Just a music school in China.

brazilliandanny · 20 days

The building is juxtaposed against the organic background. The steel girders and simple lines frame the building nicely while providing all the necessary load-bearing capabilities. From the inside, you are treated to a near-flawless view of the outdoors, tastefully framed by some minimal steel work. It is calming, serene, and very solid structurally.

The style is not for everyone of course, but, as a former architecture student, I greatly prefer this design aesthetically. We'll agree to disagree :)

mepper · 21 days

Third- you treat it as self-evident that the military should remain funded during a "period of war."

This is precisely where I stopped reading. Regardless of what your opinions on the military are, or if you think they are all monsters out killing innocent civilians (which is your prerogative), you STILL have to admit that letting our military run out of funding and supplies while they are in a war-zone is a terrible idea.

mepper · 21 days

Oh, is that how it works? For some crazy reason I was under the impression that congress could try again with basically the same law but take out all the seriously objectionable provisions. I guess your way makes more sense though, if the president doesn't sign a funding bill the thing that was supposed to get funding just completely dissolves into nothing and no one ever gets to try again.

The same congress that originally put that content in there in the first place? Yeah, that's also a great idea. Just like vetoing the entire defense spending bill to send a strong message to Republicans? Who... would refuse to change the bill and now you don't have defense spending and Fox News blames you for hating the troops.

Oh, well as long as the Government promises not to abuse the powers it gave itself, that's fine. Government never misuses provisions of the law to abuse people and broaden it's powers, and I'm sure all of Obama's successors will also be bound by his promise so we'll be safe forever.

Laws change, and that is a battle to fight somewhere other than the defense spending budget. Why do you fault Obama when the Republicans are the one who put the language straight into the ticking time-bomb called the NDAA? What should he do about that? Unless you are going to suddenly defend the line-item veto.

Cool story bro.

Hahaha, didn't think about that one, did you?

I'm going to assume you are just trolling

Rest assured, the feeling is mutual.

mepper · 21 days

Your complete lack of complex thinking about how the government works and functions is showing.

NDAA stands for the "National Defense Authorization Act" which is responsible for specifying the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense. If he didn't sign it, our military goes unfunded during a period of war. Great idea. Also, the final version of the bill removed the "serious violations of constitutional rights" and to top it off, Obama released a signing statement where he clearly outlined how he was going to interpret language that the Republicans inserted into the bill that he did not support.

Obama also ended the war in Iraq, and is in the advanced stages of setting Afghanistan up for the US's departure. You can't end a war overnight without serious planning.

The rest of your claims are legal grey areas, or unproven statements without more context.

brazilliandanny · 21 days

Nobody else is explaining this well, so here's my shot.

1) If you are spending that kind of money on a music school, 90% of it should go towards building each space around good acoustics and usable space, not just trying to fit everything into a hollow piano.

2) It's not a subtle suggestion of music, like Gehry's sweeping bandshells or the organic designs of some music halls; it is literally just a violin and a piano. It does not challenge the viewer to think about anything beyond the design, which IMO is the point of good design.

3) It does not belong in the environment that surrounds it. This sort of design would be great if it was in Vegas or a mega McDonalds in some suburb, but not in a wooded area. Here is an example of glass and steel architecture done correctly in a wooded area. Notice how one isn't overpowering the other?

So that's why I think it is tasteless.

foodisedible · 22 days

The Eye of Providence. People dog on American paper money sometimes for being boring or bland, but there are some crazy symbols and old historic references buried in the designs. Better than having the Queen on all your bills and coins in my opinion...

The reverse of the seal on the left features a barren landscape dominated by an unfinished pyramid of 13 steps, topped by the Eye of Providence within a triangle. At the base of the pyramid are engraved the Roman numerals MDCCLXXVI (1776), the date of American independence from Britain. At the top of the seal stands a Latin phrase, "ANNUIT COEPTIS," meaning "He (God) favors our undertaking." At the bottom of the seal is a semicircular banner proclaiming "NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM" meaning "New Order of the Ages," which is a reference to the new American era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-dollar_bill

Xenoo · 23 days

I'm actually studying in the UK this semester, and the classes in the UK revolve more around the final week than anything else, so you just have some huge projects at the end instead of a bunch of work throughout the semester. I'm not saying it's better or worse, just different. I think that I objectively prefer the American higher education system to Britain's though.

Xenoo · 23 days

As an IR and Econ major, I write a shit ton of papers as an undergrad. Mostly, each class will require a large final paper (4000+ word), and sometimes a few smaller (1500-2000 word) papers during the semester. You get pretty good at writing them though; I recently wrote a 2000 word paper that was due at noon at 9am the same day.. but I got a good night sleep beforehand. It only takes an hour to type, and an hour to research, so the rest is proofreading.

sirsam · 23 days

Millions? MILLIONS? The population of both of the cities combined was only 450,000. The death toll from Hiroshima was 66,000 and the death toll from Nagasaki was 39,000. Similar amounts died in the years following due to radiation, but nothing remotely close to "millions" of people. Source.

davidreiss666 · 23 days

Hypothetical reasoning of course, but should it not be surprising that immigration slows down when a country's economy is depressed? Most of the jobs that Mexican workers held were in the industrial and agricultural sector. Grain agriculture has become a much less labor-intensive activity even in the last few decades, and only some fruits need to be handpicked anymore. Industry has gone overseas in the last generation, so there are not many unskilled factory jobs left. Combine all that with the fact that the first wave of Mexican immigrants are establishing roots and having children and you see that there are still lots of young Mexican men in the US competing for fewer jobs.

It's a game of economics, and the labor market in the US is saturated. The racist immigration policies of states like Arizona do not help either, but the larger picture is likely based more on labor demands than racism.

davidreiss666 · 23 days

Yeah, I'm also sure you were there and saw it happen. Fuck off.

sirsam · 23 days

Dresden was the only one out of those three cities that could be considered a war crime.. solely because it was selected due to its civilian population and cultural capital. It was also a revenge bombing, made to send a strong message to the Nazis.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were tactical targets that were industrial cities. The atomic bombs just did the work much faster, and of course displayed to the world that the US meant business. The Japanese army was fanatical and had resorted to suicide bombings and scorched-earth campaigns during the Pacific battle. Invading the mainland would have been one of the bloodiest battles in human history, especially since the Japanese had nowhere left to go and many would have fought to the death. Frankly, a completely unearthly weapon like an atomic bomb was about the only thing that could've stopped them; the US had bombed Tokyo conventionally and it didn't stop the war.

sirsam · 23 days

Judgement at Nuremberg is a very good film to watch if you are interested in the argument of "just following orders" and the willful ignorance of some German citizens. Were they all guilty by association? Should we condemn the whole country? These are the type of questions that the film deals with in a fascinating way. Highly recommended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031/

politicaldan · 24 days

Thanks for being civil. I think we'll agree to disagree on this one though, mostly because I (perhaps naïvely) believe that the people out there collecting stories and writing reports have incentives to report the news in a professional manner. The other reason is because I do not see any good alternatives to these media outlets that I would trust for daily information. If you can't believe everything you see in the paper, then you definitely can't believe everything online. I guess the academic in me likes to see people write for places that have a reputation to uphold, instead of blogs that don't have to stand behind their name.

politicaldan · 24 days

I actually read a nice range of news. My usual rotation includes the New York Times, but it also includes the BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, The Atlantic, The Economist, Bloomberg and Reuters for wire news, The Financial Times for business (seriously, the FT is probably the best broadsheet out there), CNN for breaking news, Al Jazeera English for live news from the Middle East (I usually skip their opinion section, but their reporting is good) plus publications like Foreign Affairs and Janes Defense Weekly for strategic issues.

You can say that I get my news from established sources, yes. I prefer good journalism over internet sensationalism though, and professionals over bloggers. Just my taste though; you are entitled to your own opinions.

politicaldan · 24 days

1) Ron Paul hasn't won a primary (officially) yet.
2) His support comes from a small, active demographic, but not from the type of demographics that win elections
3) His problem is not that people haven't heard his message, but that most people do not agree with his message. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it has to be said.

The delegate count has him solidly in last place behind an adulterer and an insane social conservative... if he can't beat those two then why do you think he stands a chance against Romney? Much less Obama.

aspeenat · 24 days

Nah, the US is reviving it's manufacturing sector via a weaker dollar and policies aimed to boost the auto and heavy industry sector. Already, more industries are moving back to the US from overseas, or considering moving back, than ever before. Additionally, the financial sector has been forced to hold more cash than before, so they shouldn't face a similar meltdown like we saw in 2008, and other regulations on risky instruments have gone into place.

Finally, the American people are sitting on record high personal savings (at least as a percentage of their income) so the trend will allow higher consumption in the future when the economy starts heating up again.

The UK, on the other hand, has completely demolished it's industrial capacity and put all it's chips on The City to make financial wealth the chief source of revenue for the country. They shifted too far into the service economy sector, and now they are reaping what they sowed.

Ze_Carioca · 24 days

See this is the reason that I decided to apply to the most selective private schools possible and see which ones I got in, because they tended to be cheaper overall than state schools due to their generous endowments. I won't use myself as an example, but my friend pays about $9,000 per year to attend Harvard, housing included, due to financial need, while my other friends at state school pay anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 to attend state schools, housing included. The point is that for middle class families, going to a university that guarantees that it will meet your full need is a better deal. Don't look at the sticker price, look at what you would realistically with grants included.

DrHerp · 25 days

I got my drivers permit at 14... drove to school er'day. Gotta love Kansas!

plajjer · 25 days

Get your facts straight. Libya was a joint NATO operation headed by European powers, and the US did not get actively involved until France and Norway ran out of munitions.

Getmo was XO'd closed by Obama, but the Republicans in congress did not approve spending to close it.

You are hypothetically predicting we invade Syria and Iran.. hasn't happened yet. Wait until we cross that bridge to judge Obama please.

plajjer · 25 days

Obama ended the war in Iraq, and has set the timetable for withdrawing from Afghanistan by his second term. Hell, even Bush put most of those timetables in place. We don't need Ron Paul to end the wars, we are already doing that. Almost every budget that is released by either side takes credit for the savings that we will have thanks to pulling out of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Too bad a member of Ron Paul's party started all those wars, not Obama.

Honestly dude, your little country probably benefits quite a bit from the US's military umbrella. You don't have to be in NATO to reap the benefits of Uncle Sam defending Europe against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Since you didn't have to spend all your money on defense, you had enough to institute free education and universal healthcare. WHICH RON PAUL IS 100% AGAINST. That's right, if Ron Paul ran your country, healthcare would be privatized and college would be privatized and everything in between would be cut and privatized. This is why I don't think you actually know what that guy stands for.

plajjer · 25 days

Kinda funny considering Harding was perhaps our worst president, well, ever.

plajjer · 25 days

I am in utter awe that you believe Ron Paul is the only one that speaks remotely sane stuff. His policies would return us to the unregulated frontier days of robber barons and lead poisonings and absolute domination by the rich. He wants to remove the safety nets that keep many people above water, not to mention repeal any attempt to fix our healthcare system, all why shrinking our economy by refusing to raise taxes and slashing programs.

He is absolutely insane and I don't know why people support him. Obama isn't perfect, but he's taken our economy and turned it around so far. Do you really think that Ron Paul's economic team would be anything more than slash taxes and slash programs? Nope.

plajjer · 25 days

Because he's pocketing your donations. Look what happened after 2008.

plajjer · 25 days

Sooo... Marine Le Pen?

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