thank god

the criminality of deregulation

"Maybe we should consider mandating that BP and the other oil companies install automatic shut-off valves where the oil conduit meets the ocean bottom in case one of the platforms collapses."

"Naw.  That will cost them too much; and hell, I got $500,000 dollars from them last year."

"Me too!  I suppose they can regulate themselves anyway."

"Yeah.  It's in their best interest to be safe as possible."

two deadly mine disasters, a glimpse into the amorality of goldman sachs, et. al., and now this have made this past month quite special in demonstrating the total bankruptcy of that entire philosophy --- thnx b.c

how to ruin the world

you just have to weep for the gulf ----
b.c. got an update from gulf islands: "we're screwed" ---

 they are having the most prolific nesting season in years, and all the trucks and vehicles that will be needed to distribute the booms are gonna have to run over their habitat. And that's just the nesting birds.

bridges

two great iron bridges from last weekend --- the top one built across the red river for texas hwy. 78 in 1937 --- the other one a really fine old railroad bridge across the trinity river west of dallas

expendable landmarks redux

the world's largest free-span structure in the world when it was finished in 1958 --- now a heap of ruin

and, from last weekend, what's left of the recently demolished texas stadium, with still no use identified for the land on which it sat

seems like a mighty waste of material and labor unless there is a whole lot of recycling going on

thx for the link, tom

the canopy walk

the canopy walk was a little underwhelming --- i think they redesigned it after it fell during the original construction, so it's not all that was originally intended --- still nice with some cool little stools and benches

the garden grows

the botanical garden's new additions previewed tonight, with formal opening on saturday --- purty impressive --- quite a crowd tonight, but we had the tropical conservatory to ourselves for a while, listening to the tree frogs in the dark

disturbing images

yikes --- thanks andrew for the giant drain --- and jon for the mouse in the store window of your favorite chocolate store in nueva york --- 1 of 3, he sez

raining on peachtree

complete with a little hail

coming up on a full pink moon

or a full egg moon, if you prefer --- who knew?

parking hell

Since late last year, Inman Park residents and business owners have been the unlucky victims of a ticketing and booting blitzkrieg, and they've had enough. Residents complain that they've been ticketed by PARKatlanta – the agency outsourced last year to do the city's parking-ticket dirty work – as often as three times a day and as early as 8:30 a.m., when they claim parking enforcement isn't even necessary.

it's not just inman park either: i saw them ticketing a car on peachtree place this morning at 8:15 and it was the only car parked on the block ----

dissent or sedition?

"Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans?"

yeah, just imagine . . .

texas spring

the wilds of texas

a fairly magical place --- a good time was had by all --- thnx cousin cathi
 

mckinney, texas

part of dallas' exurban sprawl, the downtown is still a very pleasant place (images below left notwithstanding) with a surprisingly vibrant town square

arizona off the deep end

so somebody used refried beans to smear swastikas on the arizona state capitol --- a latino somewheres has an excellent sense of humor, even when thoroughly pissed off --- by and large, i think that arizona has done shit and stepped back in it, as roger's aunt hester used to say

a very fine space

designed by howard meyer in 1937, cathi's house is truly excellent ---

a somewhat different part of the world

just back from texas, visiting a friend in dallas, but went up to the red river, too --- some seriously bucolic views along the way --- details anon

that's martha, relax and enjoy the ride

is our inimitable state legislature about to break down and do something semi-sensible relative to marta?

a great play

Kownacki leaps over the catcher @ Yahoo! Video

new money

doesn't look cheap at all

astroturf

we've all seen the political ads against health insurance reform or climate change legislation or this, that, and the other --- this is where some of them come from --- one of the partners is an old neighbor from inman park and former dem. state sen.,  now a neighbor here in midtown --- i'm not sure what to make of his participation if tpm is right in their take on it all --- all i know is that someone or something is confusing the issue, just like they did with health care and most everything else of late

banksters

and more theives

theives

a history of institutionalized thievery as told by goldman sachs --- everybody needs to read this --- and remember that the republicans on the sec voted against charging them with fraud ---

very cool

derrick and robert's prom went off just fine --- in friggn cochran, georgia!!! all is not necessarily ignorance and bigotry in this state ---

live long and prosper, guys

planting the park

there were a couple of very large, very old cherry laurel on oak hill ---- now there are 1.5 --- there's so much newer stuff in there now, when one of the old things go, it's easy to miss

the azaleas, on the other hand, can't be missed

technicolor green

today may actually be too nice and turn us all to mush

keeping up with the committee

the georgia voice is live --- r.i.p. southern voice

vintage film footage

a seven-minute streetcar ride down market street a few days before the 1906 earthquake

slow blogging

a manifesto for taking it easy

Slow Blogging is the re-establishment of the machine as the agent of human expression, rather than its whip and container. It’s the voluntary halting of the light-speed hamster wheel dictated in rules of highly effective blogging. It is an imposition of asynchronous temporalities, where we do not type faster to keep up with the computer, where the speed of retrieval does not necessitate the same pace of consumption, where good and bad works are created in their own time.

or maybe you just ain't got nuttin' to say

cycles

the sun sets further and further north each day --- when it reaches the corner of the next building to the right, it'll be the summer solstice and we'll all be getting sweaty --- in the meantime, it's mighty nice right now

t

teabonica

an ongoing series

iceland

the volacno grounded all air traffic in britain --- will it get big enough to cool things off?

old roads redux

the archeology of roads at monticello
thnx andrew

more gaudy colors

in one dog block, there's more to look at and smell than just his business

end of an era

the constitution was a great newspaper once upon a time and a consistent progressive voice in this benighted region --- it's been a long time coming, but it's a sad day for the city anyway --- the next step will be to cease publication, which can't be far off now --- but, who knows? being stuck in the middle of one of the most-congested parts of the suburbs might do wonders for reporting

For more than 140 years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has called downtown Atlanta home. By the end of this week, that will no longer be the case.

reglazing the plaza

it'll be purty again when they're done

grrrrr

O’Hayer: Can MARTA survive another year without a transportation plan that includes some loosening of the restrictions that it faces on how it spends the tax revenue it gets?

Ralston:  I’ve been trying to understand how MARTA got in the problem they’re in. I think that we have to have a better understanding of what brought us to this point before we know how to get out of the problem.

if any entity were going to secede from anything, it should be atlanta from this ignorant state

looking ahead to the weekend

freaknik (including a twurk-off, the definition of which i am afraid to know ), freaknic (a family-oriented event, it is said), the braves, some robot festival, the dogwood festival at piedmont park, jon bon jovi at lakewood, AND d.o.t. is repaving the downtown connector --- marta should be fairly entertaining throughout

luxurious weather

even driving up the freeway, one can get a big blast of wisteria right now

spring = pollen

but it wouldn't be so bad if we had more gurl trees --- rhanks, andrew

expendable landmarks

dallas' stadium since 1971 bites the dust ----

ex-pope?

this is not good on a number of levels ---

saturday cirrus

tgif

one of the phalaenopsis began to bloom while i was gone --- no great shakes as orchids go, but it's the second time it's rebloomed for me ---
mighty fine to have a hound dog around the house

hampton institute

great range of architecture from the 1870s to the 1960s --- and they have a school of architecture interested in historic preservation, which is why i was there --- i never sleep good when i'm on the road, but it was kinda nice to lay in bed and watch the sun rise ---

hartsfield-jackson

the new international terminal at hartsfield is going up, opening sometime next year --- it's on the site of the old cargo terminal and control tower

heritage, not hate, my ass

exactly how is this different from, say, german yahoos celebrating the third reich?

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has been receiving significant attention this week for the fact that he has issued recognized April 2010 as Confederate History Month, but didn’t include any mention of slavery in his proclamation. He explained that he didn’t include a reference because slavery wasn’t one of the “most significant” aspects of the conflict between the states. However, McDonnell isn’t the only Southern governor to honor the Confederacy while omitting any mention of slavery — he joins Georgia and Mississippi.

answer: it is no different at all ---

liriodendron tulipifera