#also. between all the areas in the game there are roughly 400 regions so......this is Taking Some Time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imthepunchlord · 4 years

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For all the new things, I kinda wished they showed all of this before SwSh was released, now it's a bit more pricey and I feel like it's kinda rushed. Also for the Mystery Dungeon, I'm excited for that bit I really hope that include all the starters and non starters as well in the final.

I wish they went ahead and pushed back SaS so it’d be released 2020, with this expansion back already included, and the new places we go to can be unlocked during our adventure or as postgame. I would’ve fine waiting and would’ve preferred it, especially to give them a chance to do more with the main story which is pretty weak and made little sense, and Rose was a very forced in villain. Also made no sense in the story climax. Watching playthroughs and seeing the climax of SaS I’m just...

Its also frustrating that you get to hear about things happening and not actually witness or help. Like, its nice having adults acknowledge that you’re a kid, don’t worry about it we’ll handle it, but at the same time, that’s a chunk of story we have a right to see, and we’re kids in this game, we don’t always do what adults say we should follow and see what’s going on. That could’ve been something optional. Go to event to see what’s happening or skip it to go to the next gym.

And this is turning into a rant so I’m going to put this below. For those that just want to read my comments on Mystery Dungeon, scroll down till you get to the Pikachu gif, I’ll talk about it below.

Also there could’ve been improvements with the rivals. Marnie is suuuuper intriguing and I love her, Bede I also like though that’s more me missing mean rivals and man, he’s a brat and I say that with affection. But in the grand scheme of things, they felt pointless. More could’ve been done to include them. And Hop. God, Hop. I know people like him, but from what I’ve seen, he seems like the most annoying “friend rival” made to date. He does not know what personal space is. He waits for you in front of gyms. He waits for you on new routes. He has to comment on almost every move you make in your fights with him.

I don’t even own the games but just from the playthroughs I’ve watched I’m just... go away. Leave the lead alone. Everywhere you turn, he’s there, waiting for you. It also feels like he only got endorsed because he’s Leon’s younger brother. There’s nothing about him that I like. And, I don’t know why he gets the other wolf legendary? What makes him worthy?What makes him want to be a Professor in the future? That’s out of nowhere.

Something more could’ve been done with Hop, maybe an arc of him resenting you a little because every match you beat him, and he’s the Champion’s younger brother and you just seem to stay ahead. Maybe let us have more scene of him talking with Sonia since he’s going to be her future assistant. If he’s going to be constantly stalking us and waiting for us, then yeah, let’s at least better build up where his character will go.

Then there’s the issue of pokemon. With it pretty much confirmed they just reused models from gen 7, yeah, there’s no reason to not include more pokemon. If not the National Dex, which wouldn’t bother me too much, then go ahead and add about half. At most, I’d love pokemon included that would make the most sense. Like, lion is a big symbol throughout all of Europe. There should be a lion in Galar, either Litleo or Shinx returning if not a new lion pokemon. And with the expansion packs, yeah, they’re already adding 200 each pack.

And a lot of this dlc should already be in the game. If 400 pokemon are going to be added in, they should already be there. The new Giga forms should already be there and we should’ve seen the Giga Venusaur and Blastoise the same time as Charizard.

I’m also salty that there’s no going to Kalos. Maybe it’ll be a future expansion, and that’s a dlc I wouldn’t mind, but those are two very linked countries they’re based on. And Galar truly isn’t a big region. The Wild Area isn’t as big as it could be. Like, it doesn’t have to be BotW big, but it could’ve been bigger than what we got. And if not expanding the Wild Area, we could’ve had Kalos as a new region to go to, and more gyms for us to do.

ALSO.

I am not a fan of you refacing the gyms and having them act as your “Elite Four”.

They’ve already been fought. Aside from the first two, you’ve already fought all the star Giga forms they have. Its a really lazy decision. At least, you can have the two first gym leaders come in since you didn’t fight their star Giga forms, and include the other two version exclusive gym leaders as the other two. Just for some freshness in this final challenge.

I know they’re not big on voice acting, but, they should’ve put some form of VA into these games. Its a little awkward to get animated cutscenes and there’s no voices coming forth. And its at its worst when you get to Piers and you see him singing away, I presume loudly, into his mic and its just awkward cause there’s no voice and you can hear him tapping his foot to the music and its just so off putting to watch cause something is missing: a voice! And you know what’s the kicker? Pokemon has included voice acting before.

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There is no reason to not do something similar, at least for Piers’ intro so its not so awkward to watch.

And then post game... the official post game... I, I honestly can’t say what is even going on? Those two blonde bimbos, those designs, who agreed to pass them? For sword guy, I don’t know whether I should be laughing or uncomfortable. Its like, an in between especially when his hair flops around. Also, their reasoning, they’re causing chaos in Galar because they didn’t like a book Sonia wrote???

The villains in these games are just so dumb.

Like, Rose had a good motive but, he is still forced in. And he activates the climax for no reason. He was promised by Leon that he would help with Eternatus, all he had to do was wait through one match. One match that would’ve been 30 minutes at most, roughly. Yet he couldn’t wait for one match and went ahead and woke up Eternatus, does a video asking for help, and when you arrive, stops you for a battle that doesn’t make sense to have cause he asked for help why is he holding you up with a battle??

And Team Yell. Supposed to be like, a 2nd Team Skull and these guys could dream to live up to Team Skull. They can’t. They’re not funny or enjoyable at all. And my friend brought up a good point on the issue of having Team Yell based on punks when they’re supposed to be the “villainous” team. Punks, historically, were rebelling against an unfair system, they were progressive and revolutionary. They stood up for LBGT rights, they stood for having individual freedom, and just wanted to break the restrictions society wanted to place on people, let people express themselves and be who they want to be.

If you want Team Yell to be a 2nd Skull and play around with punks as their theme, then they should’ve been set up to be red herrings as well. Be wary at first and then later find that they have hearts of gold, and mean well, even if they can be a tad extreme sometimes. And maybe they can help build up the danger of Rose, who in turn wants to paint them in with a bad image since they’re going against him and what’s normal in society.

Anyway... Sword and Shield honestly should’ve been pushed back. They should’ve been saved for 2020, or even 2021, or however how much time they need. I would’ve been fine waiting. A lot of fans would be. But what we got wasn’t worth the $60 it was being sold at, and definitely not worth the $90 its being sold at with the expansion packs, and as far as I know, these are very, very small areas to explore. Cause as we’ve seen with SaS, they built it up to be big and grand and, well, the Wild Area was smaller than expected and the whole was far shorter than expected. You could beat it in 20 hours roughly.

I even have mixed feelings on there being no enhanced version, cause these games do have potential, they just needed more time and polish, and then it could’ve worth the $60 price. But also thankful that there’s not another 2nd version and we may be getting a few expansion packs instead.

Though I do think a lot they’re bringing in should already be in the game.

Anyway, enough ranting about Sas, onto Mystery Dungeon!

Demo I think could’ve been a little longer, they stop you before you go on the Skarmory mission, I think it could’ve been a better placement to end after the Skarmory mission.

Anyway, I like the changes so far. I love you can choose a different pokemon if you don’t like what you got from the test. I love that you have an updated move pool, though I feel kinda OP but you also kinda need it for these games cause I remember them being so hard and as a starter that can’t evolve till like, post game, yeah you’re going to need that help. I love that you get to wear a little scarf. Design wise, a little weird at first but it grew on me. Kinda reminds me of Okami.

By trailer, for sure they’re adding more pokemon in. Lucario is seen in the team, when before, you only saw Lucario as a statue in Red Blue, I believe? Its been a long time. But they only had Gen 1-3 in RB, and Lucario is there so I would think they’d add in a lot more pokemon.

For starters, I’m hopeful that beating the game, if you replay, you’ll get more options for the starters to play as and have as your partner. I’d loooove to have a chance to play as Popplio. Mega Evolution is confirmed, I wonder if regional forms would also be playable, like if we could evolve into Alolan Marowak or be one of the other two regional Meowths. Otherwise, everyone you could be in the old game is there, with no gender restriction! You can be a female Cubone! A male Eevee! A female Cyndaquil! I’m so happy about that since as a kid, I wanted to play Cyndaquil but never got it in the test and had to look it up and was bummed that it was male only and I wanted to be a girl.

My biggest hope though is that with this, we’ll have a chance to play two player, since you have a team of two usually, and your friend or sibling or SO can play your partner.

I am pleasantly surprised with it so far, though I will be holding off when its released in a few months, just going to listen to all reviews once they beat the game and if its very positive, cause SaS had a strong start and then went down hill with Gamefreak rushing it and cutting corners. I’m hopeful for this remake but cautious still.

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Wednesday, November 4, 2020

The coronavirus is surging, but Canada is keeping schools open (Washington Post) It’s been an uncertainty-ridden time for parents across Canada. As cases surge again, provinces are closing businesses, reimposing restrictions on public spaces and urging people to curb private gatherings. Still, as in European countries that are also tightening their rules, Canada is prioritizing keeping its schools open. All 13 provinces and territories are holding classes in person; in only some are hybrid or remote learning even options. In the United States, in contrast, nine states and territories have ordered some or all schools to hybrid or remote learning only, according to a tally kept by Education Week. Individual districts in other states are limiting or banning in-person classes. The incidence rate of covid-19 in people under 20 has increased since schools reopened, a trend the Public Health Agency of Canada says could be tied both to a growing number of school outbreaks and an increase in testing for that age group. Officials are responding by isolating sick pupils, quarantining classes hit by the virus and, in some cases, closing schools temporarily. But they’re resisting the blanket closures and wholesale shift to e-learning of the spring. “On balance, it’s been as expected,” said James Kellner, head of the pediatrics department at the University of Calgary. “And how that’s been has been concerning, but not terrible so far.”

Are ‘Kidfluencers’ Making Our Kids Fat? (NYT) Parents beware: Many YouTube channels that are wildly popular with young children are targeting them with thinly veiled ads for sugary beverages and junk food. That is the conclusion of a new study published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The authors of the study analyzed over 400 YouTube videos featuring so-called kid influencers—children with large social media followings who star in videos that show them excitedly reviewing toys, unwrapping presents and playing games. The study found that videos in this genre, which attract millions of young followers and rack up billions of views, were awash in endorsements and product placements for brands like McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr., Hershey’s, Chuck E. Cheese and Taco Bell. About 90 percent of the foods featured in the YouTube videos were unhealthy items like milkshakes, French fries, soft drinks and cheeseburgers emblazoned with fast food logos. The researchers said their findings were concerning because YouTube is a popular destination for toddlers and adolescents. Roughly 80 percent of parents with children 11 years old or younger say they let their children watch YouTube, and 35 percent say their children watch it regularly. Young children are particularly susceptible to marketing. Studies show that children are unable to distinguish between commercials and cartoons until they are 8 or 9 years old, and they are more likely to prefer unhealthy foods and beverages after seeing advertisements for them.

Turkeys (AP) A pertinent question coursing through the $4.3 billion turkey business is a basic one: how many turkeys are we gonna need for this Thanksgiving? It’s an incredibly complicated proposition. Grocery chain Kroger’s research found that 43 percent of shoppers plan to celebrate Thanksgiving with only their immediate family, which if true means that the birds people will want may be smaller, but they’re going to need way more of them as normally large gatherings (which would use a single large bird) temporarily splinter into smaller more intimate gatherings (necessitating multiple smaller birds). A lot is at stake, as in 2019 Americans spent $643 million on turkey in November. Walmart will carry 30 percent more turkey breasts in its stores for those who don’t want a full bird.

As the U.S. votes, the world watches with anxiety and hope (Washington Post) As Americans cast their votes in Tuesday’s presidential election, the world is watching closely, especially allies in Europe and rivals such as Russia, China and Iran, which could expect a very different U.S. foreign policy depending on the outcome. The choice of a U.S. president is always a matter of global importance—to allies, rivals, trading partners, and the web of treaties and institutions that bind countries together. This time, however, the stakes are exceedingly high. Analysts around the world expressed fears for America’s political system, speaking in terms often reserved for fragile democracies. Some commentators in China hope that a Joe Biden win could usher in a diplomatic respite, but fear that the deepened U.S.-China rivalry could persist, whoever wins. Pro-Kremlin media warn elections could lead to chaos and street fighting, predicting that President Trump will be forced to retreat to his White House bunker. Many European leaders fear Trump would weaken or destroy NATO if reelected. In Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made much of his close ties with Trump, analysts wonder if a Democratic win might weaken the Israeli leader’s long hold on power.

Presidential race too early to call (AP) The Associated Press is not calling the presidential race yet because neither candidate has secured the 270 electoral college votes needed to claim victory. Republican Donald Trump said, “Frankly, we did win this election” over Democrat Joe Biden and said he would take the election to the Supreme Court. His assertion of victory does not match the results and information currently available to the AP. Trump or Biden would need 270 electoral votes to win. Several key states are too early to call, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.

Hurricane Eta slams into Nicaragua as Category 4 storm (AP) The heart of powerful Hurricane Eta began moving ashore in Nicaragua Tuesday with devastating winds and rains that had already destroyed rooftops and caused rivers to overflow. The hurricane had sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, down from an overnight peak of 150 mph (240 kph). Landfall came hours after it had been expected. Eta’s eye had hovered just offshore through the night and Tuesday morning. The unceasing winds uprooted trees and ripped roofs apart, scattering corrugated metal through the streets of Bilwi, the main coastal city in the region. Nicaragua’s army moved red-helmeted troops specialized in search and rescue to Bilwi, the main coastal city in an otherwise remote and sparsely populated area.

France ponders new Paris curfew as lockdown rebels frustrate government (Reuters) France could reimpose a night curfew on Paris and possibly the surrounding region amid government frustration that too many people are ignoring lockdown rules as COVID-19 infections soar. France dramatically slowed the spread of the coronavirus in the spring with one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns. But 10 months into the epidemic and with winter drawing in, many are reluctant to endure another period of confinement. New COVID-19 lockdowns and curbs have stirred resistance across Europe even as countries including France and Spain deal with record daily infections and hospitals buckle under the strain.

Bad blood—why France-Turkey cartoon row could leave lasting impact (Reuters) Slights and barbs have marred relations between France’s Emmanuel Macron and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan for years, but the row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad has dragged them to a new low which could have more lasting consequences. If they cannot find a way to mend bridges, momentum is likely to build for a proposal, driven by France, for European Union sanctions on Turkey’s already-fragile economy, according to Turkish analyst Sinan Ulgen. “Neither Erdogan in Turkey nor Macron in France will step back,” said Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies think tank. A French official familiar with policy towards Turkey said that in the light of the events of the past few weeks: “The question of sanctions is going to be raised.” EU leaders have already said that if Turkey fails to de-escalate tensions in the eastern Mediterranean by Dec. 10, sanctions would follow, though there is no draft proposal yet.

5 dead in Vienna attack (AP) Five people died, including an assailant, and 17 others were wounded in a shooting in the heart of Vienna hours before a coronavirus lockdown started, Austrian authorities said Tuesday. The dead attacker was a 20-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian dual national who had a previous terror conviction. Two men and two women died from their injuries in the attack Monday evening, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. The suspected attacker was shot and killed by police. Vienna’s hospital service said seven people were in life-threatening condition Tuesday after the attack, the Austrian news agency APA reported. In total, 17 people were being treated in hospitals, with gunshot wounds but also cuts. “It is now confirmed that yesterday’s attack was clearly an Islamist terror attack,” Kurz said. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer later told APA that the dead assailant, who had roots in the Balkan nation of North Macedonia, had a previous conviction under a law that punishes membership in terrorist organizations. The attacker, named as Kujtim Fejzulai, was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 because he had tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group. He was granted early release in December under juvenile law.

Ukraine close to catastrophe, minister says (Reuters) The situation with the coronavirus in Ukraine is close to catastrophic and the nation must prepare for the worst, health minister Maksym Stepanov said on Tuesday. Ukraine registered a record 8,899 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the ministry said, up from the Oct. 30 high of 8,312. Total infections stood at 411,093 by Tuesday with 7,532 deaths. Ukraine imposed a strict lockdown in March but eased it in May. Stepanov said the government would consider how to preserve the economy and save people at the same time.

India, U.S., Japan and Australia kick off large naval drills (Reuters) India, the United States, Japan and Australia began their largest joint naval exercises in over a decade on Tuesday, Indian government sources said, seen as part of efforts to balance China’s vast military and economic power in the region. The annual “Malabar” wargames that India holds with the United States and Japan have been expanded to include Australia this year to cover all members of the Quad, an informal group of the four largest democracies in the Indo-Pacific. Five ships of the Indian Navy, including a submarine, were deployed in the exercise along with U.S. Navy’s John S McCain missile destroyer, Australia’s Ballarat frigate and a Japanese destroyer, the Indian ministry of defence said. Later this month, India and the United States will deploy aircraft carriers in the drills, a military source said.

Almost Like Clockwork, Talk of a Military Coup Follows Thai Protests (NYT) There are certain constants in Thailand: the drenching monsoons, the grand openings of new shopping malls and the rumors that the Royal Thai Armed Forces are plotting another coup. For weeks now, student-led protesters across Thailand have taken to the streets every few days, calling for a new constitution with authority over the monarchy, an end to the persecution of the political opposition and the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the retired general who led the most recent military coup, in 2014. While the security forces have not cracked down violently on these peaceful rallies, it’s unclear how long such restraint will last. Nor is it certain how long the army is willing to stay in the barracks, plotting against Mr. Prayuth, who was once one of their own. Whenever the generals launch a coup, the refrain is the same: Thailand needs a return to order, without messy rallies or dissenting voices. “I see a coup as not a bad thing,” said Sondhi Limthongkul, a prominent royalist. As recently as last week, Mr. Sondhi publicly called for yet another military intervention to restore stability and protect the monarchy, urging the military to quickly hand over power after seizing it so the king could oversee the formation of a unity government.

Oman to bring in income taxes (Foreign Policy) Oman is planning to introduce an income tax on top earners, beginning in 2022, in what would be a first for Gulf nations. The move comes as Oman attempts to narrow its budget deficit from 19 percent of GDP today, to closer to 2 percent in four years’ time. Up until now, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have been taxing their populations slowly, using a value-added tax on purchases rather than taxing income.

#headlines #news

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scifigeneration · 5 years

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Why aren't there electric airplanes yet?

by Venkat Viswanathan, Shashank Sripad, and William Leif Fredericks

As electric cars and trucks appear increasingly on U.S. highways, it raises the question: When will commercially viable electric vehicles take to the skies? There are a number of ambitious efforts to build electric-powered airplanes, including regional jets and planes that can cover longer distances. Electrification is starting to enable a type of air travel that many have been hoping for, but haven’t seen yet – a flying car.

A key challenge in building electric aircraft involves how much energy can be stored in a given amount of weight of the on-board energy source. Although the best batteries store about 40 times less energy per unit of weight than jet fuel, a greater share of their energy is available to drive motion. Ultimately, for a given weight, jet fuel contains about 14 times more usable energy than a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery.

That makes batteries relatively heavy for aviation. Airline companies are already worried about weight – imposing fees on luggage in part to limit how much planes have to carry. Road vehicles can handle heavier batteries, but there are similar concerns. Our research group has analyzed the weight-energy tradeoff in electric pickup trucks and tractor-trailer or semi-trucks.

This artist’s concept of NASA’s experimental electric plane design shows 14 motors along the wings. NASA

From electric trucks to flying vehicles

We based our research on a very accurate description of the energy required to move the vehicle along with details of the underlying chemical processes involved in Li-ion batteries. We found that an electric semi-truck similar to today’s diesel-powered ones could be designed to travel up to 500 miles on a single charge while being able to carry the cargo of about 93 percent of all freight trips.

Batteries will need to get cheaper before it makes economic sense to begin the process of converting the U.S. trucking fleet to electric power. That seems likely to happen by the early 2020s.

Flying vehicles are a bit further away, because they have different power needs, especially during taking off and landing.

What is an e-VTOL?

Unlike passenger planes, small battery-powered drones that carry personal packages over short distances, while flying below 400 feet, are already coming into use. But carrying people and luggage requires 10 times as much energy – or more.

We looked at how much energy a small battery-powered aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing would need. These are typically designed to launch straight up like helicopters, shift to a more efficient airplane mode by rotating their propellers or entire wings during flight, then transition back to helicopter mode for landing. They could be an efficient and economic way to navigate busy urban areas, avoiding clogged roads.

Energy requirements of e-VTOL aircraft

Our research group has built a computer model that calculates the power needed for a single-passenger e-VTOL along the lines of designs that are already under development. One such example is an e-VTOL that weighs 1,000 kilograms, including the passenger.

The longest part of the trip, cruising in airplane mode, needs the least energy per mile. Our sample e-VTOL would need about 400 to 500 watt-hours per mile, around the same amount of energy an electric pickup truck would need – and about twice the energy consumption of an electric passenger sedan.

However, takeoff and landing require much more power. Regardless of how far an e-VTOL travels, our analysis predicts takeoff and landing combined will require between 8,000 and 10,000 watt-hours per trip. This is about half the energy available in most compact electric cars, like a Nissan Leaf.

For an entire flight, with the best batteries available today, we calculated that a single-passenger e-VTOL designed to carry a person 20 miles or less would require about 800 to 900 watt-hours per mile. That’s about half the amount of energy as a semi-truck, which is not very efficient: If you needed to make a quick visit to shop in a nearby town, you wouldn’t hop into the cab of a fully loaded tractor-trailer to get there.

As batteries improve over the next few years, they may be able to pack in about 50 percent more energy for the same battery weight. That would help make e-VTOLS more viable for short- and medium-range trips. But, there are a few more things needed before people can really start using e-VTOLS regularly.

Slide the ‘specific energy’ slider side to side to see how making batteries better can change vehicles’ energy needs. Venkat Viswanathan

It’s not just energy

For ground vehicles, determining the useful range of travel is enough – but not for planes and helicopters. Aircraft designers also need to closely examine the power – or how quickly the stored energy is available. This is important because ramping up to take off in a jet or pushing down against gravity in a helicopter takes much more power than turning the wheels of a car or truck.

Therefore, e-VTOL batteries must be able to discharge at rates roughly 10 times faster than the batteries in electric road vehicles. When batteries discharge more quickly, they get a lot hotter. Just as your laptop fan spins up to full speed when you try to stream a TV show while playing a game and downloading a large file, a vehicle battery pack needs to be cooled down even faster whenever it is asked to produce more power.

Road vehicles’ batteries don’t heat up nearly as much while driving, so they can be cooled by the air passing by or with simple coolants. An e-VTOL taxi, however, would generate an enormous amount of heat on takeoff that would take a long time to cool – and on short trips might not even fully cool down before heating up again on landing. Relative to the battery pack size, for the same distance traveled, the amount of heat generated by an e-VTOL battery during takeoff and landing is far more than electric cars and semi-trucks.

That extra heat will shorten e-VTOL batteries’ useful lives, and possibly make them more susceptible to catching fire. To preserve both reliability and safety, electric aircraft will need specialized cooling systems – which would require more energy and weight.

This is a crucial difference between electric road vehicles and electric aircraft: Designers of trucks and cars don’t have any need to radically improve either their power output or their cooling systems, because that would add cost without helping performance. Only specialized research will find these vital advances for electric aircraft.

Our next research topic will continue to explore ways to improve e-VTOL battery and cooling system requirements to provide enough energy for useful range and enough power for takeoff and landing – all without overheating.

An experimental electric aircraft for two passengers. AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere

About The Authors:

Venkat Viswanathan, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University; Shashank Sripad, Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, and William Leif Fredericks, Research Assistant in Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#technology #future of #electric vehicles #innovation #eVTOL #electric planes

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no-dull-days · 3 years

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Nicaragua Turismo

Prior to Somoza, Central America was a republic consisting of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Guatemala. The law of the land, was that all business owners had to get their businesses approved by a number of politicians located in present day Honduras and El Salvador. Because the locals in these regions knew business owners would pass through their neighborhoods with livestock and other valuables, business owners were regularly robbed. This is why El Salvador and Honduras are still particularly dangerous today and Nicaragua houses hard working business owners who provide millions of dollars of exports to a variety of countries. Nicaragua is by far the safest country in the region for this reason.

Nicaragua travel guide tips: You should be very protective of your belongings, carry small amounts of cash, and a few duplicate laminated copies of your passport. Familiarize yourself with Dengue and Chikungunya virus. Be careful who you speak to about Nicaragua’s president and tumultuous history. Photographing government buildings is illegal. Don’t draw attention to yourself.

Nicaragua Travel Guide

Vast jungles are evident from the air along with an aviation graveyard clearly from the civil war. I pass through a small airport with no major delays and locate a man holding a sign with my name on it. Two hours later, I arrive in a small surf community. Spread out over half an acre are ten dorms, huts, and casitas housing small groups and couples. Meals cost between three and five bucks. I was walking distance to the beach and rented surf boards for $5/day. I met almost everyone in the small community and rented an ATV to ride through the jungle. I zipped through cities and local attractions. I read books on the beach and thoroughly unwound. No need for a Nicaragua travel guide when basking in the beach sunshine.

Transportation in Nicaragua

If you take shuttle vans or hostel arranged transportation, you’re gonna pay about 300-500% over market value. If you’re traveling beyond the “too weak vacation” you’re gonna want to save cash wherever you can and taking buses will save you more than a few bucks. Even if you’re only here short term, taking buses are just more exciting. They add a lot to the adventure. Bus stations might be intimidating if you don’t speak Spanish, but I can assure you, they’re easy. There’s no announcements or indication when you arrive at your intended destination, but it’s fairly clear by the scenery and signs. Otherwise, simply point to your destination on the map and ask.

Lines form in front of the signs and fees are collected on board. Fair warning, buses get quite cozy. Transportation is roughly C$30-70 (about $2 US). If you take a taxi, be sure to ask the rate before you get inside.

Cash in Nicaragua

Nicaragua uses the Cordoba. Many businesses accept US dollars though. You can order international currency from your local bank if you request it in advance. It’s much easier to pay for everything in native currency because it’s exact. You may even pay more using US dollars because of a conversion rate. You can also get Cordobas from ATMs, but you’ll pay a percent of the transaction to your bank.

Nicaragua travel guide tip: To obtain cash, you can also get Cords via the black market. Men hold enormous stacks of money on street corners throughout the country. I don’t know who they work for or how they make a profit, but they’re very convenient. Know how much your US dollars are worth before approaching, and give them $5, $10 or $20 bills. They give you Cords. Though this is the black market, it’s safe. I’ve used them numerous times in multiple cities without problem. Do this transaction in public though.

Doctors make about $1,500 US dollars/ month and people who have nice jobs make about $3-400/ month, so the dollar will go a long way. In Leon, one of the more expensive cities, I paid about $15 US for a very nice meal in a fancy restaurant. To save more cash, get yourself a Sawyer Water Filter and fill up a water bottle throughout the day. Otherwise, you’ll pay about C$200 Cords/ day for water.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

I could’ve stayed longer, but I knew it was time to move on. My next adventures took me to San Juan del Sur, a small beach community with a thriving nightlife filled with Aussies, Canadians, Israelis, Americans, and a few Europeans. They had dangerously wicked Sunday fun-days. What else would you expect from a city without a police department? This didn’t bother me since I’m not a big drinker, go to bed at a decent hour and wake up with the sun.

San Juan Del Sur and up the west coast of Nicaragua have a thriving surf culture with schools and villages to match their six foot swells and gorgeous beaches. It’s in these areas where people can take guided tours and ride ATV’s through the city, jungles and beaches. I paid $90 for three hours. Moreover, there’s horseback riding, zip lining, and volcanoes to explore. There's internet cafes for workaholics and techies, and colonial cities such as Leon and Granada with 17th century architecture. You’re bound to run into a number of expats here.

After leaving a bar one night though, a few very persistent girls tried to lure me off the main drag. If I followed them, I knew I'd be mugged. Nicaragua travel guide tip: If you’re bar hopping after dark, stay on the main street only. Do not under any circumstances venture down to the beach away from the crowd. Also, leave your phone and wad of cash at home. San Juan Del Sur is accessible by bus. However, it’s easier if you’re in a group to take a cab and split the fee. If you’re going to a surf village or hostel, some places will arrange a taxi for you and wait with your name on a card. I’d recommend San Juan Del Sur for surfing, nightlife, and tours.

MiraFlor, Nicaragua

MiraFlor is a great cloud forest about 15 miles northeast of Esteli. About 90 minutes away because of poor road conditions. There’s upper and lower MiraFlor which is basically dense forest and less dense. The upper region is far better and occupied by organic farmers. The food here is sensational. Everything I ate was organic. I paid $45 for one night in a casita with two queen beds. Three meals were included with coffee and water. $15 got me a guided horseback tour through the mountains plus a dip in a secret waterhole. There’s massive toads in MiraFlor, sloths, puma and other wildlife. Safety was no concern in MiraFlor. Nicaragua travel guide tip: You can book a tour through Cafe Luz.

Matagalpa, Nicaragua

Matagalpa is similar to Esteli, but a little nicer. It’s not a tourist or colonial city. Just a normal city with lots of people working and going to school. It’s in the mountains about two hours from Esteli. It’s nice to walk around for the day. Nicaragua travel guide tip: If you visit Matagalpa, stay on one side of the river. Same with Esteli. Rivers are like railroad tracks divided by the good and bad side of town. Matagalpa is also in the coffee region. You could certainly crash here for the night if you’re visiting a nearby coffee plantation. Safety was no concern. I’d recommend Matagalpa for stress free simple living.

Sebaco, Nicaragua

Sebaco and the small surrounding cities are filled with farmers. I’ve never seen more people without teeth. Most-likely from sugar cane. Sebaco is about an hour from Esteli and costs C$20. I took a bike taxi to a museum and explored the city. I met a few locals and had lunch with a family. I spoke with a variety of locals all of whom couldn’t have been nicer. Visiting Sebaco was like being in an Indiana Jones movie. Sebaco was educational, fascinating, and a massive culture shock. Safety was no concern.

Managua, Nicaragua

Managua is the nation's capital and is very dangerous. The only reason you’ll have to visit Managua is for the airport. You may also be in Managua to catch the TICA bus if you’re going elsewhere in Central America. The TICA bus is the same as a Greyhound. Managua is also where you’d catch flights and buses to Nicaragua’s east coast or Caribbean islands.

Nicaragua travel guide tip: Managua is not a sightseeing city. It’s a hub for business and transportation. Do not walk around alone. Do not flash valuables. Do not visit Managua after dark. Do not take random taxes in Managua. Crime and kidnapping are in abundance here.

A ticket to Panama on the TICA bus is $90 US and about $45 to Costa Rica. There’s information stations all over the country but all buses leave from Managua. Managua is accessible from just about anywhere in the country. Don’t take a cab to Managua because they’re expensive and it’s common for tourists to be overcharged. When going to Managua, know where you’re going and how to get there. My experience in Managua is during the day. Get in and out of town in the morning or early afternoon. Masaya is about 2.5 hours from Managua. Or you can take a cab for $25-30 US.

The City of Masaya

Aside from traveling in Haiti and Jamaica, Masaya has a massive Rastafarian presence. I walked the streets looking for a room to rent and stumbled upon a restaurant. I feasted, eating an entire chicken, salad, gallo pinto, vigorón and sopa de mondongo. I chased it down with four beers while watching a soccer game as two ceiling fans kept me cool as a cucumber. I paid $2.30, said goodbye to my new friends and waddled out. I smoked a cigarette with the door man who carried a full size axe over his shoulder. We watched a man with scrotal lymph edema waddle with great difficulty.

The city has a large Christian presence. Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, and Bryan Adams along with other 80’s music was quite common. Nicaragua travel guide tip: You must possess a sense of adventure to enjoy yourself here and shopping is a must! Wallets, clothing, souvenirs, machetes, bracelets, kitchenware, clothing, and gorgeous artwork are in central downtown.

Masaya Volcano Park

About 15 miles outside of the the city of Masaya is a Volcano Park. There’s a C$100 entrance fee and it’s C$100/person for the 5.5 mile cab ride to the top. There’s a number of hiking trails and great views of a smoking volcano. It was C$25 to get from the volcano park to Granada via bus. I was so disconnected from everything I’d ever known. I took a bus from Masaya and set my feet down on an empty highway submerged in dense jungle. It looked like the big man upstairs cut a straight line through the jungle with a disposable razor. Across the way, was the entrance to Masaya Volcano.

I walked straight up to the edge and inhaled the noxious volcanic fumes. It reminded me of that favorable scent of gasoline. I also thought of the evil dictator Somoza and how he threw his opponents into this very volcano. I went to the top of almost every peak. I even ran up the slopes where the scent of sulfur was powerful.

Granada, Nicaragua

It was the first time I was rooming with other people. Three nights in, I went to dinner with a girl from my room. Five minutes away, I knew something was wrong but we kept walking. Upon return about an hour later, I shook hands with the guy who stole my credit card and rang up a $1,400 tab in Managua. Everyone in our room was robbed. I experienced organized crime, first hand.

Granada attracts the most tourists because of it’s nice hotels and expensive restaurants. It also attracts an onslaught of criminal rings from Costa Rica. In this case, it was a four man team. Each had their own role. Two of them got beds in separate rooms and locked an empty locker. They stuffed their beds and staked out the room. Two other men were brought in to strike up conversation. They kept the managers and other travelers occupied while their friends robbed nine lockers in two rooms.

When I was here in the high season (November to May), I was on a private tour that took me boating through the Granada Isletas where monkeys climbed on the boat and ran across my lap. The Granada Islets are over 200 islands with an abundance of wildlife. Islands are owned by locals, aristocrats, and foreigners, while others can be rented for private events. You can arrange a tour from a guide in the plaza.

Granada doesn’t resemble any of the other cities, nor does it resemble Nicaragua. Though Granada is the nicest city in the country, it’s a hot spot for crime. I think we all know, getting robbed isn’t so much about the money. It’s the feelings of violation and loss of trust. Maybe this was a good thing, because you shouldn’t be trusting anyone while traveling alone.

Nicaragua travel guide tip: I was robbed. I know others who were robbed. I was conned by locals and a lawyer. If you're robbed filing a police report at the police station for insurance wasn't too bad. After eight days here, I experienced more scams and deception than any other city. Isletas below.

I’d recommend a short afternoon in Granada to see the Isletas then spending the night at the Apoyo Lagoon, about 20 minutes from Granada. If you do stay in Granada, look for a hotel or hostel that does not allow people from Central America.

Mombacho Volcano

Mombacho volcano can be seen from Granada. It’s a huge volcano with hiking trails and spectacular views from within jungle terrain. In the off season, it’s a cloud forest which is definitely fun to hike through and explore the mysterious land with lush greenery during tropical rains. In the high season, the visibility is far better. The only way to visit is on a tour, during which you’ll learn about flora, fauna, and the hundreds of highly poisonous reptiles living in the habitat.

Since Mombacho is adjacent to Granada and I wouldn’t recommend visiting Granada, I’d recommend another rain forest and or volcano such as Masaya, MiraFlor, Cerro Negro, Ometepe, or Indio Maiz. You can certainly see Mombacho in the morning, tour the Islets in the afternoon, then take a cab to Apoyo Lagoon.

Apoyo Lagoon

Anxious to leave Granada, I shopped around and found a taxi for $15 US. About 20 minutes away from Granada is a small slice of paradise. It’s a gorgeous lagoon. I paid $12 for a bed in an empty dormitory. There’s private rooms for $29, but there’s no point when it’s so quiet. I was the only one in a room with six beds, four fans, and steel lockers. I found about a dozen hotels, hostels, and resorts on the lagoon. There’s convenience stores scattered throughout the area. Wherever you decide to stay there’ll be restaurants. $12 includes access to kayaks, inner tubes, and a floating dock to hang out on. Meals cost between $3-$5. Nicaragua travel guide tip: Don't miss out on Apoyo Lagoon!

Maderas Beach

Maderas Beach has a series of surf schools and nice resorts. It’s located about 30 minutes south of San Juan Del Sur and only accessible in an off road vehicle. It’s located just beyond the dense jungle. Howler monkeys are common in these parts. They’re monkeys that make creepy howling noises and throw poop if you get too close. Some of these beaches are private, but most are open to the public. There’s excellent surf, fresh food, and passion fruit smoothies. Mid summer, there was an international surf competition in this region with over 300 competitors from 70 countries. Nicaragua travel guide tip: There's quite a few 3-5 star resorts scattered throughout this region.

Beaches in this area have some amazing homes overlooking the water from massive cliffs. Property values have risen from $8,000 to over $150,000 in the last 5-7 years. Imagine seeing this every morning when you wake up. I’d recommend this region purely for surfing.

With a wide array of activities to choose from and epic smoothies, Nicaragua is a true adventure. Healthy food is plentiful and there’s an endless supply of photo opportunities. Avoid unpaved streets after dark and sectors of town on the other side of rivers. If you've enjoyed this Nicaragua travel guide, please share. Thanks for reading.

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rcardamone · 4 years

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Final Part 3: Certainty Management

As “Living in the Environment” points out towards the end of Chapter 17, humans are, by nature, bad at calculating risk. Miller and Spoolman write that “five factors can cause people to see a technology or product as being more or less risky than experts judge it to be.” 1 Three are particularly relevant now. The first is fear which causes people to “worry more about catastrophic risks than they do about common everyday risks.” For instance, people generally fear a terrorist attack more than a car wreck, even though they are far more likely to die in the latter. Second is “whether a risk is catastrophic or chronic.” People usually are more frightened by news of catastrophic accidents such as a plane crash than of a cause of death such as smoking, which has a much higher death toll spread out over time. Thirdly, “some people have optimisim bias, [which is] the belief that risks that apply to other people do not apply to them.” 2

Right now, the fallibility of our risk calculation as individuals and societies is being laid bare by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Despite the relative regularity and inevitability of pandemics, the world was by and large wildly unprepared for this eventuality. In this stunning failure of imagination, biases due to fear, perception of catastrophe, and optimism are particularly evident. Fittingly, “Living in the Environment” discusses human risk calculation in the same chapter that it discusses pandemics. In fact, the textbook goes as far to include this passage: “[t]he biggest viral killer is the influenza or flu virus which is transmitted by the body fluids or airborne droplets released when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Influenza often leads to fatal pneumonia. Flu viruses are so easily transmitted that an especially potent flu virus could spread around the world in a few months.” Notably, the textbook put HIV/AIDS, a disease that “between 1981 and 2014…[killed] more than 38 million people” behind flu viruses in listing the most significant threats from disease humanity faces .3 Relegating HIV/AIDS to second place would have seemed worth questioning at the time the textbook went to print given that no truly devastating flu pandemics had occurred within the last century at that point. However, given that a highly transmissible virus (although Coronavirus is not influenza) is currently spreading rapidly across the globe with devastating effect, the placement looks prescient. Regardless, it is certainly true to say that flu pandemics and pandemics of viruses with flu-like behavior have the potential to kill more than 38 million people and to do it in a much shorter period of time, especially in such a highly globalized world. However, they do not factor in the public imagination (or apparently that of many governments) as they should. A combination of the fear and catastrophism biases is certainly part of the problem here. It is easy for governments to spend hundreds of billions of dollars responding to terrorist threats with the approval of their citizens because humans are naturally inclined to fear such events. The idea of dying in a mass shooting or 9/11 like event is enough to keep tens of millions awake at night, despite the miniscule number of people that suffer such fates in places like the United States. Furthermore, if people do experience fear at the thought of a pandemic, it is generally a fear of Ebola-like illnesses which can kill nearly half of those infected. For these reasons, the devastation that would be wrought by a disease with a far lower fatality rate but far higher transmissibility escaped the imagination of most.

Figure 1, Bill Gates Gives a TED Talk Warning of an Inevitable Pandemic in 2015 4

Even in “Living in the Environment,” the prescience of discussing flu-like viruses is contradicted by a general downplaying of the risk of infectious disease. Miller and Spoolman state that, “[s]ince 1950, the incidences of infectious diseases and the death rates from them have dropped significantly. This has been achieved mostly by a combination of better health care, the use of antibiotics to treat diseases caused by bacteria, and the development of vaccines to prevent the spread of some viral diseases.” They continue, “[d]espite the declining risk...they remain serious health threats, especially in less developed countries.”5 This analysis is misleading and contradicted by information in their own chapter. While it is true that significant advances have been made in the last seventy years in combating specific diseases, this does not mean that the overall risk from disease is declining. Antibiotics will not stop viral pandemics. Additionally, as we are seeing now, it takes an extended period of time to develop a vaccine for a novel disease if one can be developed at all. Additionally, as Miller and Spoolman actually emphasize, “many disease-carrying bacteria have developed genetic immunity to widely used antibiotics” which means that antibiotics are becoming less useful over time.6 Thus, while the period of declining infectious disease death rates can be attributed in part to scientific progress, it is also attributable to our luck in not encountering a rapid, deadly 1918 type pandemic. As is clear now, there was never any guarantee of that luck continuing. There is also no guarantee that disease treatment strategies that work on some diseases now (such as antibiotics) will be successful in the future or be completely replaceable.

Additionally, changes to human behavior along with the warming of the global climate mean the future will contain more potential for pandemics than the past. As Miller and Spoolman point out, “60% of the roughly 400 infectious diseases emerging between 1940 and 2014 were transmitted from animals to humans, and the majority of those came from wild animals.”7 Diseases originating in animals include HIV, Ebola, and Plague. Additionally, It is likely that COVID-19 also originated in animals. Of course, humanity has always come into contact with animals and these interactions have long been essential to our economies. However, the increases in behavior such as “clearing forests to make way for settlements, farms, and expanding cities...hunting wild game for food…[and the] legal and illegal international trade in wild species” have increased the number of chances for infectious disease to jump into humans.8 Furthermore, climate change is increasing the risk of contracting heat-spread diseases in places where they were once rare or nonexistent. As noted in the “Living in the Environment” case study, Malaria, one of the deadliest diseases in human history, “during this century as the average atmospheric temperature rises...will likely spread from tropical areas to warming temperate areas.” 9 The same phenomenon will also mean the spread of other diseases such as Yellow Fever, Dengue fever, and West Nile Virus. This is especially worrying considering that, “many disease transmitting mosquitoes have become immune to widely used pesticides.” 10

Figure 2, Global Range of Malaria in 2011, as the climate continues to warm this range is expected to expand into more temperate regions 11

Given that increasing human contact with animals is somewhat inevitable as our population increases and climate change is already well underway, the rebounding threat of infectious disease seems somewhat inevitable. However, there are actions that can be taken. “Living in the Environment,” promotes the field of Ecological Medicine which it defines as a “new interdisciplinary field devoted to tracking down...unwanted (as in disease causing) interactions between animals and humans.”12 As aforementioned, there are already many human practices that are known to cause increased exposure to animals and chances for the spread of disease. Governments should invest in fields such as these which will be able to provide information about what interactions are most risky. Furthermore, governments should do everything they can to reduce these instances of contact and adjust these measures as more is learned. For some of these practices, such as the illegal international trade of wild species, it is relatively straightforward to increase enforcement. For others, such as deforestation and suburban development, governments will have to weigh more significant economic trade-offs. However, as COVID-19 has made clear, one novel disease can lead to the loss of trillions and economic devastation. Given humanity will never be able to eliminate the risk of pandemic due to the inevitability of animal-human interaction and climate change, we must also do everything we can to be ready for when they arrive. Clearly, the world has not been correctly calculating the risk and potential domino effects of such events. There will almost certainly be change to such calculations in the aftermath of COVID-19. However, true preparedness will require a level of global collaboration that we have yet to prove ourselves capable of.

Diseases are not the only inevitable destabilizing events in the near future. Climate change and other natural capital depletion will bring many more monumental economic challenges, many of which will last far longer than this pandemic. The growth based global economy of the present has been brought to its knees by a single, predictable shock from nature. To assume that it is capable of handling the shocks to come is unwise. The globalized market, despite being a pillar against which civilization is leaned, has proven to be dangerously fragile. Every system engineered by humanity will always be entirely at the mercy of nature, yet almost none have been designed with respect for this fact. The next century will make this even more clear than it is right now. If we are unwilling or unable to redesign our systems to withstand the dramatic environmental changes coming, they will collapse. That is not a risk we are running. It is an inevitability.

Word Count: 1501

Question:

How can economic systems be retooled to withstand significant, prolonged shocks such as that from a pandemic? In light of the inevitabilty of such events, is it prudent to shift economies towards being localized and self-reliant or towards more interdependence?

1Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. 2018. Living in the Environment. (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning), 466

2Miller and Spoolman, 466

3Miller and Spoolman, 447

4https://talentrecap.com/bill-gates-has-been-warning-us-about-possibility-of-coronavirus-for-years-we-didnt-listen/

5Miller and Spoolman, 444

6Miller and Spoolman, 444

7Miller and Spoolman, 449

8Miller and Spoolman, 449

9Miller and Spoolman, 450

10Miller and Spoolman, 444

11https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

12Miller and Spoolman, 449

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countrymadefoods · 5 years

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“Dried kesar or saffron has high carbohydrate content and is rich in vitamins and minerals. Owing to its high nutritional content and medicinal properties, the spice is used in food as seasoning or flavouring and to treat several ailments and health problems.”

Five Health Benefits of Kesar

Kesar is used to treat common ailments

Kesar helps to treat asthma

Kesar treats stress and insomnia

Kesar treats flatulence

Kesar treats Alzheimer’s

Five Beauty Benefits of Kesar

Kesar boosts ageless beauty

Kesar for glowing skin

Kesar treats acne

Kesar rids scars and wounds

Kesar treats dry skin

(via Kesar: Taste the incredible benefits of wonder spice saffron for great health and beauty | News Nation)

Saffron (color)

“Saffron is an orange color, resembling the color of the tip of the saffron crocus thread, from which the spice saffron is derived.

The color has some significance in Buddhism; it is worn by the monks of the Theravada tradition. It is also an important symbolic color in India, where it was chosen in 1947 as one of the three colors of the Indian flag after the nation gained its independence.

The color saffron is associated with the goddess of dawn (Eos in Greek mythology and Aurora in Roman mythology) in classical literature.

In the Pokémon games, there is a city named Saffron City.”

History of Saffron

“[T]he ancient Greeks knew it as "Thera". These frescoes likely date from the 16th or 17th century BC but may have been produced anywhere between 3000 and 1100 BC. They portray a Minoan goddess supervising the plucking of flowers and the gleaning of stigmas for use in the manufacture of what is possibly a therapeutic drug. A fresco from the same site also depicts a woman using saffron to treat her bleeding foot.”

“Ancient Greek legends tell of brazen sailors embarking on long and perilous voyages to the remote land of Cilicia, where they traveled to procure what they believed was the world's most valuable saffron. The best-known Hellenic saffron legend is that of Crocus and Smilax: The handsome youth Crocus sets out in pursuit of the nymph Smilax in the woods near Athens; in a brief dallying interlude of idyllic love, Smilax is flattered by his amorous advances, but all too soon tires of his attentions. He continues his pursuit; she resists. She bewitches Crocus: he is transformed—into a saffron crocus. Its radiant orange stigmas were held as a relict glow of an undying and unrequited passion.”

Cleopatra of late Ptolemaic Egypt used a quarter-cup of saffron in her warm baths, as she prized its colouring and cosmetic properties. She used it before encounters with men, trusting that saffron would render lovemaking yet more pleasurable...In Greco-Roman times saffron was widely traded across the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians. Their customers ranged from the perfumers of Rosetta, in Egypt, to physicians in Gaza to townsfolk in Rhodes, who wore pouches of saffron in order to mask the presence of malodorous fellow citizens during outings to the theatre.”

“The ancient Greeks and Romans prized saffron as a perfume or deodoriser and scattered it about their public spaces: royal halls, courts, and amphitheatres alike. When Nero entered Rome they spread saffron along the streets; wealthy Romans partook of daily saffron baths. They used it as mascara, stirred saffron threads into their wines, cast it aloft in their halls and streets as a potpourri, and offered it to their deities. Roman colonists took saffron with them when they settled in southern Roman Gaul, where it was extensively cultivated until the AD 271 barbarian invasion of Italy.”

The History of Saffron

“Persian saffron was heavily used by Alexander and his forces during their Asian campaigns. They mixed saffron into teas and dined on saffron rice. Alexander personally used saffron sprinkled in warm bath water, taking after Cyrus the Great...he believed it would heal his many wounds, and his faith in saffron grew with each treatment. He even recommended saffron baths for the ordinary men under him. The Greek soldiers, taken with saffron’s perceived curative properties, continued the practice after they returned to Macedonia.

Saffron cultivation in Europe declined steeply following the fall of the Roman Empire. For several centuries thereafter, saffron cultivation was rare or non-existent throughout Europe. This was reversed when Moorish civilization spread from North Africa to settle the Iberian Peninsula as well as parts of France and southern Italy. One theory states that Moors reintroduced saffron corms to the region around Poitiers after they lost the Battle of Tours to Charles Martel in AD 732.”

“The merchants of Venice continued their rule of the Mediterranean sea trade, trafficking varieties from Sicily, France and Spain, Austria, Crete and Greece, and the Ottoman Empire. Adulterated goods also made the rounds: those soaked in honey, mixed with marigold petals, or kept in damp cellars—all to add quick and cheap bulk. Irritated Nuremberg authorities passed the Safranschou code to de-louse the saffron trade. Adulterators were thus fined, imprisoned, and executed—by immolation.”

“Puritanical partisans favoured increasingly austere, unadorned, and unspiced foods. Saffron was also a labor-intensive crop, which became an increasing disadvantage as wages and time opportunity costs rose. And finally, an influx of more exotic spices from the far East due to the resurgent spice trade meant that the English, as well as other Europeans, had many more—and cheaper—seasonings to dally over...In addition, the elite who traditionally comprised the bulk of the saffron market were now growing increasingly interested in such intriguing new arrivals as chocolate, coffee, tea, and vanilla. Only in the south of France or in Italy and Spain, where the saffron harvest was culturally primal, did significant cultivation prevail.”

(via The History of Saffron | Cyrus Saffron blog)

Santucci’s legacy: the saffron plains of Abruzzo

“Just eight hectares of land are dedicated to saffron production in Abruzzo, but the harvested stems are widely regarded as the best in the world. And it’s all thanks to...

[T]he spice is made from the stems of the Crocus Sativus flower, which have to be gently picked by hand, and it takes roughly 500 hours to harvest a kilogram of saffron from 100,000 flowers. It’s this labour-intensive process that makes the spice more expensive than gold, gram for gram – and chefs can’t get enough of it. But how did this luxurious spice, originally from the Middle East, find its way to the central Italian region of Abruzzo?”

”The answer, of course, is steeped in myth and legend – as any Italian food worth its salt should be. The story goes that a Dominican monk belonging to the Santucci family...brought the spice back to Abruzzo after spending time in Iberia. During this time Iberia was under the rule of the Moors, and so the priest had experienced first-hand the heady, fragrant flavours associated with Middle Eastern cooking. Saffron was one of them.

The monk fled Iberia during the Inquisition, returning home to Abruzzo with the seeds of the Crocus Sativus flower. He...believed he could grow the spice back home due to the similar climate. The monk was correct – the flowers started growing, and saffron production in Italy was born.”

“Wealthy Italian families supposedly loved how it gave food a rich golden hue, and it became an essential ingredient in dishes such as risotto alla Milanese. Cakes and liqueurs relied on it for flavour and colour, as did painters who used it to create dyes. Soon enough demand saw the delicate little stems exported all over Italy, and the little town of Navelli – where the Santucci monk first planted his seeds – became famous across the country. The large nearby city of L’Aquila (now the region’s capital) also grew rapidly, funded by saffron money.”

“Today, saffron production in Abruzzo is certainly a specialist area of farming. While there were over 400 hectares of saffron fields in the region around 1900, that has shrunk to just eight. That’s because saffron grown in the Middle East – particularly Iran – is much cheaper to produce...Another aspect of Abruzzese saffron that sets it apart is how the stems are roasted once harvested. This is done over smouldering logs, which intensifies the flavour and colour of the spice and gives it a longer shelf life.

Saffron...from Italy...is a beautiful ingredient...the spice grown and painstakingly harvested...is something else entirely. It’s a product that sheds light on Italy’s history, helped shape a region and continues to attract worldwide attention...might be expensive, but it’s certainly worth it.”

(via Santucci’s legacy: the saffron plains of Abruzzo | Great Italian Chefs)

Finding Cathay

“Around the year 1300, a book took Europe by storm. It was Marco Polo's account of his travels to a fabulous country called Cathay, and all of the wonders he had seen there. He described black stones that burned like wood (coal), saffron-robed Buddhist monks, and money made out of paper.Of course, Cathay was actually China, which at that time was under Mongol rule. Marco Polo served in the court of Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty, and grandson of Genghis Khan.”

“The name "Cathay" is a European variation of "Khitai," which Central Asian tribes used to describe parts of northern China once dominated by the Khitan people. The Mongols had since crushed the Khitan clans and absorbed their people, erasing them as a separate ethnic identity, but their name lived on as a geographical designation. Since Marco Polo and his party approached China via Central Asia, along the Silk Road, they naturally heard the name Khitai used for the empire they sought.”

”Between about 1583 and 1598, the Jesuit missionary to China, Matteo Ricci, developed the theory that China was actually Cathay. He was well acquainted with Marco Polo's account and noticed striking similarities between Polo's observations of Cathay and his own of China. For one thing, Marco Polo had noted that Cathay was directly south of "Tartary," or Mongolia, and Ricci knew that Mongolia lay on the northern border of China...Ricci observed many of the same phenomena that Polo had noted, as well, such as people burning coal for fuel and using paper as money. The final straw, for Ricci, was when he met Muslim traders from the west in Beijing in 1598. They assured him that he was indeed living in the fabled country of Cathay.”

(via Finding Cathay | ThoughtCo.)

American-Grown Saffron Could Change the Spice Trade

“The goal is to discover the best cultivation method that results in a good crop of high-quality saffron.The results from this year’s experimental crop hints at the potential for domestically grown U.S. saffron. As a niche, “shoulder-season” crop that can be grown after the fall harvest, and with a high resale value—saffron fetches as much as $29,000 per kilogram (roughly $13,000 per pound)—it could be a boon for small farmers looking for another source of revenue. But all that would require the establishment of a market for premium, locally grown saffron.

Some research predicts the global saffron industry will be worth $2 billion by 2025. About 90 percent of the world’s saffron—including most of the 20 tons imported to the U.S. each year—comes from Iran; Spain and Italy are other significant producers.”

“Its most familiar usage is as a culinary spice; its distinctive aroma, flavor, and bright yellow color are often used in recipes for Spanish paella and Italian risotto and it’s also a classic ingredient in the French fish soup, Bouillabaisse. And saffron is also used as a fabric dye and is reputed to have nutritional and medicinal benefits for ailments including heart disease and depression. But it’s probably best known for its prices: as much as $29,000 per kilogram. Hence its nickname, “red gold.”

It’s the classic catch-22 of marketing: There has to be enough product for a market, and enough of a market to justify growing the product and supporting local production. Saffron’s reputation as exotic and expensive is something of a barrier for consumers, though there is small but steady demand for it.”

(via American-Grown Saffron Could Change the Spice Trade | Civil Eats)

Saffron

“Almost all saffron grows in a belt from Spain in the west to Kashmir in the east...Microscale production of saffron can be found in Australia (mainly the state of Tasmania), Canada, Central Africa, China, Egypt, parts of England, France, Israel, Italy (Basilicata), Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden (Gotland), Turkey (mainly around the town of Safranbolu), the United States (California and Pennsylvania).”

#kesar #italiansaffron #abruzzesesaffron #marcopolo #khitan #cathay #saffron #redgold #worthmorethangold #prettyexpensive #todyeforcolors #spicyshortflower #pokemonsaffroncity #californiasaffron

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alfredrserrano · 4 years

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Developers are banking on co-living, but will it catch on?

Grove Central

When Pebb Capital principal James Jago attended Tulane University in the early 2000s, he lived in “a dumpy house” with three roommates.

But now, college students increasingly have the option to live off-campus in luxury student housing loaded with amenities like resort-style pools with cabanas, coffee bars, game rooms, movie theaters and fitness centers with yoga and indoor cycling studios. In Miami, near Florida International University and the University of Miami, developers are building high-end housing for affluent students. And when those students depart for the real world, they don’t want to downgrade their living arrangements.

“Students graduating have high expectations,” Jago said.

Therefore, Boca Raton-based Pebb Capital is investing in co-living developments, the grown-up version of dorm living that is taking off in South Florida. Pebb has injected $10 million into Property Markets Group’s 1,200-unit X Las Olas development, currently under construction in Fort Lauderdale, and plans to invest in the firm’s X project at 400 Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami.

Jago and other developers are betting on Florida’s growing population of recent graduates and those new to the workforce — specifically, those in the 25-to-35-year-old range — who want to live in the urban cores but can’t afford to pay sky-high rents. In the co-living buildings, renters pay about 20 percent less than they would for a studio apartment, but developers make more by fitting more bedrooms in one unit.

RELATED STORY: WATCH: Developers and co-living operators shed light on the growing industry

Typically housing three to four tenants, co-living units feature bedrooms that are much smaller than those in traditional apartments, but each usually has its own bathroom.

And to sweeten the deal for tenants, co-living projects offer a slew of amenities. X Miami in downtown Miami boasts a gym, dog park, screening lounge, co-working lab and pool deck that’s known to host frequent pool parties. Cocktail bar Jaguar Sun is located in its lobby.

“What co-living does is it enables the elevation of their standard of living for young professionals. You can lower your monthly [cost] by renting a bedroom. It creates a sense of community,” Jago said.

Brian Koles, director of brand and marketing for Miami X developer PMG, said that while “we build buildings to make money, we firmly believe that it can be a win for everyone.”

PMG is the biggest developer of rent-by-the-bedroom apartment housing in South Florida and was the first to open a large-scale project when it delivered X Miami in 2018. The 32-story, 464-unit tower is now 97 percent leased.

Only 20 percent of PMG’s co-living projects — the three- and four-bedroom units — are actually reserved for co-living, Koles said. That allows renters to “graduate” from leasing bedrooms to their own units as they get promotions or move in with significant others.

Now that X Miami has been up and running for over a year, PMG is launching a division to expand across the country. The venture, called Society, includes X Las Olas, 400 Biscayne, a Wynwood project, one in Phoenix and another in Orlando. All five buildings will be branded Society. (See sidebar.)

But Koles and PMG will soon have some competition from another local developer who sees similar opportunities in the micro-apartment format. Miami-based Terra Group and Grass River Property, currently developing 401-unit Grove Central, inked a deal to bring in national co-living startup Common to manage a portion of the project — 22 units with 106 bedrooms.

“Co-living is supposed to garner more revenue in less space but at the same time deliver an affordable rent that is below the AMI [area median income] of a neighborhood,” said Terra Group president David Martin.

Co-living also allows multifamily developers to differentiate themselves from the competition, said Luis Flores, an attorney at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr whose clients include PMG.

Even Richard Branson, who’s known to look into the future for his next big idea, will brand a Virgin hotel and residential tower with 150 furnished micro and co-living rental units, which will start at under 400 square feet. Scheduled for a 2023 delivery, the Brickell project is expected to break ground in 2020.

Startups surge

The affordability crisis nationwide and in Miami specifically creates an opportunity for builders and startup operators of co-living, who have been flocking to the region. According to an exclusive report from the Miami Herald, an October 2019 study by Florida International University’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center found that more than half of cost-burdened renters — households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent — are spending more than 50 percent of their paychecks on rent.

Common Coliving Melrose

Startups like Common and Ollie are eager to swoop in with solutions. The two co-living operators have expanded throughout the U.S. and are now signing local long-term lease deals with apartment landlords and developers.

“You have a lot of supply that’s really geared toward luxury renters. It’s clear that there is really a need for affordable housing,” said Brian Lee, senior director of real estate at Common.

New York-based Ollie, which has raised $15 million, will manage 400 beds in one of three buildings at Gables Station, NP International’s mixed-use project in Coral Gables. Life Time Fitness is opening at the development, which will include about 120,000 square feet of retail space. (Read more about the project on page 46.)

Led by founder and CEO Brad Hargreaves, Common rents out rooms in furnished, shared apartments on flexible lease terms in 32 locations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle and Washington, D.C. It signs leases for ground-up new developments and will also work with owners of existing buildings to convert larger two-bedroom units into three-bedrooms, and so on.

It then leases out bedrooms for rents that are 15 to 20 percent below what a studio in the same neighborhood is being marketed for. Rents in Miami will start at about $1,000 a month, Lee said. Common uses technology that generates leads, matches roommates and schedules tours.

The company sells annual memberships to residents who can transfer between properties if they’re moving to another city with Common locations. It has more than 1,000 members, according to a spokesperson.

In October, Common investor Six Peak Capital announced it had hired Cushman & Wakefield to raise $1 billion in debt and equity to fund its expansion of co-living in the U.S. Common has raised over $65 million since it was founded in 2015, from investors that include Norwest, Maveron, 8VC and LeFrak.

Common has yet to open a location in Miami, but it has about 800 bedrooms in the local pipeline. It’s also negotiating deals for roughly 2,500 bedrooms throughout South Florida.

The startup’s first location will open in late 2020 or early 2021 in a cluster of homes in Little Havana that will total 130 bedrooms.

At Terra and Grass River Property’s Grove Central, where Common is leasing a small portion of the apartment component, workforce housing apartments and retail space are also part of the mix. The development features easy access to the Coconut Grove Metrorail station.

Construction at Grove Central is expected to go vertical in the second quarter of next year. Martin said the developers worked with Common to design the units with smart kitchens, shoe and shirt storage, suites for couples, efficient bathrooms and “as much community space as possible.”

The project will have theaters, gyms, lounges, co-working space and coffee shops in addition to the retail space that’s already planned.

‘Urbin’ infill

Though it’s more common in European markets, co-living is still a fairly new asset class in the U.S., so Terra said it is testing the market by leasing only 10 to 15 percent of the units to Common. Cities also have different caps on how many unrelated families can live in one housing unit, or do not allow co-living at all.

“It’s a test, but it’s also what I think works,” Martin said. “Traditional apartments have a certain cap rate. For co-living, there has not been that much trading. We don’t really understand how the capital markets are going to treat it.”

Martin is also an investor in Urbin, a co-living, co-working and wellness real estate platform led by developer Rishi Kapoor, the CEO of Miami-based Location Ventures. The company is moving forward with a co-living project at 1234 to 1260 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach after the City Commission there passed legislation allowing co-living in November 2019.

Urbin has raised $85 million in funding from the Murphy family of Coastal Construction, former NFL player Jonathan Vilma, Rudy Touzet of Banyan Street Capital and others. At least three locations are in the pipeline for South Florida, and Kapoor said he hopes to open 100 locations in the coming decade.

Mitash Kripalani, director of investment services at Colliers International South Florida, is listing the 61-bedroom building at 800 South Dixie Highway for sale. Location Ventures took it over two and a half years ago, renovated it and put an ad up on Craigslist to rent out the bedrooms, geared toward attracting students from the University of Miami. Kapoor said he used the building as a model for Urbin.

Co-living projects are in some cases getting “higher rents than Class A product in Brickell” because developers are able to rent a bedroom out for $1,300 a piece, according to Kripalani.

“Some people say it’s a fad,” Kripalani said. “But I think as rents grow, if you’re a young millennial and you want to live downtown for [$1,300] a month, your best option is co-living.”

The post Developers are banking on co-living, but will it catch on? appeared first on The Real Deal Miami.

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/2020/02/17/developers-are-banking-on-co-living-but-will-it-catch-on-2/ via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami

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walterfrodriguez · 4 years

Text

Developers are banking on co-living, but will it catch on?

Grove Central

When Pebb Capital principal James Jago attended Tulane University in the early 2000s, he lived in “a dumpy house” with three roommates.

“Students graduating have high expectations,” Jago said.

RELATED STORY: WATCH: Developers and co-living operators shed light on the growing industry

Typically housing three to four tenants, co-living units feature bedrooms that are much smaller than those in traditional apartments, but each usually has its own bathroom.

Brian Koles, director of brand and marketing for Miami X developer PMG, said that while “we build buildings to make money, we firmly believe that it can be a win for everyone.”

Co-living also allows multifamily developers to differentiate themselves from the competition, said Luis Flores, an attorney at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr whose clients include PMG.

Startups surge

Common Coliving Melrose

“You have a lot of supply that’s really geared toward luxury renters. It’s clear that there is really a need for affordable housing,” said Brian Lee, senior director of real estate at Common.

Common has yet to open a location in Miami, but it has about 800 bedrooms in the local pipeline. It’s also negotiating deals for roughly 2,500 bedrooms throughout South Florida.

The startup’s first location will open in late 2020 or early 2021 in a cluster of homes in Little Havana that will total 130 bedrooms.

The project will have theaters, gyms, lounges, co-working space and coffee shops in addition to the retail space that’s already planned.

‘Urbin’ infill

Co-living projects are in some cases getting “higher rents than Class A product in Brickell” because developers are able to rent a bedroom out for $1,300 a piece, according to Kripalani.

“Some people say it’s a fad,” Kripalani said. “But I think as rents grow, if you’re a young millennial and you want to live downtown for [$1,300] a month, your best option is co-living.”

The post Developers are banking on co-living, but will it catch on? appeared first on The Real Deal Miami.

from The Real Deal Miami & Miami Florida Real Estate & Housing News | & Curbed Miami - All https://therealdeal.com/miami/2020/01/09/developers-are-banking-on-co-living-but-will-it-catch-on/ via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami & Miami Florida Real Estate & Housing News | & Curbed Miami - All

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djgblogger-blog · 7 years

Text

Taxes on sugary beverages are not enough on their own to halt march of obesity in Asia

http://bit.ly/2yGwRQX

New taxes on sugary drinks won't alone solve obesity issues in Asia. By Janine from Mililani, Hawaii/Wikimedia, CC BY-ND

Facing declining markets in Western countries, multinational food companies are targeting Africa, Asia, and Latin America as new consumers of packaged foods, in a move that may worsen the global epidemic of chronic illness related to diabetes. Governments are striking back at obesity risk factors, including unhealthy foods. Singapore, which might have as many as one million residents with diabetes by 2050, now requires soda producers to reduce sugar content. Obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases have now become a “silent’ long-term challenge that will cost governments in healthcare liabilities and lost productivity.

But improving public health requires more than piecemeal legislation; governments must promote lifestyle changes through education and improve access to healthy foods.

Not a ‘rich only’ disease

Across Asia, rural populations accustomed to active farming jobs are migrating in increasing numbers to urban areas, where they occupy more sedentary manufacturing or service sector jobs. Due to time constraints and easy availability of affordable high-calorie foods, these migrant populations are also changing their eating habits. A recently published study of 98,000 adults in China argues that linking obesity only to affluence is simplistic, and that geographic variations in China’s "nutritional transition” explain differences in public health.

Alarmingly, two out of five adults in the Asia-Pacific region are either overweight or obese. The World Heath Organisation (WHO) estimates that roughly half of the world’s share of adults with diabetes live in Asia.

The cost of obesity in the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to be roughly US$166 billion annually. Among Southeast Asian countries, healthcare and productivity losses from obesity are highest in Indonesia (US$2 to 4 billion), Malaysia (US$1 to 2 billion), and Singapore (US$400 million).

In the world’s two most populous countries, China and India, malnutrition has long been a concern but obesity is on the rise. According to a 2015 New England Journal of Medicine study, the prevalence of obesity in males in India nearly quadrupled between 1980 and 2015. For China, home to 110 million adults with obesity and potentially 150 million by 2040, the prevalence of obesity increased 15-times between 1980 and 2015.

Between 2005 and 2015, yearly national income loss due to heart disease, stroke, and diabetes increased more than sixfold in India and sevenfold in China. Statistics about child health point to a grim future. In India, one quarter of urban youth entering middle school are obese and 66% of children have an elevated risk for diabetes, while China is home to the world’s largest population of obese children. Numerous factors could contribute to this trend, including lack of open space for physical activity, the preference among young people for sedentary pastimes such as computer gaming, and a growing emphasis on time spent preparing for university entrance exams.

Taxing obesity

There are many models for how Asia’s governments can confront obesity. Governments in the United States and Europe are introducing taxes on soft drinks and sugary beverages, with proponents arguing that such beverages contribute to obesity by adding excess calories without providing nutritional value. Large local governments implementing sugar taxes include Cook County, Illinois, (Chicago) and Philadelphia, while San Francisco and Seattle plan to implement similar taxes in 2018.

Berkeley, California, a city with many high-earning and educated residents, was America’s first to implement a sugary beverage tax, in November 2014. According to a study in the journal PLOS Medicine, sales of sugary beverages in Berkeley declined by 10% during the first year of the tax and raised roughly US$1.4 million in revenue. The city applies proceeds in part to child nutrition and community health programmes. Although Berkeley is an exceptional case, the spirit of the city’s approach – including the smart use of revenue – can be a guiding principle for Asian cities.

While soda consumption has slumped in the developed West, markets are growing rapidly in Asia.

Soda and other industrial packaged food have slowed down in the West but have grown in Asia. flippinyank/Flickr, CC BY-SA

The sugar fight

Malaysia, which faces a national obesity crisis, is studying Mexico’s tax on sugary beverages as a model for one of its own. Brunei introduced a tax on sugary beverages in April 2017, and the Philippines senate is now debating an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. In Thailand, a tax levy on sugary drinks was instituted in September 2017, and will rise gradually over the next six years.

Governments in Asia have also shown willingness to confront obesity in other ways. India recently instituted a yearly obesity evaluation for all army personnel after a survey found one third to be overweight, and China’s army is publicly raising concerns about sugar consumption among recruits.

India’s western Maharashtra state banned so-called “junk food” in school canteens over concerns about childhood obesity, and Hong Kong will soon introduce a labelling scheme for pre-packaged foods in schools.

Policy implications

Despite the adoption or consideration of taxes on sugary drinks in many cities around the world, it is not clear whether such taxes positively affect health outcomes. There is cause for some optimism, such as an Asian Development Bank study finding that a 20% tax on sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with a 3% reduction in overweight and obesity prevalence, with the greatest effect on young men in rural areas.

From a policy research perspective, long-term studies are needed to determine life-long health impacts, and research across cases is needed to determine the sensitivity of consumption to incremental increases in tax rates. Gathering information is an important early step; an example is India’s nutrition atlas, which offers a state-by-state comparison on a variety of public health indicators, including obesity.

Another concern in sugar taxes is socio-economic equity; taxes on cheap, unhealthy foods can impact low-income populations. For example, in 2011 Denmark adopted a far-reaching “fat tax”“ that covered all products with saturated fats. After only one year the tax was scrapped, as were plans for a sugar tax, due to concerns about price burdens for consumers. A further challenge is limited policy control; consumers may simply shift consumption to non-taxed goods that are also high in sugar, or find ways to circumvent taxes. Notably, many Danish consumers were simply crossing into Germany for cheaper products.

A narrow focus on easy tax solutions may score quick political points but risks leapfrogging basic public health and development goals. For example, alternatives to sugary drinks may not be available in many Asian cities due to poor-quality tap water. Taxes on sugary beverages must complement broader initiatives that incentivise healthier lifestyles. A 2016 study of obesity in India argues that related policy must consider nuanced socio-cultural factors over a "one-size-fits-all” approach.

Following Berkeley’s example, governments should apply soda tax revenue to nutrition and physical education programmes, and include information about sugar in school curricula. The approach should consider local conditions, enhance education, and provide access to healthy alternatives. That is the basis for a durable solution to Asia’s obesity epidemic.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

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rcardamone · 4 years

Text

Certainty Management

Figure 1, Bill Gates Gives a TED Talk Warning of an Inevitable Pandemic in 2015 4

Figure 2, Global Range of Malaria in 2011, as the climate continues to warm this range is expected to expand into more temperate regions 11

Word Count: 1501

Question:

1Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. 2018. Living in the Environment. (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning), 466

2Miller and Spoolman, 466

3Miller and Spoolman, 447

4https://talentrecap.com/bill-gates-has-been-warning-us-about-possibility-of-coronavirus-for-years-we-didnt-listen/

5Miller and Spoolman, 444

6Miller and Spoolman, 444

7Miller and Spoolman, 449

8Miller and Spoolman, 449

9Miller and Spoolman, 450

10Miller and Spoolman, 444

11https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

12Miller and Spoolman, 449

0 notes

alfredrserrano · 4 years

Text

Developers are banking on co-living, but will it catch on?

Grove Central

When Pebb Capital principal James Jago attended Tulane University in the early 2000s, he lived in “a dumpy house” with three roommates.

“Students graduating have high expectations,” Jago said.

RELATED STORY: WATCH: Developers and co-living operators shed light on the growing industry

Typically housing three to four tenants, co-living units feature bedrooms that are much smaller than those in traditional apartments, but each usually has its own bathroom.

Brian Koles, director of brand and marketing for Miami X developer PMG, said that while “we build buildings to make money, we firmly believe that it can be a win for everyone.”

Co-living also allows multifamily developers to differentiate themselves from the competition, said Luis Flores, an attorney at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr whose clients include PMG.

Startups surge

Common Coliving Melrose

“You have a lot of supply that’s really geared toward luxury renters. It’s clear that there is really a need for affordable housing,” said Brian Lee, senior director of real estate at Common.

Common has yet to open a location in Miami, but it has about 800 bedrooms in the local pipeline. It’s also negotiating deals for roughly 2,500 bedrooms throughout South Florida.

The startup’s first location will open in late 2020 or early 2021 in a cluster of homes in Little Havana that will total 130 bedrooms.

The project will have theaters, gyms, lounges, co-working space and coffee shops in addition to the retail space that’s already planned.

‘Urbin’ infill

Co-living projects are in some cases getting “higher rents than Class A product in Brickell” because developers are able to rent a bedroom out for $1,300 a piece, according to Kripalani.

“Some people say it’s a fad,” Kripalani said. “But I think as rents grow, if you’re a young millennial and you want to live downtown for [$1,300] a month, your best option is co-living.”

The post Developers are banking on co-living, but will it catch on? appeared first on The Real Deal Miami.

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/2020/01/09/developers-are-banking-on-co-living-but-will-it-catch-on/ via IFTTT

#The Real Deal Miami

0 notes