Unplugr Pulling the plug on a broken world 2007-05-28T21:20:57Z WordPress http://unplugr.com/feed/atom Vince http:// <![CDATA[Alternative building material]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/17/alternative-building-material 2007-05-28T21:20:57Z 2007-05-28T21:20:57Z link:

http://www.greeninventor.org/strawjet.shtml

]]> 0 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[condohype]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/14/condohype 2007-05-23T20:59:40Z 2007-05-23T20:57:58Z condo_collage.jpg

I’m loving this new blog that savages the vacuous marketing behind the condos that are springing up all around Vancouver like mushrooms in cow shit:

condohype [via Rob Cottingham]

First impressions are important and Origin’s is one of timeless elegance, thanks to West Coast-inspired architecture and enduring, natural-looking materials like timber, brick and Hardie plank siding.

“Natural-looking materials?” Oh no they didn’t. Oh no they did! You heard it here first, friends. Fibre board is now the new oak.

]]> 0 Vince http:// <![CDATA[A link I came across (in a banner ad no less)]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/13/a-link-i-came-across-in-a-banner-ad-no-less 2007-05-10T22:52:05Z 2007-05-10T22:52:05Z http://www.onedayvancouver.ca/portal.php

]]> 0 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[Books tangentially related to homesteading]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/10/books-tangentially-related-to-homesteading 2007-05-10T05:09:13Z 2007-05-10T05:07:50Z Extreme Delays Picture

Mike asked me to post a list of the books I have that are related to homesteading and homebuilding, so here it is. Note that the connection of some of these to homesteading is extremely tenuous.

Some of these books I haven’t read yet. Some, like the Ingenuity Gap, are on my reading shelf to get to soon. There are some which are full of brainstorming positive ideas for solving real problems in the world (WorldChanging, The Book of Visions, Utne Reader Almanac, Whole Earth Catalogs). Looking at this list it might appear that I’m really into domes and earth-sheltered homes, but that’s not really the case. I’m leaning much more towards straw bale construction these days, but most of the books I’ve read on it have been from the library.

Speaking of books that I don’t have, I would like to recommend a few:

Of the rest, some I would recommend with all my heart, some I would not. But that will have to wait for another post.

]]> 0 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[Real Estate Roller Coaster – Google Video]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/9/real-estate-roller-coaster-google-video 2007-04-04T18:54:34Z 2007-04-04T18:54:34Z This is brilliant: Home prices from 1890 to the present, adjusted for inflation, and plotted to a roller coaster. What a wild ride, and a great way to visualize the raw data.

Real Estate Roller Coaster – Google Video

]]> 0 Vince http:// <![CDATA[Links I’ve been harvesting for a while]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/8/links-ive-been-harvesting-for-a-while 2007-03-08T18:15:54Z 2007-03-08T17:38:59Z Hello everyone, I’ve been meaning to collect these up and post them. So without further delay:

Land:

Offgrid Power:

Lodging/Housing:

Cohousing/Ecovillages

]]> 1 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[Boston continues its war on objects]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/7/boston-continues-its-war-on-objects 2007-02-28T19:10:58Z 2007-02-28T19:10:58Z Still on a roll after detonating a suspicious-looking Lite-Brite, today the Boston Bomb squad detonated what was apparently a suspicious-looking
traffic counter. That will teach the terrorists over in the traffic control division.

]]> 0 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[Life Imitates The Onion, again]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/6/life-imitates-the-onion-again 2007-02-26T21:01:53Z 2007-02-26T21:01:04Z Well, if right-wing ideologues have anything to do with “life,” that is. The funny thing is, while this:

Fears of Canada-Mexico superhighway driving U.S. critics loco

Are North American governments secretly conspiring to build a “NAFTA superhighway,” four football fields wide, from Mexico to Canada, to bypass regulatory controls and whisk goods swiftly to market?

looks superficially like this:

U.S. Protests Mexi-Canadian Overpass

In addition to facilitating trade between Mexico and Canada, the overpass is expected to increase tourism in both nations by as much as 60 percent. Boasting hundreds of restaurants, gas stations, and hotels, the state-of-the-art overpass will render it unnecessary for Mexicans or Canadians ever to touch U.S. soil when traveling to and from their respective homelands.

I think I prefer The Onion’s vision.

]]> 0 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[Open the Future: An Eschatological Taxonomy]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/5/open-the-future-an-eschatological-taxonomy 2007-02-22T19:16:52Z 2007-02-22T19:16:52Z Back in December Jamais Cascio came up withan eschatological taxonomy to categorize the various kinds and severities of apocalypse scenarios. Below is the quick summary, but the full version includes examples, chances of survival (of civilization, humanity, or biological life itself), etc.

  1. Regional Catastrophe
  2. Human Die-Back
  3. Civilization Extinction
  4. a. Human Extinction-Engineered
  5. b. Human Extinction-Natural
  6. Biosphere Extinction
  7. Planetary Extinction

Nice to have a vocabulary to talk about what we’re up against. Cheer up, that disaster on the news is only category 1.

]]> 0 Dethe http://livingcode.org/ <![CDATA[Coffee and communities]]> http://unplugr.com/archives/4/coffee-and-communities 2007-02-21T22:21:31Z 2007-02-21T22:21:31Z John Robb has very interesting analysis of the state of the world, but I especially enjoyed his short post on the importance of a resilient community during the coming times of tubulence:

John Robb’s Weblog: Coffee and communities

&ellipsis;the center of gravity for resilience against the panoply of systemic threats we will face in the future. Not the home/family (too small). Not the nation-state (too big). The community. In short, your success over the long run (for both you and your kids) will be based almost entirely on how resilient your community is to disruption.

This directly relates to what I’m hoping to achieve with the co-op I live in and the ideas I want to hash out on this blog.

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