Encounters with Stupidity

I wish to live in a house of my own design and construction. So far I have only built portions of the house, and then only in my head. Some parts are easy to build, and some solutions are obvious. Floors will be polished concrete with embedded local stone. Heating will be through pipes laid in the floor. Windows will be large and numerous, be able to open where possible, and be as unencumbered as pratical with crossbeams, supports, or anything obstructing vision. The roof will be of some relatively uncorrodable material, be it aluminum for cost and lightness or copper for durability and beauty. Roof panels can be welded together in such a manner as to create an extremely durable, waterproof and fireproof, if heavy, roof. It is my vision to create a house that has and retains a natural beauty with as little maintainence as possible on the part of the homeowner. This means employing unpainted, durable materials wherever possible, and also materials that look well with weathering and fit into the surrounding environment. A copper roof would serve nicely in this way, weathering to some type of green color after a number of years. I’m not sure what effect the metaliferous runoff would have, over time, on vegetation surrounding the house. Aluminum may produce a chalky white staining, and could also kill plants (though it has extremely low solubility, thus the production of bauxite in tropical climates). To achieve harmony with the environment and locale, stone from the region should be incorporated into some part of the exterior and interiour, and not in a superficial way or as a façade. No part of the house should serve only the decorate or “beautify” unless it is an integral part of the structure and physical purpose of the house. Economy is another major factor (especially in my first house). Wherever possible, recycled materials should be used and simplicity of design should be employed to produce both cost savings and simplicity of final form. To take this to an extreme, one envisions a house as follows: Two simple boxy sections, one situated higher than the other (most of my mental house plans are split level. It adds some interest to the house, allows it to lie in interesting terrain (e.g., a hillside) which in turn allows the architect some control over sun exposure (important in Arizona where I now live) and effects a split between living quarters and dining/entertainment quarters. Some overlap also leads to efficiency in heating/cooling like a 2-story house has (in theory). My ideal design involves a “tower” or an elevation, rough or many-sided section. Above would probably be a study with a view in some desireable direction. The roof would be fairly flat. If it must be sloped due to snow loads, perhaps it could be sloped in one direction (NOT peaked). or in two, with each half sloping a different way (of course this would create some problems). I envision the house being supported by a welded steel framework, not wooden studs. This could be accomplished by welding a series of standard sections, lifting into place, or could be engineered on the scale of the house. The other walls could even hang from a centrally grounded support column. Regardless, I envision walls made like a sandwich: outside of plywood, interior of several inches of (insulating) foam with an optional layer of another type of insulation, and an interior of some dense, tough material that is either able to take a finish or can have drywall screwed to it or plaster applied. Ideally, it would be directly finish-able to save much cost and hassle associated with hanging and finishing drywall/plaster. The pre-assebled panels should overlap in some ways to keep out the elements and allow strength in the assembled unit. For example the exterior plywood and interior finishing layer could each be offset several feet in opposite directions so the pieces fit together rather like puzzle pieces. The strength of the wall would be provided by the panels themselves, attached to a steel superstructure, over even cables suspended from a structure above. The floors could be simple poured concrete, stained or colored, with aggregate, polished fairly smooth. Walls painted and trimmed with metal or light wood to match light switches.

Last December, the day before my trip to Pasadena, my house was broken into. That was my first experience with Tucson's infamously high property crime rates. They didn't get much, but the things they did get were annoying to replace. The total value of stolen goods was less than the deductable on my home insurance, so it wasn't worth making a claim. Plus, making a claim would increase my rates, making it a dumb move. In general, making small claims on insurance of any kind isn't smart. Insurance is for big stuff. It's for when your house burns down, and you're out $150,000. Or when your car is stolen. Or when you're diagnosed with cancer and facing years of chemo and radiation treatments. Insurance doesn't make much sense for small stuff because the insurance companies will, on average, charge you more than you'll ever get in benefits. This occurs for two reasons. First, insurance companies have overhead to run their businesses (employees, buildings, phone bills). Second, you can lower your risk below that calculated by the insurance company. In this way, over the long term, you'll save money -- even if you get some things stolen. The money you save from not paying insurance premiums makes up for that.

I've taken some security measures to make my house safer. No more break-ins so far.

Two weeks ago I came home from work and parked my car in my carport. I had my road bike on the back, on a hitch rack. When I drive to work (rarely), I park about 1/2 mile from campus, so I ride my bike from the parking spot to save time. So my bike was on my bike rack. I've always figured my front yard is a pretty safe place, especially when I'm at home. The yard is flanked by high walls, so anyone coming into the yard has to make a frontal approach, and is greeted by automatic motion-sensor floodlights. I parked my car, went inside and worked on my computer. I left my bike on the rack. An hour or so later I went outside and the bike was gone. I stared in disbelief. The thief had to waltz into my front yard under the glare of the floodlights and spend probably 60-120 seconds unhooking the bike from the rack (it was held on with an awkward screw mechanism). In addition, my front door was open and my two dogs were "on patrol" in the living room, about 4 feet from my bike as the... fly flies. Now that takes guts. Breaking into someone's house while they're at work isn't too risky. But stealing a bike while they're home... that's a different sort of crime.

To top it off, I went into my back yard to do some yard work last weekend. I looked high and low, but couldn't locate my aluminum step ladder. It's no longer located in my backyard, so it, too, has been stolen.

Sometimes I really hate this town.

I’m an American and I like Halloween. Halloween is thought to have started out around 2,000 years ago in Europe (Celtic Britian and Northern France). However, The Economist recently reported that many Europeans are boycotting the holiday, and trying to convince others to do so. Several municipalities in Germany passed resolutions against Halloween on the basis that it’s a repugnant commercial holiday trumpeted and blown out of proportion by Americans. Did they ban trick-or-treat-ing? That wasn’t clear from the article.

How wrong can they be? Halloween is the most unusual of American holidays. In a country supposedly overrun by Christian Fundamentalists, it’s conceded to be an anti-Christian, pagan-based holiday when the goblins and ghouls get to take over for a night, God-willing or not. True, the holiday involves a $2-billion-in-one-night industry in candy give-aways. Give-aways might be typical of the American welfare state, but on this particular holiday, individuals voluntarily invite kids, teenagers and other strangers onto their private property to give them candy. Americans are stereotyped as greeting strangers at the door with double-barrelled shotguns – but not on halloween, when we’re more likely to sport a skull mask and wield nothing more dangerous than a large salad-bowl-turned-candy bin. Americans are often critised for our “lack of community” – but Halloween is the one holiday when we throw open our front doors and greet our neighbors, even if they are dressed as vampires and proceed to commit extortion by delivering the threat of unspecified property damage. We applaude these kids for looking truly horrible – sporting tatoos, piercings, blood and make-up (as long as it’s all rub-on, clip-on, or otherwise temporary). Any other day we’d call them antisocial and send them to counseling.

It’s baffling why Europeans are against Halloween, which is such an atypical American holiday. If they’re so anti-commercial, why not eschew Christmas? If they’re so secular, why not skip Easter? And don’t tell me Europeans are against overdosing on carbohydrates – if so, how can they condone Oktoberfest?