Octopodial Chrome

We’ve all heard about Polish cavalry charging German tanks in the Second World War—but it turns out that the story isn’t really true, and the the truth is far more interesting (no surprise to students of history).

I recently came across a really brilliat idea: passiv annual heat store. The gist of it is that you dump all the excess heat your home receives in the summer into the ground, then retrieve it to remedy the heat deficiency in the winter. By so doing, apparently, one can manage a more-or-less constant 70° home temperature. In other words, it could feel like San Diego inside in the middle of a snowstorm outside. More details here.

My brother John married his wife Genevieve a week ago today (sorry for the delay in writing). The wedding itself was held at the glorious Assumption of the Theotokos Cathedral in Denver. Standing there as part of the wedding party it struck me how very appropriate the wedding service is. It’s not the civil law handoff of a woman from father to husband, with accompanying oaths and promises as in the Western service; rather, it’s a sacrament which unites a man and a woman into a married couple. The service is full of prayers, readings and hymns which are chock full of good advice for any couple, newly-wed or not.

The weekend itself was lots of fun, if not at all restful: Friday night all of John’s and all of Gen’s friends got together to throw them a party; then Saturday night was the rehearsal dinner; then on Sunday was the wedding and the reception; then on Monday we had a barbecue for Memorial Day. It was a blast. It’s almost a shame that there are only two more weddings left in our family.

I wish them both the very best.

The New York Times has discovered kombucha (for those who’ve not heard of it, it’s basically fermented tea). Inspired by Sandor Katz’s book Wild Fermentation, I started making it years ago. I have all these tins of excellent but old and dried-out tea—it turns out that it can be put to great use as the base for kombucha.

It’s amusing that I led the way on this for the Times…

My younger friends mock me because I prefer button-down shirts and trousers to T-shirts and shorts; I like to point out that anyone who wears short pants past the age of 13 needs to grow up. It looks like Virginia Postrel agrees with me: children are slobs; adults try to look decent.