2009.10.16 01:00 - In which Wol pontificates about urban planning

Wol Euler was guardian and commenter for this session.

Wol Euler: hello sophia

sophia Placebo: morning Wol

Wol Euler: lovely roses!

sophia Placebo: ty ^^

Wol Euler: are they from Illusions?

sophia Placebo: no , they are freebie with another dress , lemme check

sophia Placebo: 3 star designe shop

Wol Euler: ty :)

sophia Placebo: :)

sophia Placebo: any extraordinary observations lately ?

Wol Euler grins.

Wol Euler: Winter is cold. Does that count?

sophia Placebo: lol sure it should be counted

Wol Euler: the temperature dropped about a dozen degrees in one day, middle of the week

sophia Placebo: winter is months away from us here

sophia Placebo: oh thats sad

Wol Euler: what does "winter" mean actually? does it ever freeze?

sophia Placebo: no

sophia Placebo: it means here that the temp is below 30

Wol Euler snorts.

Wol Euler: well, ok, I can see that it would be a welcome change :)

sophia Placebo: can reach to 0 a few days or hours

sophia Placebo: hehe it is

Wol Euler: so your winter temperature is my preferred summer temp :)))

sophia Placebo: lol yes , in summer weather news when i see temp of europeans cities i just feel it is winterish

Wol Euler laughs

Wol Euler: I was thinking about the expression "cold as hell", and the descriptions of the Christian/Jewish hell in the Bible as somewhere unbearably hot.

Wol Euler: the northern Europeans knew about cold, so they thought of a cold Hell. They couldn't conceive of being so warm that warmth might become uncomfortable.

--BELL--

sophia Placebo: never burn themselves ?

Wol Euler: sure, I guess, but that's different somehow.

Wol Euler: things in fire don't last.

Wol Euler: whereas winter does

sophia Placebo: i cant last in winter

sophia Placebo dont like cold weather

Wol Euler: you would have as much trouble here now as I would in your summer

sophia Placebo: hehe true

Wol Euler: just differently uncomfortable

sophia Placebo: our hot weather plus our modernized city and building designe that allow more sun less shadow in the street in contrast to the traditional designes ,and closed low ceiling with a/c vintlation inside buildings , those very much render us to become less active more sedentry

Wol Euler nods. There was a reason why the old folks built as they did, it wasn't just some theory of prettiness.

sophia Placebo: it become very untolarable to walk at time of noon which starts from 10 am untill 3 pm , plus the enviromental changes

Wol Euler: mmhmm

Wol Euler: I suppose the answer would be "but who walks, when your car and your house are both airconditioned?"

Wol Euler: but I wonder if this is a sustainable answer.

sophia Placebo: sometimes you just wish that things are near you and you can walk to the supermarket or barber or whatever , they desigen the city to have shops away from resident areas , way far from walking poepel

Wol Euler: mmhmm. The disease of Surburbanism, imported from the US

sophia Placebo: suburbanism ?

Wol Euler: separation of functions, wide and long streets, needing to use a car to buy a pint of milk.

sophia Placebo nods

Wol Euler: spreading out and sorting by activity, as though the different things one person might do in a day all required to be kept away from each other

Wol Euler: "I can't work if I can see the store through my window"

Wol Euler: well, really.

--BELL--

Wol Euler: this whole lifestyle must change. It's based on artificially cheap and abundant fuel, and that is not going to last.

sophia Placebo: true , it is based on wrong human body building habits

Wol Euler: the architects and planners and theorists of the '50s in the US, who invented this whole suburban sprawl thing, didn't seen to enjoy their bodies much.

Wol Euler: they didn't walk, didn't stand in the sun, didn't go to parks or playgrounds. And htey certainly didn't have children!

sophia Placebo: hehe :)

Wol Euler: I'm sorry, I am pompous and pontificating today.

sophia Placebo: it is hard now to tell poeple to change their life style , as if im asking them to walk in the wrong direction in the high way

sophia Placebo: np ^^

Wol Euler nods

Wol Euler: I don't think it is an option though, our time is running out. We have to give up some of our comfort and laziness, or else lose everything that we call part of this "civilization"

Wol Euler: we can try to do it carefully and in a planned and systematic way, or we can close our eyes and keep our foot on the gas and wait for the crash

Wol Euler slaps her hand. Down! down I say.

--BELL--

Wol Euler: Well it looks like Sophia won't be coming back, so the session ends here.