I found this website a couple months ago called The Atlantic Cities. I think I was looking for this article I once read about the increased hazards to everyone else (regular car drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians) from SUVs being on the road. I didn't find that article and instead stumbled upon some articles about New Haven's plan for redoing its ( Read more... )

We received an Urban Outfitters catalog in the mail yesterday, I suppose because we live somewhere urban and we were clothes. I haven't been in one of their stores since maybe my first year of grad school (7 years ago, damn). I know I'd be out of touch with that age group, but I couldn't help laugh at these pictures though.

The catalogSince I can' ( Read more... )

Well, I'm in Denton. It was 108 when I got in and that was apparently the high, with a heat index of 110. That may have been the hottest temperature I've ever experienced, though not the highest heat index -- I remember as a young teen one August where the heat index hit 115 for a week straight on temps in the low to mid 100s. Tomorrow's revised ( Read more... )

This morning we finished packing all our stuff and headed down to NJ, accidentally forgetting to take out the kitchen trash before we left. Oops! Our apartment's going to be all stinky when I get back on Sunday. We drove in separate cars: me in our new one and Christian in the one we've been borrowing from my parents. I led the way in our caravan ( Read more... )

We're in the lounge at Newark waiting for our flight back to Lyon. Seeing lounges in Europe and the US makes us aware of all the differences. Sure, there's the obvious difference of Europe serving free alcohol, soda, juice and substantial food. But then there's also the difference in passenger behavior. We walked into the lounge today and most of ( Read more... )

A few months ago, I read this article in the New York Times about the rise of paternity leave in Sweden from its initiation in the 70s to its near universal adoption nowadays. It talked about the social changes it's brought about in the country. When I read that article, I thought it was a pretty neat system, but underestimated the social impact ( Read more... )

I've been going to the pizzeria across the street pretty often now--4 times total since I've been here, including last night and tonight. I keep missing Leon, but I end up talking to the Kurdish guy (argh, I forget his name) who runs the place and last night we even talked for two and a half hours! I completely lost track of time. We got on the ( Read more... )

Wed July 23 - We left Klamath Falls early in the morning and had a pleasant drive up, stopping occasionally for the scenic viewpoints. We arrived in Eugene towards the end of lunchtime. We passed by the U of O but thought downtown might be the more happenin' neighborhood to get food. Too bad, because U of O had some interesting places and downtown ( Read more... )

On the flights back to Berkeley there were two movies I could have seen: The Nanny Diaries and The Game Plan. I opted to see neither because they sounded painful. But they bring up a point that has always puzzled me about American "family" films. Why is it that the more annoying and badly-behaved a kid is, the cuter and funnier they are? In the ( Read more... )

More evidence of the dangerous blindness behind the centralization of food production.

( Text of the short news item )