Stave Churches Are All Wood, Dragons, and Beauty
These austere churches mix Nordic dragons with Christian saints.
Excerpt:
Some of the most stunning churches in the world are also some of the simplest. Stave churches are wooden houses of worship that combine the austere, peaked architecture of Christianity with the Nordic designs and motifs of a Viking great hall.
Stave churches are characterized by the "staves," or thick wooden posts, that hold them up. Using the same woodworking prowess that made the Vikings such adept shipbuilders, traditional stave churches were often built using nothing more that expertly crafted joints and joins, with no nails or glue. The only stones used were in the base of the structures.
Take a break from appraising and Check out the beautiful fotos and interesting article at:
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Game of Thrones-style mini kingdom in Oregon
Excerpt:
Let's set the scene: You're perched overlooking the mountains in your own 8,881-square-foot castle set on 700 acres dotted with trees and natural rock formations. All you can see for miles is your own lush, unspoiled property - this is your mini-kingdom. Your home, an ode to nature with curved walls and cloud-shaped windows, is easily a setting from an episode of Game of Thrones. But you aren't the Lord of Winterfell, you're certainly not scheming like Cersei Lannister, and this home for sale in Ashland, OR, is not in the Seven Kingdoms but instead a fantasy-worthy getaway called Shining Hand Ranch.
Check out the fotos and hundreds of comments at:
My comment: seems like this is a "good fit" with the stave churches above - the very old and the new ;> I watched the first two seasons of Game of Thrones but it was too hard for me to follow. I gave up on the first book... lasted about 20 pages ;>
My favorite character - Tyrion Lannister, of course!!
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Our most favorite post with lots of comments - weird street names!!
Thanks (again) to Jonathan Miller for this great link!!
What are the strangest street names you have seen?
My comment: Yes, there is an O'Rourke Street in a nearby city!!
Be sure to scroll down the page and check out the comments!!
There will be a Special Prize awarded for the strangest street name!!
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Poll: Compared to a year ago, my lender/AMC revision requests have:
My comments: Overall, on the increasing side. Too bad that not many reported decreasing revision requests.
- Maybe someday lenders will become less paranoid about buy backs.
- Maybe someday lenders will want to close their loans faster with fewer appraisal delays due to excessive revision requests.
- Maybe someday residential appraisers will stop quitting the profession because they hate all the hassles from lenders/AMCs.
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Got a "warning" letter from FHA recently?
Maybe it says you did not analyze the market, support the sales price, support adjustments or analyze valuation conclusion. Does the letter also say you need to take a class? You are not alone. Other appraisers have been receiving these letters.
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Government secretly plans Wall Street takeover of Fannie, Freddie
Rolling Stone's Wall Street hatchet-man on the hidden truth of #FannieGate
Excerpt:
If Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi is to be believed, yes, there absolutely was a government conspiracy behind the bailout and subsequent takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
And now, the government is fighting tooth and nail to keep the evidence of that conspiracy a secret, all while plotting something far more insidious - the privatization of the government-sponsored enterprises.
My comment: Something for conspiracy fans ;>
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Blame Geography for High Housing Prices?
Excerpts:
It's become something of a mantra among urban economists: Increasingly unaffordable housing prices in cities like New York, London, and San Francisco are very often the consequence of onerous and out-of-date land use regulations...
But something much more enduring than zoning and land use is also contributing to the deepening housing affordability problems of leading superstar cities and knowledge hubs. According to a recent study by Issi Romem, chief economist at BuildZoom, part of the explanation lies in the geographic characteristics of cities and metros-mountains, lakes, coastlines, etc.-that make it all but impossible to expand and add more housing.
My comment: I live 10 miles from San Francisco. I had sorta though maybe the geography was a factor, mostly because of San Francisco Bay and bridges, but never thought about the "big picture". Very interesting article.
