Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Farming sounds fun until you try it. "Raccoons eat the corn, squash and tomatoes. Freezing rain take cares of everything else." But all is not lost. "I've formed an inviolate bond with the land. The bank calls it a mortgage"
Crime rates fall, but demand for home security rises. Super-rich want super-gates to the estate. "A simple wooden gate may have steel beams inside it, and a crash-rated gate can stop a 15,000-pound truck going 30 miles an hour"
There's a room in America built to absorb 99.99% of sound. An "anechoic" space. Spend too long in this strange setting, and you'll start to hallucinate. Current record for sitting there alone with the lights off? 45 minutes
It seems Ikea isn't satisfied with having redesigned the retail store. Now it's out to build whole new urban neighbourhoods. The first is in a derelict area of London. Houses will come pre-assembled. Billy bookshelves optional
"During the past half-century, our species has embarked on a remarkable social experiment. For the first time, great numbers of people – at all ages, in all places, of every political persuasion – have begun living alone"
Physics professor decides to investigate, and cut, his domestic energy use. Living in San Diego may help, but he managed to get his utility electricity consumption down to a tenth of comparable local homes. This is how he did it
New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward was slated to become "green space" post-Katrina. But some residents wanted to return. So the result, generously put, is laissez-faire. Population down by three-quarters; flora and fauna running riot
Britons view homes as extensions of the self. And, now, their repositories of savings and pension plans as well. That's why there's such opposition to proposed "mansion tax". There shouldn't be. Houses are possessions like any other
No one likes landlords. Better to say you're in real estate, or property. Then they won't think you go around peering through windows to see if your tenants are keeping pets. But life isn't all easy for landlords, you know
Excerpt from Shadid's forthcoming memoir in which he reflects on his family's roots in rural Lebanon, and the long-abandoned house that he determined to rebuild
Slice of folk wisdom for encouraging reluctant jackfruit trees to bear fruit. You have to scare, and scar, them. A charming, very short tale from Kerala
Did they hit on the headline and then call up the piece? If so, good call. High time for a history of the bookshelf, now that the bookshelf itself is going to be history soon enough. Here it is, from Ciceronian times
Image by JerseyRed on Flickr
