Blog
Jan 11, 2006 - Military Architecture
Military Architecture
The shop where I build boats is on the grounds of the former Alameda Naval Air station. The Navy is gone, but the buildings are still all here. The base, now called Alameda Point is in a sort of limbo state, awaiting full transfer to the city of Alameda which will start tearing stuff down as soon as it gets the deed to the place.
I was never a big fan of Military architecture, but I do like the feel of Alameda point. For one thing, it is paved almost entirely in concrete, something that gives it a desert look. Furthermore, little maintenance has been done for the past ten years and everything looks kind of post-apocalyptic. Anyway, I like the sparseness and minimalness of the place.
Typical base architecture glowing in the weak light of a winter afternoon sun.
Airplane on a stick near the entrance to Alameda Point. I think that these things are silly, kind of like an enlarged version of the Revell kits that I put together as a kid. Still, this was an air base, so you have to have this kind of thing.
Jan 10, 2006 - The Future, a highly speculative view
Enjoy it while it lasts
Last week I raised the specter of peak oil, the idea that we are at all time high production of oil and that henceforth, oil production will decline and in a number of decades dwindle down to nothing. Of course, without oil, a lot of things that we now take for granted will no longer be available, like for instance plastic. Nowhere does this strike me more forcefully than when I walk past one of the local marinas and look out over a forest of masts at the foot of each of which is a shining white plastic boat. Never mind that considerable oil based energy goes into each car as well, it just doesn't look as obvious. Hard to miss the fact that these boats are made almost entirely out of petroleum. Anyway, I aim to occasionally bring up the "enjoy it while it lasts" theme, pointing out activities that without oil would surely cease.
Enjoy it while it lasts. Today's feature, plastic boats. In the not too distant future when we run out of oil, we will no longer be making plastic and these boats will become quaint anachronisms, much like wooden boats are today. Wooden boats might even make a comeback, assuming that we still have trees in the future.