all about this site

I started this site because, in the course of posting at several different sites, I felt that there were some underlying connections to the different issues I was posting about, and I wanted to explain those connections.

I don’t think those connections are accidental, because they represent underlying processes. The processes themselves are whole, but seem to be separate because of the way people have chosen to divide up their knowledge. Some key texts which discuss the need to bridge between different cultures of knowledge are C.P.Snow’s The Two Cultures* & E. O. Wilson’s Consilience.

The processes of interest to me are fundamental to our continued existence and are characteristized by dis-equilibria and instability. So they are really important and chaotic.

I am an Architect who has worked extensively on Pharmaceutical Research & Development and current GMP Production Facilities. Presently, I am concentrating on Healthcare and Laboratory projects.

The potential impacts of Sustainability on the American urban environment was the subject of my recent (2003) Masters Degree, published in the Journal Architecture and Urbanism Quarterly.

Particular interests are Cross-Disciplinary studies as they relate to intrinsically difficult planning and public policy questions. These interests connect to other interests in War, Urbanism, Economics, Public Health, and the Media Environment.

I see the development of a Sustainable Economy as the over-riding concern of our age, and this necessity enables us to reconnect ethics and aesthetics to create a new movement in Architecture and Planning that is meaningful, literate, numerate, and aesthetically vibrant. Architects and Planners must, however, branch out beyond their traditional roles, and seek out both new markets and (even more, importantly) new constituencies to assist them in carrying out this task. Business as usual will result in the continued marginalization of the Architectural and Planning professions, a marginalization that they will deserve if they fail reach out beyond their conventional roles.

Other interests include: Media Coverage of Public Health Emergencies, on which I have done extensive reading, back to the Cholera outbreaks of the mid-1800’s, as well as the Spanish Influenza outbreak, and up to and including the SARS outbreak and the currrent concern over Avian Flu.

I use only Free and Open Source Software, and am a particular fan of the SuSE distribution (on the x86_64 platform), although I also use Scientific Linux and several other distros from time to time, including Fedora, ASP Linux, KateOS, and Aurox.

Other interests are number theory, bicycling, and travel to Warsaw Poland, almost every year in the Summer, with my Family.

I presently reside in Saint Louis, Missouri, although I have lived in Detroit, New York City and Santa Barbara, California.

I intend to maintain this site as non-commercial, with no Google Adsense or other such nonsense, as long as WordPress continues to allow me to have free site.

* In particular, I believe C.P. Snow was misunderstood, because he really didn’t express himself very cleverly. But he did elaborate in the book Two Cultures and A Second Look, and if you’re going to read C.P.Snow, that’s the book to read.