Code For America

Code for America is an interesting volunteer group bringing technology to cities.

http://codeforamerica.org/

Opinions

I liked this Dilbert cartoon. I try to never let facts interfere with my opinions.  I am much like most of our political leaders in this regard.

Won't you be glad when the national election is over?  Strange way to run a country, with a political campaign where you spend vast sums of money running down the other guy and party.  If you tried to market a product like this no one would buy it, or they would dislike it after they purchased the item.

"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

11 November 1947, Winston Churchill

More Dilbert cartoons at:

http://dilbert.com

Uneven Economic Growth

Interesting article and map in the Atlantic Cities.

"The map above charts the economic growth of metros over the past decade (2001 to 2010). For the U.S. as a whole, GDP grew at an average annual rate of 1.46 percent this period, with the average rate for all metros being slightly better, 1.63 percent. More than half (53 percent) of metros (194 of 366) were above the national average. Most metros posted positive GDP growth (there are far more green dots than red), but the red dots are concentrated in and around the Midwest."
 

Click to Read the Article



Interesting article in the Atlantic about the lack of social mobility and economic progress in America.

Click to read.

You want drama? You want drama? Go ahead...make my day...press the RED button...., You just never know what might happen next time you go out for a nice quiet cuppa coffee-!!! Press the red button and find out...

Small House Movement

The small house movement advocates living in small homes. Family size is shrinking while homes have grown in size.

There is a very good environmental argument for decreasing home size.  Smaller homes take less energy to construct, heat, and cool. Many of the homes proposed in the small house movement are too small for most people. But there are good solid reasons to reduce our footprint on the ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_house_movement

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com

http://tinyhouseblog.com/tag/florida/

Commuting

Interesting article in newgeography.com  on commuting. New York has by far the most transit users. But a surprise is that Washington, DC has the second highest percent of transit users.

Click to read the article.

http://www.newgeography.com