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Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
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29 Sep, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Why did Khmer and Mesoamerican cities collapse between 900-1500 while more rural surroundings survived unharmed? The common theme seems to be a long term investment in soil and water management resources. Meanwhile, us moderns are doing nothing of this. sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/n…
Link to study: pnas.org/content/118/40…
The ancient cities that survived for more than half a millennia all had two things in common: they took relatively good care of their surrounding forests and soils and they did not hesitate to pour any amount of resources, land, effort, labor into securing good and healthy water.
I was in Northern Japan during the 2011 mega-quake and the impression it left with me most is that we are truly screwed if we try to approach natural disasters and climate change from the wrong perspective or scale. I want to prep a city of 76,000, not an individual or the Globe.

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Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
26 Sep
The (by now) legendary S:t Eriks neighborhood in Stockholm. Built 1995-1998 on 0.06km² with 770 apartments, parks, public places, giving it a population density far higher than modern Manhattan. The whole area was uniformly built in the hugely popular 1920s "Swedish Grace" style.
The area used to be the site of a large hospital, and some buildings were kept, some moved, like the handsome chapel building of the former hospital which now serves as a neighborhood church.
Most buildings follow the successful 5-7 stories of human scaled urbanism but there's two towers that form a portal leading into the neighborhood from a charming park area by the "Orphanage Bay" (named after the orphanage of the old hospital).
Read 4 tweets
Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
23 Sep
Foraging trip today. Great work for children. Here's five minutes of Juglans ailantifolia, Japanese Walnut (lit. demon walnut, onigurumi, on account of its devilishly hard shell). In most of them the husk had completely rotted away saving us much labor. Image
Another bonus of waiting until the husk has rotted away is that you let squirrels have the first pick (they tens to go for the smaller ones you don't want anyway with a thinner shell). Here are empty walnut shells discarded underneath a tree with a squirrel nest. Squirrel tracks! Image
Here's a large stand of egoma (Perilla frutescens, or Korean perilla). The leaves are great in salads, as garnish or as tempura or in sauces. A couple of weeks more and they'll be seeding: makes for good lamp oil! All indoor lighting in Japan used to be egoma oil until 19th c. Image
Read 7 tweets
Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
18 Sep
Instead of spending your home improvement money on a silly wood deck, consider fixing your chimney and making sure your wood stove works while there still is time. ft.com/content/7c31ca…
If you can't make a fire at home, consider buying a large box of tea lights. They're not much more expensive than electric heaters and surprisingly good in a pinch.
A hanten is good for working at home in 5-15°C (41-59F), or in Europe, a comfy sweater will save you tons of money come winter.
Read 4 tweets
Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
17 Sep
Know your bricks. The vertical thickness of a brick wall is measured in wythes. Almost everything gets better with a thicker wall: sound and heat insulation, thermal mass, longevity, etc. Say the words "triple wythe" to a trad architect or a mason and check out the goosebumps.
A single wythe wall can have a structural purpose as well as acting as a wall. However, a single wythe wall that does not have any structural purpose is called a veneer. Two single wythe walls with a cavity in between are called a double brick wall or a cavity wall, as below:
As thicker walls are stronger (and heavier), it is common to reduce the number of wythes the further up you go. This ex-bank and office, now museum, in Tokyo was built in 2004 with an average of six wythes between all floors and the basement. It will be around for awhile.
Read 5 tweets
Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
16 Sep
Recently given UNESCO protection status, the city of Al-Salt in Jordania, famous for its 1890-1920s historic core of Ottoman era townhouses. Built on three hillsides around a central valley by Christians and Muslims with Italian and local labor to a Nazareth-Napolitan vernacular.
Originally funded in 300 B.C. by Greek soldiers the town was razed by Mongolian armies in the 13th c. For centuries it was a Christian-Muslim enclave isolated on an important trade route surrounded by hostile tribes. Cooperation was the only way they could survive.
In the late 19th c. the city grew as the most important way point between the eastern and the western deserts. Prospering trade brought wealth to the townspeople who finally submitted to Ottoman rule. It was supposed to become the capital of Jordan but the honor went to Amman.
Read 4 tweets
Wrath Of Gnon Profile picture
16 Sep
Just open the windows.
Back in the old days we built all hospitals and school using natural ventilation to achieve negative air pressure. This means that an airborne infection can't spread throughout the building but instead is ventilated out where it is quickly neutralized by UV light.
You could easily fix modern schools, retirement homes, hospitals, clinics, waiting rooms, libraries etc. to allow for negative air pressure by inviting an HVAC engineer and a carpenter. Many hospitals all over did this in 2020, quietly (many govs still don't ack. airborne covid).
Read 5 tweets

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