Modern System-built Homes

CR7 vs. Messi: Who had the better season?

Cristiano Ronaldo 's incredible campaign is over, while Lionel Messi still has one game to play in club soccer this season. Both will again dominate the voting for individual awards and already have titles to their names this season. The argument over who is the better player is difficult to address, and when their time is over, statistics and records may well be the only way to choose between the two. On the strength of this season, there is little to separate the jewels in the Liga crown.

Shoot to score:

Ronaldo's 40-goal haul shattered the long-held record of Telmo Zarra in the 1950-51 season and Hugo Sanchez in 1989-90. But Ronaldo required almost 100 more shots to achieve it than Messi needed to reach 31 (241 to 145). Additionally, eight of Ronaldo's goals were scored from the penalty spot and five from free kicks compared to four and one for Messi.

Team play:

The popular notion that Ronaldo is a finely honed machine and Messi a scampering urchin who plays today as he did in the streets of Rosario is not entirely accurate. When Thiago Alcantara was elevated to first-team status, he was told that his primary mission was to ensure the ball arrived at Messi's feet. If the miniature maestro deigned to return it, it should be taken as a sign that Alcantara had been given the Argentine's blessing. David Villa , when he arrived from Valencia, was informed that there was little point in competing with Messi in the goal-scoring stakes.

Ronaldo's petulance is well-documented; when Mesut Ozil scored the opener in this season's Madrid derby at the Calderon, rather than congratulate his teammate, Ronaldo remained in the area demanding he be awarded a penalty for an infringement in the buildup to the goal. However, despite Messi's less famous prima donna proclivities, the Argentine chipped in with a staggering 19 league assists during the season to Ronaldo's nine.

But can they do it in a different league?

In Messi's case, we probably will never have the chance to find out, which is a shame. He has made it quite clear that he expects to see out his career in Catalonia. However, should Pep Guardiola leave Barcelona, as he has intimated several times this season he will, Messi could follow his mentor to his next post. Should Guardiola's path lead him to the Premier League, this mini debate-within-debate -- can Messi succeed outside of Spain? -- could be put to rest.

The Lifespan of the Modern Home - D-Build

It is often repeated that houses today do not compare to the houses of the past, that they are not built as well, and will not stand the test of time.  The explosion of home building and McMansions in the 1990s and 2000s that culminated in a housing bubble from which we are still reeling saw the rapid deployment of houses of questionable standards.  So the real question is if these houses deserve their reputation of being poorly made out of cheap materials, or if it just nostalgia for the overbuilt wooden houses of yore.  Well, according to a recent report from msn , there is some truth to the sentiment, though the houses have made vast improvements of houses of the past in certain criteria.

We learned that homes — and homebuilding — have changed enormously. Just 50 years ago, most homes were made by small, jack-of-all-trades builders. Today, large corporations predominate, and most homes are built by contractors specializing in particular trades. Materials and techniques are different, too. An old home’s strength comes from its big timbers made of dense, old-growth wood. Built when fuel was cheap, old homes leak heat from windows, doors and cracks.

Most homes built today get their strength from engineering principles, not massive timbers. Built correctly, new homes are weather-tight systems of interrelated parts, each highly engineered to do a specialized job. Whether new homes perform as intended depends greatly on whether these highly specialized systems are assembled correctly. Each component has technical requirements that, if ignored, can void its warranty and sabotage the home’s quality.

It is well worth going through the whole slideshow in detail, but here are the main points of difference between modern and historic home building, and whether or not modern houses will survive 50 years.

Frank Lloyd Wright--American system-built homes in Milwaukee

Home Delivery, fabricating the modern dwelling

Modern movement heritage

Old-House Journal

Ideal homes?, social change and domestic life