Category Archives: Reviews

Design 2023 : ‘LYX HOME’ Mobile Home Concept

LYX Arkitekter (March 29, 2023) – Because LYX Arkitekter is the pioneer in finding a unique architectural solution that combines luxury, simplicity of design, and another creative feature, the brand new LYX home represents the dream of every person on this earth to have his own home and to locate it wherever they want. Thus, the company came up with the house concept which was originally inspired from a container box, but gradually evolved by smoothing the edges. 

The house is originally made from carbon fiber because of its ecological effect being better than metal, and it gives an increasingly feasible transport, it can be also combined with tesla truck for instance could make a revolutionary detour to embrace nature again and can significantly reduce the global warming.

The home dimensions in closed mode is (2.7×11.6 m) which is almost the same size if 40 feet container box, the approximate area of the home is closed mode is 32 sq.m, while it reach up to 42 sq.m in the open mode. The interior design is completely different from the ordinary motor home, it consists basically from cutouts, living room, kitchen, washing room, little dining space, and extendable bed room, with an over hanged bed all necessary equipment are concealed in the rear side of the house.

But what mostly distinguish LYX home, is the kinetic feature which allows the owner to optimize the space of their home, in addition to a remotely glass wall and they are switchable to give full privacy or full view whenever desired. For sure if you are going to live in a house it should have a power source, LYX has electrified the new home with different sources of electricity, First, it can be connected to the grid, or power supply point when it is camping.

Second, it has enough number of rechargeable batteries which can be recharged during camping or even when driving by using advanced dynamos. Third, PV solar panels on the roof. which is interactive and adjustable to fit with the best sun angle during camping mode. And it can also recharge the batteries.

The War In Europe: Poland Expands As Military Power

The Telegraph (March 29, 2023) – Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been investing billions in new tanks, weaponry, cyber operations and manpower. By 2035 Poland hopes to double the size of its armed forces to 300,000 troops.

There is even talk of the country becoming a major military power in Europe. Watch The Telegraph’s Steven Edginton interview key members of the Polish military and politicians to understand why they are rearming. He also asked young Poles whether they are prepared to die for their country.

For Poland, investing in the military is no longer a luxury but a necessity. With conflict at their border (don’t forget that two Poles have already been casualties of this war, killed by a stray Ukrainian missile) Poland can no longer rely only on the United States and its Nato allies for protection.

Warsaw plans to increase military spending to 5% of its GDP, outspending its fellow European capitals relatively by a wide margin. Poland’s military expansion must be thought of within the context of the nation’s history. You don’t have to be a pensioner to remember a time when Poland was suffering under Communist rule.

Monuments to the Soviet oppressors litter cities like Warsaw, where one can wonder at Stalin’s “gift” to the Poles, the grand Palace of Culture, and despite the government’s best efforts to tear them down many statues still stand commemorating the Red Army as “liberators”.

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement-March 31, 2023

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Times Literary Supplement @TheTLS (March 31, 2023) – This week’s @TheTLS features @Skye_Cleary on the Good Life; @David_Goodhart on the Tories post-Brexit; @PeterKGeoghegan on the UK’s finances; @DrCLaoutaris on Shakespeare’s lodger; @KatyaTaylor on L. M. Montgomery; @MirandaFrance1 on Javier Marías’s final novel – and more.

Retirement: How To Get By On Less Than $1 Million

Wall Street Journal (March 28, 2023) – While many people often aspire to accumulate around a million dollars in retirement savings, most people wind up with far less than that. WSJ retirement reporter Anne Tergesen spoke to retirees on how they’re making do, and she joins host J.R. Whalen. Photo: Mikaela Martin

Video timeline: 0:00 The typical family’s 401k and IRA account balance 1:05 How retirement funds should depend on lifestyle choices 1:51 How retirees who save less than $1 million are getting by 3:53 Steps to take to ensure you have enough retirement savings

Many Americans dream of saving $1 million for retirement. Most fall far short of that.

The typical family’s 401(k) and IRA-type accounts come to less than half that goal in the years approaching retirement age, according to the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute. Total household balances in retirement accounts for those 55 to 64 years old are $413,814 on average, according to its estimates based on 2019 data, the most recent available.

Read more at WSJ

Most Anticipated Books: ‘The Pole’ By Nobel Prize Winner J. M. Coetzee (2023)

The Pole

LitHub (March 28, 2023): Literary Hub is very pleased to reveal the cover for Nobel Prize winner J. M. Coetzee’s new novel The Pole, which will be published by Liveright this September. Here’s more about the book from the publisher:

Exacting yet maddeningly unpredictable, J. M. Coetzee’s The Pole tells the story of Wittold Walccyzkiecz, a vigorous, “extravagantly white-haired” Polish pianist who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his Barcelona concert. Although Beatriz, a married woman, is initially unimpressed by Wittold, she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into the world of the journeyman performer. As he sends her letters, extends countless invitations to travel, and even visits her husband’s summer home in Mallorca, their unlikely relationship blossoms, though, it seems, only on her terms. The power struggle between them intensifies—Is it Beatriz who limits their passion by controlling her emotions? Or is it Wittold, trying to force into life his dream of love?

READ MORE AT LITHUB

Travel Safety: How Trains Derail, Explained (WSJ)

Wall Street Journal (March 28, 2023) – The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was just one of over 1,000 that happen every year. NTSB’s Michael Hiller explains the most common reasons trains come off the tracks and what can be done to prevent derailments.

Video timeline: 0:00 Why do trains derail and how can they be prevented? 0:37 One of the biggest causes of derailments are track issues 3:04 Other derailments stem from human errors or equipment failures 5:01 Why most derailments are not severe and could be prevented

Books: Dublin Literary Award – 2023 Shortlist

Dublin Literary Award (March 28, 2023) – After much deliberation, our esteemed panel of judges have selected six exceptional novels for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award shortlist!

Congratulations to:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

The Trees by Percival Everett

Love Novel by Ivana Sajko, translated by Mima Simić

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes

Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp, translated by Jo Heinrich

Em by Kim Thúy, translated by Sheila Fischman

The Dublin Literary Award is presented annually for a novel written or translated into English. Books are nominated for the award by invited public libraries in cities throughout the world, making the award unique in its coverage of international fiction.

Disasters: Earthquakes & Cyclones Ravage Vanuatu

The Independent (March 28, 2023) – The tiny Pacific island state of Vanuatu was hit by two category-four cyclones and two earthquakes over three days this month, in a devastating onslaught that destroyed homes, cut power, and impacted 80 per cent of the population.

Scientists say global heating is already making major tropical cyclones like those that hit Vanuatu more frequent. Under moderate and worst-case climate scenarios, the country is expected to lose around 20-25 per cent of its GDP from natural disasters each year, according to a recent UN report. Later this month Vanuatu’s proposal for a top international court to clarify the obligations of states to tackle climate change and the consequences of not doing so under international law will be put to a vote at the United Nations.

Vanuatu is a South Pacific Ocean nation made up of roughly 80 islands that stretch 1,300 kilometers. The islands offer scuba diving at coral reefs, underwater caverns and wrecks such as the WWII-era troopship SS President Coolidge. Harborside Port Vila, the nation’s capital and economic center, is on the island of Efate. The city is home to the Vanuatu National Museum, which explores the nation’s Melanesian culture.

Art: ‘Near East to Far West: Fictions of French and American Colonialism’

gallery view of Near East to Far West with wall text and two paintings
Left to right: Gerald Cassidy, Cui Bono?, about 1911. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art: Gift of Gerald Cassidy, 1915 (282.23P). Gerald Cassidy, Midday Sun, North Africa, 1920s.

Denver Art Museum (March 27, 2023): Artworks in Near East to Far West: Fictions of French and American Colonialism (through May 29) present a range of representations from sympathetic to stereotyped. Indeed, racialized stereotypes such as the “Noble Savage” and odalisque (a woman in a female-only domestic space, or harem, who is often overly sexualized in European art) circulated throughout French Orientalism and western American art.

Acknowledging the ongoing harm of such representations, we knew that we needed to make space for diverse perspectives: essentially, to make room for the voices too often repressed or ignored in the artwork.

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Opinion: The World Of Xi Jinping, Painful Central Bank Choices, Roald Dahl

March 27, 2023: A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, we explore the world according to XI. Also, we look at the excruciating trade-off central bankers face (09:56) and why editing Roald Dahl for sensitivity was silly (17:28).

The world according to Xi

Even if China’s transactional diplomacy brings some gains, it contains real perils