globalization, or what?

Cabo San Lucas, Bahia California Family vacation this week. Some of the concrete building reminds me of southern Europe – the rebar sticking up ready for the second storey when the owners have enough money. But what of the small neighborhood stores here that are the same as those I knew so well in Greece?…

making things makes people

Barry (Katz) is presenting the first lecture in his Design History class for the mechanical engineers (ME110). We are having a running conversation (some two years old now) about design – completely agreeing that things make people as he puts it here this morning. The more subtle point holds too – that this dissolves the…

the economy of the gift and the concept of the virtual

Phil writes This is an interesting concept – the virtual gift. [Link to slashdot] Digitus1337 writes “Wired has an article up about a new online service known as ‘FunHi.’ You sign up and join a community, and give your fellows gifts, but as Wired has reported, ‘these are not ordinary gifts. They’re purely digital: little…

archaeology of the contemporary past

The Newcastle Journal has run an article about the WWII remains I mentioned in connection with the landscape archaeology around Dunstanburgh Castle in the UK. The two concrete radar buildings still survive and there is clear evidence of where equipment was sited. The remains of the Nissen huts behind the radar station, which accommodated the…

Dunstanburgh, Northumberland

English Heritage, the government agency reponsible for managing the historic environment in the UK, has posted a web diary of a fascinating survey done last November of Dunstanburgh Castle in the north of England. [Link] This is one of my favorite places. I have been visiting, photographing, teaching and writing about it for as long…