The dialogues that go on about the field of architecture have a bad reputation. Critics say it's all self-referential, full of silly jargon, and often not useful when it comes to "real" design issues. An interesting article about the legacy of short-run architecture magazines from the 60s and 70s appeared in the NYTimes today, which makes some interesting observations about that dialog and the current state of things. Definitely worth checking out, especially for all of you who scratched your head when you thumbed through 306090.



But just as interesting were the web ads that appeared on the page. (What, you thought I could get through a post without mentioning that I'm still a foreigner? No way.) At first I thought they were those cheapy "Win $1000! Win an ipod!" ads. But they were even better:



Both ads took me here, which was shady, as I expected. What gets me is the way the offer is presented -- as if a green card is some kind of commodity, like new gutters or a lower mortgage rate, that you can win or shop around for. I wonder what "fees" you have to pay to enter the "lottery"? Hmmm. Off to check the WHOIS registry.