If I was to pick the buzzword for 2011, it would have to be "energy efficiency". After all, this was the year the incandescent light bulb died, the year Chevy (sort of) put out an electric car, and the year all those energy efficiency tax credits expired. So is energy efficiency a good thing? Yes... and no. Energy efficiency doesn't exist in a bubble. It's a movement that, when coupled with politics and federal and local mandates, affects the way we do business - both through incentives and taxation & fees. So that means that any time we talk about energy efficiency we have to consider ALL of these things. As 2011 slips into the record books, this is a good time to take a look back and evaluate some of the accomplishments - and failures - of energy efficiency initiatives.
Last week we were exposed to yet another reason as to why it's imperative to always use a blade guard on any type of saw. A hunk of sharp metal literally fell from sky and cratered into a parking lot in Bossier City, Louisiana. The event was witnessed by a man eating at a nearby restaurant who called the police and sparked a series of news reports and conjecture as to where the metal came from and how it fell. The piece of metal, weighing around 50 pounds, was a full 3 feet in diameter, with a curved edge and what looked like metal gears on the inside. It was initially thought to be something from an airplane that had fallen off. After city officials contacted the FAA it became apparent that the material was not something that would have been part of an aircraft of any kind. The mystery was solved when someone at Northwest Pipe company saw the report on the news and recognized the metal.
We were talking with a friend the other day and the topic of conversation quickly turned to a recent claim he had made on his homeowner's insurance policy. The claim was rejected outright and the friend had been completely blind-sided by the denial. At that point it occurred to me that there are indeed homeowners who don't regularly and diligently pay close attention to stipulations of their existing policies, or the frequent legislative moves that cause certain exclusions which creep in from time to time as the industry strives to maintain the delicate balance of affordability and profitability. In reviewing our own policy and taking a brief survey of those we interact with on a day-to-day basis, here is a list of 7 things that are (probably) not covered by your homeowner's insurance.
In this economy of falling home prices a lot of people are finding themselves upside down in their mortgages. Add to that high unemployment and a cautious economy and uncertain political climate and you've got a recipe for fraudulent appeals to consumers who have reached the end of their financial rope. Mortgage fraud has always been an issue, but lately mortgage refinancing seems to be the latest popular scam to sweep the nation via mailings and phone solicitations. You need to stay alert and not be fooled into thinking that every mortgage refinancing offer, particularly unsolicited ones, are going to benefit you.
The PTI (Power Tool Institute) is letting everyone know that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is being petitioned to impose a mandatory rule, in an effort to have the government require a specific active flesh detection technology for all table saws. On October 11, 2011, CPSC took a possible first step of prescribing such a mandatory rule by issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). Now, the PTI is asking contractors, professionals, woodworkers, consumers and all interested parties to submit comments to the ANPR by the CPSC's deadline of December 12, 2011.
We took a recent inventory of several manufacturers on an International level and found that some had an almost unbelievable quantity and range of currently-selling tool battery chemistries and voltages. We're talking about the battery types and voltages that make up the packs and drive the power trains of various drills, saws, drivers, etc. What struck us immediately was the sheer number of different voltages still in use, and we wondered if there are truly that many legitimate reasons for maintaining such an incredibly diverse landscape of tool battery varieties.
This week we round up the tool-related crime news that tickled our funny bone. It's not because crime is funny, or that when someone gets hurt it is (necessarily) comical, but let's face it - the Internet changes the way we consume news. It makes it astoundingly easy to get information on a variety of really really stupid people all over the country. People like the ones below. People who should have to get a license to marry (oh wait, they do) and people who are in desperate need of correction in just what it means to be part of the human race under God.
The White House is now bringing up talk that it will be releasing yet another government plan designed to assist those whose mortgages are upside-down. As you'd expect, unless you're hopelessly optimistic, details are all but nonexistent at this time. We say "another" plan as if there was already one implemented that has actually done something for homeowners on a broad scale. The plan should be announced in a few weeks, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. He spoke at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week in an effort to communicate the government's plans to works towards economic recovery.
I never intended to do this article. In fact, it never occurred to me that my penchant for nice caulk and grout lines would cause me to begin noticing just how badly accomplished some of these jobs are. Worse, I started seeing so many bad examples, it started steamrolling into an even more heightened sensitivity to bad lines, mismatched colors and the like. Now I find myself staring around at every public restroom, critiquing (silently) my friends' houses, and feeling internal turmoil at the messes I encounter each week at restaurants and hotels.
We've been very aware of an issue that is holding captive the table saw industry as it plays out, in our time, before our very eyes. The government, aided by largely ignorant news coverage, is considering a petition by patent attorney Stephen Gass - inventor of SawStop technology, an admittedly impressive system to reduce table saw injuries due to blade contact. The problem, however, is that Gass's petition could mandate a specific design standard that has the potential to all but eliminate portable benchtop saws from the market due to the cost of compliance.
HousingZone.com put out an article this week that looked at five of the more prominent plans to "save" housing. The plans ranged in scope, cost, and - frankly - sense... but overall the idea is that many of our state and federal politicians are putting their two sense in. The only problem is, the plans that make sense are the ones that are least likely to get implemented. They just aren't politically palatable. Here are two big hints: 1) If it comes out of Congress - run for your life, and 2) if it bears the name of the bill's sponsor, it's likely more about bringing notoriety to the politician than it is about fixing the actual problem. Keep this in mind as we go through the following plans one by one and evaluate them based on what we know of their authors and their details.
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