organization carry out their important work."
"We believe this is an excellent result," he said.
Several Latin American diplomats at the meeting said one reason they opposed the United States plan was that they thought it was aimed at Venezuela. The United States has been at odds with the populist government of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela for several years, saying it is slowly eroding the nation's democratic freedoms.
Last week, the Panamanian delegation to the Organization of American States offered a resolution similar to Washington's, but it did not gain any support.
"I think people misunderstand and thought it was about Venezuela," Aristides Royo, the Panamanian ambassador to the organization, said by way of explanation.
During the three-day meeting, Venezuelan officials lobbied heavily against the United States proposal, to a sympathetic audience.
Foreign ministers and ambassadors also opposed the plan, Mr. Insulza said, because they feared it was a proposal for "some sort of democratic police force."
The original American proposal said governments that do not govern in a democratic way "must be held accountable" by the organization and directed the council "to develop a process, as appropriate," to "make recommendations" on "how the permanent council should address threats to democracy in a timely fashion."
The final declaration says the secretary general will "devise proposals for timely, effective, balanced, gradual initiatives for cooperation, as appropriate, in addressing situations that might affect the workings of the political process of democratic institutions or the legitimate exercise of power" while respecting "the principle of nonintervention and the right of self-determination."
Ms. Rice repeatedly called on the organization to allow citizens groups with concerns about their country to testify. The American proposal set out a mechanism for that. But Mr. Insulza said "some governments don't want civil societies to feel they are the real representatives of their countries, when they are the ones that have been elected."
The final resolution says only that the organization should "consider, in cooperation with governments, in an ongoing manner," the "contributions of civil society."
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Umberto Eco presenta en Miami su última novela

2005-06-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Posted on Thu, Jun. 09, 2005
Umberto Eco presenta en Miami su última novelaDe la Redacción de El Nuevo Herald
En una desacostumbrada visita en el sur de la Florida, el escritor italiano Umberto Eco presentó ayer en Miami la traducción inglesa de su reciente novela La misteriosa llama de la reina Loana.
Invitado por la librería Books&Books y el Florida Center for Literary Art de Miami Dade College, Eco leyó pasajes de la obra y habló ante más de 500 personas puntualmente reunidas a las 7:30 en el edificio del recinto Wolfson, del Miami Dade College, en el downtown.
Tras unas palabras de Mitch Kaplan, propietario de Books&Books, y de Alina Interián, directora del citado centro, la introducción quedó a cargo de Alfredo Triff, profesor de Filosofía de Miami Dade College, quien destacó la importancia de la obra narrativa y ensayística de Eco.
''Estos son libros que marcaron a mi generación'', indicó Triff.
Eco detalló brevemente la trama de su novela y leyó pasajes en inglés e italiano. Luego se entregó a una sesión de preguntas de los asistentes. Tal como es patente en sus libros, hizo una apasionada defensa de la escritura y la lectura como las más altas vías de conocimiento del hombre.
''Una de las grandes injusticias de nuestra época es que la gente analfabeta no puede vivir las vidas que proporciona la lectura'', dijo Eco. ``Cuando yo muera, conmigo llevo la memoria de tres mil años, en tanto que estas personas apenas habrán vivido los pocos años de su memoria autobiográfica''.
La novela, cuyo título en inglés es The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, ha sido publicada por la editorial Harcourt, de Nueva York. Su precio de venta es $27. En español ha sido traducida por la Editorial Lumen, de España.
Considerado uno de los grandes novelistas y ensayistas actuales, Eco, de 73 años, nació en la región del Piamonte, Italia, y estudió filosofía en la Universidad de Turín. Junto con el escritor Italo Calvino (1923-1985) integra la llamada nueva narrativa italiana.
Es autor de obras de indispensable referencia en la novelística contemporánea como El nombre de la rosa (1980), que le valió un inmediato renombre mundial, y El Péndulo de Foucault (1989). Vive en Italia y todavía enseña semiótica en la Universidad de Bologna.
En sus ensayos reunidos en Apocalípticos e integrados (1964) Eco realiza un exhaustivo análisis del mito norteamericano de Superman y de la estética característica de la Florida, destilada de las invenciones de Disney World.

US CENSUS REPORTS RISING GROTH FOR HISPANICS

2005-06-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

U.S. Census Reports Rising Growth Rate for Hispanics

By SHADI RAHIMI
Published: June 9, 2005
The largest minority group in the United States is growing faster now than in the past decade, according to a Census Bureau report released today. And experts say the trend is likely to continue because of immigration and high birth rates.
One of every seven people in the nation identifies herself or himself as Hispanic, an ethnic group that accounted for about half the growth in the United States population since 2000.
Hispanics have the fastest growth rate of any other racial and ethnic group in the nation, and three times the growth rate of the total population of nearly 293.7 million people, according to the report. A decade ago, Hispanics made up 40 percent of the nation's increase in population. From 2000 to 2004, that number jumped to 49 percent.
An estimated 41.3 million residents living in the United States legally or otherwise are Hispanic. Of that population, one-third is under age 18, a demographic that experts say is likely to assert itself within the next decade on a national level about such political and social concerns as school financing and equity in the workplace.
"As this population gets older, it will become a much more powerful political force," said Audrey Singer, an immigration fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "As a voting bloc, Hispanics are not united in either their party or their positions on issues, but it remains to be seen how this very youthful population will come down on certain issues. There's a lot out there in the future."
While the Census report does not reflect whether the growth among younger Hispanics is because of immigration or birth rates, demographers who track such trends said there has been a shift in recent years. Unlike the past two decades, births now trump immigration as the largest source of population growth among Hispanics.
"We've built up sizable population of Hispanics who are of child-bearing age, both in immigrants and in native-born Hispanics," said Jeff Passel, a demographer with the Pew Hispanic Institute, which plans to issue a report this month on Hispanic immigration. "A lot of people in their 20's and 30's are coming here, and the ones that came 20 years ago have kids that are reaching 20 to 30 now."
Immigration among Hispanics peaked about five years ago, but continues at a steady pace, Mr. Passal added. Hispanic babies born in the United States now outnumber new immigrants, according to the census report. One in five children under 18 is Hispanic.
Next Article in National (2 of 5) >

office of the anti-discrimination commissioner

2005-06-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

How to lodge a complaint
Considering lodging a complaint?Other prohibited conduct Areas of activity covered under the Act Who may lodge a complaint?Is there a time limit?What happens after a complaint is lodged?Do I need to be represented by a lawyer or advocate?Complaint form
Are you considering lodging a complaint?
You may telephone the Office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner or make an appointment with an investigation and conciliation officer for free procedural advice about lodging a complaint. If you believe that you have been discriminated against in your employment, in accommodation, in education and training , in access to facilities, goods or services or in membership of a club etc. because of the following attributes or identities:
age
breastfeeding
disability
family responsibilities
gender/sex
industrial activity
irrelevant criminal record
irrelevant medical record
lawful sexual activity
marital status
relationship status
parental status
political activity
political belief or affiliation
pregnancy
race
religious activity
religious belief or affiliation
sexual orientation
association with a person who has, or is believed to have, any of these attributes or identities.
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Other prohibited conduct
any conduct which offends, humiliates, intimidates, insults or ridicules another person on the basis of gender, marital status, relationship status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, parental status, family responsibilities
sexual and sexist harassment
victimisation (in relation to claims)
inciting hatred (by public act) - on the grounds of race, disability, sexual orientation, lawful sexual activity, religious belief or affiliation, or religious activity
publishing, displaying or advertising matter that promotes, expresses or depicts discrimination or prohibited conduct
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Areas of activity covered under the Act
employment (including paid and unpaid)
education and training
provision of facilities, goods and services
accommodation (including residential and business)
membership and activities of clubs
administration of any law of State or any State program on any ground specified under section 16(e), (f), (fa), (g), (h), (i) or (j) - gender/sex, marital status, relationship status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, parental status or family responsibilities
awards, enterprise agreements or industrial agreements on any ground specified in section 16(e), (f), (fa), (g), (h), (i) or (j)
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Who may lodge a complaint?
The Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 states that:
a person who believes s/he has been discriminated against
a person on behalf of another person
a person on behalf of a class of persons if the Commissioner is satisfied that a majority of those members are likely to consent
a trade union on behalf of a member
a trade union on behalf of a class of members if the Commissioner is satisfied that a majority of those members are likely to consent
an organisation if the Commissioner is satisfied that a majority of those members are likely to consent
an agent of any of the above
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Is there a time limit?
Yes there is a time limit. A complaint is to be made within 12 months of the alleged discrimination or prohibited conduct taking place.
If the conduct happened more than 12 months ago, the Commissioner may not be able to help unless there are good reasons for the delay in making a complaint.
If you have any questions or doubts about timing, please talk with an enquiry officer before lodging your complaint.
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What happens after a complaint is lodged
The Commissioner is to decide whether to accept a complaint for investigation, or reject the complaint within 42 days after receiving it.
If a complaint is rejected for investigation, you may seek a review of the decision through the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal within 28 days after receiving the letter telling you that the complaint has been rejected.
If the Tribunal decides that the Commissioner's decision to reject the complaint was incorrect, the complaint returns to the Commissioner for investigation.
If a complaint is accepted for investigation, the complaint is investigated. Investigating a complaint does not mean that a decision has been made that anyone has 'done' discrimination or prohibited conduct. It does mean that the Commissioner will ask the respondent - the person or company, etc against whom your complaint is made - what they have to say about the complaint.
The investigation can then involve asking questions of you and the respondent and any one else who may have relevant information. At the end of the investigation there are three possible outcomes:
complaint dismissed
complaint proceeds to conciliation
complaint referred to the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal
The Act sets a 6 month time limit from when the respondent was first notified of the complaint for this to happen, unless you grant an extension of time for the investigation to continue.
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Do I need to be represented by a lawyer or advocate?
No. One of the aims of the Office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner is to enable investigation and conciliation of complaints with little or no cost to either party.
If at any stage you need assistance, please ask. We are required to provide procedural advice and assistance, however no legal advice can be provided.
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Should I seek legal advice?
Sometimes, it is recommended that parties seek legal advice. Legal representatives and/or advocates can provide parties with independant advice as to:
the preparations of a complaint or response to a complaint
the range of alternative options available to deal with your issue, for example sometimes the issues of concern may be better suited to another jurisdiction
the merits of your case.
appropriate settlement proposals
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How to lodge a complaint
You can collect a complaint form from the Office, or telephone and ask for one to be sent out to you or download it from this website.
Fill out the form, giving as much possible relevant information to enable the Commissioner to make a fair decision about whether to accept the complaint for investigation.
You can attach supporting documentation if it is relevant.
Please write clearly. A complaint can be written in languages other than English. Translation or an interpreter will be provided. If you have difficulty writing, please contact the Office and we will assist or contact an advocacy service to assist you with your complaint.

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ANTI-HISPANICO .....

2005-06-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ANTI-HISPANIC DISCRIMINATION IN THE AMERICAN LABOR MARKET: 1970s-1990s - Statistical Data Included
International Social Science Review, Spring-Summer, 2000 by Rebecca K. Woods
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Introduction
Measurement of labor market discrimination against women and minorities has become an increasingly intense focus for research in the past several years, although uncertainty remains as to exactly what discrimination consists of and how it may be measured in a way that people can understand. Economists have devised several methods for measuring the discrimination-based portion of earnings differences among white males and females and/or minority groups. This paper will provide as analysis of labor market discrimination using the methodology developed in economics by Oaxaca (1973)(1) and extended by Cotton (1988).(2) The paper will focus on earnings differentials between white and Hispanic sub-groups over the period from 1970/1976 through 1995, and will seek to determine how much relative earnings have changed, and whether discrimination continues to be a factor.
In section II, we will look at just what discrimination is to an economist and how it can be measured by incorporating a human capital approach, or by observing the controllable traits that an individual possesses. Section III discusses the model used in conjunction with the variables, and the results from regression equations are presented in section IV. In section V, we look at our results for data from the 1970s as well as the 1990s, followed by a summary and conclusions in section VI.
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Discrimination and the Human Capital Model
It is commonplace in our society to hear that blacks, women, Hispanics, and increasingly, white males are victims of labor market discrimination. There are two main costs associated with discrimination: costs to the national economy in the form of reduced Gross National Product and costs to the group discriminated against. Labor market discrimination occurs when two equally qualified individuals are treated differently solely on the basis of their gender, race, age, disability, etc. In this section, we will discuss exactly how discrimination is measured and what it consists of using women's experience as an example.(3)
The human capital model seeks to separate earnings differentials, which may be due to differences in qualifications from differentials which might result from discrimination. In general, human capital investment consists of resources that are invested today in an individual in order to increase future productivity and earnings, including formal education, on-the-job training, job search, and geographic migration. Labor markets are dissimilar from other markets in that labor services cannot be separated from the individuals who provide them. People tend to take more into account than simply the monetary results of their personal decisions, which makes motives behind pursuing certain jobs or careers more difficult to determine.(4)
Several factors contribute to differences :in earnings among different groups of people. Earnings are assumed to increase with education due to a resulting increase in worker productivity. Another means of increasing worker productivity is through on-the-job training. However, even when these factors are taken into account, at each worker category, women continue to earn less than their male counterparts. Women are being paid less than their marginal products.
In the male-female discrimination situation, from 60 to 66% of the gender pay inequity can be explained as resulting from qualification differences, such as differences in fields of study and education levels. Earnings differentials, which cannot be explained by differences in labor market characteristics, are what economists consider to be evidence of actual discrimination. The main problem lies in the fact that we do not have information on all characteristics affecting productivity. Thus, the wage differential due to discrimination is almost surely an overstatement. How much of an overstatement is what makes discrimination still an evolving field of study.
The discrimination coefficient measures the strength of an individual's discriminatory taste or the costs of hiring the discriminated group in money terms. In this case, a firm would continue to hire the preferred group until the wages that a preferred individual would require, less the discrimination coefficient, equal the wages that a member of the discriminated group would require. In perfect competition, we should find that a firm could not survive in the business world while hiring the relatively more expensive worker. The reason firms can afford to pay this higher price stems from a lack of competitive pressures in the economy. If some coworkers dislike working with this group, they may exact even higher wages than otherwise. Customer discrimination results from personal feelings felt by the customer against working with salespeople from the discriminated group. In order to make the same sale as another, a discriminated individual would have to charge the price charged by the non-discriminated less the value of the perceived inconvenience of having to do business with a member of this group.
In general, discrimination is the dollar value of wage differentials that cannot be explained through a difference in qualifications. As discrimination rises, wages for the discriminated group fall. Due to imperfections in the system for measuring such differences a great deal of literature continues to be published concerning how to better measure discrimination and some of the more recent trends in its appearance.
The Model
The model used to measure white-Hispanic earnings differentials was developed by Oaxaca (1973)(5) and extended by Cotton (1988)(6) and Neumark (1988).(7) The specific form of the model employed here, follows closely that used by Gaynor and Durden (1995).(8) The model incorporates four main types of variables: human capital-related, job-related, personal, and regional.
The following equation establishes the theoretical linkages between earnings and the determinants of earnings, according to the human capital model:
Equation 1: [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].
In this equation, [Y.sub.i] represents yearly earnings for each individual, [X.sub.ji] represents the independent variables, which determine earnings, and [[Beta].sub.ji] the corresponding coefficients. The [[Beta].sub.ji] coefficients are measures of the change in the dependent variable for changes in each independent variable. For example if an individual gains a year of education, ceteris paribus, the human capital model says that individual's earnings will rise. The [Beta] coefficient on the education variable measures how much earnings will increase for a unit increase in education. The symbol e represents the stochastic error term for each individual i.
In the empirical analysis below, a version of this equation is estimated for white males, white females, Hispanic males and Hispanic females in order to obtain the data required for measuring the total earnings difference between white males and the reference groups. This total earnings difference is then separated into the portion attributable to differences in market characteristics (the endowment effect) and a residual portion, which may be due to labor market discrimination.
The following equation shows the earnings differential broken down into the endowment and residual proportions:
Equation 2: [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII],
where [y.sup.wm] is the estimated earnings level for white males and [y.sup.r] is the estimated earnings level for each reference group (white females, Hispanic males, and Hispanic females). The Use of B* incorporates the methodological extension developed separately by Cotton (1988)(9) and Neumark (1988).(10) The B* coefficient estimates are those which would occur in a discrimination-free world, while the B coefficient estimates are from the equations estimated for white males (wm) and reference groups (r). If there were no discrimination, then white male coefficients would fall while reference group coefficients would rise due to changes in labor market supply and demand. B* represents a weighted average of the coefficients for the reference group and white males. It is obtained from a regression that includes all groups of the population (white males, white females, Hispanic males, and Hispanic females). The equation thus compares the current estimated earnings of all groups with what they would be in a discrimination-free world. The various means ([x.sub.j]) are the means of different characteristics for white males (wm) and reference group males and females (r).

RARE WHITE BISON DIES IN B.C. RANCH

2005-06-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

Rare white bison dies at northeastern B.C. ranch
Last updated Jun 3 2005 03:33 PM PDTCBC News
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A rare white bison has died at ranch near Fort St. John.
Spirit of Peace, a rare white bison, has died" src="http://vancouver.cbc.ca/gfx/Vancouver/photos/050603_whitecalf.jpg">
Spirit of Peace, a rare white bison, has diedThe calf, born prematurely about six weeks ago, was believed to be the only white bison in Canada. The chances of a white bison being born are about one in 10 million.
"We are very sad about our loss here and we do feel a bit of a void," says Rancher Karen Blatz. "We were getting used to him ... going out there every so many hours and feeding him and in between he was always there to talk to."
Blatz says the bison seemed upset after an evening of heavy thundershowers and stopped drinking its milk. She says the animal's health quickly deteriorated and he died Wednesday morning.
Aboriginal legend holds that the white bison is a harbinger of peace and unity. And in that spirit, Blatz had named the calf Spirit of Peace.
FROM MAY 24, 2005: Rare white bison born in B.C.
The U.S.-based National Bison Association says white calves are born only once every three to five years.
CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. External links will open in a new window.
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BOLIVIA TURMOIL

2005-06-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

Demonstrators in Bolivia have rejected calls by the widely respected Catholic Church to end their protests.
Thousands are expected to march on the capital La Paz on Monday where they plan to hold a popular assembly.
The country's main roads remain blocked, affecting fuel provision to La Paz, in the fourth week of protests.
The mainly left-wing and indigenous protesters are demanding nationalisation of the gas industry and constitutional reforms.
Snap elections
President Carlos Mesa met church leaders and political leaders on Sunday, and discussed the possibility of early elections in a bid to quell the unrest.
Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez, who was at the meeting, said snap elections were "an idea that is gaining momentum as a way out of the problem".
Leaders know that protests only stop when results are achieved
Evo Morales, protest leader
Cardinal Terrazas asked protesters to "end the pressure tactics that for weeks have choked the residents of La Paz and have hurt most of all the poor".
Evo Morales, a legislator and one of the leaders of the protest movement, said he supported more dialogue but did not want to stop the protests.
"Leaders know that protests only stop when results are achieved," he said, quoted by Efe news agency.
The demonstrators want reforms to give more power to the indigenous majority, who are mainly from the impoverished highlands.
Autonomy calls
In an attempt to reach a compromise, Mr Mesa signed a decree last Friday to convene a special assembly to change the constitution.
However, protesters say their will continue their action until the constituent assembly is guaranteed by congress and the country's natural gas resources are nationalised.
They are also opposed to demands for greater autonomy by energy-rich Bolivian provinces in the east.
However, civic leaders in the eastern Santa Cruz district plan to proceed with their self-rule referendum on 12 August.
Neither the autonomy-seekers nor the protestors in the rest of Bolivia appear willing to compromise, reports the BBC's Elliot Gotkine in La Paz.
And with no obvious way out, our correspondent says Mr Mesa's resignation and fresh presidential elections are now a serious possibility.

PUTTING EUROPE TOGETHER

2005-06-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

http://rosillo.myblogsite.com/

Next Step: Putting Europe Back Together

By ROGER COHEN
Published: June 5, 2005
A CLASH of ideas,
of ideologies almost,
is looming in Europe
between a British leader
whose fortunes have been
slightly revived and the crippled
leaders of France and Germany.
A certain Europe died last week
- the well-meaning,
outward-reaching,
economically torpid continent
that had tried to forge a
new European patriotism
despite the anger engendered by lost jobs,
lost growth and lost confidence.
No thank you, said tens of millions of Europeans
in France and the Netherlands,
rejecting a proposed constitution
that seemed to them to encapsulate
a European project lacking identity,
prosperity or even clear geography.
Where, they asked, will Europe end?
And they gave a clear enough answer: not in Turkey.
But what they wanted in place of this geopolitical smudge
was less clear.
When Tony Blair, the British prime minister,
meets President Jacques Chirac of France
and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany
at a European Union summit on June 16,
they will begin what amounts to the great European salvage operation
: an attempt to define some new idea for a Europe
long defined by the push for ever closer union.
"They will try to cherry-pick some of the better ideas from the constitution,
like a European foreign minister
or streamlined voting to make decision-making with 25 members possible,"
said William Drozdiak, the president of the American Council on Germany.
What they will not say officially is that the constitution is dead -
but for all intents and purposes it is.
Britain, almost certainly, will not even bother
to hold its planned referendum on the matter.
The notion that France and the Netherlands
might vote again
(and again, until they get it right?)
appears far-fetched.
Also likely to be passed over in silence
is the underlying European clash
that will define the continent's direction
in the coming years:
the one between what Mr. Chirac calls an
"ultraliberal conception of Europe" -
a Gallic twist on the classical definition of "liberal"
to render the idea of unfettered Anglo-Saxon capitalism -
and what is sometimes known as Rhineland capitalism,
namely a market economy with a high degree
of social protection as practiced in France and Germany.
Mr. Blair embodies the former:
the British economy is booming,
unemployment is less than 5 percent,
and soaring housing prices have given a feeling
of prosperity.
The French and German leaders,
despite some stabs at labor and pension reform,
embody the Rhineland model:
unemployment in both countries
is more than 10 percent,
growth has evaporated,
and the long deflationary spiral
has taken on an almost Japanese air.
The conclusion to draw from this clash
may seem evident,
but it's not to everyone.
For some in France,
including a resurgent left-wing movement,
the country's travails only demonstrate
the need for more protection
from free-market practices elsewhere in Europe.
True debate is almost absent
because Mr. Chirac, supposedly a right-of-center politician,
has spent much of his time trashing the market.
"Mr. Chirac,
in his infinite mediocrity,
has run a government well to the left of Blair,
a Labor politician,
and also to the left of Schröder,
a Social Democrat,"
said Alain Finkielkraut,
a French writer and philosopher.
"The trouble with this country is that those who deplore unemployment promote the very rigid system that perpetuates it."
One lesson of the no votes is that a system
which does not promote prosperity is doomed.
But whether Mr. Blair, whose star has brightened
in the gloom of France and Germany,
will be able to convince his European partners to change is unclear.
One factor that may work in his favor is that Angela Merkel,
the Christian Democratic leader in Germany,
seems likely to be elected chancellor in the fall.
Having lived most of her life in what was East Germany,
she sees certain merits in the market.
She is also a fan of America.
France may therefore grow more isolated.
But the waves of leftist sentiment,
rightist nationalist stirrings and sheer boiling disgruntlement
- all of them buoyed by the success of the no vote -
are too powerful to be contained easily and are not confined to France.
"National sentiments in Europe have been underestimated,"
said Ezra Suleiman,
a political scientist at Princeton University.
It was one thing when Europe seemed to offer
the possibility of becoming a cohesive,
even a federal,
economic and political force.
But "deepening" was sacrificed to "broadening."
The euro was meant to inspire people.
It was conceived not merely as a currency
but as a means to a political end -
some sort of United States of Europe -
that in turn would guarantee the long-term success of a shared currency.
But the euro has been marooned without its political counterpart.
As a result, further enlargement to include Romania and Bulgaria by 2007
will be more controversial, and enlargement to include Turkey looks doomed.
The Bush administration will continue to push for Turkish membership,
at a time of tension between the Christian and Islamic worlds.
But in this and other matters, the administration is likely to find a distracted Europe.
Just at the moment when the administration had been hoping to reap the fruits of its concerted push to improve ties with the European Union -
in the form of critical assistance in Iran and on the final-status talks set to begin on Kosovo - it confronts a continent consumed with its own affairs.
Difficulties have been overcome before in Europe.
The continent's half-century-old push toward ever greater union has often hit obstacles - de Gaulle's "non" to Britain, Margaret Thatcher's "I want my money back," Mr. Chirac's advice to countries like Poland to "shut up" over Iraq - but in recent days the whole project has been called into question for the first time.
And only in these most recent votes has
a disturbing trend emerged:
young people have scant enthusiasm for the Europe being offered.
In France the only age group to vote in favor
of the constitution was age 65 and over.
The European Union was born as much through
an understanding of the shared cataclysm
of the past as through a vision of the future.
For the young, that past has faded.
The future looks fuzzy.
It will only begin to come into focus if the three major powers -
Britain, Germany and France -
can cross the ideological gulf that divides them.
For now, that looks unlikely.

Roger Cohen writes the Globalist column
for The International Herald Tribune.

What eBay Could Learn From Craigslist

2005-06-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

By RANDALL STROSS
Published: June 5, 2005
THESE days, triple-digit annual growth rates are rare among major Web sites. Meet that rarity: Craigslist.
Signal accomplishments, to be sure, fit for boasting in an annual report. But Craigslist is a privately held company that has no such reports, and no burning interest in the competitive fray. It does far more shrugging than boasting. Its management regards profits, which it has earned consistently since 1999, as merely the means to remain in control of its own destiny. Free of debt, it can do as it wishes to maximize what it calls its service mission without having to maximize profits. This is good news for its customers - that is, community members - and bad news for competitors whose shareholders are unlikely to regard community service as their own companies' raison d'être.
Until recently, Craigslist was the overlooked underachiever from that fertile class of 1995 start-ups. Like eBay, it began as a free community service that year, a little experiment in applying technology to community-building, not profit-seeking. Craigslist initially provided online listings of local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, the kind that could be found in an alternative newspaper. Visitors were encouraged to contribute, and they added the online equivalent of the mainstream newspaper's classified section. Software handled e-mail forwarding.
Unlike eBay, which is dedicated to removing geographic obstacles to trading and defines "community" along national boundaries, Craigslist thinks and acts locally, organizing listings city by city for merchandise, jobs, real estate, personals, events, volunteer opportunities and discussion forums. It has moved at its own idiosyncratic pace, waiting five years after its start to add a second city, Boston. Today, it has sites for 120 cities in 25 countries and serves up 2.4 billion pages a month.
Craig Newmark, its founder, was, and remains, protective of the noncommercial character of the site. In the early years, he ran it in his spare time with the help of other volunteers. Eventually, the traffic overwhelmed them; he quit his day job and imposed fees to pay for full-time stewardship. But he minimized the impact on the community by restricting the new charges to employers in San Francisco who placed job ads. Modest fees for employers in two other cities were added only last year, and only after Mr. Newmark invited Craigslist visitors to comment on the wisdom of the change; there were 3,000 remarks, all posted publicly. Today, 99.2 percent of Craigslist advertisements remain free.
If you're the publisher of a local newspaper, you're spending a lot of time thinking about Craigslist. Traditionally, local newspapers have derived 30 to 50 percent of their advertising revenue from the classifieds.
Surprisingly, the momentum of this online alternative with virtually free offerings had not drawn much attention as recently as last fall, when Creative Intelligence, a consulting firm based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., surveyed the newspaper industry. It discovered that many executives were unaware of the arrival of Craigslist in their own cities. Nor were all aware that aside from a sliver, ads on Craigslist were available free.
Late last month, Knight Ridder Digital announced its plan to finesse the challenge of free classifieds: it dropped fees for ads for merchandise posted on the Web sites of 22 of its newspapers. When you visit one of these sites and prepare to submit an ad, however, you must navigate past pitches for various fee-based upgrades. The basic ad is free, but after 500 characters, you pay $1.99. Bold face, another $1.99. A photo package, $3.99. And so on. À la carte charges are the way business is done on eBay, but not on the commons of Craigslist. What part of "free" is difficult to understand?
Executives at eBay have their own reasons to lie awake thinking about Craigslist. EBay, the child prodigy that went the corporate route and became a publicly traded company at the age of 3, now faces sharply declining growth and that awful fate no prodigy is ever prepared for: middle age.
Data collected by Nielsen/NetRatings show that eBay's page views in April 2005 grew by less than half a percentage point, compared with the previous April. At Craigslist, page views grew 130 percent in the same period. According to the company's data, its traffic is now about a fifth of eBay's. And the operational efficiencies are astounding: Craigslist has 18 employees; eBay has 8,800.
Even though eBay's pockets are flush and it can afford to pay retail prices for acquisitions, like $620 million in cash for Shopping.com, announced last week, it must look ever further afield for growth.
One way is to use its technology infrastructure to improve classified advertising. Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay, says its core business is a "transaction marketplace," in which the sale is completed online with a binding contract.
In contrast to the "transaction marketplace," classifieds merely enable private parties to get in touch. Viewed in terms of technology and legalities, Craigslist provides nothing more than the newspaper classifieds. To consummate a deal, you're on your own.
But that seems to be all that its large and ever-growing base of fans desires. The offerings of Craigslist have never been more appealing, even though - or maybe because - it is retro in look and retro in its online technology. EBay uses an elaborate feedback apparatus to allow strangers who will never meet in person to feel safe doing business with one another. Craigslist does not need that apparatus. It is for locals only, and it is the one place that can fix you up with an entire life - job, shelter, furnishings, lover - at one stop, with minimal intermediation.
In August, eBay bought a 25 percent stake in Craigslist from a former Craigslist employee. Mr. Durzy said at the time that eBay was "interested in finding out how classified-style trading works."
THAT turned out to be an understatement. In February, eBay started Kijiji, a set of more than 50 international sites providing free classifieds, similar to Craigslist, in cities in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. By last month, the number had grown to 90, and eBay announced two related acquisitions that expanded the network. It is too soon to know how far eBay may go in copying the nonjudgmental approach of Craigslist's community discussions and sexually explicit personal ads.
In some cities, Kijiji and Craigslist co-exist, with Kijiji offering the local language and Craigslist offering English-only listings. Both companies maintain an official stance of being unconcerned about the likelihood of mutual competition ahead.
Were eBay interested, it could learn something else from Craigslist about doing business: how to reach decisions while consulting with its community, eliminating surprises and ill-considered choices. Mr. Newmark, who works full time performing customer-service chores, remains certifiably 100 percent hubris-free.
"Folks, we're considering charging apartment brokers for apartment listings in N.Y.C.," Mr. Newmark told the community earlier this year, explaining in great detail the pros and cons. He added that he would "need your help figuring out what I've missed."
Five years after the technology bubble burst, the success of Craigslist shows an enduring public appetite for online offerings that closely complement life lived off line. Being 99.2 percent free doesn't hurt either.
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1
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Randall Stross is a historian and author based in Silicon Valley. E-mail:ddomain@nytimes.com.
Next Article in Business (3 of 18) >

" CUAL VA SER TU LEGADO? PELADO ?

2005-06-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

museum salvador rosillo says:
publiquen un libro de mis poesias
museum salvador rosillo says:
publiken
jazzy goes to manhattan says:
estas muy verde arbolito
museum salvador rosillo says:
poobleeken
museum salvador rosillo says:
la lluvia no llega al suelo ?
museum salvador rosillo says:

cual va ser tu legado ?
pelado?
museum salvador rosillo says:
plante un bosque de pinos
jazzy goes to manhattan says:
muchos legados wey
museum salvador rosillo says:
en las laderas de un monte camino
museum salvador rosillo says:
a el lago de chapala
museum salvador rosillo says:
justo al otro lado de la carretera
museum salvador rosillo says:
de el hotel tapatio
museum salvador rosillo says:
yo plante ese monte
museum salvador rosillo says:
mucho tiempo atras
museum salvador rosillo says:
muy atras cuando tenia 13 years y las botas que usaba estaban descosidas
museum salvador rosillo says:
eran los years de 1950
museum salvador rosillo says:
y cubrimos todo el monte a mano
museum salvador rosillo says:
eras muchos quizas 50
museum salvador rosillo says:
years mas tarde cuando regrese
museum salvador rosillo says:
tomando una pausa para recapacitar
museum salvador rosillo says:
en el camino que tomar pase por un lado
museum salvador rosillo says:
del mismo monte ahora cubierto
museum salvador rosillo says:
de punta a el rabo
museum salvador rosillo says:
y escupiendo veneno por mucho mas alla que su propia sombra
museum salvador rosillo says:
estaba una fabrica de cemento sobre la
museum salvador rosillo says:
montana pelada y eso fue lo que hicieron
museum salvador rosillo says:
con la herencia que nosotros les dejamos
museum salvador rosillo says:
bravo
museum salvador rosillo says:
bravo
museum salvador rosillo says:
bravo

After Hurricanes, an Unclear Future for 'Lake O'

2005-06-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: June 5, 2005
OKEECHOBEE, Fla., June 2 - As if Lake Okeechobee had not suffered enough indignities over time, last year's hurricanes brought another whopper.
The storms churned up oozy, polluted muck that had settled on the big lake's bottom over decades, making it a soupy mess and crippling its ecosystem. The water is so muddy and so high from spring rains that sunlight cannot penetrate. Much of the lake's plant life has died, leaving its prized game fish without food or spawning grounds. Insects, birds and frogs are hurting, too.

Scientists are fretting, as are the owners of places like Gail's Bait Pail, Kib's Fish Camp and other spots along what locals call Lake O, Florida's largest and perhaps most mysterious body of water. The speckled perch population has plummeted, and the lake's largemouth bass, which draw tournament fishermen from around the nation, are also in danger.
"If we don't get light back to the plants on the bottom she'll be a giant muck hole," said Susan Baker, campground manager for Okeechobee County, as rain pounded the empty tackle shop at Okee-Tantie Recreation Area here on Thursday. "She could be dead this time next year."
Predictions of Lake Okeechobee's demise are nothing new - at least since swampy, subtropical South Florida became a crowded human habitat. The lake, one of the nation's largest, once spilled south in lazy sheets, feeding the marshes and sawgrass prairies of the Everglades. But after it overflowed and killed thousands of people during hurricanes in the 1920's, and after disastrous flooding in the 1940's, a 35-foot dike was built around the lake's 730 square miles. Its troubles began then.
Government engineers now control the lake tightly, often keeping it high as a backup water supply and sometimes, as they did after the hurricanes raised the lake nearly six feet, pumping excess into canals and the sea. This guarantees a reserve of water for farming and drinking, but the unpredictable weather and the competing interests that water managers juggle make it highly imperfect. The phosphorus-laden muck - mostly runoff from farms around Lake O - worsens problems both natural and manmade.
"The hurricanes were an act of God," said Paul Gray, a biologist for Audubon of Florida, "but the gunk they stirred up in the lake is the result of our own mismanagement for the last 50 years."
The current crisis is so bad that the state may sharply lower the lake next spring, creating drought conditions that would allow light to reach the bottom and help vegetation return. But that plan creates a whole new controversy. Pumping out that much water could harm the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers, which flow east and west from the lake and carry its overflow to sea. It would also leave farms and utilities without much of their backup water supply, a problem if rainfall is scarce.
As Mr. Gray told state water managers during a strategy session this week, "You guys don't have any options that aren't going to cause pain and harm" - a common refrain when it comes to Lake O.
Some who live and work on the lake want the South Florida Water Management District to lower it now, as the region's rainy season begins, instead of waiting until the typically drier springtime. Lake O already stands at 14.2 feet, compared with 12.8 feet last year this time. But draining the lake's reserves now would be a risk for the agency, which would suffer the wrath of sugar cane farmers, cattle ranchers and others if the summer turned out to be dry.
"There is a lack of will on behalf of these agencies to enforce what is just and right," said Gail Powers, owner of Gail's Bait Pail, on the lake's northern shore. "But they have treated it as a reservoir for years instead of a one-of-a-kind ecosystem."
Ms. Powers knows the charms and secrets of the lake, but many Floridians do not. It lies in one of the state's most desolate regions, amid sugar cane and vegetable fields, cow pastures and lonely towns like Okeechobee, population 5,300, and Moore Haven, population 1,734.
The towering dike makes it nearly impossible even to glimpse Lake O, the second largest natural lake fully within the lower 48 states, without a climb. There are no lakeside cottages or beaches, and canoes and rowboats stay away because sudden, violent storms can capsize them.
The $8 billion plan for restoring the Everglades would build water storage and treatment areas north of Lake O, making it cleaner and easing its burden over several decades. Meanwhile, the turbid water could clear up over the summer but longer-term problems, like the dearth of aquatic plants, are likely to persist. Ms. Powers said she had already lost customers who fished unsuccessfully for shellcracker, a kind of sunfish, this spring.
"This time of year they should be catching them like crazy," she said. "But they're cutting their trips short."
Ms. Baker, the Okeechobee County campground manager, said she had noticed something even stranger: an absence of chizzywinks, tiny bugs that swarm around the edges of the lake. She called the lake "the big girl," describing how she had swum, fished, water-skied and hunted ducks on it all her life.
A few miles north, in her shop stocked with worms, flies and bottles of something called fish attractant, Ms. Powers took out a map to show that the lake was shaped a little like a human heart.
"It's a living, breathing organism," she said, "but it's sure not treated that way."
Next Article in National (10 of 12) >

1st day

2005-06-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

the first day
of my blog
that is my last
name's blog
mostly art,
commentary
poetry
etc