friend of the built environment

Interesting pair of articles from James Kwak this week RE: whether Apple will be on the right side of history by emulating the Microsoft model of market dominance in software.
The obvious alternative is Google, which has its own operating systems (Android and Chrome), but doesn’t particularly care if you use them or not [...]

Interesting debate from Maisonneuve via Chris about the significance of the Richard Florida Economy on Canada:
Terris loses me when he writes: “Unfortunately, the Nova Scotia government’s ongoing failure to invest in the province’s cultural sector will have serious economic consequences.”
Um, no. As sad as it is to say, the economic contribution of [...]

Home ownership is bad (or at least it causes people to care about where they are too much and less about being skillfodder for corporate needs); mobile corporate slavery is good - keep your skills current and be on top of every recruiter’s list. Don’t get attached to anything or anyone, lest you miss that [...]

…Not to mention proof that our mass transit infrastructure is horribly out-of-wack:
A trip from the Triad to Pittsburgh by Greyhound bus (since the easiest surface route would be up the I-77 corridor next to all those Ontarians making their way home from Florida): At least $118 (one-way), or more if you want a refundable fare.

Oh, [...]

Peripherally related to my last post, we’ve been trying to find a new house in Greensboro in the past month or so, and one issue we’ve discovered is that there is lots of “urban rennaissance” happening in Greensboro (more even, in my opinion, than Charlotte, especially in the sense that it’s revitalization rather than redevelopment [...]

I find it odd that a major new argument against the Obama administration by conservatives is that it is opportunistically using the devastation of the Gulf oil spill to push a renewed pro-environment agenda. That the US should not let BP’s mishap slow its domestic oil exploitation priorities.
I find it especially odd that conservatives, who [...]

Am I weird that I now spend all day watching HGTV with baited breath waiting for glimpses of Toronto?
No? Good, just checking…