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Goodbye, and Goodriddence to 2009 and this awful decade

We started off the new millennium with lots of hopes. The whole “Year 2000″ thing sounded so exciting and futuristic, and we were all expecting great things to come. Instead, this decade has been an awful start that hopefully won’t set the stage for the next 90. While some areas had wild amounts of success and made our lives better (like all these fancy new cell phones), just about every part of our lives has suffered some kind of step backwards in the 2000s.

Here’s why I can’t wait for the month to end and will be welcoming 2010 with open arms.

The Music of the 00’s

It all started off with this and has just gone downhill.

Linkin Park: Pure awful on a disc

In 2000 the #1 album was “The Beatles: 1″, and by 2005 it was a 50 Cent album. That’s how fast things went downhill. The rest is history. Year after year we are treated to another piece of repetitive trash, a new Britney comeback album, or something else that just makes you dumber every time you hear it. It’s gotten so bad that we now consider a song who’se only lyrics are “Tonight’s gunna be a good night” to be perfectly acceptable. Excuse me while I go barf.

It’s ridiculous how much 90’s music I listen to now just because today’s “artists” have driven me in another direction so rapidly.

The music industry as a whole became something we all hated. Nothing like hearing record labels cry poor from piracy only to find out now that they use unauthorized recordings in compilations all the time.

Cars and The Auto Industry

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The Case for Open Education in Higher Learning

I was recently discussing the issue of the Oakland University strike with someone. While the pay and benefits are obviously big factors in collective bargaining agreements, something else came up. One of his talking points for supporting the strike, well, stuck me. He was the notion of intellectual property in the classrooms and who it actually belongs to: do the lessons belong to the professors or the University.

Well, he wasn’t the least bit pleased about the idea of putting lessons online for people to see. He didn’t think it fair that “some kid in Oklahoma” could view the lessons and “learn for free”. Realistically, if schools like Yale, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, etc. all do this and see no threat, than Oakland University has absolutely no argument and no reason to be threatened. Lets take a look at why.
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Detroit de Burgundy: The Worst flag ever discovered

For the longest time, I was convinced that the city of Detroit had the worst flag ever concieved by man. It’s an ugly mix of various parts of heritage centered around a city seal that leaves much to be desired. Due to the fact that the flag is so horrendous, most people haven’t known what it looks like. Very few places in the city have the balls to actually fly the thing, which I’m sure is a combination of shame and avoiding the question “what the hell is that flag out front”.

As you can see, the city desperately needs a new flag:

The Flag of the City of Detroit

The flag is divided up to represent French, British, and American rule over the city surrounding the city seal. There’s also some latin words, representing the mottos of the City of Detroit: “We hope for better things” and “It will rise from the ashes”. Despite the fact that the motto represents a fire from the 19th century, that motto has proven to become more and more true over time, sadly enough.

House of Burgundy Coat of Arms

As I said before, I was convinced that this was the worst flag ever concieved by man. It’s as though it was designed by committee, everyone had their own idea and nobody could decide, so all the ideas made it in. Putting the terrible city seal aside, it looks like an awful patchwork of scattered history. Nobody ever could be proud of this flag. However, history has proven me wrong: another flag exists that upon first glance one could assume that it was the inspiration for Detroit’s.

However, it does not.

It represents the flags of the territories of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. His flag was based on the family coat of arms, which we can assume was so absurdly elabourate as to distract the opponent in battle with an array of flying colors and as such, gain the upper hand. You can see it to the left. Tell me you can look at that and not be distracted?
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Got a problem with Ninjas? Then we’ve got the car for you!

Yesterday morning, I took my car in to get looked over. While the “Diagnostic Testing” was a little pricey, the upside was that they gave me a free rental car off the lot to have fun with while my 940 was under the microscope. I was pretty thrilled to be driving off the lot in a $40,000 swedish luxury sedan: The Volvo S80.

The S80 has an abundance of features that make it easy to fall in love with. And with the elegant dashboard, the blind spot warning system (aka, blinking lights), and the absurdity of putting 6×9 speakers in the front doors, it’s pretty hard not to.

As I was discovering more and more things about the car that were just common sense, I discovered an extra feature: The Personal Car Communicator (PCC).
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Michigan Central Station Status Updates

The following is being re-posted with permission of John Mohyi, the chap heading up the efforts at Michigan Central Station. I’m glad to report that great progress is being made, ideas are coming into the fold, and more people are getting involved.

Since our strategic grassroots restoration effort to save the Michigan Central Station (MCS) began on June 30th 2009 volunteers have eliminated nearly three dumpsters worth of debris, planted over 1,000 flowers, and inspired a sense of hope in the heart of Detroit.

I have been working closely with the station owners, students, residents, businesses, elected officials, organizations, and volunteers to secure the future of the station. Many individuals have come out of the woodwork and needless to say we could never have made it this far without them.

To me the Michigan Central Station is a symbol for the city of Detroit. At one point it was known for its greatness and then slowly it slipped away into the decrepit state that exists today. It seems as if the more debris we remove from the building, the more corrupt and incompetent politicians we remove from office in the city of Detroit. After we remove the debris is when the real work begins.

After this Friday, July 10th, the MCS project will move into its next phase. In addition to various skilled volunteers, Home Depot corporate has expressed interest in sponsoring our efforts by providing equipment and professional volunteers to help us achieve our objectives. Assuming everything goes according to plan it will not be very long until the station comes to life. For this part of the volunteer effort we will need volunteers who are 18 and older with a decent background in construction.

Once the building is safe and secure, we will need skilled artists to help with the aesthetics of the building. I envision the second main room with the metal roof as a giant mural. As you can imagine this will be an enormous project and the College of Creative Studies (CCS) will likely play a key role.
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Time to bid “adieu” to Tiger Stadium

I want to preface this with the fact that I am a member of the Detroit Historical society and have been for over a year now. I feel very strongly that historical preservation is a necessary part of our society in order to preserve our history and culture.

With that in mind, there are essentially two kinds of historical preservation:

Practical and Productive Preservation

This is where the idea of preserving a piece of history is put on the table so that the ailing artifact can once again come alive and become something that will make the world a better place. Also, the newly restored building will serve a function that is useful, and has some kind of real potential.

A great example is Michigan Central Station in Southwest Detroit. Often the structure is the first thing people see coming over the bridge from Canada and could be used for a wide array of things.

The newly-restored DoubleTree Fort-Shelby Hotel as well as the Westin Book Cadillac are prime examples of historical preservation that offer a great benefit. Both of these places were shells of past glory just a few years ago and are now gorgeous bright spots in the city.
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