George Ure

The lighting came up (as planned) in the new UrbanSurvival sound studio where (in the future) podcasts and such will originate from, along with the odd assortment of singers and local arts by invitation only. 

The main thing is that it leaves only three projects left:  Floating the leveling compound on the floor and then laying the engineered floor (1).  After that, there’s the installation of the sound conditioning (ATS Wedge Foam Acoustic Panels (Burgundy) – 24x24x2 (6pk), $49) (2).  And then the construction and installation of the console.

Designing the console is really a simple thing once you hang out at Lowes a bit:  I only need a four-foot wide desk (the mixer isn’t too wide) and you can pick up a section of prefab kitchen counter for $54-bucks with a dark (almost black) faux granite that has enough design in it to make an optical mouse happy.

Slap on sides and legs (one see of plywood, a couple of two-by-fours whacked up, just so) and you can have a really good looking console for about $150, which includes the over-sized slide-out keyboard drawer.  That’s another prefab, by the way: Valencia Series Underdesk Keyboard/Mouse Shelf, 28w x 12d, Mahogany.  Sure, it was $35-bucks, but I figure (perhaps wrongly!) that my time is worth something and by the time I diddle around with the hardware and finishing, guess what’s cheaper?

This whole construction project, build-out, and then operation of the studio will come together this fall in an online recording engineer school.  Though, I will be careful to note that this won’t get you a job since it’s avocational (recreational) in nature.  But by the time you’re done with it, this will be the coolest way to get your church choir, PA system, home recording/garage band sound set up you can find.

My thinking is that $29 bucks for a whole course (including books, videos, equipment lists, basics of recording/mixing, and construction details, and completion certificate) is a lot more effective than the “hit and miss” approach.

One of the reasons for our trip up to Tacoma this year is to sit down and record (if we can) with one of the most proficient soundmen/engineers you’ve never heard of.

If you’re wonder who this old school marvel is?  No, he doesn’t have any albums out that you’d recognize.  But you’d sure recognize the megastar voice talent he did the sound for:  US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

I’ll let you know if that comes together…but the studio is coming slowly but well.

Hi-fi aficionados love to brag about their high-powered systems, but the main monitors in this little project are really quite modest:  For the mains, there’ll be a rack of four super-tweeters sitting on top of a Bose 901 (Series II) and for bottom end a modest Polk subwoofer. Tri-amped, of course

The idea is not to have hugely loud sound:  the goal is to have perfectly clean sound.  At the other end of the room will be “fill” speakers (Bose 201’s) which are mainly for sound reinforcement going into the house.  Anything over 85 dB for a long period of time can damage hearing so having a 120 dB sound system may seem cool, but it’s really, really dumb.  (See Dangerous Decibels Org)

The trick-shot to this is each of the speakers is separately amped and there’s a equalizer on each channel;, as well.  Since my experience began doing “proof of performance” measurements in broadcasting, that’s where the studio set-up portion of the course begins…how to run channel measurements and so forth.

When done, it will be about as good a studio as you’ll be able to find for a total cost of less than $4,000 which includes room construction (but doesn’t include the high-end Sennheiser mics).

The very first session I ever did live sound on was the Charles Lloyd Quartet, back in 1967 when they played the University of Washington HUB Ballroom.  The Monterey Jazz Festival version of Forest Flower Sunrise can be found on YouTube over here.

I was totally impressed with Lloyd’s piano player on that set:  A fellow who is still making incredible music today:  Keith Jarrett.  As a matter of fact, Jack DeJohnette was in that set, too…and along with Gary Peacock they make up the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio…a sample of which (goes good with coffee) is over here. 

It’s an hour 44, so plan on a second cup.

Two Books Worth Reading

My friend Chris Tyreman, who’s at the epicenter of that Jewish studies group up in Saskatchewan (a center of radical thinking, lol) has release a couple of books on what the group has found in their research to date.

The first is The Destruction of Sabbath: Tracking the History of Deception.  The reason you might find this one interesting is that it explores how Christendom went from being a lunar-cycle based religion to the (whatever you want call it) that it is today.  There’s a good deal of evidence that lunar cycling is vastly more important to human consciousness evolution than you might otherwise think.  And that’s without getting into the woo-woo *but statistically valid* data about why humans go just a little bit nuts around the full moon.

If you’re not in synch with lunar Sabbath, you may be missing a key part of spiritual development because (hate to break it to you) but Sunday ain’t Sabbath.  There are some groups that still hold to the lunar cycle (Muslims, for example).

So I would recommend this one very highly since the moon’s link-up with religion is very important and I’d suggest that when we toss out thousands of years of tradition (cross-culturally when comes to the moon phases) that we miss something.  Big.

What the book doesn’t answer is still bugging me – and that’s the who and the why the “right” days of rest and festival got “jacked” from the West, but there’s this city-state in Italy that’s high on my suspect list which goes back to the seemingly deliberate retooling of scripture out of the earliest available texts.  And that brings us to what?

The second book is more about what Self-Defining Hebrew comes up with (besides Sunday isn’t the right day off most months).  100 Questions You Never Thought to Ask and Didn’t Want the Answers To.

This is where the concept of earthlings as “planting” of an interplanetary civilization (which did things like set the moon in its unique position and parted the air from water, and such) are detailed.  It fits much closer with what science has to say about how Life evolved here and if nothing else, it will add even more questions to your list of “WTF is really going on here?”

The group doesn’t have all the answers, but if you have scratched your head at some of the “one time use words” in Strong’s Concordance, SDH is a refreshing alternative view that suggests maybe the traditional interpretations of various concepts have been corrupted over time.

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We might as well “head this one off at the pass” because no doubt there will be some people who will ask:  “What’s with the story over on Before It’s News about how Wifi could kill millions of people?”

Ah…damn fine question there…damn fine indeed.

So you go read the story and I’m sure the first thing you’d want to do is run out and unplug all the wireless routers in the office.  But is that practical?  (I have three wireless networks here so “going dark” would not be a smart business move, lol.)

Maybe that’s extreme, but there’s a lot of thinking that needs to be done in this area.

To begin with, there are two kinds of radio energy”  Ionizing (as in “cooks people”) and non-ionizing (as in AM radio and shortwave/ham radio HF bands).

The simple fact is that the higher the frequency of a radio signal, the more it tends to ionize (heat/cook) a person.  And just how fast?  A matter of frequency:  The higher the frequency, the more danger is posted by ionizing radiation. 

Climb the tower of a 5 kilowatt AM radio station while it’s running to change a tower light 180 feet up?  No problem (except you need a dry board to make sure you don’t become a replacement for the tower base insulators, which could be a shocking experience.

On the other hand, put your head into the main lobe of a 100 KW FM transmitter up on that same tower and now you’re into the real of potential serious harm to body and mind.

That’s the difference between 1 Megahertz radio and 100 Megahertz radio.  And as you go up in frequency?  Yes, you can kill birds with high power radars…and the typical router is around 2.4 GHz, which is right next door to the microwave cooking band…so there is something to worry about.

But how much is “safe?”

No one really knows, for absolute positive/certain.  While some countries have much lower radio frequency (RF) exposure limits than the US/FCC standards, there’s much yet to be learned.

The main thing is that while the initial thresholds were set based on ionization/heating effects, there are deeper effects, down at the DNA level that have been only partially explored.

One of the best books out in terms of the basic science (through its publication in 1985) is The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of Life by Becker and Selden. 

The problem is (and then touch on this in the last of the paperback in the section Political Science) that there are huge commercial forces at work.

You see, over the past 40 years, there has been tremendous cost reduction in extremely high frequency technologies.  But at the beginning of the period, it was axiomatic that “the higher the frequency, the higher the price.”  Solid-state devices like transistors (and a side order of tunnel diodes, if you please) were not always so high-frequency friendly. 

But it’s not just the devices themselves (and high-precision manufacturing):  It’s also the assembly processes.  40-years ago, we couldn’t even find a four-layer PCB and now 6-layer PCBs are commonplace.  More, sure, but added cost.

And then there’s this whole matter of surface-mount technology.  What makes the SMT process different that 40-year old technology is that old style (leaded parts and single-layer boards) meant that each component lead because critical because at extremely high frequencies, they were a significant source of stray capacitance and inductances – and those led to lots of design nightmares like unwanted oscillations and so forth.

Now, though, it’s not uncommon to have a multilayer board with extremely small, short leads (the components for an old fart like me require a microscope to do right) and the multi-layer boards mean a “ground plane” can effectively encapsulate one part of a circuit and isolate it.

But so much for the how-to part:  The real question is still out there:  How much radio-frequency energy is too much and more importantly, what mix of energies can be especially bad for you?

If you’re looking for a business template to think about this RF Exposure issue with, try the petroleum industry’s fracking model:

Like fracking, the higher level of RF exposure is a short-term expedient answer to a long-term problem.  While, no doubt, some occasional bursts of energy may be responsible for advances in DNA, it may only appear so because the “winners survived.”  No telling how many genetic mistakes died over the course of humankind’s evolution, were burned at the stake, or whatever.

What some good science is beginning to ask now, though, is a fundamental question:  How much is good…and as what point do we tip into bad….just like Fracking with its pollution of groundwater and setting off earthquakes?

In both cases the real culprit is money…but you already knew that.  RF – radio frequency – energy is no joke.  It’s also terribly under-studied.

And when news does come out – like “Effect of mobile telephone on sperm quality: A systemic review and meta-analysis” just out June 10 and here on the government’s PubMed website, we read where study authors Adams, Galloway, Mondal, Esteves, and Mathews  have run up another warning flag:

“We conclude that pooled results from in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that mobile phone exposure negatively affects sperm quality. Further study is required to determine the full clinical implications for both sub-fertile men and the general population.”

I bet the major router companies won’t ante up for more work in this area…until a suitable replacement product for wifi and cell phones is ready…

When you stick a cell phone in your pocket, it’s not as dangerous as climbing up past a high-power FM transmitter, I’ll grant you that.  But, on the other hand, that son or daughter in the wings will have (maybe) 60-90 years to materialize the effects.

And you wonder why I don’t carry a cell phone unless absolutely necessary for business, and then at arm’s length (or greater) if I can? 

BTW/PFB

Around here that’s a simple one to figure out:  Back To Work / left over Pizza for Breakfast.

Goodbye Independence

Oilman2 spied this fine catch “U.S. military totally dependent on Chinese production” to keep our military functioning.

As if you need to be reminded of the question I was asking this weekend, but here it comes again:  “What was it we were celebrating, anyway?”

Market Outlook

From reader Michael:

“George, caught your C2C, but cannot believe my ears. Dow 25,000?

Wow.

Even a retrenchment of 50% from there is still pretty great, no?

I guess your final answer is:   we dodged the bullet? “

Yes, there is a non-zero chance that the market could have a huge blow-off.  The way it would happen would be similar to how the final blow-off was set up for 1929:  The Fed raised rates from 4 to 4.5% in late 1928.  This caused money to come flooding out of the bond market and into the equities (stock) market. 

As I’ve explained, in more detail to Peoplenomics readers, there is some resistance ahead (around S&P 2,050-2,082, but once through that, we could have a runaway pop up to the unreal prices of Dow 25,000 and S&P 2,500 or even higher.

What stokes it?  All that “made up money” coming out of dark pools of money and when that happens, Katie bar the door.

Megaquake  to Come?

Of course, when the market meltdown eventually comes, the stock market will no doubt be looking for something to blame it on.

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Quick!  When is the average high date for the summer rally?

My buddy up in Shawnee, OK, Robin Landry and I were pondering that on in a chat this week.  His research places it around August 26th…

Not that this is a “take to the bank” number, but a couple of readers have written in that they are loading up on put options expecting things to fall apart any minute.

While that is – of course – always a possibility (the news is full of ugly possibilities which we’ll run down in a sec), sometimes even a permabear like me has to plug his nose, and be long, which our trading model has been for something like a year and a half, now with only a couple of weeks on the short side.

So we maybe will hold off for another month before laying on some “insurance bets.”  The market just started Q3 and the clowns with bonuses bigger than your income didn’t buy in looking to lose. 

So until we get to higher levels (Dow 17,000, S&P 2,050) barring an EMP attack or a face-off between Ukraine and Russia over Crimean real estate, I’ll have to stay long the market, but see it for what it really is:

The Federal Reserve;s Quantitative Easting is leaking into markets so their trying to gently let a little air out along the way to prevent a parabolic blow-off and a slam of hyperinflation.

In other words, it’s a detestable rally, but my money doesn’t seem to care about its lineage.

The Jobs Data

Attention Fiction Writers:  Please hide the Center for Immigration Studies report that “All Employment Growth since 2000 Went to Immigrants.”  Especially when we get to fresh jobs data like the federal numbers just out…

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 288,000 in June, and the unemployment rate declined to 6.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains were widespread, led by employment growth in professional and business services, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and health care.

Household Survey Data In June, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 6.1 percent. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 325,000 to 9.5 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons have declined by 1.4 percentage points and 2.3 million, respectively

The labor participation rate held steady at 62.8%. Even the unemployed plus marginally attached reading dropped a bit from 12.2 to 12.1% this month.

The good news doesn’t end there (this is good news?):  The monthly Challenger (Gray, and Christmas) job cut report is out with the headline:

2014 June Job Cut Report: 31,434 Cuts Lowest of the Year 

After climbing to a 15-month high in May, planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers in June plunged 41 percent to 31,434, the lowest one-month total so far this year. Through the first half of 2014, the pace of job cutting is down 5.0 percent from a year ago, according to the report released Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. –

All of which supports our opening headline this morning:  Giddy, Up.

More after this…

The Oilman’s Reader

Why Israel needs turmoil right now?  Maybe it’s to divert attention from the fact that Cyprus and Israel have signed a huge oil & gas development deal in the Leviathan field area?  Which is why the West is scared spitless about ISIS making it to the coast because there may be oil and gas north of there which would put it in what the West would think of as “less than friendly territory.”

And then there’s the report on TruthDig that some mother-frackers offered locals in Pokesylvania up to $50,000 in “hush” money not to talk about groundwater pollution/  Propublica has the “Nuisance Easement” lingo online.

And there’s proof that states outright lie when they say they don’t know that fracking causes earthquakes.  Take Ohio for example, please.  They have known for years and years…amazing what silence money can buy, though, ain’t it?

A 9/11-Like Attack this Month?

Making the rounds from conspiracy trackers:

I have seen this Midas Muffler commercial being repeatedly shown on local T.V. (Ontario, Canada) and at the very beginning it shows the odometer reading 91179 miles, which translates to a 9/11 style attack on July 9. 

Also on July 9, 23 different nations are scheduled to participate in RIMPAC naval exercises

So it’s either a) a coincidence, b) brilliant marketing of “buzz” or c) the hand of the PTB showing.  We’ll have the answer next week at this time…since the date is next Wednesday…

The Government Attack on…ENGLISH!

Oh, check this one out:  The federal government is suing a company because it requires employees to communicate in ENGLISH!

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Had a note from my friend Gaye at www.backdoorsurvival.com overnight that gets us into a whole frenzy of thoughts this morning:

Seems up in the (drop-dead gorgeous) San Juans Islands yesterday there was another internet and phone problem and Gaye had to drive over to the other side of their island to get her site updated.

There was even an article about it on San Juan Island Update over here. (The outage, not Gaye’s midnight ride to pick up connectivity at the ferry landing…lol)

But that gets us to a pretty interesting point to ponder:  Namely, how many “on-ramps” to the Internet does a person need to keep on hot standby these days?

At the moment, we’re down to only three:  One on each of two phone lines and a third via what used to be WildBlue but which is now called Exede.  (Why they changed their name is still a mystery, other than maybe they ran out of the old stationery, or something, but I digress…)

Sitting here even with three wireless routers to select from, I sill miss our old higher-speed private microwave connection.  Unfortunately that went away due to trees (on the property of others) taking the signal down so far the connection became useless.

I had mulled around having my attorney send letters to the property owners between me and the microwave tower and I’m sure that could have gotten the trees topped, but then we’d be talking about who pays for the work and that sort of thing.  Seemed like driving to a hot-spot would be our back-up, though not our choice, too.

Still, in the event of a major disruption to life – everything from a global subsidence event to massive quakes to martial law – how many on-ramps do you have?

Assuming the ‘net stays up, itself, of course.

One of our nightmare “worst case” scenarios is that in the current flood of illegal immigration will be used as cover to sneak-in a dozen, or so, 3-man teams highly trained in communications disruption.  All they would need to do is identify the key fiber optic switches of the Internet and pull the plug.

Without bank card processing, given how the feds have been attacking cash by making it unwieldy to use not to mention having banks do paper trails for almost anything over about $1,500, or so for fear that money might be used for some illegal purpose,  Am,erica would collapse in short order.

The problem, though, as you can see, is not solved by just having a multiplicity of on-ramps at your home.

As Gaye found out last night:  You can have robust home computing and a dig-up can still take out service.  The last night the Islands lost internet service, a year or two back, was due to an undersea earthquake triggering a rock slide that sliced the cable.

I may have to send here a note about how to put up a 150-foot tower and shoot from her home over into Canada for a backup system…or get one of these Excede things.  But even these have limitations, not the least of which is bad weather when even these go out.

The correct answer to this morning’s question is therefore “One can never have too many on-ramps to the ‘net”  but in addition to that “Ever think about life without electronica?”

The UK had a nation-wide banking outage Wednesday.  So the possibility is not entirely out of the question..

Another Prepping / Electronica Note

Oilman2 spotted a great post on the Swiss site Offiziere.ch which has the interesting title “U.S. Army:  We have no idea how to wage war in Megacities” 

The main takeaway by OM2 is the predominance of electronica in megacities is a major reason why the dot-mils and politicos want those internet kill switches.  Can’t have communications disrupting MOUT mobile operations in urban terrain, now, can we?  It’s fun to be “doctrine literate” by also quite worrisome at times.  Times like since NORTHCOM…ahem…

Gee, What Did I Write?

Got an email that had me looking at the Peoplenomics site to figure out what I wrote..

Issue # 667-B June 21, 2014 post information  close to worth  $40/year subscription.

Ah!  Holistic Backup Energy Systems….  There’s a lot more in back issues (that go back to 2001).  Try doing a a Master Index search on “robust” and you’ll find even more notes on robust home power systems.

Although it’s a little late to be thinking about such things if you’re scrambling to load up on supplies prior to Arthur showing up.  Tell ‘em Hi for us…

The Kid with the Typo Gene

I have to admit being proud as hell of my kids…each is going off doing really neat things.  Although I saw on my son’s FB page that he’s apparently inherited my “typo gene…”

George wrote: “I love my life because I am now doing things I used to only dream about.

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Seems to me we do.  Let me explain…this is all about FTM – follow the money because Everything a Business Model.

I sit around, just like you, and read the reports coming out of Iraq.  President Obama is sending in 200 more troops to “secure” Iraq, which I take to mean their borders.  Is 200 a day the new normal?

But, at the same time, the Texas state legislature is having to consider a state border security force because the very same federal government that is willing to secure Iraq’s borders, has demonstrated that they are unable to secure our own borders.

How can  we send troops to Iraq and not the Mexican border?  Help me here….

To be sure, as in any large, bureaucratic monstrosity, there will be delays and butt-covering.  However, when I read how the president is seeking “emergency funding” for the border, he’s not talking about airlifting the kids home (where they belong).  He’s talk about shelters, humanitarianism, refugees, and every other “warm and fuzzy” liberalista feel-good label that comes along.  No Army or National Guard…

What is NORTHCOM for, if not to deal with home land security, I wonder?

One of my liberal friends this week left me a long voicemail which (correctly) pointed out we only have a return policy with Mexico and if the kids aren’t from there, well, sorry, we’re kind of stuck because we have to “follow our own laws.”

I don’t think that the intent or Congress, was that narrow, however. 

The way I see it:  If a kid comes over the Mexican border, they go back to Mexico.  How hard is that, really?

Unfortunately, it seems to be the only way the hard-headed, soft-border regime in that bloody narcostate is going to hear what we’re saying. 

Oh:  Labeling Mexico as a narcostate on my part may be contentious, but the drug war there killed 34,000 people 2006-2010 according to this report.  But while they’re spending $9-billion a year on their drug war, don’tcha think closing their borders at both ends of the country might have something to do with it?

The (relatively new) government of Mexico has been focusing on making the streets of the country safer from the drug gangs.  But, paradoxically, this has made it safer for further-south countries to walk up here…

Meantime, it’s the porous border what makes profit possible for the Cartels.  D’uh.

The publication Foreign Policy (of the CFR) was asking rhetorically about the drug war way back  in 2012 “The world knows how to end it — so why can’t the United States figure it out? “ 

The question is still on the table.  The answer ain’t no mystery, friend:  Somewhere there’s a business model – there always is.

Money always flows – like water – to level things out.  Until the administration begins to identify the business models behind the border problem and attacks those (drug money, cheap labor, profits on money transfers to relatives back home..the list goes on and on) any claims that they are serious about the problem are specious.

For now, it’s a “crisis” and that means more tax money being spent and more government-dependent jobs being created….

If you want to kill any criminal enterprise, take the money out of it.  Didn’t anyone watch The Untouchables besides me?  Legalize weed, and there go the everyday profits.

The death of an 11-year old Guatemalan a mile inside the US is making big headlines, a regrettable thing, but treating the symptom ain’t gonna cure this disease.

Following the money… that’s what would have an impact.  For now, the PowersThatBe have no interest in that, so long as the mainstreammedia lump border security with kicking the family dog and child abuse.

We can defend Iraq’s borders, but not our own.  I’d say we have a serious management problem.

FATCA Hype: The World is Still Here

Speaking of money models.

Several reader asked me about the panic emails sent around by unscrupulous markets which held the US Dollar would collapse as soon as FATCA came in.

That’s the bill that would require tax-cheats to report accounts over a certain size domiciled in other countries.

As Forbes reports this morning, “FATCA is finally here – even in Russia and China.”

And as I’ve been telling you, TEOTWAWKI looks more like 2022, or at least 2017.

Oh, and the world hasn’t fallen apart.

More after this…

   

Climbing the Wall of Worry

Have to say, the rest of the week could be pretty good for markets.  The Dow went through a bit of a decline, but as we explained to Peoplenomics readers, there’s a reason for that.  Today, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a nice upside move, as markets often go into rally mode before major holidays.

The markets are flirting with new highs, and I’ve been predicting a major blow-off (parabolic) advance for a while now. 

Just like before you work out, you do a little warm-up action, so too, the markets may be just backing and filling before taking the S&P over 2000 and the Dow over 17,000… but we shall see.

Gold and silver are moving up again, too.  Same with copper prices…but I thought the PTB were still setting the groundwork for plastic pennies?  A token of their appreciation for all your hard work when they come….which will all depend on inflation, hyperinflation, and melt values…

Urban Living — Spendy

We get into it more in the Coping section this morning, but in playes like Ft. Wayne, the cost of urban living is high…which is a good read over here.  Who would have though of Indiana? YGTBSM

Singapore prices have dropped again(if you were planning to relo).  But Madhattan?  Fugggitaboutit.

Gas Prices Up

If you’re going over the river and through the woods to grandma and grandpa’s lake place, might want to tank up on gas this morning on the way into the treadmill.

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Our “renting your life” discussion sure touched a lot of people’s nerves.

Reader Victoria found a ‘lil gem over on YouTube:  I didn’t know there was a musical titled :”Rent” but then I live in the outback…

When they act tough you call their bluff
We’re not gonna pay
We’re not gonna pay
We’re not gonna pay last year’s rent!
This year’s rent! Next year’s rent! Rent rent rent rent rent!
We’re not gonna pay rent! ‘Cause everything is rent!

A sample of the music here… 

I can’t hope but notice that the talk about rent cuts for NYC homeless has managed to fall apart.

And as housing prices recover, so are hefty rent increases in the East Bay area (Oakland).

And as if we need to be reminded, a reader in Hawaii sent us this backgrounder…

George,

Honolulu is the most expensive city in the country to live… and the hardest to make a ‘living wage’ (according to Yahoo).  I’ve done fair, with a decent career.  In past years I’ve been renting from long-term owners of paid-off apartments who knew me personally and were not terribly aggressive with their rents.  I’ve been a good tenant who takes care of the places and does my own maintenance and painting.  Most recently renting one of a 4-plex cinder block building from an old Chinese man where I refurbished the apartment myself before moving in.  He was most grateful to be saved the work.

Well, the old man sold out.  Put the 50-year old building on the market and sold it for $1.2mil.  I have a lease until Dec. for $925mo, but now a reality sandwich is about to hit.  The new owner is a Taiwanese-American woman fashion-designer who grosses $3mil/year and has her own real-estate and construction contracting company (more chinese workers) and wants to completely refurbish the building internally… including some structural deficiencies.  The real-estate turnover in Honolulu in recent years means that these new owners with ever larger mortgages need to collect ever larger rent payments, and it is forcing out increasing numbers of wage-earners who can no longer afford a place to live.  I’ve been skating under the market value of rents for years, but no longer.

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