From CNBC/The Street:
Mortgage Forgiveness Presents Challenges in Housing Recovery
Deeply indebted homeowners with government-backed mortgages may have a fresh shot at receiving meaningful mortgage relief, but it will likely come with strings attached.
Earlier this week, President Obama nominated House Financial Services Committee member Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
If confirmed, Watt, as the regulator of the agencies that guarantee nearly 60 percent of the U.S. mortgage market and back nine out of ten new mortgage loans, would have a major say on various aspects of government housing policy, including the $180 billion dollar question of what to do with the bailed-out mortgage giants.
…
While his confirmation is by no means certain—analysts expect stiff opposition from Senate Republicans—Watt’s nomination has been welcomed by consumer activists who have been calling for the removal of current FHFA acting director Edward DeMarco.DeMarco has come under attack over the past year for opposing principal modifications, a contentious form of mortgage relief.
Proponents of principal reduction believe it is the most effective form of mortgage relief for deeply underwater borrowers—those who owe more than their homes are worth.
…
On principle, he argued that principal reductions were unfair as it punished borrowers who continued to make their mortgage payments despite being underwater. As the conservator charged with minimizing losses to the taxpayer, he said the program would be too costly to administer and could encourage “strategic defaults” by borrowers hoping to take advantage of the program. The costs outweighed the benefits, he concluded.
…
Watt’s nomination also coincided with the release of a report from the Congressional Budget Office this week that said implementing a principal forgiveness program at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could, under one option, generate as much as $2.8 billion in taxpayer savings.But it remains to be seen if Watt changes his stance once he becomes director of the FHFA. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Watt said that he might reach the same conclusion as DeMarco. He wasn’t even sure if principal reductions should even be on the agenda.
“I don’t know what the timing would be of when I would get over there. It might be an issue whose time has already passed. And there may be information that would lead me to the same conclusion that they have already reached, if the issue is still a timely issue to consider. I don’t know how I would come down on that,” he told the newspaper.
…
The reason why mortgage investors and lenders are often unwilling to reduce principal on the mortgage, but are more willing to ease other terms, is because the borrower often gets the complete upside from the arrangement.He gets to lower his payment and stay in his home, while the bank takes a loss. Then when the housing market turns higher, he is able to sell his home at a price higher than the loan amount and gets to pocket the difference.
Now with housing on the mend, the upside from rising prices could provide an even greater incentive to strategically default.
Cost of replacement has Shore homeowners selling “as is”.
Curtis Lee, a real estate broker with Prudential Zack Shore Properties in Manahawkin, says asking prices dropped from $230,000 to $250,000 pre-Sandy to $150,000 to $175,000 in Beach Haven West, a community of 4,000 waterfront houses, which had already seen a push of buyers tearing down the 1960s-era bungalows for bigger houses. Since the storm, 44 have sold; 163 are for sale.
“A lot of people, they’ve held these properties for years,” he said. “It’s the uncertainty. They’re worried about what their taxes will be, what their flood insurance will be. This has been a blue-collar, middle-income community. You’re going to see, in the next couple of years, all these houses will be rebuilt and replaced, and values are going to go up.”
FEMA regulations say that if renovations are more than 50 percent of the value of the house, then the houses must be in compliance with new flood maps and most likely elevated on pilings. The new maps are still not finalized. In some cases rebuilding becomes too costly, as second-home owners are ineligible for FEMA grants.
“For a summer getaway, it’s an opportunity,” said real estate agent Kim Wojcik, who has already closed on a half dozen “as is” properties in flooded bay front Little Egg Harbor, where, as in areas of Margate and Ventnor Heights, more primary homeowners are opting to jump ship.
http://articles.philly.com/2013-05-05/news/39044202_1_hurricane-sandy-longport-summer-home
From the Record:
Report finds Bergen costliest county in the state
More than a million full-time workers in New Jersey — about a quarter of the workforce — don’t earn enough to meet the basic costs of living in the state, according to a new study by Legal Services of New Jersey.
Bergen County is the most expensive county in the state, the report found. In 2011, a family of four with two school-age children needed $76,956 to cover housing, health care, food, transportation to work, taxes and clothing. For a single adult, the income needed to meet basic needs came to $35,426. Both figures are well above the statewide averages of $64,238 for a family of four and $28,593 for a single adult.
Getting by in Passaic County isn’t much easier: It ranked as the sixth-most-expensive county, with basic expenses running to $70,664 for a family of four and $32,105 for a single adult.
Melville D. Miller, president of Legal Services, emphasized that the figures don’t cover many types of expenses that most middle-class families consider essential, like cable television, restaurant or takeout meals, set-asides for college or retirement savings, and major purchases like cars or vacations.
“Sadly, just the cost of the basics is overwhelming for many New Jerseyans,” Miller said.
And he noted that the gap between expenses and workers’ incomes has continued to grow since the organization began tracking living costs in 1999 in collaboration with University of Washington Professor Diana Pearce.
“More than a million people, even when holding down one and sometimes a second job, are still unable to keep up with rising living costs,” Miller added.
From Bloomberg:
Housing Crash Fades as Defaults Decline to 2007 Levels
Six years after the start of the foreclosure crisis, American homeowners are paying their mortgages like the housing crash never happened.
First-time delinquent home loans fell to 0.84 percent of the 50.2 million mortgages in March, the first month below 1 percent since 2007, before a wave of defaults led to the financial crisis, according to a report today by Lender Processing Services Inc. The rate of first-time defaults, defined as loans that went from performing to at least 60 days delinquent, peaked at 2.89 percent in January 2009.
he decline in new problem loans shows that the recovering U.S. economy, falling unemployment and rising home prices, combined with more than four years of banks’ tightening lending standards, are propelling the worst real estate crash since the Great Depression into the rearview mirror.
“Mortgage quality is improving rapidly,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc. said in a telephone interview from his office in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “Once we’re able to work through this last bulge of foreclosed property, which I think we’ll be able to do over the next 18 to 24 months, mortgage credit quality is going to look absolutely beautiful.”
Most of that article why homes blue collar folks are selling makes no sense.
First of off selling cause of ICI and taking a loss – Makes zero sense.
A) only homes with flood insurance where more than 50% of home value was destroyed is tagged ICI, if you had flood insurance you got paid. So you are out no money. You could do a bare bones fixing, pocket rest of cash and see if they actually have balls to jack flood rates. Or sell home for 150K presandy value and pocket your 150K insurance pay out. Folks with flood selling cheap are usually breaking even.
B) Folks like me without flood insurance dont get tagged ICI, even if 70% of home destroyed.Take your $31,900 from FEMA, get some grants, borrow a bit from SBA and redo house cheap with handymen back as is. You are still entitled to cheap flood insurance as you never had a claim.
C) Bigger issue is FEMA/NFIP is phasing out grandfathering and second home discounts. Come five years from now those folks with or without Sandy would have to sell or convert to primary.
D) they can just buy a condo. The quirk of condos and flood is. The development owns policy and development never changes hands. So policy never gets broken and if a vacation home does not matter.
E) Bigger Issue is home owners. For instance on the Southshore of LI Home insurance companies are not renewing after Sandy so rates are rising as less firms are competing. Car insurance is next. Sandy took out $50,000 worth of cars in my driveway. Yet no rate increase. Currently auto insurers dont charge more in a flood zone. One more flood and that will end.
You have to manage a lot of balls in a Sandy issue. If I get the NYS grant I am filling out paperwork for I will break even in Sandy. Not bad for no flood insurance. Trouble is my neighbors did better than break even. Some of them had pretty junky homes and furniture and now it is all brand new. I had no opportunity to do that. My home is 100% livable. But per FEMA and Grants. Stuff like warped floors, sheetrock missing in garage and peeled paint I have to live with. I only get basics. Even worse I have to look at it till next Spring. My guy cant charge me cash price again till Insurance jobs are done. So summer 2014 or Fall 2014 he is coming back.
Other downside and upside is RE taxes, we have a full bloom real estate recovery coming. NJ and NY average month over month RE prices were heavily dinged by Sandy homes. However, in 2014 those homes will be all mint, paid my insurance money or flipped by flipers. I already see Sandy homes back on market for 200K higher than four month ago prices after being redone.
RE taxes are going through the roof in 2015-2020, Better grieve like a mother in 2013 while you still have the comps. I know I am.
DL says:
May 6, 2013 at 6:32 am
Cost of replacement has Shore homeowners selling “as is”.
I do find that funny, that cable, tv, take out, vacations, car loans are considered essential.
Melville D. Miller, president of Legal Services, emphasized that the figures don’t cover many types of expenses that most middle-class families consider essential, like cable television, restaurant or takeout meals, set-asides for college or retirement savings, and major purchases like cars or vacations.
Housing Crash Fades as Defaults Decline to 2007 Levels
Isn’t that like saying urban nuclear bomb detonations decline to 1945 levels?
… that the figures don’t cover many types of expenses that most middle-class families consider essential, like cable television, restaurant or takeout meals, set-asides for college or retirement savings, and major purchases like cars or vacations.
That’s such BS. I know lots of middle class families that don’t consider college or retirement savings essential. In fact, they’ve been getting by just fine without savings for most of their lives. Savings is a luxury, the other stuff is essential; that’s why they need credit to buy these essentials.
ExPat [6],
It’s the equivalent of the mis-direction. The objective is to shake the rattle so that the baby stops crying. Once that is accomplished, we can get back to the task at hand. We can’t soak the masses when they’re angry. Let’s “convince” them that the world is flat and then move to the next step.
Quick drop in to say hi to the old timers.
Finally bought a house – cheapest house in the best neighborhood. 1960’s brick 4 bed ranch on an acre with a huge garage/workshop. Original everything almost, plus wallpaper on every wall outside of the kitchen.
Used the “uber” inspector. He was nice and very personable, missed the fact that the porch post was completely rotten and also a faulty flooding shower in the second bath so while I liked him, wish he had been a bit more on the ball with the visual inspection. Maybe too much reliance on technology.
Seller was a pain, typical “giving the house away”. Had been trying to rent the house out and gave up. House was on the market for years. Purchase price was around 60% of the original inflated asking. We had him remove an underground oil tank before closing.
So far have removed the wallpaper myself, primed and painted (Gardz is great for ex-wallpapered walls). Turned out that there was no wall insulation so we rewired while the walls were empty and had them blow in recycled paper insulation. Roof insulation was full of dead mice so that is out and we are letting the house breath for a month or two before putting new in.
Treated myself to a high end tiled bath and shower built from the ground up. FYI Lowes has a great budget frameless shower door at 1/3 price of the fancy stores with 3/8 inch glass. Sucker weighs 200lbs.
Next up is a full kitchen remodel, then finishing a current 3 season room. May do new windows but have really good old wood frames with excellent seals and storm windows so may try recusitating them – full on stripping and repainting should make a world of difference.
The renovations can a headache, especially putting in a lot of the work ourselves, although like the benefit of having everything exactly to my taste as it’s easy to justify ripping out a 50 year old bathroom or 30 year old kitchen. Would love to be able to afford to have someone come in and do everything but that would make purchasing the fixer upper pointless. On the other hand, house appraised for a decent amount over the sales price (seemed pretty efficient, appraiser travelled around the comps, took pictures of everything and produced a very detailed report that a rational case) and anything we do will improve on that. Neighborhood is really nice, street quiet, neighbors friendly and the school district is one of those high end ones, higher than I would have really liked (lots of Kumon kids) but better than dealing with a really bad one.
Best of all, within budget and room to spare.
Lisoosh,
– Cheapest house in best neighborhood
– Best of all, within budget and room to spare.
Touchdown! Good job!
Congrats Lisoosh
9. Sounds great!
Interesting topic! Thanks for sharing this information! “Obamahouse?” – interesting title grim. Well put grim.
The End Is Nigh (clot Utopia Edition):
Gun is lock & ‘upload’: print-your-own pistol would beat metal detectors
Making a fully functional gun has gotten as easy as 1-2-3.
A libertarian group says it has manufactured the first working plastic gun made entirely with a 3-D printer — and the weapon would elude metal detection.
The Texas-based group, Defense Distributed, said it soon plans to publish the digital blueprint for anyone, including terrorists, to download anywhere in the world.
“Everyone’s seen the movie ‘In the Line of Fire,’ where one of the great bad guys, [played by] John Malkovich, labored at making a gun out of plastic and wood so it could get through metal detectors and he could assassinate the president,” Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday.
“But that was only a movie, and just [last] week, it has become reality,” he added, as he proposed legislation to make such guns illegal.
“We’re facing a situation where anyone — a felon, a terrorist — can open a gun factory in their garage and the weapons they make will be undetectable. It’s stomach-churning.”
The proposed legislation is designed to amend a ban on “undetectable weapons” to refer to any gun, magazine or firearm component that would not be picked up by walk-through metal detectors.
The move follows the announcement by the nonprofit Defense Distributed that it had created a fully functional plastic firearm and that it would release its blueprint after it runs a few more tests.
The group said it had manufactured the hard-plastic handgun — which it dubbed “The Liberator” — using a Dimension SST printer from the company Stratasys.
Using pliable materials, 3-D printers can create solid objects by following digital blueprints.
Although the Dimension is one of the more expensive models, Schumer said a person can achieve similar results with printers that cost as little as $1,500, including one by 3D Systems that costs $1,299 and will be available at Staples.
The Liberator fires standard .380-caliber handgun rounds. The gun made last week got off six rounds before becoming unusable.
It was made of 16 pieces of plastic and designed to use interchangeable barrels for different calibers of ammunition.
Defense Distributed did use metal for one of the components to make sure that the gun complied with laws banning the possession of undetectable firearms.
3D Systems rep Alyssa Reichental said, “We are not a law-enforcement agency and cannot prevent someone from shooting a 3-D-printed gun any more than an automaker can prevent a drunk driver from taking the wheel.’’
But the firm is “committed to doing everything that is creative, innovative and responsible, even if it means some restrictions.”
Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson used a secondhand Dimension printer he had paid $8,000 for, Forbes magazine said.
Wilson could not be reached for comment.
Hate to tell Schumer but any one with a little metal working training can open a gun factory in their garage.
Next it will be ban thinking about guns
Add “smart” phones.
“I do find that funny, that cable, tv, take out, vacations, car loans are considered essential.”
Eye Ball Tattoos are also essential
Statler Waldorf says:
May 6, 2013 at 11:59 am
Add “smart” phones.
“I do find that funny, that cable, tv, take out, vacations, car loans are considered essential.”
Pain it’s just another dunce legislator in love with the microphone wasting everyone’s time and money with bullsh1t. Politicians love to exploit our fears in their endless, narcissistic quest for power. Anyone remember the law in NJ that was passed that requires all handguns to have smart technology……whenever it’s actually invented that is.
New Jersey Smart Gun Legislation Enacted
Published December 23, 2002
Associated Press
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73763,00.html#ixzz2SWvBNe1K
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73763,00.html
Aren’t the bullets still made of metal?
14.chicagofinance says:
May 6, 2013 at 10:54 am
The End Is Nigh (clot Utopia Edition):
Gun is lock & ‘upload’: print-your-own pistol would beat metal detectors
Making a fully functional gun has gotten as easy as 1-2-3.
brian it shoots high speed nerf darts.
Technically you can make carbon fiber bullets but they are not that accurate, and plastic dose not have any penetrating power. but at close range for a kill shot they can be effective if well placed.
Schumer is every worry wort jewish stereotype wrapped up in a moronic legislator. My 14 month old daughter is probably a butt load tougher than old chuckie boy.
MBIA Inc. (MBI)
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NICE!! Up almost 40%, and most thought MBI was dead. Back from dead baby
Gary –
While I would have loved something with little to no maintenance, the only way to do it was fixer-upper/diamond in the rough.
Funny thing, ton of friend keep telling me how lucky I was to find this place, and yet it was sitting there for sale for over 2 years, drifting down in price. Anybody could have bought it. The kicker for me was noticing that the weekly open house was regularly attracting a stream of potential upscale buyers desperate to get into the school district. They were turned off by the condition of the house and the oil tank, one of which is gone and the other being rectified.
I can’t say for sure whether it was a good buy, but so far so good and not bankrupt.
You can’t print a gun with a 3D printer.
You can print a plastic model of a gun, and you could probably load a bullet into it.
In the very low likelihood it does function, there is a very high probability the gun will blow up in the users hand.
Things have never looked as bleak as they do today.
It’s all turning to shit, and the TV bobbleheads tell us all is well.
Didn’t we go through this same nonsense when the Glock pistol was introduced? Rampant misinformation about a “plastic” gun, and when that was shot down, people claimed some kind of advanced ceramics.
When, in reality, all of the “business parts” of the gun are metal.
Grim…100% plastic 3D printed gun. Fired….
Security |5/05/2013 @ 5:30em |154 871 views
Meet The ‘Liberator’: Test-Firing The World’s First Fully 3D-Printed Gun
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/05/05/meet-the-liberator-test-firing-the-worlds-first-fully-3d-printed-gun/
23.grim says:
May 6, 2013 at 1:14 pm
You can’t print a gun with a 3D printer.
You can print a plastic model of a gun, and you could probably load a bullet into it.
In the very low likelihood it does function, there is a very high probability the gun will blow up in the users hand.
I cant wait till see the neighbors faces when the reno is going on. $100 dollar a day Mexicans fresh from the chain gang doing reno while you crack the whip from your front porch with a bucket of ice cold tall boys beside you and the game on your portable tv.
I do notice the young couples really coming to open houses this spring. Plenty of fence sitters from 2005 to 2013 have to finally get off fence. If you got married Spring 2007 when houses were sky high, renting or buying a small coop/condo/townhouse is what you did. Flash forward to 2013 after years of being crammed it looks like home prices may be ready to move, you are pregant, about to get pregant and while you have two incomes grab that slice of pie.
Plus some young folks never bought at peak. They were too young to do it. Anyone who graduated college spring 2002 to Spring 2009 were too young to buy a bubble home.
Lisoosh says:
May 6, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Gary –
While I would have loved something with little to no maintenance, the only way to do it was fixer-upper/diamond in the rough.
Funny thing, ton of friend keep telling me how lucky I was to find this place, and yet it was sitting there for sale for over 2 years, drifting down in price. Anybody could have bought it. The kicker for me was noticing that the weekly open house was regularly attracting a stream of potential upscale buyers desperate to get into the school district. They were turned off by the condition of the house and the oil tank, one of which is gone and the other being rectified.
I can’t say for sure whether it was a good buy, but so far so good and not bankrupt.
Lisoosh,
Congrats!
If you’re looking to do a complete kitchen, did you see the pix of Grim’s incredible kitchen?
Grim, don’t you have a friend or relative in the business who did your kitchen?
The plastics and resins used by 3d printers are barely rugged enough for everyday use, let alone to make a gun barrel capable of supporting the barrel pressures associated with firing a bullet. Even if they could, the bullet would likely tear straight through the rifling required to ensure accuracy. Really though, it would just blow up in the users hand, maiming them, potentially even killing them.
Firing pin? Can’t be plastic, it would just smash and mushroom when hitting the primer, it’s bounce right off.
Springs? Can’t be plastic, they won’t generate enough force to trigger the primer when the hammer/pin hits the bullet.
Slide? Can’t be plastic unless we’re talking about some kind of single shot zip gun.
“JJ says:
May 6, 2013 at 1:23 pm
I cant wait till see the neighbors faces when the reno is going on. $100 dollar a day Mexicans fresh from the chain gang doing reno while you crack the whip from your front porch with a bucket of ice cold tall boys beside you and the game on your portable tv. ”
John, no sports, craft beers only (never ice cold, ruins the flavor) and the Mexicans are $80 a day if you pay by the job and offer to drop them off when finished.
Neighbors not necessarily happy about the comp but asking me for the name of my tile guy.
Wish I was a newlywed. Been in this game for far too long. Not sure how to fill my time if not looking for listings any more.
The was an article last year about a guy who made a $5 zip gun then promptly turned around and gave it back to the police for a $200 gift card at a gun buy back.
Printing a gun is for wussies when a real inmate can mock up a zip gun out of paper mache.
You are right about the firing pin. It uses a metal nail.
The springs appear to be plastic.
There doesn’t appear to be a slide. Must be a single shot weapon. (similar to is namesake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-45_Liberator )
Barrel appears to be smooth bore plastic. And according to the article, it broke after the 11th round.
Other products in his linep include printable 30 round mags for AR-15’s and AK-47’s. You can also download the lower reciever of an AR-15 and buy the rest of the parts online (yes some metal) which he claims fires hundreds of rounds.
Screen-Shot-2013-05-05-at-12.20.07-AM.png
29.grim says:
May 6, 2013 at 1:27 pm
The plastics and resins used by 3d printers are barely rugged enough for everyday use, let alone to make a gun barrel capable of supporting the barrel pressures associated with firing a bullet. Even if they could, the bullet would likely tear straight through the rifling required to ensure accuracy. Really though, it would just blow up in the users hand, maiming them, potentially even killing them.
Firing pin? Can’t be plastic, it would just smash and mushroom when hitting the primer, it’s bounce right off.
Springs? Can’t be plastic, they won’t generate enough force to trigger the primer when the hammer/pin hits the bullet.
Slide? Can’t be plastic unless we’re talking about some kind of single shot zip gun.
$100 a day is for a real work day not no Jersey Siesta. A guy lent me two mexicans once and they wore me down. Pretty much 8am to sunset. No breaks. Toss them some taco bell around on pm, they clean up with hose and pee behind shed. I had a list of junk a mile long, they knocked out the list by six pm and I let them go home a little early.
I am always extremely happy with low comps, the lower the comp the better. Unless you are selling low comps are great they give you a chance to grieve your taxes. Some guy sold a house a little bigger than mine for 240k a few weeks ago. Around 1992 prices. I said fantastic. It closed a week before tax grievance day and I threw it in the comps!!!
People asked about my guy but since they dont speak english and only take cash it makes them nervous. My guys are super super smart. Crazy smart I would say. I had the asian plumber doing plumbing work when inpector barged in early for my appointment. I was trying to get some grant money and did not know inspector was tagging along. Although plumber spoke little english he did not have time to leave. So he grabs a broom and dustpan and pretends he is cleaning. Stupid inspector demands to know who did plumbings. I go it was new before flood, then he sees tag I go well I as a homeowner can do light plumbing so I did it, then he rants I should not do plumbing myself. And leaves, guy goes back to plumbing funniest ever. The other guy actually sat down with wife for tea upstairs and pretend to be a guest.
I was ROFL when the inspectors left. My wife and kids invited and asian man to tea in the afternoon and I have an asian male maid. HA HA>
Lisoosh says:
May 6, 2013 at 1:31 pm
“JJ says:
May 6, 2013 at 1:23 pm
I cant wait till see the neighbors faces when the reno is going on. $100 dollar a day Mexicans fresh from the chain gang doing reno while you crack the whip from your front porch with a bucket of ice cold tall boys beside you and the game on your portable tv. ”
John, no sports, craft beers only (never ice cold, ruins the flavor) and the Mexicans are $80 a day if you pay by the job and offer to drop them off when finished.
Neighbors not necessarily happy about the comp but asking me for the name of my tile guy.
Wish I was a newlywed. Been in this game for far too long. Not sure how to fill my time if not looking for listings any more.
[26] brian,
I think I speak for all NJRER readers who also own firearms when I say that there’s no freaking way I would fire that thing by hand.
[31] juice,
Had I any metalworking skills and access to equipment, I would turn out a bunch of those little liberator things from WWII and arbitrage them to every gun buyback there was. It would be more profitable than making knockoff hi-cap mags for ARs. Only problem is those pesky gun manufacturing laws.
[34] redux
I wonder why no one got up in arms over the prospect of 3-D printing of hi cap magazines. Seems to me that it would be simple enough and the mags don’t need to stand up to much.
Lisoosh, you did a fantastic job. You had the patience, perseverance and a vision for this to all happen. That’s in contrast to several participants at this forum who would rather bitch about the process and get nowhere. From my experience, you will never regret it. It sounds like your house has strong bones. I don’t know what the high end comps you have in your neighborhood, but you may consider this as a grand slam: If again, the neighborhood supports it, a second story can add up to a million to the value. People with money looking for houses around you want the second story. Example: my MIL house in Westfield was a knock down 3br 1 1/2bath split. Builder put up a 3000sqft two story home and got $1.4mm after the bubble burst.
My MIL didn’t complain. She sold at $620k for it after buying it for $181k 20 years prior.
Good luck!
The End Is Nigh (The Locusts Decend Edition):
Bugged by Cicada Swarm? Don’t Be
They’re Loud and Leave a Mess of Carcasses, but the Insects of East Coast’s Brood II Just Want to Find Love.
By MEGAN BUERGER
In a few weeks, stretches of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic will become littered with big, noisy, red-eyed bugs emerging from the earth in unison like soldiers from an underground army.
There’s no cause for alarm, though. These largely harmless insects, known as periodical cicadas, or magicicadas, are looking for love, not war.
“It’s amazing to watch a cicada eclosion, which is when they emerge from the shell, because it’s en masse,” said Elias Bonaros, a cardiologist and self-described bug enthusiast who lives in Bayside, N.Y. “It’s like a biblical plague that you can witness.”
Although perhaps best known for their caterwaul choruses and the carcasses they leave behind, magicicadas generate a lot of curiosity because of their cyclical emergences. An emergence is when a throng of periodical cicadas rises from the ground as soon as the soil reaches about 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The groups of magicicadas, known as broods, surface only once every 13 or 17 years depending on the species.
This year marks the return of Brood II, known among some scientists as the East Coast Brood, which is concentrated between Connecticut and Northern Virginia. Operating on a 17-year cycle, Brood II last made an appearance in 1996, and before that in 1979.
Once Brood II arrives, the bugs get right down to business: mating. The males are known for their loud mating songs that sound like hissing chirps. Unlike crickets, which repeat just one call, a male magicicada must sing multiple songs in a specific sequence. Only then will he have a shot at attracting a female. If she is interested, she’ll respond by flicking her wings, and the two conjugate.
Shortly after the female has laid eggs, she will die, then the male will. Six to eight weeks later, the eggs hatch and the nymphs will burrow into the ground, not to be seen for 17 more years.
“It’s an exciting phenomenon,” said John Cooley, a research scientist at the University of Connecticut who has been studying magicicadas since the early 1990s. “In Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution,’ he argues that it is the exceptions that are the most fascinating to us because they reveal the most interesting elements of life. Periodical cicadas are in every way the exception.”
Because periodical broods tend to emerge in the same locations each time, scientists can fairly accurately predict which areas will get hit the hardest.
“I don’t mean to sound like a wizard or fortune teller, but Staten Island should strap in,” said Mr. Cooley, who expects them to arrive in New York City around May 20. His logic is simple: That borough was overrun by Brood II in 1996.
That means it is likely to be a busy year for Ed Johnson, director of science at the Staten Island Museum, which, with about 35,000 specimens, said it boasts the largest cicada collection in North America.
In 1996, Mr. Johnson fielded dozens of phone calls every day from people infuriated by magicicadas damaging their plants, screeching through the night and, eventually, blanketing their yard with dead carcasses.
“People would hold their phones to their yard and say, ‘Listen to this! I can’t take it anymore!’ ” he recalls. “And we’d just laugh and say, ‘Well, they’re going to die soon so you’ll just have to wait.’ ”
And while the cicadas are largely harmless, some residents take issue with plant damage that can occur when the females slice into thin tree branches to safely lay dozens of eggs at a time. This can potentially weaken the tree.
“If you’re really worried about it, a little netting will do the trick,” Mr. Johnson advises.
This year, Mr. Johnson and his colleagues are helping Mr. Cooley with a long-term mapping project that plots the locations and concentrations of Brood II. As part of the museum’s spring programming, employees will lead guided walks to teach people how to identify magicicadas and their songs. The hope is that the more people there are who can contribute cicada sightings, the more data they will collect.
The lingering question: Why does the process take 17 years?
“Man, I wish I knew,” Mr. Cooley said. “The fact is, we’re still working on good, testable hypotheses. We still have a lot of studying to do.”
Forget Hi Cap Magazine – I want a 3-D printer for Playboy Magazine
Comrade Nom Deplume, Channeling Scrapple Cannon says:
May 6, 2013 at 2:14 pm
[34] redux
I wonder why no one got up in arms over the prospect of 3-D printing of hi cap magazines. Seems to me that it would be simple enough and the mags don’t need to stand up to much.
It’s been 17 years folks and the cicadas is back.
http://news.yahoo.com/theyre-back-17-cicadas-swarm-georgia-york-141835694.html
whoops chi beat me too it.
finally found a white guy to trump up terrorism charges on
http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-minn-raid-disrupts-localized-terror-attack-163339217.html
[38] jj
wouldnt it be cheaper to just keep buying blow up dolls?
I guess one would have to buy them new, who would want a used one?
Comrade Nom Deplume, Channeling Scrapple Cannon says:
May 6, 2013 at 2:47 pm
[38] jj
wouldnt it be cheaper to just keep buying blow up dolls?
Yawn. If you raided 3 mobile homes randomly in the USA everyday, you’d come up with the same stash of weapons everyday.
41.Painhrtz – Doc Daneeka says:
May 6, 2013 at 2:42 pm
finally found a white guy to trump up terrorism charges on
http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-minn-raid-disrupts-localized-terror-attack-163339217.html
Brian don’t disagree with you. Technically by those definitions and my lawn fertilizer I’m a terrorist.
Land of the free baby!
It all ends in tears.
Of that, there is now little doubt.
Let’s All Calm Down About 3D Plastic Guns
By Paul M. BarrettMay 06, 2013 3:21 PM EDTFacebookTwitterLinkedIn
Should we light our hair on fire about plastic guns made with 3D printers? Too late for Senator Charles Schumer. The combustible New York Democrat is encouraging hysteria over the prospect of criminals using 3D printers to manufacture firearms, possibly to assassinate the president. “We’re facing a situation where anyone—a felon, a terrorist—can open a gun factory in their garage ,and the weapons they make will be undetectable,” Schumer said. “It’s stomach-churning.”What’s stomach-churning is the way that gun foes get their facts wrong, undercutting their cause and distracting from serious discussions about fighting crime.3D printers are machines that can use digital designs to build a variety of devices out of thousands of layers of hard plastic. Pro-gun activists have been talking about using 3D technology to make a functioning firearm. This week, a libertarian-minded outfit in Texas called Defense Distributed reportedly test-fired such a weapon. Thus Schumer’s severe indigestion. The lawmaker said he will push legislation that would extend an existing ban on “undetectable” weapons to cover guns made via 3D printers.A ban on undetectable guns will do no more harm, I suppose, than a ban on undetectable automobiles or spaceships, which could also be dangerous in the hands of a diabolical Marvel Comics supervillain. Schumer’s bill will not, however, have a practical effect on ordinary street crime, psychopathic mass shootings, hijackings, or political assassinations.Here’s why: If you’ve got the skills, you can already make a gun in your basement, and there are less complicated ways to do it than using a $10,000 3D printer and computer set-up. Why would bad guys bother making comic book firearms when they can go online and order anything from a Glock 9 mm pistol to a Bushmaster military-style semiautomatic rifle with 30-round ammunition magazines?Perhaps the evil doer wouldn’t want to leave a credit-card trail. Then he pays cash at a Main Street gun shop, a weekend gun show, or to the criminal down the block who sells black market firepower from the trunk of his car. Or the crook steals or borrows his gun.The worst part of Schumer’s phony alarm about 3-D printer guns is that we’ve been down this path before, when gun-control activists tried to get Austrian-made Glock pistols banned from the United States in the late 1980s. The allegation then was that the innovative Glock, made mostly from industrial-strength plastic known as polymer, would defy airport security measures. As I recounted in a January 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek cover article, the would-be Glock banners:Claimed that because it was mostly plastic, the pistol would be invisible to X-ray machines. “Only the barrel, slide, and one spring are metal,” the late Jack Anderson wrote in his syndicated column in January 1986. “Dismantled, it is frighteningly easy to smuggle past airport security.” Antigun groups mobilized, Congress held hearings, and the National Rifle Assn. rallied its troops. “The amazing thing was that nobody had ever heard of Glock before the Anderson column,” says Richard Feldman, a lawyer then working for the NRA. ” ‘Glock? What’s that? Oh, an Austrian gun, a plastic gun? Interesting. I’ve got to see one of those.’ “As the 17-round pistol became an object of curiosity and admiration among Second Amendment enthusiasts, the anti-Glock campaign fizzled. The Federal Aviation administration concluded that if screening personnel paid attention, they would be able to detect the pistol. “That was a big ‘oops’ moment,” says Richard M. Aborn, a former president of Handgun Control Inc., now known as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “We made the classic mistake of failing to do our homework.”Gun foes helped popularize the Glock with more speed and less expense than the Austrian company would ever have been capable of on its own. Today, the assault on the latest version of the plastic pistol makes no more sense. TSA scanners at airports detect shapes, not metal.Don’t get me wrong. I’m no fan of mischievous libertarians making guns in their basements. On the other hand, if I were intent on mayhem, I would go with a proven manufacturer, like Glock. And if I were a lawmaker, I would focus on serious policies that might accelerate the reduction in crime rates Senator Schumer’s hometown of New York has enjoyed for the past quarter-century.
http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-06/lets-all-calm-down-about-3-d-plastic-guns
#36: Sounds like your MIL lived in my old neighborhood off Springfield Ave. near the Cranford/Kenilworth border. Our old house was a 3BR/1.5BA split and it still is, though they put a family room on the back. Most of the other houses have been redone, mostly as neo-Victorians with round end porches and eyebrow windows. Gorgeous houses, but not on those lots.
The current owners have no idea that our much-beloved poodle who left this level of reality in December 1978 is buried under the willow tree in the backyard…
She was right of Springfield. Near what is now an assisted living home.
How The Gubmint Will Track and Take Out clot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13BahrdkMU8
Anybody got a few loose anti-aircraft missiles they want to trade for some deposit bottles?
Let’s see how well a drone does over my house when I start firing Exocet missiles.
I wonder how Chrisitie shows up if the drone is over NJ?
Giant amorphous blob.
Scrap exocets are anti ship missiles
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