Weekend Linkages: Historic Rain

October 24, 2021

...The truth about California’s annual termite swarms Can’t confirm this but some people might be eating monkey chow Man Obsessed With ’90s Lives In Time Capsule And Uses Outdated Technology Way beyond my abilities but this lip syncing project made me laugh How to Build a Low-tech Solar Panel Friend of the blog Jenn Berger has an art show up I saw a good cat this weekend Stay safe California friends...

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How to polish your silver effortlessly–with Science!

Mrs. Homegrown

February 1, 2016

Cleaning, Domesticus, How-to

5 Comments

...y’re so perfect it’s clear they’ve never been used. These may have been a part of my grandmother’s wedding trousseau, or maybe even my great-grandmother’s. But whoever gathered them together so carefully, they never thought any dinner party in their entire life was special enough to use them. Well, this attitude ends with me. Erik and I don’t have kids, and we’ve hit middle age, so I’m burning the bridges behind us. Everything must be used. No mor...

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Picture Sundays: The Unintentionally Groovy Cover of the High Desert Corridor Envionmental Impact Report

Mr. Homegrown

October 5, 2014

Picture Sundays

3 Comments

...with good reason. Some genius at Caltrans designed a cover by tossing clip art and 80s graphics into a Vitamix. Speculation is that the designer might be named Brad (note Brad the turtle chasing a chipmunk in the upper right corner). Every time I look at it I see something new: psychedelic condors riding bicycles, butterflies transformed by contact with solar panels and what might be a portal to another dimension just to the right of the project i...

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Trading our Home for a Dome

Mr. Homegrown

July 29, 2014

Design

20 Comments

...te listing, seem to have inspired the seller to paint some trippy outsider art. The kitchen, on the other hand, looks like a ten minute visit to the Ikea as-is bin. Maybe this is a spare kitchen? The seller seems to have also gone bold with the colors. I think I would too if I lived in a dome. Perhaps the best use for domes is for ceremonial or public spaces. There’s a really nice one that serves as a greenhouse at the Ecology Center in San Juan C...

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How Can We Fix Our Public Landscaping?

Mr. Homegrown

July 8, 2014

Design, Gardening, Thoughtstylings

11 Comments

...r facility. When Kelly first showed me the photo of that purple gravel and artificial turf I thought it might be some kind of conceptual art project. Unfortunately, this poor attempt at a drought tolerant landscape is just another example of an attitude of indifference towards public space that’s all too prevalent in Los Angeles and many other cities. Sahra Sulaiman at LA Streetsblog has done a great job covering the many ways this indifference ma...

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