Douglas R. Seidler

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 is June 17, 2008. Help the folks at mozilla set a guiness world record by downloading Firefox 3 today.

(note: as of 7:43AM EDT there is no link to download from Mozilla’s website)

There is a good article at Slate.com by Brendan I Koerner exploring the true “Greenness” of Bamboo flooring. The scale of production, methods or harvest, assembly and transportation all impact what is considered by most to be the “green” alternative to traditional hardwood floors.

Bamboo does have loads of green potential. But as is usually the case when it comes to crops, much depends on how the bamboo is managed, harvested, and ultimately made into flooring. Many producers assume that consumers won’t pay attention to such behind-the-scenes details and will be dazzled by smooth-talking salesman who toss around words like “sustainability” and “sequestration.”

…bamboo’s environmental edge can evaporate if the stuff is heedlessly grown. Given the recent vogue for bamboo among Western consumers, producers in Asia (specifically China’s Hunan Province) have been aggressive with their planting, often at the expense of old woodlands and their attendant ecosystems. To goose their yields, these plantations employ plenty of fertilizers and pesticides, thereby negating one of bamboo’s primary advantages.

read the full article here

I only began to understand how complex construction drawings are when I started teaching 4 years ago. Prior to teaching, my experience communicating with consultants, contractors, architects, and interior designers through the conventional 2D drawings is almost always straight forward (I do admit these drawing produced their fair share of errors in the field).

The build blog has an interesting post that shows use of 3D analysis / cut away drawings in other fields to allow everyone immediately understand of these complex relationships.

I wonder if BIM will help us produce more legible construction docs or only provide more of the same (slightly more coordinated) construction docs.

President Bush signed a transportation bill on June 6, 2008 that includes $45 million for a levitating train from Las Vegas to Disneyland. The project has been in the planning stages for quite some time. This bill represents a shift in the federal governments view on mass public transportation as a solution to congestion on the nations highways.The AP reports 

Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph. It would be the first MagLev system in the U.S. The money is the largest cash infusion in the project’s nearly 20-year history. It will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project.  

It seems that plans for NESAD’s new building at 20 Somerset got one step closer to reality. The Boston Globe reported the following on June 5, 2008.

Suffolk University and the chief Beacon Hill neighborhood group have struck a pivotal deal on the college’s ambitious expansion plan, paving the way for its approval and easing one of the city’s deepest town-gown quarrels.    

In exchange, the civic association has agreed to support Suffolk’s plan to build a 10-story academic building at 20 Somerset St. and not to contest the university’s 10-year expansion plan, which is under city review. They have also agreed to nonresidential developments at 73 Tremont St., 1 Beacon St., and in Center Plaza.  

 read the full article here