The Solar Decathlon is one of my favoritest things ever.  Possibly I am a geek.

Rice is fielding a team this year.  Sadly, it looks like a shipping container.  On the plus side, it's ugly because they built it for $80K, which is a fraction (1/3 to 1/8, to be precise) of the cost of any of the other houses. Team Louisiana's similarly serious-minded ( Read more... )

Most things in DC are free.  It's the capital of free.  You can leave your bags at a free locker in the Museum of Natural History, have a peek at some dinosaur bones, walk unburdened to see the crazy-small Spirit of St. Louis at the Museum of Air and Space, and enjoy an ice cream at the National Gallery sculpture garden.  The sculptures are a bit " ( Read more... )

I want one of these houses, but they are only for poor people.  $300 a month?!!! Can I please be poor?

After some poking around, I have determined that in addition to building gorgeous, recycled, non-kitsch houses out of corks and bottle caps, the guy behind Pheonix Commotion:

- incorporates efficiency goodies like on-demand hot water heaters
- has a ( Read more... )

Does the New York Times offer a German-language edition?  Well, Der Spiegel runs an English-language edition, and it carried an intriguing report on radical aid to Africa.  The idea is to simply give every man, woman, and child 9 euros a month, no strings attached.  Everybody gets it--rich or poor, black or white--so it's not welfare.  Hillary ( Read more... )

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