[Frank Varro]

Linkedin isn’t letting me see it as we don’t have any connections in common.  To you have it anywhere else?

[Frank Varro]

To over generalize, as long as it drains, within around 12 hours, or has enough flow to the water, mosquitos cannot breed, and malaria etc is uneffected.  Essentially, created wetlands need to have some flow pattern, and detention basins need to drain.

[Frank Varro]

I would look at tomshardware.com. Tons of great advice there, and they do system builds every few months in three price brackets.  What is your total budget looking like? In march they build a $650, a $1250, and a $2600 machine. 

The productivity comparison (between each and their January builds) is here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-benchmark-build-a-pc,3163-10.html

I would also look more at the consumer level cards, as you’ll get better bang for your buck, and even if she does get into heavy 3D, a decent consumer card will fit her just fine (I have a GeForce GTX 670 and run Rhino, and 3DS Max with no problems)

Good Luck!

[Frank Varro]

Maybe Trimble will take over where @Last left off and, unlike Google has, start fixing some bugs again.

[Frank Varro]

LEED and Sustainable sites has almost 0 overlap with RLA testing.  Sure LEED is important, but only important for someone who has already proven they are skilled in the things RLA testing tests.  Plus, LEED, realistically, is much more architecture focused right now.  If they pull a sustainable sites portion in more, that’ll change the story SLIGHTLY, but last I checked, neither tests things like Grading and Site Engineering, which are what is important to getting insurance.

[Frank Varro]

If you don’t value things ASLA has done, like title/licensure acts in most states, then fine, don’t be a member. Personally, I like supporting the group that has the power to lobby for me, and telling them about issues that matter to me as a professional.  In NYC recently the city Dept of Building has stopped accepting some LA stamps for things like decks. ASLA is meeting this month with DOB and Parks leaders to get the ball rolling on a fix.  If you don’t think outreach and stewardship like that is valuable, that’s your call. 

I’m just saying that while part of ASLA’s mission is positive PR, it isn’t the whole mission.  And both ignoring the other parts, and devaluing that part, is shortsighted.  Would you feel very confident about hiring someone whose professional president just said in an interview that the profession as a whole is struggling to find work, or would you think that you really could just do it yourself, since no one else sees their value?

Of course he put a hyper-positive spin on the state of the profession, don’t be fooled into assuming that is what he actually thinks.

[Frank Varro]

So, instead of looking at the ASLA as a group to promote the career path you are in, that you think needs some new guidance, as a resource, you look at it as evil and run away? Why not become active in your chapter or on the national level? It isn’t hard, within a few years of graduating I sat on two different national commitees, and now am working with the New York chapter, helping increase activity both within the profession and with figuring out how to increase outreach to the general public.

There are times when voting with your wallet is comepletely appropriate- when you have no power to change things you dislike from the inside.  With ASLA, you have ALL the power if you just take the time to go do it.  Instead of “voting with your wallet”, walking away is just that.

 

Walking away.

[Frank Varro]

Are you thinking just black inkline type work, or something where everything is in shades of green, or blue?  I think either can work, but its not an easy thing to pull off.  I have tried it in the past and while it never went terrible, I’m not sure it was worth the extra effort for me with my graphic design sensibility.

[Frank Varro]

I was there for my first semester of LA undergrad, its a good, competitive program, and I think it’ll be a great place for someone who wants to explore the different fields a bit before locking themselves in (My friend got his Arch degree from ISU as well).  The only trick is you won’t do much real design in that first year, so you’re going to have to really try to get everything you can out of the Arch/LA history courses, as well as the graphics studios.

Good Luck, and go Cyclones!

[Frank Varro]

The long and short of it is: Architects design buildings, Landscape architects design everywhere people are not inside a building (including placing those buildings in theory), Planners design regulations to ensure the multiple designs (buildings and non-buildings) work together to create a functional neighborhood, city, or region.

There is some bleed through between these areas, as some large scale LA jobs are very similar to planning, and LAs will try to do some basic architecture, and architects will often try to “shrub stuff up” (Stereotypically this means putting a few foundation plantings in that will not distract from their building, and not contribute in any way to the site).

In the end, if you want to sit and do CAD or sketch or use trace, Architecture, LA, and Interior design are similar, just with different focuses and different strengths and weaknesses.  Planning is less design, and more legal and stats.

Where are you headed in fall?

[Frank Varro]

I have to say, whatever road it is that leads to Villa Lante from Viberbo is pretty mind blowing.  Huge trees growing through the pavement in the street. A horror show, but amazing.

[Frank Varro]

I’d go PC over Mac (I know at least last years CAD for Mac was apparently fairly badly disabled in some features), and I’m a PC, not a Mac in general…

For good PC laptops, brand wise look at Toshiba, HP, and Alienware. 

HP just announced that they have decided NOT to be idiots and sell off the only profitable part of their company, which is good news for people who like Laptops that run well, look decent, aren’t made with cheap parts, and aren’t to pricey.

Toshiba’s tend to be fairly well built, can take a bit of a normal use beating, but are a bit more pricey for it, and don’t offer the selection that HP does.

Alienware builds some sick machines, but ones that are likely overkill for what you want.  However, if you think you might branch into more 3D than just SketchUp, or might be a Photoshop power-user, then it might be worth the extra coin.

There are plenty of other decent brands: higher-end Gateways are good, but their entry level stuff isn’t the best; Dells have tons of selection, but for the money, get HP, its a better machine for not much more cash; Acer is an up-and-comer that seems to be getting a lot of good press, but I’m not super familiar with them.

If you look around and come up with a few models/brands you are looking at, post it, and you might get a better response as well (so we know what kind of stats and $$$ you are looking at)

[Frank Varro]

closest images I have found are these:

  None of which are great/exactly what it sounds like you are looking for.  Do you need a photo, or would a 3D rendering work?  Send me a plan sketch, I’ll see what I can put together.

[Frank Varro]

It all depends on what level of graphic work you are looking at doing.  If its CAD and basic photoshop, you’ll be fine with about anything.  If your planning on doing 3D, large and multilayer photoshop, then you need more of a workhorse.  I built my own system with an i7 940 processor (quad core 2.97 Ghz) 6 Gigs of DDR3 ram, and a GeForce 470 Graphics card, and most of the time I love it, but even it bogs down on bigger 3D projects.

 

Check out TomsHardware.com for reviews on specific chips, motherboards, etc.  They seem to lately be focusing on Gaming bang for the buck reviews (which isn’t going to be extremely different than high end graphic work), but they did do a review of the sandy bridge series when they first came out, including benchmarking them on things like photoshop and 3DS Max  http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833-15.html

 

If your looking at a desktop, do look into building your own IF your looking fairly high end.  If your look at spending $700, then just get one off the shelf.  However, if you’re planning on getting a decently high-end rig, you can save 30-40% buy doing the build yourself and buying through places like newegg. (This rig was my first ever build, and I spent around 1600 for something that would have cost me 2400 at least)

[Frank Varro]

Quick link: the uncanny valley I mentioned get explored in some new research: http://gizmodo.com/5822648/why-brains-get-creeped-out-by-androids

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