Monday, April 19, 2010

Deluged with democracy

Sorry I've been absent these recent weeks. Took a week of vacation, earlier, and a day last week, and the rest of the time I've been bailing like crazy to keep the boat afloat. Here's the situation: Too many candidates, too little time! We on the editorial board try to offer endorsements, and that involves researching the people running and trying to interview as many as we can.

This year, what with Tea Party candidates and anti-health care reform candidates and Democrats running against other Democrats, including some pro-health care reform candidates, we've got something like 68 candidates to deal with. Democracy is a grand thing, but you can have too much of a good thing.

So while I've been squirreling away interesting blog items I haven't had the time to post them. Next week should be better, and I might even have time to dish a little about candidates. So don't give up on The Naked City.

Friday and Saturday of this week I'll be at a conference on "The Reinvented City," in Cambridge, Mass., sponsored by the Nieman Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. My plan is to blog from there, although last year my Mac seized up with something called a kernel panic (don't ask) and I was thwarted. Let us hope for better computer vibes this time.

7 comments:

tarhoosier said...

If your kernal panics, come stay with us. Welcome back

consultant said...

Mary,

Hopefully that is the first and last time you get a kernal message.

Make sure your Mac software is up to date, and if you can, in your spare time, get the paper to go completely Mac.

That move alone might save the paper.

consultant said...

"The Reinvented City".

Hopefully that program will detail how we scale down and live off of greatly reduced energy supplies.

What will a scarce energy American city look like in 2020? Will people who live 5 miles from nowhere stay in place or move closer in or..?

Mary Newsom said...

The kernal panic required my Mac to go for an expensive visit to the Mac hospital.

The reinvented city agenda includes a session on "Innovation in the shrinking city" and a session from one of the Time magazine writers "embedded" in Detroit. Should be quite lively.

consultant said...

That Detroit session should be interesting.

Wake up America, Detroit or some version of it is probably in the near future for all of our cities.

Urban farms:

http://www.detroitagriculture.org/GRP_Website/Home.html

consultant said...

NC'ers,

Peak oil got you down? Turn that frown into a smile. Do this:

-do like Tiger, drop the hookers and stop all the running around. You're burning up too many nonrenewable resources (including marriages and corporate sponsorships);
-take out all that grass in your yard. You're tired of cutting it or paying to have it cut;
-if you have more than one car, figure out how to get rid of the second (or third) car(s). It will save you a bundle;
-set a goal to walk or ride a bike at least once a month;
-stop buying "stuff";
-shop at your local farmers market at least once a month;
-take unfinished copies of "Going Rogue" to recyling centers;
-figure out if where you live is a good place to live during the coming oil shortages.

Unknown said...

I seem to remember that a Charlotte official was of the opinion that transportation modes had no impact on carbon emissions. Mary, if you come across that official again, you may want to refer him to this new FTA report:

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/PublicTransportationsRoleInRespondingToClimateChange2010.pdf