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archiwutm8

Donna that alright, when I was studying one of my peers drank 3 bottles of Vodka from 9AM to 5PM, almost everyday.

Nov 3, 15 11:20 am  · 
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snooker-doodle-dandy

Donna, You have one in your desk?

Nov 3, 15 4:49 pm  · 
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Of course, snook! Bottom drawer.
Nov 3, 15 4:57 pm  · 
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snooker-doodle-dandy

along with your magnum  I assume....smoking mama!

Nov 3, 15 5:30 pm  · 
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No guns. Big nope.

Nov 3, 15 6:09 pm  · 
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@donna that is hilarious. I actually feel a little anxious, as I haven't been able to land a local ID yet (since move and issues with names, address verification etc.), so this week is first local/election I am missing since I turned 18...

And apparently CO is a caucus state? Or so a friend involved with Bernie, told me.

Nov 3, 15 11:28 pm  · 
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Oh, nam, that is anxiety-inducing. I've only missed one election since graduating from grad school and it *does* make me feel anxious to miss them! Good luck getting the ID thing worked out.

I posted a little story on the viral metropolis thread that you may all enjoy; been sitting on the picture for awhile and just finally used this thread as an opportunity to tell it.

Nov 4, 15 8:34 am  · 
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archiwutm8

Just wondering, do Americans take voting this seriously? so seriously that you get anxious?

Nov 4, 15 10:09 am  · 
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15-20% of us do. If only 100% did.
Nov 4, 15 11:11 am  · 
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Mr_Wiggin

Apparently in Texas it's only 11%...  I can be included with those that didn't vote because I had no idea about voter registration laws here, and I was too late to send in registration by the time I looked them up.  The sheer amount of constitutional amendments up for vote here this year made my head spin, nothing like that back in the good 'ol Inland NW...

Nov 4, 15 12:00 pm  · 
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Doubtful it would make any difference. Between the way elections are controlled via money and media the choices are pretty much the same. Regardless of what they say they work for someone else. When someone comes along who doesn't fit the profile they change the rules (Ross Perot = no third parties in debates, Larry Agran = ignored by media and denied appearance in debates, Jill Stein = detained in handcuffs just for appearing at a presidential debate, Supreme Court denies recount, etc.). I hate to say it but watch what happens to Bernie. They will bury him, either figuratively or literally.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see Bernie 'win', but he doesn't have $1B to spend because he's not sucking the corporate pipe and that's what it takes. Elections aren't won with votes, they are bought and paid for, which is why big money funds both sides. It's called covering the bet - they can't lose.

Nov 4, 15 12:09 pm  · 
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Yes and no, Miles. It's true of the presidential and other major elections, for sure, but my local city council district split 49/48%, with 3% going to the Libertarian joke of a candidate.  A single vote matters a lot more directly in local elections.  The Libertarian was openly opposed to the flood insurance relief issues that have decimated my and my neighbors' property values, so if I knew which of my neighbors voted FOR him....well, I might let my dog poop on their lawn and leave it, that's about the worst thing I'd do: you know, the free market will take care of that poop!

I will say, thank heavens, that even though my local district went to a Republican at least she's not a total teabaggy idiot. She seems pretty genuine and smart, so even though I didn't vote for her I'm optimistic that she'll vote, at least sometimes, for the good of the people rather than just following the party line.

Nov 4, 15 12:30 pm  · 
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ivorykeyboard

http://verdantlabs.com/politics_of_professions/

we're 70% sane! 

Nov 4, 15 12:40 pm  · 
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That's an excellent resource, ivorykeyboard.

Nov 4, 15 12:58 pm  · 
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JeromeS

Was talking to a man here at work- never met him before.  Didn't tell him my name.  He asks if I am Polish.  I say Yes, but how did you know.  He says he can hear it in my speech.

I say I've never spoken Polish.  My dad doesn't speak Polish.  My grandfather probably some but only my great grandfather was a Polish speaker and I never met him.  Man says it doesn't matter.

Blew my mind...

Nov 4, 15 1:02 pm  · 
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b3tadine[sutures]
If Bern gets the nomination, I'll vote for him, but congratulate President Cruz.
Nov 4, 15 1:12 pm  · 
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Donna, my local town is as corrupt as anything you've ever seen. A town supervisor once tried to solicit a bribe form me to assure that legislation I was seeking would get passed. Same guy brought bribery charges against a communication tower representative some 6 months after the 'fact' only to have a jury throw out the court case because they couldn't tell from the audio and video recordings if a bribe was being offered or if one was being solicited. After he left office he got a job with ... wait for it ... the communications tower company. 

The current democratic supervisor is being sponsored by the biggest developer here - who just hosted a $50k / plate fund raiser for John Boner - for an assembly run. You can buy anything if you have enough dough. 

The only vote you have that counts at all is in your wallet and that one is rigged too because money is speech. The more you have the louder your voice.

Nov 4, 15 1:54 pm  · 
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Dear Mr. President Trump,

Since you have the money, can you please finance your grand wall out of your own company. The American tax payers don't have the money to be wasted on grandiose Berlin walls.

Sincerely,

American tax payer

Nov 4, 15 11:07 pm  · 
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archiwutm8

Trump could never get that so called "Wall" built, logistically it isn't feasible. Does no one realise building a wall to block Mexico out is a massive engineering task, he says he has built towers but that's nothing compared to a giant wall. The only other time we did that was the Great Wall of China and look at how long that took and how many people it took, I apologise for my rant and its morning for me.

Nov 5, 15 3:19 am  · 
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curtkram

pfft.  trump can build a wall.  this isn't even clever

as we all know, simpsons already did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuMp2kDxos

here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtparSnQhFc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVmXQAHHxB8

Nov 5, 15 7:37 am  · 
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You guys, Patrik Schumacher just called Francois Roche a "tragic clown" on A/N Blog. I mean, this is becoming like a Real Housewives show!

Real Architects of Global Discourse

Real Architects of Four-Dimensional Pretentious Indignation

Real Architects of Online Parametric Comment Curatio

Nov 5, 15 8:28 am  · 
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“The State of the Art of Architecture” delivered by the Chicago Architecture Biennial Exhibition must leave lay-visitors bewildered by one overwhelming subliminal message: Contemporary architecture ceased to exist, the discipline’s guilt and bad conscience has sapped its vitality, driven it to self-annihilation and architects have now en masse dedicated themselves to doing good via basic social work. A less charitable interpretation sees the hijacking of the newly created Chicago Architecture Biennial by a marginal but academically entrenched ideological tendency within the discipline that has abandoned their societal remit of innovating the built environment at the world technological frontier and instead pours its allocated resources into concept-art style documentation and agitation of behalf of underdeveloped regions and milieu.
—Patrik Schumacher

Translation:

The CABE didn't trumpet my ideology. Waaaah.

Aside from slave-owning terrorist-funding sheiks and the gluttonously overloaded, does this ass-wipe still have any followers? Is he still being held to the light as a shining example of the future for yet another generation of architectural students being trained in isms instead of practice? 

Nov 5, 15 9:37 am  · 
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JLC-1

http://www.archdaily.com/776653/first-home-of-bigs-hualien-residences-completes

a 10,000 sq ft vacation home, quite different from the "idea", don't know what else to say, to me it looks awful and wasteful. with that green hair.....looks plastic.

Nov 5, 15 5:36 pm  · 
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ivorykeyboard

http://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/04/opinion-reinier-de-graaf-american-architecture-academia-insular-get-back-to-real-world-chicago-architecture-biennial/

Reinier posted a great reflection on the debate I wrote about last month. Gahh, Kipnis can be so crude (the last paragraph...)

Nov 5, 15 6:16 pm  · 
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That's a really enjoyable review by Ranier. I tweeted it yesterday saying I don't know if it's *fair* but it's definitely fun to read!
Nov 5, 15 6:27 pm  · 
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tduds

With all the time he spends chasing his own name around the internet and commenting in defense of himself, I wonder whether Schumacher actually designs anything anymore.

I know him better as a facebook troll than as an Architect.

Nov 5, 15 6:43 pm  · 
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My bet is that in a few hundred years PS will roll over in his plush lined coffin- (or raise a glass in a toast with Walt Disney?)- because architectural history will say he was right. If you consider how projects are conditioned before the even architect signs a contract, and how those issues make software like revit the next norm along with discussions about operational expenses as a type of sustainability, it is clear that parametric thinking is an emergent architectural condition.

But I will also say that the suggestion / his assertion that it is his domain is inaccurate. The curation of capital to construct markets and thereby more capital was  formalized by the Neilsen company in the early 30's and is now incredibly sophisticated. His approach to architecture as parametric does little more than to position itself at the high end of the market using coded language that speaks to clients and not practitioners. The software that he uses is not authored by him. Credit should go to people like Robert Aish, Robert McNeel and David Rutten.

What will go unmentioned in history and is far more interesting is that he is really developing a response to Rem's (apparently unanswered) question from 10 years ago as to why architects don't make a lot of cash.  As he reads about markets and real estate before he goes to bed, he is trying to find a way to position the architect as the property owner, developer/curator and designer to capture as much of the capital as possible- perhaps Sotheby's as an architectural practice. And then he will claim this is the future of architecture and is his domain.

Nov 5, 15 10:34 pm  · 
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Marc, all those conditions have existed for years, and tools have always influenced the result. Parametric thinking is not new in any way, and architects are not the only people to analyze and balance multiple factors based - upon other things - their relationships with each other. All Shoemuncher has done is package this for self-promotion. 

Sure the tools are ever more sophisticated, but the people using them aren't any smarter. In fact the trade-off is loss of basic intelligence as well as developed practical skill. It's like the kid who plays video games instead of playing with friends - physical and social skills aren't developed. Or the guy who drives into a ditch because the GPS said 'turn right here'. Or the theory-driven computer-executed architectural education that successfully turns out graduates ready to learn how to make buildings.

Developing a response to Rem (though not the money bit, as everyone is digging for gold) is dead on. This is the real game, a contest of ego between starchitects.

See the article on de Graaf ...

Nov 5, 15 11:39 pm  · 
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See, this is a far more interesting discussion, right here on TC among normal people, than listening to well-known names call each other tragic clowns.  Well done, Marc and Miles.

IMO at least Patrik is within an architectural practice - albeit a rarefied one that most architects will never achieve.  The Stair Sessions discussion, for example, was purely academic, with barely a reference to a built habitation environment.

Nov 6, 15 9:19 am  · 
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Non Sequitur

^ who you calling normal?

Nov 6, 15 10:06 am  · 
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I just found a gift pack of M&Ms with a note saying "Enjoy your new furniture!" in a file cabinet. The file cabinet was first installed 11 years ago.

I seriously considered eating them. <--------------normal.

Nov 6, 15 11:20 am  · 
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Thanks for sticking up for me, Non.

Nov 6, 15 11:40 am  · 
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Miles, I agree with you and that is part of the point I am trying to make. 

With respect to "tools," teaching needs to shift from mimicry and flash to appease a faculty member or program alum that is part of the job mill to familiarity with how the software manipulates inputs to determine outcomes. This is going to require that a lot of old and mid career people move on. There are more hidden issue with teaching, but I won't go on.

Nov 6, 15 12:05 pm  · 
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shellarchitect

State has lost my license application check, but it was cashed a month ago..... Grrrr.....

Nov 6, 15 4:24 pm  · 
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^ suggest they look for it at the bank.

Nov 6, 15 4:54 pm  · 
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Oooooooh shielding, that sucks!
Nov 6, 15 4:54 pm  · 
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snooker-doodle-dandy

I met with a builder today who actually told me my construction documents and leads for sourcing cedar beams have been very helpful in putting together  this gem of a project.

So not all days suck, guess it is time to submit a bill to the owner as I know they are currently traveling out of the country. 

Nov 6, 15 5:05 pm  · 
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Olaf, do you really have to encourage the troll?

Nov 6, 15 7:01 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

the date was wrong.

Nov 6, 15 7:12 pm  · 
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ivorykeyboard

PS musing of the day:

minimalism/modernism is irredeemably backward and intellectually bankrupt ... the same applies to neo-postmodernism, and neo-neo-rationalism ... when will the dull skulls of architects finally crack up to let in some light ? ... when will they overcome their self-indulgent ignorance that allows them to refuse to upgrade their backward methodologies and to pander to their superficial retro tastes without any critical reflection ... I guess the debate has to be ratchet up yet a few more notches ... has to become a little more ferocious ... because the thoughtful and systematic arguments and demonstrations that have been laid out for anybody who wishes to look and learn (and who has the intellectual capacity to learn) have been ignored for years

You know you've gone full PS when you have nested Neos. Is minimalism even a retro taste if there is a viable client demand for it? maybe the "unwashed" and intellectually bankrupt masses are trying to tell us something.

someone please ask PS what his Final Solution is. 

Nov 8, 15 5:19 pm  · 
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someone please ask PS what his Final Solution is. 

Haven't you been paying attention? It's anachro-capitalist parametricism.*
You don't have to be Aryan, just rich.

 

*complete personal autonomy via universally programmed top-down planning

Nov 8, 15 6:37 pm  · 
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archiwutm8

I don't know if its allowed to be talked about cause it seems to be a bit of a taboo.

But what are your opinions and experiences with depression and the architectural profession? Just wondering as I've just had a close friend quit and mentally broke down after working at absurd levels of stress, it just feels like we aren't allowed to talk about depression seriously rather than the jokes people normally make about it.

Nov 9, 15 5:23 am  · 
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It's been talked about over the years. A few quick links, with a warning that I haven't re-read all of these so they might be helpful but might just be full of assholes telling people to stop whining:

Archinect and Depression

Is architecture degrading or is it just me?

Architectural atrophy

There are others. It's not taboo, it's just that anything offered up here on the Forum is at risk of being attacked by jerks (I'd like to point out that Nate H. has been a significant contributor to the nastiness lately.) who pump themselves up by making others feel bad.

I've certainly dealt with depression over the years, as has just about everyone I know in this field.  It was harder when I was younger, because I felt so passionate about things and had no experience with balance. The older I get the more balance I feel, meaning I still get very passionate about things but have a better sense of winning the war vs. winning a particular battle, or knowing what things are important to give my energy to and what battles to let others fight. I love getting older.

I also had great success with a term of Prozac and a concurrent commitment to yoga.

Nov 9, 15 8:59 am  · 
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archiwutm8

I guess it is talked about but mainly anonymously online, but doesn't seem to be talked about in real life though.

Nov 9, 15 9:17 am  · 
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Assuming you're male, archiwutm8, it is much harder to talk about, compassionately and helpfully, among men. Women have it far easier in this regard; we are "allowed" by society to be vulnerable sometimes and strong other times.

Nov 9, 15 9:22 am  · 
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Non Sequitur

http://archinect.com/forum/thread/106478605/tears-of-a-clown

This one too I remember had some good but brief discussions.

When I was completing grad-school, the university had a social worker/psychologist on hand a few days per week for the students. Totally free and anonymous one on one sessions. I don't know how many exactly made weekly appointments but I do know it was a very common.

Nov 9, 15 9:23 am  · 
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Meditation is miraculous. Not only can it give you near instant relief it can also provide the clarity necessary to see and extract yourself from intolerable situations. Tequila is only a temporary fix.

Part of the result of abuse in college architectural programs is conditioning students for abuse in the real world. They'd be better developing the kind of knowledge that leads to competence, which would in turn boost self-respect. Between clients, consultants, builders, and municipal authorities this profession is difficult enough as it is, no need to make it worse.

Nov 9, 15 9:30 am  · 
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Oh, I'd forgotten that one, Non Seq. That's a good one.

Hey ivorykeyboard thank you again for that link about political leanings analyzed by profession. I just spent some more time with it as the topic came up with a coworker and it's actually pretty astounding how transparently people with more education and more interaction with lots of different kinds of people tend to lean left.

Nov 9, 15 9:32 am  · 
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I've dealt with depression off and on over the years, and saying it's a major pain would be an understatement. I went through about a six-year period when things had gotten so bad that I had dropped out of college and was unable to hold down a job for more than a few months at a time. I've gotten things more-or-less under control since then (finally went back to school and finished my undergrad degree in 2010 after years of night classes, and finishes my MArch degree last year). I still have my ups and downs, and this past year has been particularly difficult, but I'm cautiously optimistic that better things will be in store next year.

Nov 9, 15 9:11 pm  · 
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ivorykeyboard

@ Donna glad you enjoyed it. I was particularly blown away that architectural designers clocked in at a whopping 95% leftist.

Sadly, those with the least education are often the most benefited by liberal policies. They also tend to be susceptible to manipulation. Hopefully the supreme court will repeal the citizens united ruling.... one day.

Nov 9, 15 11:13 pm  · 
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