How much do you walk?

The average person walks less than 6,000 steps per day which is less than 2 miles. Doctor's recommend at least 10,000 steps per day to maintain cardiovascular fitness.

It's hard in a sprawling car-friendly city like Calgary, but the benefits are clear:

• People in walk friendly neighborhoods weigh 7 pounds less on average
• They tend to be more active (and interactive) in their community
• They tend to support local businesses (because they walk to them)

Momentum works both ways. Right now, Calgary just keeps growing outwards endlessly, promoting rising infrastructure costs for roads, utilities, schools, police, transit etc. It all means that Calgary gets more expensive, and the further out you go, the more you have to drive, the more pollution you create - more more more.

Think about moving inwards - it creates higher population density, which promotes better use of infrastructure (roads, ulities, schools, police, transit, etc) and creates a stronger local economy with a thriving, lively center. There is a reason people want to move to Vancouver.

Check out www.walkscore.com for walking information and your city's walking score.

Science fiction poetry?

Log03/09/48
outside the climate suit
charles surveyed a bottled sunrise
broken over leaves and foundations

Log08/26/46
I would kill for milk
trapped in the isosceles
tail until next august

Log11/04/48
inject the apes with it
inject the apes with it
and leave before you see
and leave before you see
eyelids jerk and blaze
eyelids jrek and blaze
like this deflated land
like thiss defalted

PingMag - Design in the Way of Japan

Seth Godin, marketing (or arguably communications) genius extraordinaire highlighted this Japanese design magazine in a recent post.

As someone who loves all things Japanese, I highly recommend it. It's full of unique art and design stories both local to Japan (calligraphy, traditional woodmaking and...Japanse skate parks!) and international (miniminal techno record sleeve design and surreal Serbian photography).

For example, check out these cool undeground subway murals.

Jain Vain and the Dark Matter - Review

Love is Where the Smoke is

Where there’s smoke, there’s a great new record from Jane Vain and the Dark Matter. Imagine gypsy waltzes colliding with synthesized drums while confessional storytelling bounces off the walls of chamber pop and you only get a hint of where Jamie Fooks, Dillon Whitfield and friends are sailing. Channeling Chan Marshall, Jane Vain occupies a similar breathless space where the band feels like it’s either on the verge of rocking out or falling apart all together. With Fooks’ voice always one beat ahead of the music, there’s a relentless sense of doe-eyed desire funneling through songs like “I’m so afraid” and “we must destroy”, which is supported by rich instrumentation using violins, ukulele, banjo and ambient midi squiggles. Other than line-crossing maudlin of “these ghosts” which gets a little too Billy Joel in its bridge, Love is Where the Smoke is, is a great release from a talented local band.