When I'm in an insane hurry to hit the road (as I am right now), there's nothing more disconcerting than the feeling that there's an obligation to get a post up ASAP, but there's no time to think about what to write, much less write it.

Fortunately, Clayton Cramer reminded me of a favorite topic last night Cargotecture! This has long been a favorite topic of mine (long before the invention of the word "cargotecture" -- but I guess it takes a word), and as Cramer points out, there are many shipping containers -- 18 million to be exact. What a waste.

They're cheap, easily-affordable housing, and because they're personal property, they can be packaged as art. And homeless artists can work on their art 24 hours a day without having to "reside" anywhere. As I opined last night, Cargotecture could:

Solve the homeless problem, and give a lot of people something to do.

Artists can put them in vacant industrial wastelands, and live for very little.

Baffle the bureaucrats and building code people, as it's not real estate, but personal property.

Best of all, you could call it art.

They can't prevent me from having art on my vacant lot!

(More art here.)