Mags

All the magazines came in the same day yesterday. Here's what i know so far:

The Economist: The housing bubble is about to burst. I've been saying this for awhile, but it's kind of weird when a main stream (even slightly conservative magazine) says so. The Economist kind of says the world is going to end, but here is what should happen from an urban development standpoint (it's not the first time this has happened): much like farmers, suburbanites (and city dwellers with large lots) will begin to reallize that the land thier property (or business) sits on is worth more then the property itself. They will either develop it further themselves or sell to developers who will rebuild at higher density. The urban and suburban infill will bring people back from the outer suburbs to the city and first ring suburbs, especially as property gets cheaper (both for companies and individuals) and gas prices continue to rise. It's terrifying for people who thought thier houses would be thier retirement fund, but it's actually a very natural part of city development.

Metropolis: Boing bulit a new "democratic" workspace. I'm not sure what that means yet, because I haven't read it. I think it has to do with glass curtain offices like the Daimler Chrysler headquarters in Berlin.

Foriegn Affairs: Avain flu is going to kill us all. No seriously. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, if the virus mutates to be transmited human to human, 18 million Americans would die and well over 1/3 would get sick (that's with only a 20% mortality rate, in actuallity, the death rate so far is over 50%). They also talked about the spanish flu outbreak of 1918-19. 6% of the US population died and the average life expectancy went from 55 in 1917 to 37 in 1918. Fricken A.

I haven't started reading National Geographic Traveler or Foriegn Policy yet. I wish they would spread out over the month a little more.