Another Delco Guy In South Jersey

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Fantastic Four - I Love Philly!

So a couple weeks ago my Fantastic Four was on Philly things that I don't understand.  This week, I was driving though South Philly and realized as crazy as this town is some days, there is so much I love about it. Soooo ....

What do you Love about Philly?

1. The Italian Market - Seattle has Pike Place Market, New York has the Fulton Fish Market, DC has the Eastern Market, but none of them touches our own Italian Market.  Reeking of authenticity, this place has third-generation neighborhood shop-keepers alongside Amish purveyors and newcomers of all sorts.  The chaos makes this place worth a trip, even if you don't buy a thing.
2. The Restaurant Scene - With our own celebrity chefs, Kitchen Nightmares and Michelin Star drama and 13th St. Empires, we've got it all.  I like the diversity here.  You can get great cheesesteaks and hoagies, you can go ultra high end, you can hit a BYO, enjoy America's best beer scene or munch on tapas.  And then you can head out tomorrows night and do it again, because these ain't NYC prices.
3. City Hall - What's not to love about this place?  For years the tallest building in the city by gentleman's agreement, this is a COLOSSALbuilding.  We let protests camp at its base, watch Billy Penn pee when it rains, convince city councilmen not to jump from its heights and dress it up at playoff time.  Oh, and it's the center of government and a major city courthouse!
4. Manayunk - One of the first places I ever hung out in the city, it was where all the college kids came to town for fun before Old City was Old City.  I still like going back to the 'yunk after all these years.  I love the food, the beer, the bike race, the music, and yes, even the shopping.  Even when it floods, Manayunk comes back and makes everyone happy again next summer!

What do you love about the City of Brotherly love?

Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Fantastic Four

I love massive projects.  The Big Dig?  Incredible!  I can watch shows about it all day long.  Well.  Unless the show is about this.  I also think that big public works projects, when well-planned and not subject to political whim are generally good for society.  This country has a history of doing it BIG.  But recently, many of the world's massive projects are being done overseas.  Some of that is the NIMBY nature of folks here in the US.  Some of it has to do with ill-informed media naysayers.

I think what our economic crisis needs is some massive construction projects.  Thus, this week's Fantastic Four:

What four BIG projects would you like to see completed?

1. The American Commerce Center in Center City Philadelphia.
2. A Big Dig-style project that would bury I-95 though Philadelphia and re-connect the city with its river.
3. A network of off-shore wind turbines for clean, safe power
4. The soccer stadium in Chester

How about you?  What would you build?

Not A Bad Way To Live

A Florentine architect, David Fisher has proposed building a skyscraper where each of the rooms will have a perfect view.  The 68 floor tower to be constructed first in Dubai, and then in 12 other cities, features a concept Fisher calls "dynamic architecture," meaning that the shape of the building can change on a  moments' notice.  Each floor will be able to ROTATE independently, meaning that if you want a sunset view, you tell the voice controlled computer "sunset," and off you go.

Very "Jetsons," huh!?!

The building will include a hotel, helipad, penthouse pool and elevators to whisk you IN YOUR CAR right to your condo.  Amazing what money will buy, isn't it?  Prices will range form $4 million for a 1300 sq ft hovel to nearly $40 million!

Rounding out the list of features are wind turbines between the floors and roof-top photovoltaic arrays that will provide enough power to keep the building "off the grid," generating enough electricity for all the residents and then some.

Fisher plans to construct he floors of 12 separate pre-faricated units and assemble them opn site.  When the project is finished in Dubai, the assembly plant and the 90 or so assembly technicicans will move on to the next city getting a dynamic building.  Moscow, New York, and Tokyo are on the early short list.