The Atlantic Cities: “In Philadelphia, a Porch for an Entire City”

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The Atlantic Cities: Kaid Benfield: In Philadelphia, a Porch for an Entire City:

If you care about green cities, you have to like a lot of what’s happening in Philadelphia lately, from land use planning to watershed management to the greening of vacant and blighted lots and, now, the opening of a lively new public space that makes the city a better place to live, work and visit. In particular, last week I learned about The Porch at 30th Street Station, a very promising new plaza just outside the city’s iconic train station. The creation of University City District, an organization dedicated to revitalization and community improvement, The Porch opened last fall and has been hopping all summer with activity. It is at once ambitious and low-key.

I’m in this team!

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Jon Moore: It’s a Great Team When….

It’s a fantastic privilege to work with the team I do. We’re a cast of characters, everyone is a contributor, fighting for each others success. Leadership plays a role in that. Mission plays a role in that. And so does a belief in one another. I’m actually looking forward to going back to work after a vacation.

How rare is that?

Hidden City Philadelphia on the S.S. United States

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Hidden City Philadelphia, a blog you should be reading if you’re not, has a few recent posts on the S.S. United States including pictures and an interview with Steven Ujifusa who recently had a book published about the ship.

Hidden City Philadelphia: Meredith Broussard: In Love With A Ship And Its Architect

Hidden City Philadelphia: Matthew Christopher: The View Inside (And Out) The Dazzling Ship

Related:

Plan Philly: The SS United States: Until the first blows fall

Frontline: Fast Times at West Philly High

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Frontline documented a Philadelphia class that challenged multimillion dollar backed efforts to compete for an X prize for creating a next generation hybrid. It’s a great one hour documentary that is worth watching and being inspired by.

Related Links:

West Philly Hybrid X Team

Frontline: Fast Times at West Philly High: Can a group of inner-city high school students beat the odds and build the next great super-hybrid car? (transcript)

Frontline: What is Project-Based Learning?

The Sustainability Workshop

Open Source Projects and Poisonous People

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Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman, authors of the new O’Reilly book, “Team Geek: A Software Developer’s Guide to Working Well with Others”, had a great talk at Google I/O 2008 that is a must watch, Open Source Projects and Poisonous People:

There is great value in taking advice like this and turning it towards myself. By working to not be poisonous, I can encourage, lift up, empower and embolden. It’s a balancing act I’m working on and is reflected in Joe Campbell, a friend and co-worker, recent post “Gentle Strenth – Wizdom Applied”.

I’m looking forward to reading “Team Geek: A Software Developer’s Guide to Working Well with Others”.

(original post about the book is via Boing Boing)

Katherine Goldstein “fell in love with a computer nerd and ended up marrying a rock star”

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I loved reading Katherine Goldstein’s story at Salon about her marriage to Travis Morrison, and the surprise different world she became part of:

As a kid, I imagined many things for my life. Marrying a rock star was not one of them. I appreciate and enjoy music, but have no passionate or fanatical interest in it. I don’t know any obscure bands and can’t talk knowledgeably about any artist’s “catalog.” I don’t particularly like going to see live music that much—it’s too loud, and I get too tired….

I started dating Travis Morrison, a computer programmer who worked at my company in early 2010. We got to know each other through chatting at the lunch table. We were the only people in our small office who regularly brought in food from home. I had the vaguest recollection that I had heard from a colleague he had been in some kind of famous band, but I didn’t really know the details..

Make sure to read the rest of the story.