Author: Serkadis

Even with awesome scans (qjnet/playstation-3/god-of-war-iii-scans-kratos-1-on-1-with-a-massive-poseidon.html) and neat swag (qjnet/playstation-3/god-of-war-iii-ultimate-trilogy-edition-announced-for-pal-territories.html) to hype it up a bit, a game eventually has to pull its own weight once you stick it in the console. That’s not gonna be a

Before you can hope to make it as a speculator and start slingin’ barrels for big money, you’ve got to understand exactly what’s gushing forth from the earth’s crust. Yes, that’s right – it doesn’t start and stop just with crude, and there’s far more to oil than dinosaur bones. In fact, most experts agree that the bulk of crude oil is derived from prehistoric single-celled plankton remains. Then you’ve got the abiogenic theory, which posits that…

Er, wrong oils. Sorry.

Today’s post is actually about edible oils. Well, they’re all technically edible – they can all be swallowed and digested – but as for being palatable, let alone healthful? That remains to be seen. Not all oils are created equal, especially given the fact that most of the ones people use nowadays are actually created in an industrial laboratory. No oil “exists naturally,” mind you. Olive oil isn’t harvested by leaving open containers under leaking, dripping olives on the branch, nor is that liquid sloshing around inside a coconut pure oil. I’m not trying to disparage processing in and of itself. It takes a certain amount of processing to get any sort of oil, but a good general rule is to avoid consuming the oils that require processing on a large scale. If it involves an industrial plant, multiple stainless steel vats, a deodorizer, a de-gummer, and the harsh petroleum-derived solvent known as hexane, I wouldn’t eat it. But that’s just me (and Grok, who probably wasn’t processing wild rapeseed to get the precious canola oil).

But this is the Definitive Guide to Oils. Everything goes. No stone left unturned. No oil left un-tasted and bereft of analysis for fatty acid profile, oxidative potential, and rancidity proclivity.

Canola

Canola oil comes from rapeseed, a completely unpalatable seed rich in erucic acid, which is bitter and rather toxic. Canola oil is rapeseed oil stripped of erucic acid, as I detailed in this previous post. It gets a lot of attention from doctors as a “heart healthy” oil (one of the “good” fats) rich in omega-3s, but the fact that canola processing generally uses upwards of 500 degrees means a good portion of the Omega-3s could be rancid on the shelf.

61% MUFA
21% Omega-6 PUFA
9-11% Omega-3 PUFA
7% SFA

Flax Seed

I mentioned the seed and its oil a few times, and, after being initially supportive of flax consumption, I now recommend minimizing intake. People generally use flax oil as an Omega-3 supplement, rather than for cooking – and this is a good choice, seeing as how flax is almost entirely made of PUFAs, which are prone to rancidity and oxidation when exposed to heat. Meat eaters, though, would be better off just taking fish oil. The DHA and EPA in fish oil are far more useful than the ALA in flax seed oil. Strict vegetarians, have at it – just don’t use flax seed oil to sautee your tofu.

19% MUFA
24% Omega-6 PUFA
47% Omega-3 PUFA (from ALA)
8-9% SFA

Corn

Corn oil boggles my mind. I can’t wrap my head around how extracting gallons upon gallons of liquid oil from a lowly corncob is actually possible. How isn’t it too much work for the payoff? I mean, I’m no corn eater, but I’ve chomped a few kernels in my day, and I don’t understand how squeezing oil out of this non-vegetable sounds like a good idea to anyone.

24% MUFA
59% PUFA (mostly O-6)
13% SFA

Olive (and variations)

Olive oil got a pretty good breakdown last year, so unless I’m leaving out some recent momentous news breaking out of the highly secretive olive oil world, there’s not much more to say. It’s a delicious salad oil, a decent sautéing oil, and it can even be used as moisturizer and shaving lotion. Olive oil is one area where CW gets it right. Enjoy this one, and keep a bottle of extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil on hand for salad dressings. It also does a decent job standing up to heat, but will lose it’s delicate flavors if heated too high. This is a good enough reason for me to use a different fat/oil when cooking at high temps. (Why waste precious (and often expensive!) olive oil when lard, for instance, will do the trick?)

73% MUFA
3.5-21% Omega-6 PUFA
1% Omega-3 PUFA (not even worth mentioning, really)
14% SFA

Coconut

MDA’s darling, coconut oil is truly a star. I went over why yesterday, and in past posts, but the gist of it is this: it’s a tasty, shelf-stable (no hydrogenation required) tropical oil with a ton of saturated fatty acids. In fact, it’s almost purely saturated, which is why most doctors and nutritionists will probably advise against its consumption. Not us, though. We love SFA. The refined coconut oil stands up to heat a bit better, and it doesn’t have a distinctive taste, but I can’t recommend it. Unrefined virgin oil is a murky, cloudy mess – but a delicious, creamy mess. Eat the unrefined by the spoonful.

6.2% MUFA
1.6% PUFA
92.1% SFA

Palm

Palm oil is controversial; just check out the comments section on my last post on the subject. Many palm oil plantations encroach upon the rapidly dwindling natural habitats of the orangutan, which are already in short supply in this world. The consensus seems to be that sustainable palm oil, especially the more complex, nutritious unrefined red palm oil, can be found. You’ve just got to look a little harder at the labels. West African red palm oil, for example, is considered to be pretty safe environmentally. Oh, and palm oil is also highly saturated and heat stable. Red palm oil is also stable, but it deserves special mention for its nutrient density – lots of CoQ10, Vitamin E, and SFAs.

39% MUFA
11% PUFA
50% SFA

Fish

Fish oil is another one of the widely accepted “good” fats. This time, though, we agree with Conventional Wisdom. The Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, are unequivocally beneficial to us. They help balance our O6-O3 ratios (to a more appropriate, pre-agricultural level), while they also promote proper cell function, good lipid numbers, and improved insulin sensitivity. To bone up on more fish oil information, check out my Definitive Guide on the subject.

EPA and DHA levels vary by brand and type of fish. Check the label for yourself, or look at this handy table if you’re getting your fish oil from actual seafood.

Avocado

Who doesn’t love a plump avocado with the right amount of give? If you can’t get your hands on a good one, the next best thing might be a bottle of avocado oil. Its fatty acid profile is similar to that of olive oil, but it has an even higher smoke point, making it a decent choice for cooking. Personally, I still wouldn’t use it for high heat cooking. The light, subtle taste lends itself far better to salad dressing, if you ask me. Buy in dark bottles to minimize oxidation.

70% MUFA
12% Omega-6 PUFA
1% Omega-3 PUFA
12% SFA

Walnut

Walnut oil is one of the better tasting nut oils. It is high in Omega-6s, sure, but walnut oil isn’t something you’re going to use every day, or even every week. The stuff tastes great, though, and a small splash goes a long way at the end of a cooking session or onto a tossed salad. I definitely would advise against using this on a regular basis, especially for cooking, and you should always store it in a dark, cool spot in the house. For those that “do dairy”, try mixing a bit with some full-fat Greek yogurt, or unsweetened fresh whipped cream and berries: amazing.

23% MUFA
53% Omega-6 PUFA
10% Omega-3 PUFA
9% SFA

Macadamia Nut

I love this oil, but I also love the parent nut. The oil assumes the buttery, smooth, rich flavor of the macadamia nut, making it an interesting – but favorable – choice for salad dressings. It’s also remarkably high in MUFAs and low in PUFAs, so it won’t throw your ratios all out of whack. Makes a surprisingly good homemade mayonnaise, and can be used to sauté and cook in a pinch. The only drawback is its price; macadamia nut oil can get expensive.

71% MUFA
10% PUFA
12% SFA

Sesame Seed

The premier “flavor oil.” Sesame seed oil, especially the toasted variety, offers an unmatched and irreplaceable flavor profile. Certain Asian dishes work best with a bit of sesame oil, but if you’re wary of using it over high heat (which you probably should be), you can always add it to the dish after cooking. Despite the high PUFA content, sesame oil also contains a ton of antioxidants that can help minimize heat oxidation. I wouldn’t use this more than semi-regularly, though. Good to keep in your pantry (or fridge), but not an everyday item.

43% MUFA
43% PUFA
14% SFA

Peanut

Restaurants like to tout that they use “healthy” peanut oil in their deep fryers. Okay, the relatively MUFA-rich peanut oil may be a better choice than corn or sunflower oil for high heating, but it’s still a legume (already off limits) oil prone to rancidity. In the UK, it’s known as groundnut oil. Avoid both.

46% MUFA
32% PUFA
17% SFA

Sunflower Seed

Insanely high in PUFAs with little to no Omega-3s to balance them out, sunflower seed oil is a pretty bad choice for sauteeing, baking, roasting, and even salad making. Trouble is it’s everywhere, and it has a reputation for being healthy. Just don’t keep the stuff in your house (not a problem; it’s flavorless, odorless, and completely boring), and keep dining out in cheap chain restaurants to a minimum (or you could do what I do and request everything be cooked in butter), and you should be able to avoid sunflower seed oil.

19% MUFA
63% PUFA
10% SFA

Safflower

Like sunflower seed oil but worse, the oil derived from the “bastard saffron” is about 75% Omega-6 PUFAs with not a speck of Omega-3 in sight. It’s also lower in MUFAs and SFAs. What’s not to dislike?

14% MUFA
75% PUFA
6% SFA

Cottonseed

At least most of the oils I’ve mentioned come from technically edible plants, in some form or another. Cottonseed oil, however, comes from cotton. You know, the stuff that shirts are made of? Yeah. It’s everywhere, from margarines to cereal to shortening to frozen desserts to bread, because it’s cheaper than other oils (you can thank its status as one of Monsanto’s big four genetically modified crops for that) and it only needs “partial hydrogenation” to maintain stability. Luckily, that won’t be an issue for PBers who already avoid all that stuff in the first place. Warn your friends and family, though.

17% MUFA
52% PUFA
26% SFA

Grape Seed

Skip this stuff. It does have a buttery taste, and it gets a lot of hype as a worthy replacement for olive oil, but it’s got high oxidation potential, especially if you follow the recommended instructions and use it for deep frying or high heat sauteeing. It’s rather pricey, too, so there’s no good reason to use it.

16% MUFA
70% PUFA
9% SFA

Soybean Oil

Soybean oil is about as ubiquitous as corn and canola (again, thanks to Monsanto). In fact, you’ll often see an ingredient list include “canola and/or soybean oil.” Huh? Do food manufacturers honestly not know what kind of fat is going into their product? Best avoid the crapshoot and skip anything that “might contain” soybean oil altogether. The fact that it’s often partially hydrogenated suppresses my appetite even further. No thanks.

23% MUFA
51% Omega-6 PUFA
6% Omega-3 PUFA
14% SFA

As you can tell, seed and nut oils probably shouldn’t make up a significant portion of your diet. Some, like coconut, olive, macadamia, palm, avocado, and fish, are great, but the vast majority of oils are unnatural and way too high in PUFAs. And just remember, with some of the more questionable/borderline oils, a little bit goes a long way.

I haven’t covered every edible oil known to humankind in this article. For information on other oils reference these tables and start up a discussion in the comment board or the forum.

What are your preferred edible oils and why? Let me know your thoughts. Grok on!

P.S. If you liked this article share it with your friends by clicking the “Share This” link below.

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Related posts:

1. The Definitive Guide to Fish Oils
2. A Quick Guide to Edible Seeds
3. The Definitive Guide to Saturated Fat

Kevin sent over one of Nick Carr’s latest ramblings, attacking Google and its VP Marissa Mayer for saying: “It’s not what you know, it’s what you can find out.” That statement is a little too bland to actually catch on, but is hardly a new idea. In fact, we’ve argued that this is the case for many years. If you have regular access to a vast computer network that lets you find stuff, you can actually have your biological brain focus on more important things, rather than cramming it with things you can easily find out. In fact, with various studies suggesting the real key to intelligence is better forgetting rather than better remembering, you could argue that not having to remember certain things can be of great benefit.

But not to Nick Carr, apparently. To him, this means that people are becoming “intellectually dehumanized.” And this is a bad, bad thing:

Truth is self-created through labor, through the hard, inefficient, unscripted work of the mind, through the indirection of dream and reverie. What matters is what cannot be rendered as code. Google can give you everything but meaning.

But this presupposes all sorts of incorrect things — such as the idea that what information you don’t store in your brain can’t be used for sussing out meaning. It reminds me of the people who insisted, years ago, that calculators would destroy everyone’s ability to do basic math, and that this would inevitably lead to the downfall of society. Sure, I may not totally remember my times tables, but being able to quickly use a calculator to figure out something isn’t really a problem at all. And, much more importantly, it means that I can do much more complex mathematical calculations as well. The same is true of Google. Sure, we may not remember little bits of information here or there, but we can more easily bring together a much, much, much larger corpus of information, and synthesize that in a useful way in our brains. There is no rule that you should only use what’s stored directly in your mind to think about things.

The calculator didn’t dehumanize math. The automobile didn’t dehumanize walking. And Google, most certainly, has not dehumanized intelligence. It’s only enabled it to do much, much more.

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Ford’s UK diesel engine plant located in Dagenham, east of London, will receive a third wind turbine. This will be installed on the eastern edge of the production site, as just-auto.com reports.

The turbine has three blades and measures 120m in height. The decision to install it was based on the intention to maintain the plant’s eco energy supply. Planning permission for it was obtained in 2009.

The two other already-installed turbines (one on each side of the estate) are 85m high, and of… (read more)

Canada, North America | Unusual Monuments

Naturally, the worlds largest hockey stick and puck is found in, where else, Canada.

The Cowichan Community Centre, in Duncan on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, boasts the largest hockey stick and puck in the world.

Built in 1985, the 205-foot hockey stick is built from Douglas Fir wooden beams reinforced with steel, and weighs in at a staggering 61,000 pounds (28,118 kgs). The World’s Largest Hockey Stick & Puck was originally commissioned by the Government of Canada as part of the Expo ’86 World’s Fair Exposition in Vancouver.

Following the fair, the artifact was donated to the Province of British Columbia, who held a Canada-wide competition to determine its final destination. The Cowichan Community Centre site in the Cowichan Valley was selected from over 30 community and private organizations.

The Guinness Book of World Records officially bestowed the title of the world’s largest hockey stick on July 14, 2008 after a 20-year battle for recognition. At a puny one third the length of Duncan’s stick, residents of Minnesota can no longer claim their 21-metre wooden hockey stick to be the biggest.

Hello, old friends. I am back from dark months of data mining, here now to present my ores. To write this piece, we cataloged over 7,000 photographs on OkCupid.com, analyzing three primary things:

Facial Attitude. Is the person smiling? Staring straight ahead? Doing that flirty lip-pursing thing?
Photo Context. Is there alcohol? Is there a […]

Rihanna and Maxwell are donating proceeds from their performances on Wednesday’s Oprah to Haitian relief.

On today’s show R&B star Maxwell will sing “Fistful of Tears” and share how his Haitian roots have inspired him to make a difference there. While Rihanna will perform this special rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Both songs will be made available on iTunes for .99 cents, with the proceeds going towards the earthquake relief fund.

By Zarina Geloo LUSAKA, Jan 20 (IPS) Charity Mwansa, a former minister and member of parliament, knows just exactly what being one of the very few female politicians in Zambia means. When she left politics it had nothing to with not being able to do the work and instead had everything to do with the mad world of male-dominated politics.

"It was too hectic, tiring and one needs a lot of stamina to be in the rough and tumble of politics. You do not deal with normality, there is a bit of madness."

Mwansa, who cites the adage "if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen", is just another woman who has declined to participate in the country’s next elections. She says that having to constantly watch her back; putting out fires where other people created problems for her; and just having to be alert of plotting against her 24/7 became a bit too much.

"It’s what politics is about, it’s not for the faint hearted. That’s why I want to rest for now."

A lawyer, Mwansa says that the political terrain in Zambia is still uneven for women.

While the rest of the SADC region increases the number of women in governance, Zambia, which goes to the polls in 2011, is likely to see a further reduction of the number of females in decision making. This, women in politics say, is because the male dominated political terrain has not changed.

Currently, there are 24 members of parliament (MPs) out of a total 150. In cabinet there are five female ministers out of a total of 21. There are only six female deputy ministers out of a total of 20.

Ironically, women constitute half of the voting population, and yet, they accounted for less than 15 percent as candidates and elected officials in Parliament and Local Government institutions, according to the Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) analysis of the last elections in 2006.

ZNWL is working to get more women to contest the next elections in 2011. But the party’s board secretary, Tamala Kambikambi, told IPS she would be very surprised if there was an increase in women making it into parliament and local government in the next elections.

"There are fewer and fewer women getting elected and even contesting positions at each election."

Kambikambi said while patriarchal attitudes, negative traditions and customs that did not recognise women as equal partners with men were responsible for the low participation of women in governance.

Political party structures did not promote women’s participation as leadership positions were usually reserved for men. None of the parties had changed their processes on how candidates got chosen to run for a constituency to make it accessible for women. It was still the male dominated national executive committees that choose candidates.

"Despite their pronouncements about promoting women’s participation at all levels of decision making, none of the political parties come close to achieving the minimum SADC recommendation threshold of 30 percent women in decision making positions," Kambikambi said.

She recommends the adoption of a clear national policy that would be backed by a legal framework to guide political parties on adoption of candidates to ensure women are not disadvantaged and only used as foot soldiers whenever political parties feel like doing so.

However, Given Lubinda an MP and senior member of the UPND says complaints about how parties adopt candidates are ‘nonsense’. "Everyone, men and women vote for people to serve committees including the adoption committees. The women are there voting with us, so how can someone complain about male domination?"

Zambia has four main political parties, the ruling Movement for Multi Party Democracy (MMD) and three opposition parties, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) the only party to have an elected female president, the Patriotic Front (PF) and the United Party for National Development (UPND).

Elizabeth Chitika, an MP who has served as a cabinet minister in government, argues that the problems for women begin at the very level Lubinda describes.

"Everything is run by men who hold meetings and caucuses amongst themselves about who gets elected to which committees. It’s not true to say women are not visible, they are just ignored."

She warns that she will stand as an independent candidate if her party does not adopt her in the 2011 elections.

"Parties say they chose the best candidate, but we see situations where a woman is the better candidate but a man is chosen, sometimes at the last minute, after the woman has done all the ground work for the party to be accepted in that area," says Chitika.

Edith Nawakwi president of FDD knows all about gender discrimination. She won a hard fight against powerful men to become president of the party.

She agrees that it is difficult for women to get adopted as candidates especially since Zambia still practices the first past the post system of voting. But rather than harp on the challenges, women should knuckle down and get to work.

"Women should go to their parties with something on the table. They must give evidence of their popularity which means they must canvass amongst their constituency and get their buy-in. If they create a name for themselves; no party can afford to ignore them."

Nawakwi is now weathering criticism from some of her party members who say she cannot win them the presidency and are calling for her to step down. Her critics say she spends more time "being a wife" to her polygamous husband than being a leader of a political party that wants to form the next government.

Nawakwi shrugs this off saying it is the ‘usual nonsense’ of bringing in gender whenever unenlightened men feel threatened by a woman.

"I am accustomed to breaking gender barriers. I was elected by the party at a convention that was dominated by men so my gender cannot be an issue now. It’s a new phenomenon to have a female presidential candidate, so it’s not surprising that there is some nervousness. But I have told them to keep calm and watch me."

Where the ZNWL has identified low education levels and poor economic status as some of the barriers for women’s election campaigns, Nawakwi told IPS she does not suffer those handicaps.

Of all the presidential candidates, she is the most educated (her Economics and Energy degrees are from the Imperial college of London) she is also the most experienced politician having spent over 15 years in various government portfolios, being the first female finance minister in Zambia and in the SADC region. She is also wealthy in her own right.

"If you want to do a check list, you will find I am the most qualified candidate around."

But others do not have the same confidence. Business woman Angelica Rumsey has been courted by the ZNWL to stand in her home village in the northern part of Zambia. She has declined saying her experience in politics were disillusioning.

"There were lies being peddled about me. While I was discussing issues of development my opponents were attacking my personal character. I saw so much corruption and dirty games during the campaigns that left me disgusted. I would have had to stoop to the level of my opponents if I wanted to win a seat and I could not do that, Rumsey says of her campaign for a parliamentary seat in the 2006 elections.

Another reason she is reluctant to run for elections is that campaigns are expensive. Men are able to take risks and borrow from banks and other lending institutions, women are reluctant to undertake such risky ventures and in any case, they are not giving that opportunity, Rumsy told IPS.

"For women who have been in parliament before it is a little easier for them to retain their seats because they will have gotten their gratuities and other monies, that they can use, but for us that are trying to get in, we have to find money for campaigns and that is not easy."

Zambia has signed and ratified a number of agreements that promote women’s rights. However, there has been a lack of political will to implement and adhere to these agreements and have them domesticated into national laws, Mwawnsa says.

Mwansa hopes that the 2011 elections will provide a fresh break from the discriminatory election system, and more women will participate, but like Kambikambi she is not hopeful that this will happen.

We haven’t heard nor seen anything about Double Helix Games and Square Enix’s Front Mission: Evolved (qjnet/e3/e3-2009-front-mission-evolved-debut-trailer.html) lately, but the latter has remedied that with a blast of

While you still can’t get fastfood and a bag of Cheetos using your MMO money, the Korean Supreme Court has ruled that virtual currencies can be exchanged for actual money.
 
 
 
 

Filed under: Sedan, Mercedes-Benz, Reviews, Luxury

A November Nor’Easter had chewed its way up to New England, delivering a cataclysmic combination of rain and wind as we headed out on a late-night errand. Normally, such a prospect requires a potent blend of Italian roast and Krank20 to stay hyper alert. Instead, behind the helm of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic, the going was serene and confident. In a word: Wow.

These moments of vehicular astonishment have thinned out in the last two decades. Just look around at the automotive landscape. Even more modest conveyances are kitted out like luxury cars of yore, packing tons of tech and safety features that were once the exclusive purview of the world’s well-to-do. Can anything be impressive anymore? As a matter of fact, yes. The E350, as it strafed along the pavement, solid as granite and ready for anything, made us feel like true kaisers of the strasse. Horsepower-addicted auto reviewers have complained that the 3.5-liter V6 needs more spinach. Fine. You want speed, spring for the AMG E63 and shut up. But for the above-average family man, the E350 manages to transcend its asthmatic lungs, soft-spoken tiller and supple feet to foment serious respect, if not outright desire.

Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic weathers the storm with aplomb

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Mischa Barton has spent much of the past week filming a guest spot on NBC’s veteran crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but the former “It Girl’s” turn as a leggings-wearing Lady of The Night has made her the most talked about woman on set — and that isn’t a good thing. According to a sneaky snitch close to production, Mischa — who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital last summer — spent all day Tuesday flubbing her lines, turning the shoot into a 10 hour day for the frustrated cast and crew. Sources say SVU only shot one scene the entire day, thanks to Mischa’s “unprofessionalism.”

“She only had seven lines, seven! Each time she would mess up she would forget her lines and Mariska kept prompting her and saying ‘it’s your line Mischa.’”

Mischa’s certainly no stranger to acting on the small screen. The beauty played Marissa Cooper on FOX’s The OC before leaving the show in 2006. Most recently, Mischa starred in the short-lived CW drama The Beautiful Life. That show was cancelled last fall after just two episodes.

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The authors evaluate promising process flowsheets for bioethanol production from different feedstocks along with current and promising technologies for bioethanol production. Case studies illustrate how process synthesis allows for the …

The latest NAHB numbers from yesterday are more fuel for David Rosenberg’s argument that housing is double dipping:

HOUSING STILL IN A DEPRESSION 
It is truly a sad state of affairs when an extension of a housing tax credit, super- low interest rates and the incursion of the Fed balance sheet into the mortgage market all translate into a down housing backdrop.  The NAHB index fell for the second month in a row, to 15 in January from 16 in December, 17 in November and the nearby high of 19 in September, which takes the headline down to June 2009 levels.  In fact, this is the fourth lowest reading ever.   What was really striking was the dip in the ‘prospective buyer traffic’ sub-index to 12 from 13 – the lowest this has been since last March when everyone seemed to think the world was coming to an end. 

And the stimulus for housing, if not renewed, could add some uncertainty to the outlook – the Fed’s purchases stop at the end of March and the deadline for the $8,000 tax credit for first-time
buyers (and $6,500 for move-up buyers) is April 30, in terms of when the purchase contracts have to be signed, and the deal must be completed by June 30.

But the first kicker is expected to come today, as the FHA comes out with its new (and higher) fee schedule (to 2.25% from 1.75% according to the New York Times) and tightened lending standards too (though amazingly, the 3.5% minimum down-payment requirement is not expected to be touched; but a minimum FICO score of 580 established – this is largely for “show”) because what few people realize is the losses the government agency faces and the extent to which a taxpayer bailout lies ahead.

What is apparent is that the builders are still competing against a wave of foreclosed properties being dumped back onto the market. 

RealtyTrac estimates that a record three million homes will be repossessed this year and that this flood
of supply will seriously curtail new home sales and construction activity.  And, it is the government’s own policies that are creating these strains – go back to that FHA article from yesterday’s WSJ and re-read the last part.  It’s all so surreal:   “Mr. Stevens says first-time buyers are key to clearing inventory in markets such as Las Vegas, James Smith, a 42-year old air-conditioning repairman, might not have been able to buy a $188,000 home out of foreclosure recently in Henderson, Nev., were it not for the low FHA downpayments. To make the 3.5% downpayment, he used around $4,300 of his own money and borrowed the rest from his father- in-law.  “It was actually a great thing”, he says.  He repaid his father-in-law after receiving an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.”

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Warren Buffett: We Need 13-Year Olds To Start Cohabitating To Clean Up The Housing Overhang
• Housing Starts Tank In December, A Huge Reversal From November
• Homebuilders Index Slips Again In January, Confirming The Housing Double Dip

Auction house Bonhams recently announced that an original circa 1895 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle, considered to be one of the first ever motorbikes, will be offered for sale in Stafford on April 25, 2010.The Hildebrand brothers, Henry and Wilhelm, developed their motorcycle in partnership with Alois Wolfmüller and his mechanic, Hans Geisenhof.

Their design was powered by a twin-cylinder, water-cooled, four-stroke engine displacing 1,488cc, which until recently was the largest power un… (read more)