Worlds Smallest Home

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“Ever imagined what it would be like to live inside a giant egg?” From China Daily: “Dai Haifei, 24, a newly graduated architect, decided to make his own egg-style home after being unable to afford Beijing’s sky-high rental prices. The two-meter high house with two wheels underneath is made from sack bags on the outside wall, bamboo splints on the inside and wood chippings and grass seeds in between. ‘The seeds will grow in the natural environment and it’s cold-proof,’ Dai explained.” “He moved the house steps away from his office where he would stay until midnight before going to sleep inside the ‘egg’.” Well, at least the commute sounds great.

X-Ray Vision

Posted on by in Photography

This is really cool. From MIT, a camera that can see around corners: “A photographer taking a picture of someone standing out of sight in a room with a half-open door might aim the camera at the door. Light from the flash would be reflected off the door and onto both the person and the walls behind that person. Some of this light would then travel back to the door and be reflected into the camera.” Sounds dangerous.

The Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh

Posted on by in Travel

There were rumors about a local legend who’s been selling some of the best tasting iced coffee in Phnom Penh’s Russian market for more than 20 years. He’s even got his own facebook page. A few of us went to check it out: Once we ordered, he began an elaborate brewing process where he filled a fine mesh net with ground coffee, poured hot water through it, and then collected the coffee in a pot. He then repeated the process by taking the resulting coffee and pouring it through a second mesh net containing more freshly ground coffee beans. And then he did it a third time! The entire process took more than 10 minutes. This guy’s not messing around:

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Facebook, Bubbles, and Nigerian Scams

Posted on by in Markets

Lots of interesting speculation about the Facebook-Goldman deal: Simon Johnson thinks it’s a taxpayer subsidy that is setting the stage for another bubble and subsequent financial crisis. Justin Fox describes why going public is no longer such an attractive option, why Facebook may do a better job than Google at avoiding an IPO, and how some SEC rules are being bent along the way. And the WSJ likens it to a Nigerian scam.

The Jersey Shore As An Economic Indicator?

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Kid Dynamite writes: “I couldn’t help but thinking, as I watched portions of MTV’s New Year’s Eve coverage which featured the cast of the Jersey Shore, that it’s hard to be bullish on America.   Why?  Simple answer:  Jersey Shore Season 3 – the mere fact that it exists.  That alone is bearish.” Anyone have any other examples of discouraging pop-culture indicators? Shouldn’t be too hard. He then links to an older posting titled “Issac Newton, Mean Reversion, and Momentum” which I found to be a particularly insightful view on market psychology and effective investment strategies.

Angkor What?

Posted on by in Beer

I just had my first Cambodian beer, an ice cold Angkor. This appears to be the mainstream, mass-distributed “beer of Cambodia.” It’s a lightly-hopped, 5% pale lager. In the grand scheme of beers, this one doesn’t stand out in any way, but after a long day, it definitely hit the spot. It did get me thinking – many tropical climate countries seem to have one mass-produced national beer to compliment all of the imports. And they all tend to be VERY similar. Costa Rica has Imperial. Panama has “Panama” beer. The Bahamas sport Kalik. Guatemala has the infamous Gallo (rooster). What’s the story behind these? Are they all owned by a multi-national company that has tapped the “domestic” beer market

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Kurt Vonnegut Knew Best

Posted on by in General

Sifting through an old journal, I came across one of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut quotes from Mother Night: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” He was talking about Nazi’s. But I think it’s good advice regardless.

Gone Fishing.

Posted on by in General

I’m en route to Cambodia to work on a technology dissemination project as part of MIT’s International Development Initiative. I’m anticipating that my access to the internet will be a bit patchy over the next few weeks, but am planning to keep blogging when I can, hopefully with a few new or interesting things to share. I can confirm that the TSA’s controversial new screening systems are up and running at Logan. Which brings me to this:

What Happened To All The Beer?

Posted on by in Uncategorized

Part of the reason I started this blog was to write about beer, and to provide some “homebrewing crash courses” for those who are interested in making their own beer, but want to learn by brewing, rather than by reading some of the more extensive (but extremely useful) books out there. That’s still the plan. I’m hoping to write a new guide covering an aspect of the brewing process every couple weeks. Over time I’ll work towards building a comprehensive collection of these “crash courses” describing everything from all-grain brewing to the bottling process. I’ll include detailed pictures along with each step, so that the guides are easy to follow, and so it’s clear which equipment is used along the

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