Portal 62 by Veinte Diez Arquitectos is a 68 m² residential project in Mexico that challenges the traditional design process by allowing the site itself to shape the architecture. What began as a conventional intervention took an unexpected turn when a hidden cave was discovered beneath the property during excavation.
Instead of imposing a predetermined design, the architects adapted the project around this remarkable underground space. The discovery of a sealed well, a forgotten staircase, and eventually a cave transformed the house into an architectural journey of exploration and revelation. Natural topography, hidden voids, and existing site conditions became the project’s most valuable design elements, creating a unique relationship between architecture and the landscape beneath it.
Umm, well, not exactly; we can’t just take care of everyone. Can you imagine the cost of that?
I see. But at least you’re in favor of health benefits for the elderly?
Now, that’s a bad example. People are living longer, and that’s simply not financially prudent.
Uh huh. But certainly you’re good with financial support for low-income families who may be forced to choose between vital medical care and paying their rent?
OK, the thing is, too many lazy people manipulate the system instead of getting out there and working harder to pull themselves up by their bootstraps!
Gotcha. So, then you must be in favor of increasing the minimum wage so that full-time employment will enable people to have their essential needs met.
Great. Then, you must be advocates for nutrition support programs like SNAP and WIC that help tens of millions of children and poor families living in food scarcity, so they don’t get sick or die prematurely?
OK, now, you’re just being hyperbolic.
Alright, so you claim all life in the womb is sacred and should be protected, right?
Definitely.
So, how about the life of the woman with the womb? Is her life sacred? What happens if going to term with a pregnancy will result in her dying?
It isn’t our place to interfere with God’s divine will.
Right. But you’re pro-life?
Absolutely!
OK, so that’s gotta mean that you’re fighting climate change, advocating for conserving natural habitats, opposing data centers, and passing legislation to ensure the planet has clean air and drinking water?
Umm… those aren’t our priorities right now.
I kinda figured… Alright then, since you’re pro-life, how about the hundreds of thousands of lives around the world that are going to die without USAID?
Now, that’s just not fair! As JD Vance has said, our faith calls us to care for people closest to us first and then those geographically further away if we can. We have to take care of our own!
I see, so America First, right?
Exactly!
That must mean you’re fighting to make sure Americans have affordable groceries, healthcare, housing, education, and energy?
Yeah, the thing is, we’d like to, but we’re busy with other more pressing matters. You’ve seen that we’re in the middle of a bunch of wars and military conflicts around the world, right?
Kinda hard to miss. Yeah, about that: Isn’t bombing school children in Iran, partnering in the genocide in Gaza, cutting off Cuba from power, strong-arming Ukraine, and collaborating in assaults on Lebanon the exact opposite of pro-life?
Now, you’re oversimplifying and trying to make us look bad. War is profit…, umm, war is strateg… uh… war is necessary sometimes.
So you can bomb civilians, starve families, and collaborate in ethnic cleansing and still be pro-life?
Sure, you can!
Wow…
What?
Nothing… So you’re sure you’re pro-life?
Without a doubt!
How about immigrant lives? How about the lives of black and brown people being terrorized, beaten, abducted, arrested without due process, and thrown into concentration camps…
Detention centers!
Whatever… What about the lives in those “detention centers” that are in sweltering cells all around this country? The lives that are sexually assaulted? The lives that are being denied food and medical care? Are you pro those lives?
We have to protect our borders!
What does that mean?
Illegals!
What?
Gangs! Drugs! Rape!
Alright, now it sounds like you’re just shouting random buzzwords… But since you mentioned rape, isn’t it pro-life to make every monster in the Epstein Files legally accountable for their crimes? I mean, those survivors of sexual assault are lives, right?
OK, now you’ve gone too far! Think of the chaos that might cause. Can you imagine where we’d be as a nation if we exposed every powerful predator and pedophile in our government?
I can. Look, I gotta run, but let me hit you with a few last questions.
Shoot!
Every life in the womb is sacred and worthy of protection, right?
Yes!
Every life?
Of course!
So, gay lives? Are they sacred?
Umm..
Transgender lives?
You, see, that’s tricky…
Muslim lives?
That’s complicated.
How about children with disabilities? Are there lives worth protecting?
That’s a tough one…
Are the lives of veterans sacred enough to deserve care?
Well, sure, but we can’t…
What about those with mental illnesses?
Uh…
Ok, so I think I’ve got it: You’re against affordable healthcare, health benefits for the elderly, food supports for the hungry, a living wage, affordable groceries, education, and housing.
We are.
You oppose environmental protections, mental healthcare, and accountability for sexual predators, though you support mass incarceration, wars around the globe, and human rights rollbacks for LGBTQ people, people of color, and immigrants?
Correct.
And you believe all life in the womb is sacred, but you don’t believe in body autonomy for the women who carry those wombs, and believe their deaths are the acceptable cost of birth?
Bingo!
Well, I’m really glad you Republicans are so pro-life…
“I closed the forestry operation down and laid off 1,000 people.” All Brazilians? “Yes. To protect the forest.” He sees the look on my face. “Now we get to the heart of this problem. It’s an interesting dilemma. You have about eight million people in the Amazonas, 7.99 million of whom are poor. They need the jobs. So how do they get employed? Cutting trees.” But people still have to eat – if you fire them, surely they will log illegally? “No. I have security people to control things, but in all honesty, you can’t do that.” Although he is at pains to point out that the layoffs were done properly, in conversation with local authorities and members of the government who are friends of his, it seems that this is just one of the costs of saving the planet.
Reminds me very much of an underground desert house I designed in the summer of ’77, still deep in the thrall of the first STARS WARS movie. Those plans are long gone, possibly thrown out when my folks sold their house in ’81. I mean I knew exactly where they—and multitudes of my other works—were when I moved out a year earlier, but afterward…no clue.
I figured out how to add the comments/comment count link to each individual post automatically without having to remember to do it.
Or should I say, Google’s A.I. (is that Gemini?) figured it out. It required a bit of tweaking on my part, but now it’s working, and I didn’t have to spend months learning PHP in order to do it.
I’ve always felt Constantine was a vastly underrated film.
Damn…now I’m going to have to go watch it.
Although I must admit, I found Matt Ryan’s portrayal of the titular character on the short-lived television series much sexier. That was another one of those series that unceremoniously got canceled on a cliffhanger. Bastards.
Addendum: I always confuse this one with The Ninth Gate, another vastly under-appreciated bit of horror.
I may have been a little hasty in my initial judgment of BACKROOMS. Obviously YouTube is now overrun with analyses and deep dives, and after watching many of them I have to admit I missed a fundamental aspect of this film and what the Backrooms are, that may ultimately change my opinion of the film.
The Backrooms are a modern-day metaphor for A.I. I mean think about it: at a cursory glance they’re a copy (although sometimes admittedly strange) of the real world. But the deeper you look, the more fucked these rooms become. And the still-lifes? The renderings of living humans is horrific. The same goes for modern-day A.I. On the surface, A.I. generated content looks okay, but the deeper you look at it, the more errors stand out: people with six or more fingers, legs missing or completely out of whack, eyes that just aren’t right, and dozens of other things.
And if you generate a picture and want A.I. to do it over again to change something, it moves further and further with each generation from your original intent. It’s unnerving, much like what you see in the Backrooms.
An interesting take on the film, to be sure. I may have to go back and see it again…
(Here’s the text of his humble brag of a FOURTH DEMENTIA TEST —no link for obvious reason)
The results of my Physical Examination, taken at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, and just released, were extremely good. Unlike other U.S. Presidents, none of whom have ever
taken an approved, high difficulty, Cognitive Test, I scored a perfect 30 out of 30, considered “extreme intelligence.” Are the Dumocrats really surprised? In fact, this is my fourth such test, all PERFECT or, 120 correct answers out of 120 questions asked! It is very rare that anyone gets a Perfect Score, especially when achieved four times in a row. All people running for President and Vice President should be forced to take high difficulty Cognitive Tests. Congress, and the Dumocrats, should demand it! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Oh, really?
Trump’s Truth Social posting over the last hour or so is completely batshit insane. Get a load of this nonstop nuttery.
Minneapolis law enforcement authorities along with the Texas Rangers apprehended ICE agent Christian Castro May 29th after he shot an INNOCENT Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January. Castro lied about the shooting then fled Minnesota to Texas.
Castro faces four felony charges of aggravated assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
I hope they lock this violent ICE asshole up for a long time. Get him on state charges so that Trump cannot pardon him.
Or are there large sliding glass doors? If you look carefully there is what looks like a track in the ceiling that spans those openings to the outside, but there’s a weird electrical cable hanging off one end. Or is this just more AI slop? I honestly can’t tell…
CASA PAULISTANA
Project: João Panaggio
Location: Casacor 2025
In his debut at CASACOR São Paulo, the carioca architect João Panaggio (@joaopanaggio) presents Casa Paulistana, a 170m² space that translates a new look at contemporary living. This is Panaggio’s third participation in the show, and his debut on São Paulo soil has already arrived strongly: it is one of the only two constructions from scratch in this edition – and the largest among them.
Well that explains it. It’s more of an art piece for a show and not a real residence.
I discovered I had two leftover shadow box frames from my Minidisc project last year. I thought I’d switch it up a bit so I searched everyone’s favorite auction site for “Parts Or Repair” portable CD players. This one came up for $20 and I figured it was worth it. If it did work—or I could get it working, I could easily flip it (because I didn’t really need another portable player), but if not, I could put one of those shadow boxes to use.
Obviously I couldn’t get it working. The disc would spin, the laser would search for the table of contents and then shut down. I tried adjusting the laser gain and focus controls, but to no avail. It wasn’t a great player by any means, but it was pretty and therefore it went into the “art” category.
This model is a strange beast. It fell in the transition period between the all metal mid 80s players (that I adore despite their lack of skip protection) and the all plastic era of the 90s. The case is all plastic, but lacks any sort of skip protection, and the innards more resemble the metal models than the plastic ones, what with the multiple circuit boards and connecting wires that ran everywhere.
