As goofy as these guys can sometimes be, this one makes a lot of sense to me. 

http://tbwsdailyshow.com/2011/05/04/department-of-justice-sues-major-bank-for...

Where to Go During an Earthquake

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, forget it! This is a real eye opener. It could save your life someday.

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON 'THE TRIANGLE OF LIFE'

My name is Doug Copp I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI ), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries. I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years, and have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene -- unnecessary.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them - NOT under them. This space is what I call the 'triangle of life'. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the 'triangles' you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' when building collapse are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a bed, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different 'moment of frequency' (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads - horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible - it is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone's life...

Nooshin Khosh

The New Year has unfortunately not brought about the end to real estate and mortgage

relief scams. While a deep recession continues to affect the national and California

economies, the business for swindlers is very good.

They continue to sell false hope to and prey on vulnerable and unsophisticated

consumers, and the bad players far outnumber those of us in the government who

prosecute them.

They advertise and cast their nets widely, using the Internet, newspapers, magazines,

mail pieces, and radio and television,

This alert is written to remind you to be continually cautious and vigilant, and to give you

some important tools and red “warning” flags so that you do not fall victim to real estate

and home loan relief scammers.

The California Department of Real Estate (DRE) has issued prior topical warnings and

alerts to consumers about the rise of fraud in connection with pre-foreclosure and

foreclosure-related rescue, forbearance and forgiveness services, including loan

modifications, forensic loan audits, and short sales.

Click Here to read more

 This is very informative, pass it on so others do not fall victim to the scams

Recently we made a deal that we thought would be impossible.  Our client (buyer) just finished his residency last spring and wanted to purchase a residence, now.  His income is all 1099 (vs. W-2) and as I have already written, he has been working for only 6 short months.  Most Real Estate Agents would walk away from this buyer as financing is usually impossible. 

There are a few lenders out there with "Doctor" programs and in most cases those work well.  However, sometimes the borrower does not fall with in the extremely difinitive guidelines.  We went searching and came up with a program from a very large lender (it's a bank).  This bank makes loans to "Professionals" and does not securitize the paper and sell it in the secondary market, thus they do not have to qualify these borrowers based on the HUD guidelines.  Because they hold the loan "In-House", they can make their own rules.

With out going into the details of this particular buyer's profile we must suffice it to say that he did not qualify for any of the common "Doctor" programs.  As I have all too often discovered, most buyers do not qualify for those "Specialty" programs, so this buyer was no different.

If you are a Physician (Resident or Practicing), Attorney, Dentist, Oral Surgeon, CPA, an officer of a publicly traded company  (COE, CFO, CIO, or COO), please contact me.  I may be able to help.

Here are a couple of hi-lights of the program: 5% down, must be purchasing your primary residence, no mortgage insurance requirement, student loans may not count against debt-to-income rations.

I am not a lender so I am not in a position to know or understand all of the details, but as a Realtor I can help you buy.

Nick Taylor

Prudential California Realty

760-710-7234

thetaylors@prusd.com

DRE#01823394