Gridded American Landscape

I would say that agricultural grids in America look pretty similar. I tried finding some better photos but they all look pretty similar - circular fields, sometimes bordering others and sometimes stand alone. I didn't know that a lot of fields were circular, but I guess that's where the term "crop circles" comes from. Even some interational grids look similar to the US.

Brazil

Kansas

Indiana

"Class" vs. "Money"

I think any house can exhibit both "class" and "money". Obviously class and money are subjective, but I think that it's easier to display money than it is class. I like houses that display class a lot more than money.

I think this house in Pittsburgh shows a lot of class. I'm really biased towards the neighborhood, Squirrel Hill, because I lived there for a bit. I love Spanish style homes, and it's not something you see in Pittsburgh a lot. 

It's an expensive house, listed at $985,000, so in a sense it does show money, but it's gorgeous inside and out. It's not overly showy and the landscaping is beautiful. 

I love the hardwood floors, muted colors of the walls and use of floor rugs. 

The house below shows "money", but I don't think that exudes "class". It's trying to be something that it isn't. It's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not London. Some would say it's classy, but I think it's over the top. Not a fan. 

Lion statues out front, ugly wallpaper, a baby grand piano and a lot of statues. It's just gaudy to me. This is in Squirrel Hill as well, and as I type this I realize that I ran by this place like four times a week for three years. Crazy. 

Delaware Park

Delaware Park is one of my favorite places in Buffalo. I live less than a half mile from Hoyt Lake and I run by it almost every day. I think that it was well designed and is very scenic. The art gallery in the background and the old psychiatric center down the road make it a very photogenic area. I can see traits of early suburbia in the design of the park. Hoyt Lake must have been a place to converse with like-minded people, and the second section closer to the zoo is more like the natural park that Meyer discusses in her writings - an open area surrounded by homes. 

Hoyt Lake 

Neighboring Buffalo Psychiatric Center

Forest Lawn Cemetery is my favorite place to run in the city. It’s very peaceful, and it’s massive. You get a sense of the city’s identity through the monuments of Sagoyewatha Red Jacket and burial sites of Buffalo’s first politicians and other notables.

Red Jacket Memorial

 I love the opening archways to the cemetery. They’re beautiful. I love the stone used and the massive gates that enclose what’s inside. I also love the scenery around the graves themselves. The cemetery is not overcrowded at all, there is a brook that runs through the property that is quite breathtaking in the summer and fall, where a lot of birds, particularly swans, settle for the season.

Forest Lawn Main Street entrance

My favorite thing about Rose Lawn Cemetery is the Sphinx Statue that marks a grave. It doesn't say when the man lived or died, so I have no idea how long it's been there. But I think that it's a beautiful monument and is probably the closest I'll get to ever seeing the Egytian Sphinx in my lifetime. 

Apple's iPhone Foxconn factory buildings

Apple's iPhone factories are located in Shenzhen, China and run by Foxconn. What’s mysterious about these buildings is that they have nets draped over the open drops to stop the workers from jumping to their deaths, after 11 died in under a year in 2011. Foxconn is the largest private employer in Mainland China, manufacturing mostly electronics.

The inside of the building looks like a standard electronics manufacturer: bright, long assembly lines on every side. It looks like something out of a science fiction movie – like the Matrix. The LED lights and the white lab coats of the workers set against the dark floor makes for a very depressing scene. It’s just too contrasting. There is an entire campus dedicated to the factories. There are shopping centers along a boulevard and living quarters for the workers, where eight employees share a dorm-style room about 15x30 feet. The factory itself is separated from the rest of the campus by concrete walls and chain link fences.

Nets on the outside of the buildings.

I don’t think these factories change by location. They’re pretty standard for electronic manufacturers, minus the suicide-preventing nets and what Westerners think of when you hear about a Chinese factory.