Flipped Out: The End of the American Bungalow

June 24, 2019

Design

...ic labyrinths” in a state of “happy imprisonment.” But as Marshall McLuhan used to say, “If you don’t like that idea I’ve got others.” Perhaps my inner and cranky Prince Charles just likes fuddy-duddy old houses. So please people, for the love of God, if you want a mid-century house please buy one. There’s plenty to go around. No need to rip out the molding and the built in cabinets in the old bungalow. Since the Man got rid of shop classes future...

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A Not So Close Shave

Mr. Homegrown

April 25, 2019

Domesticus, Shaving

7 Comments

...or years, not wanting to blow money on modern plastic razors, I’ve instead used an old-fashioned safety razor like the one above that has just one metal blade that lasts maybe two weeks at the most (you can flip it over and use the other side of the blade for another two weeks). To use it properly, you need to shave three times, down, sideways and up, lathering between each shave direction. It works great if you aren’t lazy and care about your app...

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A Better Garage Organizational System

Mr. Homegrown

January 14, 2019

Design, Domesticus, Tidying up

11 Comments

...It does help to know which tools you need and to place the most frequently used ones close at hand. In my case that meant the measuring tools and hand planes were placed close to the workbench and the table saw accessories are on shelves next to, you guessed it, the table saw. Rolling with Stephens’ suggestion, I used French cleat hangers so that I could remove tool sets, such as my drill bits and chisels, from the wall. As you can see I made a ba...

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I Canceled the New York Times

Mr. Homegrown

November 18, 2019

Thoughtstylings

11 Comments

...Times’s chief competitor the New-York Daily Tribune. That these old papers used to also cover Mars canals and underground lizard people points to a playfulness and a greater respect for readers who knew these stories were made up and who had no illusions about the objectivity of newspaper writing. Of course many things can be known through the tools of science and specialized expertise, but most aspects of what it means to be human, such as politi...

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Saturday Tweets: A Difficult Week

Mr. Homegrown

November 10, 2018

Saturday Linkages

4 Comments

...honor of fall, reupping this story of a Toronto neighborhood activist who used leaves to show how much excess pavement could be recaptured as people space. They called it a “leafy knockdown” https://t.co/I2XRSnuAdy pic.twitter.com/2BQ6UfjsqS — Streetsblog USA (@StreetsblogUSA) November 6, 2018 20th Century: “Cities are created by, and for, traffic.”—Robert Moses, Le Corbusier, et. al. 21st Century: “Cities are created by, and for, people.”—We, th...

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