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May 10 to 16, 2004
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Topic of the week: More architecture!

Architect Michelle Kaufmann is an American hero. She's the first person to finally begin to fulfill Frank Lloyd Wright's dream of cheap quality homes, a goal Wright pursued with his "Usonian" homes but never quite took off due to rising costs.

In 18 months Kaufmann designed six versions of her prefab "Glidehouse", making use of recyclable, energy-efficient materials. It's designed to accommodate solar panels and looks and feels like a quality home, except the price ranges from $81,000 (one bedroom) to the low $200,000s (three bedrooms, two stories), and it only takes a month to build. It was put on public display for the first time last weekend in Menlo Park, California, and already there are 18 buyers waiting with land and plans.

A lot of prefab buzz is going around on the net these days. I hope more people are getting tired of living in expensive, soulless boxes!

About the Glidehouse debut:
"Thousands tour first Glidehouse at Sunset - Interest in affordable, 'green,' modern prefab runs high:"
A little bit about the Usonian homes (1936-1959):
New Tech
Better than the Pringles can! Use $3 Chinese cooking vat scoops to create wireless connections spanning about 7 miles!
More on acoustic cryptanalysis - studying keystroke sounds. From a cellular phone, it's possible to tell what you're typing:
Modern Life
Less Than 7 Degrees of Separation
"They Rule" - a nifty way to visualize and find connections between the leaders of the world's most powerful companies:
Here's how to ask questions that actually produce information:
"Cold Turkey"
A funny rant from Kurt Vonnegut:
Another journalist tries an all- McDonald's diet, with surprising results:
A woman lives for almost four months without half her skull due to a "delay" in medical insurance processing:
A study finds that people who don't work for their money are less satisfied than those who do:
A high school prom committee falls under legal fire from the RIAA when it distributes a song played at the prom to students as a souvenir:
More about the RIAA fudging numbers to claim sales lost to file sharing:
Health/Environment
Hawaii's capital is crawling with algae!
How about trying environmentally friendly anti-foul compounds used on ships? The six-year test is impressive:
More groovy green efforts from San Francisco: an ink jet cartridge recycler and an industrial composting company. This is a great model for cities to follow to get small businesses recycling compost and reducing landfill - SF's 7 year-old program now handles 300 tons of organic waste a day:
The UK is trying "chewing gum posters" to help alleviate gum on the street, and there have been "tangible results". Gum is a $225M/year problem:
Are jet-created clouds responsible for some climate change?
Art/Design/Music
One of the coolest painting programs I've seen in years: Cosmic Painter! It's free and better than a Spirograph. (Sorry, for Mac OSX only):
A nice aerial photo of a New York cab in winter. Also see Vincent LaForet's other aerial photos:
Read the 2004 Hugo nominees online. My favorites - Vernor Vinge, Michael Swanwick, and Catherine Asara:
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