Yule Heibel’s Post Studio © 2003-2008

Diigo Bookmarks 05/19/2008 (a.m.)

• “Pay your voluntary carbon taxes: Move into the fashionable high-rise city,” by John Barber (globeandmail)

  Barber’s article links the ideas expressed around the demise of suburbs due to rising fuel costs, the benefits of densifying the cities (by building up, not out), and discussions around carbon taxes. “Meanwhile, the free market is applying its own time-tested solution to the problem of overconsumption, with salutary political as well as social consequences. Hillary Clinton never stooped lower than when she promised a summer ‘gas-tax holiday,’ joining John McCain in the promise. Barack Obama never looked better than when he condemned it.” One answer? Live downtown, preferably on a public transit line.

  tags: globeandmail, toronto, carbon_tax, urbanism, cities, condos

Diigo Blog » China Earthquake ~ A picture is worth a thousand words

Maggie Tsai of Diigo has kept the Diigo community up to speed on her and the Diigo team’s experience of the recent earthquake in Sichuan province. Diigo is headquartered in Reno, Nevada, but also has a development team in Chengdu. Maggie herself has been traveling in the area, and it has been reassuring to hear that while the team can’t yet return to its high-rise offices (which have cracks and are too unsafe since there are still aftershocks of magnitudes up to 6), they’re back at work in temporary facilities.

Today I opened my browser and saw this new post from Maggie, via the Diigo blog: Diigo Blog » China Earthquake ~ A picture is worth a thousand words. Maggie’s source for the photos she posted is a Chinese-language news source, and not knowing that language I would never have seen the pictures if Maggie hadn’t blogged them (I gather they’re also on flickr, but still…). They’re so incredible because of the conjunction of special or extraordinary events (wedding, earthquake) and the photographer’s ability to continue shooting photos throughout, I felt I should repost her pointer.

Click through on the link to see the before shot of bride and groom, followed by portions of the church facade coming down in huge chunks, the rubble, and a poignant photo of the bride, covered in dust, sheltering with her hand the head of a man (the groom?) near the ground, while she sits upright in her white gown (now covered with rubble dust) and surveys an incredible scene of jagged construction debris. Her hair color has gone from vibrant black to coated-in-dust gray.