Blog Disclaimer

These words are from Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha: "Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish." Also from Siddhartha: "Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity."
Photos: both are Hudson River from Croton-on-Hudson

More TOD in the Heartland

Little Rock's River Rail trolley is not much more than a slow-moving tourist train but, even so, it has had a positive effect on the Arkansas capital and its neighbor, North Little Rock, as this article in Mass Transit magazine indicates. River Rail could serve as the nucleus of a real light rail system that would begin to get commuters out of their cars. Take a look at the system map of Portland's (OR) TriMet Light Rail system for a graphic look at what I'm talking about. For more on TOD (transit-oriented development), see my posts of August 28 and September 3, 2006.

Fact or Factoid of the Day

This is from yesterday's New York Times: "...according to the market research company ACNielsen, 65 percent of the wine consumed in Sweden now comes in boxes. (The figure for the United States is around 20 percent.)" I assume the percentages are by volume although I guess they could be percent of cash sales.

Don't Rock the Boat

I took these pictures on December 28, 2006, in Charleston, South Carolina. The top picture is a detail of the Shema from the sanctuary entrance of congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. The temple was built in 1840 (5600). The bottom photo is the graveyard of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charleston.
What jumps out at me from my twenty-first century vantage point is the absence of any mention of slavery in the histories of these liberal congregations. While understandable, we are still troubled by the acquiescence of those who may have known better. This says something about religious organizations – they are often happy to work on the margins, undertaking feel-good charitable projects but avoiding the big issues that would put members at odds with the mainstream community. The fellowship provided by the church or synagogue is more Rotarian than holy, it’s main purpose is to boost the place of the congregant, to make him or her fit in, not make waves.