Sell photos on photrade | By dcpatton

Brookside Gardens is located at 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD 20902. It is a Montgomery County Park and is not well known within the the Washington, DC area. It is comprised of 50 acres within the Wheaton Regional Park. The Gardens offer a fascinating collection of flora and even some interesting fauna.

Sell photos on photrade | By dcpatton

While most of Wheaton Regional Park is crowded on a nice day, Brookeside Gardens tends to be slightly less congested and some areas are downright tranquil.

Brookside Gardens’ mission, as a public garden, is to foster appreciation for the art of gardening and the science of horticulture through plant collections and displays, learning opportunities and special events.

Brookside Gardens is Montgomery County’s incomparable, award-winning 50-acre public display garden situated within Wheaton Regional Park. Included in the gardens are several distinct areas; azalea garden, rose garden, children’s garden, formal garden, fragrance garden, Japanese style garden and trial garden. The garden also features two conservatories for year-round enjoyment. A horticultural reference library is located in the airy Visitors Center. Admission is free.

The key to such changes will be long-term high prices. I am thinking on the order of 5-10 years. If this occurs I think we might see the following:

1. The radius of our cities will begin to decrease. Long commutes will become a thing of the past as people strive to live closer to offices, retail, schools, parks, and entertainment. The walkability of a neighborhood will become extremely important. Thus living in the city and not in outlying areas will become much more desirable.
2. It is possible we will see an increase in the size of city/town populations as they become more dense. In a few cases, living in a rural area will become more expensive than living in the city. This will almost be a complete reversal from the current situation. And will only occur if housing is plentiful in the city.
3. Any restrictions on the density within city limits will need to be seriously rethought. Places such as Washington, DC where building heights are restricted, will need to consider pros and cons of such restrictions in light of the new reality of their residents need for walkable access to amenities. Good planning will be extremely important for maintaining a quality of life. Mixing the need for density with environmental green spaces will be key.
4. Naturally citizens will still want to travel. And clearly they can’t get everywhere with their feet or bikes. So good public transit with the cities will be crucial and intercity rail service will also be highly favored.

So, what has lead me to these ideas. Well, my main basis for it was to look at areas where there have been very high gasoline prices for years such as Europe and Asia. Agreed that some of those cities formed long before we even had cars, but not all of them and the new ones follow the same pattern.

How high do you think the price of gasoline needs to be before any of the above will occur?

With the increase in the price of gasoline, I have observed some changes in commuter behavior and trends. FYI, I commute in the suburbs of a very crowed metro area.

The positive changes include:

1. Smaller cars on the road make for a better driving experience. I don’t drive an SUV so when one is in front of me I usually have to increase my following distance due to the decreased visibility. I suspect that when more people drive the same type of vehicles there is better traffic flow. Anybody know of such studies?
2. Increased use of public transportation. I read about record ridership daily and can see the difference in traffic patterns as people leave the roads to park and board the trains. This helps the environment and puts more pressure on politicians to support public transportation
3. Increased pedestrian and bike traffic. I see so many people using human powered modes of transportation now. Much more than I ever have. This benefits the environment, makes the demand for walkable cities much higher (which I think is very good) and increases the health of the citizens.

Negative changes:

1. Public transportation infrustructure breakdowns. This includes the capacity of the transportation systems (trains, buses, rail lines) and also the access facilities (parking, platforms, etc.) If rider’s experiences become too negative they may revert to their previous commuting behavior which would be a lost opportunity.
2. Gas Taxes. The revenue from Gas Taxes pays for a lot of public transportation and other budget items. If it is a set amount, then the revenue may decline as less gas is purchased. Of course there may be some less road maintenance costs if less people drive, but I am not sure which is the biggest factor. If anyone can lend some real world numbers to this please comment below.

Sell photos on photrade | By dcpatton

Note: I realize this is a basic post, but I am amazed at how oblivious people are to the impact of their own behavior. I expect most of my readers are not oblivious, so I am not speaking about you.

The other day I was driving after a major thunderstorm had passed through the area. As is fairly common in the section of the city I was in, electricity had been taken out by the storm. Thus the traffic lights were not functioning and were completely dark. I had to negotiate my way through some major intersections. It was a stressful and life threatening ordeal. There was no need for it to be such. Drivers were just aggressively blowing through the intersections in their multi-ton death mobiles. Guess what, when you T-Bone another vehicle, you don’t get a chance to try again and make a better decision. Instead you get to live with the consequences for the rest of your life and the person you hit might not even get to live at all.

Anyway, in my city the law states that the intersection should be treat as a 4-way stop. It is crucial that everybody treat it the same way. Drive safely and I sincerely hope everyone you encounter is doing the same.

Here is a list of some of my favorite tracks:

• Steppin Out
• Everything (Kaskade’s Big Room Mix)
• Be Still
• 4 AM(Adam K & Soha Mix)
• It’s You, It’s Me
• Stars Align
• Sorry (Dirty South Mix)
• SupaStar (Kaskade Remix)
• Move For Me

It is available on ITunes or at the link below where you can hear the full tracks. Normally I never recommend buying every track on a release, but this is the exception. I recommend every track on both CDs.

Listen Here

Using such techniques, smells of desperation to me. I think flying the flag of patriotism is convenient for covering up for the fact that whoever is making these decisions doesn’t view the prisoners in the same manner that we would like our enemies to view our soldiers or citizens in captivity.

UPDATE Interesting article from Christopher Hitchens, a one time proponent of waterboarding, Believe Me, It’s Torture.

Does anyone else have an opinion on the quality of their offerings? Are their nutritional boosts legitimate?

So basically they are exact opposites. In the UK, it is “done by the smallest of margins”, in the US, it is “not done by the smallest of margins”.

I tried to look for some comparison of this online, but came up empty. Now you just need to figure out the meaning of my title to this post.

• Deadmau5

• Adam K. and Soha

• Delta Goodrem -

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