It’s Memorial Day, the day when we honor those who died in wars for America. It started as a Civil War day, but we’ve had an awful lot of wars since then. It’s also the first day of summer in many ways, a more joyful thing to mark.
Home » 2008 (Page 21)
Yearly Archives: 2008
Narrowing
When a child first opens its eyes, it has no idea what it is looking at. All it has are bizarre images and an imagination that works to make sense of it all.
In between is a sense of wonder, the deep feeling that it all makes sense somehow if you just keep drinking it in. That, and keep playing with it.
Scale
Why is it that some large urban projects succeed where others fail? What’s the magic formula for revitalizing cities?
While I doubt there’s any one formula that can be applied everywhere, I do think that there are lessons that can be learned everywhere, in cities all across the globe. Having been around just a little bit, I also like to think I learned a few of them firsthand.
Invisible Hand on the Pump
Gasoline prices have spiked to the highest levels ever seen in the USofA, somewhere between $3.60 and $3.80 per gallon (about $1.00 per litre). That causes a lot of pain for people who drive 40k miles per year at 20 miles per gallon (pretty close to the average for commuters) and run up a tab of over $600 a month for gasoline alone. But will this change anything? Is there any evidence that higher gasoline prices will encourage conservation?
Ancient Music
I am a hardcore Ancient Music freak. I avoid the term “Classical” because of the connotations that it’s somehow elevating and needs to be forced onto kids. Despite that, however, it’s always on in the car and I cajole my kids into learning some appreciation for it:
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 