Tag: Wretched Excess - Page 2
-
Wretched Excess Dept: The Interiors of Private Jets
We do go on that flying is dying, and have complained before about the carbon footprint of private jets. We often complain about ostentatious monster homes. But I have never seen anything like a slideshow in the Telegraph of the interiors of the
-
Just What We Needed Dept: More Useless Kitchen Accessories and NSFW Yet
You don't need a lot of stuff to be a good cook; Mark Bittman says ""A stove, a sink, a refrigerator, some pots and pans, a knife and some serving spoons," I answered. "All
-
Prettiest Travelling Bike Ever. But At What Price?
Wallpaper* Magazine has always been a bit over the top, but they did have an eye for beautiful things. However the money-no-object aesthetic can be a turn-off. Thus I am a bit conflicted showing their International Bike. It is
-
There's No Recession in the New York Times Homes Section
The rich are different from you and me; they read the New York Times Home and Garden section on Thursdays, and don't seem to know that there is a recession. But they are beginning to deal with the concept of living with less,
-
Double Your Chance of Obesity and Heart Attack with the KFC Double Down Sandwich
TreeHugger looks forward to the day when they finish Sovietizing the American healthcare system and the Obama Food Police start banning unhealthy foods and make us all eat like John Mackey, (like they did in the UK when they
-
Air Conditioned Coffins All the Rage in Serbia
We do go on about the evils of air conditioning, and how planting a tree might be a good idea, or maybe digging into the ground a little bit to get some natural cooling. But if we needed more proof of the dictum "too much is never
-
The Four Sins of LEEDwashing: LEED Green Buildings That Perhaps Aren't Really Green
"Is LEED a Fraud?" is the provocative title of an article on the Fine Homebuilding website by Kevin Ireton. It appears that mechanical designer Henry Gifford thinks it is, and makes a few good points in his paper
-
Miami Beach Roundup: They Haven't Discovered TreeHugger Yet
What do you say about a city where the parking garages are so high that the new buildings don't start until the old buildings end? That perhaps they have their priorities a bit screwed up?
-
Wretched Excess Dept: A House Designed For Cats
Now I will confess, there are a lot of ideas to love in this house, including the alternating tread stair and some terrific details, but for cats? We have shown a Stair of the Week for Cats before, but nothing as elaborate or over-the-top like this.
-
Just What We Needed Dept.: Seven Things You Don't Want for Christmas
My favorite talmudic anecdote is from the Rabbi who noted "my life has been blessed, because I never knew I needed anything until I had it." I know exactly how he felt; How have I coped without this One Click Butter Cutter? found on Dvice. No wonder
-
Wretched Excess Dept: A £250,000 Dog House
But hey, with the US$ so strong, thats only $ 382,469 and it is for two dogs, so that is a lot less per dog. So what if people are hungry or losing their jobs, let them build doghouses. Inside:
-
Gasoline in Wine Bottles? So Stupid it Just Might Work!
I mean, gas is such a....commodity. There is regular and premium, but one is pretty much like another, and the costs are pretty much the same wherever you go. Water used to be like that, a commodity, but as Elizabeth Royte notes in Bottlemania, as one
-
What is the Carbon Footprint of the McCain Mansions?
We have noted before that the rich are different from you and me- they emit a lot more carbon dioxide. Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain is no exception; Joe Romm of Climate Progress ran the numbers on as many of McCain's homes he
-
Wretched Excess Dept.: Dubai Tower Has 57 Swimming Pools
Now under construction, 23 Marina sets a new bar for wretched excess: 57 of its 288 apartments have private swimming pools on the balconies. They are not huge at 5.2 meters (17 feet) by 2 meters (6-1/2 feet) but multiply that by 57 and you have a lot of
-
Wretched Excess Dept: Lance Armstrong meets Celine Dion By The Pool
There is no question that athletes have to keep hydrated and go through a lot of water. But Lance Armstrong breaks all the records again with his little pile in Austin, where he used 330,000 gallons of water for his acre of gardens and swimming pool,
-
Just What We Needed Dept: Canned Oxygen
Sigh. First they monetized the water; now the marketing wiz kids want us to pay for air. And it is working; in New York City it is flying off the drugstore shelves at sixteen bucks a can. Kevin DelGaudio, the "inventor" (it's been
-
Survey: Is Conspicuous Consumption Un-TreeHugger?
Well, we certainly got schooled in the comments for our post on Gil Arena's million dollar pool, being told to mind our own business and if a guy has the money to use as much water as the nation of Chad then it is his right. But when we do these posts
-
Wretched Excess Dept: Mega-Rec-Rooms to Keep Kids Inside
Back in the day, you told the kids to go play outside; the outdoors, the street, the park, they were the rec rooms. When they got to be teenagers, they went and hung out with friends. Some got into trouble; most
