Thought of the Day

Plumdog_2

The toothpicks and plastic part is right on; I can visualize these McMansions being scraped off in 40 years, and Multi-family or dense residential development taking their place. To say nothing of private wells and septic systems and what that will effect in the future (can you say dust bowl).

Mike T., Swampeast MO

from a suggested link to Merriam-Webster originally suggested by our host:

"With breathtaking rapidity, we are destroying all that was lovely to look at and turning America into a prison house of the spirit. The affluent society, with relentless single-minded energy, is turning our cities, most of suburbia and most of our roadways into the most affluent slum on earth."
Eric Sevareid

Wayco Wayne_2

What a sobering thought

I'm not really sure what he's talking about in particular, but I bump my nose on the shortsightedness of the American attitude and vision every day. On the other hand I also run into people who have great vision and spirit too. I am always reduced to working on the man in mirror. WW

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jackchips_2

And where

would Mr. Sevareid like the millions of people in this country to live? And those who are born every day?

I know, we'll all live in Texas and save the rest of the country for the animals and the trees.

Yup, that's the ticket.

Jack

ScottMP

I like the

way most of our country looks.

I agree Jack.

Scott

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Boilerpro_5

I don't see that as the point.....

its the mega homes built to bottom end standards using collassal amounts of fuel built too far away from shopping and jobs so we have to cover the rest of the land with pavement. What happened to the wonderful well built modest sized homes built near shopping (not mini and mega-malls ad adnuseum for as far as the eye can see)and work (safe enough to walk to) that didn't require us to pave the rest of the landscape for each person to drive a mega truck to get anywhere. To put some rough numbers on the problem: ie. Los Angeles 85% of the land is paved or set aside for vehicle use. Its funny here in my little Mid western town 2 hours from downtown Chicago (with good traffic) that is worrying about urban sprawl, and the solution everyone seems to have is minimum lot sizes. How about maximum lot sizes...... Our thinking is all backwards! Its funny that in my college classes for City and Regional Planning the single thing that was largely agreed upon that will turn the tide of the insanity of the past 50 years will be huge increases in energy costs. People will stop building mega homes for only 3 people, they will begin living closer to work and there will be alot less cars on the road and less trucks because more fuel efficient railroads will begin to be used again.

To my architects eye, most of the built environment of the last 50 years, chiefly sub urban landscapes, is ugly parking lots in front of cheap looking ugly structures surrounded by congested traffic leading to homes of toothpicks and plastic not built to last more than 40 to 50 years.

There are great alternatives living like this, but there is alot of power and profit in keeping things the same, as is always the case.

Boilerpro

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

I love the way our country looks as well. It's particularly beautiful here around Swampeast MO. (As long as you can deal with the weather.) It's what people have built in recent years that is jarring to me.

If you have Google Earth:

Fly to: 33 00'44.44"N, 96 47'43.54"W

(you can copy and paste the above to the "fly to" box in Google Earth)

Zoom in; angle yourself down and fly North following Preston road. (I REALLY LIKE TEXAS BY THE WAY--this just happens to be an area of familiarity to me that seems to well illustrate.)

For a little difference:

Fly to: 37 18'41.60N, 89 31'26.87W

That's my house.

Then fly 8.23 miles virtually due North to: 37 25'46"N, 89 30'14"W

This is the view from my 2nd-storey balcony/smoking/thinking space. Note what's in between. This certainly helps keep my spirit free...

That's the location of the KFVS TV Mast--the tallest man-made object when it was built. Curiously the tower does not show up in the image.

On clear and sunny days I can see the tower with the naked eye.

Then fly to: 37 32'07.60N, 90 49'04.00W

That's the 2-billion gallon or so "bathtub" on top of a mountain that collapsed into the beautiful state park roughly to to East. It was a reservoir for "off peak" filling and "on peak" hydroelectric generation. NO WATCHMAN to notice that the thing had been frequently overfilling even though the utility company knew of problems with the sensors that indicated the fill level!!

If you don't have Google Earth--get it. Free. VERY interesting. The ENTIRE state of Missouri is done with a minimum of one meter resolution. Such appears to be the largest continuous area of high-resolution currently available at Google Earth.

Brad White_9

Texas....

It was General Sherman who once stated: "If I owned both hell and Texas, I would live in hell and rent out Texas"...

Then again, he was not too fond of Atlanta, either....

David Sutton_6

Cool idea Mike

my house is
42 01'36.76n,72 48'20.08w

all those woods behind my house about 500 ac's is were i ride my horses....David

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

Neat place.

Why the little "bump" in an otherwise straight-line southern border between MA and CT?

David Sutton_6

Lake congamond

if you look at the right of the dimple, you'll see the lakes, they are 100% spring feed, the ice in winer was crystal clear, so there was a big demand for the ice, control over the lakes was a big deal back then.

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Unknown

very well said

Very well said, Boilerpro... BTW, nice meeting you at steam class in Hillside.. Betcha the drive home was easier than coming in!

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Thanks for that bit of geographic trivia. The "dimple" in MA. I'll never forget.

I did notice the lakes--figured the "dimple" had something to do with farming but I didn't think ICE farming!!!

Brad White_86

That neat little bump....

is part of the Town of Southwick, MA.

The principal function is to keep Massachusetts from sliding eastward into the Atlantic Ocean....

Josh_10

Here is my favorite customer and my home away from home. Next door is a customer too.

47°35'42.79"N
122°19'53.06"W

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Cosmo_3

Cool Stuff Mike!

I was playing with google earth a while ago also.

Pretty cool stuff.

You can see the tower, it is leaning top left in the picture.

I guess this pic was taken before the reservoir emptied, wonder what it looks like today?


Cosmo

Tombig_2

Well Said, BP

Hey Dave, long time no talk. Your right on about the suburban sprawl and mega homes for three people. I worked on the Ryerson mansion on Astor St. in Chicago about fifteen years back. It was being reconverted to its original splendor from being split up into THIRTEEN apartments. There's probably three people living there now.
With fuel price hikes in recent years I notice homeowners and (Holy Cow!!) GC's are a lot more receptive to the added cost of energy improvements to reduce fuel consumption down the road.
I've actually been fairly impressed with some of the energy saving initiatives mandated by the city of Chicago in their new (2002) energy code for residential construction. Duct sealing, insulation inspections, 90+ equipment, etc. What's missing are decent credits and rebates for solar, wind, and geothermal. Just as with your small lot sizes, it's all driven by $$. They'll mandate energy efficiency at the consumer's expense but let Wal-Mrt and Costco build here, putting the small local retailers out of business, and FORCE people to drive to do their urban shopping.
I guess we're moving slowly forward. How 'bout the wind farm out your way. I heard it was financed and built by a French company. Figures! Awesome sight though. Is Amboy getting any of that power?

What would Eric Severeid have to say about those?

BTW..Google earth is from about spring of 2003 judging by the construction progress on the new Soldier Field in Chi-town.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

From the small shots of "after" I've seen in newspapers, a good chunk of forest was washed away through the "shut-in" portion of the Black River where it's confined by rather high (by MO standards--nothing like the Royal Gorge in CO) and sheer rock cliffs.

You have to see the Black River in person to understand the name. While the water is very clear, it does appear "black" once away from the Shut-Ins. It runs through my hometown of Poplar Bluff, MO. In that area it separates "hill country" from millions of acres of former swampland that were drained by a vast system of ditches to the Mississippi and at least two large earthen dams (Clearwater and Wappapello) during the first half of the 20th century.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

The Tower

How freakish. It appears to by lying on the ground! Our friend the sun at work I suppose...

ScottMP

a sort of

Keystone ??

Never thought of it that way. You and your enginers mind.

Scott

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