Archive for July, 2008
Just thought I would share a few stats.
227 posts / 673 comments
Individual posts / comments
Me – 51 / 117 – not counting this one.
Jaime – 46 / 128
Alupa – 41 / 122
Trev – 37 / 86
Liz – 14 / 83
Beth – 12 / 11
Cpolonchek – 9 / 29
Kugreg – 9 / ??
Jb – 3 / ??
LaLaLiLoLa – 3 / ??
Merdawg – 1 / ??
Chandler – 1 / ??
Hkrebs – 1 / ??
Thank you everyone that contributes to this blog. It is a lot of fun reading what other people are thinking about.
I doubt it. The Democrats are spineless POS. Thankfully, Dennis Kucinich is not spineless. Please, please Congress impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. I don’t care if it happens the day before he leaves office. He has abused his power and deserves far worse than impeachment. Democrats don’t let our democracy fail us.
We should see about getting one of these. Alupa is concerned about the armogeddeon. So after the bomb, or after our google histories put us all on big brother’s list and we can’t use the banking system anymore, or just generally after we run out of natural resources and the grids collapse, we should move to the country and form a real self-sustaining cooperative, with this jobbie keeping us juiced up. We can take turns : )
Is awesome.
It is referenced in the Vanity Fair article linked below.
“The design of the new Central Chinese Television (CCTV) headquarters defies the popular conception of a skyscraper — and it broke Beijing’s building codes and required approval by a special review panel. The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn’t apply to the CCTV building, which is formed by two leaning towers, each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop.
The engineer’s solution is to create a structural “tube” of diagonal supports. The irregular pattern of this “diagrid” system reflects the distribution of forces across the tube’s surface. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren and engineered by Ove Arup, the new CCTV tower rethinks what a skyscraper can be.”
This is amazing. Modern and postmodern, form follows function, but you can literally see the forces on the building. I am completely enthralled with this thing. The irregular grid on the building’s facades is an expression of the forces traveling throughout its structure. I like the word expression.
The other cool aspect–as the author in the VF article pointed out, there is a slight nod to communism– is how in this skyscraper the relationship between individuals is completely different. Unlike a traditional skyscraper, in which you can usually not see any other part of the building, the CCTV tower gives its denizens a sense of their surroundings, of the building itself and of the other people with which they are working. The architecture creates a relationship among those within, as opposed to a verticle stack of disconnectness.
The architects also mentioned how the building is not overwhelming. It can be broken down into three distinct building which are easily visually digestable, and b/c it is only 47 stories the viewer does not have to crane to see to the top.
China: Figuring their shit out. more pics
America’s largest brewery sold to a Belgium company, that is really controlled by Brazillians, the third world.
Gov’t bailing the largest lenders in the nation.
Markets in trouble today after an overnight correction in the Asian Markets.
The dollar the weakest it has ever been agains the Euro
The upcoming Olympics are in Beijing.
Ford and GM cutting more jobs.
And in case you missed it, there was a run on a bank. An honest-to-god line to get money out of IndyMac.
Strap in, it’s going to get interesting.
I am hoping the pen is mightier than the sword. As most of you know, I have a strong belief that the only way that our country will get back on track is a revolution. I see evidence nearly every day that the world’s beacon of hope for a truly democratic rule is becoming more of a bacon of hope. Our politicians serve more fat encrusted pork than they serve their people. I want democratic principles to rule our land and not the free-market.The capitalists are winning; democracy is taking a back seat to the dollar.
To that end, I believe that Senator Obama’s support for the FISA bill is a travesty that is designed to alleviate the markets of yet another industry (telco in this case) being put against the ropes. Our countries political and financial leaders have truly screwed we, the people. The FISA bill does nothing but erode our constitutional rights and provide immunity to the telco industry for their collusion with the Bush Administration.
I am hoping the power of words can help correct gratuitous attack of our constitutional rights. Here is what I wrote to the Obama Campaign.
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Dear Representative of Presumptive Democratic Party Presidential Nominee Barack Obama,
I am sorely disappointed in Senator Obama’s support for the FISA bill. I am worried that the Republican led erosion of our basic civil liberties is being embraced by the best hope of a our country continuing to be a rational democracy. Our right to privacy is of utmost importance in this time of war, recession, and internal attacks on our constitutional rights.
I implore Senator Obama to stand for liberty and justice for all – even in times of crisis or electoral pandering – and not to buy into GWB’s delusion effort of ridding the world of “evil-doers.”
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I am truly saddened by Obama supporting FISA. I must now go cry a tear into my red, white, and blue beer and support Nader – the only champion of the people.
I realize that this probably will miss the mark with some of you kids, but none-the-less, here’s a link to my latest creative ideology. Please note: the image at bottom of page is the philosophy, not the image at top.
http://tcritic.com/archives/design-wont-save-the-world-you-pretentious-fuck/
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