“IPcalypse soon.” In less than a year, the Internet will run out of IP addresses. Not to worry, though. A new IP scheme is being implemented which will make room for a mind-boggling 50 thousand trillion trillion addresses per human being currently alive.

Sullivan famously said, “form follows function.” Mies famously said, “less is more.” Are these two ways of saying the same thing? I think not. Sullivan also said, “The building’s identity resides in its ornament.” His great buildings, his early skyscrapers, were vast and strong, but they had ornate entrances, stunning lobbies, cornices, canopies, deceptions, elaborate decorations, breaks in the monotony of the facade. Most of Mies’ work was as sparing as it could possibly be: Rigid rectangles broken into smaller rectangles as if drawn with a straight edge pressed to the page. Look at IBM Plaza in Chicago and you will see a building with no ornament at all. The man behind a Sullivan building seems humane and humorous, a bringer of gifts to the observer. The man behind a Mies building seems more like a machine and a miser, never relinquishing a single detail not absolutely necessary. Sullivan allows whimsy. Mies slaps its hand with a ruler.

Be sure also to follow the links in pictures or check them out here. Glorious stuff, really.

And since we’re thinking about architecture and its ability to reflect community values, you really should also read John Ruskin’s On the Nature of Gothic Architecture.

But not only were the above shortcuts approved by the federal government’s Minerals Management Service, there have been clear failures by the government to respond to the spill. RightChange.com has produced a timeline video of the events which followed the spill. While this video is as biased as anything MoveOn.org ever put out, and I don’t believe it is either necessary or helpful for the President to halt all his non-critical activities while a crisis is ongoing in some part of the country, the Obama administration’s response to the spill has been deeply flawed:

Oil Spill Timeline from RightChange on Vimeo.

It is simply incomprehensible that the federal government refused help from 13 nations, due to a refusal to waive the Jones Act, particularly with a President who has placed so much emphasis on international cooperation. And even domestic efforts to minimize environmental damage from the spill have been stymied by regulations and red tape. Louisiana was not allowed to build sand berms to protect marshes, oil skimmers were taken out of service due to permit issues, among other bureaucratic problems.

In short, the spill was not the federal government’s fault, and it should be BP’s responsibility to pay for the damage and cleanup. But the federal bureaucracy has made the effects of the spill much worse, and Obama has not shown himself any better at crisis management than the predecessor he slammed during his election campaign.

Free ice cream! Er, I mean frozen custard. Woot!

And what’s the worst part?

Having to listen to smart-ass business owners whine about taxes. I mean really, who do these people think they are?

Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks and a Writer’s Life by Kathleen Norris I picked up this book on a whim (I pick up many books on a whim, but very view end up here) and struck gold. Acedia – defined as “a state of listlessness” – was a favorite topic in the writing of early Christian monastics; Today we’ve lumped acedia in with depression, though Norris takes issue with this casual dismissal and thus, her book – a superbly written, nuanced treatment of the relationship between clinical depression, faith, and family. I’ve already lined up two of Norris’ earlier works in my ‘to read’ queue, so impressed was I by her writing style and insight.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova I, like many others, have been anxiously awaiting Elizabeth Kostova’s sophomore work ever since her stunning debut The Historian, a riveting and finely crafted homage to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, five years ago. Though The Swan Theives lacks the overarching sense of impending doom and descent into vampirism that propelled the narrative in The Historian, it is nonetheless a wonderful story, well written. Still, I can’t help but feel a bit of a let down going from Vlad the Impaler to Impressionist painting. My advice: If you haven’t read The Historian yet, go do it now.

Our American King by David Martin A great calamity strikes America, and while the super rich take shelter on military bases and other fortified places, the masses are left to scavenge for food, medicine and other neccessities now in short supply. Enter a charasimatic leader who declares himself king and leads a rag-tag resistance to the super rich elites and their evil Canadian mercenaries. Yes, Canadian mercenaries. Well worth checking out from your local library.

Previsously:

Readers’ Advisory

When I tried to see this from an atheist perspective, at first I thought of a “National Day of No Prayer.” I would indeed be offended by that declaration, but it’s not an apt analogy because it doesn’t honor a thing, it disparages a thing. Then I thought of a “National Day of Rationality,” but of course virtually no one would be offended by that, because all people think they are rational in their beliefs. I think perhaps the reason that vocal atheists get offended so easily at seemingly benign declarations and celebrations is that their belief system is based on the denial of all other beliefs (or at least all belief in the supernatural). Whenever someone’s religious beliefs are being celebrated or honored, the atheist perceives that his belief is being implicitly denied.

My faith does not require the endorsement of a government proclamation and in an alternate United States where no such proclamations had ever been made, I wouldn’t lobby for any. However, I am opposed to the broad reading of the Establishment Clause promoted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and similar groups. So I’ll be hoping this decision is overturned on appeal. (But I won’t be praying for it…I have more important things to pray about.)

Soon the incredibly gifted founding members all went off to toil away at more traditional jobs, but on a whim a member uploaded some old videos from one of their concerts at IU. One of the songs, 12 Days of Christmas, exploded as an internet sensation. That exposure led to a record deal, and the rest is history.

With A Twist is SNC’s fourth album as a professional group, and boy is it good. Because their Christmas song brought them initial fame, their first three albums focused on Christmas music, and it seemed for a while that the group would be stuck in a holiday rut. Luckily this one breaks the mold and showcases the wonderful versatility of the guys.

I know several of SNC’s members personally, and I’ve been listening to them and attending their concerts for over a decade now. In my opinion this new album ranks among their very best. Get it while you can.