The Home Office

We're moving...

2009-09-17T20:20:00.001-07:00

You can find us at: prjx.net. See you there!

Sadness at passing...

2009-04-19T22:08:00.001-07:00

J.G. Ballard, one of the great authors of the 20c., has died. The Guardian has an obituary. His voice will be sorely missed. Fittingly, another headline on The Guardian website today was about a massive car accident on the M-1 today in which five people died.

Cough Up The Bucks removed...

2009-04-09T01:47:00.001-07:00

I don't know why, but loading that video made the blog run sucky. Sorry.

Rand Illusion

2009-03-13T10:47:00.001-07:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Rand Illusion

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

The Virtual Electronic Poem

2009-03-01T13:37:00.001-08:00

Thanks to ArchDaily.com

Please Stand By...

2009-03-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Prisoner Puzzle

2009-02-28T22:06:00.001-08:00

I'm still making changes to the layout of the blog, but I couldn't put off posting this series of videos - The Prisoner Puzzle - an extended interview with Patrick McGoohan from 1977.

Pardon the mess...

2009-02-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

We're doing a bit of cleaning up. Thanks for your patience.

The Theory of Everything?

2009-02-18T22:19:00.001-08:00

Surfing The Universe.

paraskavedekatriaphobia

2009-02-13T11:00:00.001-08:00

paraskavedekatriaphobia - fear of Friday the 13th.

I don't like horror movies. And I'm not superstitious. Really. If you
need me, I'll be under my desk. It may look like I'm cowering, sure...
but actually, I'll just be resting.

Can we expect Republicans to be stupid? Yes we can!
Was I right about bipartisanship being a waste of time? Yes we can!
Can we pay our bills on time and still be screwed? Yes we can!
Is William Shatner a great singer? Yes we can!
Are we fucked? Yes we can!

Spotted.

2009-01-29T10:24:00.001-08:00

The Trap

2009-01-26T09:03:00.001-08:00

This BBC produced series raises some profound questions about the nature of liberty, free markets and governance. You can find a description of the series here. If you click through, you can watch the entire 3-episode series on GoggleVideo.

Thinning On Top

2009-01-26T08:58:00.001-08:00

Annals of Problematic Marketing & Sales: The Meat Man

2009-01-24T11:03:00.001-08:00

It is a rare but welcome event to participate in a Pythonesque sketch in real life. While I have taken some liberty with the dialog, I can assure you that what is depicted below captures the essence of the very real events of my encounter with The Meat Man.

After having been up half the night tending to my feverish wife (yeh! she's got bettah, thank you!), I was just laying down on the soft bed in the guest bedroom to take a nap while the missus was quietly sleeping in our room when - just as the last bit of tension in my muscles had finally dissolved and I could feel the breath of Morpheus upon my face - the doorbell rang.

I fell out of bed, and pulling my clothes on, stumbled towards the front door barefoot. I could hear the missus stirring, and moved quickly so as not to have her further disturbed. As I approached the door, a heavy-fisted pounding bounced from it , making me stop in my tracks. I finished donning my clothes, took the last few steps and opened the door, blinkingly, to see a squat, husky man in his late thirties carrying a clipboard in both hands, take a few, careful steps back away from the door. He had a gingery, close-shaven and balding head, with some oval, plastic rimmed glasses set upon his pale nose. The man smiled broadly and said, "Hi! I'm the Meat Man!"

"... The who?!" To my tired eyes, he seemed unreasonably cheerful.

"I'm the Meat Man... The Meat Man! " he said, pointing emphatically towards his white freezer truck parked in the street. On the side panel of the truck, it said "The Meat Man".

"And...?"

"And it's great meat - top quality - and beats Costco prices, beats Fred Meyer... great deals..."

"Are you a butcher?", I asked observing his butcher-like coat, which was sharply pressed and pristinely white.

"No, I'm The Meat Man. I deliver the meat to your door. Beats Costco... great cuts. Really great stuff! All from the Mid-west! Omaha - best cuts, flash-frozen..."

"Well...um-"

"Of course, if you're not into it - "

"Into what?", I said, squinting at him.

"I-I-I mean no offense - not everyone likes or even buys meat. I mean it's OK..." Up until this point he had been relentlessly good-natured, but he seemed to falter here, waving his clipboard about and staring at his shoes.

"I'm not a vegetarian, if that's what you mean I'm-"

"A carnivore?!", he said, studying me intently.

... an omnivore."

"Well, it'll only takes 30 seconds - well, 3 minutes - but I can show you my meat, what I have..."

Wha...? Actually, I've just woken up and, and... this really isn't the best time-"

"Should I come back some time? I could come back! I could show you my meat then!"

Um... well, I really don't think we're interested... no, thanks. I... um... I'm sorry. Best of luck. Goodbye."

"Oh... well, OK then... Thanks. Bye!" He nodded somewhat sadly, and turned to leave.

As I began to step back into the house and close the door, he turned suddenly around and said earnestly, "Are you sure you don't want to see my meat?"

"Um... no, no thank you. Goodbye."

"Bye!", said The Meat Man. I closed the door.

Totally FOXy!

2009-01-23T09:31:00.001-08:00

John Stewart, will you marry me?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Out With the Old...

2009-01-20T07:44:00.001-08:00

Harper's Index: A retrospective of the Bush Era. If that list doesn't make you wish it was all a nightmare, there is something wrong with you. Bush Apologizes: The Farewell Interview We Wish He'd Give. An Epitaph for the Bush Era.

Happy New Year

2009-01-04T11:33:00.001-08:00

Watch the 'crawl'...

Why doesn't the FCC do something about Fox?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-20T09:55:00.001-08:00

La Jetée

2008-11-30T12:11:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving.

2008-11-21T09:41:00.001-08:00

Third Graders Know More Than Most Adults

2008-11-14T13:59:00.001-08:00

Help!

2008-11-06T10:02:00.001-08:00

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Tip-o'-the-hat to D'Alessandrius!

2008-11-05T12:03:00.001-08:00

Still a good sport?

2008-11-02T06:44:00.001-08:00

Seems so...

Community Organiser

2008-11-01T15:20:00.001-07:00

The Endorsement That Matters

2008-10-27T11:55:00.001-07:00

Different things on different days...

2008-10-21T13:16:00.001-07:00

The Ugliness

2008-10-17T21:01:00.001-07:00

The Right is So Wrong

2008-10-17T20:53:00.001-07:00

Thanks!

2008-10-15T10:06:00.001-07:00

Today, I'd like to extend my personal thanks to John McCain and Sarah Palin for exposing the issues that divide this country. Through their candidacy, we Americans have seen clearly just how fearful, hateful and prejudiced our fellow Americans truly are.

McCain didn't have to run a sleazy campaign against Obama - but thankfully, he did. Had John McCain not run the nasty, virulent campaign that he has, I would have only had an inkling of how stupid, ignorant, racist and frightening my fellow Americans really are. What a great relief to know that roughly 50% of my neighbors are total knuckleheads bent on the destruction of this country. Now, I can go quietly about my life safe in the knowledge that one out of every two people I meet is a dangerous asshole. And it confirms another feeling I've had for quite some time; that perhaps it is now time to let another, less stupid and suicidal species run the planet.

The nationalist campaign of the McCain/Palin ticket has sought to sow fear amongst the electorate, and it has worked to a degree. Please watch the video below.

These people don't exist only in Eastern Ohio; they are your neighbors and mine. And they are just as frightening to me as Islamic fundamentalists.

"Country First"

With the government now taking huge stakes in our banking and trading systems, I fear more than ever the encroachment of a centralized government into our daily affairs. One of the key components of fascism is the centralized control of business to further the goals of the State. To vote for McCain this year is certainly a vote for nationalism and militarism, ugly enough in and of themselves. But is it also a vote for fascism? Sure it is. Roughly half of you would be just dandy with that, wouldn't you?

Not to worry, though. If you're stupid enough to elect McCain, you'll get what you deserve.

Oh, my!

2008-10-09T10:12:00.001-07:00

Americans - the nicest people on Earth!

(tip-o'-the-hat to Andrew Sullivan)

Oops!

2008-10-07T13:31:00.001-07:00

We broke the National Debt Clock.

Simple.

2008-10-06T21:44:00.001-07:00

The Choice.

It's Canada for me.

2008-10-06T08:34:00.001-07:00

tip-o'-the-hat to D'Alessandrius the Wise

Debatable

2008-10-05T10:15:00.001-07:00

Prefab

2008-10-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

Fabrication & Bucky Fuller.

Oh, yah?

2008-10-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

backtrack

2008-09-10T08:51:00.001-07:00

America is lost.

Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street (tip-o'-the-hat to Kottke)

A 1-in-1,000 Chance of Götterdämmerung...

2008-09-05T21:04:00.001-07:00

That's the title of this article from Reason. Of course, if John McCain is elected President, then the odds would be more like 1-in-5...

John Stewart sets the record straight...

while Christopher Hitchens attacks something so bereft of substance that he again deserves the moniker "Hissy Fit-chens". How did this guy get voted one of the world's top intellectuals?

The infamous voicemail that John McCain left for Sarah Palin informing her that she'd been chosen as his running mate.

That is all.

This Is Wrong.

2008-09-01T15:45:00.001-07:00

Massive raids of suspected protestors. What is the FBI doing? Unless some dastardly plot is brought to light, these actions are unforgivable.

Rooftop

2008-09-01T12:48:00.001-07:00

Happy Labor Day! Enjoy!

Godzilla Returns

2008-08-23T09:32:00.001-07:00

Tonight's top story... Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

When I saw the cover of Newsweek at a newsstand in Narita Airport a couple of days ago, I thought it was a joke: What Bush Got Right. (But there seems to be a lot of people trying to nail-down Bush's legacy before he even leaves office. Robert Kagan writes about The Bush Era in Perspective). Then I got on the plane, sat down, opened a copy of the Japan Times, and read that a "Majority in U.S. believe God can revive the dying". For a brief moment, as the plane taxied toward the runway for takeoff, I considered hijacking the plane and making it return to the gate so that I could apply for amnesty/Japanese citizenship.

I'd stayed pretty much unplugged from the world for the two weeks I was in Japan. I had no internet access, so I read a paper and watched the Olympics and a small amount of news on TV. It felt great.

Who is John McCain? This is John McCain:

What to look forward to: The Audacity of Nope. Who does he work for?

Over the last decade and a half, Japan has struggled to keep it's economy growing and stable. In efforts to fix things, the Japanese have tried to follow more closely to the American model - privatizing, downsizing, outsourcing - and breaking down the traditional ties and safety nets of society while doing so. What has been the result? What was once the most egalitarian of countries has seen a broadening gap between rich and poor and a rise in homelessness: Beyond the bright lights, Japan's biggest slum is nation's dark secret. It's a shame, really. More on Japan later...

Some thoughts on China and the 2008 Summer Olympics... Bird's Nest of Bird Trap? China: Humiliation and the Olympics. Design and Branding Trends: Olympic Games. However you decide to look at it at, it is always about control. The Forbidden World.

For all you Ren & Stimpy fans out there: Dirt? (don't miss the slideshow)

Finally, a nice li'l vid from Nippon, Chainsaw Maid:

Goodnight.

Hiatus

2008-08-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

08.06.2008 - 08.21.2008 - We're heading to Japan...

08.04.2008

2008-08-04T09:00:00.001-07:00

Mike Bloomberg thinks we need a "New, New Deal". He's done more for New York during his tenure as mayor than Rudy ever did. Maybe we should listen to him... Congress Must Act to Keep Econmoy Growing. McCain Changes Lanes. Berlusconi puts troops on the streets - "The government has repeatedly linked rising crime rates to illegal immigration, which last month prompted Berlusconi and his ministers to declare a national state of emergency." Hmmm... I wonder if the statistics back that up, or whether something else is afoot. An ominous shadow from the past? Is the future dark as well? Hersh: Cheney Plan for Creating False Flag Attack.

Gene doping: Genetically modified Olympians? Beware the Superbugs.

A double life. Days of Lies and Roses.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies aged 89. A World Split Apart.

08.03.2008

2008-08-03T11:59:00.001-07:00

Sunday. Shuffling around. A cast-iron case for a secular society. Oil from algae? The Power of Mao. The anthrax case raises new questions about the investigation and the media who reported it. What hath the Southern Strategy wrought?

Worth watching - Bill Moyers Journal takes another look at Capital Crimes, starring Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist and a host of other scumbags.

Moistscape. The Urge to Merge. 6.6.

Apathy. It's an epidemic.

2008-08-02T22:42:00.001-07:00

Study Finds Young People Remain Apathetic About Office Politics

Maybe Richard Holbrooke can explain this...

2008-08-02T20:30:00.001-07:00

Karadzic protected by US until he broke 'deal'. Why were we protecting a monster?

Naked City PLUS

2008-08-02T11:13:00.003-07:00

Politics in the Supreme Court

2008-08-02T11:13:00.001-07:00

Cass Sunstein, of the University of Chicago, and friends studied the Supreme Court's rulings looking for partisanship. Guess what they found? See for yourself: Judicial Partisanship Awards.

Just another Buzzzz Kill.

The Large Hadron Collider

2008-08-01T19:50:00.001-07:00

It's nearly ready! Check out these photos at The Big Picture. (also, see Physics Rap below)

Fallingwater Movie

2008-08-01T10:39:00.001-07:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece digitally constructed. (tip-o'-the-hat to things magazine)

08.01.2008

2008-08-01T09:42:00.001-07:00

5 ways to trigger a natural disaster. Can This Planet be Saved? Perhaps... "Major Discovery" from MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution.

Why did the Doha Round of trade talks fail? India and China said no to the US. For White House, Hiring is Political.

'"One does not have to believe everything is true," a priest tells Joseph K in "The Trial." "One only has to believe it is necessary."

I've looked, and I can't find a better summation of the Bush administration's logic.' - Louis Bayard writes in "How Kafka-esque is Kafka?"

What could you do to improve things around the world with $10 billion? Bjorn Lomborg and the Copenhagen Consensus have some good ideas. Just think... if the Bush administration had done some of these things instead of wasting blood and treasure upon an act of folly, the world would be a better place already.

A Physics Rap

2008-07-31T22:55:00.001-07:00

Seriously. Tip-o'-the-hat to Ian Sample at The Guardian.

07.31.2008

2008-07-31T14:10:00.001-07:00

The Silly Season is in full swing. How do I know? Just look at the presidential campaign: McCain's talking trash. Well, that's nothing new, is it? Just think, there's over three months to go until Election Day. It's time for the D.C. Limbo - how low can they go? Meantime, Exxon-Mobil is going up.

All that talk about a possible war with Iran? Like we said here a while back, it's already on. Time to place your bets.

Beware the Fusion Centers - no, it's not a place to get a smoothie.

Imagine there's no oil: Scenes from a liberal apocolypse. Maybe it's time to brew your own?

Stop kickin' the tires! Watch this report, and then go read your tires. You'll be glad you did. (tip-o'-the-hat to Dave D'Alessandro)

Does a person's tastes in art say something about him or her? Probably.

Looks like executive privilege only applies to washrooms. You still have to watch out for Larry Craig, though.

The times, they are a-changin'...

2008-07-31T14:07:00.001-07:00

An excellent series on Alaska's Changing Climate. Not to be missed. (tip-o'-the-hat to Davin Ellicson)

Olympic architecture

2008-07-31T13:26:00.001-07:00

Herzog says,'Only an Idiot Would Have Said No'. Glad it's so simple for him.

Antikythera Mechanism Deciphered

2008-07-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports that researchers have uncovered the workings of the famous Antikythera Mechanism. (photo - Antikythera Mechanism Research Project)

It's a start...

2008-07-30T09:46:00.001-07:00

House Panel Votes to Cite Rove for Contempt.

Chilling.

2008-07-30T08:21:00.001-07:00

Imagine that you are a schoolteacher. You take photos of the wreckage from an earthquake. You post the photos on the internet, wondering why so many schools collapsed in the earthquake. For this, you are sent to a labor camp for a year for "re-education". Seems fair, doesn't it?

07.30.2008

2008-07-30T07:33:00.001-07:00

Wednesday. American political ideology graphed. American political ideology, graft - Goodbye, Uncle Ted. The road to ruin.

Where to now?

"In a sensible political environment, the Rand report’s conclusion would be obvious and beyond question."

A promise I hope he keeps - Obama Would Order Review of Bush's Executive Orders.

He Should Stick to His Day Job

2008-07-29T12:17:00.001-07:00

John Voight wrote a an op-ed for the Washington Times, "My Concerns for America - Obama Sowing Socialist Seeds in Young People". Kinda over-the-top, if you ask me. We give celebs way too much space for this sort of thing. He kinda reminds me of Brigitte Bardot; nice to look at once upon a time, but not much going on upstairs.

07.28.2008

2008-07-28T09:32:00.001-07:00

Monday. The Battle For A Country's Soul. Feeling John McCain. Obama in Iraq. The Democrats and National Security. It's much later than you think. Obama's new cards. How Obama became acting president. Did I mention Obama?

Taxpayers Bailout for Fannie and Freddie = performance bonuses! Let's celebrate! Foreclosures all around!

We have a Drinking Problem.

Clarity.

2008-07-27T09:10:00.001-07:00

Sobriety Check

2008-07-27T08:33:00.001-07:00

Nick Cohen raises some good questions about America's future once we get over our infatuation with Obama.

I have an Obama bumper sticker on my car. I dropped my independent status and became a Democrat because I want change - real change - but I wonder how much is really possible.

If Obama is elected president, what will change in America? Will some of the 37 million people now living below the poverty line be lifted out of their misery? Will there be less people in prison? Will health insurance become affordable? Will Obama have the political will to investigate the crimes of the Bush administration, or will things be mostly swept under the rug, similar to the Iran-Contra fiasco? Will our foreign policy be able to shift to new challenges as well as getting us out of two bloody wars? Will America find a way to meet the challenges of climate change? I could go on and on...

Instead of placing our hopes on one man, the problems we face will require the work of millions, not to mention a less corrupt Congress. Changing the course of the ship of state is no easy task, and expecting one man to perform miracles is a recipe for disaster.

If you want change, be prepared to roll up your sleeves.

Waiting.

2008-07-27T07:45:00.001-07:00

Survivors of Bosnian concentration camps speak out. The war we don't see. (tip-o'-the-hat to Davin Ellicson)

Mollusc

2008-07-27T07:33:00.001-07:00

Here's a look at a house by Mexican architect, Javier Senosian.

Details.

2008-07-25T09:30:00.001-07:00

A sensible criticism of Gehry's new Serpentine Pavilion via bd. For anyone who has stood under one of Gehry's buildings in a rain storm, it will seem obvious.

Obama's Speech was a Success

2008-07-25T08:29:00.001-07:00

How do I know? Because the weenies at National Review are nitpicking: Citizen Obama. A right-of-center candidate isn't good enough for them. But not to worry - they'd only be happy if Cheney, Goebbels, or Mussolini were our next leader.

Immaculate Deception

2008-07-24T21:55:00.001-07:00

Confused?

2008-07-24T21:42:00.001-07:00

Don't be... Slate has an interactive guide to help sort through the various Crimes and Misdemeanors of BushCo. Handy that. And over at TPM, Jim Sleeper discusses why David Brooks is so annoying.

(tip-o'-the-hat to Ken Silverstein at Harper's)

Moral Hazard

2008-07-24T21:36:00.001-07:00

If, over the years, you read the financial news in The Economist, the Financial Times, or The Wall Street Journal, you'd be familiar with the term Moral Hazard. It is something free-marketeers hold dear, almost a quasi-religious belief. Here's a partial definition, found at Wikipedia:

"Moral hazard is the prospect that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not bear the full consequences of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to bear some responsibility for the consequences of those actions."

Fredie Mac and Fannie Mae have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble by taking on bad loans - and are involved in roughly 50% of all home mortgages in the US - but being a private company that is also answerable to the federal government, they took on risks that they knew the government would back up if they failed. Voila! - a moral hazard.

James Surowiecki of The New Yorker has written an article entitled Sponsoring Recklessness about the current situation. It won't hurt you to read it.

It seems to me that the entire Bush presidency has been sponsoring recklessness all along - and not just in matters financial.

Also, Ken Silverstein takes note of Dow 11,349.28.

Ich Bin Ein Berliner

2008-07-24T15:08:00.003-07:00

(I am a donut)

But if you work at the US embassy not far away, you were not allowed to attend the speech. That's freedom for you.

Chanel-ing the Future

2008-07-24T06:57:00.001-07:00

Zaha Hadid's Mobile Art traveling Chanel pavilion is coming to NYC's Central Park. Zaha Hadid is also involved in the Expo Zaragoza 2008. The old and the new in Beijing.

Who knew?

2008-07-23T16:14:00.001-07:00

The richest 1% of Americans have gotten richer. The rest of us? Um, not so good.

Says it all, doesn't it?

2008-07-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Exposure.

2008-07-23T08:32:00.001-07:00

Salon has an interesting story on BushCo.'s abuses of power.

The Fetid, Reptilian Underbelly of the World

2008-07-23T08:02:00.001-07:00

Karadzic is found - He took Europe to The Edge of Madness.

Blackwater is leaving the security business and blames the media for having to do so. Yeh, right.

"This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." - Senator John McCain

Joe Klein thinks McCain's most recent statement/faux pas is scurrilous. When did he start paying attention? When I heard a recording of McCain saying those words on the radio yesterday, only one word came to mind: asshole.

How about you? Could you be President?

Home Delivery

2008-07-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

Prefab housing has been around a long time and has enormous market share. Prefab has evolved over the last decade, with increased participation from architects and designers, and has brought about what might be called the Dwell revolution toward more economical and ecological housing. This new direction beats the cookie-cutter suburbs that popped-up all around the country in recent decades.

A show entitled Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling has just opened at MoMA about the history and direction of prefabricated buildings. Here's a review of the show from Bloomberg. The show looks interesting and I hope I get a chance to see it. More info will be posted as I find it...

The feints of Feith.

2008-07-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

The Misdirection - Scott Horton discusses the latest news in torture policy investigations. The truth will out.

A New Direction?

2008-07-21T09:25:00.001-07:00

Will Eurpoe's Adulation of Obama Soon End? His foreign policy speech in Berlin this week will probably determine the outcome.

It's the Economic Stupidity, Stupid!

Cheney and Exxon-Mobil are linked to a shift in global warming policy... gee, didn't see that one coming. Reed Hundt likes Al Gore's idea to move all electricity production to zero carbon-emissions. Klaus Topfer, former UN Environment Program chief stands by his words: 'We must invent a future without nuclear energy'.

In Dubai, things are going up, up, up... Meanwhile, the rest of the world continues its fiery descent: Golden Bull, by Leon Wieseltier (tip-o'-the-hat to Ken Silverstein).

Holy cow!

2008-07-21T07:50:00.001-07:00

Bored? Try extreme base jumping in wingsuits:

(tip-o'-the-hat to Davin Ellicson)

Bizarro.

2008-07-20T21:57:00.001-07:00

Things have gotten a little out of hand.

Crudely Speaking

2008-07-20T20:27:00.001-07:00

Howell Raines takes on media reporting about the energy crisis. Gillian Anderson deals with a stupid interviewer.

Let the Eagle Soar!

2008-07-18T16:19:00.001-07:00

I've been really lax in finding good music vids to post on Fridays, but this week, we've got something really special - a guy who thinks water-boarding is not torture singing about the land he loves, America. It's Nationalism at it's very best, ladies and germs! So, without further ado, I give you the one and only John Ashcroft! (please refrain from throwing any undergarments at your computer monitor).

Howzabout some trams?

2008-07-18T15:53:00.001-07:00

We need more mass transit in this country, and it needs to be convenient and good. So, why not trams? There's been some success here in Portland with a tram system, but it could be both better and more extensively deployed. Here's an article from Spiegel Online - A Renaissance on Rails: France Rediscovers its Love of Trams. Some may object to this because it's about France, but we could always call them "Freedom Trams" if it makes certain fools happy.

'An Obsessive Compulsion towards the Spectacular'

2008-07-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

An interview with Rem Koolhaas.

Reentry

2008-07-18T10:46:00.001-07:00

Time for a re-think.

Passions Stirred

2008-07-18T10:22:00.001-07:00

A newly planned expansion to Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut chapel at Ronchamp is stirring passionate responses from architects.

An Interesting Chart

2008-07-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

The Economist published an interesting chart on three waves of globalization from data recently released by the WTO. A look at the numbers for the period of 1974-2007 suggest that it has not been a great success.

Down is the new Up.

2008-07-18T08:29:00.001-07:00

Here's a deeply religious man saying that water-boarding is not torture. To witness him use his son's service in The Gulf as a political prophylactic only adds to the nauseam of having to observe this grotesque excuse for a human being. His son's life is worth more than that. Not even John McCain has walked down that dark path. Water-boarding is "controlled drowning". There is no other description which honestly describes the "technique". It is torture, pure and simple. How is it possible for a man who says under oath that torture is not torture to simultaneously declare his allegiance to Christ? It is beyond my comprehension. There is a sickness in the land.