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Wrath Of Gnon
wrathofgnon@hell-twtr-plus.mostr.pub
npub1tket...4m6f
Traditionalist. #GoodUrbanism (mirror of @wrathofgnon@twitter.com)
The beauty of building with what you have rather than what you are told you need. Tom Ruby (@bgcts) First and foremost, a cordwood dwelling is accessible to anyone with wood and arms to cut and lift it. It is simple. Not easy, simple. If you have wood and mud and ash you can build a home. There's a very old cordwood cabin in Copper Harbor. For us, we peppers 2 summers to do this so that it'd last. We tested last summer by building a chicken coop. Took lessons and incorporated them into this build. We learned that Poplar debark very easily when cut down (and the bark dried rock hard if you cut and flatten it. Can be used for roof shingles. Maple is difficult to debark. Oak easier than maple but only when freshly cut. We made a 10" ruler and sorted the logs with a hand saw and then cut with chain saw. Takes discipline to make plumb cuts. We built a rig to put the logs on to help with plumb cuts. Saved all sawdust for use in mortar. Poplar dries much lighter than oak and maple making it good to use, but we have oak and Maple and Walnut in there as well. Bought inexpensive Poplar framing wood from Amish to frame the cabin for load bearing and are putting cordwood inside the 4x10 framing wood. You can buy portland/type S for mortar but that defeats our purpose of using local materials. Ag line is $12/ton from our local quarry so that is a great filler. We saved wood stove ash over the winter and have more than enough. Clay below the topsoil comes from our hillside. As for mortar discipline, we learned last summer that if too wet it will crack and pull away from the wood. But even that is repairable with pointing and relayering. This time we have a more peanut butter consistency and are leaving space inside the ends of the logs for touching up after it dries. We have a good natural reaction cycle happening with the mortar so that's good. This is an accessible process. It is very forgiving. And it allows for varying anesthetics from lots of big logs with small fillers to all small dowels. All work. I have several books on the process and there are cordwood homes around the world. As said 2 years ago, "just use your local mud or make some." He was right. — https://hell.twtr.plus/media/2c/7d/ee/2c7dee45bc99406fbc581bc49134a01363a7e8f982fd6e8943aea186e0a02d8f.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/53/ae/6f/53ae6f56545fae7bc219b0bfbdf0d7b0cc626181bfa9ca00641bbe70fe57ec9f.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/bb/f2/f9/bbf2f9bb12f677ec7ead19ad5049d1705cab9d47f8d4b224356e030eb82e2778.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/70/09/06/70090651de2a8bb946903d9832136fba2cb8bbde0ce5737f4083b1996de43144.file
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Wrath Of Gnon 1 month ago
Every single problem we face as humans on this Earth has already been solved in some way or other. Our times, our fears and desires, our pains, our blocks and stumbles, are not unique. We just need to reach back and pick and chose. We might not always find what we are looking for: we might find something different that also works, or stumble upon something we had discarded that can be dusted off and used again. One thing is for sure though, there is not now nor ever will be, a tabula rase, a clear table from which to start. For better or worse, everything about us came from somewhere, out of something. The tabula rasa is a utopia. delusional ideal or an ideology. The sooner we abandon this dumbest of all ideas to come out of the Enlightenment, the better.
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Wrath Of Gnon 2 months ago
Rammed earth "art" in Yokohama's Minato Mirai Grand Mall area. Leaving the nonsensical "artiness" aside, it is interesting from the aspect of physical materials. Rammed earth using different soils for different layers (normally you'd use the best possible local soil to achieve even strength and durability). These were made in 2015 and after 11 years of wind rain typhoons and the usual subtropical extreme humidity it seems to have held up well enough with zero maintenance. There's some biological surface reactions as well as weaker layers losing more material than is should have (the effect of mixing layers of different materials) and what looks like mechanical damage to the corners. The white granite tops come without any overhang or dripline so they also likely accelerate deterioration. If used to build homes or more useful structures I'd probably put on a proper roof and if possible some sort of cladding. Still, it holds up really well, proving once again that rammed earth works in any climates. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/f4/d2/3a/f4d23a655c6a6c7a9ce5c4833d247d8e45071e078593873fa205bb99d360b934.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/a2/5d/48/a25d48cf657b7202a31edb0d5366605e6f5e1eedbd0b0256b7b3d7371ebd6970.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/d8/de/21/d8de21b37671d1bbff6efdaab714f1ca0741cba3b3dfaf15bb28314101544b28.file
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Wrath Of Gnon 6 months ago
Our eyes developed from a cyclopean worm 600 million years ago and its lone eye is now our pineal gland. 'Remnants of the ancient parietal median eye from our distant ancestor actually remain in our heads today, transformed into the pineal gland. The pineal gland is a light‑sensitive organ in the vertebrate brain. It produces the hormone melatonin, which helps regulate the body’s circadian rhythm. “It’s mind‑boggling that our pineal gland’s ability to regulate our sleep according to light stems from the cyclopean median eye of a distant ancestor 600 million years ago,” concludes Dan‑E Nilsson.'
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Wrath Of Gnon 7 months ago
In light of what has come in the open these last few hours, and what you can see with your own eyes when you step out onto the streets, surely you can figure out who the good guys and the bad guys are by now?
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Wrath Of Gnon 7 months ago
Chronic lower back pain cost the US $100 billion annually directly and two or three times that if you include indirect costs like loss of labour. However simple walking for about 1.5-2 hours daily reduced the risk of developing it by 23%. The cost reduction for society encouraging us to walk more and drive less are potentially huge (not even starting to count all the other health positives of walking). Why not start with encouraging the building of walkable mixed high density neighborhoods and towns that was the human norm for thousands of years? And make them walkable. We know from studies on campuses and theme parks that even Americans are happy to spend far more than 2 hours on their feet if they can be distracted by alluring or interesting surroundings. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/b1a4eb652e637f405b61228eed1a95f15e499196acfd0b2936ca62ca8aa7f8bc.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/6cb723466fc53b072af4fcd983df447faa077557d657a819b1967f66fb96aa87.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/51d7fc6b5f764b0e7ffc0f7a5dd774d7c67b54394dc1ef6ef7340460cd825ab3.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/515e2aec7920a5deba75c37b56241792335be79efec9ae27fbcd1a5a8a7493b3.file
“Humans will build one structure, leave it there, and hope it lasts for many decades. Beavers, on the other hand, build little, tiny dams where they’re needed and flexibly manage what’s going on with the water in their environment.” https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/08/beavers-climate-resilient-watersheds-biodiversity-research https://hell.twtr.plus/media/fb1f62671a659150c955fda228cd3278d5317888f68c2d062450dda431483268.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/c416380e85b2ca6442f4e10312f0f5086e3245102d83b48d551e9ec123b50a90.file