360Digest

Cute story. Not true, but based on a composite of characters we’ve all met and worked with over the years.

So how can it always be a good time to buy a house?

Misery is defined as a state of great unhappiness and emotional distress. The economic indicator most often used to measure misery is the Misery Index. The index, created by economist Arthur Okun, adds the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It has been in the narrow seven-to-nine range for most of the past decade, but peaked over 20 in 1980.

There is also a “Misery Score”, which is the sum of corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes in different countries.

Forbes decided to expand on the Misery Index and the Misery Score to create their very own “Forbes Misery Measure”. They took into consideration unemployment and personal tax rates, but also added four more factors that can make people miserable: commute times, weather, crime and toxic waste.

It was no surprise that Detroit made the number one score for most miserable. But other cities included Stockton CA, which had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate and Flint MI, where the average home price was only $104K.

DON’T LET GRANDMA RUIN YOUR SPRING.
MOVE HER INTO A NEW CONDO!

Marla Jennings Website

To Karen and Richard Carpenter fans, their home in Downey, California is their Graceland, so says Carpenters aficionado Jon Konjoyan, a 57-year-old Toluca Lake music writer and promoter who is leading a campaign to save the Carpenters house from destruction.

The five-bedroom tract house and a smaller next-door dwelling that was connected to it by an enclosed walkway was where Richard and Karen Carpenter fine-tuned their greatest hits in the 1970s.

The pair lived in the main house with their parents. The adjoining house was where there was an office, rehearsal studio and recreation room. Karen passed away in 1983, the parents remained in the residence until Harold Carpenter’s death in 1988 and Agnes Carpenter’s in 1996. Richard Carpenter sold the place in mid-1997.

Now new owners want to tear down the house that was featured on their album “Now & Then”.

Fans love Carpenters, not carpenters

The Subprime Mess in a Power Point slide show

Via The Big Picture

Real estate agents Mark Forytarz and Paul Castran of Castran Gilbert in Victoria Australia have filed a defamation lawsuit against Google. The two agents said that they asked Google to remove allegedly defaming links to articles about them, but that Google did not take any action. The plaintiffs claim the articles suggest Mr Forytarz bullied an intellectually disabled man into selling his home in order to claim a commission of at least $200,000. It is claimed the article paints Mr Forytarz as unscrupulous and unethical and he suffered distress embarrassment and humiliation as a result.

Real estate agents launch defamation action against Google - ABC News

‘So sue me’ taunt to agents over ‘defamatory’ web articles - The Age

Set your Tivo’s to see my interview with Jenny Cunningham, a reporter with KCTS-TV (9) in Seattle at 7:30 this evening on Channel 9. She has been working on a segment called, “Googie versus Goliath,” and it’s a look at the landmarking process in Seattle and the controversy surrounding the Ballard Manning’s/Denny’s battle. She invited me to add my two cents to the proceedings, as I’ve been documenting Googie architecture in the Seattle area for several years on www.SeattleGoogie.com. The show will be repeated again Sunday morning 2/10 at 10:30 am.

Many folks have asked me what prompted my interest in Google and I have to think it was looking at the Space Needle most every day outside my window. We’re living here with the largest known monument to Googe Architecture right in our backyard. What’s not to love?

Googie Architecture is most closely associated with the popular architecture and culture of 1950’s and 60’s Southern California, but the Seattle area had it share as well. Though quicky disappearing, there are still some remnants of this modern and space-age look around Seattle, and this Ballard Mannings building is one of them, and that’s why it’s so important to try to preserve this building.

Googie Architecture features bold angles, sweeping cantilevered roofs and pop-culture design. It was a way to grab and hold the attention of a budding car-culture, as we sped by on the freeways. It was a glimpse of the future, Today.

Knute Berger has a great series of articles about the controversy at Crosscut, our local online magazine of news from the Great Nearby.

Denny’s fans hunger for a historic grand slam in Seattle (Los Angeles Times)