#Cathy’s Greenhouse

[thecraftingwell]

ROLIFE Cathy’s Flower House with LED light Dollhouse Kit – DG104

ROLIFE Cathy’s Flower House with LED light Dollhouse Kit – DG104

Description

Are you a fan of detailed miniature hobby crafts? Or are you in search of the perfect DIY miniature house project? The DIY 3D Wooden Puzzle Miniature House: Cathy’s Flower House by Hands Craft is your excellent choice. Cathy’s Flower House is inspired by all those astounding garden houses you see in movies, tv shows or the most luxurious properties. Immensely detailed and impressively designed, the result is a gorgeous flower house that you may use as an exquisite décor piece. It mimics a well-designed transparent glass greenhouse, like a dream garden house in real life! The transparent greenhouse is full of flowers and plants. Everyone stops to gather his thoughts, flips a page, or takes a sip of coffee and enjoys free time.

Specifications

Scale: 1:18

Assembled Size: 195*175*175mm

Weight: 800g

Theme: DIY craft kit

Pieces: 231 PCS

Package included: Precutting wooden pieces, PVC, English instruction, Warm light strings, Auxiliary tools ( screwdriver and small parts)

Main materials: Wood, Paper, Metal

Recommended age: 14+

Estimated assembly time:  About 12 hours

This is every miniature collector's dream. An entirely self-constructed miniature greenhouse that you can call your very own.

It features a very detailed interior design, with plants that are designed with realism in mind. It also lights up in the dark with a flick of the switch.

Every collector's must-have, Cathy's Flower House is a great addition to your collection!

Note: Due to customs policy, glue, battery, or pigment may not be included in the package.

Postage Information

All our scale model orders are shipped via Royal Mail tracked 48 for domestic post and International Tracked for all overseas orders. All items are sent wherever possible on the next available working day. Our kits are packaged in cardboard boxes with recycled/recyclable packing materials. We at times wherever possible use recycled boxes and paper in order to have as lower environmental impact as possible.

[finnleyshortstuff]

It's finished! The Percy residence has been build . They'll be taking care of the miniature greenhouse💚

[snailspng]

Random PNGs, part 83

(1. Cathy Vaugn art / 2. Rabbit incense burner / 3. Animal face ornament / 4. Obsidian arrowhead / 5. Bronze bird / 6. Fire agate / 7. Honeycomb opal / 8. “Greenhouse” / 9. Rusted doll head)

[beardedmrbean]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) didn't report a staggering $7 billion in award-level obligations and outlays during fiscal year 2022, according to an inspector general audit released this week.

The EPA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) determined that the agency underreported its award-level outlays by $5.8 billion, or 99.9%, and its award-level obligations by $1.2 billion, or 12.9% during FY22, the period between October 2021 and September 2022. The agency further failed to report any of its Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act outlays and under-reported its coronavirus pandemic-related outlays.

"The lack of complete and accurate reporting also led to taxpayers being initially misinformed about the EPA’s spending, and policy-makers who relied on the data may not have been able to effectively track federal spending," the OIG report concluded.

In response to the audit, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., blasted the EPA and called for increased transparency into its activities. 

"It’s outrageous and unacceptable that the EPA cannot keep track of its spending or inform Congress — and the American people — of how it is using taxpayer dollars," McMorris Rodgers said in a statement Thursday. "This eye-opening report only further highlights the need for more transparency at the EPA."

"It also raises questions about whether the agency is incapable of managing its record-high budget or if the agency is attempting to hide the amount of taxpayer dollars it is spending to advance the administration’s radical rush-to-green agenda," she added. "The Energy and Commerce Committee will continue holding this administration accountable for its actions that are driving up costs across the board and hurting Americans."

MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT SIGNED NDA INVOLVING CCP-TIED COMPANY, DOCUMENTS SHOW, CONTRADICTING HER PAST CLAIMS

The EPA ultimately corrected its FY22 figures in May 2023 as a result of the OIG audit while making configuration changes a month later. Overall, the inspector general made five recommendations which it said the agency agreed to make.

The report, meanwhile, comes as the EPA both manages a massive green energy fund and continues to request a larger budget. The Inflation Reduction, Democrats' massive climate and tax bill passed in 2022, created the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which in turn establishes a national green bank to fund green projects nationwide.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS OPEN PROBE INTO BIDEN ADMIN FOR OPENING PUBLIC LANDS TO FOREIGN OWNERSHIP

And the White House is requesting that Congress approve a FY24 EPA budget of more than $12 billion, a record level. Republicans have aimed to reduce the EPA budget to about $6 billion, which would be the agency's smallest budget since the early 1990s.

"The Biden administration is using EPA as a pass through for taxpayer dollars to fund left-wing groups that aim to get Democrats elected, not improve the environment," Mandy Gunasekara, a Heritage Foundation visiting fellow who served as the EPA's chief of staff during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.

"A failure to report $7 billion is absurd and unacceptable, but also symbolic of how Team Biden operates: prioritizing their political goals over the needs of the American people," she continued. "I’m glad Chair Rodgers is monitoring this and hope the committee brings forth the agency’s Chief Financial Officer to account for this serious oversight."

The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[zappak]

Ludovic Medery [L'ombre blanche]

Release date: June 02, 2023 Catalog no. zappak-005

https://zappak.bandcamp.com/album/lombre-blanche

[Tracklist] 1. Dérive n°1: Le port [10:54] 2. Dérive n°2: Frottements [10:16] 3. Dérive n°3: Derrière la serre [10:00] 4. Dérive n°4: L'église [10:11]

Excerpt: https://soundcloud.com/zappak/zappak-005

In this work, the exploration of my sound library is central. Recordings made during my travels and walks for over 20 years. The desire was then to create compositions entirely made for and with the support of the tape recorder, the magnetic tape and the microphone. As the work of composition progresses, drifts have seen the light of day. Drifts of places, spaces and times. The rest of the trip could be made thanks to the microphones and the different materials and objects found during these trips. Sound bodies that I had the pleasure of vibrating to capture all their musicality.

Composed, recorded, mixed and mastered by Ludovic Medery between July 2021 and January 2023 Artwork by Ludovic Medery Thanks to Cathy, Sylvain, Xavier, Daniel, ma famille.

—–

Ludovic Medery in Belgium had been working on a creation under the theme of a possibility of a tape recorder and field recordings since around 2021. Medery had been gathering various objects such as stones and dead plants in various locations, and recorded environmental and object sounds. After this process, he made this work named "L'ombre blanche (white shadow)". It consists of four pieces, 'Le port (The port)', 'Frottements (Friction)', 'Derrière la serre (Behind the greenhouse)', and 'l’église (The church)'. Medery did a live mixing by an improvised tape manipulation to make each material dismantle, and we can barely imagine its fragment. Behind fine sounds and tape manipulating noise moving, there are various kinds of concrete sounds such as human voices, a bell in a church, bird calls, sounds of something rubbing, and some more... As deep as listening carefully, our sense of listening is sharpened and we might not be able to stop expanding our imaginations.

ベルギーで活動するLudovic Mederyは、2021年頃からテープ・レコーダーの可能性とフィールド・レコーディングを題材とした制作に取り組んでいた。Mederyはさまざまな場所で石や枯れた植物などのオブジェクトを集め、録音をおこなっていった。そうして作り上げられた本作は[L'ombre Blanche (白い影)]と名付けられ、'Le port (港)'、'Frottements (摩擦)'、'Derrière la serre (温室のかたわらで)'、L'église (教会)'という4つのピースから構成された。 それぞれの音源は即興的なテープ・マニピュレーションによってライブ・ミキシングされ、かろうじて原型を想像できる程度にまで解体されている。微細な物音やテープ操作によるノイズがうごめくなかその隙間に聞こえてくるのは、人の声や教会の鐘、鳥の鳴き声、なにかの擦れる音、などなど...。聴くほどに聴覚は鋭利になり、聴き手は否応なしに想像力をかき立てられることだろう。

—–

Ludovic Medery

The work of Ludovic Medery, Belgian sound artist, navigates between field recording, concrete music and free improvisation. Listening is central. Without it, nothing can be captured and created. In the studio, as in concert, he uses acoustic and electronic devices. Not hesitating to mix the two in order to sublimate them and explore other sound territories. Using instruments sometimes considered obsolete, handcrafted, Ludovic Medery tends to incorporate all the sounds of the world, to design a practice of listening without prejudice and to capture what is offered to him. ludovicmedery.bandcamp.com

【Reviews】

Vital Weekly: https://zappak.tumblr.com/post/720636478816927744

[angelnumber27]

Making her soon <3

[adventuresofchick]

Yesterday was too wet to be out planting things, so Chick was delighted that I finally finished building her her very own greenhouse. (And I’m trying to contain my jealousy!)

Kit is Cathy’s Flower House by Robotime and it’s only taken me since Christmas of 2018 to finish it...

[aluminescent]

BLACKOUT

“I couldn’t protect him, Dave. Within half a year, I’ve failed him twice.” Aaron balanced his head onto his fingertips.

“You didn’t fail him, Aaron. Not now, and not when Maeve was murdered. We’re a team; no one is at any greater fault than the other for what’s happened . . .”

Aaron let out a heavy, lamenting sigh. “For this unsub—whatever the motivation was before, subjugating a law official is going to give him a transgressive high. Reid’s time with him—however short or long—is going to be unpleasant.”

Peculiarly dismembered men are unearthed in the forest, and the locals request the assistance of more experienced investigators. The profile is complex and mercurial, leaving the team without substantial evidence to work with. So they wait on their perpetrator to ignite a series of events that will supplement their data for assessment. They don’t foresee that data being one of their own. Darkness descends.

And yet.

---

Blackout 39 // Propagate AO3 / FFN

The Greenhouse by Cathy Monnier

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

Squad 312 2.0 - Significant Others

Okay so since I have just finished the last of the Jones-De Seel’s and have more works planned between now and when I will be writing about Evaa, I thought I’d give y’all a rundown of the our favourite kid’s SO’s so far

Lae’s wife = Flora

Flora is Betraskan and her and Lae met while Lae was doing her service with the AL. Flora, much as her name suggests, loves plants and manages to turn her and Lae’s apartment into a mini greenhouse.

Her and Lae are pretty domestic, but also prone to flights of fancy so they occasionally will just disappear and no one can find them for a while.

Rory’s fiancé = Cruz

Cruz is the pretty boy of the Squad’s SO’s (dark hair, dark eyes, Colgate smile) and is actually so nice. He works in a museum and he wears really cute sweater vests that Rory adores. Because he is a bit of a nerd, he is both Fin and Ty’s favourite of the SO’s

He and Rory are the couple that have always been super comfy with each other and the perfect afternoon to them is just strait up cuddling for hours.

Cathy’s husband = Orion

Orion is a Chellerian space pirate so he is quite intimidating on the outside, but he’s actually a bit of a softy. He likes to read and he’s very protective of the people he cares about. He always comes out with the squad bc he’s really good at intimidating creeps away from his wife and her sisters/cousins (even though he knows they can defend themselves.)

Cathy and him are the domestic couple. They were the first to get married and because they do long distance so much, they try not to waste their time with fights that don’t matter.

Dariel’s husband = Cillian

The sweetest of the boys. He’s pretty extroverted and if the Squad goes out, he is the king of knowing where the best spots are to eat, drink or party. He is really family oriented and he cares about the the people he meets but isn’t much of a fighter, so everyone agrees that he must be protected.

When he and Dariel first got together, he always got really tongue tied around Dariel, bc to him, Dariel has literally the perfect combination of genetics. However, he got better at being less tongue tied when he saw Dariel drunkenly defend his choice of vermillion couch

Zila’s partners = Linel and Astra

Despite being an above average intelligence gearhead, Linel is known best as the hotty of his cohort at Aurora Academy. He is very cocky and could flirt the pants off anyone he wants, he just happens to really want Zila and later, Astra.

Astra, despite being able to throw the fuck down at any given moment, is actually really bubbly, kind, and excitable. Very much Golden Retreiver vibes.

The three of them together are chaotic but also very assured. They function like they have been together for decades instead of just a few years.

Steph’s Be’shmai = Kiiraa

Steph is one of the only member of the Squad who was Pulled, which makes Kiiraa one of only two Be’shmai in the fam. Kiiraa is a Warbreed who works with Zila at the Aurora Academy as a Tank instructor and she is really sarcastic and loves some good banter. She is exactly the level of patience, kindness and dominance that Steph wants/needs from a partner.

Steph and her are the softest of our couple’s and love each other with such depth that it’s a lot for everyone else to handle, as is often the nature of the Pull. Only the Gilwraeth siblings really get the force of what Steph and Kiiraa have, so both are very supportive of the couple.

Kal’s Be’shmai = Shae

Sorry, but Jones men exclusively go for WayWalker women, bonus points if they are also tacticians. Shae is another Alpha in the Legion and while she has some emotional damage™ that makes returning feelings difficult, she’s actually really sweet when she wants to be.

She loves chess and her favourite historical strategist is Genghis Khan. Kal charmed her with his glowing personality, Jones dimples and ability to recite Sun Tzu from memory, as well as their shared distaste for poetry. 

Isla’s girlfriend = Henrietta

Henrietta is just really soft and chill. Her door is always open to anyone and she’s so kind. She can get angry but she doesn’t feel it adds anything to her life so it has to be something monumental for it to obviously upset her. She teaches Isla a lot about looking after herself while she looks after others. 

Henrietta is generally Nari and Zila’s favourite child-in-law bc she’s basically an angel.

Ilio’s girlfriend = Allira

Allira is a tattoo artist and is always drawing or writing. Ilio and Allira lie when Nari and Zila ask how they met because then Ilio would have to admit he has a stupid tattoo that he got on a drunken dare with his sisters. 

Allira is definitely the more extraverted of the two but it helps get Ilio out of his shell. Plus they are just heart eyes for each other all the time. Big fans of PDA.

Iris’ boyfriend = Arden

These two pine for each other for f o r e v e r. Obviously there’s a lot of stuff to work through bc Iris is Terran and Arden is Betraskan and it’s not a common or really accepted dynamic but they also don’t want to screw it up because they’re on the same AL Squad

Pick any element of the pining trope and they’ve probably done it. Their squad just wants to lock them in a cupboard so they can get it together.

Anyway if you thoughts, you know where they go!

[mst3kproject]

Battle of the Worlds

Several times on this blog I've featured movies that have more than one title.  In almost every case, the new titles were better than the original one, and this is not an exception.  Battle of the Worlds is fairly bland, but it tells you that you're going to be seeing a movie about some kind of space-based conflict, without giving away the details.  The Italian title was Il Pianeta degli Uomini Spenti, which is a fucking spoiler.

An earlier draft of this review contained a couple of jokes about the classically phallic 60's spacecraft in the movie, but I went back and took those out.  Bezos has really set a whole new standard for Giant Dong Rockets and I can no longer accept anything less.

A group of astronomers have just discovered a rogue planet, which they have dubbed the Outsider, is entering our solar system. Everybody is worried about it hitting Earth except for nasty old misanthrope Professor Benson, who says it'll be a near miss.  As it turns out, nobody's exactly right – the Outsider doesn't hit us, but it doesn't just pass by, either.  Instead, it settles into orbit, and when humanity attempts to explore it, it responds by sending out squadrons of flying saucers to blow our rockets out of its sky!  After one of these crashes on Earth, Benson is able to learn how to deactivate the Outsider’s defences and land on it, where humanity can finally confront its inhabitants... or can we?

Well, if you speak Italian, you already know the answer, because this is The Planet of Extinguished Men. The aliens are all long dead and their spaceship has been following its programming for millions of years without them, including the part telling it to destroy the Earth.  Bummer.

I actually have quite a bit to say about this movie.  It centres around some interesting musings about human emotion and curiosity, though it never comes to any solid conclusions.  As a movie, unfortunately, it's not very well-made.  This is a story in which the world as we know it nearly comes to an end more than once, and yet very little seems to happen in it.

The opening sequence is terribly clumsy and does very little to place you within this world.  We start off with two characters kissing and being excited about starting a new life together, but we have no idea at this point who they are or why they want to leave this place. When the Outsider is discovered, the scientists beat around the bush and try to keep it a secret, even from the audience.  Only Benson is willing to be upfront about it.  This does establish him as a realist while making his colleagues seem spineless, which is what the movie wants, but it's also terribly frustrating for the viewer.

Later there's a sequence in which a craft attempting to land on Mars is nearly destroyed by the gravity of the Outsider, and some quick thinking saves the astronauts' lives, but this is directed like the battle sequences in Invasion of the Neptune Men. We have no idea where any of these craft or planets are in relation to one another, and have to rely on characters sitting at desks to tell us what's happening.  Even worse, we never see the chaos the looming end of the world wreaks on society.  Astronauts who have recently returned to Earth note that they've heard there have been suicides and riots as people fear the Outsider will impact our planet, but we never see any of this.

The movie does a little better later, when the Outsider's close approach causes disastrous tidal forces... these are represented by black and white footage of floods and volcanic eruptions tinted red to try to make it match the rest of the colour film.  As always, this fails, but at least they tried. Other special effects are equally pathetic.  There are the inevitable plastic model kit rockets with their flame exhaust that rises in what's supposed to be a zero-gravity vacuum.  The 'flying saucers' the Outsider launches to defend itself look like nothing so much as giant fried eggs.

The Outsider itself is particularly sad to look at.  They have a model they use for it in a few shots, but this is about on a par with the original MST3K spaghetti ball.  In other shots, the Outsider is represented by a photograph of the Moon.  Absolutely no attempt is made to disguise it, and so of course the effect is a dismal failure because everybody knows what the goddamn Moon looks like. They couldn't even, I don't know, turn it upside-down or something?

On the other hand, the inside of the Outsider is actually pretty cool.  The sets aren't exactly believable, but you can see what they were going for.  Upon entering the caverns, the explorers find themselves in a series of tunnels full of strange red tubes and textures that look more organic than geological. Entering the Outsider is like wandering around within a living organism.  My favourite part of this is that absolutely nothing we see here is comprehensible.  Professor Benson, the genius, claims to be able to figure out what's going on, but his declarations seem arbitrary and nothing we're looking at makes visual sense.  Even the aliens don't look like anything in particular.  Were it not for Benson, we would not recognize them as living (or dead) creatures.

Like First Spaceship on Venus, Battle of the Worlds is much more interested in its ideas than in anything else, including what is supposedly its plot.  The characters are important mostly as the embodiment of those ideas, rather than as people in themselves, and the ideas the movie wants to study are about logic and emotion and how they affect human priorities.

The character of Dr. Fred Steele finds himself facing the potential end of the world, and decides that the most important thing to him in this situation is the love between him and his fiancee, Eve Barnett. Professor Benson, on the other hand, thinks the most important thing is to understand the threat they're facing.  Partly this is so that humanity can save itself from destruction, but knowledge for its own sake is also important.  In between these two men is Eve herself, who thinks love and science are both important and tries to find some middle ground between the two.  This is difficult for her, because Benson wants her to stay at the observatory and assist him, while Fred wants her to leave with him so they can get married.  When Eve tries to convince Fred to stay with her, both men see this as her having chosen Benson, and it poisons the relationships between all three parties.  Only with Benson dead are Eve and Fred able to strike a balance again.

But the movie doesn't want us to think that there is no middle ground.  The movie's other romantic couple are the two scientists from the Mars Base, Bob and Cathy.  They got married because they were both lonely and a psychological evaluation suggested that they had compatible personalities.  As the story progresses, however, they find that they have indeed fallen in love and want a future together that would include things like children – but this is ultimately denied to them, as Cathy is crushed by falling debris while exploring the Outsider.

Benson dies when insists on staying aboard the Outsider to try to decode its computers despite the fact that the military is about to destroy the entire object.  As the others escape, Fred intones the movie's beauty killed the beast line: “poor Benson, if they opened his chest they'd find a formula where his heart should be.”  And yet Benson died happy – as the Outsider explodes he is triumphant in his ability to understand its secrets, and laughing at the foolishness and cowardice of his fellow man.  It is the survivors who are miserable, mourning the loss of Benson himself as well as of Cathy, whose death was entirely meaningless.

I'm not sure what the movie is trying to tell us about these different approaches to life.  It seems to present them as ultimately incompatible, that attempts to give logic and emotion equal weight can only end in tears.  Only Benson, who was unswerving in his devotion to science, is ultimately satisfied. Perhaps the take-home message is that whatever your principles are, happiness lies in following them to their conclusion.

There's a second message, too, in different approaches to science itself. Modern physicists will often describe themselves as either theoretical or experimental... the two fields do compliment each other, but they often take place in different rooms, and one will be seen as leading the way for the other.  The search for the Higgs Boson was theory-led: people were pretty sure it existed, they just had to find it.  A great deal of astrophysics, however, is result-led: what we see tells us that there are things going on, like dark matter and dark energy, that we know nothing about, and the theorists must do their best to figure it out.

For most of his life, Benson has been a theorist.  He sits in his greenhouse chalking on the floors, spinning theories out of other people's results or out of pure mathematics.  Until the arrival of the Outsider, he had no interest in going out and exploring or experimenting.  But it quickly becomes clear to him that he cannot understand the Outsider through pure theory, as his calculations cannot account for the decisions of its makers.  In order to know it, he must see it for himself, so he grandly announces his intention to leave his 'den'.  Nobody ever asks him if it was worth it, but his maniacal smile at the moment of his death suggests that it was.

Battle of the Worlds had potential to be a really interesting movie, but ultimate the way its shot and edited make it mainly a very dull one.  Like its own characters, it fails to find the balance it needed.

[ludwigplayingthetrombone]

also, anyone who wondered which kit that was, it’s called “cathy’s greenhouse diy”

[kiarcheo]

Do you have any headcanon for six you can share?

Don’t have many fixed headcanons, as they change depending on which AU I’m thinking about. I can offer some of those if you’d like.

One of my latest ideas had been: what if instead of living together, the queens are just working together, but because of Covid-19 restrictions and rules the only way for them to continue doing the show is to form a bubble?

Didn’t really go far and couldn’t come up with a proper story, but here are some thoughts/headcanons.

Under the cut because it got kinda long.

The queens are already close, working long hours day in and day out side by side will do that, but when they move in together, they find out new things about each other.

Like the fact that Catalina is a minimalist. People often think that because she is ‘the paragon of royalty’, coming from a royal family to be part of another one, then becoming a queen and being one for 24 years, she is used to the finest things in life, and lots of them. While she does have high standards, she very much values quality over quantity. She knows what she likes, and most importantly, what she needs, and she’ll get that and nothing more. Whether it’s clothes or objects or anything else, she will rarely bother with something that it’s superfluous and will only clutter her world (unless it has sentimental value, then it’s another matter). When she moves in, she has like half of the baggage the others have.  

Anne loves plants and has a knack for gardening. She jokes that she has not only green sleeves, but also green thumbs. She moves in bringing all her potted plants and she places them all around the house depending on the sun exposure, humidity and general environment they require. She takes over the back garden, the conservatory and the allotment that came with the house. She is one of the main supporters of their move together to be permanent even after restrictions ease...now that she got a taste of proper gardening in proper spaces, she doesn’t want to go back to have to make a jungle out of a flat.

Jane’s memory is phenomenal. She always knows which fan gave her which gift, what they told her last time they interacted on social media or at stage door, who runs which account. If a queen mentions something in passing once, she will remember it months later. She is easily the best at giving gifts. Anne complaining that she can’t properly grow whatever plant in her flat? One year later, Jane gets the seeds for her to plant in the garden. Anna mentioning that a recipe would actually call for another vegetable, which however isn’t in season and it’s not that easy to find in England? Jane will wait until it is season and scour through farmers markets until she finds it. But it’s also smaller things. Like Kat muttering aloud, making a comment to herself while looking at the tips of her hair, that she needs to remember to buy hair dye. Next time Jane is out shopping, she will get it, even if it’s not on the shopping list and even if Kat herself has forgotten about it. Groceries with Jane always blows the others’ minds, because she will stop them from getting something saying that she has seen an ad from another supermarket that has the same product for 30p less or a bigger pack for the same price. She is always right. Pretty much, if Jane sees or hears something once, she will remember it.

Anna loves cooking (and baking). If she is sad, she cooks. If she is happy, she cooks. If she is stressed, she cooks. If she needs to relax, she cooks. If she needs to think something over, if she needs to distract herself, if she wants to celebrate, if...anything, Anna’s solution is cooking. And having five other people to cook for is absolute heaven for her. Before moving in together she would bring stuff to the theatre, but there were a lot of limitations. Had to be already in single portions, not needing to be kept in the fridge or heated up, not messy. But now...now she has free rein. And she is having the time of her life (and the others are always up for trying anything she comes up with). She teams up with Anne to create a herbs garden so that she has them fresh, and when the move becomes permanent, they decide together which vegetables to grow in the allotment. She asks Jane advice when cooking because while she can remember that Kat doesn’t like the texture of beans but doesn’t mind the taste and will accommodate to that, Jane will remember that Cathy mentioned once how she prefers red peppers over yellow ones, with the green ones being her least favourite.

If there is a problem at the house, anything to fix...the first port of call is Kat. From fixing a light flickering by sorting out the faulty wiring with just screwdrivers and scissors to replacing the door seal of the washing machine, from leaky faucets to doors not closing properly or getting stuck, or even toilet not flushing properly, chances are that Kat will know how to fix it or will be able to figure it out how. It had started the first times she had problems at her flat: she had gone online to see 1) if it was actually a problem and not something very simple to fix (like when she had a power outage and found out that it was just a circuit overload and all she had to do was unplug stuff and flip the switches back on) and 2) how she could explain what was wrong when calling someone to fix it and what to expect from them in terms of time, costs, etc. Most of the time she found tutorials and explanations step-by-step on how to fix it...so she started to try to do it herself. And she found out she is quite good at it, and she likes it too, both the fixing part and the learning how things work. And if it meant avoiding having to let random men in her flat...she was all for it. The next step was trying her hand at DIY since she likes manual work but thankfully stuff does not break all the time. Her biggest project to date is a small greenhouse and an irrigation system for Anne.

Cleaning is for Cathy similar to what cooking is for Anna. If she is stressed, worried, upset...she cleans. If she needs to clear her mind, she cleans. If she is stuck on something, she cleans. Her room is spotless most of the time. But also, it’s just one room, so it doesn’t take long for her to expand her reach. Nobody complains about it. They also learn that there are different levels to her cleaning sprees. Dusting and wiping surfaces are routine. Vacuuming and washing the floors are normal. If she is cleaning the windows, there are reasons to start to get worried. If she has her head in the oven, proceed with caution: scrubbing forcefully at its walls is an outlet for her anger, but if interrupted, it might be directed at you.

[finnleyshortstuff]

Today on stream I started building the miniature greenhouse I got for Christmas \o/

I'll probably be back tomorrow for more, because this is too cute and I am hooked. Might have to put some others on the wishlist soon.

[architectnews]

Ten ways in which architecture is addressing climate change

To honour Earth Day, we've rounded up 10 ways architects are reshaping the built environment to benefit both people and the planet.

Architecture has a large environmental impact, with the built environment accounting for 40 per cent of the UK's carbon emissions in 2019, according to the UK Green Building Council.

With a 2018 United Nations report warning that humanity now has less than 10 years to slow down global warming, the architecture industry is one of many to have been forced to reassess the ways in which it works.

From reducing waste and maximising urban greenery to collaboration and lobbying for change, solutions to reduce pressure on the planet are now taking centre stage.

Read on for 10 ways in which architects can contribute to a healthier planet:

Building with timber

Wood has been used to build structures throughout history. However, there has been a recent resurgence in its popularity as a construction material, due to its sustainability credentials and improvements in engineered timbers such as cross-laminated timber (CLT).

One of the biggest benefits of building with timber is that it can sequester large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and store it within a building for as long as it stands. This can help achieve carbon-negative buildings by offsetting the carbon emissions generated through construction and operation.

It is for this reason that 3XN will use wood as the primary material in its extension for Hotel GSH in Bornholm (above) while Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios will use CLT for an office in London.

Going carbon-neutral

Making buildings carbon-neutral or, better still, carbon-negative architecture is a key concern for many architects today.

The terminology around this push is confusing but, generally speaking, a net carbon-neutral building is one that does not contribute any CO2 to the atmosphere over its lifetime, taking into account its construction, the materials used to build it plus the resources required to run it and decommission it.

A carbon-negative building is one that removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits over its lifetime, including the operational carbon generated by the heat and power the building consumes as well as the embodied carbon released by the extraction, manufacture and transportation of construction materials.

Confusingly, the term "carbon positive" is also used to describe the same thing as "carbon negative".

Examples of carbon-neutral architecture include Mikhail Riches' housing project in York that will utilise air-source heat pumps and solar panels to reduce emissions when complete.

Carbon negative buildings include Snøhetta's Powerhouse Telemark office (above), which will generate enough surplus energy during its operation to more than compensate for both the operational and embedded carbon emitted over its lifetime.

Rewilding

Rewilding has seen a surge of interest recently as people realise that natural ecosystems are disappearing, taking with them the biodiversity that supports life on earth.

Rewilding is an approach to restoring ecosystems that let nature get on with the work itself with minimum human interference.

For architects, this offers the opportunity to take biodiversity into account both when landscaping their projects and when choosing materials, to ensure their extraction and manufacture do not lead to the depletion of natural resources.

Projects that support rewilding include architect Carl Turner's DUT18 creative retreat in the Cotswolds region of England, which will sit in a partially rewilded landscape.

Writing for Dezeen last year, architect Christina Monteiro called for a strategy to rewild cities both to increase biodiversity and to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens.

Meeting Passivhaus standards

Since its origin in the 1990s, the Passivhaus energy performance standard has become one of the best-known ways to create sustainable architecture.

Awarded by the non-profit organisation the Passivhaus Trust, the standard encourages buildings that have high levels of insulation and airtightness so that they require minimal artificial heating and cooling.

Mikhail Riches and Cathy Hawley won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2019 with its high-density Goldsmith Street social housing scheme (above) after designing it to meet Passivhaus standards. The win was celebrated widely, with London studio Architype stating the win "puts Passivhaus in the spotlight – exactly where it needs to stay".

Speaking to Dezeen, Sophie Cole of Mikhail Riches said that Passivhaus design can also provide "a great basis for [zero-carbon architecture] because Passivhaus already really reduces that energy requirement".

Reversible design

Reversible architecture ensures entire buildings can be deconstructed at the end of their life and their components reused meaning no components go to waste.

Adam Strudwick of Perkins and Will described this to Dezeen as making "every building as a kind of DIY store for the next project".

Recent examples include Triodos Bank by RAU Architects and Ex Interiors (above), a "large scale, 100 per cent wooden, remountable office building" and a pavilion built by Overtreders W and Bureau SLA made from reusable construction materials.

BakerBrown Studio recently turned heads with its proposal to build a reusable pavilion for the Glyndebourne opera house using timber, mycelium and discarded champagne corks and seafood shells, all of which are reusable, recyclable or biodegradable.

Creating reversible architecture aligns with the aims of a circular economy – a closed-loop system where all materials are reused to eliminate any waste. Creating buildings that can be dissembled means that their components can be reused on other projects.

Encore Heureux, a studio that built a pavilion from reclaimed doors, said the idea is that "one person's waste becomes another's resources".

Non-extractive architecture

Non-extractive architecture is a term coined by Italian research studio Space Caviar to express the idea that buildings should not exploit the planet or people.

"Non-extractive architecture questions the assumption that building must inevitably cause some kind of irreversible damage or depletion somewhere – preferably somewhere else – and the best we can do as architects is limit the damage done," explained Space Caviar co-founder Joseph Grima in an interview with Dezeen.

The idea is expanded upon in a manifesto written by Space Caviar that calls on architects to design buildings that do not deplete the earth's natural resources.

An exhibition alongside the manifesto is currently being held at cultural foundation V–A–C in Venice and Grima is joining Dezeen later today to further expand on the ideals of non-extractive architecture.

Biomimicry

Another way in which architecture could help combat climate change is by making use of biomimicry, an approach that emulates natural systems such as coral reefs (above).

This can lead to extremely efficient structures that minimise the use of materials as well as potentially replicating beneficial processes such as the way plants use photosynthesis to turn atmospheric carbon into cellulose and other compounds.

According to architect Michael Pawlyn, entire cities could help stop climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere by mimicking the process of bio-mineralisation, by which lifeforms such as micro-organisms in the sea turn carbon into limestone and other carbon-rich minerals.

"We need to find ways of using materials that take carbon out of the atmosphere," he told Dezeen. "Can we learn from biology to design a built environment that has a net positive impact?"

Restorative architecture

Restorative architecture, also known as regenerative architecture, refers to structures that have a positive impact on the environment.

Biomimetic architect Pawyln cites this as a key way that architects can help tackle the multiple environmental challenges of today, believing that architecture that "just mitigates negatives" is not going far enough.

His studio, Exploration Architecture, has demonstrated these ideals through The Sahara Forest Project in Qatar (above) – a seawater-cooled greenhouse that replicates a Namibian fog-basking beetle's physiology to harvest fresh water in the desert. Any excess water it makes is used to revegetate the surrounding landscape.

Retrofitting

Retrofitting, or upgrading, is typically carried out to improve the energy efficiency and thermal performance of a building, reducing its dependence on heating and cooling, or to update a structure that may otherwise be torn down.

By prioritising the improvement of existing building stock over demolition, architects can keep materials – and the embodied carbon they contain – in use for longer, delaying the additional emissions produced by demolition.

Last month French architects Lacaton & Vassal, who are key exponents of retrofitting, won this year's Pritzker Prize for Architecture for their "commitment to a restorative architecture".

Other exponents include Sarah Wigglesworth, who proved the value of retrofit in the recent overhaul of her straw bale house in London (above), which has resulted in a 62 per cent reduction of its annual carbon dioxide emissions.

Elsewhere, architect Piers Taylor retrofitted his own off-grid home by upgrading all of its external fabric to meet Passivhaus standards in response to improvements in technology.

Establishing climate action groups

Architects are also addressing the impact of the built environment on the planet through grassroots initiatives such as climate action groups, in which they can raise awareness and share knowledge about climate change.

At the forefront of the industry is Architects Declare, which a group of Stirling Prize-winning architecture firms launched to call on all UK architects to adopt a "shift in behaviour". It has a growing network of signatories across the world that collaborate through virtual events.

Another example is the UK-based group Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), which is lobbying for more demanding legislation in the UK.

It recently launched a campaign demanding embodied carbon regulation and founded a student-focused arm that is helping combat climate negligent teaching in architecture schools.

The post Ten ways in which architecture is addressing climate change appeared first on Dezeen.

[justhereforthesherlock]

DIY Miniature greenhouse – Robotime Cathy's Flower House

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[politics-notmything]

If it’s true what they say

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

Tw- Anne says fuck twice

For some reason, after around five years of this, Anne has not yet learned her lesson. Once again, she had woken up and instantly shot out of bed upon reading the face of the clock, which indicated it was ten minutes until the end of breakfast. Although, while she still hasn’t figured out how to wake up early, she has mastered the art of getting ready in a flash. After rolling out of bed, she had to quickly locate wherever the fuck her uniform was (usually on the floor) and throw it on. Oftentimes, she didn’t even bother to change out of her pyjamas and was just able to cover them with her long, black robes. Today was one of those days. It’s not like anyone would notice, anyway. She could always go back up to her dorm room later, during a free period or lunch, to properly change. Next came rapidly brushing her teeth and hair all while tugging on her socks, then shoes. Once that was done, she could run (more like fall) up the steps of the Slytherin common room and dash into the Great Hall. And that’s the step she was at now.

             Out of breath and panting heavily, ANNE reached the Great Hall with five minutes to spare. She quickly located Kitty sitting at their usual spot at the Hufflepuff table, and she flopped down next to her friend. Anne grabbed some toast and eggs, making a quick breakfast sandwich, and took a bite out of it. As she chewed, she took the two hair ties from around her wrist and quickly pulled her hair into her typical messy spacebuns.

Next to her, Katherine was finishing off the last of her orange juice while listening to another Jane Seymour describe the wild dream she had last night. Anne was only able to catch a few words of the story. Something about Henry VII and his SIX wives? It made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but Kitty seemed to be dying from laughter, so she supposed it’d be funnier if she’d actually heard the whole story. Speaking of, that reminded her, she still had to force Kat to watch High School Musical with her. For some reason, Katherine has not yet watched the iconic movie trilogy featuring the one and only Zac Efron and Anne made a quick mental note to make Kitty watch it with her once they were home for the holidays.

Once Jane had finished their tale, Kat turned towards Anne, tears of laughter still in her eyes.

“G’morning, Annie,” she chuckled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “You missed the owls again. Your dad sent you a letter.” From her robes, she pulled a white envelope with “ANNE BOLEYN” written on the front in her dad’s messy scrawl. Ever since her first year, her father has sent her a letter each week, checking up on her and it almost always ended with him screaming at her. More often than not, Kat technically got the letter and then proceeded to pass it along to her.

Anne took the letter from Kat and opened it, accidentally ripping the envelope as always. Her eyes quickly scanned over the parchment paper as Kitty peered over her shoulder. Most of the letter contained the typical stuff, although her dad also asked how the Quidditch match had gone. Upon reading that, Anne let out an audible groan and jammed it back into the envelope, then into the pocket of her robes. Great. On the bright side, he was usually pretty forgiving about Anne’s antics as long as it wasn’t extremely out of line.

As the clock struck eight a.m., students began filing out of the Great Hall and heading towards their first classes. Hurriedly, Anne scooped the remnants of her sandwich in a napkin and ran to catch up with Kat who had already started walking away from the table.

================================

Twirling a stick between her gloved hands, Anne watched the flower before her intently, only half-listening to whatever Sprout was lecturing them about. She’d only caught the introduction to the class’s activity, caring for Fanged Geraniums or something like that, before she became more interested in the magical flower and zoned out. Currently, her assigned plant was attempting to snap at the stick with its rows of sharp teeth.

“Fuck,” she quietly cursed. Katherine had just elbowed her, drawing her attention fro just a moment away from the Geranium. It seized the opportunity and used the distraction as a chance to finally nip at her fingers. Thankfully, Anne was able to swiftly draw her hand back in time before she lost any vital body parts and glared at her friend. “What the hell?”

The younger girl said nothing and just tilted her head towards Sprout who was now pacing around the greenhouse as she talked, getting increasingly closer to the pair. Immediately, Anne dropped the stick, which the Fanged Geranium gladly gobbled up, and tried her best to look as if she’d been listening the whole time.

Professor Sprout looked at her with raised eyebrows but didn’t make a move to call her out about it. “Alright now, get to work, class.”

As soon as she said that, Anne turned to Kitty. “Okay, so, what the fuck are we supposed to do?”

“Annie, why do you never pay attention?” Kat asked, already starting to tend to her plant. It was clear from her tone that it was meant to be a rhetorical question. “You know this is going to be on the O.W.L.s, right?”

“I dunno,” Anne responded, watching Kat’s actions and attempting to replicate them with her own Geranium. Somehow, she must’ve gotten it right because the plant stopped snapping at her hands whenever they got close to it. “I just can’t, y'know?”

“Sure, Anne,” Kitty said, sarcastically, and looked up from what she was doing, turning her attention to the Slytherin. Her gaze shifted downward, to the now passive plant in front of Anne. “What the heck, how? You weren’t even listening.”

The Boleyn girl stared back at her friend with a somewhat smug expression on her face and looked back down at the Fanged Geranium, grinning.

===========================

Yawning, Boleyn drummed her fingers against the round Divination table as she did her best to follow Professor Trelawney’s ramblings. Quite frankly, though, she couldn’t care less about whatever the fuck her dreams meant. Half the time, she can’t even remember what happens in them. But, older students said Divination would be an easy class so here she was. They were mostly right. All the homework was just taking some shit she saw and then making it more dramatic. Thinking about candles? Write about how Hogwarts burned down in your dream journal. Simple.

Really, the hardest part about the subject was having to endure over an hour of Trelawney’s lessons every other day. She would always talk about weird, “prophetic” shit like reading tea leaves or seeing visions. Anne didn’t understand any of that crap, and quite frankly didn’t care, either. There were two kinds of people when it came to Trelawney. Most didn’t believe any of the bullshit she spewed, but there were a handful of students that hung on each and every word no matter how ridiculous.

Anne looked at Kat for a moment before grabbing a piece of parchment out of her bag and scribbling a note, then sliding it across the table to the Hufflepuff.

Would u rather-

Sit through 100 hours of Binns or 100 hours of this bullshit w T?

Kitty glanced at Anne with a slight smile tugging at her lips, then began to write a response. Depends on the day. Sometimes Trelawney lets us drink tea.

Anne grinned, shaking her head. Of course, Kitty could find the good in Trelawney’s dumb classes.

At least the ghost dude actually teaches us shit though.

Kat rolled her eyes slightly and leaned down to respond, but they both heard an annoyed huff come from behind them. It was Catherine Parr. Anne turned around and gave her a look that clearly said, “What the hell are you looking at, smartass?”

Cathy turned to her best friend who was sitting beside her, to borrow a quill and quickly wrote something neatly on a scrap of parchment, then proceeded to hand it to Anne with a condescending look.

Stop passing notes, it's really distracting.

Anne glared quickly before scribbling a response.

Hypocrite.

She dropped the paper in front of Cathy, then, without a second glance, turned back to Kat, who was finishing up the last word of her note.

But Trelawney knows stuff about divination, remember that one time she predicted that you would fall in love with a girl who’s name started with an ‘M’, then a few weeks later you started majorly crushing on this girl named Maggie?

Anne smiled slightly, the glitterball was, of course, right. She tended to be right at that sort of thing. Every now and then, Trelawney had a moment of clarity in which her predictions turned out to be correct. They never quite ended up the way you’d expect them to though. Instead of responding to Kitty’s last comment, Anne wrote, 

Catherine is pissing me off. She just gave me the fucking stink eye.

Kitty frowned, shaking her head. 

Which one?

Anne nodded in understanding as Catherine of Aragon and Catherine Parr both sat behind them.

The smart one... who’s also kinda hot.

She scribbled out the last part.

Anne was about to continue on, but a particular voice piped up from behind them. “Excuse me, Professor? Anne and Katherine Howard have been passing notes for the past fifteen minutes and it’s been very distracting to me and others sitting near them.”

Parr. Of fucking course, it was Cathy who would call them out. Anne felt a flash of anger and annoyance but held her tongue. After the whole “losing the first Quidditch match of the year” ordeal, Anne had been careful to avoid getting in too much trouble, and she knew that if she responded to the Ravenclaw, it would only get increasingly worse for her.

Professor Trelawney turned her head to face Boleyn, with a look of distaste on her face. Anne wasn’t very well-liked by many of the professors, except maybe Madame Hooch. She was particularly good at flying and Kitty’s talent with Charms meant that when they were learning Incendio, she was among one of the first to conjure up a stream of fire. 

“Ooooooh,” a handful of the other students called out.

Another one, in particular (it sounded like Anna of Cleves) shouted “Exposed!” Anne flushed red with embarrassment.

“Ah, oh. Um, five points from the both of you,” It was clear that Trelawney wasn’t going to make it a big deal; it wasn’t often that she doled out punishments to students. But, it was more than enough to fuel the anger inside of the gremlin.

Anne spun around to give Cathy a death glare, to which Cath returned with a fake smile and a shrug of her shoulders. She then rotated in her seat towards Kat, who had pointedly turned to face Trelawney, clearly not wanting to lose any more points. Rolling her eyes, Anne followed Kitty’s lead and tried to listen to whatever the hell the nutso professor was going on about.