Odds and Ends 1

A headline from the New York Times !

Off the Grid, Extremely Online – August 14, 2024 

Am I the only person that thinks this is an oxymoron? How can someone claim to be off the grid and still have a million YouTube followers? 

A sense of humour may be necessary 

if you read these word definitions:

Trump: Could be either a person of great excellence or someone who “trumps up” i.e. fabricates, invents stories, accusations. 

And then there is:

Trumpery: 1) noun: worthless finery, rubbish, nonsense;  2) adjective: showy but worthless, elusive, shallow

Both from the Concise Oxford Dictionary, Seventh Edition, Oxford Clarendon Press, 1982

Another oxymoron 

– vegetarian meat. How can it be both? And soon,  on the grocery store shelf near you – lab grown meat! 

Public washrooms…

have to be clean and bright – now if they can make you laugh as well, it’s a bonus.  Check out the pictures from the Maison Alcan in Montréal. 

Propmodo newsletter headline – August 21, 2024:

A Manhattan Office Tower Just Sold at a 97.5% Discount

Click on the link that goes to the New York Times original story – there are extenuating circumstances:

  • The building has negative net operating income after paying land rent to a pubilcly traded real estate company
  • Required renovation costs and required upgrades at $200/$300 psf over 900,000 square feet requires investment of between $180 and $270 million. 
  • And it isn’t particularly well located. 

So avoid headline panic. Read the source article. Get the detail. 

Can you keep up with all of the texting acronyms? 

There is mounting pressure to do so as they creep their way into everyday oral and written use. I mean, why say « in my opinion » when you can just say IMO? LOL! 

More fun than inspirational posters!

How did I land on this page?  Most of the advertised posters are are a bit too saccharine for me but these two are had me LMAO. 

Check out my new photo on my profile page. BTW – I should sign off before I get TL:DR texts. So, TTFN. Or maybe SYL. 

Odds and Ends 1

August 22, 2024

A headline from the New York Times ! Off the Grid, Extremely Online – August 14, 2024  Am I the only person that thinks this is an oxymoron? How can someone claim to be off the grid and still have a million YouTube followers?  A sense of humour may be necessary  if you read these […]

Optimism is for the Brave

August 1, 2024

I have only written the occasional article over the past twenty-four months – twenty-four months working with Anastasia Mourogova-Millin on innovative concepts designed to attract financing-at-scale to invest in  urban nature and bio-diversity. Recently we have re-defined our working relationship. I continue to believe in the ideas she is pioneering.  However, we are at different stages […]

Cities are in Crisis

March 7, 2024

Anastasia Mourogova Millin, March 5, 2024 Earth’s urban population will grow by 2.5 billion people over the next 30 years. Over the same time period, urban land expansion put at risk the survival of 855 different species and will threaten the homes of over 30,000 animal and plant species. Add in the impact of climate […]

The Co-working Concept, Issue 80

January 22, 2024

Co-working space came to mean the notorious We Work model. When I had been asked to opine on co-working I tried to steer the conversation away from the Adam Neumann / Softbank  flimflam growth model. Instead, I suggested that property owners look at usage and users. While I doubted We Work’s ability to survive I […]

The Affordable Housing Conundrum

October 3, 2023

Before I fall completely into the trap of opposition politics, I have decided to take a break from never-ending criticism and to start suggesting solutions to the affordable housing conundrum. Do I have a plan? No, more a collection of ideas To start with, I think there are three key issues: Home ownership is not […]

We Should Know Better

August 26, 2023

I know! I am going to sound like a grumpy old man. Maybe that is because I am. I have been scratching my head in wonderment at the Taylor Swift phenomena. Is she an Incredible song writer, composer, and performer? I really don’t know! A discussion for another time? But probably not. At my age […]