Joeventures

Five Myths About the 2010 Census and the U.S. Population - Brookings Institution

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:55:55 -0500

Five Myths About the 2010 Census and the U.S. Population - Brookings Institution:

Adagio from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, if it were done...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:09:16 -0500

Adagio from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, if it were done as a 1980s-era action TV series. Wait for the theme to begin about a minute in. Then the freeze frame “starring” credits come in about a half-minute later.

"Mr. Obama won the election because he was able to “rent” a significant number of independent voters..."

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:20:08 -0500

“

Mr. Obama won the election because he was able to “rent” a significant number of independent voters — including Republican business types who had never voted for a Democrat in their lives — because they knew in their guts that the country was on the wrong track and was desperately in need of nation-building at home and that John McCain was not the man to do it.

They thought that Mr. Obama, despite his liberal credentials, had the unique skills, temperament, voice and values to pull the country together for this new Apollo program — not to take us to the moon, but into the 21st century.

Alas, though, instead of making nation-building in America his overarching narrative and then fitting health care, energy, educational reform, infrastructure, competitiveness and deficit reduction under that rubric, the president has pursued each separately. This made each initiative appear to be just some stand-alone liberal obsession to pay off a Democratic constituency — not an essential ingredient of a nation-building strategy — and, therefore, they have proved to be easily obstructed, picked off or delegitimized by opponents and lobbyists.

So “Obamism” feels at worst like a hodgepodge, at best like a to-do list — one that got way too dominated by health care instead of innovation and jobs — and not the least like a big, aspirational project that can bring out America’s still vast potential for greatness.

”

- Op-Ed Columnist - The Fat Lady Has Sung - NYTimes.com (via rustytanton)

8226: Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry take some licks from Fred...

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 09:03:25 -0500

8226:

Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry take some licks from Fred Kent in this Gel talk, as he describes what “placemaking” means in creating a better urban experience. Good architecture, Kent says, serves the needs of the community.

Fred Kent at Gel 2009 on Vimeo (via Vimeo)

Obama vs. House GOP: Best TV ever

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:14:22 -0500

Obama vs. House GOP: Best TV ever:

“The whole thing basically went like that: Republican asks obnoxious question rooted in Glenn Beck-ian talking points; Obama swats it away, makes the questioner look silly, and then smiles at the end. It got so bad, in fact, that Fox News cut away from the event before it was over.”

Vent: a gallery on Flickr

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:10:45 -0500

Vent: a gallery on Flickr

Sorry Joe, no question. Just want to say good going on the Saporta Report discussion..
Cheers,
Mason

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:39:52 -0500

Thanks, Mason.

Here’s a link to the discussion on SaportaReport

Interested in why you decided to resurrect Bloglanta on Tumblr, and what happened to the old content?

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:47:41 -0500

Good question. I really decided to do it just to do it, and maybe I’ll justify the decision later. But somewhere in my mind, I felt like Tumblr was a better match than WordPress. Really, it’s also from a feeling I have that there’s a vacuum that needs to be filled.

All the old content is still in the database, but I haven’t made the archive available yet. At some point, after Bloglanta died down the only comments that came in were spam comments, so I had also closed off commenting. Think I should make the archive available?

Ask me something

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:17:36 -0500

Ask me something:

A new feature on Tumblr lets you ask me questions.

Also, I’ve moved Bloglanta to Tumblr, but not yet actively promoting it.

I usually don’t blog about work, but this will be an...

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:15:50 -0500

I usually don’t blog about work, but this will be an exception.

We’re at the end of a campaign to raise $25,000 for 2009, and we’re still not yet at our goal. It’s at the point where that last $5,000 is the most difficult to raise.

For those who don’t know, I work for the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts. The organization has been in existence in various forms for 25 years (hence the fundraising goal) as an Atlanta-based arts service organization.

Many are aware of our discount ticket service, AtlanTIX. But many in the general public are not aware of what else we do in support of the performing arts. Our services range from assembling an annual Unified Auditions (250 actors, 150 companies, and lots of coffee consumed, I’m sure), to connecting artists with affordable health insurance plans.

Please take a few moments to take a further look at what we do and why it’s worth your support, and consider a donation of $25 or more before the year is out. Thank you!

Google Voice Fail

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:33:30 -0500

This is the transcript of a voice mail I got from my mom today:

Hi Joe, it’s Mohammed calling to see how you’re doing it and also we. Doubtly again home finalize plans for. It’s Susan a miracle. Jillian on feet, so if you would give me a call. House 0. You can just call when you can. I’ll be home most of the day. I’ll talk to you later. Hope everything’s whale. Love you. Bye bye.

downtowncreator: What to do about all those abandoned...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:34:55 -0500

downtowncreator:

What to do about all those abandoned McMansions? Turn them into wetlands and natural water filtration systems for urban centers.

FROG’S DREAM: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants « ReBurbia

Heat map of fatal traffic accidents in the US. Obviously fatal...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:21:09 -0500

Heat map of fatal traffic accidents in the US. Obviously fatal car accidents are a public health issue, and it’s tools like this that help designers create a safer world.

(via Jay Parkinson, who captured the heat map for NYC)

"Ironically, as media scrutiny has gotten tougher and more pervasive, one could argue the..."

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:11:51 -0500

“Ironically, as media scrutiny has gotten tougher and more pervasive, one could argue the professional quality of those who are left standing in the race for elected office has declined…”

- The Soapboxt: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Maggot

Thoughtful commentary to start my day.

Robert Moses or Jane Jacobs? It is no longer either/or

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:58:25 -0500

Robert Moses or Jane Jacobs? It is no longer either/or:

smartercities:

(via smarterplanet)

Adam Christensen and Susanne Dirks talked with me about a question being posed by Dana Blankenhorn.

Dana asks an interesting question: are IBM’s “smarter traffic” ideas an homage to Moses or Jacobs?

5-year-old girl hit by car on her way off the school bus

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:05:14 -0500

The motorist, according to the story, was 82-year-old Edith Anderson:

The child was let off the bus at a curb, but a car behind the bus continued to the right of the bus, running onto the curb and into the grass, Hernandez said. Police do not know what caused Anderson’s 1995 Nissan Altima to exit the road.

Emphasis mine.

My initial thought: the cause might be that the motorist is 82-years-old and living in Cobb County, where there is very little access to any alternatives to driving a car. But that would only be part of the story — and I’m sure it’s a part of the story that the AJC would rather not cover. After all, it would be a shame for the AJC to offend the suburban octogenarians among their readership.

Thankfully, the AJC does a little reporting on the road conditions:

Davis Road resident Amy Johnson said people often drive too fast past her house, and she has asked the county numerous times to install a three-way stop or a caution light in front of her home.

Just Wednesday morning, Johnson said she called the Cobb County department of transportation about the road.

In a Nov. 2007 AJC report, Cobb County spokesman Robert Quigley said the county had looked into the issue, but that the county would not install an additional stop sign because not enough accidents had occurred.

And thank goodness for Google Street View, where we can take a look at the spot where the incident happened. This is clearly one of many classic cases that demonstrate an essential principle of pedestrian-friendly design: just because a sidewalk is present doesn’t automatically make the place safe or pleasant for pedestrians.

Here's a switch in Car vs. Bike.

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:11:00 -0500

Here's a switch in Car vs. Bike.:

bigspoke:

In this car/bike collision, the driver dies and the cyclist escapes with minor injuries. Just another reason drivers should be watching for bikes.

"Urban sprawl is not mindless at all. There is nothing inevitable about its development. Sprawl is..."

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:23:44 -0500

“Urban sprawl is not mindless at all. There is nothing inevitable about its development. Sprawl is the result of zoning laws designed by legislators, low-density buildings designed by developers, marketing strategies designed by ad agencies, tax breaks designed by economists, credit lines designed by banks, geomatics designed by retailers, data-mining software designed by hamburger chains, and automobiles designed by car designers. The interactions between all these systems and human behavior are complicated and hard to understand— but the policies themselves are not the result of chance. “Out of control” is an ideology, not a fact.”

- John Thackara, from In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World (via jayparkinsonmd)

"This city seems to be run by a bunch of ‘squeaky wheels’ and the rest of us just let..."

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:39:21 -0500

“This city seems to be run by a bunch of ‘squeaky wheels’ and the rest of us just let them. I went to one of the planning meetings where this sweet woman stood up and said she wanted density and transit like the plan proposed, and the rest of the room turned on her like vultures. It was not pretty. I felt so bad for her because she was just expressing her opinion, you know, democracy and all. But because she was so outnumbered, the rest of the attendees thought it was ok to bully her.”

- Robin, commenting on B King’s blog Terminal Station

Federal Investment in Intercity Transportation, 1949-2008

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:37:51 -0500

Federal Investment in Intercity Transportation, 1949-2008

Joeventures

Five Myths About the 2010 Census and the U.S. Population - Brookings Institution

Adagio from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, if it were done...

"Mr. Obama won the election because he was able to “rent” a significant number of independent voters..."

8226: Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry take some licks from Fred...

Obama vs. House GOP: Best TV ever

Vent: a gallery on Flickr

Sorry Joe, no question. Just want to say good going on the Saporta Report discussion.. Cheers, Mason

Interested in why you decided to resurrect Bloglanta on Tumblr, and what happened to the old content?

Ask me something

I usually don’t blog about work, but this will be an...

Google Voice Fail

downtowncreator: What to do about all those abandoned...

Heat map of fatal traffic accidents in the US. Obviously fatal...

"Ironically, as media scrutiny has gotten tougher and more pervasive, one could argue the..."

Robert Moses or Jane Jacobs? It is no longer either/or

5-year-old girl hit by car on her way off the school bus

Here's a switch in Car vs. Bike.

"Urban sprawl is not mindless at all. There is nothing inevitable about its development. Sprawl is..."

"This city seems to be run by a bunch of ‘squeaky wheels’ and the rest of us just let..."

Federal Investment in Intercity Transportation, 1949-2008

Sorry Joe, no question. Just want to say good going on the Saporta Report discussion..
Cheers,
Mason