Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Venice Home Wins “Greenest House” in the US Award

Venice Home Wins “Greenest House” in the US Award

A remodeled 1912 Craftsman’s cottage on Brooks Street will be awarded on Thursday for most “Outstanding Single Family Project” at an international green building conference.
The home is 52 percent more efficient than the average California home and collects 8,000 gallons of rainwater with two cisterns. Many materials were recycled from the old structure, like the original 2x4s in the walls that were used to build an open bookshelf and staircase.
The Venice house, located at 539 Brooks St. achieved LEED Platinum, the highest rating in green building. The approximately 2,000-square-foot house features a storm water collection system, a native drought-tolerant garden and solar panels. Isabelle Duvivier is the home’s owner and architect.
Other winners include the Place of the Hidden Waters Community Longhouse, a housing project on the Puyallup Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest that incorporates native designs with sustainable features.
The U.S. Green Building Council, the organization that developed LEED certification, a green-rating system, will bestow the prizes on seven winners at its international conference held in San Francisco this week.

Adorable Baby Panda at San Diego Zoo Finally Has a Name!

Adorable Baby Panda at San Diego Zoo Finally Has a Name!

Adorable Baby Panda at San Diego Zoo Finally Has a Name!

At long last, that fuzzy, ticklish, utterly adorable male baby panda born at the San Diego Zoo has a name!

[ more › ]



Monday, November 12, 2012

Santana’s Supernatural was 1999’s most surprisingly successful album

This album was good times...


Santana’s Supernatural was 1999’s most surprisingly successful album



In We’re No. 1, Steven Hyden examines an album that went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts to get to the heart of what it means to be popular in pop music, and how that concept has changed over the years. In this installment, he covers Santana’s Supernatural, which went to No. 1 on October 30, 1999, where it stayed for three weeks, on January 22, 2000, where it stayed for three weeks, and February 26, 2000, where it stayed for six weeks. 

It’s a given that transience is a major component of popularity in pop music. This is not only perfectly okay, but it’s pretty much how it’s supposed to work. Part of the fun of a hit song is that it’s designed to be enjoyed right now, instantly, so that it might come to define the moment. Whether “Gangnam Style” is ...

Read more


Headlines That People Love