Shanghai and Batumi

Two cities I have enjoyed visiting and hope to visit again. They are quite a long distance apart and in many ways very different, but they have one thing in common. In both cities, all the architects are crazy.

Not, however, in the same way. Shanghai architects are science fiction crazy:

 A spherical building of glass

A skyscraper with a stylized Saturn on top. 

Or a space station.

 

A very large transformer, about to transform.

Batumi architects are fantasy crazy. 

Build a tower. Take a bite out of one side. Insert a magic spinning array of capsules.

Each, presumably, containing someone. Or something.

A three pointed tower, complete with clock and gilded dome.

A steampunk palace.

The Poor Man's Air Conditioning

It has been very hot in San Jose the last few days. One solution is air conditioning, which we have and sometimes use. The other is to open the windows in the evening, when it cools off, close them in the morning. Sometimes–last night, for instance–that cools the house faster than air conditioning. And it doesn't show up on our electric bill.

I have long wondered why there isn't an automated version available, or if there is and I haven't come across it. It would be easy enough to have an insert for a window that was controlled by a simple thermostat. If the inside temperature is both above your optimal and higher than the outside temperature, open to let air in, if not close. A few such inserts should do, automatically and more reliably, what we do by hand. For an improved version, provide the insert with a fan--that uses some power, but much less than an air conditioner.

Does anyone know of a commercially available version of such a system for home use? Alternatively, am I missing some reason why it isn't as good an idea as I think?

Embedded Economics: v. 0.1

I have just webbed the first draft of the project I have been discussing here, a collection of short works of literature that contain economics with some brief comments by me. Most of the works are available online, so I could do it as a collection of links without first getting copyright permission for the pieces I included. There are, however, a few pieces missing as a result.

The draft is here. Comments and suggestions for additional things to include are welcome. For a more detailed description of what sort of things I want, see my recent posts.

Suggestions for a better title are also welcome.

Legal Systems Very Different From Ours

I have just webbed the latest draft of the book I have been writing. To give you a quick idea of what's there, here is the table of contents:

Introduction

1.      Imperial Chinese Law
2.      Romani Law
3.      The Amish
4.      Jewish Law
5.      Islamic Law
6.      When God is the Legislator.
7.      Pirate Law
8.      Prisoners’ Law
9.      Student Law [Not yet in]
10.    Embedded and Polylegal Systems
11.    Saga-Period Iceland
12.    Somali Law
13.    Early Irish Law
14.    Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne: The Plains Indians
15.    Feud Law
16.    England in the Eighteenth Century
17.    Athenian Law: The Work of a Mad Economist
18.    Enforcing Rules
19.    The Problem of Error
20.    Making Law
21.    Guarding the Guardians
22.    Ideas We Can Use

       Bibliography


Comments welcome.