Culture Connoisseur Badge Culture Connoisseurs consistently offer thought-provoking, timely comments on the arts, lifestyle and entertainment. More about badges | Request a badge Washingtologist Badge Washingtologists consistently post thought-provoking, timely comments on events, communities, and trends in the Washington area. More about badges | Request a badge Post Writer Badge This commenter is a Washington Post editor, reporter or producer. Post Contributor Badge This commenter is a Washington Post contributor. Post contributors aren’t staff, but may write articles or columns. In some cases, contributors are sources or experts quoted in a story. More about badges | Request a badge Post Recommended Washington Post reporters or editors recommend this comment or reader post. You must be logged in to report a comment. You must be logged ... Continue reading →
$2,300. It's a price you wouldn't be surprised to pay for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City. But to see those kind of prices in North Dakota? There must be something in the water. More like, under the water. Because of new drilling technologies, North Dakota has quickly become the second largest oil producing state in the country, passing Alaska earlier this month. And right in the heart of the oil boom sits Williston, North Dakota, in the center of the Bakken Shale Formation, a massive oil reserve. Because of the oil boom, the city has seen its average wages increase from $32,000 in 2006 to about $80,000 today; unemployment drop to around one percent; and monthly rent for a one bedroom skyrocket to ... Continue reading →
Who says a street lamp should just light our city streets? It certainly wasn’t Douglas Coupland. He’s designed the ultimate utility pole. The “V-Pole” (short for Vancouver Pole) would maximize public infrastructure by creating an all-in-one street light that would also provide neighborhood Wi-Fi and other infrastructure. At the top of the pole there’s an LED street light, and built into the pole there’s Wi-Fi, technology to wirelessly charge your electric car, and cell phone infrastructure. Plus, you can pay for parking and check a digital bulletin board. The National Post describes how the pole is a able to pack so much into a tiny space: The core of the V-Pole is lightRadio, a device developed jointly by Bell Labs and telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent that ... Continue reading →
It’s time to bust out your reusable bags Los Angeles. In a near-unanimous 13-1 vote by the city council, Los Angeles became the largest city in the United States to put a ban on plastic bags at grocery store checkout lines — though paper bags will still be available for 10-cents each. The ban will affect about 7,500 stores throughout the city. A reader poll from the Los Angeles Times shows that about 51 percent of readers support the measure and 10 percent support it as long as they have the option to pay for paper bags. Throughout the country, a handful of cities have already addressed the use of plastic bags through city policy. In 2007, San Francisco banned plastic bags in grocery stores ... Continue reading →
$2,300. It's a price you wouldn't be surprised to pay for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City. But to see those kind of prices in North Dakota? There must be something in the water. More like, under the water. Because of new drilling technologies, North Dakota has quickly become the second largest oil producing state in the country, passing Alaska earlier this month. And right in the heart of the oil boom sits Williston, North Dakota, in the center of the Bakken Shale Formation, a massive oil reserve. Because of the oil boom, the city has seen its average wages increase from $32,000 in 2006 to about $80,000 today; unemployment drop to around one percent; and monthly rent for a one bedroom skyrocket to ... Continue reading →
If you just look at this map, you might think hardly anyone lives in Philadelphia anymore. But, no, the fifth largest city in the United States hasn't emptied out in Detroit-like droves. It has taken a population hit, however, losing nearly 500,000 people since 1950, and it does have a vacant property problem. The city has about 10,000 vacant properties on its hands and about 30,000 privately-owned vacant properties. According to FixItPhilly, a development coalition between businesses, non-profits, and local government, all these vacant properties have cost homeowners an estimated $3.6 billion in property value reduction, or about an $8,000 reduction per home. And they're a burden on the taxpayer, costing $20 million each year to clean up waste, control pests, and provide fire and ... Continue reading →
There's no way this could ever go wrong: The Daily Caller plans to give away a gun a week until election day. The so-called Great Gun Giveaway doesn't, um, target any specific issue, but Daily Caller publisher and CEO Neil Patel made a general appeal to his readers' as red-blooded everypeople: "Like most Americans outside Washington, DC, New York City and most of our nation’s news rooms, large numbers of Daily Caller readers love guns," he said in the contest announcement. All this gun-friendliness sounds like a big ol' promotion for the site's Guns and Gear section as well as California-based gun manufacturer FMK, whose 9-mm pistol engraved with the second amendment will get shipped out to some 23 Americans before Nov. 6 -- or ... Continue reading →
