Imagine yourself at home on the open road: There’s nothing tying you down, and a world of adventures is ahead of you. Now imagine that you can make that life not just feasible but comfortable, with everything you need to work and play right at your fingertips. This is van life.
In late 2018, my fiancé and I began planning our foray into elective nomadism, leaving behind offices and apartments for work, play, and life on the road. We spent six months living happily in our van, seeing sights and visiting friends. And although the pandemic cut our trip short, we’re looking forward to restarting our van adventures once that crisis is fully behind us.
The community of “van lifers” is only growing, filled with adventurers who see the vast expanse of living potential in that middle ground between lumbering RVs towing golf carts and bare-bones minivan mattresses. But how do you even get started? You can spin your wheels for a long time mixing and matching creature comforts and practical realities, but there are a few major paths people take.
Last spring, several months into the pandemic, a series of images appeared on Instagram, depicting a luxury home nestled into the cliffs of the Scala dei Turchi, on the coast of Italy. The building appeared to be sculpted from cream-colored adobe, and its rounded, uncovered windows and doors looked out over a peaceful aquamarine sea. Furniture by Gerd Lange for Bofinger and Le Corbusier sat invitingly by an ocean-fed pool; inside, Picasso ceramics were arranged artfully around a minimalist seating area and bathed in early-afternoon light. The residence, Villa Saraceni, was the work of designers Riccardo Fornoni and Charlotte Taylor. It also didn’t exist in real life: the house was built with rendering software, and its design was entirely speculative. In reality, the Scala dei Turchi is a tourist destination that has seen erosion and damage from overuse. In 2007, the surrounding municipality applied to designate the area a UNESCO World Heritage site, and last year it was seized by Italian authorities concerned with its preservation. Still, some admirers of Villa Saraceni were transfixed to the point of sending booking inquiries. “Gorgeous,” one Instagram user commented. “Do they rent?”
Instagram is full of such images: living rooms, patios, bedrooms, and estates that do not and will never exist. The pictures are strangely soothing, with their fanciful palettes, evocative silhouettes, and enticing water features. Sunken living rooms are full of pillows, or clouds; spiral staircases are wrapped in cyan glass. Against the backdrop of something resembling the Mediterranean, a striking, ergonomically nonviable chaise lounge is flanked by two human-size vases and a climatically confused cactus. A high-ceilinged, white-tiled, cerulean spa offers arched, curtained relaxation nooks painted in soft pink. Atop a brass-plated console table, in front of a geometric, color-blocked backsplash, a floral arrangement seems to be suffering, in a dash of realism, from dehydration. The spaces project order and calm, and rely on a visual vocabulary of affluence, indulgence, and restraint. They are uncluttered and private; welcoming but undamaged by human use. They are also slightly sterile. Although some incorporate hints of activity—a rumpled bedspread, an open magazine placed poolside—the spaces are uninhabited. An important part of the fantasy, it seems, is the absence of other people.
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The 3-D-modelling software used to design digital interiors lends itself to certain elements, such as plastics, curves, and soft light. Space design and rendering by Nareg Taimoorian and Charlotte Taylor
The U.S. Air Force’s first two F-15EX Super Eagle fighters flew to Alaska this month to participate in the Northern Edge 21 wargame—to mixed results.
During the joint multi-service exercise, the two planes flew 33 sorties (or dispatches), while paired up with a variety of active duty planes, including F-15C Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, and F-22 Raptors.
There, the F-15EX “shot down some adversaries and was shot down itself,” according to Air Force magazine. Still, the results aren’t exactly shocking, considering the Air Force has yet to figure out a strategy for the new, non-stealthy fighters.
Lt. Col. John O’Rear of the 84th Test and Evaluation Squadron told Air Force the F-15EX “tallied some kills,” but also took some losses. O’Rear said the performance met expectations, as any simulated adversary worth practicing against would naturally be strong enough to inflict losses.
In 2021, we’ve seen lava erupt from volcanoes in Iceland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and, most recently, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While volcanic eruptions are certainly nothing new, these recent eruptions serve as a reminder that dangerous active volcanoes exist and will continue to serve as a potential threat to the surrounding creatures and environment.
While there are many active volcanoes around the world (and in space), experts generally classify the most dangerous ones as those that are closest to highly populated areas, as they can have the most deadly effects.
And while it may seem like the volcanoes with the most recent eruptions would be the most dangerous, the opposite is true in some cases: When volcanoes go a long time without erupting, they have more mounting pressure inside of them, leading to a bigger explosion.
Take a look at some of the most dangerous volcanoes that exist today.
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Whoops, we accidentally made the planet move: New research says human-caused climate change has accelerated the rate at which Earth’s rotational axis changes.
Earth has two kinds of poles. The north and south magnetic poles, which affect things like navigation, drift and even switch places back and forth over time. Earth’s other kind of pole is the axis around which the planet physically spins. This axis has also slightly shifted over time, but scientists haven’t been able to exactly figure out why.
To get to the bottom of it, researchers from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research in China and the Technical University of Denmark pulled satellite data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft and studied this “true polar wander” phenomenon during a specific period of time in the 1990s.
By now, you have probably heard of the huge Facebook data breach, in which upwards of 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries had personal data leaked online, including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, birthdates — you name it.
Your first question will be, of course, how to check whether you are part of that breach. There are a couple of places out there where you can find out whether your data has been compromised.
One well-known site that tracks data breaches is Have I Been Pwned. Just follow the link to the site and put in your email address or phone number. You will find out not only if you’ve been part of the Facebook breach, but also any other breaches in which your data may have been compromised.
Troy Hunt, creator of Have I Been Pwned, was considering whether to include a phone number search (as this comes with certain privacy risks), but ultimately decided to add the feature:
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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James' World 2 