excerpt from On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee

The everyday alchemy of creating food for the body and the mind. This 17th-century

woodcut compares the alchemical ("chymick") work of the bee and the scholar, who

transform nature's raw materials into honey and knowledge. Whenever we cook we

become practical chemists, drawing on the accumulated knowledge of generations,

and transforming what the Earth offers us into more concentrated forms of pleasure

and nourishment.

(The first Latin caption reads "Thus we bees make honey, not for ourselves"; the second,

"All things in books," the library being the scholar's hive. Woodcut from the collection of the

International Bee Research Association.)

Speaking of bees, military scientists and insect nerds have recently found the cause of the colony collapse of honey bees - a concoction of fungus and virus.

Wooden Joy avec Grass

The advantages of turf roofs (also called sod roofs) are many. They are very heavy, so they help to stabilize the house; they provide good insulation; and they are long-lasting.

Turf roofs in Norway are a tradition and you will see them everywhere. Roofs in Scandinavia have probably been covered with birch bark and sod since prehistory. During the Viking and Middle Ages most houses had sod roofs. In rural areas sod roofs were almost universal until the beginning of the 18th century. Tile roofs, which appeared much earlier in towns and on rural manors, gradually superseded sod roofs except in remote inland areas during the 19th century. Corrugated iron and other industrial materials also became a threat to ancient traditions. But just before extinction, the national romantics proclaimed a revival of vernacular traditions, including sod roofs. A new market was opened by the demand for mountain lodges and holiday homes. At the same time, open air museums and the preservation movement created a reservation for ancient building traditions. From these reservations, sod roofs have begun to reappear as an alternative to modern materials.

(via notcot)

Svenska Wooden Joy

one+ is a housing concept by the swedish company add-a-room that allows users to build their
home through prefabricated modules. the system was designed by danish architect lars frank
nielsen and uses 15m square rooms as building blocks for dwellings. the units are built off site
and assembled on location to streamline the process and keep costs down. users can use one module or combine multiple ones to create their own design. the system uses local swedish
materials and energy efficient windows and doors. basic units start at around 35,000 USD.

(via notcot)

The Indestructible Happy Meal

Holy McFuck!