Ring Roads

This image produced by the Rice School of Architecture is pretty cool.

They note it shows the "ring roads from 27 international cities and layered...at the same scale. As it turn[s] out, Houston has the largest system of those...surveyed. (Beijing was second)"

I'll leave the interpretations to you.

(ht: Kottke)

Earth From Above

As a huge fan of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From Above, I wanted to take the chance to point you to these fantastic photos by Jason Hawkes. My favorites are #8 and 23. Yours?

Let Your Kids Roam Free

One thing I don't want to be is a hovering parent. Thus, I enjoyed this article on allowing your kids to have 'free-range'.

She notes,

There is a 1 in 1.5 million chance that your kid would be abducted and killed by a stranger. It is hard to wrap your mind around those numbers, and everybody always assumes: What if it's my 1 in 1.5 million?

If you don't want to have your child in any kind of danger, you really can't do anything. You certainly couldn't drive them in a car, because that's the No. 1 way kids die, as passengers in car accidents.

Certainly, let's consider the benefits allowing our children some independence will bring.

Prospects

I've written before about the recruiting world of high school basketball. And as most who follow it know, it's only beginning earlier and earlier for today's young players.

In a pretty interesting article on three young 8th-graders who will be going to high school in Chicago next year, Michael O'Brien of the Sun-Times notes,

High school basketball is undergoing a dramatic shift. The focus on younger players likely is here to stay and figures to intensify over the next few years.

More players are committing to colleges as freshmen, which means college coaches, recruiting analysts and the media have begun to pay serious attention to seventh- and eighth-grade players.

I'm just looking forward to watching these guys play next year. And if they end up in the orange & blue in four years, even better.

Dante

So, the Las Vegas Sun reports,

Geographers from Kansas State University did a study called 'The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins.'

Hmm, well, what does that mean? It means you have some pretty interesting maps showing their respective prevalence, that's what it means. From what I can tell, Chicago's biggest problem is with greed. Check it out.

Press

My high school team did it. And I'm a pretty big proponent. I love the run and gun that results.

Although, probably not for junior high, where I think it should be about more than winning.

Pressing in basketball. Just thinking about it, I bet you envisioned an exciting game. So, is it underused?

Malcom Gladwell thinks so. Definitely read the article. It's moreso an analysis of how an underdog can optimize their chances of success. But very interesting, as always.

Reading Material

So, I'm off to London tomorrow. For a long-awaited family vacation. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'll provide you a recap in a couple weeks.

For now, though, let me leave you with a link to this story to occupy the interim. Enjoy this tale of an unknown soldier whose last living sight was of the extremely emotional kind.

(ht: Kottke)

Reinventing America's Cities

Some have asserted that today's economic situation presents an opportunity to reformulate the usual means with which the country's infrastructure is paid for and the focus of the improvements. The very physical structure of our country may again need to be shifted. Indeed, there is no doubt that the way things worked last decade is now outdated. As stated by Richard Florida in the article I linked below,

But another crucial aspect of the crisis has been largely overlooked, and it might ultimately prove more important. Because America’s tendency to overconsume and under-save has been intimately intertwined with our postwar spatial fix—that is, with housing and suburbanization—the shape of the economy has been badly distorted, from where people live, to where investment flows, to what’s produced. Unless we make fundamental policy changes to eliminate these distortions, the economy is likely to face worsening handicaps in the years ahead.

Suburbanization—and the sprawling growth it propelled—made sense for a time. The cities of the early and mid-20th century were dirty, sooty, smelly, and crowded, and commuting from the first, close-in suburbs was fast and easy. And as manufacturing became more technologically stable and product lines matured during the postwar boom, suburban growth dovetailed nicely with the pattern of industrial growth. Businesses began opening new plants in green-field locations that featured cheaper land and labor; management saw no reason to continue making now-standardized products in the expensive urban locations where they’d first been developed and sold. Work was outsourced to then-new suburbs and the emerging areas of the Sun Belt, whose connections to bigger cities by the highway system afforded rapid, low-cost distribution. This process brought the Sun Belt economies (which had lagged since the Civil War) into modern times, and sustained a long boom for the United States as a whole.

But that was then; the economy is different now...

Along these lines, the NYT ran this fascinating article outlining some visions for reinventing the city in America. Using four examples, in New Orleans, Buffalo, LA, and the Bronx, ideas for rebuilding, reformulating, and reinvigorating our cities are examined. Using good planning and smart design, these changes can not only bring rejuvenation to an individual city, but collectively to our country.

The U.S. Economy Does Not Exist

So says the headline on this short snippet describing a study that claims,

The United States is not a single unified economy nor even a breakdown of 50 state economies. Instead, the country's 100 largest metropolitan regions are the real drivers of economic activity, generating two-thirds of the nation's jobs and three-quarters of its output. The sooner we reorient federal economic policies to support this "MetroNation," the quicker we can fix the mess we're in.

It's an intriguing idea, and one that actually makes sense. Chicago, for instance, would be the world's 18th largest economy if it were a country, right after Turkey and before Sweden. And with the economic climate the way it is, there is little doubt that the 'crisis' will affect different metropolitan areas in varying ways.

Richard Florida examined this idea in a fascinating article called How the Crash Will Reshape America. He observes,

The crash of 2008 continues to reverberate loudly nationwide—destroying jobs, bankrupting businesses, and displacing homeowners. But already, it has damaged some places much more severely than others. On the other side of the crisis, America’s economic landscape will look very different than it does today. What fate will the coming years hold for New York, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas? Will the suburbs be ineffably changed? Which cities and regions can come back strong? And which will never come back at all?

Our Past

I've spent some time over the past few years working on my genealogy. It's fun, but definitely some work. No matter who we are, I'm pretty sure most of us have some pretty interesting stories in our families' past. Part of the fun tracking down our ancestors is learning their stories.

Since I have some of that interest, I had a soft spot for this fantastic story that ties together a family's immigration story and Chicago.

Iceland Melts Down

Michael Lewis has written a fantastic article documenting the downfall of Iceland's financial system. I fully expect this piece to be in his upcoming book, and it is well worth reading to further understand the global interactions that led to the place we've come to.

He observes,

An entire nation without immediate experience or even distant memory of high finance had gazed upon the example of Wall Street and said, “We can do that.”

Abandoned Real Estate

One of the byproducts of the big real estate slowdown is that many homes and buildings for which the owners can no longer afford payment are being foreclosed upon. Subsequently, they are abandoned. There's probably no more visible display of the downturn than neighborhoods filled with empty buildings.

Mint's blog has done a great job documenting some of these locations in this post. Kind of eery, really. And for a more extensive treatment of the issue, this weekend's NYT magazine features an article on the abandoned homes problem in Cleveland by one of my favorite authors, Alex Kotlowitz.

Robinson Crusoe

Did you know Robinson Crusoe was based on a real man?

Generations of children have been spellbound by Robinson Crusoe's exploits, but few are aware of the real-life figure who inspired the classic. Now, 300 years after he left his island prison, scientists have pieced together how the real Crusoe managed to survive.

Meet Alexander Selkirk.

Congo

As you can see at the right, I'm currently reading a book called King Leopold's Ghost. It's a fantastic and educational book telling of the genocide around the turn of last century in what today is Congo. The chilling stories and abuse are heartwrenching even today.

And it becomes even moreso when we see evidence today of the continuing suffering the people of this region are experiencing. The excellent blog, The Big Picture, has documented over the last few months some of the difficulties there.

Entry #1 (the most moving picture to me-- #19)

Entry #2 (#4 and #5)

Entry #3 (#33)

Calvin Explains The World Today

Some people are always a bit ahead of their time. And I think this strip proves that Bill Watterson undoubtedly is one of those people.

Is Talent Born or Made?

This age-old question has arisen again in a slightly different format. Research has shown that what often separates superstars from everyday performers is just practice. Obviously, that makes a pretty good story. Most of the stories on this subject reference the work of Anders Ericsson, who has advanced some of this thought.

But can it be that any of us has the potential to be great, if only we had put in the time? This is basically the question Malcom Gladwell tackles in his latest book called Outliers, which ponders the question of how a person who's an outlier comes to be so. As you can see on the right, it's a book I recently read, and I would definitely recommend. In my opinion, while he does somewhat shortchange the role of genetics in the production of talent, nonetheless, it's a great summary of research in the area. And if it's a topic that you find interesting, there are several recent books that discuss it as well.

The Places We Live

Today, I aim only to point you to this, a stunning site, which reminds us of our own blessings while educating us about the world we live in.

Wired Education

I was excited to hear there are now college classes on one of our favorite TV shows, The Wire. From the course description:

Discerning critics and avid fans have agreed that the five-season run of Ed Burns and David Simon's The Wire was "the best TV show ever broadcast in America"--not the most popular but the best. The 60 hours that comprise this episodic series have been aptly been compared to Dickens, Balzac, Dreiser and Greek Tragedy. These comparisons attempt to get at the richly textured complexity of the work, its depth, its bleak tapestry of an American city and its diverse social stratifications. Yet none of these comparisons quite nails what it is that made this the most compelling "show" on TV and better than many of the best movies. This class will explore these comparisons, analyze episodes from the first, third, fourth and fifth seasons and try to discover what was and is so great about The Wire. We will screen as much of the series as we can during our mandatory screening sessions and approach it through the following lenses: the other writing of David Simon, including his journalism, an exemplary Greek Tragedy, Dickens' Bleak House and/or parts of Balzac's Human Comedy. We will also consider the formal tradition of episodic television.

Unfortunately, college days are long over for me, and so I won't be able to take said classes. But if you have the option, make sure you do. But at the very least, just go out and rent the DVDs already. And really, that's probably good enough.

(ht: Kottke)

Mass Transit Spending

Obviously there is a lot of back and forth going on right now as to what exactly the stimulus bill will contain. I will admit that as a transportation design professional I am admittedly biased. I would love to see as much transportation spending as possible.

But I would especially love to see a large influx of funds marked for mass transit spending use. As our nation looks at the role transportation will play in its future, I am a big proponent of the positives an efficient nationwide mass transit system will bring. This article does a better job than I would making this case, and so I encourage you to go check it out. And if you have the opportunity, talk to your representatives and urge them to do what they can to increase transit funding.

The Evil Behind the Smiles

Recently, I posted about the ongoing problem of slavery in the world today. Now, I strongly encourage you to read Nicholas Kristof's latest columns about sexual slavery in southeast Asia in order to become more informed.

The columns and associated videos are informative but heartwrenching. After seeing the movie Taken, which depicts the similar problem in Europe and reading these columns, there's no doubt that I'm motivated to see change come for these women. The cruelty exhibited and sad reality so many of these women face is disturbing.

Do your part, get informed, and make a difference!