My magnificent 10 page paper

Post-9/11 Changes in Architectural Design and Construction Regulations

New York City is probably the city most seen in the world as what one would call a “global city.” And by global I mean that it has extremely large impacts in the world. One thing cool about global cities is that in fact that they have a lot of people as well as tons of financial sectors, as Sassen says. Because of all this, they have large impacts on the world. One thing happened on September 11 that really scared me. It was when terrorists bombed the twin towers of the WTC (World Trade Center, hereafter referred to as WTC without the added explanation) and the buildings fell down in a rippling cloud of smoky ash that enveloped the shady skies of New York as horrified onlookers looked on with horror. This indeed had a large impact on the world since New York is so important, as Sassen says, since she said that we are all so interconnected and that transnational cities like New York are even more connected than some of the other big cities in the world. This is referred to as globalization. Because of their influence, I will observe some of the effects of 9/11 (September 11, 2001) in some of the other countries in the world and see how this big impact in New York has an impact that goes on to other nations. Most specifically, I will explore, examine, analyze, and investigate the ways in which architectural design has changed as a result of 9/11 and how those changes have spread to the world.
As Davis points out in his book about Los Angeles, the City of Quartz, cities have a lot of security as a component in their architecture. Will 9/11 increase such security? We will find out in the rest of this essay. I have this conjecture because of Hannerz’s theory of cultural dispersion. You see, when a very important place gets bombed and things/people change, the media and very mobile people such as the rich people and poor people from other places that go to the cities can change the culture of the place through a process called the “form-of-life” and “cultural marketplace.” And through something called “periphery-center-periphery” where certain artists go from other places to make art to exchange, and it can change the rest of the world! That is the power of globalization. We will use Hannerz’s theory to see if this dispersion is really as important as Hannerz and his followers think it is.
What I found out from my extensive research was that security became “…paramount…” (Carpenter) in the United States. In fact, George Bush enacted an extensive “with us or against us” policy that rippled down to the very bowels of New York. On a blog called Right Wing News, Billy Whittle, a right wing specialist, states, “As Giuliani discovered in New York, the way you drive murder rates WAY down is to enforce ALL the laws. Someone pees on a building, they go to jail. The law is either respected or it is not.” It is because the pee might poison the water supply. Let me explain. In Washington D.C. they have a hill where stoners smoke up which they closed down after 9/11 at night because they fear that stoner terrorists will poison the water supply. My friend was taking his other friend up the hill for the view when the police came and hassled them and put them on an FBI watch list. He looked Muslim. I thought this was pretty hardcore. Thus 9/11 is affecting the human architecture of the United States. It seemed that these policies extended to real architecture as well. For example, in the 9/11 case, the twin towers were either designed to fall when hit by a jet or stand strong when hit by a jet. Before 9/11, these regulations were not very clear. However, after 9/11, we see that New York adopted a very “with us or against us” policy on building design. In a study by the Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, P. Mendis found that recommendations were made to “consider robustness in building design,” and “the need for buildings to be strengthened,” when building new tall buildings. Those insightful comments made by the experts in the field tell us that buildings must be made with the 9/11 litmus test in mind. Every time we build a tall or important building, we must think, will this withstand a Boeing of any size? Or is this building not strong enough? This has been the effect that 9/11 has had on the architecture in the U.S. This might have caused increased security. This increased security might in turn also cause more alienation as in Davis’ Los Angeles, resulting in more of Sassen’s high-low split and segregation in cities.
So American perception of architecture has really changed. For example, in Terry Smith’s book “The Architecture of Aftermath,” he says that people used to see architectural icons as “spectacles,” but now people only see vulnerabilities. This means that architecture has become very fearful and that security will increase and have increased number of safety regulations. He called our economy the “image economy” and we created iconic architectural. After 9/11, however, Smith says that bunker architecture is appearing and more environmentally friendly buildings and conscious planning and construction is becoming the norm. Looking to Hannerz’s theory, then, world cities, as stated above, have large impacts on the world. So these new revelations in new York for new regulations, robustness, and strength may be spread to the world. However, we are not yet sure of this fact. Let us read below.
Does the world need to consider more “robustness” and “strength” in the their tall buildings or is it only the United States? Well, we will find out.
Let’s first look at Australia, a bastardized version of the United States. Australia is a very western country, is capitalist, and also quite modernized and is anti-communist. As such we would expect the American effects on New York construction policy also take effect in Australia. However, Mendis states that WTC recommendations and guidelines on abnormal load cases were not incorporated into their building standards even though they should (Mendis). This is a tragedy because, of course, events like 9/11 can happen at any time, anywhere. This takes me back to when I remember once when I didn’t want to wear a jacket outside when it was 0 degrees outside because I wasn’t cold. She said I was going to get sick but I said I wasn’t. Then she tells me that IF I do get sick it is 100%. Just like that. 9/11 is just like getting sick. If you do get hit, its 100% so you better put on that extra “jacket” on those buildings. Well, it seems like the word lost itself in the sea of globalization because Australia did not add those measures to new structures, especially to the especially tall “Eureka Tower” in Melbourne.
Melbourne? You ask. Of course such news would not reach the outback, Melbourne! It is too backwards, the periphery, and the state of current affairs has only allowed enough time, in Hannerz’s model, to travel from center to center, and not yet to periphery! But I must argue that Melbourne is indeed quite a connected global city. Just like the argument in Robinson’s “world of ordinary cities,” Melbourne is quite connected to the rest of the world. It has an industry, can make phone calls, and has a lot of resources and money. Even if it is in the Australian outback, it should have received news by NOW in this age of instantaneous message travel.
So why hasn’t Melbourne accepted such reasonable changes to their building manual? I think it is because they have very different views of the world block the enormous influence of big global cities such as New York. For example, while Americans believe that all Muslims in the world are out to get them, the people of Australia like Muslims much more and so they don’t feel like Muslims World will go and crash into their tall buildings. This is a tragedy because then the world will not get to improve designs to their buildings. In such cases I would argue that risk is a good factor for progress. If countries in the world have the same thinking then there might be less obstacles to globalization and increasing “strength” and “robustness” in buildings will become a priority. So it seems from the strong evidence above that I have concluded that New York does not have such a strong influence on the world, at least in regulations. Since Australia mirrors the rest of the world.
Well we have talked about real concrete architecture, but what about human architecture that I have referenced above? Well besides the United States where Muslims are obviously now discriminated against the rest of the world now discriminates against Muslims as well! This is terrible since we have learned since the times of slavery back in the 1970s that slavery, segregation, and Plessy v. Ferguson is not acceptable. Like in Britain they spot a terrorist Muslim (I’m not sure whether he really was a terrorist or not) on the subway and they shot him right away. Habeas corpus is suspended upon these Muslims because 9/11 has altered the world human architecture.
Even in China, where I’m from, human architecture such as human rights have deteriorated greatly. For example, before, China was an acrobatic powerhouse and built tall pyramids out of acrobats in circuses. However, now that they found terrorists in Tibet they have suspended such buildings out of concerns for the safety of their people. Because if a self-sacrificing “suicide bomber” was in one of these human pyramids it can cause the rest of the building to fall which would cause ripples in the economy as insurance companies and medical bills rise. This is called the effects of the Keynesian multiplier (Mankiw). Whatever happens to any one has a multiplied affect on the government depending on their marginal level of spending and consumption.
Just like Davis’ Los Angeles, cities have begun to create much more security in hopes that such security will help deter terrorists. Bums are the terrorists in Los Angeles, evidently.
So it seems that while many of the other social policies and regulations that were fortuitously enacted in the United States were not exported to that of other countries, it seems that the human regulations have changed – there has been much more increased security for people in the following years than there has for buildings, because people can cause more trouble for the FBI than large tall buildings such as the WTC can. This was a smart move. This again falls upon Hannerz’s model of cultural exchange. It seems that building regulations tend to have more resistance to the cultural flow because they are not really part of either of Hannerz’s models in which cultures can change, the spectacle or the cultural marketplace. Instead regulations are made by each country separately by the elite who are not really connected with the rest of the people (even in the United States! But that is definitely for another paper since I can easily write a book or ten on that subject, maybe). Since they are above and beyond the people, where cultural exchange takes place, therefore they do not change the landscape of each and every country and their regulations don’t flow. One country’s problem in construction is not another country’s problem in construction. Maybe in Nepal they don’t have large Boeing 737s so they do not need the same regulations! Have you thought of that? They may only have to deal with people since they might not have cars either. So because every single country has people, therefore all countries have changed the human landscape as caused by 9/11, which increased security.
This increased security might have a lot of bad effects. Because America identified what a “terrorist” was and showed the world, finally the world knew what the guerrilla forces were to be called and that was what they called them. Suddenly the governments can not respect human rights following in the United States’ footsteps. For example, as the United States is busy stopping terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and is getting ready for the new terrorists in Palestine, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries that just so happen to have a lot of oil, Russia is busy stopping terrorists in Chechnya and China is busy stopping terrorists in Tibet. There are also lots of terrorists in Africa and South America that needs to be stopped so America has its work cut out for them in the war on terror.
In conclusion, I must say that 9/11 had some big effects on the rest of the world and some not so big effects on the rest of the world. This is because some things tend to stay within the nation and other things tend to get exported to other nations. The main reason is that some values change with people and some change with the elite who are not exactly the “people.” In the above essay I argued that real concrete buildings and regulations did not change in the rest of the world but just in America because those regulations are decided by the elite, and that problems in the United States may not be the same problems in other countries. However, because all countries have people, problems in human buildings (such as people) affect all countries in the world and therefore changes in all countries of the world. So in some respects, countries are affected by things that happen in the United States and in some ways countries are not affected by things in the United States. Americans shouldn’t be arrogant.

More youtube distractions!

Rihanna - Umbrella (Freemasons Heartache Remix): far too many guys, but I like how it pays homage to both the genius of Around the World and Madonna (Don't Tell Me) at the same time. The geeks among us are guaranteed to enjoy this alternative video

Studio B- I See Girls (Freemasons edit): this video is the story of my life

Owner of a Lonely Heart (Klonhertz remix): smart kids, fun for the whole family

Mason vs. Princess Superstar - Perfect Exceeder: audiovisual crack

Camille Jones Vs Fedde Le Grand - The Creeps

Alizee - [garbled french shit]: warning to all guys with a thing for cute, self-described Mediterranean Lolita's: stay away. Aparently, the World of Warcraft designers based the female night elf celebration dance based on this "supple" (Dusty's word) little number. My favorite part is when she says "kiss, kiss" in a adorable French accent.

I am the Walrus

Thought for the Day

"Is there a maximum number of lyrics for a song to be considered trance?" -Bollo

Discuss.

The Origins of 'So Much Autism'

The Harvard Lampoon is not a particularly funny publication, but it has it's moments of brilliance, despite a strange fondness for feces. In particularly, the following episode wriggles it's way into you brain and lays there, furtively, with the patient opportunism of post-teen acne. Then, in the space between thoughts, or any time someone says "so much", it erupts into your mind with the force of a religious commandment. As you sit on the public toilet, or try to sleep in math class, or converse about autism, you spew forth a random chuckle that convinces the people around you that you are, indeed, as unstable as you look:

America's Next Top Model

Tyra Banks: Two beautiful, beautiful girls stand in front of me. But I only have one picture in my hands. And that picture represents the girl who will continue in the running to become America's Next Top Model.

We have Emily, the girl who doesn't take good pictures and is awkward in person, but has so much heart and so much autism. So Much
And then there's Ashley, the girl with near-professional modeling skills but little-to-no-autism.
[pulls out picture of girl]
Emily, you are still in the running towards becoming America's Next Top Model.

Ashley: [uncontrollably crying]

Emily: [continues to stack blocks in the corner]

CRS. Harvard Lampoon, Dec 2007

And that is the story of how the zebra got it's stripes, and this blog got it's name.

However, as our readership has grown, we've come to appreciate that others might see this blog title as insensitive, and we have slowly come around to the light (no, not that light. Jesus still hates us.) However, no longer does this merely refer to the particular character of Dusty, Bollo, and me, which can only politely be called 'mildly autistic'-- it is also an indictment of a flawed society in which thousands upon thousands of children must by falsely diagnosed with a serious physiological disorder in order to receive the assistence from the public school system that these learning-disabled children need. It is an bitter call to arms for a gangrenous society in which there need by so much autism.

I'm only half joking.
Okay, three-quarters. But one ventricle of my heart still bleeds like an inbred, autistic British prince with hemophilia.

-FT

Best Trashy Music Videos

The So Much Autism Aesthetic

We here at So Much Autism love gratuitously-trashy women in varying degrees of undress, particularly when those women act out cliched fantasies by gyrating their hips to eurotrash-electropop. We each have slightly different styles: Dusty demands techno and girls that match his particular, selective criteria (cute, attractive, well-dressed or un-dressed, look as if they are STD free). Bollo likes humor, hotties, Portman, and primates-- anything relating to Mali or Andrew Jackson is merely a bonus. And where Bollo prefers restrained kitsch, I (FT) lean toward borderline camp. Gay-aesthetic, Kylie Minogue camp, but with a premium on deft camera-work and shamelessly suggestive women performing synchronized movements to a bangin' back beat. In the interest of cohesion, we've limited this post to videos which fit that description. But enough introduction-- we'll let these eloquent videos speak for us:

Warning: explicit, misogynistic content. Videos marked with a (*) are particularly gratuitous.

Class B
Ernesto vs. Bastian- Dark Side of the Moon
Michael Gray- Borderline*
Fredde le Grand- Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
Benni Benassi- Who's Your Daddy*

Class A
Boogie Pimps- Somebody to Love
Howard and Old Gregg- Love Games
Snoop Dogg- Sensual Seduction

Class Disco Superfly
5. Kalwi and Remi- Explosion*
4. Alex Gaudino- Destination Calabria
3. Eric Prydz- Call on Me*
2. Michael Gray- The Weekend
1. Benni Benassi- Satisfaction*

FT's honorary mentions (for videos outside the stated criteria)
Daft Punk- Around the World
Basement Jaxx- Take me Back to Your House
Murray Head- One Night in Bangkok
Michael Jackson- Thriller
Incubus- Megalomaniac
Gorillaz- D.A.R.E
Muse- Time is Running Out

Watch!