Poststructuralist fiddling while the world burns: Exiting the self made crisis of “architectural culture”

We critique the current crisis for the environmental design professions: facing urgent ecological, social and economic imperatives, key leadership has become mired in the confusions of do nothing postmodernist artistic doctrine. The result is a self made state of paralysis, leaving the egregious mistakes of the past to be endlessly repeated, while it only matters that they are cloaked in ever more aesthetically extravagant artistic garb. We argue that this self excusing paralysis arises because, under a poststructuralist infatuation with ambiguity, multiplicity and constructed meaning, an effective shared framework to address the urgent challenges of the built environment becomes impossible. This paralysis is rewarded, however, because it serves narrow economic interests, which are happy to find rationalisations for projects that might otherwise be rejected as of inferior quality. We conclude with the hopeful observation that the ingredients of such a framework are indeed emerging from the biological sciences and other fields. However, to make use of them, we argue, professionals must learn to critique, and finally to dispense with, the misapplications of non productive forms of thinking, a number of which we specify herein. We hope this paper will serve as one small step on that important path

LIBEL AND SLANDER - SLANDER OF TITLE AS A PROTECTION AGAINST UNFAIR INTERFERENCE WITH SALE OF LITERARY WORK

In a slander of title action, the complaint alleged that defendant requested plaintiffs to write a motion picture scenario based on historical events, but after plaintiffs submitted the scenario, defendant rejected it. Thereafter defendant announced its intention, by filing a statement with a voluntary association of motion picture producers, to produce a picture based on the same plot as that contained in plaintiffs\u27 scenario. As a result, plaintiffs were unable to sell their scenario to any other producer. Held, that the complaint was insufficient in the absence of an allegation of special damages. Carrol v. Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., (D. C. N. Y. 1937) 20 F. Supp. 405

Modelling Methodologies: Opportunities and Limits

This chapter describes in detail the methodologies of modelling and their limits, as a preparation for exploring the specific model to be proposed and evaluated

Counting Urban Carbon: Baseline and Boundaries of Current Findings

This chapter describes the baseline of findings from current research and identifies relevant boundaries. Particular attention is given to the inherent complexity and uncertainty of urban systems. Nonetheless, consistent factors are identified for further refinement and incorporation into a decision support tool

MORTGAGES - FORECLOSURE SALE - POSSIBILITY OF SETTING ASIDE SALE BECAUSE OF PROBABLE HIGHER BID

A trust deed secured a loan of $85,000. The mortgage was foreclosed, the trustee authorized to bid at the sale, and an upset price of$12,500 fixed. A stranger made a higher bid than the trustee, and the property was sold to him for $40,100. The trustee now seeks a resale, offering evidence to show that the property could bring$50,000 to $60,000 if the trustee bought it, remodeled the building, and had time to find a suitable purchaser. There was no question of a deficiency decree. Held, that the lower court erred in refusing to confirm the original sale. A. J. Straus Paying Agency, Inc. v. Jensen, (Wis. 1938) 277 N. W. 105

Urban Form and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The research reported in this dissertation contains three complementary and overlapping parts: One, “findings”: It assesses the factors of urban morphology that contribute to increased rates of greenhouse gas emissions per capita, and the ways they interact. It finds a significant but underrepresented set of factors, distinct from but relating the factors at the individual building scale and the scale of regional transportation systems. Two, “strategies”: It assesses the methodologies by which such findings might be put to use in identifying and achieving reductions through changes in urban design, and proposes new strategies to do so using innovative forms of design decision support tools. Three, “design decision support tools”: It then proposes a specific new technology, namely a new class of open-source scenario-modelling tool, embodied in new prototype software. The tool utilizes a new kind of “federated” web-based wiki technology incorporating design pattern languages, which was developed in collaboration with the software engineer and wiki inventor Ward Cunningham. As part of this research, it has been necessary to examine fundamental methodological questions, and to account for limitations of current data as well as current significant gaps in research. In the process, this research has made a modest contribution to the state of knowledge about additional research needed. For me, this work has also highlighted the need for urgent and effective reforms to current “business as usual” practices. The need is all the more urgent given unprecedented rates of urbanisation – much of it sprawling and resource-inefficient – taking place in many parts of the world today

CONTRACTS - ILLEGALITY - RIGHT OF SURETY OF BANK OFFICER TO RECOVER EMBEZZLED BANK FUNDS LOST IN GAMBLING

A, president of B bank in South Dakota, embezzled funds which he used in trading in grain futures with D, a broker. Neither A nor D intended any actual delivery of the grain. P, surety for A, after having paid the bank for A\u27s defalcation, sued D to recover the money A lost. Held, P can recover. Burke Grain Co. v. St. Paul-Mercury Indemnity Co., (C. C. A. 8th, 1938) 94 F. (2d) 458