Bush a peak oil convert

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John Judis argues in The New Republic that Bush’s cryptic “oil addiction” comment signals that he may be taking the idea of peak oil seriously. Well, possibly: he points to several recent Department of Energy papers which have sided definitively with the Hubbert school of geology. Yet of course Bush won’t do the obvious thing for his long-term political reputation and repudiate oil, making him the biggest turnaround story since Nixon went to China — he’s too deeply in the huffing-glue corporate camp that believes in hooey like “ethanol”:http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/2/7/112747/5158. Yet even the _bankers_ (not just the insurance guys anymore) are staking out radical left-wing stances in favor of high gas taxes:

bq. In its analysis of Bush’s State of the Union adress, Deutsche Bank’s North American branch reaches a similar conclusion. Bush, the analysis says, “should talk about making a dependence on oil, as opposed to Middle Eastern oil, a thing of the past. … We should lessen our demand and conserve what is left. By inference that will reduce dependence on the Middle East. There is one simple way of doing this, and that is to raise gasoline taxes in the U.S.”

It’s only a matter of time, and the longer we put it off, the more it will hurt.

Modernists invade Nola

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The academic Modernists really don’t deserve to be taken seriously: as Susan Stone reports in Der Spiegel Online, a Morphosis proposal [“illustration”:http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,585866,00.jpg%5D seriously proposes abandoning three-fourths of New Orleans. The proposal states: “Given the prediction that the city, even three years out, will have lost 50 percent of its population, and the general assumption of uncertainty, the city realistically can neither re-build infrastructure nor resume services at pre-Katrina levels.” The Dutch curator of this exhibit calls the proposal “frank” and “most realistic,” and Morphosis has indeed built work — much of it for famously blindered public clients.

This hardly shows that Thom Mayne is off his rocker; indeed, it’s eminently sensible, ecologically and logically realistic to let southern Louisiana return to its naturally swampy state. Yet these people still don’t have a clue about the political and social realities of the world, which simply refuses to fit into ziggy little glass boxes. Residents of even the lowest-lying neighborhoods are angrily shouting down anyone who says that their homes and neighborhoods should be left to cattails and alligators. This hardly bodes well for the High Modernists’ ability to successfully navigate politics and actually build something.

And besides, this is somehow a new idea? This looks substantially similar to the Bring Back New Orleans Commission’s plan, primarily written by WRT (where CNU co-founder Dan Solomon and former board member Jonathan Barnett work), which at least proposed a method for identifying neighborhoods that could be either resettled or abandoned. Of course, that idea went down in flames as well.

Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t expose

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DADT catches some more — on film! Seven soldiers from Ft. Bragg’s 82nd Airborne have been court-martialed or punished for “sodomy, pandering and wrongfully engaging in sexual acts for money while being filmed.” Well, okay, so many employment contracts prohibit moonlighting, but I suppose one could look on the bright side: a commenter at Gay.com sees a career opportunity:

bq. I want a job with the military where I get paid to look at gay porn and see if any of the actors are active military soildiers. I’m glad so many resources are devoted to this persuit. The internet is so vast and there are so many soldiers in the US military we will need literally hundreds of men to watch all this porn and surf gay websites to track these perps down.

Around the office

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Blair Kamin writes in the Trib of the new cornice crowning the Carson Pirie Scott building:

bq. From the 12th floor, behind windows that are now properly recessed, you witness firsthand Sullivan’s ability to create exquisitely layered spaces. There, just outside the windows, are the elements that form the layers: the rounded columns and their delicate bands, the lush column capitals and the dazzling ornament of the overhanging soffit. Here, precisely as Sullivan intended, the ornament seems to grow naturally out of the building rather than being slapped onto it like a postage stamp.

His next column offered a description of the Field Building (LaSalle Bank headquarters), my not-quite-daily shortcut to LaSalle Street:

bq. It is at once a visual feast and impeccably restrained. Signature Art Deco zigzags animate everything from the fluted columns that line the corridor to the outlines of the clocks accenting the bridges that join the north and south balconies.

Oh, and the principal architect of the Carson’s job, Gunny Harboe, has apparently separated from AECOM and will move in next door to my office. Odd thing is, the Marquette is a jewel of history surrounded by a bunch of (mostly) mediocre monuments to corporate Modernism. And surely he had an in on the “Sullivan Office Centre” space on the upper floors of the Carson’s building, where the views are undoubtedly better. (However, the full-block floorplates there are probably huge and the smaller spaces narrow-and-deep.)

America exporting gentrification

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Stephanie Rosenbloom in the New York Times points to many cities worldwide that are cheap by the benchmark of hyperinflated New York City prices. Now, not only will Queens and the Bronx have to worry about gentrification spilling over from Manhattan — anywhere within reach of JFK can share in the fun! Although it might seem tempting to heal our hemorrhaging balance of trade by exporting vast quantities of Gentrification abroad, unfortunately our largest trade-debtor, China, has been exporting gentrification from Hong Kong to cities all around the Pacific Rim for decades now. (I hear that Auckland is the latest destination for the “astronauts” commuting via Cathay Pacific.)

bq. The world is dappled with electric and storied cities — and real estate is staggeringly affordable in many of them. “There is so much value in a lot of foreign countries,” said Nigel Leck, an international property expert on the BBC program “Uncharted Territory.” “The capital growth will be very, very good.”Entrepreneurial types should seize the moment in Eastern Europe, where cities like Budapest, Prague and Krakow, Poland, are in need of basic services and programs to propel them into the future. Those who want the privileges of home — a democratic government, a transparent market, the protection of property rights — but want more bang for their buck, should consider Toronto, Montreal and Quebec. Sun-seekers looking to live and invest in a more tropical climate may want to migrate to one of the many flourishing cities in Latin America. Young executives who want to position themselves for the next decade can get deals in Shanghai, while romantics can embrace a piece of Paris for less than they may have thought.

(Oh, and I can already see the Montrealers moaning. Maybe another icestorm or a round of “FLQ kidnappings”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLQ will scare off the ugly Americans.)

Big tobacco’s local front

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“I didn’t know that, but sticking it to the man makes this all the more sweet,” said Jerome Hicks, taking a long drag on a Dunhill cigarette. “I can say without guilt, if you don’t like it, go somewhere else.” — quoted by Charles Sheehan in the Trib, 19 January

The greedy zillionaires running multinational giant Reynolds American have apparently decided that harvesting $15.6 billion a year by slowly strangling millions of people to death isn’t enough. No, they’ve discovered a new twist on insidious evil: they’ve “gone local,” crouching behind a made-up brand name — Marshall & McGearty, who in real life are a corporate chemist and an ad-man, respectively — to create a corporate simulacrum of the idealized Ye Olde Tyme Corner-e Tobacconist-e Shoppe, hawking “custom blended” cancer sticks for $8 a pack.

“Reynolds, a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., plans to test the idea and see how the brand does before potentially expanding the concept.” (AP/N&O)

And where is the test market for this cynical marketing ploy, the first place where gullible and stupid American consumers will be suckered into literally trading their lives for corporate marketing hoo-hah? Why, Wicker Park, of course. And in a fit of good timing, the lounge coincidentally opened just as the deal-with-it-later smoking ban passed the City Council, resulting in a shower of free publicity.

Bleaugh. Good thing that the many local demolitions have left behind big piles of spare bricks. C’mon, let’s welcome them like we welcomed Starbucks — a corporation, mind you, a third smaller than RJR (measured by annual revenues).

And oh, it turns out that RJR’s largest shareholder is British American Tobacco. Together, RJR and BAT (which merged their American operations in 2005) sold $70 billion in cigarettes in 2004, making BAT bigger than McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Nike, and the Gap combined.

Self-aggrandizement

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Never noticed this before, but American Airlines’ online booking system allows one a laughably wide selection of “titles and honoraria”:https://westnorth.com/img/aggrandize.png to prefix one’s name with. In the end, it was a tough choice between Princess, Right Honourable, or Swami, but luckily the reservation didn’t time out while I wrestled with which personality would be boarding the plane. (Wonder if this’ll show on the boarding pass.)

Insult the troops

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Continuing on yesterday’s theme, Lawrence Kaplan writes that Hummers insult the troops in The New Republic. What makes a Hummer far more intrinsically vile than any comparable wasteful, vain SUV is the cultural baggage that comes with the name and fake-military styling — exactly what low-lifes pay extra for.

bq. It is only in a nation that has been completely insulated from war’s effects that a vehicle of war could become a trophy for the rich. It’s not enough that those who most enjoy the benefits and freedoms of this country serve it the least. Now they’ve made leisure rides of the war machines used by those who serve. The reluctance to abide any measure that might constrain personal autonomy, the conflation of rights and duties–it’s all there in one vehicle.

I’ve scrawled something to the effect of “hey tough guy, drive your road hog to Iraq” on a note left on a windshield, but alas, the thought doesn’t lend it self to a succinct five-word stoplight insult. Just “the bird”:http://fuh2.com doesn’t seem to suffice, either.

At the very least, it appears that AM General has lost the contract to make the Army’s next generation of “small” trucks. We can only hope that whoever secures the new contract won’t go down this road.

Narcissistic, cowardly, sociopathic driver of yellow Hummer sought

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From The Daily Northwestern:

bq. Archana Sriram suffered facial fractures, a broken jaw, a hip fracture and a broken leg after she was hit by a yellow Hummer at the intersection of Lake Street and Sherman Avenue, she said from the hospital Monday… “EPD says they can’t look up registered yellow Hummers in the area, only license plates,” Sriram said. “Hopefully people can keep their eyes out.”

Airlinemeals.net

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Today’s odd web find: sure, I understand taking photos of meals and posting to Flickr, but thanks to the wonders of the web, you can find out what vegetarian curry aboard Air New Zealand (and any number of cuisine/airline combos) looks and tastes like. Or maybe an “Air Zimbabwe meal circa 1981”:http://www.airlinemeals.net/oldies/AirZimbabwe.html is more to your taste.

(FWIW, I’ve stuck to Indian vegetarian [often vegan, sometimes yogurt or cheese] in-flight meals ever since an unfortunate food poisoning incident involving a turkey wrap on a flight to PDX.)

Street Renaissance in NYC

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bq. The choice is clear: either we choose to be defined by worsening traffic and perilous streets or we can define ourselves through great public spaces and lively streets… The “New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign”:http://www.nycsr.org/ is building the movement to re-imagine our streets as lively public places.

A new campaign launched this month to “Reclaim the Streets” in a very broad sense throughout New York City, complete with some inviting renderings of sidewalks thronged with happy pedestrians. (It almost seems possible, too!) With some concerted action, it seems like many Community Boards — filled with “pedestrian voters”:http://www.carsharing.net/library/carandcityexecsummary.html (scroll down to #10) — could do a lot to reclaim side streets, in particular, from speeding through traffic — but New Yorkers’ simultaneous sense of complaint and begrudging compliance (“ah, fugeddaboutit”) might slow progress.