Slapdash
Making Music: Dave King | Walker Channel →
channel.walkerart.org
Topics include inspiration, the virtues of bands, being those guys from Minneapolis, and the problem with Dan Brown.
March 2010
34 posts
Because everybody cares about my Tumblelog, an announcement: I’ve just spent a bunch of time redesigning my Tumblelog.
Because everybody cares about me, there’s more about me in it. And there’s a list of stuff I’ve “liked”. And you can finally link to individual posts if you want to see Tumblr stuff like notes and tags. It’s almost like a real blog!
One way it’s not like a real blog: I didn’t get around to adding comments. So if you’re moved to say something about the new design, well, you’ll just have to say it out loud, in your room, to your computer. Maybe next time.
(Credit where it’s due: I wish! I can’t find the theme I started with, but that’s where the big-and-black-on-white look came from.)
“Natural seems so
Innocent, then you realize
Mercury is too” —Michael O’Brien’s greenwashing haiku
Innocent, then you realize
Mercury is too” —Michael O’Brien’s greenwashing haiku
“America is a can-do country. We’ve got to take the lead to explore energy alternatives and protect our national security.”
—The Christian Coalition, endorsing Lindsay Graham’s (and Kerry and Lieberman’s) cap-and-trade bill
“Everywhere I met remarkable people, because this is one of the places they like to be, and saw and did remarkable things, because here they happen all the time.”
—Roy Edroso on (leaving) New York City
“Smart growth” is often perceived as an idea about and for cities. The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has a neat alternative in LandOf.org: a matrix of ten smart growth principles crossed with six development types (from urban to rural), with case studies applying each to each.
So Lanesboro (pop. 788) serves as a case study of multimodal transportation in a rural area, accessible by car, bike, and canoe. Minneapolis’s Central Riverfront demonstrates the goal of walkable neighborhoods in central cities. And so on.
They’re still working on filling in the grid - a lot of pages have text that translates as “got any ideas?” But it’s a fun browse already.
Amman Journal - Sidewalks, and an Identity, Sprout in Jordan’s Capital →
nytimes.com
In placemaking, small things matter. Like sidewalks, and benches. (via PPS)
“Why does talking to strangers matter? Every time I do it, it improves my ability to empathize and understand other people. It brings surprising and delightful experiences into my life. My default is to feel phenomenally lonely in large social venues like museums and conferences. Finding the right tools to enable social engagement lets me leave my own shell and connect with and enjoy the rest of the world.”
—Nina Simon (aka museumtwo), The Magic Vest Phenomenon and Other Wearable Tools for Talking to Strangers
“We humans are island makers.”
—“Divide and Diminish,” an essay on biodiversity by Olivia Judson
“‘I’m not going to let it worry me… but you know it’s going to happen,’ said Schneider, one of the most respected climate scientists in the world. ‘They shoot abortion doctors here.’”
—Violent Backlash Against Climate Scientists - IPS
“The thing about the current political system is that no matter how much you like or agree with a politician, unless they’re self-funded, you have to look at them and recognize that this is someone whose core competency is spending 30 percent of his or her time asking people for money, meeting and talking with people who might have money to give in the future, and generally figuring out how to pay to be a politician. That makes them a very weird person.”
—Ezra Klein, Toward better political candidates
For Bike-Route Mapping, Look Past the Google Buzz. →
greatdivide.typepad.com
One cyclist’s comparison of Google Maps bike directions with Cyclopath, a Twin-Cities-only service run by a U of M research group.
