Microsoft can help optimize your Business Productivity Infrastructure

Unless you happen to be a black man from Poland, apparently.

For reference, the links to these pages are Here for the English page, and Here for the Polish page. I look forward to seeing if this results in serious bad press for Microsoft. Also, a well-trained eye will notice based on the size, shape, and ports on the side of that man’s laptop… that it appears to be Mac. It could be that he saw these two websites, and decided to switch to a more inclusive company.

Hopefully that won’t give too much away. It’s going to be very cool, and hopefully an opportunity for me to break out of the daily drudgery of “making a living” in Architecture. Lots of interesting news articles and webpage discoveries for me lately, here are just a handful I highly recommend checking out when you find the time:

• Killer Robots coming to an armed force near you
• New House permits on the rise in Wake County (yes you should call me to design yours)
• Social Collapse Best Practices (how could anyone not dig such a speech?)
• Warrantless wiretapping proponents come full circle, while the Supreme court debates teenage stripsearches
• Raleigh intends to reclaim “Hub of Crime” (and no doubt, hit the diversity pool with some bleach in the process)
• George Washington’s Distillery is back in operation! (well sort of)

So yeah, I’ve found a lot of neat stuff as of late, and instead of putting that stuff up here, I’ve been sharing only with my Facebook friends… and neglecting to post here. More to come soon, lots of stuff around the house, new  Modernist House photos, a revamped rustylongdotcom, and some cool stuff with whoneedsarchitecture all coming very soon.

Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.
~Tryon Edwards

This election, like the two before it, has been described by many as a choice between the lesser of two evils. This statement is predicated upon the existence of a two-party system. The fallacy of the two party system has been perpetuated by the corporate sponsored media for years, and the electorate has been fed two “choices” for the office of president for the past twenty-five presidential elections. In fact, the last time we had a third-party candidate win even one electoral college vote was in 1968 when the pro-segregationist George Wallace won five deep south states, and one electoral vote from North Carolina.

I’ll come right out and say it, this is a bold faced lie. In the 2008 election, there are six potential candidates on enough ballots in the nation to win the 270 electoral college votes it takes to win the election and become the next president of the United States. (That’s not counting the ability to write-in candidates.) Of those six candidates, only two were invited to the three presidential presidential debates. Why, might you ask? Well the group responsible for the presidential debates, as we see them today, is called the Commission on Presidential Debates. The group was formed in 1987 by both the Democratic and Republican parties to establish the way presidential debates would be run.

The CPD’s rules stipulate that only candidates who garner 15% or more of the public’s support in five national polls will be invited to the debates. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this rule, as written, keeps several viable presidential candidates from participating in even the earliest debate. As a result, the CPD creates a self-perpetuating news cycle virtually assuring the inability of any third-party candidate to receive any significant national news coverage, and keeping those candidates from reaching the American public at large.

Without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to the four presidential candidates that have the mathematical possibility of winning tomorrow’s election, but have been blacked out by the national media to the point that there is virtually zero probability of any of them getting even a single electoral college vote:

• Chuck Baldwin / Darrell Castle – Constitution Party
• Bob Barr / Wayn Allin Root – Libertarian Party*
• Cynthia McKinney / Rosa Clemente – Green Party
• Ralph Nader / Matt Gonzales – Independent

*for those of you in the state of North Carolina like myself, the only candidate besides the two front-runners that will be on your ballot is Bob Barr. You will need to write-in any of the other three possibilities.*

You’ve also probably heard the main party dogma of “throwing your vote away.” (ie: if you vote third-party, you might as well stay home tomorrow.) If you look at the poll numbers, and the statistics this argument holds some weight. However, by perpetuating these two parties as the only realistic choices for president, we set the American public up for a dismal political future consisting of back to back “lesser of two evils” elections until Kingdom Come! If you’re in this category (the I’m voting for *insert corporate sponsored candidate here* because I can’t risk *insert other corporate sponsored candidate here* becoming president, category) then please indulge me for a moment.

Regardless of which of these two main parties you’re leaning towards, you’ve probably voted for this same party before… Take a look at the results of those past presidencies, and ask yourself how many of the campaign promises these politicians have actually accomplished. Better yet, how many of those promises did your president even attempt?

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.
~Jean-Baptiste Poquelin

Whether the key issues in this campaign for you are the Iraq War, Abortion, Civil Liberties, the Economy, Gay Marriage, or any number of other issues… I urge you, plead with you: Hold these politicians accountable. Beginning January 20th of 2009, keep track of the promises kept and broken by the new president, and hold that respective party accountable in 2012. The longer that the two party system continues in this country, the longer we will face the false choice of Democrat or Republican, and the sooner this great nation will meet its end.

The media and lobbyist groups would have you believe that you have the choice between baby-killers and warmongers, between big government and bigger government, economic freedom and personal freedom, right and left; but we can choose neither. We can choose the best of both, and the worst of neither. The fight for the office of the president of the United States in 2012 begins in January, and the Democrats and Republicans who are in power should have to fight tooth and nail for the opportunity to compete for your vote. Make them.

In a harrowing and bizarre turn of events Monday afternoon, Cary’s Town Council was besieged by four as-yet unidentified activists. The fringe group, identifying themselves only as the Suburban Poultrification Alliance, forcefully removed four beloved members of Town Council and immediately called an emergency session of the council.

The aim of this session was to overturn the July 24th decision by the council not to further investigate the possibility of relaxing the town’s ban on backyard poultry. The coerced vote resulted in a unanimous decision by the new council to investigate the measure, and cited the ever-growing poultry enthusiast network website Cary Chickens as evidence of the “overwelming public support” for this drastic measure.

Shortly after the landslide vote, the Cary S.W.A.T. team was able to quickly diffuse the situation without further incident. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one town council seemed to empathize with their captors.

They were rather polite, but seemed to be at their wits end with regards the council’s refusal to act upon the request. I really feel bad for them.

Several town employees were present when the individuals stormed the town hall, and one such witness paints a very different picture.

It was absolute mayhem, they were running around clucking, and flapping their arms like . . . wings . . . One in particular, attacked councilman Frantz from behind . . . and he . . . just kept saying “The only chicken I want to see is on a plate in front of me.” While pecking and scratching at him on the floor.

Another witness stated:

It was horrible. You would think Town Hall would be a safe, secure place. This is Cary!

Charges of aggravated assault and kidnapping are currently pending against the four unidentified individuals. The Cary Police are asking that anyone with information about the suspects step forward immediately.

Security has been heightened within the Town Hall, and the real council members are expected to reconvene next Thursday evening as previously scheduled. No word yet on whether questions and comments on the poultry ban will be heard during this session.

This article is a piece of fiction. No actual members of Town Council were harmed in the making of this article. For real news on the subject, see this piece in the News and Observer.

Raleigh Wide Open 3 happened on schedule, despite the threat of Tropical Storm Hanna. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this annual festival was the grand opening of the City’s new Convention Center. The building occupies the space of a much smaller convention building, that was built in the late seventies and demolished in 2006.

This 500,000 square foot building has been a point of contention for Raleigh residents since a 2002 study commissioned by the City of Raleigh came to the conclusion that Raleigh needed a new convention center. The final cost for this structure came to the sum of $221 million, and the designers will apply this fall for LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. Hopefully this will be a big step forward for Raleigh Architecturally.

The building is rather intuitive, with wide open circulation spaces and clearly delineated entrances. The most exotic part of the building, as far as aesthetics is concerned is the shimmer wall installation. This living sculpture, depicts a large Oak tree (a fitting choice for the City of Oaks) and responds to the shifting winds with undulations reflecting the kind of sensitivity both civic context and nature that the building is meant to embody. Inside there are references in the detailing to North Carolina’s history in manufacturing textiles, which while heartfelt, also acts as a painful reminder of the price of progress. The material palette is tasteful, comprised mostly of earth-tones, hopefully a move that will keep the building from becoming quickly dated as so many modern structures seem to do.

North Carolina’s capital City was once seen as an exception to the conservatism in the American South Architecturally. Since the School of Design’s inception in 1948 (Now the College of Design) the school has brought Architects and other designers of an international level to North Carolina. Landmark buildings built in the second half of the 20th century by former students and professors of including some of my own professors fill the landscape of the Triangle, but are rapidly disappearing. Modernist houses are particularly prone to premature destruction, but more of our most prized pieces of homegrown pieces of Modernism are in danger every day.

Whether the new Convention Center represents a changing tide in favor of more Modern buildings downtown remains to be seen, but between it and the new AIA Headquarters, Raleigh certainly appears to be going more green. Here’s to hoping that we have more great civic spaces to come, and that Raleigh will rediscover some of the spirit so prevalent in the late 40s and early 50s in this great City!