Monday, February 18, 2008

Tragic Architecture



This video is extremely entertaining, educational, and sarcastic as it  considers the dumb blunders some architects and planning committees make when designing buildings and places for public spaces. The video starts off slow in the first few minutes, but the pace picks up.

If you're interested in what your city fathers are up to in the way of changes being made to the way your own city looks, operates, and how it makes it's residents feel, I implore you to share this video, and its ideas.




North of Union in Saint John

There's a huge amount of discussion going on in Saint John about all the changes that might be soon coming to the city in the way of mega projects. 2 out of 3 projects such as the new oil refinery, and the new nuclear power plant aren't necessarily the wisest choices for society at large.

Anyway, the third change which is currently facing Saint John, and receiving a lot of talk, is how the city should reface part of its uptown area north of Union Street.

Already many older structures, many historic and/or aesthetically pleasing are slated for a very, possible date with the wrecking ball, to make way for a new uptown police station, etc.

For one thing, it strikes me the wrong way that we should have so much crime that we feel the need to do this.

(Think about a world in which we had a better, more inclusive, more humane, public educational system , one that is not solely based only upon a business model, but one in which real world, practical, hands-on skills were taught from an early age. An education that actually create responsible adults, filled with common sense solutions.) - There would definitely be a lot less crime!

(See, the three of you reading this are not alone in wishing for a more intelligent world!)

Anyway, at a later date, I think I will post before and after photos of what the city did in its infantile wisdom when they blew up the magnificent Saint Joseph General Hospital completed only 75 years ago, ( and no one can convince me it couldn't have been repaired - being a builder myself, I know the difference. Yes, it would've taking money, but given the alternative with what the city ended up with instead, it would've been by far the wisest thing to do.

Since that fateful day, both the city and Government decided on a truly dismal affront to the aesthetic senses of its residents when they allowed to be built what's currently on the site. The locals call it "the box on the hill". Sad but true.




Saturday, February 9, 2008

Knowledge

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance...

...it is the illusion of knowledge." - Stephen Hawking

Monday, February 4, 2008

Reaching for a Higher Level in Public Education



This is both a witty, and charming talk given on public education. It is well worth the time to view this. If only...

Friday, February 1, 2008

Optimism Continued

I was watching an episode of the Colbert Report the other night and it occurred to me once again how Steve Colbert get's away with the shit he does. I have to hand it to comedy geniuses like Steven Colbert, and Jon Stewart, and their writing teams. They know how to get a good message out while engaging their audiences. Even when it comes to describing the otherwise maddening  depressing details, and stereotypical histories often associated with individuals, government officials, or other inept, or corrupt people or practices.

There's a lesson to be learned here.  Being that funny, or silly allows you to get away with things that otherwise might get you sued,  taken off the air, or worse. Look at the Simpson's as an example. You can hardly take a cartoon character seriously, but often they're the ones paraphrasing many unspoken truths for our culture as a whole. In just a few telling sentences disguised as  humor, they often speak volumes for the rest of us.