Cool idea: urban “vertical farms,” by Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University. I loved the following paragraph from the NY Times article by Bina Venkataraman:
Architects’ renderings of vertical farms — hybrids of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Biosphere 2 with SimCity appeal — seem to be stirring interest. “It also has to be stunning in terms of the architecture, because it needs to work in terms of social marketing,” Dr. Despommier said. “You want people to say, ‘I want that in my backyard.’ ”
SimCity! Whoa! The futuristic cities of Sim City can be quite amazing too, I must say. Sim City also believed that by the 21st Century, we’d have fusion power plants, but we haven’t reached that either yet. So, as much as I’d think that vertical farms are a cool idea, I’d wonder if the NYC real estate market and other factors might make it difficult to pursue.
Sometimes, I give credit to Slate for leading me to articles I wouldn’t otherwise read about: these magazine summaries led me to a fascinating article in The New Republic (a magazine I really don’t read usually) about Barack Obama’s time at the University of Chicago Law School.
I also liked this article on Law.com by Professor Kyron James Huigens of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, on his observation that he understands Obama’s nuanced thinking because it’s the nuanced thinking of a law professor:
I have to confess that I think I know Obama’s mind. He’s like me — a legal scholar.
Obama is a graduate of one of the best law schools in the country and has taught on a part-time basis at one of the others [hyperlink to a Law.com article on Harvard Law, by Tony Mauro of Legal Times removed]. Every law school produces at least one scholarly journal, usually its flagship journal, that is edited by students. Obama was the president of the Harvard Law Review, a political office of sorts that, nevertheless, gave him an opportunity to work with accomplished, often brilliant, scholars.
Obama’s legal education, his law review work and his teaching have produced a presidential candidate whose positions on major issues have been described as nuanced, compromised, centrist or insincere. They might be all or some of these things, but many of them are also legally sophisticated. This matters to anyone who wants to truly understand Obama’s thinking. Legal analysis cannot be adequately portrayed in political terms, and to push Obama’s beliefs back and forth along the conventional left-right spectrum badly misrepresents them. […. comments on Obama’s recent comments about Supreme Court decisions]
None of this really justifies my sense that I know Obama’s mind. But beyond these issues and the way he handles them, I sense a certain temperament and a style of thinking that sounds and feels very familiar. I would be surprised if many of my colleagues in legal academia did not sense it too. Whether this counts as a reason to vote for Obama is, of course, another question.
I finished reading Obama’s book, “Audacity of Hope,” and the law professor side of him is a very interesting aspect of Obama that was clearly obvious. Ah well. Got to give law profs credit for saying a whole heck of a lot of stuff; whether we listen to them (even when they’re wrong, or just not completely making much sense) is another story.
Wednesday night: watched more Asian American Int’l Film Festival movies; I think I’m really getting into this.
Kissing Cousins at Asia Society – thumbs up! Very well done romantic comedy. Actor Samrat Chakrabarti as Amir, a professional “relationship termination specialist,” who has to learn to appreciate love — terrific acting. There were some weak moments of either acting or writing (Amir’s sister was a tad weak character, and the character of Bridget, the friend’s sister, could’ve been given a bit more to work on), but the movie worked because of Amir and his cousin Zara. (umm, yeah, they’re cousins, which makes the kissing just a little “uh…”). Nifty little movie website, by the way.
Also watched “Gone Shopping” – hmm. Interesting movie got the glimpse of mall life in Singapore. It kind of felt like an Asian “Desperate Housewives,” with its mix of satire and pathos (well, “Gone Shopping” was far more watchable than most episodes of “Desperate Housewives” – I’m not much of a DH fan anyway). The cast was quite strong and the writing felt impressive. This movie also has a pretty nifty and informative website, with the whimsical soundtrack too.
But, I personally like romantic comedies with the happy endings; that’s just me!
So, check out what’s left of the next few days; embedding the AAIFF ’08 trailer from YouTube: