December 09, 2007
An Open Letter to Modern Architects
My open letter to the modern home architect could be summed up in a sentence: Stop Making Ugly.
I've finally settled on buying a house. I haven't chosen one yet, but I did see a mortgage broker for pre-approval, started checking the local MLS listings, and have been giving what I've seen the old 'walk-by'.
It seems that any house built within the last 20 years suffers from a common thought process. The architect checklist included a home design priority order of, "1: Big garage that is close to street. 2: Wide driveway. 3: living room that juts out toward the street somewhat to maximize space. 4: Add extra room on top of the garage to maximize space. 5: Oh, right, put a front door in there somewhere."
Pretty much every house has an enormous-looking garage, and the garage is the only portion of the house that can be seen from many angles. Front doors tend to be tucked away, either far to one side of a small front porch (often butted up against a jutting living room which cuts the porch off on one side), or else claustrophobically wedged in between a garage and a living room that juts out. Either way, it makes approaching a front door on foot incredibly uncomfortable and unwelcoming, at least to me.
Perhaps this is by design, reflecting an attitude of the residents that shuns outside social contact and visitors? Or perhaps I'm missing the boat entirely, and this "front door wedging" really represents some kind of vaginal fixation in modern home architecture? I'm not sure. What I do know is that I am far more attracted to (and thus far more likely to buy) a house with a large, wide porch/landing and with a door that does not feel so tightly wedged between portions of building. Even better if the garage is de-emphasized and moved further from the street -- car culture is kind of scary; I have been walking and biking to work more often than in San Diego, even, and I intend to keep it that way.
Perhaps I'll give up, buy a plot of land, and hire my brother for consultation on a dome.
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
Testing
Posted by: Reid on December 9, 2007 01:40 AM