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The Map is Mostly Water

The Map is Mostly...
Careful technology Dear friends, There is a commonplace opinion that technology and the natural world, or that...
8 months ago
119
8 months ago
Dear friends, There is a commonplace opinion that technology and the natural world, or that technological pursuits and natural pursuits, are at odds. An example: I think this is a false position. But if this kind of sentiment is so often repeated, its worth thinking about why it...
The Map is Mostly...
Why Buy a House (or Land)? A lesson in ignoring economics
9 months ago
The Map is Mostly...
[subscribers only] Office Hours & Tidings The Map is Mostly Water Office Hours are open For about 2 days. What do you need feedback or advice...
9 months ago
84
9 months ago
The Map is Mostly Water Office Hours are open For about 2 days. What do you need feedback or advice on, what questions do you have, what secret trouble stirs thy breast? Feel free to ask about house design, New Hampshire, philosophy, parenting, or anything else you want to...
The Map is Mostly...
July 4, 2024 Happy Independence Day my dear American friends. We are very lucky to have this country. Let us...
7 months ago
82
7 months ago
Happy Independence Day my dear American friends. We are very lucky to have this country. Let us always be grateful for it. And let us always remember that good things are created not when people decide they have claims against an institution or a society, but when they have...
The Map is Mostly...
Small Spaces notes on building blocks
10 months ago
The Map is Mostly...
Efforts and Goals and Joy There was joy in concentration, and the world afforded an inexhaustible wealth of projects to...
a year ago
72
a year ago
There was joy in concentration, and the world afforded an inexhaustible wealth of projects to concentrate on. There was joy in effort, and the world resisted effort to just the right degree, and yielded to it at last. People cut Mount Rushmore into faces; they chipped here and...
The Map is Mostly...
quests, failure, desire or: contra defensive postures
5 months ago
The Map is Mostly...
Let the world dawn on you (influences pt. 2) I know the houses too. As I walk along they seem to run forward in the streets to look out at me...
a year ago
71
a year ago
I know the houses too. As I walk along they seem to run forward in the streets to look out at me from every window, and almost to say: "Good-morning! How do you do? I am quite well, thank God, and I am to have a new storey in May," or, "How are you? I am being redecorated...
The Map is Mostly...
Breadcrumbs One belief I have is that if you wish to be virtuous you will learn to eat cereal virtuously.
3 months ago
The Map is Mostly...
School is Not Enough Learning is a consequence of doing
3 months ago
The Map is Mostly...
Audiobooks Are Books and They’re Also Practice Speak low if you speak love. — Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing I’m very fond of audiobooks....
a year ago
37
a year ago
Speak low if you speak love. — Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing I’m very fond of audiobooks. There is something endearing, maybe even romantic, about the act of listening. I get this same sense often in early photographs of radio listeners, that they appreciate the romance of...
The Map is Mostly...
Resist Summary painfully quick thoughts about AI
a month ago
The Map is Mostly...
[subscribers only] Ask Me Anything about My Home (or Yours)
over a year ago
The Map is Mostly...
Start With Creation Not knowing what one is doing is no prohibition on doing it. We all grope ahead. — Anne Carson
over a year ago
The Map is Mostly...
Everything I know about gardening I have been sharing pictures of flowers growing around my house, mostly little things like poppies...
a year ago
15
a year ago
I have been sharing pictures of flowers growing around my house, mostly little things like poppies and roses, or my fields, and several people have asked me to write about gardening, or for gardening advice. But this request encounters a ridiculous shortcoming: I know almost...
The Map is Mostly...
How to Cook for Odysseus Health is not merely about one’s diet, but it feels like a natural place to start. What follows are...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Health is not merely about one’s diet, but it feels like a natural place to start. What follows are a few beliefs of my own.
The Map is Mostly...
Designing a New Old Home: Defining Constraints Designing a New Old Home series, Table of Contents Beginnings — Why an “old” home, and how we came...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Designing a New Old Home series, Table of Contents Beginnings — Why an “old” home, and how we came to buy land Curiosity — Advice on starting Research, Sketch, Collect — Essential research for home design Defining Constraints ← You are here The Elements
The Map is Mostly...
The King and the Hermit Dear friends, there is a tale, Long ago there lived a king who had two sons. Both children were...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
Dear friends, there is a tale, Long ago there lived a king who had two sons. Both children were overindulgent in spending and habits, and the king was much vexed by this careless nature. Being very old, he worried that after his death they would shortly blunder away their...
The Map is Mostly...
Designing a New Old Home: Research, Sketch, Collect Designing a New Old Home series, Table of Contents Beginnings — Why an “old” home, and how we came...
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
Designing a New Old Home series, Table of Contents Beginnings — Why an “old” home, and how we came to buy land Curiosity — Advice on starting Research, Sketch, Collect ← You are here Defining Constraints — What can we do without The Elements — Heating and cooling and airflow
The Map is Mostly...
Designing a New Old Home: Light In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have...
a year ago
13
a year ago
In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. — Robert Louis Stevenson, Bed in Summer This post is part of a series about building a house that looks and feels traditional in New Hampshire. However, this...
The Map is Mostly...
Dispatches from childhood Humility is the virtue of seeing each sunrise as truly new. Little children have no trouble with...
a year ago
13
a year ago
Humility is the virtue of seeing each sunrise as truly new. Little children have no trouble with this perspective, they could not live any other way. Everything is visceral to them, and they carry this visceral interiority everywhere.
The Map is Mostly...
Sympathies (influences pt. 1) One of my goals in life is to become head waiter of a refined cafe (white apron, silver tray), with...
a year ago
13
a year ago
One of my goals in life is to become head waiter of a refined cafe (white apron, silver tray), with tables set in a quiet and shaded garden. The patrons would be middle-aged or elderly women, and despite knowing their names and cultivating an immense fondness
The Map is Mostly...
[subscribers only] Ask me Anything
a year ago
The Map is Mostly...
What is Good Within Social Networks I think we are still in the early days of social networks. We are only just beginning to figure them...
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
I think we are still in the early days of social networks. We are only just beginning to figure them out. We certainly underestimate how positive and useful they can be, partly from a careless pessimism, and partly because the owners of major social networks seem to lack vision....
The Map is Mostly...
Agency and Schooling (and gardening) Dear friends, Over at Palladium I have written School is Not Enough. The beginning may be familiar...
a year ago
13
a year ago
Dear friends, Over at Palladium I have written School is Not Enough. The beginning may be familiar to some readers, the post is an elaboration of my thinking about agency. I speak a bit more about the problem, and potential solutions. I leave it implicit that I find it this very...
The Map is Mostly...
Building The Goose Palace The man who is most likely to ruin the place he loves is exactly the man who loves it with a reason....
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
The man who is most likely to ruin the place he loves is exactly the man who loves it with a reason. The man who will improve the place is the man who loves it without a reason. — GK Chesterton Dear friends, In May I announced I was going to timber frame a 12x16 barn, though I...
The Map is Mostly...
Designing a New Old Home: The Elements Heating and Cooling and Airflow Ensuring your house works well with the natural world is one of the...
over a year ago
12
over a year ago
Heating and Cooling and Airflow Ensuring your house works well with the natural world is one of the most crucial parts of designing a home. Like I wrote in the first part, it’s also one of the most ignored. We wanted to build a house that would stay as naturally cool in the...
The Map is Mostly...
Reading Well Reading is alluring. It has a nameless quality beyond satisfying desires for information and...
a year ago
12
a year ago
Reading is alluring. It has a nameless quality beyond satisfying desires for information and pleasure. Despite more colorful and interactive media, reading text somehow remains more refined, more seductive. There is a visceral feeling to good reading. Partly this is because...
The Map is Mostly...
[subscribers only] Ask Me Anything
over a year ago
The Map is Mostly...
Designing a New Old Home: Materials and Hardware After your floorplan, and along with your use of sunlight, the materials you choose will make the...
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
After your floorplan, and along with your use of sunlight, the materials you choose will make the biggest difference in the mood that inhabits your home. This post covers our own thinking and what we decided.
The Map is Mostly...
Sketches of Beauty, Shades of Remoteness A little moth asked the other day, what makes something beautiful? I wonder and doubt if I could...
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
A little moth asked the other day, what makes something beautiful? I wonder and doubt if I could ever give a fulfilling answer. As a topic it is almost too monumental to touch. Certainly to write about all at once. But maybe we can glance at it from time to time. So, a short...
The Map is Mostly...
The Oak and the Reed Dear friends, there is a tale, The oak one day said to the reed: You have good reason to curse...
over a year ago
10
over a year ago
Dear friends, there is a tale, The oak one day said to the reed: You have good reason to curse nature — A simple sparrow for you is a heavy burden. The slightest wind that by chance Makes the face of the water ripple Forces you to lower your head. However my own forehead, Not...
The Map is Mostly...
A lot with a little Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest, Lend less than thou owest — The Fool,...
a year ago
9
a year ago
Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest, Lend less than thou owest — The Fool, King Lear Some works are better for their brevity. Fan Ho needs very little: Most of the image is black, or blurry. You can scarcely tell what materials you’re looking at. But the...