A sense of place

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Saturday March 28, 2009 · 3:55 PM PDT

2009/03/28 · 15:55

I've lived in Somerville over 21 years now. It's the epitome of the dense grid, the example on the right in Yglesias post.

In local terms, I'm still a barney. A newcomer, an out of towner, a displaced midwestern pseudo intellectual fool.

One thing I have to add to the cul-de-sac vs grid discussion is age. Way back when I was 6 or 7, way back in the days when small children still roamed free on the landscape, I lived near a railroad. It was awesome! A bit of woods, some vernal frogponds, lots of goldenrods. Shortly after I moved out, they tore up the railroad & built a limited access highway. No more room for kids.

Downpuppy

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Thursday March 26, 2009 · 10:12 AM PDT

2009/03/26 · 10:12

In 2008, the US pumped the most natural gas since 1974. As a result, storage is overflowing every fall, and gas costs $4/1000 CF at henry Hub. In energy terms, this is equal to oil at $24/barrel, less than half of what oil is going for.

Since about 2000, people have been predicting that US gas production was about to go over a depletion cliff.

Poll

11 votes Show Results

Changes in natural gas supply?

11 votes Vote Now!

Changes in natural gas supply?

What does this have to do with a corrupt

0 votes

bloated oligarchy pillaging

2 votes

the rotted remnants of our once productive

2 votes

economic system?

0 votes

Not much.

7 votes

The Athens of America can't be Great Swamp Erie da da Boom

Downpuppy

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Saturday February 14, 2009 · 11:20 AM PST

2009/02/14 · 11:20

With conventional newspapers collapsing all around, I went to the freebie boxes to see what alternatives are available.

22 papers and nothing to read is a bit of an overstatement.

But not much. Days of collecting, reading & sifting led to lots of chuckles.

At them, not with them.

Downpuppy

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Saturday February 07, 2009 · 4:41 PM PST

2009/02/07 · 16:41

but I didn't do it!

10 or 11 of the last 16 bank failures were from one state or the other. Are there reasons those 2 states are in the lead?

A fun map

California is obvious. Huge state, huge real estate boom & bust. Georgia is obvious too - Fraud. The foreclosure rate there is several times the national average thanks to mortgage fraud, and the failed banks have hair raising tales of greed & stupidity.

There are 2 ways to look at this: statistically & locally.

Downpuppy

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Saturday December 27, 2008 · 4:39 PM PST

2008/12/27 · 16:39

Americans work long hours, with good skills and fine tools. That the results aren't all that great is a function of how the whole thing is organized. We've slipped from an Economy that's a function of human activity trying to support ourselves, into servants of a dystopian, dysfunctional cult of the Invisible Hand.

This isn't a new idea - Kunstler writes a column on it every week. I've tried to put some numbers to the problem. How much of what we do goes straight down ratholes? How much would we be better off not doing at all?

Poll

31 votes Show Results

If I didn't do my job

31 votes Vote Now!

If I didn't do my job

thousands would die

2 votes

nobody would notice

20 votes

the world as a whole would be better off

1 vote

Whaddaya mean, my job?

4 votes

What's a job?

4 votes

Great Malls of Cleveland

Downpuppy

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Wednesday December 17, 2008 · 5:21 PM PST

2008/12/17 · 17:21

He knew that he should have hated and feared the mall. And yet the mall was of the land and the market, an ancient thing always with us. Dead Malls, healthy malls, sprawling mediocrity, grandiose failures and successful gallerias.

I sing of 2 treasures among the junkpile.

The late 19th century Euclid Arcade was always there, even when downtown Cleveland was nearly dead.

Downpuppy

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Monday December 15, 2008 · 4:35 PM PST

2008/12/15 · 16:35

down by riverrun, past Adam & Steves in the days when the 20 mule team Borat came from out of the land of oranges on the day of locusts a danger was found. It was the focus of evil in the modern world, and the only solution was to deconstruct reality into the postmodern world. He peeled away the shattered remnants of his mind and set to work at not working; presidency through napping. Let there be legwarmers, much as the Dean's nightcap.

Poll

37 votes Show Results

the real threat is

37 votes Vote Now!

the real threat is

aliens

1 vote

jellyfish

10 votes

bears

5 votes

libruls riding on bears

19 votes

the hogfather

2 votes

Time to fill the tank

Downpuppy

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Sunday December 14, 2008 · 8:49 AM PST

2008/12/14 · 08:49

The relentless fall in oil & gasoline prices seems to have relented. After gasoline (retail US Average) fell 60% from $4.117 in July to $1.65 2 days ago, it's risen 2 days in a row, to $1.663, according to AAA. Wholesale, oil and gasoline have climbed about 10% in a few days. Oil at $46 would have translated into over $2 retail gasoline a few years ago. Today, with the premium seeming to have shifted to diesel, and what looks like permanent excess refining capacity (at least until some refineries break down & don't get fixed), it should still at least mean some increase.

Downpuppy

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Tuesday December 02, 2008 · 6:25 AM PST

2008/12/02 · 06:25

With all the fuss in the last few days (Must Read: Glenzilla) about networks pushing war propaganda, I happened to reread a 1954 Philip K. Dick story, The Mold of Yancy. It's a reasonably good tale (Not as good as the stuff he wrote after dropping acid) about a massive effort to turn a moon full of people into sheep through massive doses of homespun wisdom from a synthetic character - a middle aged white guy called Yancy.

The content of Yancy's material was key. Specific, definite opinions on personal and trivial things. Vague, contradictory but deep sounding rubbish on big issues. The overall message : Trust in authority. I give youNBC Producer Carl Sears.

Downpuppy

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Wednesday November 19, 2008 · 12:20 PM PST

2008/11/19 · 12:20

On July 17, retail gasoline hit its 2008 peak of $4.114/gallon. Yesterday it was $2.047, & still falling fast.

The fall has happened in 2 parts. First, there was the penny a day decline up to hurricanes Gustav & Ike. Then there was a brief pause, and freefall, 2 to 4 cents a day.

You probably aren't celebrating. There are good reasons.

Downpuppy

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Thursday October 23, 2008 · 6:25 AM PDT

2008/10/23 · 06:25

A short diary, to note that as the occupation (or whatever it is) of Afghanistan continues to decay for the 5th straight year, the 1000th coalition soldier died.

Our occupation must and will end. I have no idea what will be left behind.

Numbers below the fold.

Downpuppy

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Monday October 06, 2008 · 4:45 PM PDT

2008/10/06 · 16:45

As we face the fall of the mountains of debt we built around the world over the last 30 years, its useful to remember the source : Our trade deficit.

And the source of our trade deficit : Overhead, due to waste.

And the source of waste? Relying on markets, even where the only participants were working together to hurt the rest of us. We need interest groups acting in many markets as much as buyers and sellers. Unlike other countries, though, we have systematically castrated, purged & marginalized all countervailing forces, leaving "markets" where most of the people dependent on their results are excluded from any meaningful input.

Below the fold, specifics, which should be useful when trying to explain how rising inequality led directly to our exploding disaster.

Poll

12 votes Show Results

What's the total cost of waste in the US, as % of GDP?

12 votes Vote Now!

What's the total cost of waste in the US, as % of GDP?

<10%

1 vote

10-20%

2 votes

20-30%

1 vote

30-50%

2 votes

Over 50%

3 votes

I don't know anyone who's does anything useful

1 vote

Can I use a multiplier?

2 votes

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A sense of place

The natural gas glut

The Athens of America can't be Great Swamp Erie da da Boom

I've been to Georgia & California

Working dumber

Great Malls of Cleveland

BREAKING: Wind

Time to fill the tank

Brian Williams : In the Mold of Yancy?

Gasoline down 50%. Good news?

Afghanistan, 1000 dead

Wasted