[Ben Yahr]

Try Corpscon-

http://www.agc.army.mil/Missions/Corpscon.aspx

[Ben Yahr]

A sandbox!

[Ben Yahr]

Professors do teach AutoCad in schools – tech schools.  Are we trying to raise a new generation of landscape architects or cad monkeys?  The old model of designers and draftsmen is dead (or should be), but the endless discussions of cad/rendering/bim/photoshop marginalize the profession to that of production rather than design.

I firmly believe that our design programs should be focusing on design, not software.  You make a great point though- design needs to respond to site conditions, especially topography.  Cad can be a great tool for understanding 3d spatial relationships, but our educators should be teaching the fundamentals of this analysis that can be applied to a variety of software platforms rather than something completely trivial and proprietary like layer names.

I personally don’t like or use Sketchup often, but I would argue that it is a design tool rather than a post-production tool.  In order to have a 3d model, a ton of design decisions need to be made that react to the site, and this is a good thing. Creating a Sketchup model of a site is a complex scenario, and requires more design detail than a pile of trace paper.

The question though is time.  It is very easy to spend far too much time on a computer when a pile of trace paper would suffice.  Time management and level of detail necessary for each phase of the design process are the types of skills that professors could be teaching.

[Ben Yahr]

Yeah, I’ll be in the W.F. Baird booth, but also giving a short presentation.

I’ve never been to the conference, but if the current list of symposia and workshops is any indication, it will be an excellent experience!

[Ben Yahr]

I’ll be there, stop in and say hi!

[Ben Yahr]

Congratulations Andrew!

[Ben Yahr]

I’ll bite.  There are three reasons I personally haven’t been very active in the lounge lately:

Work has been busy.  This is a good thing.  Stateside we’ve had numerous projects funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  Low water levels are unfortunately wreaking havoc on shipping and recreation.  Likewise with flooding.  Despite the best efforts of austerity freaks, increased revenue has allowed local and state governments to invest in long overdue infrastructure maintenance.  Water quality and stormwater management have become an essential part of every project rather than an add on.  Overseas, investment in tourism is rebounding, though very slowly.  Robust economies in Asia and South America are providing numerous opportunities that are tough to harness in here North America.

The second reason I haven’t been active in the ‘Lounge is an annoyance at some of the frequent posters that feel the need to post and repeat their (same) opinions in every single discussion- stifling participation and out of the box thinking.  By far the worst comments take the form of “WE already discussed that” when responding to a question from a new member of the forum.

Finally, a perceived sense of job security from an increasing workload has allowed me to have a life outside of the office, and focus energy on things other than work.  I’ve been honing my skills as a homebrewer, tending backyard chickens, participating in community resource conservation groups, planning for a third round of “landscaping”, and remodeling my kitchen.  It’s torn down to the studs, and I’ve been enjoying the chance to learn residential wiring and electrical skills.

So yeah, life is treating me well!

[Ben Yahr]

Ice forces are quite amazing.  I would suggest that you will probably need specialized engineering to ensure the longevity of your installation.

Check out Harriet Island in St. Paul.  In addition to ice, the design reacts to huge fluctuations in water level.

http://www.aerial-xp.com/vr_flash/st_paul_riverfront/node_d.html

[Ben Yahr]

Worthless. 

I began my council record a year and a half ago in an attempt to expedite the reciprocal license process.  Despite paying the initial fee and one year’s renewal, my record is not yet complete.

The council record requires verification of all the things you would need to apply for a license (education, employment, LARE, and references).  If you are only applying for licenses in one or two states, save the money and just apply directly to the licensure boards.

The verification letters that CLARB sends out rarely reach the intended recipients.  Either CLARB doesn’t send them, they get lost, or they look like junk mail; because my personal, employment, and professional references have all required CLARB to send them at least twice.  This has meant prodding CLARB to resend them every month or two for the last 18 months.

Unlike Tosh, I have talked to three different people at CLARB, and they never seem to have records of previous conversations.

On the other hand, I am eventually planning to apply for a license in Ohio, which requires a CLARB Certified Council Record.  This means I am required to pay CLARB even more money, and hound them to do their jobs for another 18 months…

[Ben Yahr]

Seriously Jason, turn off Fox News.  There have been no riots in Wisconsin come even close to fitting your “pattern”.

 

I’m also a bit confused by the original post: Sure, if you were to relocate people with few prospects for jobs or future prosperity from dense urban cores to the suburbs, that would indeed reduce the prospects of riots similar to the types seen in London.  But that idea is unbelievably wrong on some many levels.

 

A question to all- what sort of work do you expect the unemployed to find?  This is a huge problem in Europe, and obviously growing in the US.  There are no jobs. 

 

Until this is addressed meaningfully, no amount of urban planning, increased law enforcement, “immigration reform”, austerity measures, or tax reductions is going to do a bit of good in reducing discontent; and the possibility of people expressing their discontent violently.

[Ben Yahr]

That is indeed ridiculous.  A great reminder that we should be designing for people, not for cars.

[Ben Yahr]

Another example of spouting off talking points that are factually incorrect.

 

In Wisconsin, public employees that hold at least a four year degree earn 25% less than similarly qualified private sector employees.

 

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/6759/

[Ben Yahr]

Back on topic- an interesting comment from an interesting article on impending “Financial Martial Law”:

Article:

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/04/16/gov-scott-walker-repor…

Comment:

This is all about privatizing the public sector. Standard operating procedure for crony capitalists and oligarchies. But really this has been going on in some form for generations in America. Traditional public space and walkable human-scaled communities (typical of late 19th/early 20th century America) have been replaced by privately owned shopping malls (where free speech and other pesky civil rights do not apply), suburbia and gated communities. This living arrangement requires car ownership and the ability to drive as a minimum price of full citizenship. It conveniently eliminates or marginalizes children, old people, poor people, and others from membership and participation. Is it any wonder why home builders and sprawl developers have been a bastion of Republican support for decades? They have fully embraced the tyranny of automobile dependency.

Funny how these self-described “conservatives” are always comparing their foes to Mao or Stalin. This is classic projection, also standard operating procedure for Republicans. The US right now resembles the USSR of the 1980s in many ways, particularly in it self-delusion and denial of inconvenient realities. Tea Baggers are the useful idiots for the new American Stalinists.

Now the oligarchs are grabbing as much loot as possible before the whole system collapses, in large part due to high fuel and energy prices that are inevitable. I think the smarter ones see the writing on the wall, they are going into siege mode.

But really, this is a bipartisan effort now. The Democrats drank the koolaide when Clinton came in and hitched their wagon to the same oligarchs as the Republicans. Now 98% of Americans have no one representing their interests in Washington and increasingly at the state level too. It’s tragic. If more people don’t push back and very soon, the entire American experiment of 200 plus years is sunk. Kiss it goodbye.

If you really want to get your populist blood boiling, check out the latest Matt Taibbi contribution in Rolling Stone:

The Real Housewives of Wall Street
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wa…

[Ben Yahr]

So I take it you support this scenario?

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/madisonworld-a-future-whe_b_834381.html

[Ben Yahr]

As a Madison resident, my main comment is that it is absolutely mind boggling how poorly this situation has been reported.  Not that I ever had much faith in main stream media, but if the events of the last three weeks are any indication of quality of journalism these days, perhaps 5% of every soundbite and “investigative report” you experience is actually accurate.

 

I can only assume Thomas is being sarcastic, because this is not a union issue; this is a full scale ideological attack on the middle class. 

[Author]

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