3 Changes in the United States, Most Importantly Free Ones! :D

1. The Drinking Age Needs to be Changed to 18
Having a 21 year old drinking age is absurd. Maybe some people feel that an 18 year old isn't capable of making good life choices. If this is the case, why do 18 year olds become legal independent adults at 18? So at 18 adults are expected to be either responsible students or responsible workers but aren't able to even gauge how much they should drink? Students have to fraternize and network sans a drink or two. Lets re think this one.

2. Half votes
21 or 22 and under should not receive a whole vote. There are so many thing which most young people don't know and shouldn't be expected to know about politics. The natural response to this is that well, most people need to pay more attention to current events. Maybe, but with the current work load imposed by high-schools and a service driven economy, current events take a real back seat for 21st century students. I will give you a good example of this. We assume most moderate voting 20 something students voted for Obama. However, one of the staples of the Liberal party has always been monetary union support. Only now with the GM bankruptcy do we start to understand the power of Unions, which has likely been abused. Many 20 something students know little of unions.

3. Seriously Consider Decriminalizing Marijuana
The pros of this action are seldom considered. Marijuana is not a chemically addicting substance any more than McDonald's or slurpies. Obviously, those are legal. Imagine the tax money which this action could generate especially in times of economic recession. UK studies have even proven that driving high has little influence on safety. Further, the negative health effects of pot smoke are not understood and often exaggerated. However, the positive effects of smoking on anxiety and eating disorders are very well documented.

Thanks for Reading!

INsUrAnce

If you are like me you have a huge gangster pirate ear ring, a troll like ear, and often dream of money and eye glasses. At any rate at least, you often wonder about where your money is going and what its doing. 

So have you ever tried to understand some of the reasons why insurance will pay certain amounts for certain things? For example, why will insurance sometimes pay for new eye glasses? Insurance companies will go to extreme measures to avoid having to get involved in large medical expenses. They would rather pay for seemingly frivolous expenses. The real debate then becomes just how frivolous some of these expenses are. 

My insurance will not completely cover my contact lenses expenses because it would technically be cheaper for me to just wear glasses. These glasses do prevent my eyes from further deteriorating.  Therefore, there is no risk of eye surgery with the glasses paid for.

You can imagine how this logic can be extended to all different types of medications. Insurance pays for different prescriptions because they will keep you basically healthy, with no surgery. 

So the question is, where does this logic stop. Should insurance also cover for vacations when people become overworked? What about a.d.d. medications? Is a child actually risking his health if he isn't paying attention in class?  

   

TORNADO Safety Rules

Im struggling to put my finger on what it is about this vintage literature, hanging in my grandmothers' kitchen, that gives it such a quality of a different time. 

At first I thought that it was definitely the frank writing style which I believe went out with the mid 80s. 

SAFETY RULES

YUOR IMMEDIATE ACTION MAY MEAN LIFE OR DEATH

STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

ONLY TO REPORT A TORNADO

Now days someone would probably be offended if they were spoken to in such a manner. The more I thought about it though, its the graphics and font which really bring it home. Who uses red font for this type of thing anymore? The negative font of the word TORNADO, is, I think what really does it. 

The countryside silhouette looks to be straight out of the movie Twister. 

 

Blog Crits

Background Background

In an attempt to stay current with architecture, I've taken to reading some blogs online detailing some of the worlds' best and most intriguing projects. I've been reading two blogs, one called BLDG BLOG and the other called A Daily Dose of Architecture. 

In a somewhat different story, the other day my brother played for me an audio reading of an article from The Economist. If you aren't familiar, its a publication which is based out of london. The magazine reports on world affairs. Its known for its brilliant journalism, unwavering integrity, and international acceptance. I, moreover, was pleasantly surprised when David explained to me that the weekly publication offers its subscribers a single zip file which can be downloaded from its website. The file contains, each week, about 8 hours of the entire publication, spoken out and compressed into MP3 audio.        

What do these two thoughts have in common? I realized yesterday exactly why I've never been satisfied with BLDG BLOG blog.  When their articles are thin, which happens frequently, this blog takes the liberty of appending elaborate hypothetical science fiction type hypotheses, onto their articles. The blog is also teeming with academic jargon. 

Take this article for example. 

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/hills-have-eyes.html

First we have this passage with some "clever" made up words and phrasing. 

mountain subcity

fragmentary glimpses

shard-like pieces of larger works 

guerrilla exhibition strategies now increase one's chances of canonization 

And the dumb hypothetical portion,

"Could you paint, or glue a poster of, all 200,000+ frames from a new film onto the surfaces of distant buildings? And treat the city as a kind of cinematic installation, a cubist filmography in which walking around is a form of experiential editing?"

I do understand the sentiment here, but finally, I've decided to unsubscribe from this blog. There is probably much better journalism just waiting. These blogs, as well as the economist both have very lengthy articles and if you want to spend some serious time with your reading, it is probably worth paying a small amount, or at least, a very critical review.   

Marge Kepes

Mrs. Kepes was always one of those tough scout leader mothers. 

When mischief was at hand, we didn't like her much. She was basically a bad a**. One of those parents you really didn't want to mess with. One of the few adults whom nothing got by and whom would let nothing slide. 

We could usually make a sobbing appeal to Mr. Solorio, and Mrs, who was equally understanding. Never Marge Kepes. 

Thanks for the tough guidance, I will always remember you nocking our heads together and your endless service to Troop 342. 

Acropolis [[[Annotated]]]

ACROPOLIS

I DECIDED TO MAKE THIS WHOLE POST IN CAPS BECAUSE IM KEEPING IN THE GREEK SPIRIT, WHERE LOTS OF WORDS ARE IN CAPS. 

TODAY WAS THE FIRST TIME IVE EVER BEEN TO THE [AKROPOLIS] AND I WOULD LIKE TO LET YOU IN ON THE LITTLE SECRETS OF THE VISIT. IF YOU WANTED THE FACTS AND THE HISTORY YOU HAVE WIKIPEDIA. 

SO HERES WHAT WAS SURPRISING AND PARTICULARLY INTERESTING

1. THIS IS THE PARTHENON. THE BUILDINGS IS ABOUT 2500 YEARS OLD. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY WE KNOW THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GREEKS. WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW IS THE ARCHITECTURAL AND AESTHETIC IMPORTANCE OF THIS BUILDING, WHICH WAS NEVER MUCH MORE THAN AN AWESOME RELIGIOUS PAVILION. THIS BUILDING IS ARGUABLY THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD. THE PARTHENON IS THOUGHT OF EVERY TIME SOMEONE TALKS ABOUT CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE. ITS ROBUST COLUMNS, PORTICO (PORCH) AND PEDIMENT (TRIANGLE SHPAED ROOF), AND ENTABLATURE (FLAT PART ABOVE COLUMNS) WITH TRIGLYPHS HAVE INFLUENCED BANKS, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, ESTATES, AND PLACES OF WORSHIP WORLDWIDE. 

2. THIS SMALL BUILDING IS CALLED THE ERECHTHEUM. IT WAS AN IMPORTANT PLACE BECAUSE DIRECTLY BEHIND THIS BUILDING WAS THE ONLY PLACE ON THE ACROPOLIS WHICH WAS COMPLETELY SHIELDED FROM WIND. IT HAD WALLS ON NEARLY ALL FOUR SIDES.  IT DIDNT CROSS MY MIND THIS MORNING WHILE I WAS GETTING DRESSED HOW COLD AND BREEZY IT WOULD BE ON THE ROCK, TOWERING ABOVE THE WHOLE CITY.  

3. THE GROUND ON TOP OF THE ACROPOLIS, BETWEEN THE ANCIENT STRUCTURES WAS EXTREMELY ROUGH, BUMPY, AND ENEVEN, EVEN TREACHEROUS.  WHAT WAS WORSE, THE ROCK HAS GIGANTIC HOLES WHICH FILL WITH WATER AND FORM PUDDLES WHICH WAIT FOR YOU TO STEP IN THEM. 

4. IT WAS NOT APPARENT TO ME JUST HOW COMPLETELY TALL THE ACROPOLIS IS. IT TOWERS ABOVE THE REST OF THE CITY. THE PARTHENON ROCKS IT JUST BY SHEER GEOLOGICAL FEAURE; THE BEST KIND OF ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAM!

5. THIS GREEK THEATER CAN BE SEEN FROM THE TOP OF THE ACROPOLIS. THE WALL MAKES A TERRIFIC BACKDROP WITH ITS SLIGHTLY RUINED ARCHED WALL.