The Ranch is not your typical wave. Besides the whole obvious manmade perfection thing, it has some absurdly fast and steep sections where most average surfers shouldn’t bother attempting anything that resembles a turn. At least not on your first crack at one of its waves. Bury a rail, miscalculate your speed, stall when you should be racing…any mishap before getting to what really matters — the barrel section — and you’ll kick yourself for eternity knowing you blew something that was literally handed to you on a silver platter. That’s the curse that hides underneath the Surf Ranch’s thin veil of potential bliss.

Of course, it’s really only this big of a deal if your chances at scoring a wave in Lemoore are limited to a couple of waves. If you’re somehow granted the opportunity to give the place a full day’s worth of playtime then your perspective will undoubtedly change. Take some chances. Try something you’ve never attempted before. Besides, if you fall flat on your face, there will literally be another wave in 20 seconds with your name on it.

Tony Hawk got a swing at The Ranch back in 2018 when he and Shaun White traded waves for a day. If the emotional rollercoaster of his first session was anything like the anxiety-riddled one described above, then we’d venture a guess this past weekend’s trip to Lemoore was actual bliss, capped off with a proper frontside barrel for the Birdman himself.capped off with a proper frontside barrel for the Birdman himself.

http://theinertia.com/surf/heres-tony-hawk-getting-barreled-at-the-ranch/

The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic will likely go into the history books as comparable to the so-called “Spanish Flu” of 1917-1923. The California Historical Society, which has troves of stories, newspapers and photos of that earlier deadly virus, hopes Californians will help it record to history of the current pandemic, which it calls a crisis of historic proportions.

For more information and to participate: https://tinyurl.com/y7jjgfb6

Central Valley Business Times

• It’s ranked fifth in the state, 34th in the nation
• Fresno almost ties with San Francisco

With this being “National Small Business Week” and half of Americans working for small businesses, the personal finance website WalletHub has released its report on “2019’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business.”

WalletHub says it compared 100 U.S. cities across 19 key indicators of startup viability. The data set ranges from five-year business-survival rate to office-space affordability.

Here is WalletHub’s rankings for the California cities itincluded in its report:

• Oakland, 19th nationally
• Irvine, 20th
• Los Angeles

• San Diego, 30th
• Stockton, 34th

• Long Beach, 37th
• San Jose, 42nd
• San Francisco, 44th
• Fresno, 45th
• Chula Vista, 51st
• San Bernardino, 52nd
• Sacramento, 54th
• Bakersfield 56th
• Anaheim, 65th
• Santa Ana, 72nd
• Fremont, 90th

Best vs. Worst
• Toledo, Ohio, has the lowest average annual rent for office space, $11.93 per square foot, which is 6.7 times cheaper than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at $80.22 per square foot.

• Detroit has the lowest labor costs (median annual income), $27,838, which is 4.4 times lower than in Fremont, the city with the highest at $122,191.

• Laredo, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index, 77, which is 2.5 times lower than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at 196.

• Miami, Florida, has the most startups per 100,000 residents, 234.72, which is 3.2 times more than in  Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the city with the fewest at 74.40.

For the full report:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-to-start-abusiness/2281/ – main-findings

https://files.constantcontact.com/2cb20f61601/aec4dc6c-c168-4ded-91e8-1694b4ac9461.pdf

Entekra to Create 250 New Jobs at the Facility, which will be the Most Technologically-Advanced Construction Manufacturing Plant in North America

Entekra

Apr 17, 2019, 12:08 ET

MODESTO, Calif., April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Entekra™ LLC, the California off-site construction startup with an integrated solution that allows home builders to reduce cycle time while achieving productivity and quality gains, has selected Modesto as the site for its new $35-million manufacturing factory, which will boost annual production capacity by 3,000 units and create 250 new jobs.

Since its founding in late 2016 in nearby Ripon, Entekra has made significant inroads deploying its Fully Integrated Off-Site Solution™ (FIOSS™), as the company is already working or in discussions with a majority of the country’s largest home builders.

“Expanding our operations within the greater Modesto community, which has been supportive of our efforts from Day 1, will allow Entekra to effectively capitalize on the tremendous interest in transitioning to FIOSS from the inefficient and labor-intensive method of stick-framing houses on site,” said Entekra CEO Gerard McCaughey.

The new 200,000-square-foot facility will be the most technologically advanced construction-related factory in North America and will facilitate the servicing of residential housing developments from Bakersfield to the California–Oregonborder.

“The City is honored that Entekra chose Modesto for its flagship state-of-the-art off-site building factory. Entekra is both a leader in its industry and a great fit in Modesto’s strong manufacturing sector,” said Modesto City Manager Joe Lopez.

“We are proud to coordinate with the Stanislaus County Office of Education and Opportunity Stanislaus to answer Entekra’s workforce requirements, and look forward to anchoring its North American success,” Lopez added.

According to Opportunity Stanislaus, the Modesto factory construction represents $61.6 million total impact on the local economy, with the project employing approximately 400 individuals directly and indirectly.

While relatively new to the U.S. market, FIOSS has been leveraged for more than a half-century to build homes in Europeand Asia. It has a proven track record for reducing overall build time by as much as 33 percent, while also reducing skilled labor needs by more than 40 percent – a key consideration given the ongoing labor shortage that has plagued U.S. builders.

Entekra will begin installing automated equipment in the Modesto facility in June and anticipates that the first FIOSS houses will be off-site manufactured and ready for rapid on-site assembly in July.

For more information on Entekra, visit entekra.com.

About Entekra

Entekra (entekra.com) was founded in late 2016 to transform the way houses are built in America with its Fully Integrated Off-Site Solution™ (FIOSS™). Based in Ripon, Calif., the off-site construction company streamlines the build process by completely integrating concept, design, and engineering with off-site manufacturing and on-site assembly. Entekra’s management team is comprised of key executives from Ireland’s Century Homes, who grew that startup into Europe’s largest off-site company and are responsible for nearly 175,000 FIOSS homes assembled on three continents.

SOURCE Entekra

Related Links

https://www.entekra.com