1. Truth Windows
A traditional feature of strawbale houses is the truth window – a small section of a wall that is left unplastered on the interior, and a frame is used to show the walls are actually made from straw bales for insulation. Truth windows often take on the role of an altar, bringing gratitude for the sources of our materials and reminding us of the reasons for the choices we have made.
Found on Wikipedia.
2. Try Picking this Lock
Frank L. Koralewsky served as a traditional ironworker’s apprentice in his native north-German town of Stralsund. After obtaining journeyman status, he worked in various German shops before immigrating to Boston in the mid- 1890s. By 1906 he was a member of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, specializing in locksmithing and hardware. This extremely intricate lock, which took seven years to complete, exemplifies the early-20th-century taste for sentimental medievalism and represents the pinnacle of the metalworking tradition at the turn of the 20th century. Exhibited at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, where it won a gold medal, the lock illustrates Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
Found on the Art Institute of Chicago.
3. Combined bird cage, aquarium and plant stand circa 1880
Found on Tuesday Johnson.
4. On the Set
Jennifer Jones on the set of “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”. Found here.
5. Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1959 ‘city of the future’ on Ellis Island that never was
Frank Lloyd Wright proposed a $93 million design that didn’t lack ambition. The architect described it as promoting “casual, inspired living, minus the usual big-city glamour.” It would house 7,500 residents, boasting seven candlestick-shaped towers, all orbiting around a giant globe in the center. Residents would have access to all the amenities of a big city, including hospitals, movie theories, restaurants, and more. Eventually, the government put the kibosh on Wright’s futurist plan, and ultimately rejected every developer bid tendered for the island in favor of turning it into a national monument.
Found on Artsy
6. Should We Only Work 3–4 Hours a Day, Like Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf & Adam Smith?
An interesting argument. Found on Open Culture.
7. The History of The New Yorker’s Vaunted Fact-Checking Department
A checker named Shireen Khaled recently said to me, “Nobody ever grows up wanting to be a fact checker.” Most arrive hoping to be writers or editors. For me, joining the department felt like an initiation—there were secret histories, late nights, and weird customs, though fewer than there used to be. A former checker once visited the office and asked, “Do you still have Friday-afternoon theatricals?” This was the most diverse group of anal-retentive people I’d ever been around, if you forget about political persuasion and age.
Read the full article on The New Yorker.
8. We can still send a Telegram today
You can send one here. More info here.
9. A case for writing on mirrors
Found on Pinterest.
10. Photography Icon Nick Knight shares his thoughts on AI
11. Quality Control of Yesteryear
An independent record company founded by Jack White in Detroit still does this.
12. The Abandoned Ottawa Safety Village Britannia Park
Operated by the Ottawa Safety Council, this park once provided training to children on traffic and bicycle safety. In 2006 the village suffered a flood and was closed. The park has since been dismantled.
Found here.