Archive for October, 2007
James Howard Kunstler
One of my favorite topics to think, discuss, and write about is the geographic framework of modern America. (Suburbs). A major contributor to my interest obsession with this topic is James Howard Kunstler, author/lecturer/blogger champion.
I saw Jim give a lecture once in Madison and was struck by how succinct and logical his thesis is (it helps that he’s an entertaining speaker). I followed up by reading a few of his books and I’ve been sold ever since. His main points are thus:
- Our current preferred habitat (suburbs) are not designed for humans. They are designed for autos. This is foolish, ugly, and causes psychological unrest.
- The American auto-culture is unsustainable due to oil scarcity and environmental destruction and we need to re-learn how to live in a lower energy intensity mode.
Of course there is more to it, but you should really do yourself the favor of reading one (or more) of his books. I suggest The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency.
Filed under culture, energy, suburbs : Comments (0) : Oct 30th, 2007
Leopard
I received my copy of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) today. FedEx had it delivered by 10:00am and it was installed by 11:30. I haven’t had time to play with it too much, but I’m liking what I see thus far. I believe 2008 will be another good year for Apple.
[update Oct 28]
I’ve been using Leopard for a few days now and can report some of the features I really like. First off, I’m a big fan of stacks on the Dock. I can now instantly find applications or recently downloaded files. Nice.
Another big hit is the web clips for Dashboard. Any public website (sites requiring user login don’t seem to work) can be instantly parsed as a widget using Safari and Dashboard. Thank you, Apple!The new Finder features are hit-or-miss. Coverflow is a miss. Quick look is a hit. All in all, I like the new look & feel of the Finder and feel that the pluses outweigh the minuses.
And finally, to answer Dillon’s comment, I have indeed enabled my flux capacitor and pushed the iMac up past 88 mph so I can use Time Machine, the new backup software. I hate the interface, but it works as promised. I’m now patiently waiting for a hack to ditch the lame starfield theme. (And yes, I’m still using Mozy)
Filed under technology : Comments (2) : Oct 28th, 2007
The other side of the internet
I post quite a few videos on this site, but they usually appeal to the nerdy, geeky, internet-ys sub-culture. Tonight I’m going to shake things up a bit. Enjoy!
Filed under culture : Comments (3) : Oct 28th, 2007
Bumper Stickers
Filed under Milwaukee, culture : Comments (0) : Oct 28th, 2007
Taxes vs. Federal Spending
I’ve had a hunch for a long while that the distribution of Federal resources isn’t exactly. . . fair. (Gasp!) What’s more, I feel frustrated by the apparent disconnect between the people who assail Federal taxation and those who receive the most benefits. I’m especially worried about this as we enter a period of massive water shortages in the south east. But that’s for another day.
Consider the following:
What do you notice about the distribution? Does it seam fair and equitable? Hint : the colors are not random.
Please ponder this chart and reflect as you hear politicians from either side discuss their Federal spending policies. Who’s really benefiting? Who’s really paying?
[Source: Tax Foundation]
Filed under economics, politics : Comments (4) : Oct 25th, 2007
