Cities: March 2008 Archives

The Low B---s--- Guide to St. Louis

Despite the crude name, J. Brad Hicks' 1997 description of St. Louis, its sights, culture, cuisine, and politics was fascinating reading. It was a site I bookmarked in my early websurfing days. No longer updated, but archived by the Wayback Machine.

ToddSeavey.com: The Violated and the Dead

On the destruction wrought by eminent domain: "The worst sort of property rights violations are the ones that destroy old, complex, organic social relationships, the way Robert Moses' demolition of New York neighborhoods did -- famously, nearly including [Greenwich] Village."

Who needs security when you have a robot? | ajc.com

The owner of O'Terrill's Irish Pub in downtown Atlanta has built a robot to shoo away vagrants and drug dealers loitering on his property and that of a nearby daycare center. The robot has a bright spotlight, a sound system tied to the owner's walkie-talkie, and a low-power water cannon. "Terrill says deploying the robot has helped keep crime in check, preventing car break-ins and drug deals and stopping vandals from trashing the day care center." Here's video of the "Bum-Bot" in action. (Via Engadget and Ace.)