Sprint's Misleading Advertisement

I stumbled across a full one page ad for Sprint (see right and click to enlarge) on the back of August 2009 Builder magazine that I thought was somewhat misleading. Their punch line: "You're linking cities, people, and life - and keeping order in a precarious world of beams, cables, concrete, and steel." Linking cities (sprawl), I can see that. Linking people (auto-dependency), I see that too. Linking life....? Maybe its just me, but the fish and the bear (assuming both are forms of life) aren't exactly being linked. In fact, they are leaving the picture.. literally. Did Sprint miss the whole "green", "ecological", "environmentally-friendly" movement occuring in the world?

Needless to say, the world of beams, cables, concrete, and steel is so precarious. Oh, and Nextel's got you covered "even if you're atop a crane and your crew is across the river." I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure your crew member across the river is "push-to-talking" you atop the bridge tower. I'm not sure why you'd be atop a crane anyways! OSHA!

Maybe I'm being too critical. Sorry Sprint!

The sense of smell

An article in the Boston Globe covered an exhibition held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design titled "Ecological Urbanism" (I stumbled across this while doing research for Taze's project). One seemingly popular exhibit, known as "Talking Nose", included a display of 200 samples of air from 200 neighborhoods in Mexico City. Each bottle was labeled with responses from individuals who smelled the samples and reported their findings. The artist, Sissel Tolaas, conducted the experiment to point out how the sense of smell is traditionally disregarded from our "sensory experience" in life. When it is regarded, its typically a negative sensory of something "smelling bad." Responses to the bottled smells included: "Rusty, sweet and old" and "pleasant, aromatic, light, perfume, flowers, vanilla." When's the last time you experienced a place with simply your nose? I can't recall.




Image Source: The Boston Globe

Two Lakes or Not Two Lakes

A recent article in the Clarion-Ledger covers the story of the decade old "Two Lakes" project being proposed for Jackson, MS. The project is being proposed to prevent a devastating flood like that of the Easter Flood of 1979 from flooding Jackson residences and businesses again. There are basically three parties involved: the Corps of Engineers (who control the land and have the final say), the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District (the project board or "mediator"), and private developers (pushing an economic lake development).

The Corps and the developers have different views. The Corps is proposing a levee-only system, while the private developers are envisioning new commercial/residential development, parks, puplic space, and lake development (see below). The plan sounds great, but can Jackson support this type of development? Its downtown area is by no means thriving with is current vacant, run-down buildings.

Source: twolakesms.com



Alternatively, the Corps has concluded that a levee-only plan is the most feasible solution (an engineered solution to say the least), but states that any type of lake development would create adverse impacts to the environment (yes, building in the flood plain would do that).

I don't know whose side to take, but the questions I raise are: If the ultimate goal with the project is flood control, what will be the base water level in the lake? Will the lake have capacity to withstand flood waters? Will the development look like a mud flat half of the year?

Living in a shipping container

My dad told me about an article on treehugger.com (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/shipping-container-houses.php) about people converting large shipping containers into housing units. The idea seemed crazy at first, but after reading a few articles online these things are actually really cool. The best part about them is they are sustainable - reusing old steel shipping containers! One source (http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2009/02/want-to-live-in-a-shipping-crate/) estimated that an old container (40'x8'x8') costs between $1500 and $3000! Talk about a cheap 320 s.f. structure.. not to mention they are designed to be stacked! People across the globe (maybe more so outside of the U.S. at this point) are converting these things into farmer's markets, schools, get-away homes, and even communities! One group in London, Container City, has actually created an entire community of these things. Check out their YouTube video:







Talk about an affordable lake house! If you look closely, this one's even got a green roof!

Image source: http://www.containercity.com

Would you live in one? I would...

New blogger

I'm new at this whole blogging thing. So let's keep this first post short and simple and test my blogging skills.