For those fortunate enough to have some outdoor space, gardening has become a top pandemic activity. It gets people outdoors doing something constructive while maintaining social distancing. You might even grow something to eat. But as all eco-conscious people know, gardening requires water. Sometimes a lot of water.[...]

When Ed and Leigh approached Colorado-based architecture firm F9 Productions to design their custom Rocky Mountain home, the couple wanted a residence that could last well into the future. This meant that the forever home not only had to be engineered with ADA-compliant features, but it also needed to be robust enough to weather the region’s extreme winter conditions for years to come. As a result, the architects crafted the Eastwatch House, a highly durable home that also takes advantage of passive solar conditions to reduce energy demands.[...]

Raised in the countryside of South West England, creative artist Emma Aitchison has developed a jewelry line inspired by and respectful to nature. Furthermore, Aitchison wanted her unique designs to act as a symbol for environmental awareness and to provoke conversations about protecting vital resources on the planet.[...]

Perched atop a hill in Aosta Valley’s highest municipality in northwest Italy is the newly completed House in Chamois, a modern, prefabricated home by Torino-based design and build firm Leap Factory. As with all “Leap Houses,” the home’s entire design and construction process was managed by the Leap Factory team and was constructed with a modular system built of natural, recyclable materials to allow for maximum flexibility. All of the components provided by Leap Factory for the House in Chamois were also designed and produced in Italy. [...]

“What does it take to live on the moon?” That was the question put forward by Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sørensen, the founders of SAGA Space Architects and the analog astronauts behind Lunark, a prototype moon habitat. Designed in collaboration with scientists, engineers and polar experts, Lunark will be tested over three months in northern Greenland as part of the first Arctic-simulated moon mission. In addition to its resilience to extreme temperatures, the habitat will be engineered for a zero-waste ecosystem and will draw power from solar panels.[...]

Thankfully, the world is coming around to the fact that eco-friendly travel doesn't have to mean sacrificing comfort or luxury. As one of Kimpton's latest sustainable properties, Kimpton's Seafire Resort + Spa is leading the way for travelers who want to enjoy gorgeous locations while doing their part to protect the environment. Located on the beautiful Grand Cayman, the eco-resort was built with several green features, including solar power, LED lighting, recycled building materials, native plants and even turtle-friendly lighting.[...]

If you’ve stepped foot in a grocery store or filled an Instacart recently, you know there are a variety of items that are in low supply. In fact, butter and sweet pepper shortages appear to be a sign of these very uncertain coronavirus times. So whether you’re looking for ways to preserve what you already have in the house or are setting goals to be better about reducing food waste in the future, we’ve got some pointers regarding the proper way to save everything from milk to peaches so you can enjoy them down the road. [...]

These days are filled with stress and anxiety, but it’s also time to take pleasure in the small joys of life — such as a good cup of coffee. For coffee-connoisseurs, designer Samson Chung has just released a new collection of coffee and espresso makers called Kork Kafeware that, thanks to its sleek combination of stainless steel and cork accents, lets you sit down to enjoy a superb cup of joe, slowly and sustainably.[...]

Australian architect Chuck Anderson has created a beautiful, solar-powered floating villa that has us dreaming of brighter days. Anchored just north of Sydney’s Palm Beach, the Lilypad is meant for those travelers who are looking to spend a little down time on serene waters while staying true to their sustainable lifestyles.[...]

Toronto-based architecture firm RDHA has completed the Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park, a new inclusive gathering space for Brampton, a city located about 45 minutes west of Toronto. Designed as a visual contrast to the flat suburban environment, the architects created an undulating landscape of hills that is reinforced by the building’s mountainous form. Surrounded by walls of glass and solar shades, the green-roofed library is powered by geothermal energy and is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification.[...]

While scientists have observed the worldwide decline of insects over the last decades, a new study shows that the big picture is more complicated than they thought. The study, published in Science, drew on data from 166 surveys from 1,676 sites.[...]

In an industry notorious for food waste, award-winning chef Douglas McMaster has achieved the seemingly unattainable — Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant. For Silo’s second outpost in London, local interior design studio Nina+Co teamed up with McMaster to craft an interior that reinforces the restaurant’s sustainable ethos with locally sourced natural materials and innovative design aimed at minimizing environmental impact.[...]

The Xuan Hoa commune in the Lao Cai province of northwest Vietnam is, like much of the surrounding area, a region that has suffered from economic hardships in the past. A large number of households in Xuan Hoa live in extreme poverty, including many of the school district’s 78 students aged 6 to 11 years old. The new Dao school by 1+1>2 Architects was completed in 2019 to provide provide education to the area’s children in first through fifth grades.[...]

From climbing walls to a roaming music studio, we've seen a lot of ingenious tiny house features over the years. But this tiny home on wheels from Movable Roots has a distinct feature we never thought was possible — a walk-in hot tub! The Culp is a 500-square-foot home that, in addition to its accessible, spa-like bathroom, boasts unique cork flooring and an incinerating toilet.[...]

UNStudio has completed renovations of the Hanwha headquarters in Seoul — all without disrupting the building’s normal business operations. The impressive feat was achieved thanks to efficient and low-impact construction methods that the international design firm dubs “remodeling in place.” In addition to renovated interior spaces and a redesigned landscape, the Hanwha headquarters is now home to a completely new, energy-generating facade with integrated solar panels to express the company’s identity as an ambitious global leader in the solar panel industry. [...]

Chapel Hill-based firm Arielle Condoret Schechter is known for its commitment to building sustainable homes that don't sacrifice elegance or comfort. The company's latest work includes the spacious Haw River House, which was built with several efficient features to create a net-zero energy home that is seamlessly linked with its natural surroundings.[...]

Tiny homes are still all the rage within the minimalist and wanderlust communities of the world, and what better place to consider tiny living than in the warmth of the big island, Hawaii? If equatorial location is on your must-have list, this tiny home might be just the serving of simplicity and decadence you’re looking for. [...]

Nestled on a gently sloping segment of land on the quiet, western end of St. Helena, California, Spottswoode Estate contains a remarkable piece of environmental history. The property became one of the first vineyards in the Napa Valley to farm 100% organically in 1985, eventually evolving into a leader in sustainable farming for the famous wine-growing region.[...]

Tucked into the foothills of California's beloved Laurel Canyon, the Laurel Hills Residence by Assembledge+ is an exquisite example of modern, sustainable home design. Comprised of three cedar-clad volumes with massive glass panels, the house features interconnecting pavilions that are topped with a broad overhangs to shield the interior spaces from extensive sun exposure.[...]

There’s never been a better time to grow your own herbs and veggies at home, but limited space is a common issue, especially in urban areas. In steps Rotofarm, the newest product from Australian-based company Bace, offering a compact indoor garden suitable for the kitchen counter complete with technology inspired by NASA.[...]

With the majority of the country continuing to observe social distancing and shelter-in-place laws, families are beginning to face a new normal of interacting for the holidays. Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, and while most of us won’t be able to see our moms in person this year, there are still ways to celebrate! A silver-lining? Choosing to celebrate from home, social distance-style, can be a win for the environment, too.[...]

If you’ve been itching to get back to the outside world, two words might make you think again: murder hornets. For the first time, these gigantic, invasive hornets have been spotted in the U.S., which could be a problem for both humans and honeybees.[...]

In an effort to find a balance between protecting the significant investment in our cellular devices and protecting the planet, LifeProof has developed a phone case that sources materials diverted from the ocean and simultaneously supports organizations directly involved in providing safe water, protecting ocean life and maintaining river habitat. [...]

Designed by San Francisco- and Oslo-based firm Mork-Ulnes Architects, the Skigard Hytte Cabin in Norway features various openings on each side that allow the architects, who designed the cabin for themselves, to immerse themselves in the incredible, mountainous surroundings. The 1,500-square-foot cabin is resilient to the extreme weather and is elevated off the landscape to reduce its impact. To top it all off, the cabin is crowned with a lush green roof.[...]

As of May 5, more than 3.5 million people in 215 countries around the world have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. While the world continues to socially distance, designers and creatives are beginning to imagine different ways to protect people from the virus; case in point, this futuristic bubble shield by DesignLibero.[...]

With limited traffic on the roads, cruising down abandoned streets on a slick new skateboard can be a dream come true for many skateboarders. Thanks to Rustek's new collection of wooden skateboards, handcrafted out of sustainably sourced wood, we can all dream of popping sweet 180-degree ollies while soaring down the street.[...]

After receiving nearly 500 submissions from around the world, eVolo Magazine has announced the winners of the 2020 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual award recognizes visionary vertical architecture ideas that push the limits of design and technology. First place was awarded to a Chinese team that designed Epidemic Babel, a rapid-deployment healthcare skyscraper concept for mitigating epidemic outbreaks.[...]

Creating furniture is an age-old art form that has incorporated standard materials such as aluminum, wood and rattan. However, one artist has perfected a way to use another prolific material, cardboard, into furniture designs, and he'll show you how to use it too. [...]

High Anxiety

High Anxiety - part two

They That Sow The Wind…

He Who Saw The Abyss

The Hood Internet brought us gloriously nostalgic mashups of the songs of 1979 and 1980. But they kept at it with wonderfully-edited songs from other years, too. Now they've expanded their repertoire and announced that another year will be added every Thursday. You can keep up with them in this playlist. Meanwhile, enjoy their latest mashup, the music of 1985 presented in three minutes. -via Metafilter

This is Muffin. Today she received a belly rub from a butterfly. 13/10 absolutely magical pic.twitter.com/er9tu4Srzk

— WeRateDogs® (@dog_rates) April 28, 2020

When 9-month-old Muffin was at the park the other week with her hooman Ashley Schoon, Muffin was not her usual self. What usually was a calm bulldog was really hyper on this day. Suddenly, a butterfly decided to land itself on Muffin’s face, and Muffin became really confused and did not know what to do.

Muffin immediately calmed down and let the butterfly perch on her stomach. “I was scared she was going to try to eat it,” Schoon said. “But she decided to lay all the way flat on her back and just let the butterfly stay on her tummy.”

The little pup wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but she knew she had to be gentle with her delicate friend. Muffin sprawled in the grass, paws out, and completely vulnerable as she let the butterfly wander up her stomach and onto her chest.

Wholesome.

(Image Credit: @dog_rates/ Twitter)

Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other institutes have found the black hole that is currently the closest to Earth. The aforementioned black hole lies just 1000-light years from our planet, and is closer to our Solar System compared to others found to date. What’s more, it is part of a triple system that can be seen with the naked eye.

They say this system could just be the tip of the iceberg, as many more similar black holes could be found in the future.

"We were totally surprised when we realised that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye," says Petr Hadrava, Emeritus Scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague and co-author of the research.

More details about this finding over at ScienceDaily.

(Image Credit: JohnsonMartin/ Pixabay)

What would it look like to approach Earth during a flyby mission? When it swung back past Earth last month as it journeyed to Mercury, ESA and JAXA’s robotic spacecraft BepiColombo captured its flyby of our planet in this nearly-10-hour-time-lapse video.

The Earth is so bright that no background stars are visible. Launched in 2018, the robotic BepiColombo used the gravity of Earth to adjust its course, the first of nine planetary flybys over the next seven years -- but the only one involving Earth.

Unfortunately, the video is only in black and white, and I wonder what it would look like if it was colored. Still, it is magnificent to look at.

(Video Credit: APOD Videos/ YouTube)

There’s nothing stopping Jimmy Donaldson aka Mr. Beast from giving away money, this time doing it via video calls. Watch as he and his friends pretend to be a news reporter, school professor, and many others as they interview people, and then surprise them by giving them thousands of dollars. Some recognize him and his team, however.

“A lot of people are going through a ruff time right now so I tried my best to do some good,” he said in the video description. He also posted this on his birthday, and said that liking or subscribing would be “a dope present.”

Very wholesome.

(Video Credit: MrBeast/ YouTube)

As there have been countless cases of Zoombombing in the recent weeks, the security in the video conferencing platform Zoom has been doubted by its users. In response to this, Zoom finally announced on Thursday that they will be implementing and offering end-to-end encryption.

With the acquisition of Keybase, a New York-based startup specializing in encrypted messaging and cloud services, Zoom will finally be able to make good on its claims of offering end-to-end encryption.

“We are excited to integrate Keybase’s team into the Zoom family to help us build end-to-end encryption that can reach current Zoom scalability,” CEO Eric Yuan said in a Zoom blog post on Thursday.

Unfortunately, not all Zoom users will benefit from the company’s new move, as the end-to-end encryption feature will only be available to users who have paid plans (which start at $14.99/month, by the way) on the video conferencing platform.

If a meeting’s host has enabled this feature, participants will be barred from joining by phone and cloud-based recording will be disabled. In Thursday’s blog post, Yuan emphasized that the feature will not store the encryption key on Zoom’s servers, so the company will not be able to see any part of the call.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Zoom/ Wikimedia Commons)

TAKE THAT!
Spruce up your next teleconference meeting with Ace Attorney backgrounds!
Perfect for adding a touch of legal proceedings to anything your agency does, or for having arguments about what those metal things with steps on them are called. pic.twitter.com/98N89kzymo

— Ace Attorney (@aceattorneygame) April 29, 2020

As even lawyers now work from home, and trials are now held via Zoom, I guess it would only be appropriate if they had a background that’s related to their job. And what background would that be other than the courtroom? But even if you’re not a lawyer, you can still use these Zoom backgrounds released last week by Capcom’s Ace Attorney, via Twitter. You can use the 2D background from the original trilogy, or opt for the 3D one from the more recent games.

Take that! And no objections, please.

(Image Credit: Ace Attorney/ Twitter)

When Sam Goree and his colleagues came across articles and blog posts that claim or ask that websites today look very similar to each other, they were intrigued. Unfortunately, since these articles didn’t have an empirical study to back them up, they ran a test to determine whether this claim had any truth to it, and if so, the reason behind it.

We ran a series of data mining studies that scrutinized nearly 200,000 images across 10,000 websites.

And what did they find out? Websites, indeed, were becoming very similar.

More details about this study over at Fast Company.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: 200degrees/ Pixabay)

In his book Secrets of Polar Travel, explorer Robert Peary speaks about a ration that he brought on his expeditions to the Arctic between 1886 and 1909. Among his supplies in his trips, he considers this ration as the “first in importance”. What’s more, he comments that this is one meal that “a man can eat twice a day for three hundred and sixty-five days in a year and have the last mouthful taste as good as the first.” What is this that Peary says is food that you won’t get tired of eating everyday?

Peary was talking about pemmican, a blend of rendered fat and powdered, dried meat that fueled exploration and expansion long before his attempts to reach the North Pole. Archaeological evidence suggests that as early as 2800 BC humans hunted the bison that roamed North America’s Great Plains and blended their meat, fat, and marrow into energy-dense patties with a serious shelf-life. A single pound of pemmican lasted for years and might’ve packed as many as 3,500 calories.

More details about pemmican and how to make it over at Atlas Obscura.

Yum!

(Image Credit: Sam O’Brien for Gastro Obscura)

Brian May was admitted to a hospital earlier this week  ...for a torn butt. The guitarist/astrophysicist injured himself while gardening, which is a bit reminiscent of the line from the movie This Is Spinal Tap in which one drummer's death is attributed to a "bizarre gardening accident." May is expected to recover, but it may take some time.  

Writing on Instagram, the Queen guitarist said: “I managed to rip my gluteus maximus to shreds in a moment of overenthusiastic gardening. So suddenly I find myself in a hospital getting scanned to find out exactly how much I’ve actually damaged myself. Turns out I did a thorough job – this is a couple of days ago – and I won’t be able to walk for a while … or sleep, without a lot of assistance, because the pain is relentless.”

May is 72, and had been at his home after Queen was forced to cancel a tour due to the pandemic. Now he is recovering at home, and requests peace and quiet. -via reddit

This video is well-enhanced by the title. Bird Guy lives up to his name as he waits for his Evening Grosbeaks to come visit. Seems like a great life, but that hoodie will need laundering often. Worth it. -via Metafilter

A cybersecurity researcher today publicly disclosed technical details and PoC for 4 unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities affecting an enterprise security software offered by IBM after the company refused to acknowledge the responsibly submitted disclosure. The affected premium product in question is IBM Data Risk Manager (IDRM) that has been designed to analyze sensitive business information

A Chinese hacking group has been found leveraging a new exploit chain in iOS devices to install a spyware implant targeting the Uyghur Muslim minority in China's autonomous region of Xinjiang. The findings, published by digital forensics firm Volexity, reveal that the exploit — named "Insomnia" — works against iOS versions 12.3, 12.3.1, and 12.3.2 using a flaw in WebKit that was patched by

Watch out Apple users! The default mailing app pre-installed on millions of iPhones and iPads has been found vulnerable to two critical flaws that attackers are exploiting in the wild, at least, from the last two years to spy on high-profile victims. The flaws could eventually let remote hackers secretly take complete control over Apple devices just by sending an email to any targeted

In a recent highly targeted BEC attack, hackers managed to trick three British private equity firms into wire-transferring a total of $1.3 million to the bank accounts fraudsters have access to — while the victimized executives thought they closed an investment deal with some startups. According to the cybersecurity firm Check Point, who shared its latest investigation with The Hacker News,

Cybersecurity researchers from ESET on Thursday said they took down a portion of a malware botnet comprising at least 35,000 compromised Windows systems that attackers were secretly using to mine Monero cryptocurrency. The botnet, named "VictoryGate," has been active since May 2019, with infections mainly reported in Latin America, particularly Peru accounting for 90% of the compromised

Researchers have uncovered a potential means to profile and track online users using a novel approach that combines device identifiers with their biometric information. The details come from a newly published research titled "Nowhere to Hide: Cross-modal Identity Leakage between Biometrics and Devices" by a group of academics from the University of Liverpool, New York University, The Chinese

It's not 'Patch Tuesday,' but software giant Adobe today released emergency updates for three of its widely used products that patch dozens of newly discovered critical vulnerabilities. The list of affected software includes Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Bridge, and Magento e-commerce platform, containing a total of 35 vulnerabilities where each one of them is affected with multiple critical