Roxy Freeman was born into an Gypsy family. For years, her family travelled around Ireland in a horsedrawn wagon, without electricity or formal schooling, getting by on picking fruit and selling horses they bred, before settling in Norfolk. Roxy taught herself to read, devoured books, and, after travelling the world for a number of years, decided to go to university, a move which would require her to completely change her way of life. Living in a flat in Brighton, a way of life which she finds bizarre and alien, she has written about her childhood, her family's culture and the difficulties and prejudices she encountered, for the Guardian. [more inside]
posted by acb on Sep 7, 2009 - 14 comments

How to Look Twee. And maybe become a Manic Pixie Dream Girl!
posted by mattholomew on Aug 6, 2008 - 84 comments

NYT asks: What's your recipe deal breaker? Deep frying? Requiring a helper? Standing overnight? Lifehacker readers chime in with the recipes that stop them cold.
posted by divabat on Jun 10, 2008 - 139 comments

A supportive blogging community of mainly women cross-linked on each other's blogrolls and leading an increasingly compelling marketplace of small-scale goods and handmade lives , green-living ideas , product promotion , and lifestyle-making suggest that the internet may be able to foster a localized economy model of living on an international scale--or at least gain the attention of that other idyllic-life icon. [more inside]
posted by rumposinc on May 12, 2008 - 20 comments

Virtual Age and Life Expectancy Calculator "Your Virtual Age is a reflection of your health and vitality. The lower your Virtual Age the better shape you are in. It is used to calculate the Life Expectancy of someone of your current physical age." [more inside]
posted by paduasoy on May 4, 2008 - 69 comments

Lost Art is the fascinating site of Brazilian Mefite Ignacio Aronovich and Louise Chin. It's a deep vein of adventurous, quirky, and kinky photo essays from around the globe. Scroll down on the main page to see a text menu or browse the visual index. Much content is NSFW but - stick with "adventure" and "travel" if that's a concern - or view the SFW slide show Our Year in Pictures 2006 (with sound) or without sound.
posted by madamjujujive on Jun 25, 2007 - 5 comments

There and Back Again: The Soul of the Commuter How long is your commute? Is it worth the personal and social cost? Nick Paumgarten in this week's New Yorker on the bargains Americans strike between their work lives and home lives.
posted by Miko on Apr 13, 2007 - 84 comments

Do love experts work? It's a year round profession for pick up artists and professional bad boys. Well, folks, I've tried them all and I have had fewer girlfriends than Hitler.
posted by CameraObscura on Feb 14, 2007 - 17 comments

How's the weather? Is it polluted? Do you have plenty of rainforests? Send someone a Geography Information Postcard and tell them about where you live by filling out infographics. (via)
posted by divabat on Jan 31, 2007 - 1 comment

Scraping By on $150K a Year
My heart bleeds for people who earn a six figure income but are still dirt poor. In a skewed distribution model with the median income ($43,000 in 2002) being in Salina, Kansas and moving a mile east or west for each $1000 above or below that median, the Bush's would be four states away in Columbus, Ohio and the average CEO would be in....Kabul, Afghanistan. The top 400 incomes would be three quarters of the way to the moon. From a 2003 article at Alternet so they're probably beyond the moon now and on their way to Mars. From 1979 to 1997, the average annual income of the top 1% (after taxes) increased by 157% (or $414,000) while the poorest 20% went down by $100.
posted by fenriq on Dec 16, 2006 - 68 comments

Newsfilter: Sex Clubs OK in Canada ruled the Supreme Court yesterday in a 7-2 decision that drastically alters the definition of indecency in this country. What will be the results of this far-reaching change? Will gay bathhouses and marijuana growing be affected? Will there be anti-social behaviour? "Now harm, rather than community standards, is the key yardstick that will be used to measure the point at which constitutional freedoms can be limited".
posted by stinkycheese on Dec 22, 2005 - 213 comments

Unions are much of the source of the E.U. vs. U.S. lifestyle difference.
posted by jeffburdges on Dec 4, 2005 - 54 comments

Party like a rock star...on the cheap. For only $12,95, a book by freelance writer Camper English reveals low-budget secrets like: * pick up money from the floor on clubs * don't pay for drinks, use a flask * take your girlfriend out to "first one free" (link may be NSFW) salsa classes * get a student ID for discounts, even if you're not a student. (Via Lifehacker)
posted by iviken on Oct 2, 2005 - 28 comments

Ooh ,cool rotating furniture!
posted by 31d1 on Jun 14, 2005 - 16 comments

"Oh shit! It's Baby Man," says one cashier, a Hispanic kid who's heard the legend but has never been a witness to the spectacle. "It's like Sasquatch!" he says. "You don't believe it exists until you see it." And even then, you're likely to think Baby Man is the star of a hidden-camera TV show, a singing telegram, or maybe on his way to a costume party. But Windsor (AGE 54) is for real. This is no spoof.
posted by miss lynnster on Jun 9, 2005 - 59 comments

On the way to work today, I heard an advertisement for "the nation's first ever sex-offender-free subdivision" (link to mov). Milwaukee Ridge, the brainchild of I&S Investments, will be located on the outskirts of Lubbock, Texas, and offer "the best features of a family-friendly lifestyle," including "background checks on adults buying homes and juveniles expected to live in the homes." I can't help but think of Stephenson's burbclaves. When, if ever, does the definition of a private community become a public concern?
posted by rush on Jun 7, 2005 - 59 comments

The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience This is the question this article from Christianity Today asks. It shows some scary stats for anyone involved in the Protestant church, that the lifestyles of Evangelical Christians is not really all that different from the rest of society.
posted by livingsanctuary on Jan 23, 2005 - 129 comments

The 60 best cheapest places to live in America.
posted by PenDevil on Aug 19, 2004 - 45 comments

The vertical nature of New York City has long helped define its image, with families stacked on top of each other and penthouse apartments reaching the clouds. But for generations, tens of thousands of people have made do with another New York reality - the basement apartment - and they literally climb out of the ground to enter the city that is always on top of them. As mentioned in literature, personal ads--and soon to be the penthouse of urban worker housing everywhere.
posted by y2karl on Feb 25, 2004 - 11 comments

Anchors Away, A Life Unmoored An interesting, albeit sad, story about a once prominent D.C. lawyer who walked away from his life and now lives on a garbage-filled boat in the waters around Annapolis, MD. "Trash People" have always perplexed me; is there anything that society can do to truly help them?
posted by tommyspoon on Oct 28, 2003 - 36 comments

When Is It OK To Lie To Your Doctor? Legislation to deny first class medical assistance to those who persist with an unhealthy lifestyle is now being seriously discussed in the UK. Can lie detectors be far behind? Will smokers, heavy drinkers and couch potatoes now have to add the art of lying through their teeth - as if their lives depended on it, which they may soon do, to their solitary, sedentary and increasingly melancholy skills? More importantly, will doctors be able to help them, if the information they get from their patients is all wrong?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Jul 27, 2003 - 46 comments

Morbid Outlook is a polished, eclectic Goth magazine with a killer design and content to die for. With hundreds of articles and images in the categories of Art, Music, Fashion, Lifestyle, Fiction and Nonfiction, this is one of the very best online zines I've seen yet. Go to any feature, and you will find a list of related-interest articles accompanying the story, and, usually, a listing of online resources or suggestions for reading as well.
posted by taz on Jun 12, 2003 - 31 comments

Heart surgery in our family has triggered something of a crisis of fitness with everyone vowing to loose weight. Ironically its the runner in the family that has suggested the most sensible solution: buy a pedometer and increase the number of steps per day you walk to 10,000. (Although some say to just increase.) The idea supposedly started in Japan. The idea is to add a bit of activity here and there (the first site recommends going to a restroom on a different floor) rather than trying to lump the 30 minutes per day all ot once. So far with a desk-potato lifestyle 3,000 is easy but adding the extra few miles every day will require some extra work. Less social than a Volksmarch but compatable with a mall walk. And definitely less hazardous than freestyle walking.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Feb 21, 2003 - 24 comments

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its Ace or Gary disguised as Superman! If you thought Peter Pan was a few apples short, then check then keep reading. "... Several brave heroes in spandex ventured to pose in their superhero outfits little did they know what was waiting for them!"

The bondage Spiderman is whack yo! I just want to know where's the Wolverine to torch a blunt and get the freak on?
posted by Brilliantcrank on Jan 27, 2002 - 6 comments

Anonymous Juice tries to review everything he's ever encountered. I first read about this website whilst reading the Web Life section of The Guardian this morning while on the train to work. I live in Liverpool and . . . cont
posted by feelinglistless on Aug 4, 2001 - 7 comments

what should we be doing to voice our opposition to dangerous, gas-guzzling, CO2-emitting, vision-obstructing, environment-destroying conspicuously-consumed SUVs? what can one do to prevent others from driving these monstrosities? should we ticket them? should we stick "i'm changing the climate" stickers on them? should we stick potatoes in their tailpipes? should we shoot out their windows? is there any way to educate suburban families that SUVs are simply an unnecessary addition to their lifestyle? should we resort to retaliatory vandalism? can SUV owners ever have a meaningful discussion with those who object to their vehicles? i do my part by not buying an SUV, but could i do more? should i?
posted by palegirl on May 17, 2001 - 104 comments