i just picked up McDonough and Braungart's book Cradle to Cradle and noticed in the back that chi-town is listed as one of their partners. This is McDonough's overview of the partnership. It's a little lacking on details, but as far as I know Chicago is the only city that has seriously considered Cradle to Cradle for city renovation.

also, the book is freaking awesome from a fetishist's perspective. it smells like no other book i have ever smelled and it is almost infinitely eraseable. i underlined a bunch of stuff on one page with a fine pen, took a wet washcloth, and successfully scrubbed off all the marks and underlinings without damage to either 'paper' or ink. pretty pretty cool...

I haven't watched this yet, but it's another video on cradle to cradle (i'm at a coffee shop checking email without headphones). On another note, re-reading certain parts of 'Security, Territory, Population', it's striking to see McDonough's concepts deploy a kind of governmentality, or rather, to see him take up the methods of problematization constitutive of governmentality and exact them through a concept of conduct.

A story about the first 'successful' prosecutor in the war on terror--and his recent indictment under the justice dept. Follow the relays of power and discover how the state is never the regime of consistency that it seems...

Why can't all journalism be this good?

Quoted: This American Life, presented by Chicago Public Radio, is an award-winning radio program as well as a television program on the Showtime network. Hosted by Ira Glass, we feature first-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny, and surprising. Regular contributors include David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, Dan Savage, John Hodgman, Jonathan Goldstein, and Chris Ware.

Two major financial melt-downs in one day. Did anyone listen to/read the NPR program on the credit crisis?

Quoted: It is the second-largest financial institution to fail in US history, regulators say.

Understanding urban and rural spaces on the basis of mixed use is pretty amazing.

Quoted: A US charity helps Detroit's poorest people turn vacant lots into blooming gardens, the BBC's Matt Wells finds.

the predictions coming true?

Quoted: Shares in US mortgage firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae open 44% lower amid concerns for their future.

Will re-dot...

Quoted: As the mortgage crisis unfolded, observers of all political stripes repeated a boilerplate line: the "affordability products" that have flooded the lending market in recent years--from subprime to interest-only loans--have done more good than bad by fueling a surge in black and Latino homeownership. But while minority homeownership may have grown in the short term, the long-term outlook promises quite the opposite, as southwest Atlanta painfully illustrates.

A link to a link.

From Crimeth.Inc:

Our favorite radio show, This American Life, recently did a hour show examining the current mortgage crisis— the straw that broke the camel’s back and triggered a global financial crisis, the end of which is nowhere in sight. As the U.S. stumbles forward deeper and deeper into a recession, it would behoove those of us who don’t understand what has happened to take a minute to learn about the economic process—which was truly not a major aberration from business as usual—behind the credit collapse that has many economists warning of a new economic depression.

As usual, TAL makes the dry subject matter absolutely fascinating and entertaining, interviewing victims and perpetrators at every level of the travesty, and as they say:

We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

Listen to the show here, for free, by clicking on the ‘Full Episode’ link. For those looking for more details, another radio favorite of ours, Fresh Air, has some more perspectives here, and here. And of course, Wikipedia comes through with 12,000 words on the subject.

poor kobayashi...

Quoted: He was trying to reclaim his title after a disappointing three-dog loss last year to Californian Joey Chestnut shattered his six-year winning streak. But it ...