Monday, April 09, 2007

laurie baker, a good man, passes away

apr 8th, 2007

baker houses are simple, made of unplastered brick, airy, and quite beautiful. using local materials and traditional techniques, with sloping roofs, esthetically pleasing and remarkably efficient in terms of land use and cost.

i understand he prepared a complete master plan for the ecologically sustainable development of the town of alappuzha, including preserving and renovating the ancient canals and waterways, which would have turned them from stinking garbage heaps into pleasant watery boulevards for travelers and residents. of course, this plan didn't have much by way of graft for politicians, so it is gathering dust somewhere.

RIP, laurie baker. finally you were defeated by the communists and others who have vowed to destroy traditional culture.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4697622.html

2 comments:

habc said...

OT - Muslims stay a minority in UP

Mulayam’s opening campaign line: Vote for me or I go to jail

habc said...

sorry ot again - Pak backing Taliban to colonise Afghanistan, says Karzai

Karzai suggested that the Pakistani government wants the Afghan government to fail, so that it can use the Taliban to turn Afghanistan into a colony of Pakistan. "The point that we are trying to tell the world (is) that the Taliban was a name, that there was another power behind — a very criminally intended colonial thinking behind the Taliban movement."

These charges were so serious that at the end of the interview I double-checked with him. “I just want to make sure I understand what you’re saying,” I told him. “You’re basically saying that the Taliban was using these policies because it was part of a Pakistani colonial policy to break the will of Afghanistan. And that still is, in effect, what is going on with Pakistan’s policy.”

“Absolutely,” the president said. “Absolutely.”

—NICHOLAS D KRISTOF