Hazaad.com’s Blog

yep, a bowl that is designed to tip. (not far enough to spill)

It actually looks like quite a nice design.

I am a fan of this public art carpet. The pattern on the rug is an aerial view of the Sacramento River valley. Imagine the possibilities…this carpet, some small (quite small) inflatable rafts, some disarmed plastic army men.

Here is a link to a series of pictures.

Many thanks to the style page for letting me know about this and to the cityscape rug for…you know…being similar.

Here is a link to a site with rugs made from soy.

I do wonder how these rugs feel.

Clinton’s Oval Office in 1999

I must admit that it feels silly to talk about the president’s rug. The president of the United States does so many other things that deserve so much more attention than this silly decision. That said, talking about the important decisions of the president in a blog often requires some sort of political position. I try to stay rather apolitical on this blog. As a result, this post is about the useless silly and trivial decoration of the oval office.

President Bush’s Optimistic Oval Office Rug

One of the least important jobs of the president of the United States is to decorate the oval office. Traditionally each president redecorates the room by changing some of the furniture, the paintings on the wall, and so forth. The president also changes the rug to give the office the feel that he is looking for.

President Bush dealt with the tradition of picking the rug by delegating the task to his wife, Laura Bush. His one requirement was that he wanted it to somehow represent optimism.

The rug that Laura Bush picked out has sun like rays emanating out from the traditional presidential seal. The colors are largely types of tan and do seem to represent the western, cowboy president that the white house tries to portray Bush as.

In an apolitical sense, I like rugs with more color.

I would just like to point out that this toaster and egg poacher is made by “back to basics.”

Link to the store

I’m still holding out for one that will clean my teeth while it poaches the egg and toasts the english muffin.

Here is a picture of one of the Triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus. This arch is in present-day Libya near the city of Tripoli. At the time this arch was built this area was the city of Leptis Magna in the ancient republic of Carthage. This arch was built in here because the roman emperor Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna

Septimius Severus was made a senator by the emperor Marcus Aurelius (the old man in the movie Gladiator) in 172. In 192 the emperor Commodus gave Severus command over the legions in Pannonia. When Pertinax (the successor of Commodus) was murdered Severus took power at the head of his troops. Septimius Severus was not the best leader that one might have hoped for. He ordered the execution of many senators and replaced them with his favorites and effectively turned Rome into a military dictatorship. That said he is credited with bringing a period of stability and eliminating the corruption of the time. However, that stability did not last long beyond his death.

Here is a cool new gadget that is something like a cold plate (they call it by the notable sexier title of “anti-griddle”).

I think this is cool enough to put on the blog just because I haven’t heard of something like this before. However, I’m not really sure what this would be used for and how it is really better than a refrigerator. It is neater looking, and there are none of those pesky “door” things I guess. It is almost like the open top freezers in the grocery store, except this one has no trough to hold the cold air.

If you have ever dreamed of teaching your pillows to sit, stay, or rollover this site may help you get one step closer to your dream. They sell five specific somewhat dog-shaped pillows with the image of a dog printed on them.

My favorite picture is the one with the actual dog among the pillows (number six).

For the earlier Hindu temples, rock was the dominant construction material. There were many temples that were even cut, as a solid piece, out of large rock edifices. The temples at Ellora are good examples. These temples were built between the 5th and 10th century in what is presently the Indian state of Maharashtra. The Hindu temples at Ellora were carved out of the mountain from the top down. The picture in this post is one of the Hindu caves at Ellora.

It is important to note that not all the temples at Ellora were Hindu. There are 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu, and 5 Jain “caves”. This is often taken to show that a great deal of religious tolerance was present in the society at that time.

I dare you to fill your living room with these.

Link to the sheep stool