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Landscape architects teach us about DC public spaces
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has created a great new website about the many public spaces in and around Washington, DC.
Individual landscape architects took photos and wrote descriptions of each site's key features. You can learn about public spaces you might not have even known about, or see familiar places through a landscape architect's eyes.
How many of these sites can you identify? Click on any of them to jump to the page.
There are some real gems of public spaces in here, some very old and some very new. Most descriptions remain positive even about those sites, like Freedom Plaza, which don't really activate the street at all and sit barren most of the time. The descriptions do allude to some controversies, like the location of the World War II memorial, or the way the Mall suffers from insufficient maintenance and heavy use.
The spaces in the guide range from the monumental core to Brookland, Deanwood, and the Pentagon area in Arlington. The guide concludes with one element that's slightly out of the box, but still definitely an example of public space design: DC's bicycle network.
Jennifer Toole, founder of Toole Design, the firm that has designed many bicycle facilities and traffic calming treatments for DC streets, writes a short tour on Capital Bikeshare covering 14th Street, the 15th Street cycle track, the Pennsylvania Avenue lanes, Union Station's Bikestation, and the Metropolitan Branch Trail.
by David Alpert on Sep 14, 2012 10:35 am • link • report
the guide dan mentions is linked to in this blog entry, http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2010/09/asla-potomac-chapter-guide-to-dc.html, as City Guide. I'd have put the direct link link but it's a self loading pdf.
I agree that it's an excellent resource.
by Richard Layman on Sep 14, 2012 1:20 pm • link • report
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- Vision Zero won't be easy
- For DC Council: Elissa Silverman and Robert White
- First flowerpots, and now, a cycletrack
- The Purple Line will likely beat ridership forecasts
- In Maryland and Virginia, vote to build transit
- Ask GGW: How much pain will riders face while Metro replaces the Bethesda escalators?
- Flowerpots create a safer pedestrian crossing from Gallaudet to Union Market


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Overnight Long/Intraday Short Gold Fund More Than Doubles In Just Over A Year: Generates 43% Annualized ReturnSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/15/2012 - 14:03
Back in August 2010, we presented an idea proposed by our friends at SK Options trading for a very simple trading strategy: being long gold in the overnight session, and shorting it during the day. At the time of writing, such a strategy would have returned $2.16 billion from a $100 million initial investment in 10 years, a 37.46% annualized return. Today, we provide a much needed follow up to this quite stunning divergence. As SK notes: "we have revisited the article and written an update. Not only does the discrepancy still exist but it has been actually increasing. That fund would now be worth $5.26B, way up from $2.16B when we last wrote about it - in other words an increase of 143% in just over a year. When we wrote about this in August 2010, the annualized return of the Long Overnight/Short Intraday gold index was 37.46% since the start of 2001. However if we measure from now the annualized return since 2001 is 43.24%, with the annualized return of the Long Overnight/Short Intraday gold index standing at roughly 64.4% since 2009." So for those who wish to layer on an additional alpha buffer on top of what is already the best performing asset of the past decade, the SK Options way just may be the strategy. As for the reasons for this gross arbitrage - who cares. Is it manipulation? is it the early Asian buying offset by London pool selling? It is largely irrelvant - the point is that this is "the divergence that keeps on giving" - kinda like a Stolper trade, or an inverse Tilson ETF, and until it doesn't, or until something dramatically changes in the precious metal market, it is likely that this trading pattern will continue for a long time.
- Comments: 87
- Reads: 20,840
Video And Post-Mortem of Spectacular Carnival Cruise Liner Accident Off Tuscan CoastSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/15/2012 - 12:59
To those who woke up on Saturday to images of a massive cruise liner keeled over following a very peculiar Friday night accident off the coast of Italy, no, this was not a prop for the latest James Cameron movie: it is the Carnival Corp's Costa Concordia, which carried over 4,200 passengers and crew, and foundered after hit a submerged rock off the Tuscan island of Giglio in very calm conditions. At last count 11 passengers and 6 crewmembers were missing, with at least 6 confirmed dead as of last night. Here is what is known as of right now.
- Comments: 269
- Reads: 30,314
Appeasement Arrives: Joint US-Israel Exercise Postponed For "Budget Reasons", US Will Not Enforce No Fly Zone Over SyriaSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/15/2012 - 12:07
First we had news that out of the blue, the Western embargo against Iranian oil exports would be delayed by 6 months, and now, in the aftermath of last night's developments out of Iran which blamed the CIA for the murder of its nuclear scientist we get this (from Bloomberg):
And just so it doesn't look like a total cave in:
As a reminder Iran made it very clear an escalation in joint US-Israel war game cooperation would be met with yet another miliary exercise out of Iran.
- Comments: 277
- Reads: 14,969
Iran Foreign Ministry Claims Nuclear Scientist Was Executed By CIA, As Nigeria Strike Talks CollapseSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2012 - 23:15
While on one hand we get news from Nigeria that the government and the labor unions have failed to end a labor strike, raising the prospect of a halt of all production in the country which produces 2.4 million barrels of oil per day or roughly the same as Iran exports, we now find out that the US attempt at de-escalating tensions with Iran (following Thursday's news of an extension in the oil embargo deadline by 6 months - one would almost think Obama realized $5.00 gas may be an issue with the election looming) may have failed massively, and it is now Iran's attempt to score political brownie points knowing well it has all the advantage. As EA WorldView reports, instead of backing away from last week's sensitive issue of the assasination of a nuclear scientist, Iran has ripped the scab right off the wound and its foreign ministry has boldly proclaimed that it has "reliable documents and evidence that this terrorist act was planned, guided and supported by the CIA. The documents clearly show that this terrorist act was carried out with the direct involvement of CIA-linked agents." So the ball is now squarely back in America's court, and any further attempts at appeasement, such as the embargo extension was perceived as being, will merely serve to make US foreign policy appear even more toothless. Which Hillary will hardly stomach. So we may well be back at square one (only this time with two aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea instead of just one).
- Comments: 335
- Reads: 15,229
Presenting Mitt Romney's Top Campaign ContributorsSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2012 - 19:18
Periodically refreshed without commentary.
- Comments: 348
- Reads: 47,784
Der Verkauf Ist Verboten - Germany Considers Ban On Sovereign Bond SalesSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2012 - 18:11
When back in August, Europe declared a short selling ban of any financials (here we are willing to channel Romney, and make a $10,000 bet with anyone that said ban will never be lifted), and which as we predicted has had no favorable impact on bank stocks which have since tumbled, we suggested that the next step will also be the final one: the passage of laws prohibiting sales of any kind. As usual we were partially joking. And as so often happens, we are about to be proven right again. As the FT reports in its headline article today, whose gist is simple enough, that Europe is on the verge, it is the tactically-placed final paragraph that is of particular curiosity. It says the following: "Speaking on the fringes of a start-of-year retreat of her Christian Union lawmakers in the city of Kiel, Ms Merkel said she would consider calls from her party colleagues for legislation to bar institutional investors such as insurance companies from selling bonds when ratings were downgraded, or fell below investment grade." Allow us to recopy and repaste the key part: "legislation to bar institutional investors such as insurance companies from selling bonds."
- Comments: 346
- Reads: 23,659
Q4 Spanish Unemployment Soars By Most Since Lehman, Hits "Astronomical" 23.3%Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2012 - 14:16
For anyone convinced that yesterday's S&P two notch downgrade of Spain to A is the last one for a while, we have some bad news: in Q4 Spanish unemployment soared by the most since the Lehman collapse, hitting what new PM Mariano Rajoy called an "astronomical" 5.4 million. This compares to 4.978 million people unemployed at the end of Q3 2011. Since the official number is not yet public and will be released on January 27 we will take his word for it. In which case it becomes clear that in Q4 the Spanish economy experienced a Lehman-like collapse, losing more than 400K people, or the most since the bankruptcy of Lehman brothers. In percentage terms this means that Spanish unemployment rose by a ridiculous 2%, or from 21.5% to 23.3%, in one quarter! And since Spain is a country of the Keynesian persuasion, we can only assume the number includes a whole bunch of meaningless birth/death and seasonal adjustments, but we'll leave it at that. Incidentally, it means that by the time the mean reversion exercise, with cost-cutting and what not is complete, Spanish unemployment will be well north of 30%, and 2 out of 3 people aged between 16 and 25 will be out of a job, if ot more. It also begs the question just what the real unemployment picture in the US, which lately has put the Chinese Department of Truth to shame, would be if reported on a realistic, unadjusted, and not "workforce contracted" basis. The chart below shows you everything you need to know.
- Comments: 203
- Reads: 17,886
Jamie Dimon Says JPM Could Lose Up To $5 Billion From PIIGS ExposureSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/14/2012 - 12:44
In an interview with Italian newspaper Milan Finanza on Saturday, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that he could lose up to $5 billion from the firm's exposure to the PIIGS countries. As Reuters reports, "Dimon said the bank was exposed to the five countries (PIIGS) to the tune of around $15 billion. "We fear we could lose up to $5 billion ... We hope the worst won't happen, but even if it did happen, I wouldn't be pulling my hair out," he said. Dimon said Europe was the worst problem for the banking sector. "But the EU and euro are solid even if the states will have to be financially responsible and do all they can to develop common social policies," he said." While it is admirable of JPMorgan to disclose some of its dirty laundry, as this was a topic that received hardly any mention in the firm's prepared quarterly release, and is predicated surely by the fact that its Basel III Tier 1 Common of $122 billion dwarfs this possible impairment, there are some questions left open. Such as what happens if and when Greek CDS, now most likely before March 20, were triggered? And the logical follow up - what happens when Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy, and who knows who else (Hungary?) follow suit and decide that a coercive restructuring is actually not suicidal, even though it most certainly is once a given threshold is reached. In other words, how long can Europe tolerate the same two-tiered sovereign debt market that S&P warned about so explicitly yesterday? Finally what happens to JPM's Tier 1 Common when the European dominos impact not only the directly exposed PIIGS nations, and specifically their bonds, but all those other banks, insurance and reinsurance companies, whose current viability makes up the balance of JPM's remaining $117 billion in Tier 1? Because in its essence, stating that JPM is "fine" even if Europe were to collapse is analogous to Goldman telling Congress it would collect on its AIG CDS if and when the CDS market were to implode absent the government bailout of AIG, which itself was accountable for over $2 trillion of the entire CDS market itself.
- Comments: 133
- Reads: 10,816
The Real Dark Horse - S&P's Mass Downgrade FAQ May Have Just Hobbled The European Sovereign Debt MarketSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 19:55
All your questions about the historic European downgrade should be answered after reading the following FAQ. Or so S&P believes. Ironically, it does an admirable job, because the following presentation successfully manages to negate years of endless lies and propaganda by Europe's incompetent and corrupt klepocrarts, and lays out the true terrifying perspective currently splayed out before the eurozone better than most analyses we have seen to date. Namely that the failed experiment is coming to an end. And since the Eurozone's idiotic foundation was laid out by the same breed of central planning academic wizards who thought that Keynesianism was a great idea (and continue to determine the fate of the world out of their small corner office in the Marriner Eccles building), the imminent downfall of Europe will only precipitate the final unraveling of the shaman "economic" religion that has taken the world to the brink of utter financial collapse and, gradually, world war.
- Comments: 473
- Reads: 39,675
Faber's Latest Rant On Global Monetization WarsSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 18:54
There is a little for everyone in Marc Faber's latest appearance on CNBC. The infamous boomer (and doomer) believes (as we do) that today's downgrades are less significant for stocks (at least until the realization that banks and more importantly insurance companies are about to be cut as well - keep a close eye out on Allianz and Generali (of ASSGEN fame) - it is not incidental that they are abbreviated to A&G, just one letter away from our own AIG) as it is largely priced in but the equity market's rally of the last few weeks (with its lack of breadth and volume) is strongly suggestive of a bear-market rally (as opposed to the decoupling bull market that so many hope for). His view quite simply is that the ECB has undergone a backdoor monetization and without this the EUR would be significantly stronger especially given the huge short-interest (though he sees the trend for EUR is down). Some highlights include: EUR weakness may help exports but the debt servicing costs of major European firms with huge US denominated debt wil suffer greatly, most European nations should be CCC-rated, nominally European stocks will outperform and holding quality dividend paying companies is preferred, valuation is practically impossible given ZIRP, and finally noting the irony, the worse the global economy gets (and the Chinese economy suffers), the more money printing will occur lifting nominal equity prices while real economies stumble and standards of living drop, so hold gold.
- Comments: 147
- Reads: 22,402
Ratings Actions OutSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 18:16
Not sure why they felt the need to wait until 430 since most of it was leaked already. Germany back to stable outlook is good. Austria and France chance EFSF but guess that is what LTRO is for. Italy and Portugal would be in trouble in the real world but so long as ECB views them as money good the countries and banks can keep printing money (sorry use LTRO). Roughly in line with expectations. I think the need to redo the EFSF and ESM concept is an issue that will need to be digested. Is BBB+ for Italy and junk for Portugal enough to cause some collateral provisions to be triggered or force some sellers? I don't think it will in any meaningful way but needs to be watched. I'm surprised Belgium got by but then again it is a rating agency.
- Comments: 53
- Reads: 6,331
Stock Futures Close Almost Green Even As Protection Costs JumpSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 18:13
The post-European-close rally-monkey was in full force today, with somewhat average (though NYSE volume is 30% lower than last January's average!) volumes in stocks, as ES (the e-mini S&P 500 futures contract) made it almost back to unchanged in a post-cash-close squeeze (on notably lower than average trade size). However, close-to-close, the cost of protecting equity and credit (in options volatility, implied correlation, and CDS) all rose (underperformed) significantly. It seems everyone believes everything bad (event-wise) is priced in but perhaps they are missing the reality of mundane macro data and earnings.
- Comments: 11
- Reads: 5,504
It's Official: France Cut To AA+ From AAA By S&P, Outlook NegativeSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 17:37
Today's worst kept secret just hit the wires, as S&P announces that it has officially downgraded France
- "we believe that there is at least a one-in-three chance that we could lower the rating further in 2012 or 2013"
- "we believe that a reform process based on a pillar of fiscal austerity alone risks becoming self-defeating,"
One notch, but the negative outlook means a future downgrade is likely.
- Comments: 98
- Reads: 9,481
Everyone Hates The Euro - EUR Shorts Hit New Record HighSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 16:52
Presented with little but incredulous comment as the net short-interest speculative commitment of traders in EUR futures breaks to yet another record with no squeeze in sight yet...
- Comments: 85
- Reads: 10,714
Guest Post: Habituating to ContractionSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2012 - 16:44
Americans have been conditioned for three generations to expect the Savior State to "do something" during downturns to "make it right." The idea that systemic problems are now beyond the reach of the Federal government does not compute; there must be something the government can do to "fix" everything. This notion that the Central State is effectively omniscient and all-powerful is central to the belief system of Americans now. The concept that the government cannot fix the problem, or that government central-planning has made the problem worse, is anathema to everyone conditioned to believe government intervention will "save the day." The basic reality is the Federal government has already pulled out all the stops in the past four years to "make the economy recover," and all its unprecedented actions have accomplished is to maintain the Status Quo via unsustainably gargantuan borrowing, spending and backstopping. If we scrape away the rhetoric and bogus statistics, at heart the current fantasy that the U.S. has "decoupled" from the global economy and will remain an island of "permanent prosperity" in a sea of recession boils down to this belief: the Federal government "won't let us stay in recession." In other words, it's within the power of the Central State to make good every loss, guarantee every debt, maintain the Empire, solve every geopolitical challenge and find technological or military solutions to potential energy shortages. All we need is the "will" to force the government to use its essentially unlimited power to "fix everything." A people conditioned to this expectation will have great difficulty accepting that their government has already done everything possible, and that these stupendous debt-based expenditures are simply not sustainable going forward. Some problems are not fixable by more government intervention; indeed, government intervention in the marketplace is like insulin: the system begins to lose sensitivity to Central State manipulation and intervention.
- Comments: 164
- Reads: 10,249

subset: commoncrawl


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In photos: Mandela's life in the spotlight
Below we've documented some of the moments where the world's most famous people, from politicians to sporting heroes to pop stars, met Nelson Mandela.
Financial firms are shelling out big cash for the mid-term Senate elections, but their favorite candidate is an unlikely one.
Democrats still have a chance to maintain the majority in the Senate, but they are going to need some good fortune.
Federal health officials revealed an $840 million program they hope will lead to better patient outcomes and reduced health-care costs.
A man from Maryland was stopped by Secret Service and dogs in the North Lawn after he jumped the fence of the White House.
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Cameroon troops kill 40 Boko Haram militants in far north: state radio
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon security forces killed some 40 Boko Haram militants in clashes in the country's far north, state radio said on Sunday, shortly after the release of two Italian priests and a Canadian nun suspected to have been held by the Islamist group.
A presidency source confirmed the clashes, which took place west of the town of Kousseri, in the region bordering Nigeria and Chad. Cameroon, which has been criticised by Nigeria for not doing enough to fight the Nigeria-based Boko Haram, deployed some 1,000 troops to the far north this week as it steps up the fight against the Islamist militants.
(Reporting by Tansa Musa; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Your title, subtitle and this very content is editable from Theme Option. Call to Action button and its destination link as well. Image on your right can be an image
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Orlando Magic caps season ticket sales at 13,000
In order to provide access to as many fans as possible, the Orlando Magic will cap season ticket sales for the upcoming season at 13,000. The National Basketball Association (NBA) team says fewer than 300 season tickets remain to reach the 13,000 threshold.
The Magic did not raise season ticket prices from last season and have sold more than 4,700 new season tickets for the coming season. Season ticket holders are given first priority on play-off tickets, while also reserving a spot in the new Amway Center, which will open for the 2010/11 season.
There are also four separate 11-game partial plans still available to choose from while ticket inventory lasts. Half-season and group opportunities also remain.
110th MLB World Series uses customized field irrigation technology
Orlando City breaks ground on new Downtown Stadium
Manchester City FC tops fan experience assessment
Almost 240m liters saved by MCG water recycling facility
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim installs largest PV array in Bundesliga
US sports fans are more likely to attend games and buy a beer if stadia go green, survey finds
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Tasked with securing the Test match status of Yorkshire County Cricket Club's Headingley Stadium, CEO Mark Arthur discusses the club's recently released £50m (US$84m) masterplan
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Everton FC's Goodison Park has modernised its video security system with the patented multifocal sensor system Panomera from Dallmeier
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Award-winning lighting designer Claudia Paz is passionate about light and finding ways to evoke emotion in those who experience her lighting projects
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The new Otkrytije Arena in Moscow – one of the World Championship 2018 stadia – will feature innovative stadium seats from Stechert
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Early Word on Lesnar Wrestling Again, Update on Flair's Daughter, Lita
by Staff - August 20, 2012
- Ric Flair's daughter Ashley has been doing some ring announcing in WWE developmental. As noted before, she is using the name Charlotte.
– Former WWE Women's Champion Lita was in attendance for SummerSlam. She posted a photo on Twitter from the WWE production area in the crowd.
– Word is that Brock Lesnar won't wrestle again until the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November. Lesnar still has plenty of dates left on his contract.
Partial source: PWInsider
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