The Energy Challenge – Houses With No Furnace but Plenty of Heat – Series – NYTimes.com

This is a very good article on passive housing and what really grabs you is how this house in Germany owned by Berthold Kaufmann uses about one -twentieth the heating energy of his parents home, even the US Army is considering building their barracks on this standard.

Nabih Tahan, a California architect who worked in Austria for 11 years, is completing one of the first passive houses in the United States for his family in Berkeley. He heads a group of 70 Bay Area architects and engineers working to encourage wider acceptance of the standards. “This is a recipe for energy that makes sense to people,” Mr. Tahan said. “Why not reuse this heat you get for free?”

The Energy Challenge – Houses With No Furnace but Plenty of Heat – Series – NYTimes.com

Filed under: Environment

Woman buried in snow for 3 days found alive – CNN.com

Searchers combing rural Ontario for the housewife who had left her home in a blizzard three days earlier to shop were expecting to find a frozen body. “Then, all of a sudden, Ace bolted off,” said Ray Lau. His rescue dog “looked down at the snow and just barked, barked, barked.”

Woman buried in snow for 3 days found alive – CNN.com

Filed under: People

Polar bear opts for meat over zoo intruder – Yahoo! News

BERLIN (Reuters) – A 37-year-old man climbed over a fence and into the enclosure of Berlin’s celebrity polar bear on Monday, but escaped unharmed when zookeepers distracted Knut the bear with a piece of meat, police said.

“The man said that he thought the polar bear was sad and lonely, and that he wanted to keep him company,” said Berlin police spokeswoman Miriam Tauchmann. “He was very lucky that nothing serious happened with such an act of foolishness.”

Polar bear opts for meat over zoo intruder – Yahoo! News

Filed under: Odd News

Ananova – Man eats live snakes over a beer

A Chinese man says he likes to relax by eating live snakes and washing them down with beer.

Wen Xide, 41, of Wangzhuang village, Zhumadian, says he has been eating live snakes for 10 years.

He started by eating one to win a bet with friends for a packet of cigarettes.

Ananova – Man eats live snakes over a beer

Filed under: Odd News

Paris Hilton’s Home Robbed To Tune Of $2 Million – omg! news on Yahoo!

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A burglar broke into Paris Hilton’s Sherman Oaks Hollywood Hills home on Friday morning, the LAPD confirmed to Access Hollywood.

According to the police, a man in a hooded sweatshirt and gloves forced entry through the front door of her house and proceeded to ransack her bedroom, making off with unknown properties.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Paris Hilton

The Los Angeles Times reported that $2 million in jewelry and other items were stolen from the home.

Paris Hilton’s Home Robbed To Tune Of $2 Million – omg! news on Yahoo!

Filed under: News, People