23 April 2003
“Neighborhood collective efficacy,” or social capital, doesn’t just make for friendlier, more sustainable places, but also stops juvenile delinquency.

22 April 2003
Aerial photographer Alex MacLean has an almost definitive answer to the eternal question: what does density look like? Well, here’s low and here’s high.

21 April 2003
“Like ugly clothes and extreme sports, Pabst [Blue Ribbon]’s value lies in its expression of individuality and choice, a rejection of consumer society by those who feel manipulated by it… While most young consumers buy clothes and cars to make themselves seem as affluent and desirable as possible, the materialism of many of today’s counterculture youth is just the opposite. It is meant to reflect the economics of “reality,” of working-class thriftiness, of the notion of America at its best, at its most optimistic, at its blue-collar prime. Of course, this is not America. This is Americana — and an appetite for what was good when things are going bad.” As poetic a description of hipsters’ attempts to overcome pomo ennui with false nostalgia as any, from the Washington Post.

20 April 2003
Perhaps hope does spring eternal: “That grown men and women can make a living pondering such matters [in this case, topology] is a sign that civilization, as fragile as it may sometimes seem, remains intact.” NYT

19 April 2003
Silence = Death, part 2.

18 April 2003
the zoning work I’ve been up to lately has borne media fruit, even if Fran Spielman misspelled my name.

17 April 2003
“Naked” motorcycles are just the latest attempt by Americans to search out authentic, unmediated experiences within the consumerist system. Of course, it’s bound to fail in the long run since mass production will necessarily cheapen the authenticity, but at least we might have had fun trying before moving on to the next fad. Right?

16 April 2003
Stealing by the stolen from is okay, unless perhaps corporations are doing the stealing.

15 April 2003
westnorth.com now forwards here. I’ll be building out a new site at that address eventually.

13 April 2003
It will take much work to rebuild the Washington Consensus after the Bush administration’s trashing of the global system — which might be a blessing in disguise.

12 April 2003
Taking name your own price to its logical retail conclusion is, sadly, illegal.

10 April 2003
Wine pricing: the guesswork explained.