American Oystercatcher Brochures

Here are a few quick photos of our freshly-printed American Oystercatcher brochures! They look wonderful in person, and our staff will soon have some to pass on to you if we see you on the beach.

Later this month they will be ready for distribution at Stratford Point, 1207 Prospect Drive in Stratford, during typical business hours. We will let you know when they are available. Don't forget you can also download them here: http://rtpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/American-Oyster-Catcher-Brochure.pdf

College Spotlight: Vassar College

General Information
One of the stops on my college trip was also in Poughkeepsie, NY at Vassar College. As soon as I walked onto the campus, I knew I was at a college. It was an absolutely beautiful campus with tons of space and architecture that just screams college. Vassar College is a small liberal arts college with just under 2,500 undergraduate students. It was originally an all-women's college, but went coed in 1969. It is a liberal campus with students from all different backgrounds. Vassar was actually recently awarded 1 million dollars for being the most socially economically diverse college in the country. They devote over $60 million each year towards financial aid and the average financial aid package per student is $40,000. Any student that comes from a family that makes under $60,000 will be given financial aid packages that do not include loans. While walking the campus I was impressed with the immense diversity throughout the campus, which was great o see. 

Academic Information
Vassar College is very much a liberal arts college and they have an open curriculum, many students can take any classes they want across all disciplines. Overall, there are 51 majors offered in Arts and Humanities, and the Social Sciences. Students are encouraged to take a foreign language and Vassar basically offers any language you could think of. Also, more than 60% of the students have more than 1 major. There is also a very large art presence on campus, with many people involved in different types of art, including the performing arts. There are numerous plays that are put on by the students each year. Many of the professors at Vassar live on campus in the student housing. The housing is unique at Vassar, with the majority of students living in the same house on campus for the first three years. 98% of students live on campus all four years and there is a very large Catholic community on campus, with Catholic mass being held once a week.

Admissions Information

Vassar offers Early Decision, Early Decision 2, and Regular Decision. A good amount of their students (48%) are accepted through Early Decision. There are about 670 students per class, and they have about a 23% acceptance rate, which makes it very competitive. Their middle 50% of the SAT is 1340-1460, ACT is 30-33, and the top 5 states Vassar draws from is New York, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. 

Overall, Vassar College is a very special place drawing some of the most liberal, academically driven, and diverse students from across the country. The setting is on a picturesque campus in upstate New York, and is a great place for the right student. Vassar is definitely not for everyone, but if you are someone who wants the small school feel, personal attention from professors (some of which will live with you), and a place where you can take a variety of courses and push yourself across many different subject areas, Vassar may be a place you want to check out. Enjoy!

-Joseph D. Korfmacher 

love me a bold chair

Make a statement in your home with a bold chair. 

Pick an interesting shape and color and it will

for sure become a favorite accent piece.

Do you have a statement chair in your home?

ciao! Fabiana

photos 1  |  2  |  3  

GDP gap: 10% and growing

Real GDP growth in the first quarter was weaker than expected (0.2% vs. 1.0%), but it wasn't much of a surprise. It's now been almost six years that the economy has managed only meager growth—about 2 ¼% per year on average. As a result, by my calculations, real GDP is a little over 10% below its long-term trend potential. That's more than $2 trillion in lost income every year, and it's getting worse. 

Weak quarters happen from time to time, as the chart above demonstrates. First quarter growth this year was negatively impacted by West coast port strikes (which reduced exports), terrible weather, and fallout from a sharp cutback in oil drilling activity. Nevertheless, we'll most likely see a pretty decent rebound in the current quarter, much as we did last year, as those temporary factors disappear. 

The chart above shows the 2-yr annualized rate of real GDP growth, in order to abstract from quarter-to-quarter volatility. By this measure, the economy looks to be growing about 2.5% per year. Since the recovery began in mid-2009, the economy has posted annualized growth of about 2.25%.

The chart above compares the level of real GDP to a long-term trend growth rate of 3.1%. This confirms once again that we are stuck in the slowest recovery ever. It's my belief that the persistence of slow growth is largely the result of bad policies, though demographics likely plays a part too. Corporate profits have been very strong, but business investment has been very weak. Without new investment and risk-taking, we are not going to see a pickup in productivity which is, at the end of the day, what drives stronger growth and higher living standards. Investment has been weak probably because marginal tax rates and regulatory burdens have increased significantly in the past six years. In a sense, and expansion of government has suffocated the private sector.

Things are not going to change much for the better until policies become more pro-growth.

Whether the persistence of relatively weak growth is a reason for the Fed to continue to keep short-term interest rates extraordinarily low is one of the key questions of our time. I don't see how low interest rates stimulate investment or enhance productivity. Only private initiatives can do that.

On the bright side, if policies do become more favorable, there is tremendous upside potential to look forward to. Closing the GDP gap would be nothing short of exhilarating.

Old faithful metal detectors

Everyone has a favorite metal detector, one that they would never sell, or perhaps one they wish they had never sold. 

I must admit, I feel that way about my Minelab Sovereign and Minelab Excalibur. 

A year ago I made the difficult decision to move on from my Sovereign, mainly because my CTX 3030 is waterproof and even more versatile than my old faithful Sovereign. 

My wife says I talk about my Sovereign like she was an old super model I used to date lol! 

Although I have been tempted to buy another Sovereign, I just could not push the "Buy it now" button because of those two reasons I mentioned.

You may have noticed I still use my Excalibur and I cannot imagine not owning one, unless Minelab brings out another Excalibur in a newer form. 

I look at my CTX 3030 as an advanced discriminating tool, my Excalibur as a work horse , they both have their uses for beach and water hunting. 

One metal detector does not make the other obsolete, so I own and use both, along with a Minelab pulse induction metal detector. 

If you take a look at veteran beach or water hunter's, the one thing you will notice about them is they have used the same metal detector for a long time. 

Many veteran beach and water hunter's are known for finding stuff, and that tells you everything you need to know about their choice of metal detector. 

They are comfortable using them and it takes a special metal detector for them to move away from their old faithful metal detector, but eventually they have to.

It is just too difficult to get older metal detectors repaired, between obsolete parts and finding someone to work on them. 

Now that many metal detector companies are moving towards more versatile multi use metal detectors, 

do you move towards and embrace the new designs, or stay with your old faithful make or model? 

I obviously try new things, I believe you have to move with the times or get left behind. 

Earlier this month I was a guest speaker at a metal detecting event in Orlando Florida,  demonstrating some very versatile metal detectors aimed at the beginner, intermediate user.

The new metal detectors were a huge hit with the crowd, being lightweight and easy to use. 

There were several veteran beach hunters in the crowd and I got a chance to talk to a few of them. 

To my surprise they told me that although they still used their old faithful metal detectors, they had bought newer model metal detectors and were slowly moving on from metal detectors they had used for years. 

It was very reassuring to know I am not the only one who looks at my old faithful metal detector through rose tinted glasses. 

Glass Love

It's been 10 years, and it's still one of the most essential surf films out there. Proud to be involved in what Andrew's doing and to further this vision of surfing that encompasses more than the 'sport', it touches on the should. Copies of the DVD are still available if you don't have it, email info @ foamandfunction.com. If you do have it, watch it tonight.

Rising home prices are contributing to inflation

The housing market recovery continues, and the ongoing rise in home prices is going to be adding to official inflation statistics over the next year or two.

As the chart above shows, nationwide housing prices are only about 8% below their 2006-2007 highs, and prices are up 4-5% over the past year. It won't be long before housing prices reach new nominal highs.

Housing prices feed into the CPI via "Owner's Equivalent Rent," which is the BLS's estimate of how much homeowners would be paying to rent the house they own. Rents don't always track home prices, of course, but over time there is a strong tendency for rents to track prices. As the chart above shows, prices have outpaced rents since 1987 by about 30%. With prices rising 4-5% a year, it's a good bet that rents are going to keep rising, and probably at a faster pace than we've seen in recent years. 

As the chart above shows, rents have been rising a little more than 2.5% per year. The chart also suggests that, given the increase in home prices to date, rents are likely to rise by at least 3% in the next year or so. The chart further suggests that there is a lag of about 18 months between home prices and rents, with prices leading rents. Since OER constitutes about 25% of the CPI, this is going to be an important source of rising inflation in the next year or two. More and more, it is looking like deflation is a thing of the past.

In inflation-adjusted terms, housing prices are still about 25% below their 2006 highs. A return to the inflation-adjusted levels of 2006 would be symptomatic of another housing market bubble. We're not there yet, and probably won't be for quite a few years. But if current trends continue, another bubble looks more likely than another crash.

Mortgage rates are very near their all-time lows. Low rates plus increased confidence could easily drive home prices higher. Even if mortgage rates were to rise, that is no reason to worry about housing. Housing has thrived under much higher rates than we have today. Higher rates would likely be symptomatic of a stronger economy and rising confidence, both of which would be supportive of higher home prices.

AAfCW 2015 Volunteer Update #4

This is the fourth weekly update by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) for the 2015 season. Today's update includes reports of Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher from April 20 through 4:00 p.m. on April 27 with sightings of birds by volunteers and staff spanning that period.

Informational updates:

We have been repairing a lot of the fencing knocked over by the recent strong storm and high tides, and thank you to all who have reported downed fencing or helped put it back up. We are glad this severe event happened before any of our birds were nesting.

The weather has definitely made monitoring difficult, interrupting surveys and preventing us from going out or finding birds, and this week still may have cool mornings that we must be mindful of as Piping Plovers are beginning to nest. We do not want to keep them off any eggs during these poor conditions while monitoring. Please report any new nests to us as well as CT DEEP's Laura Saucier (laura.saucier@ct.gov) and Rebecca Foster (rsuzf@hotmail.com) as soon as possible.

By next week we should have our first tern report or two, as Common and Least Terns both return to Connecticut annually right around May 1. These species will be arriving and passing through for a while, and nesting should not take place for at least a few weeks.

Survey and monitoring updates:

Piping Plover
4 pairs, 3 adults, 1 nest at Milford Point on 4/21
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/21
6 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/21
1 pair, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/21
8 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/22
5 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/22
1 pair at Milford Point on 4/23
5 pairs, 5 adults at Griswold Point on 4/23
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/23
5 pairs, 8 adults, 1 nest at Griswold Point on 4/24
3 pairs, 1 nest at Milford Point on 4/24
8 pairs, 1 nest at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/24
2 pairs, 5 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/25
9 adults at Milford Point on 4/25
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/26
1 adult at Long Beach on 4/26
4 pairs, 1 nest at Milford Point on 4/26
1 pair, 1 adult at Long Beach on 4/26
4 adults at Bluff Point on 4/26
1 pair, 2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/26
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/27

American Oystercatcher
2 pairs at Falkner Island on 4/21
1 pair, 1 nest at Quinnipeag Rock on 4/21
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/21
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/21
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/21
2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/22
2 adults at Stratford Point on 4/22
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/22
3 adults at Milford Point on 4/23
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/24
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/24
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/25
2 adults at Milford Point on 4/25
2 adults at Russian Beach on 4/26
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/26
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/26
1 pair at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/26
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/27

This concludes update #4 through 4/27/15 as of 5:00 p.m.

Hidden beach access points

Sunday morning I checked out a place I often stop and let people cross the road to get to the beach, I know the timeshare resort across the street from this beach has a lot of Canadians staying there year round. 
I had to park down the road and walk to this spot, stepping onto the lower beach I had high hopes of finding jewelry because I saw a lot of rocks in the water.
Hard bottoms trap jewelry and coins, and the shallow waters opposite the beach entrance had plenty of both.
About two hours into the three hour hunt, I saw a flash of a ring falling out of the top of my scoop basket. 
I could see the ring laying on the rocks through the clear water, after picking it up I knew by the weight it was either white gold or platinum and the stones looked good. 
Plat 950 inside the band was a nice sight for a sunday morning water hunt with my Minelab Excalibur. 

All the coins in the area told me that the place does not get hit with a metal detector very often. 
The jewelry count was heavy on the silver side, no gold, but one good platinum ring. 
These are the kind of places you find and add to your site rotation list, assuming you have one. 
I did quite well hitting small beach entrances last year, less competition for jewelry and they can be searched and cleaned out fairly quickly. 
I do not get into expanding search areas at small sites, preferring to use hit and run tactics and hedge my jewelry hunting bets on hitting two or three small sites in my allotted metal detecting time. 
I usually go beach or water hunting for two or three hours, my strategy is to hit a site and hit it hard. 
Better to burn out then to fade away, I never did get into the whole having to hunt all day to find jewelry thing. 
If it is not happening after three hours, it usually is not going to happen when it comes to jewelry hunting. 
Everything you need to know about the jewelry hunt, you can pretty much guess during the first 10 minutes after starting metal detecting. 
That is why site selection is so important, select a site and have a good back up you can travel to quickly, just in case it all turns pear shaped. 
Find yourself a few small out of the way hidden honey holes, you may be surprised how much stuff you find where other people rarely search. 

Surprising facts about the minimum wage

For years I've had fun at cocktail parties by asking this question: what percent of all the people who work in the U.S. are paid minimum wage or less? Of the hundreds of people I've asked, only one has come even close to the right answer. The vast majority of the answers I've received (try it yourself!) range from 10% to as much as 50%, when the correct answer is 2.3%. Most people mistakenly think the minimum wage affects a significant portion of the working population, and that's why politicians are able to exploit the minimum wage issue for political gain.

The facts can be found in a recent BLS publication: Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2014:

In 2014, 77.2 million workers age 16 and older in the United States were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.7 percent of all wage and salary workers. Among those paid by the hour, 1.3 million earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 1.7  million had wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 3.0 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 3.9 percent of all hourly paid workers. 

According to these BLS figures, there were roughly 131.5 million wage and salary workers in 2014, and the percentage of all the people working who were making minimum wage or less was (1.3 + 1.7)/131.5 = 2.3%. Further, only 1.3% of all those who work in the U.S. made less than the minimum wage (1.7/131.5), and 97.7% of those who work made more than the minimum wage without any help from government fiats.

But here's where it gets really interesting: "Almost two-thirds of workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2014 were employed in service occupations, mostly in food preparation and serving-related jobs." In other words, 66% of those making minimum wage or less work in restaurants, where they undoubtedly take home more than minimum wage if you count their tip income. That means last year there were only about 1 million people in the U.S. who actually made minimum wage or less. More than 99% of those who worked last year took home more than the minimum wage for their efforts.

So the next time you're at a cocktail party, ask the person next to you to guess the percentage of U.S. workers that earn minimum wage or less. You won't be lying when you tell them it's 1% or less, and if they don't believe you, tell them the facts can be found in a recent BLS publication.

Raising the minimum wage would presumably benefit less than 1% of the working population, but it would probably make it harder for young and inexperienced workers to get a job. It's already hard enough: the unemployment rate for those aged 16-19 is over 20%. Politicians should be lobbying to reduce or eliminate the minimum wage, not increase it.

(This post updates some facts from a similar post early last year.)

HT: Mark Perry, who adds more color to the issue.

Unintentional Disturbances Threaten Waterbirds

There are a number of activities that can unintentionally scare, disturb or even threaten the survival of our waterbirds throughout the spring and summer seasons. Even a person with good intentions can fail to realize how sensitive a bird like the Piping Plover is, feeling threatened by dogs on the leash as they still see them as a predator invading their territory, making birds more prone to abandoning the area, wasting valuable energy or separating them from eggs or young, increasing mortality.

Most beaches in Connecticut ban all dogs during the warm seasons in consideration of public health and human safety, and this also benefits our birds. Activities like kiteboarding or kitesurfing may also seem innocuous when in the water, but surfers moving on and off of the beach can easily crush or kill extremely hard to see eggs or chicks, also flushing adults frequently right out of their preferred habitat. Please try to kindly educate all the beachgoers and friends you can this year as we continue to do all that we can to help our waterbirds survive and prosper.

Flagged Bahamas Piping Plover Found

We are thrilled to report that our friend Joel Stocker found, photographed and submitted this Bahamas flagged Piping Plover on April 18, 2015 at Harkness Memorial State Park's Strand Beach!

 
The Waterford location is not on our monitoring list this year, as it is being independently cared for by CT DEEP. Nevertheless, there are definitely birds of interest there, as we can see. This pink flag has a "95" on it, and we will let you know what the banding report says.

Please see this notice via Audubon about the birds banded in The Bahamas this winter in PDF form: http://rtpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Bahamas-Banded-PIPLs.pdf

Also please see this post on all flagged and banded Piping Plovers so that you can be aware of what we are looking for and where some of these wonderful birds may have come from, plus how you can report them to the proper group. Thank you, and thanks again to Joel!

Bluff Point Fencing Rescheduled 4/27

Fencing and signage erection at Bluff Point in Groton has been rescheduled for Monday, April 27 at 10 a.m. We will meet in the parking area and DEEP will shuttle people out to the beach.

Remember that any and all volunteers are welcome including those who are not monitors. The date is rain or shine. Volunteers should bring: work gloves, water, a snack, appropriate footwear, sunscreen, sunglasses, hats and whatever else you may need avoid too much sun. It can either be quite cool or very warm depending on the day so dress for any weather. A pocket knife or multi-tool can be handy and a sledge hammer or mallet can be helpful to bring. Plan for heavy lifting and toting, but be mindful of your safety. Please email us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com if you can make it, and thank you!

Commercial real estate booms

Updating my comments from January: U.S. housing starts have almost doubled in the past 5 years, and, according to Case-Shiller, housing prices have recovered 56% of their recession-era losses. But the recovery of the residential real estate market pales in comparison to the boom in commercial real estate, where prices have recovered substantially all of their recession-era losses, thanks to double-digit annual gains for the past 4-5 years.

Repeating the comments from this month's Co-Star report on commercial real estate:

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE PRICES CONTINUED TO CLIMB IN FEBRUARY. The two broadest measures of aggregate pricing for commercial properties within the CCRSI—the value-weighted U.S. Composite Index and the equal-weighted U.S. Composite Index— gained 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively, for the month of February 2015. Both indices have increased by more than 13% over the 12 months ending February 2015 as the pricing recovery for commercial property expanded into smaller markets and secondary property types.

HIGH LEVEL OF INVESTMENT ACTIVITY SUGGESTS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE WILL CONTINUE TO BE A SOUGHT-AFTER ASSET CLASS IN 2015. ... transaction activity through February 2015 suggests this will be another active year for commercial real estate acquisitions. The U.S. composite sales pair count of 2,357 and sales volume of $18.9 billion in the first two months of 2015 exceeded totals from the same period in 2014. Meanwhile, the share of commercial property selling at distressed prices fell from 32% in 2011 to less than 10% for the 12 months ended February 2015. 

The strength of commercial real estate belies the fact that this continues to be the weakest economic recovery on record. That's a conundrum which in turn suggests that 1) the economic fundamentals are arguably stronger than most people realize, 2) very low borrowing costs (i.e., easy money) are artificially boosting property values, and/or 3) commercial real estate never experienced a bubble of the magnitude that residential real estate did. I think government meddling in the mortgage market was a significant factor contributing to the overbuilding, overpricing, and eventual crash (think Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, no-down payment loans, stated income qualifications, government guarantees, and interest-only loans). Things never got so carried away in the commercial real estate sector, where market forces were still operating to keep things more or less rational. 

In any event, a vibrant commercial real estate market is at the very least a source of comfort for us bulls. Things can't be that bad if commercial real estate values are increasing more than 10% per year.

mirror in the garden

Hanging a mirror in the garden can

move Chi energy in the garden in the direction and flow of prosperity.

It can also expand a small area through reflection of the surroundings.

It’s a fun way to enliven a garden or outdoor area!

ciao! Fabiana

 photo by dear daisy cottage

Hail Mary finds

I have quite a few nice finds I refer to as "Hail Mary" finds, last minute digs that saved me from going home from the beach empty handed.
This "Bobby Dazzler" ring recovered several years ago on a tourist beach, put a smile on my face after spending the previous three hours going without a signal on a Treasure Coast beach.

I decided to swing by a beach that I had a 100% gold jewelry hunting success rate at, no matter how many times I went to this beach I always found at least one piece of gold jewelry.
The day I recovered the diamond ring pictured above, I found two pennies and the gold ring on the very last sweep as I headed off the beach for the long drive home.
This has happened on several occasions now, both on the beach and in the water so I make a point of always metal detecting as I walk off the beach.
Last year I found a really nice gold chain doing the same thing and this leads me to a very interesting point.
If you only water hunt or search the lower beach, you miss out on some pretty nice pieces of jewelry.
Easy finds for jewelry hunter's who are not so hung up on searching only one area of the beach.
Back in England, I always used to keep my metal detector on and not turn my metal detector off and raise my search coil until I was out of a field.
The same applies to searching your way onto the beach, it was around this time last year when I recovered one of my best diamond engagement rings of 2014.
I walked onto the beach, turned my metal detector on and was working my way down towards the water and I hear the sound of an 18K gold ring with three big ice cubes rattling around in the bottom of my scoop.
I know many wet sanders and water hunters wait until they get on the wet sand or in the water before turning on their metal detectors, but I have found far too many expensive pieces of jewelry heading to and away from intended search areas to be so predictable.
I used to put many hail mary jewelry finds down to luck, but the same thing often happened to me on deserted Treasure Coast shipwreck beaches, finding silver treasure coins well away from the water. 
Now I know better, these type of finds were recovered because I was still sweeping my search coil. 
Your not going to walk off a beach smiling if you always turn your detector on and off at the waters edge. 

College Spotlight: Marist College

Last week, I visited 10 colleges and universities in Connecticut and New York. Over the next two weeks, I will discuss my thoughts on these schools, share valuable information, and post a few pictures from each school. The first school I want to share with you is Marist College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York. Located only 2 hours north of New York City, it is situated on a beautiful 200 acre campus on the banks of the Hudson River. As soon as you pull off the main road onto their campus, you are struck by the beauty of their surroundings. Lately, Marist has put a lot of time and money into their campus and buildings, and it shows. Most of the buildings are a similar color of gray stone, all of the Division 1 sports fields are located throughout the campus, and their center of school is a gorgeous lawn on a small hill facing the Hudson River.

General Information

Marist College has just under 4,800 students, which is a really nice size, and boasts a 16:1 student to faculty ratio, allowing a ton of personal attention between professors and students. Today, Marist is an independent private school, but it does have a Catholic background, as it was founded by the Marist Brothers. Their retention rate from freshmen to sophomore year is a superb 93%, and the total cost of attendance (tuition, room and board, fees, etc.) is $47,000, which is actually pretty good compared to many private schools in the country.

Academic Information

• Students just apply to Marist, and then they can choose a major, and typically once in Marist, it can be relatively easy to change majors. 
• Marist has 6 academic schools, housing 35 Bachelor's programs and 12 master's Programs.
• There are no lecture halls on campus and the biggest class is only 35 students.
• School of Communication and the Arts has really great and unique internship opportunities. They offer a Marist in Manhattan Program and Art Internships in Florence. They have very close connections with NBC, Guggenheim, MSG, New Line Cinema, and ESPN. They also have a very popular fashion program and are often a big part of fashion week in NYC.
• The School of Computer Science and Mathematics is very demanding and their most competitive program on campus. Marist has a very close relationship with IBM, as they have given over $95 million in technology to Marist. Close to 95% of information and technology and computer science majors secure jobs before graduation at companies such as IBM, USAA, UBS, and Goldman Sachs.
• The Marist School of Management  is AACSB accredited and offers degrees in areas such as economics, accounting, and finance management. There is a full, live trading room on campus, and they have many internships with Fortune 100 and 500 companies.
• The School of Liberal Arts offers majors in areas such as English, History, and Political Science. They also have a pre-law advisory program with a 100% acceptance rate to law schools. Marist is also 1 of 6 schools in the country that works directly and grants internships with presidential libraries (FDR Library and Museum). 
• The School of Science has most of the common majors, and also has medical track programs including pre-dental, pre-medicine, pre-veterinary, and an athletic-training program. The School of Science also has a great medical-technology program that has a 100% job placement rate by graduation since 1982.
• The School of Social and Behavioral Sciences  has majors in education, psychology, social work, criminal justice, and more. All students in this school are required to do an internship by the time they graduate. They also offer good partnerships with the United Nations, NYPD, FBI, Homeland Security , and the CIA.
• Finally, some students have the option of spending their freshmen year on the Marist campus in Florence. This is through the Freshmen Florence Experience, and is completely up to the student if they want to do .

Admissions Information 

• Their middle 50% for the SAT is 1600-1840 and their average GPA is about a 3.5, and they have about a 32% acceptance rate
• When reviewing an applicant, strength of program is very important, as are the letters of recommendation
• Marist is a test-optional school, although 77% of students do submit scores
• Demonstrated interest is very important to Marist, as is the 'Why Marist" supplement on the Common Application
• They are in the process of building a brand new science building, so it may be a bit easier to get into Marist for those students interested in pursuing a science related degree

Personal Feedback and Pictures

I have always known a good amount about Marist, but I was honestly blown away when visiting the school for the first time on an official visit. This school has a little bit of everything and I think it is a perfect fit for many students. The location is ideal, only being 2 hours from the city, but located in a stunning part of New York State. You can tell administration has the students' best interests in mind, and they are committed to ensuring students have a great overall experience while at school and are prepared to get a great job upon graduation. This is truly a school I believe most students should check out at some point for its location, beauty, academics, career development, and overall community. 

Joseph D. Korfmacher

Recommended reading

I can highly recommend John Tamny's new book, Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You about Economics. John is a long-time supply-side friend and a solid thinker who knows how to make complex issues simple to understand.

George Will praised Tamny's book in a recent column, calling him "a one-man antidote to economic obfuscation and mystification." George Leef also praised the book, and proffers a good distillation of its contents.

This book should be required reading for high school, college, and graduate school econ classes. Instead of signing pledges, politicians should simply declare they have read the book and can't find anything wrong with it. It's especially timely, since many of the issues discussed in the book are at the heart of important national debates (e.g., wealth inequality, the estate tax, government regulation, progressive taxation).

To compile this sampling of the many economic truths he lays out and explains in simple terms with examples that come straight from daily life, I've simply drawn from the titles of the books' chapters:

Taxes are nothing more than a price placed on work 

When we tax corporations, we rob them of their future

Government spending has never created a job 

Budget deficits don't really matter—government spending does

Capital gains are what really drive innovation 

The best way to "spread the wealth" is to abolish the estate tax 

Weath inequality is beautiful 

Government regulation almost never works 

Anti-trust laws are counter-productive 

Outsourcing is great for workers 

Falling prices for computers are not deflationary

Energy independence would be economically crippling 

If some of these strike you as very wrong (and I'm sure many will), I urge you to read the book. There's a good chance you will discover you haven't thought about these issues in the right way.

Thanks, John, for this much-needed contribution to economic wisdom.

AAfCW 2015 Volunteer Update #3

This is the third weekly update by the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) for the 2015 season. Today's update includes reports of Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher from April 13 through 4:00 p.m. on April 20 with sightings of birds by volunteers and staff spanning that period.

Informational updates:

Thank you again to all of the volunteers who have assisted us with fencing, and we apologize for the sudden cancellation at Bluff Point. If there is a public fencing and signage date rescheduled by DEEP we will let you know as soon as possible.

AAfCW is proud to present this new American Oystercatcher brochure! It is available for download in PDF form here: http://rtpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/American-Oyster-Catcher-Brochure.pdf

Please use this brochure as you use the Piping Plover brochure for education on and off of our beaches. We are printing thousands of copies that will be available to you to pick up from staff members you may see on the beach or by visiting Stratford Point, 1207 Prospect Drive in Stratford, during regular weekday business hours, from mid-May onward after they are printed.

Weather will be up and down for the upcoming week, so please try to avoid visiting the beach on rainy, particularly windy, or cold days with temperatures well below 50. Be sure to check our blog for photos of our focal species, information on education and outreach we conduct, and helpful documents in the right-hand column including some with more information on our birds all the way to dog laws and reporting phone numbers in various towns.

Survey and monitoring updates:

Piping Plover
8 adults at Griswold Point on 4/13
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/13
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/14
1 adult at Long Beach on 4/14
3 pairs, 2 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/14
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/14
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/15
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/15
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15
1 pair, 3 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/16
7 pairs at Milford Point on 4/16
2 pairs, 8 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/16
6 pairs, 1 adult at Milford Point on 4/16
2 pairs at Long Beach on 4/16
1 pair, 1 adult at Long Beach on 4/16
3 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
3 pairs, 4 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/18
1 pair at Long Beach on 4/18
3 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/19
1 adult at Stratford Point on 4/19
1 pair at East Broadway Milford on 4/19
4 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/19
4 adults at Long Beach on 4/19
1 pair, 3 adults at Bluff Point on 4/19

American Oystercatcher
1 pair at Griswold Point on 4/13
1 pair, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/13
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/14
1 pair, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/14
2 adults at Long Beach on 4/14
4 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/15
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/15
1 pair, 3 adults at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/16
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/16
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/16
3 pairs at Milford Point on 4/16
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
2 pairs at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
2 pairs, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/18
1 pair at Short Beach on 4/19
1 pair at Stratford Point on 4/19
1 pair, 1 adult at Sandy/Morse Points on 4/19
4 adults at Long Beach on 4/19
1 pair at Bluff Point on 4/19

This concludes update #3 through 4/20/15 as of 5:00 p.m.

Mackie 2

The really excellent photos of Mick shaping from this and the previous post are by Steve Baccon and Mick is in fact soon to be shaping a couple of boards for the U.S.- A 6' and a 6'6", both sidecut fish in EPS, both with the 5 box option. Prices to be confirmed, but $850 each seems likely. Pic of Mick showing what a sidecut can do by Hiroyuki Yamada, and the last shot is the legend Taro Tamai, the man behind Gentemstick preparing for some action with the deep swallow Winterstik design board that has been so inspirational in Mick's surf board design. Epic.

Modifying the Minelab Excalibur

I must have rattled a few cages with my previous blog about the Excalibur, judging from the responses from people who contacted me this weekend about their modified Excalibur's.
Like I mentioned in that previous blog, I like my Minelab Excalibur just the way it is but mounted differently.

The overwhelming response by the people who contacted me was that they preferred their Excalibur's modified with pinpoint switches and extra large search coils.
The majority of people told me they liked to search in the Pinpoint (all metals) search mode and the target depth of the extra large search coil. 
I did not get one person contacting me saying they put a smaller search coil on the Excalibur, which would probably be the way I would go if I was to modify an Excalibur with a 10-inch search coil.  
After trying several different things on my Excaliburs in the past, I bought a Minelab Sovereign that allowed me to change search coils or headphones at will. 
The Sovereign was not waterproof, but I chest mounted it in a bag and did quite well shallow water hunting in such different places as the Bahamas and the Great Lakes. 
Of course the Minelab CTX 3030 is now my go to swiss army knife of beach and water hunting units.
I found one of the drawbacks of only having an extra large search coil on my Excalibur all the time was poor target separation on trashy tourist beaches.
This was caused by multiple targets under the search coil, I was also not impressed with the extra large search coils lack of sensitivity to small targets. 
The previous common big search coil drawback can be overcome by using an ultra slow sweep speed. 
Another problem was chatter, or metal detector noise caused by using an extra large search coil in the water or on the lower beach in the splash zone.
An Excalibur with an extra large search coil was especially noisy during choppy surf conditions. 
I found myself having to turn the Sensitivity down to a point where the trade off in detection depth was not worth the hassle of using the much larger and heavier search coil around in the water and on the wet sand with waves breaking or rushing over the coil. 
Apart from adding extra large search coils,  many beach and water hunters like adding a pinpoint switch. 
Last I checked the Excalibur had a perfectly good Pinpoint / Disc knob, granted you had to stop and turn the knob but it does have one. 
The general consensus is that adding a pinpoint knob / button on or around a hand grip / handle allows you to change search modes faster and double check targets between the two search modes to help identify iron. 
I never found enough of a real difference in depth between the two search modes to warrant hunting in all metal with the Excal all the time, then stopping and rechecking targets.
Like I stated in the previous blog, why would you not want to use iron mask and target tones, two of the Excalibur's best features in the Discrimination search mode. 
I am not one of those beach or water hunters who assume every good target is deep and just out of range, so I do not need to hunt in all metal on every beach with a cartwheel size search coil. 
The opposite, I know the easiest targets to miss are the ones missed by spending all your time rechecking targets or digging junk your Excalibur identified correctly. 
Another mod that was popular in responses to the previous blog was installing custom headphones.
With the "I can now hear deep targets" being the common theme, I hear you on that one, pun intended. 
Again I have never been blown away by other headphones installed on the Excalibur, not enough to make me want to shell out for new headphones and pay to have them installed. 
I wonder how much the extra padding on custom headphones has to do with better audio?
Or even the combination of extra large search coil and custom headphones, as most people have several mods to their Excalibur done at the same time, dang my mail box is going to be full after that last though lol!
 In closing, I do see why people would want to modify their Excalibur's and it is for the very best reason, setting the Excalibur the way they like to have it and use it. 
I suppose that is why the Minelab Excalibur is such a popular waterproof metal detector for beach and water hunters, it can be modified to suit your hunting style or personal beach or water hunting preferences. 

Elementary School Students Saving Birds

Last year the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds helped to teach elementary school children about some of Connecticut's most imperiled avian species, ensuring that they learn about why it is so important to share the shore with these conservation-priority waterbirds. Respecting wildlife is a fundamental aspect of our species stewardship of the Earth - at least if we want to survive on it! These students gave back to their world by creating wonderful, unique art to teach and inspire beachgoers as they flock to the shore for the summer. You can see some of these signs focused on the Piping Plover and the American Oystercatcher below.

During string fencing and signage erection we include some of these signs at some of our busier beaches as a more heartwarming and novel form of outreach. The art definitely stands out against the sand, water, and sometimes the cityscapes of our very developed shoreline.

They also make much more of an impact on the average beachgoer, and we find vandalism and damage to these signs is less than what occurs to standard "NO DOG" or "STAY AWAY" signage.

In short, our work is a win, win, win scenario for art, education and conservation, for children, adults, and anyone who can share the shore with our endangered bird neighbors. Please email us at ctwaterbirds@gmail.com if you have a large group of children who would like to complete a similar project, or if you want to contribute to the effort in some other way - as a monitor, a donor, or a helping hand.

home tour: best of kitchens and dining

I am so excited to go on the Newport Harbor Home and Garden Tour coming up on May 14th.  It’s always a fun day, and this year, they will be showing seven homes!  The day starts with the morning reception at Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop for a little brunch.  Then we are able to start touring the homes.  I always enjoy the diversity of the homes shown on the tour, and I especially love seeing the kitchens and dining areas all dressed up.   In between viewing all the homes, we stop to enjoy a yummy lunch and browse the boutique with gorgeous views overlooking Newport Harbor.  After lunch, we finish touring the rest of the homes and conclude the day with an afternoon champagne reception hosted at Barclay Butera Interiors.  Their Newport Beach showroom is always a treat to visit, and it’s really a lovely way to end the day!  Will you make it to the home tour this year?  Here is a peek at some of my favorite kitchens and dining areas from past years...      

 

 

ciao! Fabiana