Thursday, December 29, 2011

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

America becoming a nation of renters

Brian Keith is busier than ever as the architecture firm he works for rushes to wrap up work on a 300-unit apartment complex in Dallas.

The project is one of dozens the firm, JHP Architecture, has on its hands -- a surge of business driven by a rise in demand in the United States for rental properties.

The increased demand has forced JHP to expand, and it expects to keep hiring at least through the first quarter.

"We're seeing overall work come back and there's a backlog of contracts to go through," said Keith, director of urban design and planning at JHP. "There's strong interest in multi-family units and plenty of pent-up demand."

With U.S. unemployment at a lofty 8.6 percent, home foreclosures rising and property prices under pressure, more and more Americans have given up the dream of owning, opting instead to rent, a shift that is remaking the face of the U.S. housing industry.

The percentage of Americans who own their home dropped from a peak of 69.2 percent in late 2004 to a 13-year low of 65.9 percent in the second quarter. It edged up to 66.3 percent in the third quarter of this year.

On the flip side, the percentage of rental properties that are empty fell to 9.8 percent in the third quarter from 10.3 percent a year earlier.

In a recent report, Oliver Chang, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, dubbed 2012 "The Year of the Landlord."

"Rents are rising, vacancies are falling, household formations are growing and rental supply is limited," the Morgan Stanley report stated. "We believe the demand for rental properties will continue to grow."

Groundbreaking for new housing jumped 9.3 percent in November to the highest level in 19 months, fueling optimism that the battered housing market was regaining its footing.

The gains, however, were almost solely in multifamily housing. Groundbreaking for structures with five or more units shot up more than 30 percent from October to now stand at nearly double the year-ago level.

Prices reflect the shift in demand. Rental costs are up 2.4 percent over the last year, compared with an increase of just 0.6 percent in 2010.

Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG Investment Research, says the lure of higher returns is spurring the development of apartment buildings. He argued the next "boom" in residential construction has already started.

"The reason rents were rising is that through the past 15 years there has been an under-building of rental properties because typical renters were increasingly able to garner cheap financing to buy a house," he wrote in a research note.

While the rise in demand is great news for builders and developers, it remains unclear what the pick-up in homebuilding will mean for the economy as a whole.

"Residential construction will be a plus to GDP in 2012, but house price declines will be a negative. So net, net housing will be neutral or a small drag on the economy," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

At its peak at the end of 2005, homebuilding accounted for about 6.2 percent of overall economic activity. Now, it is only about 2.4 percent.

U.S. housing starts in April 2009 hit their lowest level on records dating to January 1959. While multifamily starts have given them a lift, 2011 may be the weakest year ever for construction of single-family homes.

"Business is slightly down from last year," said Bill Zach, a third-generation homebuilder. His family business, the Zach Building Co. in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area, is mainly focused on single-family units.

To Zach, that his firm is still in business when so many of his competitors have gone bust represents some success.

"It used to be my competition was every guy that owned a pick-up truck and called himself a builder. Hundreds of them," Zach said. "That's no longer the case, those guys are dropping by the wayside."

But there are signs of a turn and signals that the housing market may be close to finding a bottom.

The Architecture Billings Index, a gauge of future construction, picked up last month, breaking above the 50 level to signal growth in billings.

And the stock of homebuilders, as measured by a Dow Jones index, has shot up more than 30 percent since early October.

"Residential construction is finally beginning to rise from its post-recession lows," said Joseph Lavorgna, chief U.S. economist for Deutsche Bank. "The true test for starts and (building) permits, as well as most of the sales metrics, will come during the spring buying season."

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45795076/ns/business-real_estate/

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

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Pets deserve happy holiday, too | Davis Enterprise

Mercer Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless is a volunteer group of UC Davis veterinary students who, together with volunteer local and UCD faculty veterinarians, offer a free clinic monthly to care for the pets of the homeless in Sacramento. The Mercer Clinic began in 1993 and is adjacent to the Sacramento Loaves and Fishes facility where food and care are provided for the homeless.

In 1995, the staff VOICE newsletter committee for the UCD Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital started the Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets tradition to brighten the holidays for these very special pets. Sadly, the need has grown significantly over the years and our goal every year is to make 130 baskets (80 for dogs and 50 for cats).

The program relies on donations from pet supply companies and from the public, to buy the pets gifts and treats. The baskets are distributed by the Mercer Clinic veterinary student volunteers to the pets of the homeless who attend the December Mercer Clinic. Donations are welcome and much needed all year-round, but this year the clinic has greater need for monetary donations than ever before.

Please help us continue this wonderful program and holiday pet basket tradition for these special pets who deserve a happy holiday, too. All donations for the Mercer Clinic or the Mercer Holiday Pet Baskets are tax-deductible.

To donate to the Holiday Pet Basket program, please make your check to UC Regents-Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Baskets and mail to our new mailing address: UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Office of the Dean, P.O. Box 1167, Davis CA, 95617-1167 Attn: Mercer Holiday Pet Baskets.

If you would like to make a donation to the Mercer Clinic for the ongoing clinic needs, please make your check to Mercer Vet Clinic and mail it to Mercer Vet Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless, P.O. Box 297, Davis, CA, 95617. If you have any questions, please call (530) 756-5165 or email emsamitz@ucdavis.edu.

Eileen Samitz and the Mercer Clinic Holiday Pet Basket Committee

Davis

Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=119426

View this story on page A6 Posted by Letters to the Editor on Dec 26 2011. Filed under Letters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Source: http://www.davisenterprise.com/opinion/letters/pets-deserve-happy-holiday-too/

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Monday, December 26, 2011

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How to fix the 5 most common photo mistakes

msnbc.com

By Steve Morgenstern, Techlicious.com

The automatic point-and-shoot systems in today?s digital cameras generally do an excellent job, but there are still many shooting situations where a little?manual control can make an enormous difference. During the holidays, here are some simple steps you can take to improve your pictures for the holidays or anytime that will work with both simple and sophisticated cameras.

1. Out of focus photos
When your main subject isn?t in the center of the image, the camera may decide to focus elsewhere. The fastest, easiest solution is to move the camera temporarily so your subject is in the center of the photo, press the shutter button halfway, and hold it.

As long as you keep the shutter button pressed halfway, the camera will maintain focus on your subject, even if you move the camera to recompose the shot. Alternatively, you may be able to turn on face detection (if it?s a person you?re shooting) and the system will find the people in the scene anywhere on the screen. And with an advanced camera you can adjust the focal point manually, but this can be time-consuming and result in missed shots.

2. Blurry images
Movement can cause image blur, whether it?s an athlete running down the field or your own?hands shaking slightly as you press the shutter button in dim lighting.?You can combat this by adjusting the camera?s ISO setting ? with a higher ISO, the shutter speed can be faster, making it easier to freeze the action.

There is a trade-off here when it comes to image quality, though. As you boost the ISO, the amount of noise, or visible graininess, in your photos increases. The degree to which this occurs differs from camera to camera, so a little trial and error is a good idea, but as a rule you can go to ISO 400 or even 800 with acceptable results, and often significantly higher if you?re planning to post rather than print your picture.

3. Off-color images
We don?t ordinarily notice changes in the color of light ? our brains make the adjustment automatically ? but in fact sunlight, incandescent bulb light, fluorescent light and so on are distinctly different shades. Your camera automatically adjusts to compensate for this, but it doesn?t always succeed. The most common problems are overly reddish-orange photos in rooms lit with standard household bulbs, and greenish shots under fluorescent light.

There are two approaches to tackling this problem. Nearly every camera lets you choose a white balance setting to match the environment ? sunny, cloudy, tungsten (incandescent bulbs), fluorescent, etc. Even better is taking a manual white balance reading, if your camera allows it. This sounds fancy, but it?s actually a fast operation ? you point the camera at a white piece of paper and press a button to take the setting. This provides the most accurate color reproduction possible, and you don?t have to take a new setting for each photo. Once you take a manual white balance reading, it will stay in effect until you change it.

4. Faces in outdoor shots are too dark
Your camera tries to ensure that everything in your photo will be reasonably well lit, using?an automatic exposure system. In some instances, though, this just doesn?t work. For example, when you?re shooting at a sunny beach or in a snowy setting, the background is much brighter than the people in your photo, so they can come out far too dark. One solution is to use your camera?s preset scene settings. These vary from camera to camera, but nearly all models include settings for Beach and Snow or Backlit situations.

Another option: Set your camera to fire off the flash with each shot. When left in automatic mode, the flash won?t fire when the overall lighting is bright, but in an outdoor scene it can help illuminate faces and freeze action even when the sun is shining. This is called a "fill flash.?

For finer lighting control, explore your exposure compensation options. Even cameras without extensive manual controls usually provide this option. Exposure compensation lets you tweak the camera?s automatic setting to match conditions as you see them. Setting a positive exposure compensation makes the photo brighter, while a negative setting darkens the image. Try experimenting in your spare time, when you?re not trying to take mission-critical photos at important events.

5. Cluttered backgrounds
Often we?re so busy looking at the subject of our photos that we don?t notice what?s going on in the background. Then, when we look at the actual picture, we see a ton of distracting detail that ruins the overall effect of the image.

Strategy one for dealing with this: Try repositioning your subject and/or yourself to frame a cleaner shot. Does that tree branch look like it?s coming out of your child?s ear? Move three inches to the right and it?s gone. Is the busy wallpaper pattern going to distract from your daughter?s lovely smile? Ask her to move a few feet away from the wall, allowing the background to fade into the background.

A more technological solution depends on your camera?s manual controls ? specifically, whether it offers "aperture-priority" mode. The camera?s aperture setting determines how much light?enters the camera and?impacts how much of the image is in focus ? what?s known as depth of field. A shallow depth of field means objects that fall within a narrower distance from the camera will be in focus, which can create a nice blurry background behind the subject of your photo. The automatic setting of most cameras, though, favors maximizing depth of field. If you can adjust the aperture manually ? lower numbers equal a shallower depth of field?? you can turn distracting backgrounds into fuzzy abstract patterns that make your subject in the foreground the focus of attention.

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Source: http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/19/9559722-how-to-fix-the-5-most-common-photo-mistakes

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Pearl Harbor survivor ashes interred at battleship

A US Marine stands at attention during a ceremony to inter the remains of First Class Frank R. Cabiness on the USS Arizona Memorial, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

A US Marine stands at attention during a ceremony to inter the remains of First Class Frank R. Cabiness on the USS Arizona Memorial, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

The family of Private First Class Frank R. Cabiness arrive at the USS Arizona Memorial for a ceremony to inter his remains inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

US Marines stand at attention as the family of Private First Class Frank R. Cabiness arrive at a ceremony to have his ashes interred inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

Jerry Cabiness reacts to a US flag given to him after his father's remains were interred inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. First Class Frank R. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

As National Parks Historian Daniel Martinez salutes, Jerry Cabiness, center, hands the remains of his father to divers to be interred inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. First Class Frank R. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) ? A Marine who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor has returned to the USS Arizona ? divers placed the urn holding Frank Cabiness' cremated remains inside the battleship sunk by the Japanese 70 years ago.

"He said it was because that's where he belonged," the late Marine's son, Jerry Cabiness, said after Friday's solemn ceremony. "He lost all of his friends there and he wanted to be with them."

The divers swam over to the sunken battleship and placed the container inside.

Hawaii-based Marines from the 3rd Marine Regiment performed a rifle salute and taps Friday, some nine years after Cabiness died in Lewisville, Texas, at the age of 86.

Jerry Cabiness said his father always wanted to return to his ship, but his family took some time to fulfill that wish because of some financial problems and the expense of traveling to Hawaii.

"But we finally got it done. And it was a beautiful ceremony. The Marines did him proud," he said.

Dozens of Arizona crew members who lived through the Dec. 7, 1941, attack have chosen to have their ashes interred on the battleship after death. Many do it out of a desire to join those they left behind.

Survivors who served on the USS Utah ? the only other ship sunk in the attack that still sits in the harbor ? have done the same.

Servicemen who served on other ships and on land may have their ashes scattered in the harbor if they choose. Most of the dozen U.S. ships that sank or were beached 70 years ago were repaired and returned to service.

Altogether, 2,390 Americans were killed in the attack that brought the United States into World War II.

The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines ? more than any ship or unit. Most of those who died are still entombed on the vessel, which rests next to Ford Island where it sank nine minutes after being hit by a Japanese aerial bomb.

Cabiness, who was a private first class when Japanese planes bombed the Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, was among the 337 crew members who survived.

Jerry Cabiness said his father was at his battle station in the main mast of the ship when the ship was hit. He narrowly avoided getting hit by machine gun fire, and luckily his only injury was from friction burns suffered when he slid down a ladder while rushing to abandon ship.

He said his father jumped into the water and wasn't blown from the deck, which had been reported earlier from a Marine news release.

The family proudly retains the only thing he managed to leave the ship with: a watch that stopped at 8:15, the moment that Sunday morning when he hit the water after jumping from the Arizona.

After the war, he worked for an oil pipeline company in Texas that later became Amoco Pipeline. He measured and documented oil that traveled through a pipeline to a refinery. He never missed a day of work in 30 years, Jerry Cabiness said.

He didn't mention the attack much.

"It was just too hard for him. He just couldn't do it," his son said.

The Cabinesses moved around a lot, but lived the longest in Levelland, Texas.

Today, Jerry Cabiness and his family live in Maumelle, Ark., a suburb of Little Rock.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-24-Pearl%20Harbor%20Survivor/id-5220b6871998484a8926ae11ea3aa3db

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