Do I Need Books?

...as well as some new ebooks that the library makes available for free. Sometimes one’s personal library can devolve into a kind of virtue signaling, a way to seem smart when visitors drop by. In my case it’s definitely time for a book winnowing and, yes, I will still have a bookshelf populated with books I use for reference. Kelly has her own books and shelf. Of course books have a tendency to accumulate and I have no doubt that I will have to go...

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Saturday Linkages: Beetle Party, Floating Homes and Cilantro

...g pic.twitter.com/98Noy6XipG — Alda Pires (@piresalda1) June 9, 2018 First time I’ve seen a canoe being towed on the downtown #yeg bike grid. #yegbike pic.twitter.com/QcemoJhr2M — Damian Rogers (@abcrimlaw) June 7, 2018 Vacant land and urban agriculture are rejuvenating wild bee populations. Bees love cities. What can cities do to love them back? https://t.co/A7mrxmd5tn pic.twitter.com/bJ7EleD3ef — Timber Press (@timberpress) June 9, 2018 On build...

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Random Acts of Beauty

...’s Central Library have been a big part of my effort to cut down on screen time in the evening (during the day my workshop and home restoration duties force me away from that infernal iPhone). Librarians have a real talent for suggesting books I’d never find on my own such as Wiener Werkstätte Jewelry. Behold, the striking pendant above designed by Koloman Moser in 1905. William Burges Cardiff Castle. Another serendipitous find, Gothic Revival by...

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The Return of the Apron?

...s and pencils. A quick perusal of the interwebs will show you that, at one time, all of the trades had their own aprons. In addition to safety and tool holstering, aprons are from a time before the cheap, disposable clothes we now wear. The decline of the apron could also be about our modern world’s distaste for visible signs of physical labor. We’re all supposed to be spending our days in front of glowing screens. Speaking of which, I’ve got to g...

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Saturday Tweets: Vive la Revolution!

...ized, and how it causes damage at the highest policy levels. (For shame @nytimes) https://t.co/ccwSDLyHdj — Peter Kalmus (@ClimateHuman) August 9, 2018 A siege. A bomb. 48 dogs. And the black commune that would not surrender https://t.co/v2JAS9X1Sk — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 6, 2018 I’ve been sounding this alarm for a while: horticulture is in decline worldwide because young people are not filling positions of previous generations. This co...

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