Lisbon is Subverting Street Art Cliches Through Creative Workshops for Older People

Found on Colossal...

"LATA 65 is connecting art between generational divides, matching older citizens of Lisbon with a relatively young form of art—graffiti (“lata” means “can” in Portuguese). Through workshops attendees learn the history of street art while making their own stencils and tags, ultimately incorporating their work in murals across the city. These bright colors go into run-down parts of the Lisbon, and each new artist is aided by the help of well-known street artists."

Fun Time! Sit At Spock's Desk!

The Enormous Octabasse

Wind and Solar Powered Home You Can Take Anywhere

I found this on Gizmodo. The Ecocapsule is an entirely self contained shelter with bathroom and kitchen.

A gorgeous interior that's customizable. Solar and wind powered with a 9700 Watt-hour battery to keep things running. Here's all the info from the Ecocapsule website.

Travel Photo of the Week

Cairo, Egypt

Drumi - Yirego Washing Machine

Here's an interesting device for the single homesteader or urban apartment dweller.

The Drumi is a small human powered washing machine designed for underwear and items that you'd normally wash by hand, but will wash small loads of practically anything.

It's available for pre-order at YIREGO.COM for $129, but expect the price to go up when the crowd funding campaign starts at the end of next month.

Lloyd Kahn's Most Useful Tools for a Half-Acre Homestead

If you follow my blog at all you already know I'm a big fan of Lloyd Kahn. Here's an interview/article from Mother Earth News that features Lloyd sharing information on what he considers to be his most useful homesteading tools.

At the top of the list is a chicken coop and greenhouse.

The Design Work of Love Hultén

Gorgeous functional art. You can see more HERE.

Wet Fold Origami Paper Animals by Artist Hoang Tien Quyet

Found on Colossal, More HERE.

Our Daughter Graduates from Wagner College

Cum laude, at that!

The First 21 Days of a Bee’s Life in 60 Seconds

Travel Photo of the Week

Cabo San Lucas Baja, California

Lloyd Kahn on his NorCal Self-reliant Half-acre Homestead

Ah Lloyd. He's been an inspiration to so many. Here's a wonderful interview with him and his wife Leslie.

"Bestie" Row

Found on Lloyd Kahn's "The Shelter Blog"...

"Four couples who had been best friends for 20 years decided they were going to trump living in the same town. No way were they going to let the business of life keep them from enjoying that special connection that they’d grown to love. So they decided to literally create their own “Bestie Row.” They all were fans of the tiny house movement, and decided to build their own little compound based around that idea."

Photographic Portraits of Famous Artist’s Paint Palettes

Found on Colossal...

"Since 2007 photographer Matthias Schaller has photographed raw, abstract paintings. The paintings however are not found on canvas, but rather smeared onto the tools used to craft each work of art—the palettes. His series, Das Meisterstück (The Masterpiece), claims these behind-the-scene objects as portraits of the artist, while also giving a direct insight into the detailed techniques performed by each painter."

Palette of Vincent van Gogh

My favorite? Seurat's.

Fun Time! Adam Savage Builds ‘Star Trek’ Captain Kirk’s Chair!

Analogue Experiments with Gravity

Gravity from Clemens Wirth

Tiny House Tour: The Lucky Penny

Travel Photo of the Week

Kathmandu, Nepal

Superadobe Orphanage Withstands Nepal Earthquake

This news release from the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture shows how low-cost sustainable earthen housing survived the recent earthquakes in Nepal.

"The Superadobe (sandbags/barbed wire) building system developed at Cal-Earth (U.S. Patent #5,934,027) integrates traditional earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements, and passes severe earthquake code tests in California. The technology has been published by NASA, endorsed by the United Nations, featured in countless world media outlets, and awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004."

A Happy 40th Anniversary to Us!

My wife Cheryl and I just spent a lovely weekend in the Shenandoah Valley at one of our favorite places, The Inn at Vaucluse Spring. I can't recommend it highly enough for a stress free stay and delicious meals. Here are a couple more photos of the place.

One of My Favorite Places

Fun Time! Mad Magazine's "Spy vs Spy" Done in LEGOs!

Creating 3D Maps of Coral Reefs to Help Preserve Them

Here Come Semis That Drive Themselves

Travel Photo of the Week

Nilaveli Beach, Sri Lanka

Halfbike

Here's something new: a stand-up bike that looks more than a bit like a scooter. Halfbike just closed it's Kickstarter after raising almost a million dollars.

I'm going to let the project explain itself. Here's the Kickstarter link and here's the website link.

Seed Libraries Fight for the Right to Share

"Just three firms control more than half of the worldwide seed business (more than doubling their 22% share in 1996), while the top ten corporations now occupy 76 percent of the global market. Monsanto alone has 26 percent of the world’s seed market, with Du Pont and Syngenta not far behind."

That's a quote from Seed Libraries "Fight for the Right to Share," a current article on the website Shareable. One of the only ways to fight that is through seed banks and these huge corporations are doing everything they can to stop them.

You can read the Shareable article here.

224 Square Foot House Doesn't Feel Small At All

With a full size fridge, generous countertop, decent closet space and enough space to entertain, a little house suddenly isn't so little.

Best of all, with the help of friends and family, this 32' by 8.5' home was finished in seven days.

For more info and pictures, check out the full article on Treehugger.

Fun Time! Simon Stålenhag Kickstarter! Books!

Help Kickstart it HERE.