Monday, June 26, 2023
MORE UGLY BELGIAN HOUSES
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In 2012 architect Hannes Coudenys began documenting quirky and ugly buildings in his native Belgium. These pics he posted on an Instagram account and a Facebook site called 'Ugly Belgian Houses” He is still doing so.
Some of those pics and reader comments have been posted in Bytes previously.
Asked in an interview why he thought Belgium in particular seemed to produce such eccentric architecture, he replied:
“The Dutch have been ruling us, France has been ruling us, we have always had to be brave little Belgians. We were finally being set free and subsidized to do what we want. After school, you find a girl, you get married, and you build your own house, and it’s not OK for it to look like the neighbours’ houses.”
I suppose that’s as good an explanation as any.
Here are some more recent pics from Hannes Courdenys’ Facebook page, with his headings and reader comments, at:
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When your contractor watches a how to video halfway through
I simply love it.
Definitely in the top 5 of the weirdests. It must be a nightmare to live across the street 😱
Just ONE question: WHY ?? 😱
Well there was this pile of old stones he had to use ..
Or evolved out of the stone age?
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Anything is possible. Coffee will work. Water is fine. But not the balcony
A balcony with ambition
It's a generous gesture
I think it's an office
Jesus!
In Belgium, there is Art Nouveau, and failed art 🙃😅
Should have left that left balcony out. What a taste of wood.
That's what we call an act of resistance against the invader!
Your balcony is stupid
It was cheaper than a half one
This looks more like peeking at the neighbors.
Woman, stay on your side of the bed
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When your house is low on storage space you can always delete Windows.
I think i have an acute case of window blindness
If that's a side wall of a row of houses, it's not so strange. But if it's a detached home, it's really weird.
This is wall-derful
Tax on houses in Belgium was paid on the amount of windows at the road side. So hence ...
If it is a renovated old farmhouse, the orientation of the wall be towards the yard in front of the house, not the street.
With climate change we better start thinking of adding fewer windows and perhaps even thicker walls, just saying...
I'm moving to Belgium next week for three months. I am now terrified.
Thijs van Eijk
This is the weakest post i've seen so far from this page 🙁 it's just the side of a regular house.
Thijs van Eijk I don't consider normal that people don't bother to offer a window toward the entrance of the property. It's selfish and in a way disrespectful toward the community.
Thijs van Eijk if you think this is normal, you're probably Belgian 😛
Another brick in the wall....instead of windows...
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When you send the architect back to the drawing board, but he sends the drawing board back
Waiting for the PowerPoint presentation...
Drive-in cinema 🤩
That's a Big screen TV 👌😜
Gave the Belgian architect a blank canvas, told them to do what they like... So they went on vacation!
They should park the cars facing the other way, as it looks like a drive-in theatre!
That house is mooning us.
O Nice, needs a mural!😁
Projection screen, yes, finally watch World Cup on a big screen
If I lived across the road I would project something onto that.
They're asking for graffiti.
Talk to the wall cause the house is not listening...
Banksy could make him millions.
Belgian architect?
Everyone in Belgium is an architect 😆
Has the silver car a puncture 😐
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The Ugly Belgian Houses virus is spreading
I think what happened here is they painted the joints white and this is all the spots they could reach standing on a ladder or from the window. The darker areas they just couldn’t reach 😄
This hurts my eyes to look at.
Vitiligo? 🧐
I like it!
Is that Tipp-Ex?
Psoriasis is not funny, not even for a house!
The house peed itself!
If this is deliberate omfg! If it's not 🙄
They obviously ran out of that brick type,
Then just used anything
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Total eclipse of the house
I feel sad for that little house.
And I need your wall tonight, and I need it more than ever !
Sign of the times 😩
How is it possible ?
One can always ask what came first !
Every now and then I get a little bit lonely
And you're never coming round
Looks like it's trying to hide. Poor little house.
We shall not be moved! ✊️
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I think they blocked me
We can't be sure : it could be that the other walls are a paradise of windows and doorwindows and they are people who don't like to be seen from the street.
Client to architect:"you know tetris right? Because i want a tetris house."
Architect: " yeah....i know tetris.."
Is there any chance the roofs are made of glass so some light get's in?
I love it, usually the other side it's full of windows (instead walls)
Who needs a view when you have a room like this?
Smart optimization for the EPC. Windows are a liability. So why waste them on a side where you will cover them up anyway with drapes/curtains to get privacy.
Windows are sooo 2022.
This house is completely bunkers!
Think inside of the box.
Well I kinda like it.
This is a great canvas to paint something nice on.
I need a house without windows!
What's the purpose of that fence/gate? 🤔
"WINDOWS could not be installed on your Belgian House. It needs more disk space"
Nothing wrong with this design and definately not ugly. It seems a conceptual choice not to connect the interior not to the street. There can be several reasons to that, heavy traffic, bad neighbours of even real Ugly Belgian Houses across the street. Maybe you have to be an architect (who doesn't necessarily knows of plays Tetris) to understand this design.
Wonderful preserved WW2 bunker
Is it a mausoleum?
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You had one job
The owners opted for a living together, living apart relationship.
No but this is common in Belgium. The left house will be completed with another one soon (or later)
When the A3 printer is broken and the intern has to tape together two A4 sheets.
Luckily the architect added the right amount of quirkiness because I don't like the style of the houses at all. Perhaps he didn't like it either. It's even funny I think but then I'm Belgian 🙂
On the left will be modern style, just like the one on the right. Adjacent houses in the same style are illegal in this country, after all.
Better not ask them to build a ship...
The plot between the two belongs to someone else...
Semi detached Belgium style
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Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky. But all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
No parking ..dont spoil my view 🤪
When you're building your Sim's house and be like 'I'll do the windows later' but you run out of money.
Blocks with a blocked out view. Nice bush
Maybe, they had no money for curtains 🤔🤯
Clearly someone who wants to sit in the design row for a double. Everything in this picture is rambling and wants to go somewhere else. The grass is 100% definitely greener somewhere else.
The bush in front of the only front window
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putting the 'mess' in Ramesses
Well I like it. Belgian houses are amazing ❤️
Are there no building design codes in Belgium, or is there a low key "who can build the weirdest" national competition?🤪🤪
Begium is different state of mind - afer 20 years still dont get it
I prefere a belgian house than an american cardboard box that flies away with some hurricain wind. Out house won’t fly away
The pyramid looks good. The cubes on the right don't.
I wonder which is ugliest... The tower on the left may compete as well as the blocks on the right.
That's probably what makes the pyramid look so offended 😀
How is this even real lmao
I guess someone is buried underneath.
Look at the “face” on the house on the right. Correct reaction
Is there no beginning to their talent!
“Walls like an Egyptian”
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Error: no video signal
🙄 the boss said "mix the batches of bricks" so at some point i gradually added new bricks on each line to smooth out the change
No video signal? But I can see Windows®
That is one of the scariest ive ever seen.
I like that somehow
I’m being held a prisoner…..please send help!
When Armageddon comes they have the perfect above ground shelter...hmmm.
A bunker with windows? 😳
This looks like a very normal side wall to me, but the 'garden' is horrible.
This is stunningly ugly. One of the all time greats. Bravo Belgium. How the fuck is it the same country that Brugge is in?
Awful
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Holy shit !
It's a miracle!🤭
Reminded me that my oven needs cleaning...
I would love to know story behind it , & if the neighbors had a fit. The surround is God awful, looks like something like a gray cat exploded, then it hardened this way around the poor statue! She does not look happy to be frozen in there. She deserves to be surrounded by flowers & hedges😔😪
Maybe it just came overnight... A mysterious miracle ! 😇 Oh Lord !
I didn’t know He had a car.
Blessed be thy garage 😇
So (s)he can pray before (s)he parks the car 😂
No no, holy Mary 🤪
My mother used to work there. The house of doctors. It doesn't look at its best on this picture, i agree 😄
This is just plain crazy - I love it 😂🤩 I want to know the story behind this 👏👏😃
Our Lady Of The Carport
Oh come on, this is simply amazing! ❤ I always try to take a look when I'm in the area.
to the bat cave
I’m a top fan of how ugly this is
Actually, I like everything in this photo
I love it!It's the garage doors, need beautiful handmade, wooden doors , it would look stunning
Sunday, June 25, 2023
FACTS
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Bert and Ernie’s names came from a Christmas movie.
The Sesame Street characters were named after Bert the police officer and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.
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The word plastic derives from the Greek plastikos meaning "capable of being shaped or moulded".
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According to the United Nations Environment Program:
Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our ocean.
Plastic pollution is a global problem. Approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced from 1950-2017 became plastic waste, ending up in landfills or dumped.
Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production capabilities and social well-being.
Source:
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Most Muppets are left-handed. Because most Muppeteers are right-handed, they operate the head with their favoured hand.
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It costs the U.S. Mint almost twice as much to mint each penny and nickel as the coins are actually worth. Taxpayers lost over $100 million in 2013 just through the coins being made.
The U.S. Treasury spends nearly two dollars for every dollar of nickels and pennies it pumps into the economy. In contrast, the same amount of quarters and dimes costs the government less than 50 cents. A dollar bill is even cheaper, coming in at less than a quarter.
Source:
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The first man to urinate on the moon was Buzz Aldrin, shortly after stepping onto the lunar surface.
Condom-like cuffs allowed the Apollo astronauts to pee into a bag. (These were designed only for men, of course.) To poop, they used a different rudimentary plastic bag system. The whole process could take up to 45 minutes.
"Defecation and urination have been bothersome aspects of space travel from the beginning of manned space flight," an official NASA report on the Apollo space missions reads.
When walking on the moon, Aldrin and Armstrong wore diapers.
Source:
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Human teeth are the only part of the body that can’t heal themselves.
Teeth are not made of live tissue and are coated in enamel, which can’t spontaneously regenerate.
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Switzerland prohibits the ownership of just one guinea pig or parrot.
This because they’re social species and are considered victims of abuse if they aren’t able to regularly interact with others of their species.
Source:
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Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
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A shrimp’s heart is in its head. Also, due to the nature of their open circulatory system, shrimp have no arteries so their organs just float around in blood!
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Most wasabi paste isn’t real wasabi.
Store-bought wasabi is often horseradish, used as a substitute since real wasabi is expensive.
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“Kuchi zamishi” is Japanese for unconscious eating.
It describes the act of eating when you’re not hungry because your mouth is “lonely.”
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Saturday, June 24, 2023
BURKE & HARE 2.0
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The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures.
Burke
Hare
Edinburgh was a leading European centre of anatomical study in the early 19th century, in a time when the demand for cadavers led to a shortfall in legal supply. Scottish law required that corpses used for medical research should only come from those who had died in prison, suicide victims, or from foundlings and orphans. The shortage of corpses led to an increase in body snatching by what were known as "resurrection men". Measures to ensure graves were left undisturbed exacerbated the shortage. When a lodger in Hare's house died, he turned to his friend Burke for advice and they decided to sell the body to Knox. They received what was, for them, the generous sum of £7 10s. A little over two months later, when Hare was concerned that a lodger with a fever would deter others from staying in the house, he and Burke murdered her and sold the body to Knox. The men continued their murder spree, probably with the knowledge of their wives. Burke and Hare's actions were uncovered after other lodgers discovered their last victim, Margaret Docherty, and contacted the police.
A forensic examination of Docherty's body indicated she had probably been suffocated, but this could not be proven. Although the police suspected Burke and Hare of other murders, there was no evidence on which they could take action. An offer was put to Hare granting immunity from prosecution if he turned king's evidence. He provided the details of Docherty's murder and confessed to all sixteen deaths; formal charges were made against Burke and his wife for three murders. At the subsequent trial Burke was found guilty of one murder and sentenced to death. The case against his wife was found not proven—a Scottish legal verdict to acquit an individual but not declare them innocent. Burke was hanged shortly afterwards; his corpse was dissected and his skeleton displayed at the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh Medical School where, as at 2022, it remains.
The murders raised public awareness of the need for bodies for medical research and contributed to the passing of the Anatomy Act 1832.
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I was put in mind of the above by son Thomas sending me a copy of a modern day US Pennsylvania indictment and charges against various defendants – Cedric Lodge, age 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Katrina Maclean, age 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, Joshua Taylor, age 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, Denise Lodge, age 63, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Mathew Lampi, age 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania and Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The indictments and information allege that a nationwide network of individuals bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary.
The following report is from:
According to the criminal complaint, the object of the conspiracy was "to profit from the interstate shipment, purchase, and sale of stolen human remains."
Prosecutors say Cedric Lodge stole "heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains, without the knowledge or permission of HMS, and removed those remains from the morgue in Massachusetts and transported them to his residence in New Hampshire." Lodge and his wife allegedly sold the stolen body parts to MacLean, Taylor and others "and sometimes shipped those remains through the United States Postal Service to Pennsylvania and elsewhere."
Sometimes Lodge let MacLean, Taylor and others into the morgue to choose what body parts to buy, prosecutors said.
MacLean is also accused of selling the human remains and storing them at her Peabody shop.
In one instance, prosecutors said MacLean "agreed to purchase two dissected faces for $600" from Cedric Lodge in October 2020. In another, investigators claimed MacLean shipped human skin to Pauley in Pennsylvania in mid-2021 and "engaged his services to tan the skin to create leather."
Taylor allegedly sent more than $37,000 to Denise Lodge to pay for body parts stolen from the morgue by her husband, according to the criminal complaint.
Former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge leaves federal court in New Hampshire, June 14, 2023.
Denise Lodge leaves federal court in Concord, NH, June 14, 2023.
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Those who wish to read the indictment can do so by clicking on:
Those who can’t be bothered can skip to paragraph 29, as Thomas suggested to me.
For the benefit of those who don’t want to do that, it reads:
29. Between on or about September 3, 2018, through July 12, 2021, JOSHUA TAYLOR transferred 39 electronic payments to PayPal account Twiam@yahoo.com, operated by DENISE LODGE, totaling $37,355.56 in payment for human remains stolen by CEDRIC LODGE from Harvard Medical School. For example. On May 19, 2019, Taylor sent DENISE LODGE $1,000 with a memo that read, “head number 7.” On November 20, 2020, Taylors sent DENISE LODGE $200 with a memo that read “braiiiiiins.”
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Unlike Burke and Hare, however, they didn’t kill the sources of the body parts.
Friday, June 23, 2023
SYDNEY SUBURBS
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DAWES POINT:
Location:
Dawes Point is a suburb of the City of Sydney, located on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, at the southern end of Sydney Harbour Bridge, adjacent to The Rocks. At times Dawes Point has been considered to be part of The Rocks, or known as West Rocks, part of Millers Point, or part of it known as Walsh Bay.
Name Origin:
The promontory at the western end of Circular Quay was known to the Aboriginal people as Tar-Ra. It was chosen as the site for an observatory by Lieutenant William Dawes, who arrived with the first Europeans. Dawes came with a recommendation from the Astronomer Royal, Dr Nevil Maskelyne, and some instruments from the Board of Longitude, with which to study the heavens. The point was initially named Maskelyne Point, but as Dawes lived there while he was in the colony from 1788 until 1791, the area became known as Dawes Point.
Dawes kept the colony's first meteorological records here, and it was also here that Dawes pinned the town's first clock to a rock face. He encouraged friendship with local Aboriginal people, including a young girl Patyegarang, from whom he learned some of the language of the Cadigal people. Dawes's notebooks, held in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, remain one of the most precious records of the local language.
Marine Lieutenant William Dawes
Marine Lieutenant William Dawes had been sent to New South Wales to assist the military keep order in 1788. He was a cultured man, who took an avid interest in astronomy (the telescope at Dawes Point) and in the local Indigenous people and their languages. So much so, that when Pemulwuy killed Governor Phillip’s gamekeeper and the Governor ordered him to go on a punitive expedition against the natives, Dawes refused to go. He argued that the gamekeeper, John MacIntyre, had caused provocation to Aboriginal people around the harbour, and may have deserved his fate. In the event, Dawes was prevailed upon to go on the expedition, which proved utterly fruitless. Nevertheless, the bad blood this whole incident brought between Dawes and the Governor ultimately led to his leaving the colony in December, 1791.
About:
From the earliest days of the colony it was a significant as the site of the first observatory and one of the earliest gun placements.
The 'Observatory' was a simple timber and shingle cottage. A powder magazine and primitive fort and gun emplacement were built not long after, though these soon fell into disrepair.
Dawes Point was the site of the first guns mounted in Sydney by Dawes in 1788, contained Sydney's first cemetery and later Dawes Point Battery. Walsh Bay was the site of Sydney's port facilities. The wharves have today been converted to apartments, theatres, restaurants, cafes and a hotel.
In 1819 Francis Greenway designed a castellated fort to replace the earlier structure, as part of the defences of the town. The fortunes of the harbour fortifications waxed and waned with changing perceptions of external threats, and following several upgrades this fort was eventually rendered obsolete by fortifications closer to the harbour heads.
Citadel at Sydney,c 1825
Fort Phillip, Flagstaff Hill, Sydney, c. 1841
In 1803, Fort Philip was built on the site under the direction of Governor Hunter to defend the new settlement against a possible attack by the French and also from rebellious convicts. The fort was never required to be used for any such purposes. In 1825 the eastern wall of the fort was converted to a signal station. Flags were used to send messages to ships in the harbour and to the signal station on the South Head of the harbour. The site was known as Flagstaff Hill during and after the Macquarie era.
The control of defence sites was handed over to the federal government following Federation, but Dawes Point was excepted as it clearly no longer had any real defence function. Because of its position, it has long been a popular spot from which to watch harbour regattas and fireworks displays.
In 1925 part of the fort was demolished, while part was used by the British firm Dorman & Long, builders of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge required the demolition of several rows of nearby houses as well, and once the bridge was built, the area below it became Dawes Point Park. Lower Fort Street, facing west Circular Quay, was once one of Sydney's premier streets. It ended up almost under the bridge, and the inhabitants of its large fine houses, now mostly offices or subdivided into flats, need to suspend conversation whenever a train rumbles over the bridge.
Up until 1906, a cannon was fired at Dawes Point every day at 1 pm – a useful marker of time for the town. The cannon was removed during the construction of the bridge, but replaced in the park in 1945.
One of the curiosities of the area is a much photographed 1880s cast iron urinal. It originally stood on Observatory Hill, but when the Sydney City Council removed it and proposed selling it off in the 1970s, there was a barrage of protest. Eventually the urinal reappeared in George Street, under the bridge. This location is also famous in working-class memory as one of the major pick-up points for wharfies who would assemble here and hope that their number would be called out, providing them with work on ships in port that day.
Urinal Observatory Hill 1968
By the 1840s, the people of Dawes Point and Millers Point were a maritime community in which rich and poor mixed more than elsewhere in Sydney. Wharf owners and traders lived and worked beside those who worked on the wharves and bond stores, as well as those who arrived and left on ships.
Only two of the merchant houses, built by and for the early wharf owners, survive. One is Walker's 50-foot wide villa built around 1825 and now part of Milton Terrace at 7-9 Lower Fort Street; the other is the home and offices of Edwards and Hunter, built in 1833 above their wharves which is where the Wharf Theatre now stands.
Mostly prosperous in its early years, the area was less desirable by the 1890s. At the beginning of the 20th century, the government compulsorily acquired all private wharves, homes and commercial properties in the Rocks, Dawes Point and Millers Point. Modern and efficient wharves with dual level access were built, as well as new accommodation for workers, such as the Workers Flats of Lower Fort Street designed by Government Architect Vernon.
In the 1960s and '70s, high-rise offices were proposed for the area, but Green Bans, supported by community and unions, helped thwart these plans.
Following the Green Bans, and its most prominent campaign, The Battle for The Rocks, urban planning included more community consultation. The Rocks Green Ban was lifted so the Sirius Building could be built to house those displaced by The Rocks redevelopment and to house members of the maritime community whose families had lived in The Rocks, Dawes Point and Millers Point since the earliest years of the Colony.
During 2014–18, the majority of the area's social housing was sold and its tenants left the Millers Point area. The NSW Government also sold the Sirius Building for redevelopment as private apartments.
Sydney Observatory today
Sydney Harbour Bridge from Observatory Hill in the rocks
Dawes Point and Sydney Cove from the Sydney Harbour Bridge shortly after its opening in March 1932
Pier One on Walsh Bay
Aerial view of Dawes Point from the east
8
Southern approach of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Dawes Point to the right.
Dawes Point Battery, 1870s
First permanent fortification in Sydney constructed on the site of Dawes' observatory. The current archaeological site below the southern pylon of the Harbour Bridge reveals a powder magazine, officer quarters, guardhouse and circular battery .
Sydney Cove from Dawes Point, by Joseph Lycett, 1817
Dawes Point battery, c1890.
Recent archaeological digs uncovered the underground sections of the fort which have been preserved by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. The partial restoration and interpretation of the archaeological remains of the fort, which include its powder magazine, gun battery and Officers' Quarters, give an impression of the fort's importance in the strategic defence of Sydney.
The current park was created after the completion of the Bridge and by the late 1930s five of the cannon from the battery were reinstated close to their original position as a reminder of the former battery. The site had an unexpected defence revival in 1941 when two anti-aircraft guns were mounted on top of the south pylon of the Harbour Bridge.
Archaeological test trenches excavated by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority in February 1995 revealed a potentially high rate of survival of remains of the battery. Further excavations uncovered the underground sections of the fort, which have since been restored by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. One of the fort's five cannon has been refurbished and reinstated to its original position. The fort's sandstone powder magazine has been fully restored with a combination of its original 2 tonne stones and recently quarried yellow-block sandstone from Pyrmont.
Nearby, the footings of the fort's adjoining Officer's Quarters have been exposed, creating a virtual floor plan. One of the fort's five cannon has also been refurbished and reinstated to its original position. The fort's sandstone powder magazine (below) has been fully restored.
Restored gunpowder room
In June 2001, while restoring the powder magazine, workers uncovered one of the concrete cable-saddles which was used to restrain the two-halves of the bridge during construction. The remains of the redundant saddle (below) have now been incorporated into the project and remains on permanent public display.
The above Georgian-style Old Colonial sandstone building incorporates parts of an original c. 1833 to c. 1835 dwelling house, the existing sandstone house was constructed in 1842 under the ownership of Joseph Farris. The sandstone building now known as “Darling House” was built by Joseph Farris in 1842, a period of great depression in Sydney. Darling House holds a particular historical, social and architectural significance due to its influence on the history and early social development of Millers Point and early colonial Australia. Darling House is distinctive as it is one of only a few remaining free standing dwellings in it’s area.
Image shows the townhouses in the Dawes Point area of Sydney more than a century ago
A historic house built by convicts more than 180 years ago has undergone a multi-million dollar transformation and is now one of the most eye-catching homes in Sydney. The Harbour Master's home in Dawes Point, Sydney was built in 1832, and sits just metres from the city's iconic harbour and bridge. Built by convicts, it has undergone a stunning multi-million dollar transformation and is now one of the most eye-catching homes in Sydney. When the heritage-listed property hit the market for the first time in more than a century in 2009, it was snapped up on a 99-year lease for $1,005,000.
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