A list of curious facts
One: There’s a new winner in the world of bird-shaped buildings. Behold the Campuestohan Highland Resort—a 114-foot hotel shaped like a rooster! It already has a cute nickname: Handsome Cano’s Chicken. It has toppled the rather boring Big Duck out on Long Island—which previously held the honour.
Of course, the most fabulous animal-shaped building was never actually built. This fabulous elephantine tribute was the brainchild of an engineer named Charles-François Ribart—intended as a tribute to Louis XV. It was supposed to include a number of rooms—including a dining room disguised as a trompe l’oeil forest, complete with a flowing stream, a rock-shaped sideboard, simulated birdsong, and a mechanical table.”
Our personal favourite, however, is the lead image: Jean-Jacques Lequeu’s design for a cowshed in the shape of, what else, a cow. More on these wonders over at Journal 18. (ArchPaper)
Two: Of the many things you can do with sewage, turning it into a refreshing can of beer was not on our COP29 bingo card. The Singapore brand NEWBrew is made of treated wastewater—called NEWater in the city state. One of the options is a ‘refreshing pilsner’—with “floral notes.” Presumably an improvement on some beers that look and taste like piss:) (Associated Press)
Three: In New York, there is a club for dull men—who “gather and wantonly discuss the unsexy details of their lives; to share photos of lentil soup and mowed lawns and to report mundane observations such as, ‘Having recently purchased a new kettle and fully read the instructions manual, I am starting to wonder if I’ll get much use out of it.’” It has 1.4 million members!! It’s called… wait for it… the Dull Men’s Club—and is a howl (ok, a mild-mannered ‘boo’) against “recreational Competitive Interestingness.” Yes, there is a club for dull women too. (New York Magazine)
Bonus fact: From men let’s move on to ‘mankeeping’—which captures the unpaid emotional labour of being a partner’s therapist. According to a new study, “women are taking on the emotional needs of the men in their life, adding to their (already significant) mental load.” The reason: Men today have fewer friends. But, but, but: The behaviour—also called emotional dumping—isn’t necessarily gendered. Just more common among men. (Forbes)
