Monthly Archives: January 2009

Mapping people, money, and land through airports

Posted on January 30, 2009 by David Megginson

OurAirports lets members tag airports to create different kinds of maps. I’ve created two maps that show very vividly where the intersections of people, money, and land occur in the world. Welcome to the club … The first tag, top150, … Continue reading →

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Peak wood?

Posted on January 21, 2009 by David Megginson

No, this isn’t a porn title: here’s a claim that Roman civilization collapsed partly because Europe passed “peak wood”. Let’s leave aside the question of what Roman civilization means, and whether it collapsed in 44 BC, 391 AD, 395, 476, … Continue reading →

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The "Nanny State" argument

Posted on January 21, 2009 by David Megginson

In my home province, Ontario, it’s now illegal to smoke in a car with a child in it [story]. Another sign of a growing nanny state? No. A nanny state passes laws to protect people from themselves — “wear a … Continue reading →

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A glimpse at future traffic nightmares, and how we can cope

Posted on January 10, 2009 by David Megginson

As North American cities get bigger, and more people drive cars, how are we going to cope with the traffic? Will it be permanent gridlock? It’s gone out of style to bulldoze neighbourhoods to build new freeways, but even if … Continue reading →

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Black Monday for tech workers (??)

Posted on January 5, 2009 by David Megginson

I’m hearing rumours of small-scale layoffs from a few different places around Ottawa, mostly small-to-medium-sized companies. Just a single layoff affects dozens of people: the person who’s let go the person’s family the managers who have to do the firing … Continue reading →

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