I was greeted by beautiful-bodied women, heroically muscled men and horses depicted with such beauty, grace and detail that I felt as if I was in the private room of a Renaissance aristocrat like a Medici or Lombard, or in the summer home of the Pope.

The metastasizing Mideast chaos and violence have shown yet again the limitations of American power there. We're backing and opposing groups in a fluctuating toxic religious, ethnic, tribal and national stew and frequently contradicting ourselves as we do.

Something very interesting is happening: companies are recognizing that today's workforce wants a more urban lifestyle, even in the suburbs.

Our Recession-era penchant to hate on McMansions and idealize downsizing is over. If it ever even really existed.

Few things have been as simultaneously destructive to the natural environment, the economy, and our social fabric as the tidal wave of suburban sprawl that washed over the US in the late 20th century.