The Top 10 Landowners in the World

How large is the yard at your home? If you live in many parts suburban or rural parts of the country, you might enjoy a sprawling property of quite a few acres or more. But for those of us who live in California’s cities, we might consider a quarter acre to be a huge lot. But no matter if it takes you all Saturday afternoon to mow your lawn or you can practically touch both sides of your fence at the same time, your property isn’t even a postage stamp compared to these ten largest landowners in the world:  

#10 King Letsie III

Where: Lesotho, Africa

Land: The entirety of the country of Lesotho, all 11,718 square miles of it.

Background: King Letsie retains legal title over the nation's lands. This is his second stint as Lesotho's monarch after being replaced by his exiled father and then being deposed upon his return, then taking the throne again after the death of his father less than one year later.

#9 King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

Where: Bhutan, South Asia

Land: The entirety of the Kingdom of Bhutan, all 15,000 square miles of it.

Background: The former University of Oxford graduate, and fifth currently reigning Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King), was crowned in 2008 and has been the force behind Bhutan’s recent democratization.

#8 King Abdullah I

Where: Jordan, Middle East

Land: The entirety of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, all 35,637 square miles of it.

Background: The heir to his father, the wildly popular King Hussein, and son of British born Princess Muna al-Hussein (formerly known as Antoinette Avril Gardiner), is one of The United States' most loyal allies in the Middle East.

#7 King Gyanendra

Where: Nepal, South Asia

Land: The entirety of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, all 57,000 square miles of it, including Mount Everest.

Background: The royal family retains nominal ownership of all Nepal, even though the country's move to a Maoist Republic in the 1990's shook things up politically. Gyandera is a titular head of state but antithetically friendly with the socialist government. He has been tested in recent times, during events such as the 2015 earthquake.

#6 Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said

Where: Oman, Middle East

Land: The entirety of the Sultanate of Oman, all 119,498 square miles of it.

Background: Qaboos is the ruler of Oman and the head of its military. He is a fairly Westernized leader in the context of his neighbors, even allowing women to serve in his cabinet. Though his landmass is very large, the majority of it is desert.

#5 King Bhumibhol Adulyadej

Where: Thailand, South East Asia

Land: The entirety of the Kingdom of Thailand, all 198,115 square miles of it.

Background: Bhumibhol has been King since 1950; 11 years after the country changed its name from Siam to Thailand. He is the longest serving monarch in Asia and so popular is he in Thailand that you can see him on every bank note and in almost every establishment. It is a serious crime to deface his portrait or speak ill of him in public.

# 4 King Mohammed VI

Where: Morocco, North Africa

Land: The entirety of the Kingdom of Morocco, all 274,375 square miles of it.

Background: King Mohammed is the first monarch in Morocco’s history who was a major proponent of democracy.

#3 Pope Francis

Where: Various parts of the world.

Land: The 110 acres of The Holy See that constitute Vatican City. Also, roughly 177 million more acreage of various lands owned by the Catholic Church throughout the globe, including the hundreds of Vatican embassies that are legally titled to The Holy See as an independent nation.

Background: Born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis is the 266^th Pope of the Catholic Church, and has held the position since 2013. He is one of the most popular Popes to date.

#2 Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Where: Saudi Arabia, Middle East

Land: The entirety of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, all 830,000 square miles of it.

Background: Having served as the deputy governor and then the Governor of Riyadh for 48 years from 1963 to 2011. He was appointed as defense minister in 2011. After the death of his brother in 2012, he was named the Crown Prince of the Kingdom. Salman was crowned as the new king of Saudi Arabia on 23rd January 2015 following the death of his half brother, King Abdullah.

#1 Queen Elizabeth II

Where: Various parts of the world

Land: 10,312,500 square miles of land across the globe; including Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, the Falkland Islands and some 26 other states.

Background: England's longest serving monarch, Elizabeth II retains royal title over The British Commonwealth and as such her face is on the currency of several nations around the globe.

With her 10,312,500 square miles of land, her Majesty is a very clear winner of this category.

15 Crazy (And Surprisingly Accurate) Predictors of The Next U.S. President. (Part 2)

Who will be elected the next U.S. President? In part one of this blog, we outlined the first seven highly unconventional methods of predicting who will be the 44th Commander in Chief of these United States. Here are the next eight:

8. The Redskins Rule:
Apparently, the football team in the nation’s capital is a precise predictor of U.S. presidents. If the Redskins win their last home game of the season before Election Day, then the incumbent party will win. Incredibly, it’s worked for every single election since 1940, with only one exception.

In 2004, the Packers beat the Redskins in the final home game before the election, but President George W. Bush won and retained his presidency, but remember that he’d actually lost the popular vote in 2000, when a Supreme Court ruling over a Florida recount awarded him the Presidency. So if we look at the popular vote, not just who wins, then the Redskin Rule holds up a perfect 18-0.

Accuracy: Solid as oak
Prediction: The Redskins are pretty bad, so a Republican will probably win

9. The 7-Eleven Cup Rule:
7-Eleven, the popular convenience store, offers custom coffee cups every election season, allowing customers to choose a cup from the party they want to see in office. In the last four elections, the presidential candidate who was chosen most on a 7-Eleven cup, won.

Accuracy: As consistent as morning coffee
Prediction: TBD

10. The World Series Rule:
This one is pretty simply – if the American League wins baseball’s World Series, a Republican will win that year’s Presidential election, But if a National League team hoists the World Series banner, the Democrats are in for a victory.

Accuracy: The best analytic since “Sabermetrics”
Prediction: Who will win in 2016? The American League Royals won in 2015, but the NL’s Dodgers, Cubs, or Mets have the best odds of winning in 2016, according to Vegas predictions. If that’s the case, then our next President will be a Democrat.

11. The vote in Vigo County Rule:
Since 1956, the way that little Vigo County, Indiana votes has predicted the U.S. presidential election every time. In fact, their results are surprisingly accurate – within 3% of the popular vote – and the trend of Vigo as a prognosticator goes all the way back to 1892 with only two exceptions.

Accuracy: Bet the farm on it
Prediction: TBD!

12. The Candidate Height Rule:
This is amazing (and scary!): since 1900, the taller Presidential candidate has won every election with only eight exceptions. Most recently, the 6’1” Obama beat John McCain (5’6”) in 2008 but also beat a taller Mitt Romney (6’2”) in 2012, leading us to wonder if Romney wears 1”+ lifts in his black wingtips? .

Accuracy: Meh
Prediction: Donald Trump is 6’2” and Hillary Clinton is not

13. The Last Name Rule:
If we go back to 1900, the Presidential candidate with the most letters in his last name has won 16 times and lost only 8.

Accuracy: Sports betters and gamblers wish they had a two-thirds success rate
Prediction: For the Republicans, Trump (5), Bush (4), and Paul (4) aren’t looking good, but Huckabee (8) and Santorum (8) have a good shot to beat Clinton (7) or Sanders (7)

14. The Summer Olympics Rule:
Just like U.S. Presidential elections, the Summer Olympics happen every four years – but is there a correlation? In fact, in the last 13 out of 14 Summer Olympics, a precedent has been set that predicts our next President. If the host country has previously hosted a Summer Olympics, the incumbent party has won the election. Only Japan’s hosting of the 1964 Summer Olympics bucks this rule…BUT…Japan had been awarded the 1940 Summer Olympics but they were cancelled because of WWII, so it can be almost justified as 14 out of 14 wins

Accuracy: 95%
Prediction: The Summer Olympics are being hosted in Brazil in 2016 for the first time…which means a Republican is sure to win.

15. The First Lady Cookie Recipe Rule:
Finally, we’re getting down to some really scientific methods of predicting the next U.S. President with…cookie recipes? The popular home magazine “Family Circle” has published a favorite cookie recipe from each of the Presidential candidate’s wives since 1992, with readers voting for their favorite tasty treat. So far, Hillary Clinton over Barbara Bush and Elizabeth Dole, Laura Bush over Tipper Gore and Teresa Heinz Kerry, and Michelle Obama over Cindy McCain and Ann Romney have held up flawlessly,

Accuracy: 100%
Prediction: Bill Clinton can’t bake (pun very much intended), so we’ll say that the wife of a Republican will have a better recipe – and become the First Lady.

The Top 5 Eminent Domain Cases in the U.S.

Can the government seize the property of a private citizen? In fact, the government’s right to expropriate private property for public use is called eminent domain and is very much a real occurrence. In fact, the term "eminent domain" was taken from the legal treatise De Jure Belli et Pacis, written by the Dutch jurist, Hugo Grotius in 1625. In the legal treatise, Grotius used the term dominium eminens (Latin for supreme lordship) and described the power as follows:

"... The property of subjects is under the eminent domain of the state, so that the state or he who acts for it may use and even alienate and destroy such property, not only in the case of extreme necessity, in which even private persons have a right over the property of others, but for ends of public utility, to which ends those who founded civil society must be supposed to have intended that private ends should give way. But it is to be added that when this is done the state is bound to make good the loss to those who lose their property."

1. Kohl v. The United States

The U.S. Supreme Court first examined federal eminent domain power in 1876. This case presented a landowner’s challenge to the power of the United States to condemn land in Cincinnati, Ohio for use as a customhouse and post office building.  Justice William Strong called the authority of the federal government to appropriate property for public uses “essential to its independent existence and perpetuity.” The court ruled that it is necessary for the government to be able to seize property for its uses, such as creating infrastructure, which ultimately are determined by the legislature and not the judiciary. This essentially gives the government ultimate ownership over all property, because it’s not viable for the government to hold out against the obstinence of private individuals to appropriate land for government uses. This power of eminent domain is not only a privilege of the federal, but also state governments.

2. Kelo v. City of New London

Back in 2005, the Supreme Court of the United Sates decided the case of Kelo v. City of New London. The case involved the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another private owner to further economic development. In a 5–4 decision in favor of the City of New London, written by Justice Stevens, the Supreme Court held that the general benefits a community enjoyed from economic growth, qualified private redevelopment plans as a permissible "public use” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The case arose in the context of condemnation by the city of New London, Connecticut, of privately owned real property, so that it could be used as part of a “comprehensive redevelopment plan.” However, the private developer was unable to obtain financing and abandoned the redevelopment project, leaving the land as an undeveloped empty lot.

3. United States v. Gettysburg Electric Railway Co.

Eminent domain has been utilized traditionally to facilitate transportation. The dispute began in August 1891 when the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association’s board approved attorney Samuel Swope’s motion to deny trolley right-of-way along GBMA roads. Near the end of the 19th century, tourists would typically arrive by train and paid fees for horse-drawn jitney taxis to travel to the 1863 Gettysburg Battlefield on primitive wagon roads of the private Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (GBMA).  Congress wanted to acquire land to preserve the site of the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania.  The railroad company that owned some of the property in question contested this action.  Ultimately, the Court opined that the federal government has the power to condemn property “whenever it is necessary or appropriate to use the land in the execution of any of the powers granted to it by the constitution.”

4. United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Co.

Eminent domain was also used for supply waters, and the maintenance of navigable waters. So unfettered was the control of Congress over navigable streams of the country, that its judgment as to whether a construction in or over such a river was or was not an obstacle and a hindrance to navigation, is conclusive. Such judgment and determination is the exercise of legislative power in respect of a subject wholly within its control. In U. S. v. Chandler-Dunbar Co., the government acquired upland property that was located on the St. Mary's river, the outlet of Lake Superior. The property owner was a power company, and it argued that its property was more valuable because it the site was suitable for hydroelectric power. The United States refused to pay any enhanced value for the ability to generate power from the location. The Supreme Court rejected the claim.

5. Albert Hanson Lumber Company v. United States

In this case in the early 1900’s, the United States instituted condemnation proceedings in the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, to acquire a strip of land 300 feet wide, named Hanson Canal. Judgment was given condemning the property and vesting title in the United States when the amount found in favor of the owner shall have been paid. The judgment was affirmed after the owner took the case to the Circuit Court. The owner contended that the District Court and Circuit Court of Appeals erred in holding that the acts of Congress relied upon by the government confer authority to condemn the canal proper and the land adjacent to and outside the limits within a strip of a total width of 300 feet inclusive of the canal.

20 Reasons why the future is so bright for solar, you’ve gotta to wear shades.

Just how prevalent is solar power in the United States these days? In 2014, the U.S. Solar industry achieved yet another record year, growing by 34% over 2013 to install nearly 7,000 megawatts (MW) of solar electric capacity. Within the photovoltaic (PV) sector, over 6,200 MW of capacity was installed, led by the residential and utility segments, which grew by 51% and 38%, respectively.

The way the industry has been booming from one year to the next, it’s no surprise that 2015 has been even better, and 2016 will build on that momentum.

While solar is still a small overall part of America's energy mix, this type of growth shows that it will continue to boom and experts predict that solar will become the world's largest source of electricity by 2050.

The U.S. looks to follow in the footsteps of countries like Germany, where 63% of their entire electricity is supplied through solar, and Japan and China who together make up more than 50% of the world’s solar industry.

Here are 20 statistics about the U.S. Solar industry in 2015...and beyond:

1. The U.S. installed 1,306 megawatts of direct current (MWdc) of solar PV in the first quarter of 2015, marking the sixth consecutive quarter in which the U.S. added more than 1 gigawatt of direct current (GWdc) of PV installations. And experts suggest that by the end of the year it will reach 7.9 GWdc, which is a 27% increase over 2014.

2. The industry grew 418% from 2010 to 2014. Within the last two years, the U.S. installed more solar than the previous 38 years combined.

3. Through the first quarter of 2015, nearly one-fourth of cumulative residential solar installations have now come on-line without any state incentive. 

4. Collectively, more than 51% of all new electric generating capacity in the U.S. came from solar in the first quarter of 2015.

5. Every three minutes, someone in the United States switches to solar.

6. The residential and utility PV market segments each added more capacity than the natural gas industry brought on-line in the first quarter of 2015.

7. Of the 68 MWdc of community solar installations to date, more than one-third of that total has come on-line since 2014.

8. More than 5 GWdc of centralized PV has now been procured by utilities based on the economic competitiveness that solar has with fossil-fuel alternatives.

9. There are now over 22.7 GW of cumulative solar electric capacity operating in the U.S., enough to power more than 4.6 million average American homes.

10. Growth in 2014 was led by the utility-scale sector, which grew 38% over 2013 to reach nearly 4 (GW), and the residential sector, which crossed the 1 GW barrier for the first time while growing 51% over 2013. So far in 2015 utility scale segment is dominating once again, with 729 MW of installed capacity.

11. Since the implementation of the Solar Investment Tax Credit, in 2006, the cost to install solar has dropped by more than 75%.

12. On January 1, 2017, the 30% federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is scheduled to drop to 10% for third party owned residential, non-residential, and utility PV projects under Section 48 of the tax code, while the credit for purchases residential PV under Section 25d is scheduled to expire entirely.

13. In just over five years, the U.S. PV market, which doesn’t include concentrated solar plants, has witnessed a fourfold expansion, from an estimated $3 billion in 2009 to $13.4 billion last year.

14. While residential costs have dropped by 45% since 2010, utility-scale costs have dropped more significantly, with recent contracts at prices below $0.05/kWh.

15. There are many major U.S. corporations, including Walmart, Macy’s and IKEA, which are using solar at an incredible rate.

16. It would take as little as 0.0005% of the globe that would need to be covered in solar panels to power the entire world and knock out our carbon footprint.

17. The top three states for solar installations in 2015 are 1) California. 2) New York. and 3) Arizona. Other states such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut, Colorado, and Texas are also a huge part of the solar boom in the U.S.

18. Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring California's utilities to get 33 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the end of 2020.

19. More than 31,000 solar jobs were added in the U.S. between November 2013 and November 2014. With 85 % of those jobs being new, rather than jobs that already existed but which added additional solar responsibilities. There are now around 200,000 people in the U.S. with jobs related to solar power, a number that’s increased by 87 percent over the last five years.

20. The SunShot Initiative was announced by the Department of Energy and aims to reduce the cost of solar power by 75% from 2010 to 2020. The name is based on "moon shot", Kennedy's target of reaching the moon within the decade.

Goals:

Residential system prices reduced from $6/W to $1.50/W

Commercial system prices reduced from $5/W to $1.25/W

Utility-scale system prices reduced from $4/W to $1.00/W (CSP, CPV and PV)