Why we have the IBC...

Architects and engineers and plan checkers work together to make sure this does not happen.

6/22/09

California's Division of the State Architect (DSA) has changed some of their Interpretations of Regulations. You may find the new manual here.

One major point is a clarification on occupancy loading in schools.

Small homes, Prefab homes

Small homes mean less resources to build. Less land. Less Wood. Less energy to run.

Prefab homes mean tighter quality control. Less waste. More durability since the home needs to survive the jolts of travel to the site.

Follow this link to see half a dozen prefab, small homes.

Living in a small home means having to live with less. You need a more streamlined lifestyle. You need less stuff. You are more social because you are away from home since you don't have room to entertain.

Government Style Health Care

Lately I've been thinking about the Big Government plans to compete with private insurance by providing a health care plan for all Americans (citizens and non-citizens alike).

Newt Gingrich made an analogy about Big Government solutions in a video. We all use one particular government solution - the Post Office. How well has it served us? The Post Office is touted as the only government service that runs a profit. By law the only way to send first class mail is through the Post Office. It is a monopoly for first class mail and must compete for extra business services. According to yahoo, it will lose more than a billion dollars this year. How does it make up short falls like this? Cutting jobs or gaining tax dollars? The United States Postal Service (USPS) has many sources of revenue besides the sale of first class delivery of mail. Packages, collectible stamps, enhanced services, advertising, just to name a few.

The competition is FedEX, UPS, DHL, and many regional services. When Big Government sets up its health services, I imagine that it will be similar to the USPS in comparison to the competition with one big exception. The USPS cannot tax the services of the competition in order to fund itself. The private health care insurance and providers will offer premium services for greater fees. The Big Government health care will be like first class mail. Everyone will get "junk mail" or "junk health care" as part of the price of having a Big Government solution. The prices of services will rise periodically just like the cost of first class mail. Special interests will get special treatment just like direct mail marketers get with the USPS. Since the Big Government solution will be able to tax the competition, only the super rich or super politically connected will get the "Next Day" service.

If you don't mind going to the Post Office for purchasing stamps, sending packages, picking up mail, and getting junk mail at home the Big Government health care solution will be a dream come true. If you have millions of dollars working for you, so you live off the interest, you can sit out the debate on health care. If you have great health care and you wish the freeloaders with no health care deserve the same plan you have (without paying as much as you do) then stay out of the debate. However, if you think that you should make health care decisions for you and not some manual the thickness of your waistline, you need to make your voice heard. If you think health care is too complicated now, then imagine the complexity after tens of thousands of new pages of regulations go into effect in October 2009.

I don't rely much on health insurance for myself, but my family depends on it. I don't want my families health care dependent on a USPS model of care or level of service. I can wait for my mail. My children's doctor is already so busy that we can't get an appointment less than a month away. I shutter to think what kind of wait times we'll have to endure when Big Government takes over.

Blog

I've started following a blog by my college classmate Gideon Burton. We share several interests. More importantly, he is a much better writer than me. You can also read his posts here.

Revit Rendering

Check out a great post revealing the secret to increasing rendering times here.

International Building Codes

The new I-Codes are now available. Buy them at the ICC website.

Why Wind Mills cost so much...

If you ever wondered why we don't use more wind power in this country, examine the image carefully. Windmills require plenty of land. Every windmill needs a road to service it. A series of wires must connect the windmill to the grid. Each of these items are capital expenditures. The fuel for the windmill is free, but the initial costs are so large that it takes quite a longtime to recover them.