February 2012
43 posts
whin 1 |(h)win|
noun chiefly N. English
furze; gorse.
ORIGIN late Middle English : probably of Scandinavian origin; compare with Swedish ven ‘bent grass.’
whin 2 (also whinstone)
noun Brit.
hard, dark basaltic rock such as that of the Whin Sill in Northern England.
ORIGIN Middle English : of unknown origin.
gorse |gôrs|
noun
a yellow-flowered shrub of the pea family, the...
A fun word
lacuna |ləˈk(y)oōnə|
noun ( pl. -nae |-nī; -nē| or -nas )
an unfilled space or interval; a gap : the journal has filled a lacuna in Middle Eastern studies.
• a missing portion in a book or manuscript.
• Anatomy a cavity or depression, esp. in bone.
DERIVATIVES
lacunal |ləˈk(y)oōnl| adjective
lacunary |ˈlakyəˌnerē; ləˈk(y)oōnərē| adjective
lacunate |-ˌnāt; -nit; ˈlakyəˌnāt| adjective
lacunose...
One of my least favorite words
fecund |ˈfekənd; ˈfē-|
adjective
producing or capable of producing an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertile : a lush and fecund garden | figurative her fecund imagination. See note at fertile .
• technical (of a woman or women) capable of becoming pregnant and giving birth.
DERIVATIVES
fecundity |feˈkəndətē; fiˈkən-| noun
ORIGIN late Middle English : from French fécond or Latin...
Humbly defiant: or how the Portuguese taught me a...
littoral |ˈlitərəl|
adjective
of, relating to, or situated on the shore of the sea or a lake : the littoral states of the Indian Ocean.
• Ecology of, relating to, or denoting the zone of the seashore between high- and low-water marks, or the zone near a lake shore with rooted vegetation : limpets and other littoral mollusks.
noun
a region lying along a shore : irrigated regions of the...
“This is a fundamental view of the world. It says that when you build a thing you...”
– Alexander, A Pattern Language
Architecture tikkun olam?
Gratifying
When your professor uses your language in a proposal for overall project goals.
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Thursday crit
The good: I think it looks pretty.
The not-so-good: I don’t think I said anything that wasn’t just trivially true.
Here, you can look.
“For a long time Pyrrha to me was a fortified city on the slopes of a bay, with...”
– Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
(via contemplatingchicken)
Penultimate
It’s late, I’m starting to realize what a semester I’ve gotten myself into, and I just hit my head on the corner of my closet because I’m tired.
Oof.
Could I finally really be getting too old for this?
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Poorly written papers frustrate me
Particularly when I don’t feel like I have the authority to rip them to shreds and reconstruct.
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Our haaretz article (Kiryat Gat) →
Take it with a grain of salt—no article is ever 100% correct or 100% what one would like.
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Random: my mother took Anjum Rajabali out to lunch
This guy. Indian film.
What's that? My mother's published in Science? Yes... →
And an interview writeup/article.
It could take nearly 100 years before half of all professors in science and engineering are female, according to an article out on Friday in the journal Science.
The assertion is shocking because people in academe have been working for decades to increase the number of women in those fields. The article says it will take so long for universities to attain equal...
O Captain! My Captain! - Walt Whitman - Leaves of...
Israeli studio cynicism - making reviews fun!
E: so tell us about those tall buildings
M: well, I've been reading a lot about the Iran situation...
E: well then in that case that (high-rise) building should be 30 stories underground
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SOUTERRAIN TRAM TUNNEL, NETHERLANDS, THE HAGUE,... →
The souterrain tram tunnel is an element of intrastructure and a building at the same time. Located in the city centre of The Hague, the multistory underground tunnel provides 500 parking spaces on one level, while connecting two tram stations on the level below.
This does indeed seem like a very Koolhaas kind of project.
“I hadn’t emailed you to thank you yet for the t-shirt! It came this weekend and...”
– Woohoo! Good feedback on my most recent design commission (lolz - commission)
קריה, קדימה!
It’s cheesy- but I kind of want to name our Kiryat Gat project this.
Judaism in a nutshell
tzvantzik:
I found this on a notepad that I used when preparing for a d’var Torah last summer.
“Judaism is the belief that principles and ideals are fundamentally actionable, and that belief in a principle means acting upon it.”
Judaism is a religion of law? You bet is is…but this is actually what that is all about.
Why Planners Need to Take Agenda 21 Criticism More... →
“Excellent piece by my friend, fellow Texan interloper, and DUSPer Andrew Whittemore on the challenges posed to planners by the Tea Party’s anti-planning movement, and how we can work to more effectively engage these folks:”
-Matt Weinstein
Because defending ideas to the like-minded proves nothing about your ideas—
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When the smart ones started going to Wall Street →
With great power comes great responsibility…
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January 2012
65 posts
Drenched in sweat, ears ringing, six free shots, and an incredible evening of dancing—with just a dash of salsa.
Here’s to vacation!
t-30 minutes for our last in-Israel presentation...
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Another course that looks interesting
MIT – Spring12 11.S946 (S12) Institutional Design and Inclusive Urban Governance Peter P. Houtzager DUSP Time: Tue & Thu 2:30-4:00pm Location: Building 9, Rm 9-450B The course examines a range of specialized governance institutions that aim to bring government agencies and civil society associations, service providers, and other actors together to negotiate public policy, strengthen...