Where is my space age? – A Guest Blog by Graham Barnfield

One irony of NASA is that its supporters sometimes rely on the banalities of the present to defend earlier space programme expenditure. Asked to justify the huge costs, the invention of materials such as Teflon – lining many a non-stick pan – is trotted out. Treating NASA as a supplier of kitchen equipment makes little sense, not least because it is factually wrong. The NASA website explains the confusion that led to the emergence of this urban myth. As a child of the 1960s – well, November 1969 – it always disappoints me to hear the Final Frontier being dragged into the home. Such attitudes make a manned colony on Mars only slightly more likely than a President Gingrich next year.

Space travel’s in my blood, sang The Only Ones, but in public debate space travel has too often been made to sound domesticated. Yet as Davin Heckman’s book A Small World: Smart Houses and the Dream of the Perfect Day  shows us, the space age home is also an idea in retreat. One of the peculiarities of a trip to a Disneyland theme park is that the future – which Walt showcased in areas called “Tomorrowland” – could look dated rather quickly. Since the first one opened in 1955, regular revamps are a big part of Tomorrowland’s history. In 1980, Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort had another shot at the future, by making a clear distinction between its Disneyland-style Magic Kingdom and the neighbouring EPCOT Center – the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Heckman is alert to this; according to his (sometimes sprawling) argument, from the 1950s the growing love affair with space age domestic bliss helped to redefine the idea of the US home.

Coinciding with Disney’s speculations about the future was a subtle shift – again, identified by Heckman – from seeing labour-saving devices as a good thing for increasing leisure time, to seeing them as a basic necessity. As the book closes, the author starts treating too much technology as a bad thing, dehumanizing us even as it saves our precious minutes. The politics of the book could prove controversial – it seems that the equipment being discussed could end up controlling us, installing a policeman inside our head under the guise of increasing our control. Enter the Matrix.

From Disney to Dixons adverts, it is clear that the technologies under fire here could prompt us to redefine ourselves in the most narrowly consumerist terms. Yet this analysis is one-sided: what of the 1950s housewife, a portion of whose day was freed up by the washing machine, the vacuum cleaner and refrigeration? Indeed, what of the decline of domestic service, which allowed a significant slice of the US-UK workforce to find more productive and more lucrative forms of employment? Stressing the promise of a truly smart home may have made what Heckman sees as trivial concerns become frighteningly important, but for millions of people, the alternative would be worse. It may be disquieting to compare the time the average American spends organizing their sitcom viewing to the priorities of his or her counterpart in Sudan, but this could also be used as an argument for modernsing Sudanese domestic arrangements along US lines.

Heckman’s style – sometimes furious, sometimes scatterbrained – is an acquired taste, but there is plenty of food for thought here. What he seems uneasy with is an account of the other side of the ‘Dream’ – just how disappointed we have become with these promised developments. One major tension is with A Small World treating smart home technology as potentially totalitarian – think of Hal in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, only in your house (and head) – and its real history of falling short on its promises. You know the argument for the Space Race is being lost when people start talking about Teflon pots and pans; likewise, when the space-age home – or even the humble labour-saving gadget – is portrayed as sinister, it seems that our aspirations are getting lower.

Too often today smart homes are seen as a chance to minimize human impact. Consider, for instance, the Passivhaus. Since 1991 this building standard has adopted the principles of a well-sealed and highly insulated envelope, resulting in 90 percent energy savings in those which have been constructed (primarily in Germany, Austria and Switzerland). While the tech is unobjectionable – bring on triple glazing! – the role reversal here is striking. Housing that once sheltered people from the outside world is repurposed to protect the environment from the people in the housing.

Even the quest for an electronic ‘Holy Grail’ is now framed in ways that combine home safety and disappointment. Consumers and companies would love a single ‘black box’ that handles all our telecom and entertainment needs, with broadband internet coming in and the various networked services distributed to all members of a household. Yes, there are sensible precautions one should take in this wireless ‘small world’, to prevent one getting ripped off (see e.g. Justin Doo, ‘Safety in the Wi-Fi Home’, Property Weekly, 23 January 2008, pp.90-91). But the cultural narrative about wi-fi theft seems to grow in inverse proportion to our expectations that a single device can revolutionize our lives. Sorry Microsoft, but the X-Box 360 just doesn’t cut it right now. Instead, the limited impact of home entertainment represents a scaling down of the old promises made about robotics, AI and virtual reality. Westerners may love their smartphones, but delivery of the really big promises remains elusive. Contra Heckman, let’s build homes that are smarter than any phone.

Davin Heckman, A Small World: Smart Houses and the Dream of the Perfect Day is available now from Duke University Press

About the author:

Graham Barnfield works at SAE Institute Belgrade. He is a Fellow of the Wolfsonian-FIU and an associate of the London East Research Institute.

There are countless tales of ‘the builders from hell’ and the like and a certain notoriety or even expectation that ‘builders’ of doubtful morality when it comes to charging for works completed.

Rarely however do we hear about the client from hell! Remember, there are always two sides to any story.

I’ve compiled a Top 5 list of things that you should really ensure are in place when engaging a general builder or even, any tradesman to undertake work on your property.

1 – Find the right builder or tradesman

A good business should be working on an 80% referral rate for new clients. If you don’t already know of a builder/tradesman then ask around within your own social network for a recommendation. Always aim to inspect the work and speak to the firm before inviting them to price or tender for your works.

2 – Draw up a detailed specification & programme

Its vital that you are clear and succinct with your requirements, ‘an extension’ is far to broad a description and will without doubt result in variations from the original price quoted if no dispute. You should ensure that you write down your preferences with regards to type of materials, location of electrical points or similar, finishes such as painting, floor coverings and the like to name but a few.

If you don’t agree a programme of works, how long the work will take to complete, your builder/tradesman can take as long as they want provided that they make reasonable progress. This can be very subjective and certainly not in line with your expectations!

3 – Always obtain a minimum of three quotes

Yes this can be a pain but I can assure you that its well worthwhile. A single quote could be far to high when compared to the ‘market’ price or too low (see 5.) Obtaining two quotes often doesn’t help either, if they are similar, are they too low or too high? If they are miles apart, how do we know whish one is correct? When three quotes are obtained it is much more probable that at least two of them will be relatively close to each other (hopefully all three will) This will allow you to establish the ‘market rates’

4 – Always have a written contract

A legally binding contract doesn’t have to be in writing, it can be formed by virtue of a conversation. It can however, be very difficult to prove the terms of the contract when it was formed orally, this is why you should insist on a written contract.

In its simplest form the contract can be a letter from you to the builder/tradesman, which is signed by both parties and makes reference to all relevant correspondence i.e. your requirements, their rates and prices, terms of payment, programme of works.

5 – Agree variations

Variations to the scope of the work should be discussed and then agreed in writing. Remember that the price can sometimes go down so don’t be fobbed off with only positive variations that add to your costs. Timing is very important, your builder/tradesman may have already committed resources to certain aspects of work by the time your change your mind. Any changes should be carefully considered to take into account cost and also an extension to the completion period of your project. Always agree these elements for confirming that you want your builder/tradesman to go ahead and only once you have confirmed this in writing.

Please feel free to comment on this article or to contact me for professional advice in putting together your own building contract or settling a dispute.

Rob Hubbard has over twenty years experience as a Quantity Surveyor involved in a broad range of construction projects and has successfully negotiated many construction disputes to mutually agreeable conclusions.

Hit a huge milestone this weekend, lost a stone in weight!

At the turn of the year I took the decision to lose weight and although I’m reasonably fit through my martial arts, to properly tone up.

After the festivities of Christmas 2011, I weighed in on the bathroom scales at an uncomfortable 17st 2lbs, pretty much the heaviest I’ve been in my (almost) 42 years. It was this fact that spurred me on to take action.

At age 19 I weighed only 10 1/2 stones, I was pretty skinny and spent what seemed like ages trying to put weight on! By the time I was in my late 20′s, early 30′s I was drifting between 14 & 15 stones dependant on the amount of exercise that I was undertaking and of course the food and drink I was consuming. One of my vices is booze, I can easily go through a bottle of wine, or two, or three of an evening whereas Cathy, my wife can quite happily nurse a glass all evening and make a bottle last a week! The same goes for beers, I drink one as I sit down, go fetch another, sometimes two.

So what have I done to achieve this weight loss?

I was looking on the web yesterday and did one of those ‘tests’ to determine my ideal weight for height/age etc. and it suggested that unless I was under 13 1/2 stone I was overweight!!! What a load of crap, I mean thats ridiculous.

My personal goal is 196 pounds or 14 stones, I’m a third of the way there at 225 pounds and looking forward to the ongoing journey.

Coming up:

• Should you listen to online weight/BMI predictors?
• My weight training Iphone App.

Well, the new regime seems to be working well and the pounds are slowly but surely dropping off. Its all about making subtle, but significant changes to my way of like and approach to eating foods. Thanks to the Iphone App that I’ve been using, I’m able to keep close tabs on the balance of foods that I’m consuming and adjust accordingly, its fascinating.

A good friend of mine, Ruth (or Woof as she is affectionately known to me) recently wrote this and has agreed that I can share it with the world.

I hate to burst any bubbles but diets don’t work. 

I have proof in that a friend of mine showed me pictures of her a few years back at 16st 12. She went on the Lighter Life and got down to 8st 7! (She looked effing awful too – was only missing the tattoo on her arm). She is now fighting with her weight again and trying another one of these miracle diets. 

High Protein, Cambridge – whatever they’re called they don’t work because they make you feel deprived and that’s not good for the soul. What’s not good for the soul is not good for you…ah, there’s another one of my favourite inspirational quotes “A little bit of what you fancy does you good” 

If you want to lose weight and be fitter and healthier it needs a shift in mindset and a shift in lifestyle. It doesn’t have to be massive and can be done little at a time. It may not provide instantaneous gratification but will be enduring. 

Starting with the easiest – what you eat.

DO NOT eat or drink any low-fat or “sugar free” food or drink. Sugar free normally means aspartimine otherwise known as “Sweet Poison”. Eat and drink full fat and full sugar just cut it right down. If you have sugar in your tea, drink more water than tea but don’t stop using sugar. If you want a Coke drink full fat Coke less often.

Cut down on alcohol consumption – if you like a drink, don’t force your self to cut it out. Deprivation just makes you want it more and makes it easier to cheat. (that goes for everything)

Eat less but make sure what you do eat is not going to fill you up for five minutes and then leave you hungry again. 

Do not start the day with tea or coffee. Start the day with a large glass of warm (blood temperature) water I do half boiled and half filtered water – a squeeze of lemon makes it refreshing and tastier. Do not drink cold water from the fridge, keep your filtered or shop bought water at room temperature. 

Do not eat fruit after a meal. Fruit will be digested in 20 minutes whereas most other proteins and carbs take 2 hours to digest. By eating fruit after a meal your body is not taking any of it’s nutrients, it sits on top of the undigested food and ferments – causing bloating and not doing anything good for you.

Don’t buy or stockpile biscuits, crisps, cakes or snacks – you’ll know they’re in the cupboards calling your name. If you don’t have them, you won’t miss them and if you do fancy a treat, then treat yourself, pop to the shop and buy yourself something but not all the time. 

Cut out meat as much as you can. Not just red meat, any meat – when you do a shop don’t buy meat at the supermarket. When you decide you’re going to have meat go buy it fresh (preferably from a butcher) and make it organic.

Buy organic fruit and veg. Not only will it taste better it will be more nutritional. 

Reduce your intake of dairy produce. 

Try not to mix proteins and carbs – no jacket potato with cheese or meat, potatoes and veg. Meat and veg – yes. 

If you take any food supplements, vitamins or minerals buy them from a good health food store and make sure they aren’t coated with sugar or contain yeast. Nutri are good and you can buy online.

Do not under any circumstances eat ready meals (even if they are low fat), supermarket cooked chicken, fast food – these are all full of sugar. 

You can just as well knock up a healthy meal in five minutes as easily as you can stick a plastic carton in the microwave. 

Eat out but don’t take away. Avoid take aways. Expensive and shit you may as well go and be waited on and have someone else do the washing up and the time out will do you good.

If you fancy anything that you think is bad/fattening/not good for you – go for it, just eat and enjoy and don’t feel guilty. Just, instead of eating a whole bar of chocolate, eat half the amount, half the time you used to.

Most importantly – forget what your mum said about clearing your plate. Eat until you are full. Not a mouthful over, even if it taste like ambrosia. If it does and there’s some over put it in the fridge, take a doggy bag and have it tomorrow. 

Drink water. Drink lots of water. 

Now the hard bit…

Mindset and words.

Do not refuse a drink or food with the words “No thanks, I’m on a diet” “No thanks” will do.

Do not think you are on a diet.

Do not tell anyone you are on a diet.

You are not on diet – get my drift?

Have a photograph to inspire you – not one of Jodie Kidd or similar model – one of yourself in which you are happy with the way you looked. Look at it often, visualise it. You are what you think, right?

Don’t ever feel despondent or guilty. Your weight will fluctuate and you won’t lose it as quickly as if you were on weight watchers, slimmers world, lighter life or any diet. Then again, you won’t put it on as quickly if you fall off that particular wagon either. 

Always enjoy your food. Don’t eat for the sake of eating. Take time out when you eat, don’t eat at your desk. Eat slowly and smile. Enjoy every morsel. If something is not nice at all – fudge the waste, chuck it out or give it to someone who may like it. I’ve bitten in to cake before and if it’s not nice I just say “That’s just not worth getting fat for”

Obviously exercise is important but it won’t stop you losing weight if you don’t do it. To me it’s the big “E” word and I hate it. All I do is go up and down the stairs (granted more times than I need because I’ve often forgotten what I went up for) and walk my dogs for an hour a day. I don’t do brisk aerobic walking, I just walk. 

I’ve come across a fantastic IPhone app called ‘My Fitness Pal’ it allows you to keep a record of everything that you eat, you identify foods from a vast online directory or by scanning the barcode, its really good. It also allows you to record callories burned by way of strength or cardiovascular exercise. After a couple of days entering the data (takes seconds) its becoming quite compelling, I can see me being addicted.

I also neglected to mention in my intro that I’ve also given up drinking for January (and possible longer) I think that dropping those calories off will be a huge benefit to my campaign.

I’ve neglected by blog of late but have been recently inspired by a friend of mine, Jo King to blog about one of my 2012 goals, call it a New Years resolution if you like.

This Christmas, I decided that I would eat and drink anything that took my fancy, I didnt disappoint!! the downside though was that I also put on half a stone in weight which has now taken me to an uncomfortable 17 Stone. This may sound enormous to some people, not a lot to others, its all relative really however, its not a weight that I’m comfortable with frankly.

I would describe myself as reasonably fit, I’m a 2nd Dan black belt in Wado Ryu karate and working towards my black belt in kickboxing and I also teach both twice a week. I’ve always been quite fit, sometimes reasonably fit. For example, I’ve ran the London Marathon completing various 10k’s and 1/2 marathons on the way as well as walking both the Yorkshire Three Peaks and the National Three Peaks in the relevant timescales. I’ve never been what I would call ‘very fit’ sort of military fitness I would call it and at the tender age of 41 & 3/4, this is what I’m aspiring to.

In Zen teachings Buddha suggested that to achieve happiness and rise above suffering on earth one must accept the Four Noble Truths, to follow the Noble Eightfold Path and the Middle Way. The four noble truths were:

1. Life is mainly suffering
2. Suffering is caused by desire for the wrong things
3. The way to stop suffering is to stop desire
4. The way to stop desire is to follow the Eightfold Noble Path

Be for yourselves your own flame and support. Let the truth be your flame and support, do not seek other support. He who, from this moment, or after I have disappeared, in his own flame and his own support will be a real disciple of mine, a disciple who knows how to conduct himself well.

What is a contractor mortgage?

Obtaining a mortgage in recent years has become increasingly difficult for a variety of different people. With so many people applying for loans, all of which possess different economic situations, many lenders have begun to recognise the need for a variety of different mortgages, so that an array of people are able to obtain the right mortgage for them.

A group of people that often struggle to obtain a mortgage more than any other group is contractors and often the only and best option available to contractors is a contractor mortgage. A contractor mortgage is considered by lenders as a ‘prime rate’ mortgage product that includes bespoke underwriting. Essentially this means that a mortgage lender will carefully and thoroughly assess a contractor’s application on an individual basis rather than a ‘one fits all’ mortgage offered to other borrowers.

There are a range of different factors that are considered by lenders for each individual borrower, these factors include the contract rate of the contractor. The current retained profits of the individual. Also the duration of existing contracts held by the borrower and the length of time an individual has been a contractor or freelancer. All of these factors essentially assess a contractor’s financial stability, job stability, current assets as well as assess a number of other aspects of an individual’s employment.

A large number of people can apply for a contractor mortgage because many lenders do not have a set of criteria for this type of mortgage. In fact many people will be surprised at the variety of mortgage products available for this type of mortgage, for example first time buyers or those with an adverse credit rating may benefit from choosing a contractor mortgage. Although, contractor mortgages are often only recommended to contractors and the self-employed as it offers these individuals the most benefits.

While there are a number of other alternatives for contractors and certain contractor mortgages can be difficult to obtain, most lenders who offer this option strongly recommend it as it can offer the most benefits to self employed individuals.

Contractor Mortgages Made Easy is a trading name of Mortgages Made Easy Limited.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA reg. 414798).
Registered in England No. 4886692 Registered Office: 9 London Road, Southampton SO15 2AE.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Please be aware that Buy To Let, Commercial Mortgages and Overseas Mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Walker Fox Ltd are Commercial Management & Property Consultants who act for property investor clients in and around Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Please leave a comment if you have enjoyed the article or contact Walker Fox on 01924 896190, via email info@walkerfox.co.uk, Skype: walkerfox or connect on Twitter@walkerfox

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All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. Walker Fox makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. Walker Fox will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. Walker Fox will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

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The seminar was like a recruitment drive for the Moonies or Scientology.

Walker Fox Ltd are Commercial Management & Property Consultants who act for property investor clients in and around Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Please leave a comment if you have enjoyed the article or contact Walker Fox on 01924 896190, via email info@walkerfox.co.uk, Skype: walkerfox or connect on Twitter@walkerfox

Privacy

Walker Fox does not share personal information with third-parties nor does Walker Fox store information that is collected about your visit for use other than to analyse content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at anytime by modifying your Internet browser’s settings. Walker Fox is not responsible for the republishing of the content found on this blog on other Web sites or media without permission.

Blog Comments

Walker Fox reserves the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to this blog without notice due to;

1. Comments deemed to be spam or questionable spam
2. Comments including profanity
3. Comments containing language or concepts that could be deemed offensive
4. Comments that attack a person individually

Terms and Conditions

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. Walker Fox makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. Walker Fox will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. Walker Fox will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

This policy is subject to change at anytime

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Lambda Alpha, it’s the honorary society for the advancement of land economics, a worldwide fraternity of property professionals, made up of architects, solicitors, town planners, academics, developers and a whole host of other property-related people.

Bret Alegre-Wood of Your Property Club is a Board member of the London Chapter, and recently spent a week in Scotland at the annual Land Economics weekend designed to showcase a city’s land economics.

One of the symposiums was hosted by Scottish Widows Investment Fund (SWIP) who are in turn owned by Lloyds who are currently the 4th largest fund in the world, and during the usual dry commentary about Scotland and the benefits of fund management some interesting statistics actually came out that Brett has introduced into his article.

These are the stats that SWIP are basing their investment decisions on over the next five years.

1. They believe that property will be the best performing assets class over at least the next five years (to at least 2016).

2. They believe that it will grow by at least 15% over the next 3 to 5 years due to a lack of supply and a return to lending.

3. They believe this will start in earnest in the middle of 2012.

At Walker Fox, as Property Consultants who specialise in Wakefield, we always maintain that investing in property is a great long term strategy and ‘now’ is always the right time to take action.

After the Symposium, Brett reportedly asked the Fund Manager which sector he felt would be a better investment over the next 5 years. Expecting to hear ‘the commercial sector will see a return to fortune‘ or some other version of the usual party line. (This is typical because residential is normally too small a transaction value for them to consider so therefore it’s not an option.)

The initial answer seemed at first to go down that road: ‘The commercial sector will see increasing yields‘, but after pressing some more, he admitted ‘we’re very upbeat about residential, values have clearly bottomed out and nowhere is the lack of supply more pronounced‘.

Not quite a full admission that residential is better than commercial but it’s a very positive sign to read that a fund manager agrees that residential property is a good investment.

If the fourth biggest fund in the world thinks property is a good investment over the next 5 years it might it be time for YOU to seriously consider jumping in too?

The average property in the Wakefield area has historically been affordable, none more so than in the past couple of months. As with many other regions, prices have risen slightly in April to £121,002, represents an increase of 0.2% as reported by the official statistics from HM Land Registry.

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