Real Estate | Amish Home Builders | WSJ

These folks are NOT your garden-variety home builder. These Amish contractors have extended their barn-raising skills to custom home building and offer new opportunities (and some unusual challenges) to those looking for a quality home built by a trustworthy firm. Higher quality, lower cost, faster delivery schedule are all hallmarks of their work.

Tech | Favorite How-To Site | Lifehacker

I've found lots of great, time- and frustration-saving tech tips at Lifehacker. Good, free software like SyncBack for backing-up PCs. Excellent tools like Knoppix - a bootable CD with Linux for resurrecting a Windows PC with fatal Blue-Screen-Of-Death. And tech tips on everything from do-it-yourself laptop bags to tips from GTD's David Allen. A great resource.

Biz | Telepresence v Travel | NYTimes

The promise of video teleconferencing has until recently not met the needs for most business meetings. That's changing fast with telepresence systems. Real opportunity here for cost reduction. What with plumetting service levels at airports and airlines, lots of business travelers will welcome some travel relief. Article.

$ | home prices | kedrosky

here's another take on where home prices may be headed. in a nutshell, home prices were very close to a constant multiple of median family income (trending around 2.8 times median family income) during 1977 to about 2001. then prices took off, heading to nearly 4 times. prices still have a ways to drop to get back to a 2.8 factor. and, of course, they may drop through that factor before they bounce back. bottom line is another 17% or more drop in prices before they stabilize. or four years of no price increases while income catches-up.

but, and this is big, national median house prices are interesting but residential real estate is hyper-local.

interesting read, here's the link:

Housing | Regional Price Change |

Amid the media hyperbole about declining housing prices, a bit of granularity in looking at the data is useful. State-by-state gives a somewhat different picture than the headlines.

Work | Monitoring Telecommuters | WSJ

Many new tools are available for employers to monitor folks who work at home. From webcams to keystroke loggers to periodic screen shots. It does seem intrusive. However, if it facilitates more opportunities for telecommuting then that's a plus from the standpoint of improved work flexibility and reduced oil consumption. Here's the article.

Life | Final Farewell |WSJ

Randy Pausch, a 47-year-old college professor, said goodbye to his students and colleagues in a final lecture. This lecture has been seen by millions on the internet. Here is a follow-up article that appeared in the WSJ back in May. Mr. Pausch died on July 25th.

Humor | Quote of the Day | Brilliant

I love this Quotation of the Day: "Try to relax and enjoy the crisis." ...Ashleigh Brilliant

Personal $ | When You Must Sell a House | WSJ

Good advice in this article about selling a home in today's very tricky market. Clean, uncluttered, fresh paint. Set the initial price below asking for comparables in your area (whew!!). Get an aggressive agent. They're not lining-up for condos in Encino anymore, folks.

Read It and Weep

Work | Value of College Degree | WSJ

College degree - necessary but not sufficient these days. Additional and often specialized skills are required. See the article and check out the embedded video for some fields where a college degree is still a hot ticket.

Personal $ | New Social Security Calc | WSJ

I've used the old Social Security calculators that required manual input of your entire earnings history ... and then produce a somewhat complicated output with lots of agency jargon. This new calculator, along with improvements later, should speed the process. Don't rely on the hardcopy report you get, run your own analysis. Article from WSJ.

Personal $ | Medicare Part D | WSJ

Medicare is trying to stop an industry practice that tends to push up costs for folks in Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. Without going into details, insurers often pay pharmacy benefit managers a locked-in price even if that price is much higher than what the drugs really cost at the pharmacy. Guess who is lobbying to keep this practice in place.

This gets really nasty when the person on Part D hits the infamous "donut hole". Part D insured patients pay the first 100% of the first tier of Rx costs to $275, then 25% of the next tier of costs to $2,510 total cost, then 100% of the next tier up to $5,726 total costs, then 5% of everything beyond that tier. The tier between $2,510 and $5,726 is the donut hole. More like a black hole, but whatever.

Best strategy? Shop around. Costco or Wal*Mart may sell Rx drugs for less than the patient's share under Part D. Especially consider paying cash at those places for your lowest cost generics to keep the Part D coverage for more expensive branded meds.

The WSJ article is locked for subscribers only ... let me know if you want a copy.

Energy | Oil Shale | WSJ

Those of us who were living in Colorado back in the late '70s and early '80s remember the oil shale boom in the northwestern part of the state and the crash of Black Sunday (May 2, 1982) that brought it all down. The oil shale didn't go anywhere, of course. However, the price of oil has made it a heckuva lot more interesting (just like Canada's tar sands). Here's a brief article on where things stand today. How much oil is in the US oil shale? How about 800B barrels - or about triple the current proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Homes, Energy | The Newest Cottage Industry | WSJ

Folks are not only downsizing their vehicles, they are (finally!) downsizing their homes. These newly built cottages are typically under 1,000 square feet and have lots of creative ways to get the most out of a smaller space: large porches, lots of built-in storage, and clustering the homes around a landscaped common area vs all facing a residential street. A very different approach than the typical car-centric tract home suburban development with its focus on bigger is better. Here's the article.

Energy | The Way Forward | Kedrosky

A practical, middle-ground approach to the energy crisis with a focus on reducing dependency on foreign oil and on oil in general. I like the concept of a tax on foreign oil with proceeds funding wind, solar, natural gas, etc. The 55 mph speed limit is troublesome, personally ... does this guy live in the Northeast? Bottom line (and a scary thought) is that it's up to Congress to take action. We're clearly going to have to kick butt and take names for that to happen.

Life | Uplifting Video | Matt Harding

We can all use a boost in these tough days. Check-out the short videos on this site - they ought to put a smile on your face.

Customer Service | Getting Live Help | Web

These days if I don't get the information or help I need off a company's website then I have a more complex problem that requires a company representative. Most telephonic customer support systems make you jump a LOT of hoops to finally get a person on the line. The shortcuts on this website could be a real time and frustration saver. Thanks, John, for the tip!

Energy | Grove on Electricity | The American

Andy Grove is a fascinating guy. If you like biographies, be sure to read his. He's published his thinking on the current energy crisis in The American. Well reasoned views and a good long-term perspective. I especially like his goal of "energy resilience". Unanswered question: what will get us going down this path?

Planning | Resources & City Growth | Trulia/WSJ

Interesting read in the WSJ today about development density and the cost of gas - featuring a planning approach in Sacramento. For a look at the area you live in and its development history, check-out this tool at Trulia Hindsight.

Finance | Managed Payouts | WSJ.com

Looking for a way to convert your savings into a stream of checks? Not happy with the expense, complexity & hype with conventional annuities? Take a look at this article on "managed payout" mutual funds. Could be a useful alternative.

PM | New PM Software | WSJ.com

Using MS Project can feel like wielding a sledge hammer to drive a carpet tack. Lots more options out there now for managing projects. Here is a recent article on some of the latest.

Oil | Price History | Forbes

A nice graphic on historical price of oil. Check the prices in the '70s. Missed opportunity for the USA. Will we learn this time? I think so.

Money | Social Security Restart | NPR

Here's another article about the Social Security Restart. Concept: take Social Security early and, if your health and assets are still going strong at age 70 (or earlier), pay back what you've drawn and apply for the significantly higher pay-out available at 70. Site includes links to other references plus calculators to evaluate your scanarios.

Culture | US

It sometime seems that the US is like a household run by the children.

Nature | Fear This! | YahooPhoto

I grew up in Kansas City and have seen all the tornadoes that I need to see in a lifetime. This photo is sobering.

Energy | High Oil Prices | BP

Here's BP's perspective on high oil prices. Strikes me as a fairly balanced view of the situation ... see also the link at the end to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy.

No big surprise here. Lower income rural areas are hit hardest. If you live in a relatively prosperous urban area, be thankful.

Pity we didn't learn our lesson from the late 70's and early 80's. I have a hunch the learning is going to be a bit more painful now.

Green | Greenhouse Gas Heresies | Wired

Check-out green heresies from an article in Wired magazine. My top 4:

• Live in Cities - better than suburbs
• A/C Is OK - Less CO2 Than Heating
• Embrace Nuclear Power - climate-friendly large-scale power supply
• Used Cars - huge energy/CO2 cost to make new cars