The Kickwilly or semi-subterranean houses of the interior Salish people were wonders of geothermal efficiency with sod roofs, utilizing the geothermal heat of the Earth below the frost line. It took very little to heat them, probably a couple of cooking fires through the day. They also used a heavy log roof structure to support the sod, so they also had the benefit of the thermal mass of the wood.
Poll:- life better now or in 1959?
- Thread starter JLM
- Start date
Norse did similar but used their boat for the roof. On the East Eu. Steppes and into Sibera huts were dug similarly and mammoth tusks and skins made their roofs. It was the first yurt style hut.
That gets me thinking. House construction compared to today. We've taken a slide backwards. How many houses built in 1959 didn't have fir or pine? Today you have to pay extra to get spruce plywood rather than aspen OSB and, search and pay extra to find #1 grade shi tty spruce studs that are straight good luck finding a builder that uses real nails instead of staples and weak pneumatic pins.
Good point. I have a friend in North London, UK. Her house is older than than the country south of us and is still in good condition. It has really awesome woodwork. I really doubt the houses we build nowadays could last a third that long nor have the quality of workmanship involved.
Unfortunately houses (hi tech stick and mud) have become part of the disposible economy as well.
A few years back, a friend of mine in Japan took me to a place out in the country for a little trip to see some old traditional buildings. One of the buildings was an old farm house, built of wood with a grass-thatch roof. My friend had grown up on a farm in a similar type of house - he explained that this type of roof was replaced every so often as it would weather naturally. Rodents would move in over time, and they put snakes up there to keep them under control The snakes would just live up there full-time (every now and then, one would fall to the floor and they'd just put it back...no big deal).
The house was a 2 storey model, all wood with no nails...it was put together with handmade and fitted wooden pegs. Incredible carpentry. I asked how old it was...after a bit of conversation with an old guy nearby, the answer came back: 810 years! And still standing and lookin' good! They don't build 'em like they used to.
Mind you, we were on our way to the city of Kyoto for the celebration of its anniversary of becoming a city. 1,200 years ago.
Safety glass?
Seat belts?
Crumple zone?
Padded dashboards?
Collapsable steering columns?
There is a video around of a NHTSA test of a 1959 vs 2009 car. The driver of the 59 would have died. Modern cars are designed to protect the occupants.
You are running on all eight cylinders this morning Cliff. All that "safety" sh*t that comes with vehicles nowadays would be mostly unnecessary if people drove the way we did in '59. Driving was a single task performance then, about the worst thing we did was turn our head momentarily to look at a girl. :lol::lol::lol:
No but he was a bit of a "loose cannon" anyway- not much you can do in any age to prevent suicides.
Well now, that's a good question. I can't remember all the circumstances of his alleged "accident" but it may well be that the intersection wasn't well designed, by '09 standards. But that would be irrelevant and immaterial, in that we would - by raising the issue of road design - be suggesting the application of the "It's not fault, I did everything right" byline of '09 to a situation that took place in the golden days of the 50s.
Most, if not all, of those cautious and good drivers back then ;-) would naturally slow down if they were approaching a section of roadway that didn't look perfectly clear or otherwise "safe." Didn't speed - controlled entirely by James D. personally - play a part in that particular self-destructive act...oops, I mean accident? Of course, I wouldn't have the nerve to even suggest something like that if in fact we were discussing an "accident" that had taken place in '09!
But young James was a self-professed rebel (without a cause) which could imply that he didn't always follow conventional rules of the day - including those that governed the use of public roadways - and thus, he and his outlook on life wouldn't fit into the generally accepted context that things were indeed better in the 50s than they are today! Rebels are always a bad fit with the thinking of the day.
A further and possibly more convincing piece of evidence that his own actions may have played some role in the mishap is this: Being a rebel without a cause could be intrepreted as an example of my signature line (below) and thus, instead of "objectives" we could substitute "highway intersection", "we" could be replaced by "James", and instead of "efforts" we could substitute "speed." We would then have a new and highly damning statement that would read - with reference to, and totally inconsistent with the great lives most people enjoyed in the 50s - "Having lost sight of the highway intersection, James redoubled his speed."
(So things were indeed better in the good old days...Did I make the case?) :lol::lol::lol:
My understanding of the accident was that the guy who pulled out in front of him simply didn't see him. Considering the size of the car, it's no surprise.
Or could it be that it's hard for most people to see something coming at them at something approaching the speed of light? (Well, maybe not quite that fast...)
You make a fair case ... except that a risk-taking driver isn't necessarily suicidal ... just bulletproof (and perhaps nutty) Dean had a passenger and a fast car....
James Dean Dies in Car Accident
James Dean Dies in Car Accident
Yeah, you're probably right. ...As long as we're clear on life being better in '59 than in '09! Wasn't that the original topic? ;-)
Yeah, we have a woodworking manual of Japanese fitted joints. There are some joints that don't even require pegs. If any of you have heard of dovetailing and know what that sort of joint is, consider that Japanese joinery makes dovetail joints look like a 2 year old's building.