MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY & SCIENCE IN FT LAUDERDALE OFFERS THE WHOLE FAMILY A MEMORABLE DAY

 

From the IMAX theater with 3D films for viewers wearing special glasses to the live shark tank which holds a giant megalodon shark, to a cyclone chair demonstrating inertia, you can see more than 200 interactive exhibits.  Enjoy a Turtle walk, watch the playful antics of river otters in their habitat and take a ride through the Everglades in the virtual pressurized airboat in the new $25MM 34,000 foot Ecodiscovery Center which houses the Living in the Everglades exhibit.    

Dig for fossils, hang out with bats, see alligators and iguanas.  Experience hurricane force winds in the Storm Center.  Watch the exciting science theater shows.  In one of the nine cockpit simulators you will test your pilot skills.  At the space exhibit, Runways to Rockets, take a simulated trip or Mars or the Moon.  

 

Across the street you can follow the one-mile Riverwalk Path on ther Las Olas riverfront and watch the boats going by, have lunch or dinner, and partake in the various outdoor fairs and exhibits held occasionally in the Esplanade Park.  A little farther down the block is the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, where you can end the day watching a Broadway play with spectacular sets, music and performers.

Hold your children’s next Birthday Party at the Museum or hold a special event.  Day camp is available for children.  The Explore Store has many educational and exciting games, toys, books and other unique gifts.  Open 7 days a week, admission prices vary.  

The Museum strives to provide experiential pathways to lifelong learning in science for children and adults using exhibits, programs and films, and hosts about 400,000 people a year.  The Museum is located off Broward Boulevard, east of I-95; you can follow the signs to SW 5^th Avenue (Commodore Brook Avenue) and turn right- garage is on right and museum on left.   

“THE SKINNY” ON FORECLOSURES IMPACTING THE REAL ESTATE MARKET & SHADOW INVENTORY

150,000 properties were repossessed by lenders in the tri-county southeast Florida area since the 2007 crash.  CondoVultures.com reports that the repossessions equal about half the nearly 300,000 foreclosure actions filed during the same 5-year period.  They estimate than less than half of those properties repossessed by lenders have been resold to buyers.  They further estimate that this rate will continue steadily for the foreseeable future.

There was a 36% drop in year-over-year bank repossessions but that is rooted in part to issues related to the “foreclosure freeze” in 4Q 2010.  Some investors are concerned that purchasing bank-owned properties could lead to future title issues.

With nearly 299,000 notices of default filed against borrowers, the Florida court system was over whelmed with foreclosure actions.  Today lenders plan for a 700-day repossession process with a cost of about $100,000 per property.  Generally bank owned properties generate lower average prices than short sales.

CoreLogic reports that at the end of October 2011 lenders had a “shadow inventory” of 1.6MM distressed properties and repossessed homes they had not yet put up for sale, down 16% from a year ago.  Florida is one of 6 sates accounting for half of these.  CoreLogic says in a healthy market shadow inventory should represent less than one month supply of homes; currently the figure is five months.

National Association of Realtors says 29% of November 2011 sales were short sales and bank owned sales.    Lender Processing Services estimates that there were almost 4MM homes in the foreclosure process or 90-days delinquent at the end of October.

No matter whose estimate we look at, it’s not a pretty picture!

DO YOU LOVE TO READ... BUT WISH IT WAS NOT SUCH A SOLITARY EXPERIENCE

Join almost 1.5MM readers and check out a social network for avid readers.  List your personal collection and connect with “like [or unlike] minds.”  Then browse THEIR collections and share ideas and opinions with reviews.  You can join for free and can upgrade your account to catalog as many books as you want to.  Head over to http://www.librarything.com.

Click the TALK section tab and then look at a topic of interest.  Join one of the groups.  Browse the Local entries for lists of book stores and libraries that are nearby.  Click MORE and you can get free books and review them, e.g. for Amazon.com.  Click Zeitgeist for 25 most reviewed books and other statistics.  It  probably won’t surprise you to find that J.K. Rowling and Stephen King are the top two of 75 authors.  William Shakespeare is #7.  TheTop 25 Books list gives places 1 through 8 to the Harry Potter Books.

THERE ARE 50MM UNEMPLOYED IN THE US - HERE'S A PHARMACY DISCOUNT CARD!

 

FOR A CARD WITH YOUR NAME ON IT 
EMAIL marilynfjacobs@gmail.com

CONCERNED ABOUT A NUCLEAR ATTACK ON THE US? HERE IS A SOLUTION!

Silo missle sites in various states have been and are being converted into underground homes.

Taxpayers spent $3.3MM for a silo in Topeka, Kasas which has been converted to underground living quarters.  The silo was purchased for $40,000, in bad shape, in the 1980’s by a school teacher who, with his wife, has lived there comfortably ever after.

A 3’ layer of earth covers the top layer of reinforced concrete.  Floors are 3’ thick, walls and ceilings 18” thick and 15’ high.  The special concrete structure was built by the government to withstand a nuclear blast.   The folks who live in it say, “We love the solid, quiet feel of the place.  Not only is it very well built – it is very easy to heat and cool.”  This home has a large greenhouse around the hatch, which brings sunlight into the living space and was formerly used for heavy equipment to manipulate the missiles.  

About half of these former military sites are owned privately or by cities, counties, school districts, water companies and other commercial entities.  This is a niche market for a unique home for real estate agents.  The schoolteacher has made 55 sales, of which 5 have turned over more than once. They said that buyers include some military or former military personnel who are familiar with the silos, and know the benefits.  Others are looking for interesting projects to restore, and some want the seclusion, privacy and security.  Some buyers are survival-oriented.”

Mortgages and appraisals are a challenge.   “Prices have increased and are rising,” they said.

 

A former 14.5 acre Nike missile base in southeastern Indiana has been converted to three 5,000 sq ft residential spaces.  One features a kitchen, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an exercise room indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi tub.  All have single-phase electric, city water, paved access with remote-control rolling front gates and high security chain link fencing topped with barbed wire. 

An Atlas F site is for sale now in the Adirondack Mountains in New York.  Diameter is 52’ and depth is 180’.  It holds a 2300 sq ft 2-story contemporary home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, finished interiors, a spiral staircase, fiber-optic lighting, a generator and new well.  The floor plan is open, there is a large garage and wraparound porch that hides the underground entryway.  Price has been reduced from $4.6mm to $750,000.  The entrance features heavy security doors that were built to withstand a 2000-lb blast.  Location is on part of an exclusive airport subdivision on a 2050 foot Federal Aviation Administration-approved runway.

A communications vault in Paris, Missouri near the Mark Twain recreational lake is available, needing “fix-up”.  There are 8200 sq ft of usable underground floor space on this 13-acre site.  Ceilings and walls are 24” thick and 2’ to 4’ of earth cover the underground area.  A metal shield envelopes the structure and there are heavy blast doors with an emergency-escape hatch exit.  The property is available for $295,000.  Electricity works and most rooms have heaters and dehumidifiers.

Here is a unique living style which has a following of those seeking secure homes in hardened cold war facilities.

DECLINE OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN US JANUARY 2007 - APRIL 2011

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DID YOU KNOW…

That a recent US census, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, showed that 65+ age seniors now account for the largest segment, about 13%, of the population.  In 2000, it was 12.4%   in 1900 the number was 4.1%.  That 13% equates to 40.3-million people.

Soon current baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) will further grow the senior ranks.  Florida maintains its #1 spot, up 17.3%, with West Virginia, Maine, Pennsylvania and Iowa following.  Alaska has the lowest amount of seniors.  

FLORIDA STAGE JOINS DELRAY'S ARTS GARAGE... performances coming...

 

Founding producing director, Louis Tyrrell, the spark plug who, for the last 24 years, built a startup into the nation's largest professional theater dedicated exclusively to producing new and emerging American plays, will soon make presentations at the Arts Garage, a multidisciplinary cultural hub on the ground floor of a Pineapple Grove parking lot in trendy downtown Delray, just off Atlantic Avenue.

The Theater at Arts Garage encompasses many arts covered by the Arts Garage, including music, dance and visual arts - a good partnership!  Starting event will be in February with a Master Playwright Series, four weekly play-readings/lectures on Tuesday evenings.  The New Play Festival will be unveiled in early March featuring readings of 6 evolving scripts, play writing workshops and a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman.  With reduced space, productions will be smaller.  Tyrrell says that intimate theater "is the new normal."

A musical play, "Woody Sez" will be presented from March 16-April 8, based on the music of folk troubadour Wood Guthrie.  Those subscribers to Florida Stage left with canceled tickets when it closed, can use them for admission on a space-available basis.

Future plans include the opening of The Arts Warehouse in a 15,000 sq ft facility, not yet renovated, perhaps opening in 2014.

This is a "win-win," a great addition to Delray Beach's vibrant arts scene.

MIZNER PARK AMPHITHEATER COMING EVENTS

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and have a wonderful flight!

THIS WEEKEND IN DELRAY BEACH

11-11-2011 FORECLOSURE STATS

EVER WONDERED WHAT THE INTERNET ECONOMY IS?

McKinsey estimates that the 200 million-person global economy has reached $8-trillion.  The report is limited to the G-8 countries plus Brazil, China, India and South Korea.

·        Private consumption refers to, electronic equipment, e-commerce, broadband subscriptions, mobile internet and hardware and software consumption

·        Private investment refers to, from telecommunications industry and maintenance of extranet, intranet and websites

·        Public expenditure refers to, government buying and spending of hardware and services

·        Trade refers to, exports of internet equipment and b-2-b services with overseas companies

The internet contributes more to the economy than mining, utilities, agriculture or education.  In France since the mid-1990’s, McKinsey states that the internet created twice the number of jobs that it destroyed.  World leader of the online industry is the United States with 30% of global internet revenues, but the UK is the world leader in online retail sales.  China’s and India’s internet economies rely on exporting online services for most of their economies.

NOTE THAT REAL ESTATE HAS THE GREATEST WEIGHT IN THE GDP.... 

CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER

You might remember a news story several months ago about a crotchety old man who defied his homeowners association and refused to take down
the flagpole on his property and the large flag that flew on it. Now you can
find out who, exactly, that old man was.
On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg -- probably
didn't make much news back then. twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , Van T. Barfoot, who had enlisted in the US Army in 1940, set out to
flank German machine gun positions from which fire was coming down on his fellow soldiers. He advanced through a minefield, took out three enemy machine gun positions and returned with 17 prisoners of war.

If that wasn't enough for a day's work, he later took on and
destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.

That probably didn't make much news either, given the scope of the
war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a colonel after
also serving in Korea and Vietnam , a Congressional Medal of Honor.

What did make news was a neighborhood association's quibble with how the 90-year-old veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. Seems the rules said a flag could be flown on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum, items such as Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were unsuitable.

He had been denied a permit for the pole, erected it anyway and was facing court action if he didn't take it down. Since the story made national TV, the neighborhood association has rethought its position and agreed to indulge this old hero who dwells among them.

"In the time I have left I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference," Barfoot told The Associated Press. As well he should. And if any of his neighbors still takes a notion to contest him, they might want to read his Medal of Honor citation. It indicates he's not real good at backing down.
Van T. Barfoot's Medal of Honor citation:
This 1944 Medal of Honor citation, listed with the National Medal of Honor Society, is for Second Lieutenant Van T. Barfoot, 157th Infantry, 45th Infantry:
WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE... BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE! AND, BECAUSE OF OLD MEN LIKE VAN BARFOOT!

FORBES: MOST EXPENSIVE GATED COMMUNITIES IN AMERICA

RELAX TO MUSIC FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF JAZZ, SHOW TUNES, SWING, CLASSIC JAZZ, BEBOP, BOSSA NOVA – DOORS OPEN 7 PM, MUSIC STARTS AT 7:30 PM