Many years ago, I reflected on the fact that the terms we use to describe-not name, just describe-behavior in ourselves and others come almost exclusively from drafting:

All of these terms, derived from geometry, have nothing to do with actual behavior. An outward willingness to follow rules has nothing to do whatsoever with straight lines drawn ( Read more... )

Just about every time I toured a church or cathedral in Europe years ago and saw beautifully carved pews, screens and other ecclesiastic detritus, I thought about how well such preserved structures sequestered carbon within the wood itself. The trouble, of course, is volume.


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Last Wednesday, I volunteered to take a road trip to our state capitol, Olympia, and lobby my State Senator and Representatives on the importance of maintaining public transit. Yes, that position serves me well since I drive transit; but that is something I would support even if I didn't. All one has to do is live in Seattle to see how important ( Read more... )

From Jim Kunstler, an observation most of us simply supress:

Do you know why scenes or even just shots of freeways so seldom appear in the movies we watch? Because they are so depressing that nobody can stand to see them. The jolts of terror that you get in a horror movie at least inform you that you're alive, but the sight of a freeway only ( Read more... )

The two words "investment" and "speculation" are to some synonymous, to others diametrically opposed. I find myself in the latter camp, though the confusions and conflations these two terms suffer makes it difficult to say the least even to articulate what about the differences should be emphasized. I guess I'll first let a supposed expert ( Read more... )

I've been catching up on back episodes of 99% Invisible, a micro-podcast about design. Roman Mars' show noted it 6 months ago, I know, and I should have known anyway but was given a foreign language education worthy of any 'Merican, which is to say, crappy, so I didn't know until this morning, but. . . .

Did you know cul de sac in French means " ( Read more... )

Brother mcfnord has a valid point worthy of consideration: It doesn't matter how padded and restrained we make the inside of any car; car accidents are the number one killer of childrenMeaning if you value your kids, you will eschew the fancy-pantsy latest and greatest child seats and simply reduce the miles you drive them by moving to a walkable ( Read more... )

I got a surprise a few months ago from one of those "word of the day" sources. Did you know what the word "normal" means? From The Free Dictionary:

normal (nôrml) adj.; 11. Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical.

Pretty standard, right? Ah, but looksie whence the word originates:

[ ( Read more... )

Came home this morning to a text from The Wife about the power being out. Parked, was passed by a neighbor who heard "something" and wanted to check it out.

I joined him. ( Don't tell me you aren't curious about what we found. Don't even tell me that. )

I've thought this for decades now. It took an economic crash and expensive gas to make it a reality.

What am I talking about?

Dubbed "smart growth," the (new urbanist) movement favors the development of a mix of housing and businesses in and near existing cities. At the same time, it discourages the Topsy-like growth of peripheral suburbs, ( Read more... )