"Inactivity is death."

Have you ever seen one of those post-apocalyptic type scenes that come up so often in science fiction movies? A group of road weary travelers finally arrives in a new place (city, planet, time, etc.) and takes their first steps outside, only to find the place completely deserted. It's the futuristic version of the Old West ghost town (usually minus the tumbleweed that rolls across the main street).












*Scene from the popular science fiction movie "Serenity." *

Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini once said that "Inactivity is death." I think it is interesting, then, to note that the EUR (a neighborhood begun under Mussolini in the 1930s and completed in the 1960s) is just about the most inactive place I've ever been. Even though the place was full of people, I still felt like I was walking through an alien ghost town, and I had the nagging feeling that I should be watching out for zombies as I turned corners. It was futuristic, but at the same time, it was ancient and dead. The whole place was just cold and austere - and downright creepy.