Wrath Of Gnonさんのイラストまとめ

We ought to be inspired more by children's picture books, maybe one of the most accessible ways of figuring out what is really important in life. A rootless alienated lonely population are "better for the economy" though. Here is the work of Iwamura Kazuo.

My English is simply not good enough to keep up with most podcast (unscripted speech, poor sound, time lag with phone interviews etc.). My mind wanders. But I'll give this Kunstler one three listens.

Analyzed by Besim S. Hakim, it is a great study on how our ancestors built cities around the Mediterranean for almost 1400 years. Ascalon was a rich town, probably able to hold its own against Caesarea Maritima, the capital of Palestina Prima. Art by Jean-Claude Golvin.

“...The fact is, a person is so far formed by his surroundings, that his state of harmony depends entirely on his harmony with his surroundings.”
— Christopher Alexander,
The Timeless Way of Building

The problem with veneer. This bldg in central Tokyo uses granite veneer (over concrete) to give the impression of a proper arch. Far better than most Tokyo architecture but look closely and you can spot the problems. It looks fake, the veneer isn't lined up to match a real arch.

The railway is the only mode of transport that can connect two towns without ruining the land in between them. #TrainTwitter

Ecosystems are complex. When something is wrong with one organism/function it is almost always due to some general imbalance in the larger ecosystem. Cities are the same. When something is wrong that used to be right it is a fool's errand to just address/fix the one symptom.

"An honest man cannot mislead in watercolour. His soul is
purified by passing through all the colours of a child’s paintbox. The real thing for misleading is photography."
— G.K. Chesterton, The Illustrated London News, June 7th, 1913

Rails connect without destroying either the towns they connect or the countryside it passes. #TrainTwitter

“Tolkien begins his sagas of Middle Earth not by describing some vast geopolitical organization, but by ushering us into a snug, well-stocked hobbit hole, in a lovely and rather provincial place called The Shire.”
—Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, Anthony Esolen