Salt Lake City or Portland: which is greener?

Here are two screenshots of satellite images from Google Maps; the resolution on both images is the same. Click on each to see the large view and decide which city has a greater amount of vegetation or green space:





The honest answer is that Salt Lake City is far greener...both images are from summer, because Forest Park in Portland shows as green. Forest Park has many, many deciduous trees...if the image were from fall the color would be significantly different.

Tokyo real estate still too expensive

Burbed came up with this link:

Japanese find sleep, shelter in cyber cafes

Men make use of the internet service in the private rooms of an internet cafe in Tokyo May 2, 2007. Some low-wage earning young people who cannot afford apartments in Tokyo are choosing to live in internet cafes, which are cheaper than a hotel and even offer showers, microwaves and large libraries of manga to read. Picture taken May 2, 2007. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

I guess as long as you pay for a certain amount of internet time, the cafe owner won't kick you out! Howard Schultz has nothing on these guys...Starbuck's is all about the "third place". Who needs a "third place" when you can just have work and the cafe. Leave out the whole "housing" problem out of the picture...

Drive by shooting at house in CA recently bought for $600k

San Jose Mercury News - East Palo Alto woman shot while standing in driveway
Police are searching for suspects after a 20-year-old East Palo Alto woman was shot, police said today.

Meleseni Kupu was standing in the driveway of 2529 Fordham Ave. around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday when she heard gunshots and realized she had been shot, according to police. Kupu was transported to a local hospital with two non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to her upper left chest.

Witnesses told police that two or three suspects wearing black hooded sweatshirts stood across the street from the residence and fired seven to 10 shots. Officers at the scene collected 15 9-millimeter bullet casings at the scene, according to police.

Another link from Burbed that was too good to pass up...there's more at that site...

Buy a shack in Milpitas, CA for a measly $600k

LSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 727905
385 CARNEGIE DR
Milpitas, CA 95035

$599,900

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 727905 Approx Age: 52 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1436
Detached Single Family 1 Story 4 Bedrooms
2 Bathrooms 2 or More Showers over Tubs 2 or More Tubs

Thanks to Burbed for the pointer....the above house is a burn-down as far as I am concerned. Bulldoze it and build something new on the property...since the structure is over fifty years old there is likely no part of it worth preserving. The satellite view of the neighborhood from Google Maps looks pretty good...there's a house with a pool about 200 feet down the street. That just confirms that this should be a teardown...one small additional detail: this place is likely sitting very close to the Hayward fault...just something to consider...

Editorial idiocy in today's Oregonian (Portland)

Sticker shock at the farmers market
An excerpt from the above:

"it was time for the woman to pay for her cherries, and that's when her pleasant visit hit a slight bump. "That'll be $8," said the vendor.

"For Bings? You're kidding," exclaimed the woman.

" 'Fraid not," the vendor politely replied. "They're $4 a pound, and that's a two-pound carton."

The woman abruptly set it down. "Thanks anyway, but I bought Bings last week in the Bay Area for $1.88 a pound."

"Ah," said the vendor, turning to his next customer, "but those cherries weren't from the Hood River Valley." The Portland man happily paid his own $8 tab, then took it upon himself to help the wary visitor understand what it means for a cherry to come from the Hood River Valley. The world's best sweet cherries are grown in Oregon and Washington, he explained. And a lot of people think the Northwest's best cherries come from the Hood River Valley.

He told her about its unique geography, about an hour east of Portland, hemmed by Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. He mentioned the scores of varieties grown there -- the Bings, the Lamberts, the Rainiers and Vans and Royal Annes. He explained the unrivaled difficulty and expense of growing Hood River Valley cherries, the most labor-intensive fruit crop in Oregon. Then he opened the clear plastic carton holding his newly purchased treasure -- fabulously plump and perfectly ripe -- and offered her a sample. She took one of the deep burgundy Bings by its springy stem, cleaned it a little and popped it into her mouth. "Oh, my gosh," she gasped, even before extracting the pit. A moment later she was back at the booth, buying two cartons to take home to California. "The world's best cherries," she said, smiling broadly, "and not even a sales tax."

Doing the math in our schools

Here's a quote from the second editorial:
"Oregon fruits, vegetables and other products could provide a bonanza of health benefits for overweight Oregon schoolchildren, and new vitality, as well, for some Oregon farms and ranches. There are dozens of Oregon products kids could consume every day, including Oregon beef. So why don't more of our schools feature these foods regularly?"

Gosh, I wonder why Oregon schools don't serve locally grown produce? Uh...because its $8 a pound even when the farmer is employing illegal aliens?

I suppose that is part of the appeal of Portland to some folks: the snob value of being able to say you can eat $ per pound cherries...I'd be willing to bet that the Portland local buying cherries doesn't want his income taxes raised enough to buy those Hood River cherries for Oregon's schoolchildren...