Drunk and High

So it's 3 o'clock in the morning, and I am super drunk and high, having just hung out with my sister and her partner, the Black Rock Star, for his 28th birthday. He and I went to Busters down the street after she went to bed. They have a great selection of beer.

We sat at the bar, watching highlights of the NBA playoffs, Dr Shaq in scubba gear and an immense amount of fine fabric, some goofy skit with someone else on the ESPN stage, fishing, weirdly, while the guy who used to work for the Geek Squad sitting next to us, showed us a video on his phone that had better sound than the TV, of Andy Samberg rapping about a boat, that had about 70 million hits, (about 69,975,000 more than this blog has ever had.)

I found myself tending toward a negative appraisal of just about everything, though I wasn't a total grump. I spoke with the Black Rock Star awhile, talking with him about business finance, as I have managed two and run one. His goal of late is to run a hot dog cart. He is very earnest about it. It is astounding, how earnest, if you are familiar at all with the catalog of his music.

Then I road my bike home, and puked once on the way, and then again on my sidewalk, and then twice, maybe three times in my kitchen compost. And then I puffed, and then I read a criticism of my novel, and then I began to think about the economy, as if I am not always mindful of the economy, and then all the nuclear material scattered everywhere, and all the off-shore oil wells, and I thought, they maintain the economy, but the economy maintains them, and if the economy falters, then what is to maintain those facilities?

I thought about Denmark, with almost no natural resources, evaporating the material of the earth, the wealth of the body that sustains us, how we all churn through it so blindly, everywhere, and I wonder, what is to prevent Humanity, from burning and moldering in massive piles the wealth of the earth, until there can only be but a fraction of the economy? And in doing so, in collapsing, also letting oil facilities cover the seas with oil, in combination with nuclear facilities, killing most of the life on earth?

Sometimes I think there is a demonic energy loose upon the earth, blinding the vast majority of us to the fate that potentially awaits us. Having said all that, I sort of wonder, what is the point of blogging anymore?

I suppose when I sober up, I'll let it go mostly, and go about my life as I do, every day forward.

Pictures

A little less than two years ago, I bought a camera. It was a Canon, which I bought from Best Buy for about $120, which I took about 500 pictures with, before the camera lens wouldn't extend – lens error, restarting camera - and the camera quit working. It was replaced by Best Buy, with a similar version, which I paid another $25 for, which took about 400 pictures before the lens extended and wouldn't go back in – lens error, restarting camera – and the camera wouldn't work anymore. Best Buy sent the camera to Canon, but Canon wouldn't fix it, so Best Buy gave me another of the same model, off the shelf – which was priced at $89. I didn't get a refund. The new camera, my third camera, the third of the only three digital cameras I have ever owned, took about a thousand pictures. Then I was about to take a picture of my newly remodeled bathroom, when the thing spun out of my hands, airborne. I reached for it to grab it, and thereby hit it and smashed it into the newly finished hardwoods, lens first, crushing the extended lens at an angle to the camera – lens error, restarting camera.

Which was a bummer, because I had planned a whole series of posts about this house, showcasing the work, and speaking about shelter generally. I was just starting to video myself singing, to hear what I actually sound like (it was duly horrifying). I enjoyed that camera very much, and have taken a number of memorable (to me) pictures, that have brought me joy, and I think in some cases, added texture and context to this blog. I'm not normally clumsy, and it was exceptionally disappointing. Strangely though, I didn't flip out about it when it happened. The next day I couldn't find a tool I needed at the time, and I stomped around the house for thirty minutes, furious at myself that I couldn't find it. Weird. There's an omen there.

Let's think about that series of cameras for a moment. Effectively, I paid about $48, for each of the three. They took exceptional pictures, with all the digital options I could want, and then some. Now consider the thousands of tiny little pieces that were manufactured, to become part of all three cameras, and all the exotic materials required, and all the fossil fuels to run the processes of mining, refining, fabricating, assembling, packaging, shipping, retailing - for $48, for six months of function. This is economical, how? Eco-logical?

But they brought me so such joy! Yes, I say to myself, but that is a very expensive kind of joy, systemically thinking, and we can't possibly expect to continue that kind of joy-facilitation, and still have a planet worth living on, turning so much of what the earth offers freely, into effective garbage.

If I buy another camera, it will be a used one. Unless they start making cameras that are made entirely with recycled materials, energy neutral, and every single piece gets used for some re-purpose when it ceases to be a functioning camera, with not less than seven human generations of function for every single aspect. I recognize there is such a thing as entropy, but I'm sick of buying product of any kind that isn't made with a sense of responsibility beyond the bottom line. Throwaway trash, the vast majority of consumer products, the very foundation of this economy.

What the fuck, America? Americans. Humans. I heard a story from Denmark this week that makes me shiver. Not just dumping it, burning it all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those who care to be stewards of this great nation, may notice how easily Europeans have reverted to totalitarian edict (and madness), in the face of a threat to the power of the banks. Dare to leave the Union, Greece? We shall ruin you, make an example of you, that no other nation dare step out of economic line. You shall feed the consumer debt machine, or you shall perish. If I were a Greek national, I'd be inclined to grow as much food as I could, tell the Troika to piss off, build a gift economy, restructure local economic communities, and rebuild the nation in defiance of tyranny. It looks like they might opt for civil war instead, and whatever tyrants come out on top in that never ending cycle, apparently. They're going to do what they know, I guess.

If I were dictator of the world, I would be inclined to wipe out all debt, and declare usury punishable by death. It's a good thing I'm not dictator of the world then, and frankly, if I suddenly were dictator of the world by some magical happenstance, I would decline to issue the edict, and abdicate, effective immediately. Because such a thing cannot be anything but a democratic choice, telling banks and the bankers to fuck off, and make 'em start from zero just like everybody else.

But we're too busy bowing at the feet of the money changers. We mock them, but we don't quibble much with the system they manage. Remember how much we thought Greenspan was some kind of Merlin of Finance, (until we were like, wait a minute, you set up the tech and housing bubbles!) Jamie Dimon, “the perfect Treasury Secretary[?]” Bernank, the magic money maker. It's so very lucrative.

I don't know if it was Christ that got it wrong, our his followers claiming power in His name, but the temple is the earth, and it's a combination of usury and fossil fuel consumption that has brought us to this economic predicament, consuming and expanding to the verge of something very like potential apocalyptic mayhem. Picture that.

I don't know what's going to happen to me, and my garden and this house. It is a very uncertain time, for all of us. I do think my house and garden is becoming very much like a kind of eden for someone in love. I think this whole city could be like that. The whole nation, the globe, if that's what we wanted. A beautiful garden in which to build beautiful abodes.

Having lived here, I know that I can heal the soil. That's my magic. And I don't need consumer society, with its usury and insatiability, it's consumer trash, it's systems of debt bondage, it's will to dominate and control, to do it.

Note: I highly appreciate the work of Ashvin Pandurangi, @ The Automatic Earth, of late, starting with FUBAR: Planet Earth. As advertised, not for the faint of heart.

Economic Activity

For the record, I do not know, or necessarily believe, that anyone is spraying aluminum oxide into the atmosphere. I simply know that it is an idea that has been floated, to prevent global warming, and it would be a technically easy thing to do, and also inexpensive. I just really, really hope no one is stupid enough to do it. Otherwise, as my primary measure of the health of my immediate environment is my garden, my garden is thriving and so I have faith that my soil is not full of aluminum oxide.

I printed that post because I wanted a record of what I saw, and it was a convenient way to say a few other things, about conspiracy theories, and the militarization of America. That, and I've heard a few scientists this week who perhaps contributed to some paranoia.

The first scientists were talking about hydraulic fracturing, on NPR, stating pretty much categorically that there simply is no evidence that there is any harm whatever, living in the midst of fracking wells. The story was about a town called DISH, Texas, which apparently is surrounded by wells, in the immediate proximity. It's hard to feel too bad for a town that changed it's name from Clark to DISH (all caps), so they could get ten years of free cable television from Dish Network. My second thought was, if those "scientists" are going to be something other than shills for the gas industry, making such authoritative statements, they should be living in the town.

The second report I heard, came from the potato fields of northern Minnesota. Potatoes, by the way, have no business whatever being a commodity crop - see The Botany of Desire from Michael Pollan. Primarily, because no potatoes can be grown industrially, mono-crop style without applying massive amounts of poison (I grow plenty of potatoes in my yard, without poisons.) One of those poisons, specifically Chlorothalonil, has been drifting on the air into towns, where people are breathing it. From MPR:

"Chlorothalonil is the most commonly used synthetic fungicide in the United States. Chlorothalonil-containing products are sold under several names, including Bravo, Echo, and Daconil....chlorothalonil sales rank just below atrazine, a common corn herbicide." [Atrazine is in the water supply - but I haven't yet heard a scientist say that's a problem, or the bulk of Americans give a shit.]

Here's the kicker - the Dept of Agriculture does not consider a liquid evaporating and becoming airborne, to be drift. If it is a liquid, and it stays a liquid, and the farmer sprays it too close to a stream, that's considered drift. But it's not if it's airborne. Chlorothalonil is a suspected carcinogen. Now imagine the Department of Ag defense. It was exactly as shill as you might expect.

I heard a report too, recently, about asian carp. These are the monsters that leap a dozen feet out of the water when disturbed. They're in southern Minnesota now, less than two decades after they were released into the wild in Mississippi. The thing about this carp is, it's huge, and it pretty much out competes every other species of fish, until it dominates the existing ecosystem. To prevent the fish from reaching the upper Mississippi watershed, would only require the permanent closing of the St Anthony lock and dam, the first in the Army Corp of Engineers' series. To close it would either require a summary decision by the Corp, or more likely, an act of Congress. What do you suppose is the likelihood of this Congress, or any Congress, supporting that? If they don't, in a decade, the lake I grew up on, which is already infested with zebra mussels, will be infested with asian carp, and the species of fish that I grew up with will be mostly gone.

What do these things have in common? They are all the product of economic activity. We won't stop fracking, no matter what it does to the earth or people; we won't stop spraying poisons, no matter how much they drift and poison the air and water; we won't close the lock and dam, no matter what that means for the ecosystem - because to do so would put a damper on economic activity. And what does putting a damper on economic activity mean? Well, among other things, there's another report out, about an increase in cases of whooping cough. Whooping cough. As in, a hundred days of coughing so hard it can break your ribs or burst the vessels in your eyes, if it doesn't kill you. We've been keeping these bugs, and others like them at bay, precisely because economic activity has been so vibrant, for so long. When economic activity slows, bugs make a comeback.

Of course, we could recognize that economic activity as we define it is ravaging the landscape, and realize that there are limits to what the landscape can withstand, and still support people before the ecosystem breaks down and the economy with it, and those bugs rush in like barbarian hordes - and we could stop, remodel, plant gardens everywhere, re-skill and re-define the meaning of wealth and relationships, while prioritizing health and wellness, hygiene and disease control. A few people are doing that, but I don't expect it from the bulk of my fellow Minnesotans, or Americans, who are too invested in the existing order to notice what it is doing to the world, what it has done, what we are doing and have done. If anything, we are clamoring for more of it, getting fatter and more unhealthy every year. Putting off the reckoning, and so exacerbating the threat.

Every time I think about getting a job to save my house and garden, I think about that reckoning to come, and I wonder, what could I possible do, within biking distance of my house, that wouldn't be more of the same economic activity that is destroying the biosphere? All I can think to do is garden, and retro-fit houses for passive solar, but my neighbors don't think either is priority enough, to make that scale economically, for me, in the short term. I expect to be doing a lot of that, gardening, and retro-fitting houses for passive solar, post reckoning though. I rather relish the idea of a salvage economy.

Meanwhile, after three weeks straight, 8-14 hours a day remodeling this house, I am in desperate need of time in the garden. I let the soil get dangerously dry, on my caffeine, pot, beer, mead and cider influenced frenzy, the last four days before my father arrived, to see the progress I've made. I wish I could show you pictures* - I have a new bathroom, and I painted the sun room yellow, refinished the hardwoods, and designed a tile mandala at the front threshold. He, my father, had nothing good to say. He is a good man, with a kind heart, who is veary with trustee concerns, and has no eyes for this garden, or this house. He can't see what I am, he can only see what I'm not. He drives on my landscaping and steps on my raspberry vines, even after I point them out. I should have been more assertive, I guess.

I spent last night after he left in a kind of daze, watering, planting tomatoes, (five varieties - at least - red calabash, Wisconsin 55, Amish paste, sundrop, a mix of heirlooms,) weeding and just sort of renewing my love, for this garden, these plants, this place, this life.

The tomato beds are absolutely full of white pods like a small, mushy potato, with dry skin and white filaments of micorrhizae like roots. Breaking them open, they are like an oyster inside, or like an egg with a partially formed bird, though it smells unmistakably of mushroom. I would be tempted to fry one up and eat it, except they are mushrooms and it's important to be wary, and the thing emerges from the ground bright orange-red, with a rotten looking brown cap, a stinkhorn, I think they're called. So cool. It was only two years ago, that I turned the sod. 

(I feel it important to add, also, that science is important in understanding the material world, and there are good scientists everywhere, studying things like mushrooms and fish and the effects of poisons. There are also many who serve to support activities that are fundamentallx hostile to the health and well-being of the earth and people, too deeply engaged in economic activity to have clarity about their motives.)

*I broke the camera. That's a' whole 'nother post.

5 Home Improvements That Won't Sell Your House

Here is a great article about upgrades to your house that won't sell it.  Take a look!  

If you remodel your house because you plan to live in it forever, then do whatever you want. But if you plan to remodel to help your resale value, beware of these projects.

Homeowners upgrade their homes for two reasons: They always dreamed of having a walk-in shower, or they think remodeling will boost their home’s value when it comes time to sell.

While the emotional value a remodeling project adds to a home usually pays off, unfortunately the monetary value rarely does.
Let’s face it, you’re not always going to recoup the money you spent on a remodeling project when it comes time to sell. Check out these examples to get an idea of what you rhouldn’t do before you sell…

1. Adding a new facade to the exterior of your home

I live in a historic neighborhood comprising mostly of turn-of-the-century Craftsman Bungalows. A few years ago, adding a brick front over the original wood became all the rage in my neighborhood. Now it just looks out of place in the area. Last month, three houses went up for sale on my street – two with the brick facade and one with the original wood. The wood house sold right away while the brick fronts are still sitting there.

I’m not saying that was the reason why one house sold and the others didn’t, but spending the extra money sure didn’t seem to help. According to MSN, homes that stick out – like brick facades nestled among wood bungalows - won’t do anything for their value.

Alternative: While you should update the exterior of your home before you sell, stick with the original plans. For example, replacing weathered siding with the higher-end fiber-cement siding returned an average of 78 percent of what homeowners paid, according to Remodeling Magazine.

2. Putting in a pool

According to SmartMoney, adding an in-ground pool to your backyard won’t add any real value when it comes time to sell. In fact, large outdoor projects don’t typically appeal to a wide range of buyers. Most buyers would rather see an open yard space than a koi pond or 16-seater hot tub.

Alternative: Clean up the yard and add some basic landscaping to the front and back. Having a nice yard gives your home curb appeal, and it’s one of the cheaper remodeling projects you can do. In fact, a study by HomeGain shows that the average landscaping job costs $540 and adds $1,932 to your home’s value.

3. Converting your attic to a home office

Converting attic space into a useable room will appeal to buyers – if it’s the right kind of room. Rooms like home offices only appeal to buyers who consider working from home a plus. In fact, HGTV reports that a home office remodel only recoups 60 to 73 percent of the cost on average.

Alternative: Converting your attic space into something that appeals to everyone, such as a bedroom. On average, homeowners saw up to a 90 percent return on this project, according to HGTV.

4. Overhauling your entire kitchen

Kitchens are the one room in the house that will appeal to the most buyers, so you want it to be eye-catching. But, that doesn’t mean you need granite counter tops, wood floors, and a double Viking oven to sell your house. On average, homeowners spent $110,938 on an upscale kitchen remodel. But the new kitchen only increased home values by $63,731 on average (or about 57 percent), according to MSNBC.

Alternative: Do a smaller-scale kitchen remodel, and focus on the areas that are the most outdated. As a comparison, MSNBC found that a smaller kitchen remodel cost $19,588 on average but raised the home’s value by an average 72 percent.

5. Installing solar panels

Green homes are becoming more popular, so making your home more energy-efficient will appeal to buyers. But the big greening projects are costly. For example, The New York Times reports that while the cost of solar panels has gone down by about 40 percent, one homeowner still paid a whopping $77,000 to install a solar panel system. It would be nearly impossible to recoup that investment in this housing market.

Alternative: Upgrade your windows with energy-efficient models – you’ll make your home more energy-efficient without the hefty price tag of those huge greening projects. Double-pane energy-efficient windows provide better insulation, which lowers utility bills – improvements that appeal to every buyer. And if you buy Energy Star-rated windows, you’ll qualify for a tax credit.

Questions to ask yourself

Before starting a remodeling project, consider these points…
1. Will this upgrade add value to my house? If you’re remodeling because you plan to eventually sell your home, run your ideas past a real estate agent or professional contractor. Not every project automatically adds value to a house.
2. How will my house compare to other homes in my neighborhood? If you put your house on the market the same time as five of your neighbors, your house needs to stand out – but not too much. Most buyers won’t consider your house if it’s priced much higher than others in the same area – even if your upgrades are worth the higher value.
3. Does this upgrade appeal to a wide range of buyers? If you’re going for a standard kitchen remodel, odds are it will appeal to almost every buyer who comes through your house. But, if you’re planning to break the mold with your home remodel, you might be wasting your money. Run your idea past a few friends and see if they’d buy it.


To order your copy of Remodeling Hell, CLICK HERE
For more information about the Summit Murder Mystery series, CLICK HERE

Article source: moneytalknews.com

5 Home Improvements That Won't Sell Your House

Homeowners upgrade their homes for two reasons: They always dreamed of having a walk-in shower, or they think remodeling will boost their home’s value when it comes time to sell.

Here is a great article about upgrades to your house that won't sell it.  Take a look!  

If you remodel your house because you plan to live in it forever, then do whatever you want. But if you plan to remodel to help your resale value, beware of these projects.

While the emotional value a remodeling project adds to a home usually pays off, unfortunately the monetary value rarely does.
Let’s face it, you’re not always going to recoup the money you spent on a remodeling project when it comes time to sell. Check out these examples to get an idea of what you shouldn’t do before you sell…

1. Adding a new facade to the exterior of your home

I live in a historic neighborhood comprising mostly of turn-of-the-century Craftsman Bungalows. A few years ago, adding a brick front over the original wood became all the rage in my neighborhood. Now it just looks out of place in the area. Last month, three houses went up for sale on my street – two with the brick facade and one with the original wood. The wood house sold right away while the brick fronts are still sitting there.

I’m not saying that was the reason why one house sold and the others didn’t, but spending the extra money sure didn’t seem to help. According to MSN, homes that stick out – like brick facades nestled among wood bungalows - won’t do anything for their value.

Alternative: While you should update the exterior of your home before you sell, stick with the original plans. For example, replacing weathered siding with the higher-end fiber-cement siding returned an average of 78 percent of what homeowners paid, according to Remodeling Magazine.

2. Putting in a pool

According to SmartMoney, adding an in-ground pool to your backyard won’t add any real value when it comes time to sell. In fact, large outdoor projects don’t typically appeal to a wide range of buyers. Most buyers would rather see an open yard space than a koi pond or 16-seater hot tub.

Alternative: Clean up the yard and add some basic landscaping to the front and back. Having a nice yard gives your home curb appeal, and it’s one of the cheaper remodeling projects you can do. In fact, a study by HomeGain shows that the average landscaping job costs $540 and adds $1,932 to your home’s value.

3. Converting your attic to a home office

Converting attic space into a useable room will appeal to buyers – if it’s the right kind of room. Rooms like home offices only appeal to buyers who consider working from home a plus. In fact, HGTV reports that a home office remodel only recoups 60 to 73 percent of the cost on average.

Alternative: Converting your attic space into something that appeals to everyone, such as a bedroom. On average, homeowners saw up to a 90 percent return on this project, according to HGTV.

4. Overhauling your entire kitchen

Kitchens are the one room in the house that will appeal to the most buyers, so you want it to be eye-catching. But, that doesn’t mean you need granite counter tops, wood floors, and a double Viking oven to sell your house. On average, homeowners spent $110,938 on an upscale kitchen remodel. But the new kitchen only increased home values by $63,731 on average (or about 57 percent), according to MSNBC.

Alternative: Do a smaller-scale kitchen remodel, and focus on the areas that are the most outdated. As a comparison, MSNBC found that a smaller kitchen remodel cost $19,588 on average but raised the home’s value by an average 72 percent.

5. Installing solar panels

Green homes are becoming more popular, so making your home more energy-efficient will appeal to buyers. But the big greening projects are costly. For example, The New York Times reports that while the cost of solar panels has gone down by about 40 percent, one homeowner still paid a whopping $77,000 to install a solar panel system. It would be nearly impossible to recoup that investment in this housing market.

Alternative: Upgrade your windows with energy-efficient models – you’ll make your home more energy-efficient without the hefty price tag of those huge greening projects. Double-pane energy-efficient windows provide better insulation, which lowers utility bills – improvements that appeal to every buyer. And if you buy Energy Star-rated windows, you’ll qualify for a tax credit.

Questions to ask yourself

Before starting a remodeling project, consider these points…
1. Will this upgrade add value to my house? If you’re remodeling because you plan to eventually sell your home, run your ideas past a real estate agent or professional contractor. Not every project automatically adds value to a house.
2. How will my house compare to other homes in my neighborhood? If you put your house on the market the same time as five of your neighbors, your house needs to stand out – but not too much. Most buyers won’t consider your house if it’s priced much higher than others in the same area – even if your upgrades are worth the higher value.
3. Does this upgrade appeal to a wide range of buyers? If you’re going for a standard kitchen remodel, odds are it will appeal to almost every buyer who comes through your house. But, if you’re planning to break the mold with your home remodel, you might be wasting your money. Run your idea past a few friends and see if they’d buy it.


To order your copy of Remodeling Hell, CLICK HERE
For more information about the Summit Murder Mystery series, CLICK HERE

Article source: moneytalknews.com