Tribe Members – Studio Humanzee

Pinehurst

The Mighty Humanzee — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 02:36:36 +0000

Pinehurst Trying to Move Library Closer to Reality | News | thepilot.com

Sometimes, in life, you are put into a situation that could be a huge mistake, or it could be the
best thing you’ve ever done in your personal and business life.

This situation happened to me last year. In fact, almost one year ago.

By Grammy Pam / @grammypam64gill

Sometimes, in life, you are put into a situation that could be a huge mistake, or it could be the best thing you’ve ever done in your personal and business life.

This situation happened to me last year. In fact, almost one year ago.

Some of you may remember, Joe was involved in an auto accident in Durham. That same day, I was working a deal for a local, historical generational home. I had to leave the meeting and almost forgot to call back after I found Joe ok, sitting up in the bed in the Duke ED.

I made the call only to find out the owner had decided to sell to someone else. Ok, not the first property I have lost.

I brought Joe home and spent the next few days trying to keep Joe still and did not give the property a second thought.

Then the call came in. On Friday, four o’clock in the afternoon.

The one and only question the owner asked, “What would you do with the property?”

My answer, “I would preserve the structure and grounds and turn the home into a boutique Inn. And in the process, I would name the Inn after your family. Give the proper respect to your family heritage by including portraits of your family members and give the guests an experience they would remember. Pinehurst is golf, history and luxury. The Inn would provide that experience.”

I remember those words. I practiced those words. I rewrote those words several times before I finalized my presentation. I thought I missed my chance to present my vision for this property.

The owner replied, “We will call back within the hour.”

Fifty-seven minutes later, I was thanking the owner for choosing my vision. I met the owner at her attorney’s office at five-fifteen and signed the contract. Fifteen days later, I closed the deal.

I owned another generational property in my hometown.

My mind and my heart were in agreement. I had fulfilled an ongoing personal goal of saving another historic Pinehurst home.

The first was Linden House. A French Provincial country house, built by the owner of the local sawmill and most of the land west and south of the area to be known as Pinehurst. This house

became my home. The home where I raised my kids and created an active family space we still enjoy today.

This new property is larger than the other historical homes I have owned and restored over the years. Linden House was a large home, over five thousand feet at the time of purchase. I renovated and added two wings to the main house. This house stood at sixty-four hundred feet on two floors. A full basement added another three thousand feet to the total.

This property, the Given’s House, was built by John and Irene Given in 1929. The property is three blocks from the Carolina Inn, the historic structure seen in advertisements for the area, and four blocks from the iconic Pinehurst clubhouse.

The property is affectionately known as “The New House”.

In areas like Pinehurst, wealthy families would build vacation homes, only to visit once or twice a year for the weather and access to world class golf. This was not the case with the Givens. Although they did not call Pinehurst home, they built their house for entertainment, for hosting family and friends in their Sandhills home year round.

The Georgian Revival was designed by Francis Y. Joannes from New York. Joannes designed numerous fine residences along the east coast. More information on Mr. Joannes see https://prabook.com/web/francis_y.joannes/1041267

The design of the house with the Flemish bond brickwork details, the double chimneys, the contained gutter system, the local lumber and stone sources combined to create a grand structure which became a comfortable home.

More information on Flemish Bond brick style see https://www.classicist.org/articles/flemish-bond-a-hallmark-of-traditional-architecture/

As the house stood, it contained ten bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and 1 half bath on the second floor. The entire ground floor was for hosting. A small foyer, grand hallway, large formal dining and living rooms, a full paneled study and kitchen flow from one end to the other. A two-stall carriage house with servant quarters above, a 20’ by 30’ ground level pool, a tennis court and greenhouse are spread across the grounds. Added benefit of a heated/cooled floored attic and a full basement, a detail not found in the local area at that time due to the abundance of sand, made year-round entertaining easy.

The lot is 1.4 acres in size. The rectangle shape is wider, running with the street, than deep. The blue stone pebble driveway and circular drive detail is repeated along the generational estates. Like most of the properties in this area, the grounds are planted with native plants and a few varieties brought in from the northern states. Rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias planted many years ago are the stars of the gardens. Boxwoods of many varieties line the driveway and path areas. Ivy and creeping fig cover the entrance pillars and portions of the house, where the vines have been left unchecked. Large pots scattered across the landscape offer splashes of color during the summer and stately evergreens during the winter.

As lovely as this sounds, my road to restoring this property has had a few bumps along the way.

First was Joe. Not that he had a problem with me buying this property. After all, it was my funds and my vision. He is well aware of my long standing plan to save as many of these homes as possible. His issue was more personal.

He loves this house!

Having visited the West estate in Norfolk, VA, I see the resemblance between the Given house and the West house. This problem, I did not plan on having with Joe.

A few weeks after I closed the property, Joe was able to leave the house and walk without much issue. I had driven him by the house, around the house but he had not entered the structure. Once he did, my problem intensified.

“We need to live here” was all he said. He knew my plan to convert the property into an Inn. We had talked about finding a larger home for us but we both love the house we are currently in.

However, the layout and design of this property reminds Joe of his mother’s home in Norfolk. He had so little time with her but the memories are burned into his mind and heart. As part of my contract to buy the property, the owner agreed to leave most of the furniture and paintings in the house. Seeing the house furnished with like pieces, brought back so many memories for Joe.

So my task was not to talk him out of his vision of living in this house but see the potential of the house as an Inn. Easier said than done.

I started the renovation with the exterior of the structure. The original windows and doors were in very bad shape. Storm windows had been added at some point but offered little protection or insulation. The exterior doors were worn and a bit crooked from time. The brick was in need of a good cleaning and sealing. The grounds were overgrown and in need of a good trim.

Please note that the photos you’ll see this article are all the “before” pictures.

But before I could touch the structure, I had to file my plans of renovation with not only the county, the Village of Pinehurst but also with the historical society. Remember this house was built in 1929, making this property almost one hundred years old.

Having completed several historical renovations, I have a list of trusted sub-contractors in this area. One by one, I contacted and discussed the vision I had and worked through the issues

with the structure. With my subs in place with approvable plans, I filed with every agency I could think of that would have an interest in this property.

Sixty days later, my plans were approved.

Because of the facial condition of the bricks, I was granted approval to resurface. My plan was to limewash the brick, which will coat and protect the brick from further damage. This changed the color from a washed-out light red to a creamy, light greige color. This is lending to a more French Provincial vibe than Georgian Revival. This gives me a chance to change the facade to more French by adjusting the front door pediment, which was on the list of items to replace.

I made slight changes to the front facade plan, by changing the pediment and adding additional area to the front door stoop for easier access. The plan was approved and the conversion to French Provincial exterior was in place.

While standing on the front lawn looking at the evolution of the front facade, I realized the ground floor windows needed to be changed as well. Back to the window manufacturer to see if modifications could be made, I changed the front windows from the custom seventy-two inch long double hung window to a functionable custom sized french door. Four oversized doors, two of which were fitted into double doors, were built to fit the openings. This not only fit the new style of the exterior but also added to the safety of ingress and regress of the structure.

Back to the brick facade. The amazing and gifted brick and stone mason I love to use on these projects, has informed me the chimneys are in excellent shape and require no major maintenance. The detail woven into the chimney’s brick walls is stunning. During the limewash process, the mason asked to have the mortar lines tinted a couple of shades darker to highlight the detail not seen by the naked eye. This made a huge difference in the view from the ground.

The slate roofing is in excellent condition considering several fights with hurricanes over the years. That was a gift from the renovation Gods.

The last issue on the exterior, which combines with the interior process, is the 1960’s addition of a Hartley Greenhouse structure to the end of the house, which was the formal living room. This addition was used as a small conservatory-like room. More on this issue later.

While the exterior work was in process, I started on the interior.

My favorite part of the interior renovation is the kitchen. The original layout was a long, galley kitchen, designed for efficiency not aesthetics. The kitchen and breakfast areas were combined for a commercial kitchen layout. The marble countertops were removed and used in other areas of the house. New appliances were purchased. A ten foot by four foot working island and an eight foot by four foot eat-in island were installed. Black granite and stainless steel were used for the countertops. The original heart pine floors had been replaced in the kitchen with tile, which we replaced with a commercially approved tile. The owner had kept the wood for repair and replacement in other areas of the house.

A make-shift laundry room and the small butler’s pantry was combined to create a more functional pantry. An ice machine and a full freezer were installed as well.

Joe’s favorite room is the lounge. This originally was an office/study room, with an outside entrance from the back of the house. The walls are paneled in pine, floor to ceiling, with a fireplace facade clad with the same pine. After some investigation, we removed the panels covering the fireplace to find an original marble surround.

We decided the room needed a speak-easy atmosphere so we painted the room a dark color. It took three times to get the color right. Finally, I made the call to paint in a dark charcoal, Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams, one of my favorite colors. With the natural light from a few windows and an exterior door, the room works well both during the day and at night.

Being an avid reader, Joe wanted to add a library feel to the room. We kept the built-in bookcases and cabinets on one wall and doubled the space by adding more floor to ceiling bookcases. The small bar area was increased as well. This would be the gathering space for cocktails before dinner, an office space or an after dinner retreat. This room is still in process due to “you know who”.

The dining room was not altered. I repainted the space and had the dining table refinished. The table is designed to seat twelve, which is perfect for this space. The fireplace is flanked by serving areas with storage space, replacing a need for any china cabinetry. The window replacement of a new double door opens to the front lawn. A small outside dining space is being created adjacent to and under a beautiful pecan tree.

The foyer is small but works. A double door system keeps cold weather from entering the main house. Paint and new marble floors were the only items needed in this area.

The switchback or U-shaped staircase is in a small room-like area beside the foyer. Not a grand staircase like you may expect in a house this size, it is compact but very functionable. Again, paint and a few repairs to the trim were needed. The addition of an animal print stair runner has made an instant impact to this area.

At the front wall of the house, behind the staircase, is a half bath. New tile and period replacement fixtures were needed in this area. It seems this was the most used room in the house. The tile style and colors are consistent with the other renovated baths.

Upstairs, the guest rooms needed little renovation. Paint and trim repairs were made.

The bathrooms required the most renovation. Floor tiles were replaced with period-like penny tiles in black and white with black grout. The wall tiles were replaced with two inch by eight inch white subway shaped tiles, also with black grout. Period fixtures were replaced with efficient look alike fixtures to keep the 1920’s style. The black and white color scheme was an easy decision. The attached bedrooms will dictate the additional colors used in each bathroom.

The six guest rooms in the main section of the house have a fireplace and a private bath. Although the room sizes are not large, they are sufficient for a queen bed, dresser, side tables and a chair.

The four guest rooms over the kitchen area have been realigned to create two Jack and Jill suites. In the case of a small family, these two rooms give the privacy needed for children and parents, connected by a bath. In the two, two room suites, a room has a queen bed and the other a set of twin beds. An easy task with the original layout of the rooms.

The existing antique furniture has been cleaned and repaired if needed. New mattresses were purchased for the beds and new overstuffed upholstery chairs ordered for each room. The rooms were also outfitted with new bedding, which coordinates with the artwork in the room. Linen sheets, duvets and lots of pillows create a luxurious bed.

An original dumbwaiter, positioned within the pantry to the upper floor, was reconditioned and is in working order. A must have for any multi-story Inn.

Speaking of the dumbwaiter, the basement underwent a renovation as well. We created a small gym with a shower/bathroom, a larger laundry area, a wine room and a room for food and supplies storage. This supply room also has outdoor access from the driveway side of the house for convenience.

The last room to be renovated has required the most planning, redesign and work of the entire renovation. The formal living room.

The formal living room is at the left end of the house, which earlier I described as having a Hartley greenhouse structure attached to the end, outside wall. Also in the same area, there is a half bathroom that shares an adjoining wall with the living room that is accessed by the main hallway. This gave me an idea.

At this point, Joe is persistent about us living in this house. He has a thousand reasons why we should. But one point is still a full stop. No ground level bedroom. We are not getting any younger and the thought of climbing stairs several times a day is not positive. The only way we could pull this off is to create a sleeping space downstairs.

Back to the previous paragraph. My idea, forming into a solid plan, is to take the half bath, combined with the formal living room and make a primary bedroom suite.

Imagine walking down the grand hallway to a pair of double doors, which open into the formal living room. The first thing in the visual sight line is a beautiful marble surround fireplace. To each side, cased openings were cut into the exterior wall for access to the Hartely. This room mirrors the dining room on the opposite side of the house, with the built-in serving areas and cabinetry in place of the cased openings. Both rooms are twenty feet by thirty six feet in size.

With this size, this should be easy. But it wasn’t.

The size of the room is large but also limited with wall space. The front exterior wall of the house has a double door replacement, same as the dining room. The rear exterior wall has a replacement window, which is six foot wide and seventy two inches in length.

The interior wall adjacent to the hallway has wall space on each side of the door which I have installed custom armoires for closets. The same armoire cabinet was installed in the corner area on the rear and end exterior walls.

On the front exterior wall, six feet of wall area was used to create a small hallway and door area into the half bath to create a full size bathroom.

This is possible due to the fact that the half bath is much larger than most and as is, could accommodate a tub/shower. After several days, several measuring trips and a few missed meals, I have a plan.

The existing half bath, with door access to the hallway has been refigured into a wet room. To achieve this, the door in the hallway was closed to create the back wall of the shower/tub area. The freestanding soaker tub is positioned against the back wall. The shower area is fronting that area with a glass wall separating the vanity.

The area along the front wall was closed in to create a toilet room with a door. This area has a seventy two inch long four foot wide window, which can not be touched. The other half bath has the same size window, which I have installed plantation shutters in each for privacy.

In the opposing outside corner on the front exterior wall with the end exterior wall, a complimentary cabinet area with the back corner, was installed and designed to be a wet bar.

The floor tile and wall tile is the same tile as used in the other bathrooms. Problem solved, right? Not quite.

Joe asks, “How will we use the Hartley? And where will the bed go?” Good questions. And I have an answer.

Well, the bed will be in the Hartley, of course. After the old structure is removed and the new Hartley is assembled.

We are in the process of constructing the Hartley now. We have had really cold temperatures and some high winds the first weeks of 2024. Since the Hartley is constructed of metal framing and glass, it has taken longer than expected to complete. The floor is the last item, as it is a multi-part system of radiant heat and tile.

A bedroom in a greenhouse? Yes. The glass in the roof system has been replaced with an insulated metal roof panel. The three sides not attached to the house have the iconic gable facades. Under said gables are double doors that are operational.

The new Hartley size increased from twenty by twenty-four feet to twenty-four feet square. The metal color I chose is the black. It is a large size and I wanted it to fade into the lawn and sit quietly against the house. It also matches the replacement windows and doors of the house.

More information on the Hartley is here https://hartley-botanic.com/

I have ordered motorized shades to be installed in the Hartley for privacy. The bed I ordered has a six foot high headboard. On the backside of the headboard I will put a double dresser and mirror I found and restored. The bed will have three drawer small cabinets on each side for convenience.

I also have an enormous amount of houseplants that will likely be scattered around the outside walls. I plan to position the bed in the middle of the room. The latest items purchased for the Hartley are a pair of black and white zebra striped rugs.

Since electrical wiring had already been run into the existing Hartley, we were able to rewire to provide outlets, lights and a ceiling fan.

As an afterthought, I brought the brick mason back to determine if we could break through the outside wall of the chimney and make a double sided firebox. The answer was yes, and we did.

The demolition of the old Hartley began after the first of 2024. From Thanksgiving 2023 to New Year’s Day 2024, we were hosts for four planned events and two last minute events. These events gave me the chance to show Joe how well the house would work for Inn guests.

The first two events were for Moore Medical NC. The MDs and PAs were invited to come stay at Given’s house for the weekend. Our guests arrived Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Joe was in his element with medical nerds, golf and beer. I shuttled the wives to spa appointments and shopping. The accommodations were a hit.

The next event was a memorial/reception for my godfather, Sol Lohman. Unplanned, as death always is, it was a chance to showcase the renovations to members of the community.

We also hosted an after-recital party for the dancers of Andy and Sarah’s dance studio. Santa Claus made an appearance and booked an event before he left for the north pole.

We also had a few family events, including a sleepover Christmas night. With six kids producing twenty-one grands, we tested the capabilities of the house. Surprisingly, we were able to house everyone comfortably with the addition of a few air beds. We will be keeping those as they work really well.

I still have many small items to complete. The pottery I ordered for the house will be delivered this week. This will be used for dinners at the house. The owner left the kitchen and dining items including the existing tableware that we have used so far.

The landscaping will begin as soon as we are out of frost danger. The tennis court was removed last fall as it was in dire shape. No plan to replace. And the smaller actual greenhouse has also been removed.

A complete renovation of the carriage house and apartment will also happen in the spring. I have the windows and doors, which were ordered along with the house items. I am also floating the idea of a pool house type structure in the area of the old greenhouse. I haven’t decided if it is needed.

The decision to open the Inn or move into the house and make it our home is still in the air. Joe has admitted how well the house would work as an Inn. But he is still talking about it as “The New House”. We have people coming in for the US Open in June. It would be nice to use the Given’s house for those guests.

Before I end this entirely too long article, I must explain the link at the beginning. As stated, John and Irene Given built this home. Irene was a proponent of and championed for lending libraries in all communities, which has morphed into our current local public library systems. A room in the Given’s house was used as a “family library”. Their daughter, Sarah Given Larson created the Given Memorial Library with an endowment in memory of her parents, John and Irene Given.

As the article stated, they are in need of more space for the Given Memorial Library and the Tufts Archives, since the village has taken over the operations of both. The Given Memorial Library has been in operation since 1964.

Background on John and Irene Given. John was in advertising and worked for Henry J Heinz. Irene was the only daughter of Henry J Heinz. Yes, that Henry J Heinz.

Title Theft

The Mighty Humanzee — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 21:43:16 +0000

Your Vital Documents Are Online

In today’s time, so many of our trusted government offices have put our information online. This was happening before Covid hit us.

By Grammy Pam / @Grammypam64Gill

In today’s time, so many of our trusted government offices have put our information online. This was happening before covid hit us. It started in 1990 in NC, when the state government started putting court records and real estate records online.

Several factors were in play. Storage of old files and records was the number one reason why the digital push happened.

Attorneys and other state offices wanted an easier option to obtain information than spending hours traveling to and from other offices. This filtered down stream to other related industries such as real estate firms, survey/engineering firms, and people wanting to search tax records.

Because of this conversion of records online, there has popped up a developing industry of using online records to manipulate titles on real estate.

By finding properties that are owned by individuals, scammers can download a Deed, recreate said Deed and transfer the property to another name or company. When this happens, the new “owner” can then sell or mortgage the property.

Usually with a real estate sale, there will be a Deed and if a loan is needed for the purchase, a Mortgage Deed or Deed of Trust, depending on your state. These items are recorded in order, within minutes. It may take days, weeks or even a month for the information to reach the tax department. Usually this is when the first indication of a title theft has happened.

With the new documents recorded, the “new loans” will be effective. It will take 3-4 months of no payments for a mortgage foreclosure department to begin the process. Notice will be served on the property with posting of the foreclosure documents by the local sheriff or court service. This may be your first encounter of the theft of your property.

If you are interested in checking your home title but don’t know where to start, I’m going to help you.

It is an easy task if you understand the process. I will show you an example using my home county of Moore.

After reading this guide and you still have questions, please let me know.

Start by knowing your recording office. In NC our titles are recorded by county. The Register of Deeds is in charge of all titles, mortgages, birth and death records. In your reporting county (?), this office may have a different name. Some states use the Clerk of Court as the official recorder of all info.

This is the website for Moore County

Here is where we will choose Real Estate.

And then we will choose Grantor. The Grantor is the seller in a real estate transaction.

Now enter the last name, first name of the owner of the property and click search.

Here we see the last few years of transactions by the Grantor. The instrument we are looking for is a Deed. We see a Deed here where Robert Blandford has conveyed a property. We can see the name of the Grantee, which in this case is Robert Blandford and two others. I know this person and the other Grantors are his daughters. Click view and we will see the Deed.

At this point we can see each page of the Deed. If we click page 3 of 3, we will see the signature and notary information.

At this point you can see if the signature matches and the Notary that certified the signature.

If this was your Deed, as a Grantor, you should see your signature. If a Deed has been fraudulently created and filed, you will need a copy of this for your attorney.

In states that use title companies instead of attorneys to close property transactions, you could contact that company, which should be shown on the top of the first page of the Deed. I would suggest you contact your personal attorney and let their office contact the title company. The title company will not represent you in this transaction. Your personal attorney is the only outlet you will have to fight this.

If you are not confident in this process, contact me and I will find your recorder’s office and set up a link for you to use.

I check my property weekly. This takes me a few minutes to do even with links. By contacting a title company or an outside company who will protect your title, they will only help you if your

property has not been stolen. I’m not sure of the monthly cost to do this but it is a simple thing for you to do to protect yourself and your property.

Signature Bank

The Mighty Humanzee — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 03:24:04 +0000

Insights into the Rise and Fall of Signature

The failure of Signature Bank shocked the financial sector, as it occurred on the heels of the plummet of SVB just days before. Nathan Brittles details the history and circumstances of Signature’s demise.

By Nathan Brittles

.@nathan_brittles

On March 11, 2023, Signature Bank signed off. The U. S. government closed Signature down in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank a few days earlier. Signature Bank is an interesting story of survival, success, and ultimately, failure. Signature was founded in 2001 by 3 key men: Joseph DePaolo, Scott Shay and John Tamberlane.

These three had previously worked at Republic National Bank of New York. Republic has its own interesting story, and in order to understand Signature, you need to know about Republic. Republic National Bank was founded in 1966 by Edmond Safra. Safra grew up a Lebanese Jew from Beirut, whose family had been in banking for many years, mostly in Switzerland and Lebanon. After immigrating to the United States, he founded Republic and he grew it to be the third largest bank in the New York City area behind only Citibank and Chase. Republic carved out a niche catering to affluent individuals (many of whom were Russian) fellow bankers, and the diamond district of 47th St. in Manhattan. Legend has it that most of the diamonds in New York slept each night in Republic’s vaults at their 452 5th Avenue headquarters. Republic was hit hard in 1998 by the Russian bond default. 45% of its net income was lost when the ruble defaulted in 1998. Many of the top accounts at Republic were Ukrainian and Russian nationals. In 1999, Safra sold Republic to HSBC for over $10 billion. Safra then immigrated to Monaco where he established citizenship. He was only there a few months when he died in a fire in December 1999. The fire was allegedly set by his male nurse Ted Maher who staged the fire so that he could appear to rescue Safra and be the hero. It unfortunately didn’t work out as planned.

Depaolo, Tamberlane, and Shay had been with Republic in senior positions for years and knew the affluent client base of Republic extremely well. They knew the loyal clients of Republic would welcome a new bank run by familiar faces. With $60 million in capital from Bank Hapoalim of Israel, Signature Bank launched on May 1, 2001. Signature was built on a very simple model; pure relationship banking with a single point of contact. This was refreshing common sense. Many large banks overcomplicate the banking relationship, making clients deal with separate people for separate issues. Signature was smart knowing that one single banker could handle multiple issues and bring in experts as needed. With their extensive knowledge of the client base, they were able to attract successful bankers and banking teams and grow their deposit base very quickly. Rather than focus only on personal assets, they also diversified into commercial banking with small, medium, and larger companies. CEO DePaolo had said he wanted to cater to the guy who started his business in Brooklyn but is now worth $20 million. They were so successful they did not even need to advertise, and most of their branches had no signs out front. DePaolo famously refused to even have pens with the Signature name on them, finding them tacky.

Soon, Signature branched out into construction loans and became one of the Trump organization’s go-to banks in New York for building projects and loans. DePaolo bragged that over half of the theater production houses on Broadway banked with Signature. In what was to become a telling blind spot, Signature also was willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to clients like Irv Gotti, whose Murder Inc. rap record label had been accused of money laundering. DePaolo kept his accounts open until he was cleared. Slow and steady New York City based business proved profitable throughout the next 15 years.

In 2018 however, things begin to change. John Tamberlane‘s son, Greg, was an outspoken advocate for blockchain based technology and cryptocurrency. Greg encouraged Signature to adopt a platform known as Signet. Signet was a Blockchain based asset transfer system, where instantaneous transfers of millions of dollars could be transacted without having to use the traditional bank wire transfer (ACH) system, where transfers could take hours. Think of Venmo on steroids. Transfers could now be accomplished within 30 seconds. With this cutting edge technology as a selling point, Signature expanded for the first time to the west coast, opening an office in the San Francisco area. They quickly attracted large banking teams. These teams gathered millions of dollars in Silicon Valley tech money, and Signature’s deposit base and stock price skyrocketed from $60 to over $350.

Herein lay their undoing.

First a bit of banking background. Why do banks fail? Banks are intermediaries. People deposit their money, then the banks take these deposits, and lend them to other borrowers. The rest they invest in fixed income guaranteed securities, like government bonds and treasuries. Banks are vulnerable, however, because deposits are redeemable upon request. Anyone can walk into a bank and take all their money out at any time. The problem with the loans and bonds is they are not liquid. There isn’t a pile of cash in a vault for the bank to draw from when depositors come to take their money out. Additionally, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guarantees deposits up to $250,000. If you had a $2 million savings account, and the bank went under, you’d only be insured for $250,000. The balance of $1,750,000 is “uninsured” and would be lost. Banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank had a very large percentage of deposit relationships that were far higher than $250,000. Silicon Valley Bank had over 93% of its deposits uninsured (meaning larger than $250,000) and 94% of their deposits were held in loans and “Hold to Maturity” (HTM) securities. Signature Bank had just under 90% uninsured deposits over $250,000 and 93% of those assets in loans and HTM. So SVB and Signature Bank sailed themselves into a perfect storm. 90% of their deposits were larger than $250,000 and 90% of those deposits were invested in loans and HTM securities, which were not liquid. As the Federal Reserve continued to raise rates, more and more people came to withdraw their money in search of higher returns elsewhere. SVB and Signature soon ran out of capital to make people whole on these withdrawals.

Next, we need to understand some basics about those HTM bonds. “Bonds” are nothing more than loans. Promises, as in “your word is your bond.” Investors loan their money to a government entity, the federal government in the case of treasuries. In exchange for the loan, the buyer also gets interest. The safer the bond, the lower the interest rate. “Safe” can mean shorter time to maturity, and it also can mean the quality of the entity to which you loan the money. Treasuries are the safest because they’re backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government. When interest rates go down, the value of the bond that you hold goes up. Say you own a bond paying 3%, a new bond is only going to get 1%. Therefore, if you wanted to sell your 3% bond, people would line up to pay more to get it because it’s paying more than a new bond. It’s inherently more valuable than a new one. Conversely, when rates go up, your bond that you’ve already got goes down in value. If you have a 3% bond when somebody can walk off the street and get a new one for 5%, no one wants your 3%. Now multiply this by billions of dollars. In order to get any kind of decent interest percentage on a treasury bond, banks had to take very long term treasuries, 10, 20, or 30 years maturities. If they hold the bond to maturity, they’re going to get all their principal back. The problem now is that rates are rising, so these low rate bonds are worth less than face value. Silicon Valley and Signature Bank were forced to sell their bonds immediately to raise enough capital to cover the wave of withdrawals. Signature saw $10 billion of withdrawals in the week following SVB’s failure. Signature had no way to raise the $10 billion quickly or easily. It is then an exponential fall of the dominoes. As more people rush to take their money out before it’s too late, the bank runs out of cash on hand, and the assets it holds are now not worth full value. It also raises the antenna of the FDIC, so the US government comes in and preemptively closes Signature Bank.

Signature Bank and its board had what one might charitably call a shady background, going all the way back to the Russian ruble failure and how it undermined Republic National Bank. Apparently, the federal government was also investigating Signature’s signet platform, which was making it allegedly very easy for Russian and Ukrainian arms dealers to exchange large sums of cash instantaneously, with little oversight. Internally, stories abound about the odd way in which DePaolo and company ran the bank. The banking teams were essentially treated as independent contractors. There was no middle management. The bankers reported directly to DePaolo and had very infrequent contact with him. In 2019, for instance, DePaolo held an “all hands” meeting with all his bankers. It was the first such meeting in over 7 years. Also, senior managers at Signature Bank had a well-earned reputation for treating their employees heartlessly. Some banking teams were laid off a week before Christmas, hours before they were to attend the annual Holiday Party.

Signature seemed to do many things right. They were clever in placing former Congressman Barney Frank on their Board of Directors. They made a tremendous amount of money bankrolling many New York real estate ventures, they earned the trust of most of Broadway. Ultimately, however, the siren song of exponential crypto based growth proved too strong, and they ran upon the rocks. As the lying Sirens called to Odysseus:

Odysseus, bravest of heroes,
Draw near to us, on our green island,
Odysseus, we’ll teach you wisdom,
We’ll give you love, sweeter than honey.
The songs we sing, soothe away sorrow,
And in our arms, you will be happy.
Odysseus, bravest of heroes,
The songs we sing, will bring you peace.

A COVID Guide

The Mighty Humanzee — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 18:45:44 +0000

From A Physician in Our Audience

Please note: this a guide and you should seek out the advice the professionals listed in this article as well as your doctor. This article is provided by a surgeon who has devoted himself to general practice.

By The Mighty Humanzee

Just a quick note to the Humanzee Tribe.

Joe here. I wanted to give you a few suggestions to maybe help you or your loved ones who have side effects from covid or have taken the covid ”vaccine”. I apologize for not doing this earlier. My investigative work on covid/vaccine injuries with several groups have kept me busy.

The main goal is to help you progress through your medical issues and prepare your information in case any legal action is needed in the future. Pam and I attended a medical legal conference last weekend and have some suggestions for you to use. More will be coming next week regarding the conference.

First, your health.

There are several sites that have valuable information on possible detoxing of the spike proteins and other injuries that have occurred due to experiencing covid and/or taking the covid “vaccine”. They also have a listing of vitamins and supplements the independent medical community have found to be vital to your everyday health.

Please consider taking Vitamins C, D with K, Zink, Omega 3-6-9, Magnesium, Aspirin or Nattokinase for blood clots and Melatonin 5 or 7 for sleep aid if needed. If you have a good relationship with your doctor, ask for Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine for daily or weekly use.

Pam and I take all of the suggested vitamins and supplements including Hydroxychloroquine daily.

https://www.twc.health/ Dr. Peter McCullough’s site

https://drstellamd.com/ Dr. Stella Immanuel’s site

https://covid19criticalcare.com/treatment-protocols/ FLCCC Alliance site

I have reviewed the above sites and feel they have the most comprehensive information regarding protocols for treatment of covid/vaccine injuries. Their sites also offer medical recommendations and treatments through a network of doctors licensed in various states. If you need independent medical care not available in your area, please check their sites for a doctor in your state. Although I am practicing general medicine today, I am a surgeon and not an immunologist or a virologist. I bow to the independent experts.

I recommend cleaning your diet as much as possible. Food industries use many hormones and pesticides in the processing of their foods. Even if you can not afford a completely organic diet, consider eating more fresh vegetables and fruits. Better choice in meats would be chicken, fish and seafood over beef and pork. If you want a steak, have it, just not every night. Reduce your white sugar and corn syrup intake. Drink more water instead of soda or sweetened drinks.

Easy to say, hard to do. I will concede, I still have coffee every morning and will continue to do so. I will have a Dr. Pepper once in a while and I love different types of beer so that is a hard one for me. When Pam is in the baking zone, I will have a small taste. Fast food is a health killer, avoid it when you can. It is hard to completely rid your diet of bad foods but by cutting back as much as you can, your overall health will improve.

Increase your physical activity. Take a walk, ride a bike, play in the yard with the kids and grandkids. Outdoor exposure is a must if you can. Fresh air, depending where you are located, is vital. If you are unable to do much physical activity, google chair yoga and chair exercises. There are many exercises you can do from a desk chair or your sofa. These suggestions will help your cardiovascular, muscular and immune systems.

I do 3 workouts a week, yoga and stretching exercises every day. Too many jumps back in my military days have left me with old man stiffness syndrome. Find the time to do some exercises a few times a week, if not everyday.

A few suggestions if you are seeing medical personnel regarding ANY injuries you feel are related to covid or the “vaccine”, please take the following suggestions to heart and protect yourself in case you decide to pursue any legal action, regardless of the defendants.

Keep a journal. This can be a folder with paper, a ring binder or a composition book. Just make sure all paperwork is kept together.

In said journal,

List the dates, batch numbers and producer of any vaccine you have taken. This should be on the vaccine card you were given at the time of injection

List all symptoms with dates of occurrence

List all doctor appointments, in order if possible. Allow 1-3 pages for all information regarding that appointment only. Also add any thoughts you have about the visits. If the tech, nurse, doctor made comments that were dismissive, add that as well. This information may be vital if any legal action happens in the future. Keep the information for each appointment separate. This is key to building a case if needed.

List all testing whether it was basic labs or more controlled testing such as ultrasounds, CT-scans, etc. on the individual appointment page. Keeping this information together with the originating appointments is also critical.

List all medicines, including any supplements that were suggested for you to take.

If you have access to your electronic medical records, download and print any and all notes, summary of care, diagnosis, treatment plans and add them to your journal.

If any treatment and medications are prescribed, make detailed notes about any adverse reactions. If you are given medicine and you have side effects, right them down. Sometimes these issues are not the direct cause from the meds but negative interaction with your current symptoms and root problem.

If a visit to your medical professionals leaves you in more pain or increase in injuries, document in your journal and find another source. If for ANY reason you feel pressured to try “new” or “newly updated” medication, please do not make that decision without first doing some investigation on your own. Do not continue with medical care blindly. At this point, it is better to be safe than commit to another unproven treatment.

One last thought. If you follow a religion, no matter which denomination, please practice! Sometimes faith in God is all we need to pull us out of the darkness. Daily prayer, a conversation with your God, can change your life. If you ask for guidance, listen for the answer, then obey.

I hope these suggestions will help you and your loved ones. As more information becomes available, I will provide updates.

Live Local Act Florida

The Mighty Humanzee — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 18:05:26 +0000

Humanzee Tribe Members Spark Great Conversation

This article is by Grammy and is based on exchange she had with Rhonda on Twitter. These ladies are two fervent fans of the podcast, and we are thrilled to have this article for you.

By Grammy @grammypam64gill and Rhonda @rhondacarlisle9

Today, I signed legislation to help Floridians live in the communities where they work. The Live Local Act will expand the supply of housing and make it more affordable for members of our workforce. pic.twitter.com/nvUDbX9cd1
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 29, 2023

Our friend and Humanzee Tribe member Rhonda @rhondacarlisle9 sent me a text on an article from Florida regarding Gov Ron DeSantis and the Live Local Act. She knew I have been a General Contractor for many years and asked for my opinion. On the surface it sounds like the concept of 15 minute cities, a part of the WEF plan for global domination. But, Florida does have a real need for affordable housing. And this Live Local Act will help workers in the lover level of wage earners purchase a home.

In recent years, I have lived the winter months mostly in northeastern Florida, near Jacksonville. I lived in Ponte Vedra Beach (PVB), south of Jacksonville Beach on the east coast. This area is the mecca of PGA Tour golf. The TPC Sawgrass property also houses the PGA headquarters. The area is also home to several other national sport headquarters. And the best part of this area, semi-private beaches within two world-class beach resorts. This info is vital to the next paragraph.

In large metro areas like Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, the local workforce is 80 percent service industry workers. Florida is a tourist industry state. Beaches, sports and amusement parks make up the majority of industry. Year round crops are still grown in the state, mostly known for citrus and sugar cane. But, some areas such as Jacksonville and Miami, have white collar industries in regional/national business offices. Another large industry that has grown in the last few years is healthcare.

The issue that has been present for many years, the real estate market in the entire state has risen greatly in value since the 1950’s and recently put most buyers of a lower income out of the buyers housing market.

In the case of Jacksonville, which I have personal experience with, the service industry workforce is unable to purchase homes in the areas of town in which they work. In PVB, the average single family home price in 2019 was $500,000 for a 2000 square foot build. Today, that price is well above $750,000.

The increase of home prices rose very quickly due to the amount of people relocating to Florida from northern states during Covid. With home prices in the northern states much higher than the home prices in Florida, at that time, people relocating to the state were able to make cash offers for a limited amount of existing homes. New construction homes were not figured into the equation due to the down market of building supplies affected by the global supply chain issues.

The people relocating that were forced out of the bidding wars for existing homes were pushed into townhomes and condos, which would have been an option for the higher-end of the service industry workers. This puts most service workers trying to live close to work into apartments.

But this is also a huge problem. In order to build enough apartments to supply housing to these service workers, large parcels of land are needed to handle the local building codes for apartment communities. In order to keep the rents at a level that is affordable to the service workers, many communities are very large in size, sometimes having 20 or more buildings, and are increasing in height, adding more floors to take advantage of lower construction costs of building up, not out.

If you do find land available and usable to build, it is itself expensive and probably not located near the source of jobs. Public transportation is not as available in these areas due to the land size of the metro areas. In the case of PVB, those workers come from the land side of the area. PVB is on the island strip of land that makes up the areas of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach. The Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) separates the land side from the water side. All land on the water side is considered beach homes, even though many are 50’s and 60’s style ranch homes, which in any other area would be the type of homes available to the service workers.

The available homes that fit the income levels of the service workers are located near the city of Jacksonville proper and are older and smaller in size. The problem with these areas are the distance of drive for the workers to travel for their jobs. The area of Jacksonville metro, from the west side of the area to the beaches, is approx 60 miles. Even with the newer roads of 4 to 8 lanes, it would take an hour or more to travel each way, with limited public transportation.

This same range of problems affect other areas in the state that rely on lower wage earners in the service industry. The $259M SHIP portion of the Live Local Act will provide funds to construct affordable housing near the areas of concentrated industries.

Also, Jacksonville is home to 2 USNaval bases, Mayport on the coast and NSAJax located in the interior land space of Jacksonville. With all military bases, providing housing for military members is a huge problem. With the numbers of members at any base, post or camp increasing over the years, the available land inside the military installations is limited.

The DOD made provisions after WWII with the VA Loan program and wage adjustments for living off the installations. This opened the home buyer arena to double the numbers in areas near installations. But, the wage adjustments for off base housing do not always provide the members enough to rent or buy in areas near the installations or in areas that are safe for the families to live in while the members may be deployed. The $252M SAIL portion of the Live Local Act is dedicated to military housing and special projects.

Another $100M is allocated to help with down payments within certain industries.

To wrap up this sample of information regarding the Live Local Act, the need is great for affordable housing in areas of industry, which may be located in overbuilt areas. This has been a real issue for Florida and the residents for years but the vast migration of new residents to the state during Covid have made this issue an urgent problem for Gov DeSantis and the State.