Maybe It's Time to Start Listening to Tom Low

This is an excellent article on New Urbanism's take on sprawl, with a bonus of being about my hometown of Charlotte:

Maybe It's Time to Start Listening to Tom Low - Charlotte Magazine - July 2011 - Charlotte, NC

The firm they refer to, DPZ, and its co-founder, Andres Duany, are the reason why I'm a planner. Six years ago I went to the US Green Building Council's GreenBuild Expo in Atlanta, GA. Ayako and I met up there to look for environmentally-friendly product design jobs, but the expo floor was filled was stalls hawking bamboo flooring and high-efficiency HVAC systems--nothing for high-style consumer product designers.

So, we spent most of our time attending lectures. I continually found myself drawn to urban planning topics. I vaguely remembered learning about planning senior year at CMU, when PennFutures protested the building of a tolled highway by offering an alternative project that boulevarded existing street networks (sound familiar, Seattle?). Ayako, and her then-boyfriend Ryan, went to mostly different lectures, and thus I found myself sitting alone in the back of a large auditorium listening to Andres Duany talk about New Urbanism.

He explained the basic tenets of New Urbanism and how they sought to imitate, and update, old town centers. Then he compared the functions of those centers - open space, gathering places, entertainment - to the specialized rooms being offered in Texas McMansions built on the outskirts of town. Massive homes, 5,000 square feet and more, with personal theater rooms and sun-filled breakfast nooks that resembled outdoor cafes. Huge lawns, in the desert, in the middle of nowhere.

Meanwhile, he says, the owners of these homes will be stuck in traffic for over an hour to get back into the city for work or services, where they will pass by movie theaters, parks and outdoor cafes. Then an hour through terrifying, stressful, frustrating traffic to arrive home cranky, missing two full hours of time with their kids, for the privilege of having a private movie theater, huge lawn and cafe that they don't have time to use.

"The lifestyle of the American middle class is the number one thing ruining the environment," he stated baldly*. It was like a light switch went on in my head. I don't know that he's 100% right, but he's close enough. I lived that life, I know those people. He's right, I said. If I want to do something for the environment, designing environmentally-friendly products that will be purchased once is next to useless if the people buying them are living in 5000 square foot homes with gigantic lawns in the middle of a desert. The real opportunity for change, for helping people and the environment, is in where and how people live their everyday lives. Those are the effects that add up, because it's not just millions of products, it's millions of people doing the same thing, over and over again, every day of their lives.

Sitting in the back of that auditorium I felt my perception shift, and feelings of joy and determination filled me. I had been saying for years that I didn't want to go back to school until I knew what I wanted to do. Until then, it was Starbucks and fruitless applications to design firms where, deep down, I didn't really want to work. School is difficult, expensive and worthless if you don't believe in what you're doing. Now, I knew. I felt sure. As he wrapped up his lecture, my mind was whirring, planning out the next few years of my life.

Now, six years later, I have a master's degree in Urban Planning. I've written a thesis on the relationship between dense development and the ability of natural systems to adapt to climate change. I have three years of planning experience. And it's all because of a single 90-minute lecture by Andres Duany.

*This is not an exact quote - it was six years ago.

Weed control

I just spent almost two hours pulling various weeds - mostly vines - out of the 3-foot walkway between our house and the neighbor's fence. Wondering if there were any easier control methods, a quick googling led me to King County's noxious weed photo identification page. Here's what I have in my backyard:

-bindweed. HATE THIS STUFF. I think it might be hedge rather than field, luckily.
-Rush Skeletonweed. Sounds badass; isn't.
-bittersweet nightshade. Also sounds badass; kind of is.
-English ivy. Hate this stuff, too.
-Herb Robert. Actually I like this stuff. One of its nicknames is "Death come quickly", which is badass. In Washington it's called Stinky Bob because it smells like burning tires when you crush the leaves. Still kinda badass, but in a dive bar sort of way.
-Nipplewort. Heh. Hehehe.

Sorry for anyone who's actually reading this. This is mostly just to keep track of things I have.

Can Underground Water Cool City Houses?

Reading List!

Can Underground Water Cool City Houses? | This Big City

Vegan Southern-style meal, and why factory meat is terrible for everyone

This article covers a lot of ground about why people go vegetarian, or why spending more money on quality meat is important: How the meat industry turned abuse into a business model | Grist

I've said multiple times that I don't expect most people to go vegetarian, let alone vegan. What I would like to see is people buy better meat, less often. Spend the same amount of money, eat less meat, have that meat be delicious and healthy (for the animals, the workers, the environment, and you).

I figure the least I can do is offer some yum meatless meals for those who feel lost at the concept. Here's what I made the other night. It'd be perfect for a True Blood watching party, as it's vaguely Southern-style food.

Vegan Southern Greens

2 tsp cooking oil
1 medium onion, coarse chopped
1 TBSP minced garlic
2 LBS of washed, chopped greens (Collard, mustard or turnip greens, spinach, kale - any mixture works. Trader Joe's sells a big bag of Southern Greens that's perfect - use 2 in this recipe)
3/4 cup vegetable broth (sub water or wine, just add more salt)
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 TBSP rice vinegar (sub: red or white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
salt & pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste (optional)
2 tsp sesame oil, to finish (sub liquid smoke or smoked salt/paprika)

1. Heat oil in your biggest stew pot or wok on medium-high heat. Add onions & sauté until partially translucent.
   
2. Add garlic & sauté until fragrant.
   
3. Start adding handfuls of greens and mixing top-to-bottom. As they cook down, add more greens until they're all in the pot.
   
4. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Stir greens in broth until they're fully wilted (they should reduce by 80% or more).
   
5. Add the red pepper, vinegar, salt, pepper & Tabasco & stir.
   
6. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30+ minutes, until the greens are tender but not falling apart.
   
7. Taste & add any extra seasonings as needed. Turn off the heat and stir in the sesame oil.
   

Serve with a slotted spoon. They'll be soupy, so either serve with something to soak up the broth or strain it for the next time you make rice or soup. While the greens were simmering, I made a box of Zatarain's Dirty Rice (Jambalaya would work) and in place of meat, drained, washed and mixed in a can of black beans and a can of black-eyed peas (sub kidney, garbanzo or white beans). I feel ok about using Zatarain's once in a while, because they're a New Orleans-based company and there's not too many sketch ingredients as processed food goes, but if you want you can make your own from scratch - I don't like TVP so I would still sub in beans.

Serve side by side with some limeade, sweet tea, bourbon or a mint julep and watch you some "vamperrs".

The Self-Sustaining, Solar-Powered Emergency Shelter

The Self-Sustaining, Solar-Powered Emergency Shelter: We’re Going to Need It - Environment - GOOD

YES.

Dutch-influenced New Orleans Water Management

I do agree with the style that the Dutch have taken, in terms of using natural systems to their best advantage (they are cheaper, durable and scalable in the long run, whereas most manmade infrastructure can be costly to maintain and even more difficult to upgrade). I'm not sure how easily and quickly they'll be able to implement it, based on the typical response to government in the area, with good reason.

The Dutch approach partially depends on cooperative agreement and large scale land-use changes. If they're able to couch their solutions by taking an urban design approach (i.e. canals or parks) they may have a better shot. Perhaps New Orleans citizens are more willing to try new and different things, since the old ways failed spectacularly. Or perhaps they're still gunshy. I could understand either, and the architects and planners should be prepared for both concerns, if they're using a combination of those approaches. I hope they're able to make the choices they want to, and they're able to communicate their intentions clearly and not in engineer-speak.

Architecture Firm Waggonner & Ball Tapped for New Orleans Water Management Project | News | Architectural Record

“The Daily Rind”, a Better Way to Plan the Day

Possible scheduling solution, which I desperately need:

“The Daily Rind”, a Better Way to Plan the Day — A. King in Society via Lifehacker.

White Bean & Artichoke Dip

I based the following recipe off of the comment on this recipe:
· 3 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 t fresh rosemary
· 2 t dried basil, thyme, Italian spices or whatever you prefer
· 1 can white beans (15.5 oz), drained and rinsed
· 2 t extra virgin olive oil
· 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
· 1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts (set aside 4 hearts), packed in water and drained
· Lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and/or pepper to taste
· 1/4 c nutritional yeast
· 10 kalamata olives, pitted
· 2 oz pine nuts
· 1/8c of sun-dried tomato pieces, as a topping

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Put everything except for the 4 reserved artichoke hearts and the sun-dried tomatoes in the food processor and blend until it has an even consistency.
3. Add the reserved hearts and pulsed a few times until they're chopped up but still chunky.
4. Spoon into a shallow baking dish (8" oval or 6x6" should fit).
5. Top with sun-dried tomatoes, pressing them into the dip slightly. Make a little design if you're a nerd like me.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges and tips start to brown.

You could also serve it cold, just let it sit for 20+ minutes before serving to the let the flavors meld.

Use as a spread on bread or sandwiches, or as a dip with chips, crackers or veggies.
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I actually made a Double Batch Chickpea Cutlers before this, so the oven was already hot. I make the following changes:
-leave the gluten out, and put everything else in the food processor. Mix the gluten in last.
-instead of breadcrumbs, use Hot & Spicy Shake and Bake, and 3/4 cup of water instead of the soy sauce and broth (Shake & Bake is salty!)
-a couple drops of lemon oil instead of lemon zest

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners

Via nancylicious:

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."   Ira Glass

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse - Blog

The CDC released a zombie preparedness kit. Like I said, people like to think about zombies way more than pandemics or floods.

CDC | Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

I never finished my game but I would like to work on it when I have a break and see if I can use it for zombies, alien invasions, werewolf outbreaks etc.