So, like….I took some pictures of the de facto capital of Canada. This is a follow up to my pictures of People I’m still not sure what to make of the city. Don’t get me wrong, its a good city (sit Ubu sit). I’m having a hard time comparing it to any of the cities I’ve been to. I can say though, with a very high level of confidence that its better than Edmonton.
Well anyway, here’s the link to my flickr photo set, and as usual here’s a few snippets:
So some posts might not have far reaching appeal to mass audiences. This one pretty much has an appeal to about 7 people, 3 cats and 2 Snoopys and 1 Dirigible.
I know in a previous post I mentioned that I was moving away from Picasa towards Flickr. I think I’m partially doing that. For random silly pictures I think I’m going to keep going with Picasa since so many of my friends have a google account and commenting and following is still decent in Picasa. But as mentioned before, the resolution algorithms on Picasa blows, so “real” photos will be handled by flickr.
Anyway, If you want to see some general tomfoolery, shenanigans and skylarkings by some of Ben Co.’s greatest minds and followers, click here. Generally speaking most pictures involve beer, standing looking stupid, sitting looking stupid or posing stupidly.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is reportingthat Americans are continuing their downward trend in driving, with estimated vehicle miles traveled on all U.S. roads in March 2008 falling 4.3 percent compared to March 2007.
Hand in hand with these posts (here and here), there was a nice op ed piece I wanted to share from the NY Times.
Basically, the author, Thomas Friedman, says that whomever becomes president (he seems to be leaning towards Obama) needs to have enough will to actually tell the American people what they apparently don’t want to hear: High gas prices are not going away and the country needs to change its habits.
A couple of points really jumped out at me. Most of us have probably seen the Dodge ads where they are offering cheap gas for 3 years - Friedman compares this to tobacco companies offering cheap smokes to kids. Essentially Dodge is acting as a drug dealer, pushing big old SUVs down the throats of addicts.
I’ll leave you with this bit from the article:
I can’t say it better than my friend Tim Shriver, the chairman of Special Olympics, did in a Memorial Day essay in The Washington Post: “So Dodge wants to sell you a car you don’t really want to buy, that is not fuel-efficient, will further damage our environment, and will further subsidize oil states, some of which are on the other side of the wars we’re currently fighting. … The planet be damned, the troops be forgotten, the economy be ignored: buy a Dodge.”
He’s right, too…Obama did have the guts to point out that the McCain/Clinton gas tax holiday proposal was worthless pandering. Let’s just hope he has the guts to do a big time intervention to get us off our car addictions, as well.
I thought I’d share a recent report from Joe Cortright (CEOs for Cities) titled Driven to the Brink: How the Gas Price Spike Popped the Housing Bubble and Devalued the Suburbs. Urban sprawl and transportation issues are one of my favorite topics, so this report was right up my alley.
You can find the full report here, but for those of you too lazy to click I’ll highlight some of the interesting bits.
Basically Cortright’s analysis find that the recent collapse of the U.S. housing market has partially obscured an even “tectonic shift in housing demand.” The report finds that housing price declines “are generally far more sever in far-flung suburbs and in metropolitan areas with weak close-in neighborhoods” and:
”Housing in cities and neighborhoods that require lengthy commutes and provide few transportation alternatives to the private vehicle are falling in value more precipitously than in more central, compact and accessible places.”
Basically, all you chumps who bought into the idea of living in the 5,000 sq ft house out in the suburbs are majorly screwed and cities that have good transit are better able to withstand the housing collapse.
Attention new parents: Nobody wants to hear about how tough it is having a baby around.
I’ve been surrounded by new parents lately and everyone one of them just loves to tell me how little sleep they’ve had, how little Timmy’s rash is doing, or all about Susie’s diarrhea.
The cold, hard truth is that every non-parent couldn’t care less. What do we think while you’re telling us this? We think: “Why is this person complaining about their child with the same emotion as a Barack Obama speech? If they are so tired, why are they still talking about diapers? Maybe if I stick my pen in my eye they’ll leave me alone…”
New parents will get absolutely no sympathy from me.
Nobody forced you to procreate - and unless Junior was a “mistake,” you planned on having this sprog. So please, if you want to commiserate about how tough your life is as a direct result of a decision you consciously made, please do it out of earshot of me.
For a brief period last Thursday, I had access to the 41st Floor of 200 Public Square (née: BP Building). Seen here in the center of this Urbanohio.com Image
The weather wasn’t necessarily Ideal, it was hazy, overcast and windy. But when you have access to the 41st floor and might I add there was outdoor access, you have to seize the opportunity to get snappin‘!
I’ve heard rumblings that some people think Ben Co. is too random. Too all over the place, too whimsical, with no central theme. Well with that in mind, I’m going to keep appearances up.
I’ve got a handful of favorite bands. I would consider none of them mainstream. I really enjoy sharing and exposing people to music (and myself) that they probably would have never encountered.
So, while youtube-ing, I came across a video for the Arctic Monkeys Leave Before the Lights Come On. I like the music, I like the lyrics and now I really like the video. Make sure you watch all of it, there’s a great twist at the end.
One of the best parts of my time in Edmonton was the fact that my friend organized a bootcamp over the summer and convinced my lazy butt to go at least twice a week after work. We would do a little running in the river valley, along with some strength training. It was nice for a number of reasons: the river valley in Edmonton is gorgeous in the summer, I got less doughy, my friend got to verbally abuse more often, and, most of all, I found out that I could run a little.
All of this is going somewhere, trust me. See, the problem is, I’m getting doughy again, and the summer is coming. The ladies are always less impressed with my banana hammock if my gut hangs over the top. So, time to get exercising again.
Have a look at the posts, make snide remarks, post something of your own, insult me - pretty much do whatever you want.
If you don't agree with something I say don't just sit there and mumble, "This guy is an idiot...grumble, grumble..." Write back and tell me what an idiot I am!
Ben
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