The Glass House

I wrote earlier about the Octagon house, and now I want to visit the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. The transparent building was the private home of American architect Philip Johnson, built in 1949. It's now part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and its re-opening to the public aims to drive home the need to save modern architecture.

I'll Take Two of These, In Blue

Check out The Lifepod: Lodging for the Modern Nomad. Design blog Inhabitat says:

Escape to the beach, the mountains or the trees in San Francisco-based Kyu Che’s sustainable Lifepod. Loosely based on the traditional Mongolian ger (or ‘yurt’ as the Russian translation goes), the Lifepod is at once organic and high-tech. Built to be highly portable, the Lifepod is a fully functioning, off-the-grid mini capsule for modern nomadic living.

Design of the Day

Neat, handmade clocks by artist Roger Wood.

Start Getting Angry

The Department of Health and Human Services is about to limit access to birth control and abortion for women on the grounds of protecting those who find it morally objectionable. According to the Washington Post, "The rule empowers federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors' offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds."

DailyKos breaks it down here.

Cloud Nine

Check out this unusual cloud formation in Hawaii...

Staten Island Adventure

Finally, here are photos of last month's Staten Island adventure. We took the free ferry over to a fantastic, hidden gem of a restaurant called Enoteca Maria where we enjoyed incredible delicacies, great wine, and great company! Mary was very interested in the history of the ferry -- apparently it's had quite a few accidents since starting in 1898. Still, we can't wait to go back. Oh, and at Enoteca Maria, I highly recommend the zuchini flowers stuffed with ham and mozzarella. I was skeptical that zuchini could taste so good, but Laura convinced me to get them and I wasn't disappointed!

The Incomparable Alec

"I still want to do the episode of '30 Rock' where we make fun of 'Grey's Anatomy'--where everyone on our show talks about something important for thirty seconds and then goes in a room and fucks each other."

--Alec Baldwin, in the Sept. 8 issue of The New Yorker