Recycled homes, one box at a time

Magoline Hazelton is used to people driving by her home just to take a look. She's also known as the "house lady" by her fellow residents in North Charleston, South Carolina.

From the outside, Hazelton's home doesn't seem much different from the rest of the neighborhood. But there's one big difference. Her house is made from cargo shipping containers.

Using containers to build homes has increasingly become a trend in the past several years because it can be cheaper and faster than using traditional construction methods. There are also plenty of containers at most major ports.

About 18 million containers are used worldwide to transport a variety of everyday products, such as cars, toys and food. Because the United States imports more than it exports, many containers end up stacked at ports.

SG Blocks, a company whose name stands for safe and green blocks, has made a business from the container overflow. Co-founder David Cross previously worked as a merchant marine and spent a lot of time at sea, dealing with shipping containers.

"As you're looking down the deck of the vessel, you see hundreds to thousands of containers perfectly configured," Cross said. "They were stacked nine high below deck, five or six high on deck, and I just kept seeing hotel after hotel on the deck of our ship."

Cross also saw value in the strength of the material.

"The containers are designed for hostile dynamic life at sea ... capable of carrying 60,000 pounds. It just made imminent sense, that with minor modification, it could become a multi-family living system."

In 2003, Cross partnered with engineer Steve Armstrong to help bring the idea to fruition. A year later, Hazelton's house was built in South Carolina.

According to Cross, modifying containers into homes uses significantly less energy than melting them down.

"These containers weigh about 9,000 pounds, and it takes about 9,000 kilowatt hours of energy to melt down 9,000 pounds of steel," Cross said. "We modify that existing piece of steel with approximately 400 kilowatt hours of energy input. [That's a] 95 percent energy footprint reduction."

The energy saved by transforming a single container into a home, rather than melting it down, can power a standard 70-watt lightbulb for up to 15 years.

The time it takes to assemble a container home can vary, according to Cross. Hazelton's home took 10 weeks to build. Generally, SG Blocks has found that recycled homes cut construction time in half.

"Typical homes can take four to eight months [to build]," Cross said. "For container homes, it's usually two to four months."

According to Armstrong, who is president of SG Blocks, the cost of building a single family container home is comparable to a traditional home.

"But you get a steel home instead of a wood home," he said. "So, it's more durable and has a lower carbon footprint. It's also water resistant and termite resistant."

The construction becomes cheaper as you get into multi-family homes. According to Armstrong, multi-family mid-rise units cost 10 to 15 percent less than typical "stick frame" homes.

"That's a lot to do with speed and ease of construction," he said.

Companies around the world are using shipping containers as building materials to create offices, army barracks, dorms and even designer homes.

"[We] can make these look like anything you want. [We] can put a pretty dress on any skeleton," Armstrong said. "So, if you want it minimalistic, so you can see the container walls, we can do that. If you want stucco or brick or siding, [we] can do that as well."

While each container has its own roof, when multiple containers are put together side by side, there are gaps between the boxes. Therefore, a traditional roof is put on top of the entire home, providing additional safety in inclement weather.

"When the boxes are joined together, the gaps are sealed, so even if you lose your roof above, you'd have some protection," said Armstrong.

The second roof also provides another benefit. Hazelton finds she can't even hear the rain hitting her home when it's pouring outside.

Her house has been almost maintenance free since she moved in.

"The only thing I've done here is exchanged the hot water heater. Nothing else I've had to do in the last five years ... so far, it's pretty good."

source : www.cnn.com

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Kendhal Beal: Assaulted

Beauty queen Kendhal Beal was assaulted on Tuesday June 9th by trust fund billionaire Paris Hilton. Hilton allegedly threw ice and bar food at the victim who is said by witnesses to have been a non-aggressor in the situation.

Hilton became upset after hearing her boyfriend Doug Reinhardt was at the bar with Kendhal Beal and a group of friends, having drinks and watching the Lakers on television.

Hilton stormed into the bar and initiated a confrontation with Reinhardt then stormed out.

Her Bio (From her website):

Kendhal Beal, model and aspiring actress, was born in Houston, Texas. She has two sisters and two brothers. Her family is very important to her and is her support in everything that she does.

Kendhal began modeling when she was fourteen years old with Neal Hamil Modeling Agency in Houston, Texas. Neal Hamil Modeling Agency sent her to New York at age nineteen where she worked for Cosmopolitan, Wella, Celebrity Hairstyles Magazine and many other well known clients.

Along with modeling, Kendhal also majored in Biology at Lamar University studying to be an Orthodontist. She also competed in Miss Texas USA where she placed 2nd runner up and Everything But Water Swimsuit Winner for the years 2005 and 2006. Her main focus was bringing awareness about ITP which is a blood disorder that her youngest sister was born with.

Kendhal currently lives in Studio City, California where she is modeling and taking acting classes as she hopes to branch out into the acting world

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Beatle news briefs: Keep a rockin'

On the Citi Field show, here are the ticket prices, from low to high: Promenade Center: $49.50, Promenade Side: $59.50, Field Center Sterling: $99.50, Field Center: $99.50, Excelsior: $125, Field Side: $175, Floor Side: $175, Floor Center: $275. You can see the seating chart here.

And in addition to the presale at 507tixx.com, American Express has one listed on their page going from 10 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. Sunday, a bit longer than the other presale, which ends Saturday.

Look for a special interview with former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber here later today. He'll talk about his career and his time with Wings.

Yoko Ono was given a lifetime achievement award Thursday from MOJO magazine, reports the BBC.

Two Beatle fans talk about seeing the Beatles in Detroit in 1964 in the Detroit News.

Yoko Ono tweet on Thursday: "When you say 'I love you', you are not just saying it to that person. You are saying 'I love you' to yourself, the planet & the Universe."

The Museum at Bethel Woods in upstate New York, the site of the original Woodstock Music Festival, is featuring an exhibit of Gerry Deiter's photos of John Lennon and Yoko at the Montreal bed-in. The Associated Press has a short slide show.

Ken Dashow talked to Yoko recently about the "John Lennon: The New York Years" exhibit. You can hear his interview here.

The Seattle tribute band Crème Tangerine are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles "Abbey Road" by performing the album live from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 27th in the Queen’s Show Lounge aboard the M.S. Amsterdam in the Port of Seattle’s Smith Cove cruise terminal. The event coincides with the release of the group's new album, "The Abbey Road Project." The show will be hosted by Spike O’Neill of Seattle’s "Bob Rivers Show" and a portion of the proceeds from the album release date will benefit Junior Achievement of Washington. Tickets can be purchased through Junior Achievement at http://www.jawashington.org.

Former Monkee Peter Tork's cancer has returned, reports the Hartford Courant, but "doctors have given him an excellent chance, 80 percent, of containing this new tumor and shrinking it," said his publicist.

There's something cool about reading that the great Little Richard, 76, also a huge influence to the Beatles, is still gigging. Here's a review from a concert he did this week in the Washington Post. Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and B.B. King, a group containing some big influences on the Beatles, recently appeared at a special tribute concert in New Orleans at the end of May to help support a charity by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees to improve local playgrounds and recreation sites in New Orleans. We added pictures of the four performers to the slideshow at the bottom. Glad to see them still rocking away.

We'll close out with this excerpt from Warren Zanes' liner notes for "Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison" that, we think, reveals a little about the purpose behind the disc. "With recordings collected by friends and family, "Let it Roll: Songs by George Harrison" is a gathering of material that takes us far into the territory that was unique to George Harrison ... The more we listen, the more we want deeper insight into George Harrison's world. And left curious, we're pulled back into the music again. The music is and always will be where the best clues remain, clues telling us something about who George Harrison was -- and is."

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