Year: 2012
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The Importance of Brutalism in Destroying the Fetish of the Old
The campus of Trinity College Dublin reminded me anew of the role of brutalism in modern architecture. It was the great throat-clearer, expelling the dusty phlegm of old buildings that can oppress architects and other creators. Here’s a building right on the college green: This building is so obviously, facially new, and is 200 meters…
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Porterhouse Pub, Tremendous Trevor, and a Irish Take on Homogenized International Culture
Today was our first day in Dublin. We arrived at the Davenport Hotel in late morning (here’s a shot): We walked toward Grafton Street and stopped at the Porterhouse Pub as our first gastronomic destination. It was an odd combination of the familiar and the foreign. We don’t tend to eat at pub-style joints in…
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On Paying for the Newspaper (In Light of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius)
Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Affordable Healthcare Act in the National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius case. Last night I read everything I could get my iPad’s hands on via the Web site of the world’s best source for news, the New York Times. But that wasn’t enough. I went…
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Marsh Greens in Dry Summer
Continuing my view of Lincoln Marsh through time, I visited this local treasure a couple of weeks ago to see how it changed since I last documented, in early April. Here’s the complete set and some highlights: It has been very dry spring, but when you live on a marsh, there’s water to be had. In early…
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Primer on the US Ignite Event at the White House
Last week I attended the US Ignite launch event at the White House, where a number of Obama administration officials made a series of announcements about programs around broadband policy. There are many entities, technologies, and programs that fit together to form a path toward United States leadership in superfast broadband, but it takes some digging and…