Charismatic Megafauna on Putah Creek
April 21st, 2008 Categories: Amusement, Davis Nature, Photo Tours
Feast your eyes on these amazing recent photographs of bird life along the creek near Davis. Credit goes to Manfred Kusch for his amazing patience and abilities…
Great Horned Owl
Rufous Hummingbird
Two hummingbird babies outgrowing the nest.
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Up Putah Creek: My Kind of Hummer
March 13th, 2008 Categories: Davis Nature, Photo Tours
Who has the patience/time to sit still enough to see the many amazing little lives around us? Fortunately I live with one who has both time and know-how, and this spring my husband Manfred Kusch has been watching hummingbirds build nests and raise a family, minks swimming in the creek, sacramento suckers (fish, not a baseball team) spawn and more. Enjoy these photographs of spring life along the creek…
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Real Estate Patois: Cracking the Code
February 16th, 2008 Categories: Amusement, Real Estate News, Realtor Tales
In case you didn’t get a chance to read Freakanomics (Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner), there was an apt chapter on the real meaning of the words we use in real estate. I have been writing a lot of copy for new listings lately, and frankly I am worried that words that sound perfectly okay may impede my efforts to sell the house. Levitt suggests that the language used in marketing copy may have a powerful impact in determining the eventual price the seller will get for their property!
You have probably heard of the hidden meanings - in fact you probably just sense the meaning of the words in a listing. But in case you are new to the whole thing, or inclined to be trusting or literal, here are a few clues for you…
Positive words: state-of-the-art, granite, mid-century, gourmet, sub-zero, photo-voltaic, bamboo
Negative words: ! , fantastic, spacious, charming, great neighborhood
Meanings: (a little tongue in cheek here)
“well maintained” - not quite falling down (hidden message - bid low)
“fantastic” - no atributes worth mentioning
“charming” - small
“cute” - outdated
“quaint” - unlivable
“adorable” - please don’t notice how small it is
“fixer upper” - may need to be torn down, but come make an inflated offer with everyone else
“potential” - its been neglected
“deferred maintenance” - untouched since 1968
“quiet” - noisy
“won’t last” - please make an offer
“going fast” - please make an offer
“shows well” - not staged
“close to transportation” - near a freeway
“curb appeal” - seller planted pansies
“original detail” - lots of beat up woodwork
“original owner” - hopelessly outdated
“custom built” - strange floor plan
“buildable lot” - call the Building Department
“mature garden” - tree roots are clogging the sewer lines
Time to start skipping the adjectives and sticking to the hard facts. Call me on it if you find I am telling you about a fantastic, one of a kind, spacious, must-see. Or, just call me. I am Jamie Madison and I am busy selling homes in Davis.
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Shake Appeal, Community Drug Testing, Craigslist Revenge
December 9th, 2007 Categories: Amusement
If you can’t make time for the NY Times, amuse yourself with this.
It is heavenly to be on vacation for a few days, lounging around my hotel room while it rains here in Palm Desert. The greatest luxury is lolligaging by the fire with the Sunday New York Times. Check out the Sunday Magazine this week - the feature article is “the seventh annual year in ideas” and there are some doozies.
Careful how you shake it ! Take for example the handshake - Gordon Gallup, an evolotionary psychologist who has studied whether animals recognize themselves in the mirror, and whether semen acts as an antidepressent, has a new idea. He suggests that women take a handgrip dynometer on a first date to measure the strength of their prospective suitors handshake. According to Gallup, the strength of the handgrip is directly related to sexual fitness.
People with high grip strength scores live longer, recover faster from injuries, have reduced disabilities, higher bone density and greater fat-free body mass. Males with high grip strenth scores are more agressive, more dominant, have more masculine body types, increased sexual opportunities and younger ages at their first sexual encounter. Females have an increased hand strength when they are at their most fertile (a trait that may have evolved to prevent forced impregnation by unwanted mates, Gallup speculates).
The essay concludes by asking Gallup if he worries about his own grip strength - the answer is no. “I measured it and it is pretty substantial.”
What drugs are in your community water? Jennifer Field, an environmental chemist at Oregon State University has brilliantly discovered how to identify the drug habits of an entire community by testing a mere teasponfull of water from the city’s water sewage treatment plant. She has run this test in many American cities and been able to identify traces of 11 drugs including methampetamine and cocaine.
This approach preserves anonymity while creating the ability to track a drug epidemic in real time. Interesting to note that one affluent community that Field tested showed very few drugs except an uptick of cocaine usage (peaked on weekends). Meth varies widely from city to city. The single most popular drug? Caffiene by far. I wonder what Davis’ profile would look like.
Watch out for Nichole. Apparently she had a bone to pick with her aunt, who had evicted Nichole’s mother from her home. She got on Craig’s List and gave the address of her aunts home with the tender post “Take what you want. Everything is free. Please help yourself to anything on the property.” It was less than 2 hours before Craig’s List flagged it as false, but everything had pretty much already been hauled off from the unlocked house - including the front door, baseboards and the kitchen sink!
Post a comment to Jamie Madison here or at jamiebmadison@msn.com . Or better yet, spend the $5.00 on the NY Times and treat yourself to hours of amusement.
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Davis Farmers Market photo tour
November 26th, 2007 Categories: Local Food, Photo Tours
Better than Harrods
Don’t come to the Davis Farmers Market if you don’t have time to meet friends and talk about 13 kinds of heirloom tomatoes or how to cook with lovage. (Hint: if you want to know what to do with lovage go to Amazon and check out Local Flavors by Deborah Madison. Yes, she is my sister, but she also is an amazing writer about food and farmers markets.) Do come if you want fresh, organic, local bread, vegetables, olive oil, meat, fish, fruit, flowers and more. Even better, come on Wednesday evening to picnic in the park - enjoy dinner, local music, frolicking children, a good time to be had by all.
Enjoy these wonderful photos by Frederic Conte!
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