MY SHORT SALE HOME

10625 Front Beach Road, #1802, Panama City, Florida

$243,000

http://www.keithbaileyrealtor.com/Listing.aspx?oid=9022&ot=213

2 Full Baths, 2 Beds, Building has full gym and pool, 1,145 sq ft

SEX OFFENDERS

http://www.familywatchdog.us/ShowMap.asp?frm=0

Nearest offenders are about 1.5miles away. About 27 offenders are within the 5 mile radius

CRIME

In 2010 there were 2 reported Manslaughter's or Murders. 4 Rapes and 59 aggravated assaults. As for property crimes there were 911 Larcenies/thefts and 156 Burglaries. http://www.movoto.com/neighborhood/fl/panama-city-beach/32413.htm

SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHICS

http://www.miamibeach411.com/real_estate/census.htm

Males: 51.2% Females: 48.8%

Ages

0-19: 14.99% 20-44: 44.45% 45+: 40.56%

Median Age: 39

Race

White: 93.95% Black: 1.25% Native America: 1.51% Hispanic: 2.91% Asian: 1.03% Other: 2.27%

 http://panamacity.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
http://www.clrsearch.com/Panama_City_Beach_Demographics/FL/

NOISE POLLUTANTS

The bars tend to be open late and there are out door bands. But the outdoor entertainment is being snuffed out by local legislation to try to cut down on the noise. Also because it is beach front, the ocean can be counted. However most people enjoy the ocean as white noise rather than a pollutant. The annual spring breakers are to be expected in this area.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/boynton-beach-commissioners-squelch-the-live-music-at-1256991.html

  

SCHOOLS

 Based on GreatSchools.com ratings there are plenty of good schools in the area that score well and have an active staff. There are also some schools that are much less equip. However because this is a vacation condo I don't see the quality of the schools being an important factor in whether or not I'd purchase this property.

http://www.greatschools.org/florida/panama-city-beach/ 

HOSPITALS
Within a 12mile radius there are 2 Full Hospitals, a Diagnostics Center, and a Non-life threatening Urgent Care Center. From the reviews Bay Medical seems to be the most preferred and offers the best services. It been named as one of the nations 50 best hospitals for the last 5 years, specializes in heart attack treatment, hip and knee joint replacement, and received several other accommodations for their services. This hospital is 11.3miles away from the residence.
http://www.baymedical.org/About-us/Awards-Accolades.aspx

 LOCAL GOVERNMENT
On the government website they offer likes and agendas to all of the cities meetings and staffed offices
http://www.pcgov.org/
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/FL_Bay.htm
Again I could not find the floor plans for this condo building. I tried using the sites above and below but could not locate the plans. The tax assessor did not provide them either so I do not know if all the other students ran into this trouble with all of their properties but I simply could not locate the floor plans. As for local government involvement their main duties are to keep the beaches clean as they rely on tourism to bring in a good amount of revenue. How ever it is around spring break time that they attract the "wrong type" of tourism and have to deal with the over load of police work that it brings.
http://www.trulia.com/homes/Florida/Panama_City_Beach/sold/1000859865-10625-Front-Beach-Rd-801-Panama-City-Beach-FL-32407

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Floor+plans+online+10625+front+beach+road+&oq=Floor+plans+online+10625+front+beach+road+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=hp.3...44.898.8.2256.2.1.1.0.0.0.105.105.0j1.1.0...0.0.8oXAC7lW54Q&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=61fe8c406b329c8c&biw=1680&bih=911

My Nantucket Home

40 Liberty Street, Nantucket MA

http://www.windwalkerrealestate.com/properties/Nantucket/Liberty-Street/2602213

This home features 6 bed rooms and 4 baths one of which is a half. There is a porch in the rear of the property and a small area out back for out door dining.

Cost: $2,795,000

SEXUAL PREDATORS

There is only one predator on the island whom was arrested in 1985 for assault and battery o a 14 year old and for rape

http://www.familywatchdog.us/ShowMap.asp?frm=0

CRIME RATES

Violent Crime Rate last 10 years: 529 per 100,000

Property Crime Rate past 10 years: 3,620 per 100,000

In the past ten years there have been 2 Murders

SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHICS

Males: 50% Females: 50%

Whites: 83% Blacks: 12% Asian: 1% Other: 4%

Median Income of $53,000 per year

http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ma/nantucket.htm

NOISE POLLUTANTS

There are no noise pollutants as this home is inland from the shore so the ocean wouldn't be heard. It also is not along on of the many coble pot roads either that can be found on the island

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1680&bih=911&q=40+liberty+street+nantucket&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89fadcde75484dc7:0x4c5aa9c5c198a2df,40+Liberty+St,+Nantucket,+MA+02554&gl=us&ei=TUWsT_O4D5S36QHywZibBA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQ8gEwAA

SCHOOLS

Middle School: Student Teacher Ratio: 7:1 Average Class Size 12 students

High School: S/T Ratio 10:1 Total Students: 385 Low MCAS scores

Schools again lack diversity and don't perform well on the state exams. Not a fan if I were sending my kids here. But this is a vacation home so I feel like it's not as important.

HOSPITALS

There is one hospital located on the island and it is located 1 mile away from the home which is about a 3min car ride. 

According to reviews, some of the staff is unhappy with the working conditions, and there are only 19 beds available. I understand that it's a small Island but that seems insufficient. I'd rank this hospital as a 7 out of 10. Only because patient reviews seem to be good.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

They do not offer their tax records online on their main web page. They just give the information of how to contact the assessor and their offices location.
As for their involvement they are actively trying to go green with the instillation of wind farms off of the coast of the island. They also maintain and have built walk and bike ways through out the island. Notably they also keep the public beaches clean.

The Property Tax on my house would be $5,758
http://www.trulia.com/property/3031742841-40-Liberty-St-Nantucket-MA-02554
again I couldn't find the floor plans. Here are some of the websites that I tried
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/Massachusetts-Land-Records-and-Deeds.htm

http://www.nantucket-ma.gov/Pages/index

http://www.realtor.com/propertyrecord-search/Nantucket_MA/Lindberg-Ave?source=web

My Wealthy Home

44 Chestnut Street, Weston MA, 02493

Inside includes 4 bed rooms, 3 full baths, 1 1/2 bath a double bay garage.

Cost; $1,890,000

Within 5 miles of the property there are no sex offenders. How ever in the town over, Waltham, there are 26 offenders according to http://www.familywatchdog.us/ShowMap.asp?frm=0

As for crime statistics for the local area: 

Violent Crime rate per 1,000 population: 0.44, 2 Murders in the last 10 years, and an average of 4 crimes per square mile.

The Demographic make up is lacking as far as diversity is concerned. 

Whites: 89% Asians: 7% Blacks: 1% Hispanic: 2% and 1% other

http://www.city-data.com/city/Weston-Massachusetts.html

Noise pollutants aren't an issue in this part of the town. This house is located in a wooded are with no manufacturing or construction going on near by. It is also far removed from any major highways. I found this by using googlemaps. I appologize for some reason the print screen key is not working on my laptop. otherwise I'd have placed an image.

The school system reflects the upper middle to lower upper class persons that populate the area. They are rated as some of the better schools around with high MCAS scores and good ratings from students and families. In MCAS the school scored 84% in Science, 96% in ELA and 95% in Math. Aside from the public schools there are also a variety of private schools that are also available and in good standing.

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/ma/1772#from..HeaderLink

The nearest hospital to this home, The Newton-Wellesley Hospital, is 5.3 miles away which is an estimated 13min drive by car.  While the quality of the service is rated as good the average wait time in the ER is 83mins unless the injury is life threatening. The hospital is also acclaimed as the #1 weight loss surgery hospital in the state with over 300 bypasses performed per year.

As for the presence of the local government they are very active in green projects to attempt and reduce the communities carbon foot print. In 2010 Weston was awarded the Green Communities Designation

http://weston.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={47632C62-96EC-40CB-9FA8-92D92B1578AE}

They maintain a town run website that keeps the community informed of all of the upcoming events and various meetings that the town holds

The monthly Property Tax for the home is $1795.50

The Fiscal Tax Rate is $12.11

http://weston.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B9EBFC62A-FC79-4F73-BBB6-E47F6405C697%7D

While the Tax Assessor has a detailed Excel Table on the tax rates and property values of all land in Weston. They do not provide a floor plan. Through google searches the only thing I came up with was a town meeting held to determine if the home could have an addition made on the rear end of it. which it was approved for

http://weston.govoffice.com/vertical/sites/%7B264E11B6-4A4A-4EC0-B631-35FE907B479E%7D/uploads/%7B84D5839F-C4B6-485C-A6D4-348A54E416E0%7D.PDF

View Lowell Map in a larger map

Geo-spatial data, a such\as in Google Earth is a fascinating and unique tool that allows the user to plot, plan, and observe just about anything they could possibly imagine. This tool gives the user the ability to observe the flight a loved one is on as it progress across country or even overseas and look at traveling maritime vessels as they progress towards their destination. Google started with the idea that people want an accurate mapping tool for people to plan road trips throughout the US, but now they have taken that idea and stretched it to the world and beyond. Now they are in talks to begin doing Google Ocean as a means to spark more interest in the mystery of the deep. But aside from sheer fascination, and the occasional over protective parent, what does this tool offer for real application? The one thing that comes to mind that it would be most suitable for is the shipping industry. Whether it's tracking a flight or delivery by truck the shipping industry could provide tracking codes to their clients so they can follow their package every step of the way. The company could also take this data and compile more accurate averages on delivery times.


People are concerned that this information is too easily accessible and in fact is an invasion of their privacy. They believe that Google will take it even further and eventually get to the point where real-time satellite feeds of their back yards. And maybe they're right. If Google is allowed to do it then why shouldn't the government be able to? The short answer is both shouldn't be allowed to. It is the job of the governed, or served in Google's case, to draw the line in the sand and make a clear division of what is reasonable and when they have gone to far. The world is changing and that goes double for the World Wide Web. So while looking at the TD Garden in 3D or seeing the place where a friend is located on his tour overseas is interesting, the real question is at what point do we say "stop"? For the time being it seems harmless enough and we can just keep watching those 3D planes coast over head in 3D, you know instead of going outside and feeling the spring time air on your cheek and watching the real thing fly by with friends.

The video I chose was a pretty simple idea, doing push ups. How ever to make the video it took quite a bit longer than I originally anticipated. Briefly after starting I realized that things like continuity errors such as taking my boots off would change the video in minor, but noticeable ways. As for actually editing the film it was interesting learning how to slow down and speed up the film so that it would look nice with the text over lapping . I think it would have looked better if I could have stopped the film when the text appeared but I could figure that out. At one part of the film you'll notice the angle changes. That's because at that point I spliced on a separate piece of film to finish the video off. Finally I placed music by the Red Hot Chili Peppers instead of adding voice to the film. I feel like the text was more suitable because it made the video simple.

Cybernetic Warefare

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the words Cyber warfare is the 1983 film War Games. A young high school (Matthew Broderick) accidently hacks into a military program that simulates the out come of every potential military action conceivable and plays games with it.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/plotsummary The cryptic voice of Joshua, saying what an interesting game global nuclear warfare was after nearly launching all of the US's nuclear bombs still rings in my head. How ever we're in a whole new age now, where one can only hope that our country isn't one phone call away from ending the world. But other threats such as worms and back door programs can still cripple nations with just a few key strokes.

One particular worm has propelled itself on to the global stage after shutting down several plants around the world and even targeting the Iranian Nuclear Power plants. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11414483 The bug is designed to target the PLC logic of Siemens products and exploit weakness' in the coding to shut the plant down. How ever it is unknown exactly how the worm goes about shutting it down. What it comes down to is now the Iranian gov't believes that it is in cyber war with the west. Due to the Western Nations increasing calls for Iran to shut the plant down and cease all if any nuclear weapon programs they have, they suspect the bug was created by one of the nations opposing the plants creation.

Now you may be thinking how does this all affect me? How would a bug that is attacking foreign nations infrastructure  possibly affect my life? Well what if it was turned on our systems. A similar bug, if not the same, could shut down our water supplies, disrupt food distribution, and cripple the electrical out puts of our entire nation, for weeks. In today's age, especially in the west, we cannot live without our infrastructure. Without the safety net of our government keeping the system going and a lack of communication the suburbian nation we've created cannot last for an extended period of time.

Fortunately this has yet to happen. And with any luck government hackers will stay ahead of the competition and have study firewalls to keep our infrastructure in tact. But the day where WOPR (aka joshua) decides to play one last game with professor Falken, but instead plays it for real as so nearly happened in the film.

Our Future In Technology

One of the most popular electronic items available on the market to date is the iPad. These tray like machines are advertised as the next evolution in the computer world. They come with built in wifi, up to 64gb of memory, and can perform just about any task that the average computer can and even some task that computers cannot. How ever in my opinion these wonderful pieces of technology will not be with us for too long. But not for any negative reasons but because of advances in technology. Over the last two decades all technology advanced by leaps and bounds with each passing year. Cell phones became mini-computers, that no adolescent or adult can live without. Computers have gained incredible speed in comparison to the old DSL hookups with their incessant  buzzing and beeping, and even cars have started to become far more economically efficient sporting on average 30+ mpg on the newest models. So while the iPads are currently the hot ticket item, I believe that they will be replaced by the fabled holographic wrist computer or something of a similar nature. What holographs would offer is an entire computer in your pocket with little to no weight. So while the the iPad is much more lightweight and less space consuming than their laptop counterparts, a hologram would take up no space at all. Ironically it may be apple that is the undoing of their own product. With the iPhone 5, the phone can project a fully functioning holographic keyboard. http://www.slashgear.com/iphone-5-concept-video-shows-holographic-keyboard-and-display-24173949/  This may be a far cry from the product I believe will eventually control the market. But hey it's a start. For now the iPad remains the futuristic hot ticket item and has parents going insane over their children clamoring to have one of their own.