Your Open Floor Plan is a Death Trap

...re Service Fatalities in Structure Fires 1977-2009 Rita F. Fahy, Ph.D. June 2010). Let’s take a closer look at some of the unintended consequences of open floor plans and modern materials. Open Floor Plans U.L.’s research proves conclusively that open floor plan interiors create fires that spread faster and are harder for firefighters to control. Another trend in homes is to remove walls to open up the floor plan of the home. As these walls are re...

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111 Cardoons, Medlars and Hipster Toilets

...Angeles Bread Bakers (sign up for an invite to the monthly pizza party) Our 2010 post on cardoons. Our original post on medlars and a follow up post. All you need to know about Toto’s Eco Promenade toilet (with elongated bowl–round bowl version is here). If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitc...

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Take a Summer Viking Break

...ng or canning. This means it’s the perfect time for a Viking break. Back in 2010 Norweigian oil tycoon Sigurd Aase funded the construction of a brand new badass Viking longship, the Draken Harald Hårfagre. It’s the first Viking longship with its own website and gift store. The ship made it to the U.S., a reminder that Columbus wasn’t the first European to make that particular journey. Please kick back this weekend and take your own Viking break. I...

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Return of the Walkman?

...(Sport WM-FS397, to be exact). Here’s an “exploded” view: The BBC, back in 2010, gave a 13 year-old a Walkman to review. Here’s what the kid said: It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassett...

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Let’s Talk About the Holidays

...tension between tradition and its conflict with modern life (note Habermas’ 2010 dialog with Jesuit scholars if you want to fall down a ponderous and inconclusive philosophical rabbit hole). Then there’s what I call the fake snow on Hollywood Boulevard problem. Living in a Mediterranean climate, as we do, is confusing. The days are short, but the hills are green. The fake snow gets coated in smog. Here’s the problem. The Christmas story is overlai...

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