Depressing

I heard from a colleague at work recently that Architects have the highest unemployment rate of any profession......We're Number 1!!!

I can't say that I'm suprised based on observation and, unfortunately, my own experience.  I spent a little over a year between  architecture jobs.  In the interim, I was a stay-at-home Dad, a Community College Instructor, a U.S. Census Enumerator, a Sonoma State Extended Education Green Building Certificate recipient, a California Architect's Board Supplemental Exam candidate, and all-around busy-body.

Then today, I read an article in Salon about the state of the architecture profession.  Let's just say...not good.  Perhaps the most depressing exerpt:

Taxes as punishment

One of the arguments I always hear from people on the right, is that progressive tax rates are a "punishment" for being successful.  The theory is that people will be less motivated to produce and succeed because as they make more money, they pay more taxes. 

What I want to ask is, Why do you view taxes as a punishment?  Don't we receive goods and services in return for those taxes?  I realize that many of the benefits of government are difficult to see and understand, and therefore difficult to put a true value on.  What is the value of the freedom and safety we receive from our defense department, and how do you quantify it? 

Robots assembling buildings

Some academics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have put together an incredible exhibition demonstrating building construction using little flying helicopters.  The structure is a simple sculptural assembly of foam bricks, but the demonstration is remarkable for the possibilities it envisions.



I can imagine a future construction site erecting scaffolding around a building perimeter for the use of cameras and recharging platforms.  Would you still need to deliver materials to the site, or would the robots fly directly to warehouses, or directly to the manufacturers to pick up materials?  How many different materials would be developed to accommodate the robots' capabilites, or would different materials require different types of robots?  Would each building material manufacturer also design a corresponding assembly robot that would come with the purchase price or be leased when you purchase the material?  How would flying robots work for concrete, thousands of robots each bringing small quanities, or would they simply handle the equipment we use today?  What about robots that contain a small amound of liquid that quickly hardens into different types of finish material?

And what does this construction method do to architecture as we know it today?  There seem to be lots of limitations, but it also seems to open up new possibilities geometrically.  Would the architect simply deliver a three dimensional model?  Could this be the dawn of a truly paperless design and construction process?

I think what I love about this project is how simple it is and, as a result of this simplicity, how vast the possiblities are.

Sign the apocalypse is upon us...

I have written a blog post two days in a row!!!! 

Pitchers and catchers report February 19 (via Troy Renck).  Last season I was full of confidence in the Rockies, but this year I am full of doubts.  Hope springs eternal, but I have my doubts about the pitching staff this year.

Also, I want to give a shout-out to Rox Walk Off, a new site for avid Rockies fans.  The site was created when Inside the Rockies closed up shop at the end of the year and left a crew of devoted commenters (and contributers) without a virtual home.  Several of the most devoted participants decided to create a site where the community that had been formed at Inside could continue.  They have a pretty sharp lookin' site up and running, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it operates during the season.  Power to the people!

My Annual Blog Post

Apparently, I will be posting new content to the blog on a yearly basis.  Sooooo, here is my 2012 contribution to the blogosphere:

Sarcasm aside, this time, I really will start writing more often.  I am also going to be getting my website back into shape.  I'm thinking it wasn't a good idea to have the year shown so prominently in the design, because I have to do a big wave of editing to every page every year.  But then again, maybe that will encourage me to keep it up to date.  Anyway, I mostly need to finish the portfolio portion and update the resume, and then I should be good to go for a while.

I'm Baaaack

It's been a while, but I think I'm ready to get back to blogging.  There has been a lot of happenings since last I wrote.  Most importantly, I need to do a little bragging, because I passed the CSE the second time around.  I was given one last opportunity to try the oral version of the CSE before it goes extinct, so I took a chance, despite a crazy schedule that did not really allow me to prepare as well as I would have liked.  I passed it anyway, to my great relief.  I have sent in my hundred bucks, and now await my official papers as a licensed architect in the State of California.  Goal.....accomplished.

Diversity

I had to answer a question about diversity several months ago on an application for a leadership program.  I didn't get accepted to the program, but I was quite proud of a paragraph I wrote for that application, and I wanted to share.