amazing project

the re:vision contest is coming to Dallas. very appropriate for me to worry about right now.
http://www.urbanrevision.com/competitions/revision-dallas

taxes

Tax on gas has the advantage that it will be returned to the people in some way. Here the current “war” steps in. in the us 50 % of taxes is used to finance the “war”. The war was induced to try and lower gas prices by invading oil rich regions in the world.

thinking about this i keep hitting myself for having contributed to this war by working in the US thus paying tax as well as spending my money on gas and other consumer goods that has a part federal tax included in the price.

the tax on gas is only between 26 cents/gallon (Alaska) and 64 ¢/g (California) but still with almost 400 million gallons (1.5 billion litres, 1.5 x 10^9) used in the us every day that is still about 90 billion dollars a year. (including diesel taxes)
(source: us department of energy)

war clock

###
Iraq War Cost

9/11 with mixed feelings

disclaimer:
My discussions in these posts are sometimes critical to the US. It’s people, cities, way of life and culture all get its share of knock. I am aware that as a foreigner it is not my business to tell people here how to live their lives, but I believe my presence helps people to look at their country with different eyes and to keep in mind that the world is a little bigger than America.
For these reasons I want to underline the fact that I love the United States, every time I have been visiting has been out of my own free will and I am thankful for the opportunity the US has given me in comparing my own home country to this. To honor the land of freedom I have made a list of the best things about the United States and America!

Things everybody (almost) loves about the US.
- the people. Friendly, cheerful and social.
- the anything-is-possible-spirit. Moon landings, Microsoft, Martha Stewart...
- the nature, the great varieties in flora, fauna and geology.
- the ability to order any kind of food (almost) at any time of the day (or night).
- the ice cream.
- the cars. (Whatever you Americans think about them, we foreigners love American cars!)
- the innovations. Apple, Internet, hamburgers...

computah works!

ew, must give alot of credit to mac-support, being really fast and nice to me. thanks!

las colinas

to forget about my diseased computer i decided to make a study trip on Monday. i went to Las Colinas about 20 minutes north west of Dallas. Las Colinas is an edge city that started off as a vision from the rancher/businessman Ben Carpenter in the 1970:s. today the work-live community hosts over 2000 companies and the world headquarters for among many others ExxonMobil and Kimberly-Clark. about 30 000 people lives in Las Colinas and 100 000 people work here.

features include a lake, venetian inspired channels with electrically powered gondolas, channel walk, an elevated shuttle train and a live/work environment.

disaster

my beloved computer died this w-end during an accident involving a small amount of water. will try to preform some restoration procedures later this week, but i do not have much hope. after having read this site i got over it and thanked the internet for saving most of my work. some of my pictures, photos and drawings are probably gone, but nothing that cannot be replaced.

but i am still mourning the loss.