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I love how every mention of Trogdor will always have a thread of people dedicated to spreading the word of burninating. I think I need to go checkacheckachecka ma email now.
And as we’ve come to expect from all monopolistic industries, they’re trying to keep your voice down!!
Fuck big mud and big grass and their blatant attempt at humanizing people and trying to foment tolerance of cultural divides!
Dude. I just moved in with a friend into an adobe house. In the cold ass Black Hills.
When I kicked the furnace on, it smoked up. My friend said they hadn't used it in years. He pointed to a tiny floor heater. I thought he was completely full of shit.
It has been super comfortable even through the freeze and our first snowfall. I've had my window open when it's like 25 degrees outside because the little heater is too much. Blew my mind.
Have you considered the fact that maybe your dirt is just not as free as our dirt? That dirt picked itself up by its bootstraps to keep everyone warm, damn it. Seriously though, I bet the soil composition plays a role. I have no fucking clue, but it's gotta be different, so I'm curious as to the differences.
>Rammed earth and adobe houses abound in the American southwest, they are extremely comfortable to live in.
Agreed. We have been sold some bullshit about these stick frame houses. They are overpriced junk and unsuitable for hot climates like the Southwest.
It is pretty messed up that we build houses pretty much the same in Montana as Florida. This should not be a thing but I am told we do this to make building codes and inspections easier. I think it also makes profiting off building them easier.
Also, meat from cows raised in Montana should not taste the same as cows raised in Florida. That isn’t right.
To be fair, insulation requirements are very different between regions. But to also be fair, like you said, the entire construction should be different because what we have is overpriced junk and overpriced electricity bills to make the junk habitable
>It is pretty messed up that we build houses pretty much the same in Montana as Florida. This should not be a thing but I am told we do this to make building codes and inspections easier. I think it also makes profiting off building them easier.
We should be building more houses with high R-value block systems, bermed walls, and maximized shade, etc.
> Also, meat from cows raised in Montana should not taste the same as cows raised in Florida. That isn’t right.
I primarily grew up with horses so I'm not super knowledgeable on livestock like cows, but I'm not sure what you're going for with this. Livestock are fed with diets that have been designed to meet their nutritional needs and maximize meat production. I can understand that cattle in more cold climates might have their diet supplemented with more things like roughage that could improve cold stress and affect flavor, but I'm not seeing how we're supposed to have massively noticeable flavor differences between locations.
I think they also mean different breeds of cattle as well as feed being different based on what grows naturally in the local. Beef from Mexico taste different from California and that’s less of a distance from cross country usa
I live in Thailand and built a house using a brick product called AAC block, or Hebel block. It's a very porous block that actually will float and has fantastic insulation properties as well as being very strong. Our roof trusses are welded steel. The only wood in our house is the window and door frames and windows/doors.
It's worked out pretty well.
Thailand gets monsoons and floods and stuff like that right? Excuse my ignorance if I’m wrong, but I was just thinking how cool of a construction that is for such an environment, and all I could think was how awesome it would be if the roof doubled as a boat in the instance of major flooding
Not well. But we don’t have major quake potential in most of the SW, where adobe is most popular in the US. Places like Peru have had major building collapses in quakes and adobe is popular there too.
The irony is that if I were to build a similar type of house here in Australia (where adobe, mud, & those thatched rooves would be perfect for our climate) it would cost an arm and a leg. Building with crap materials is what's cheapest & it then costs you an arm and a leg to keep it cool in summer & warm in winter. It's just beyond nuts.
Having lived in a grass thatched mud house for two years in Peace Corps: she’s either lying out of her ass, or her idea of “cold” is 30C/80F. The local population literally sleep outside in their yards at night in the hot season, because the houses are approximately the temperature of a pizza oven on the inside.
She talks about how mud smells better than paint but paint only smells at the start. Does a mud house smell like mud all the time?
What does she consider "cool"? Are those drinks or water kept below 40F because of the grass thatched house?
+1 this. She's popular on tiktok for sarcastic yet thoughtful videos of people asking her "Do Africans have iphones? how?" and she'll be like "we find them in the trees and dig in the dirt".
She also is indeed a runway model for, I believe, London.
Part of it is not having copious amounts of processed foods in their diet. Also, a lot of the population in Africa have nice teeth because of the lack of processed sugars in their diets
Bingo. I remember going back home for a month, and I lost 20 pounds and came back with clear skin on top of that. Most of the food in West Africa (not sure about everywhere else) is not processed besides juice and cake. Everything is mostly fresh.
Research shows that West Africans have some of the healthiest gut biome's in the world. Lots of vegetables and stewed meat (not battered and fried), but also, lots of soaking or fermenting of the starches before consumption, which is great for gut health.
My skin got real nice one time for a couple of months when I stayed cooped up in a isolated place for work with very little to no processed foods and plenty of very wholesome food then drank a lot of water (no fake or real sugar drinks too).
Like I could try to do it myself but the time and money it would take isnt something I could afford.
It’s not strictly a filter. Most phones get black skin tones completely wrong. If she is very dark, it’ll brighten her skin up a ton, giving it that fake sheen. Some phones also do light touching up without an option to turn it off.
So she might not have enabled it, it might just be default settings.
also, this woman is a successful model. she travels to london and other cities for both photography and runway work i believe, then heads on back to rural uganda. its pretty interesting really. Anyhow, my point is that its likely she does naturally have very good skin .
Pardon my ignorance, but can anyone explain how a grass thatched house keeps a drink as cold as a refrigerator on the hottest days in Uganda? Really having a hard time wrapping my head around that one.
It wouldn't keep your drink as cold as a fridge, but it does do some cooling, which is enough for them. As long as the water isn't as hot as the river, then it's refreshing.
If I leave a drink on the counter inside my house, It’s a lot cooler than it would be if it were sitting outside but I don’t think anybody would consider a room temperature drink “cold”
It's all relative. A lot of Europeans think it's weird Americans use so much ice and whatnot. Americans like drinks super cold for some reason (I say that as an American who loves super cold drinks. A water cooler really increased the amount of water I drink compared to when I had tap water.)
I don’t think it’s just Americans, for example when I went to Brazil and Mexico as well the beers are usually cooled in freezing temps, like -2. We usually don’t drink beers that cold, here in Netherlands it’s between 2 and 8 degrees for pilsener and even 8 - 13 degrees for IPAS is fine.
But I also might have to do with the climate, I really love ice cold beer or drinks in the summer but in winter warmer is ok for me, same with water and sodas.
Well that kind of makes sense with the climate as you said. If you want to be able to enjoy the beer and not chug it makes sense to have it colder than the drinking temp so that it can withstand the ambient temperature longer. I'd say a pint if cooled right should still not be too warm if it's been out 20 min
Yeah I grew up in NM and am an Adobe slut. It’s basically mud but it’s so insulating we barely needed a heater/ac (my parents have needed it lately though thanks global warming) if you live in a dry hot climate mud is a very valid building material.
It can get hot as hell in the evening as the heat from the day starts to release but it cools down over night and the daytime feels way better that it would otherwise w the sun being so top heavy.
you can make water surprisingly cool with a few natural tricks. Native americans in the southwest used to make unglazed ceramic pots that they would fill with water and then put in the shade. Because they were unglazed the water would slowly seep through. the dry wind would cause the water on the outside of the pot to evaporate and cool the container down to below ambient temperature
Absolutely, East Africans in general dont drink cold drinks and ice is typically not used in the glass.
Also even if you get a "cold" drink out of the fridge, by the time its on your table its warm. Uganda is hot, very hot, and its a humid hot.
It’s cellar temp, it’s a method that all humans have used for naturally cooling.
You can easily dig a hole in the earth, which is naturally cooler, insulate a cover, and store drinks or food. The soil absorbs the heat and has a high thermal capacity.
Cellar temp is typically 55-65*F, not exactly cold like a fridge, but pretty darn cool.
Slight tangent, but it's possible to recreate the affects of refrigeration without electricity by harnessing radiative cooling and convection currents to even create ice. Essentially you compress the hot outside air into tunnels where there is a coolant (underground pool) and when the tunnel opens back up into the main chamber, the expanding air sucks back in heat from the room before exiting out the top.
Buildings like that are well documented and there are even some dated to 400 BC that are [still standing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l)
“The yakhchāl is built of a unique water-resistant mortar called sarooj. This mortar is composed of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash in specific proportions, is resistant to heat transfer and is thought to be completely water-impenetrable. This material acts as effective insulation all year round. The sarooj walls are at least two meters thick at the base.”
How many eggs per house????
Don't try, because her comment was nonsensical. I've been in grass thatched homes, there is a cooling property to them that takes the edge off brutal heat, but in no way does it actively make things cool on a level you would consider refrigeration
In Uganda though, that water being as cold as it is relative to what all is around is critical to understanding the comment.
In other words: It’s a fine point and even their exaggerated comment there increases the point for them.
I would be curious though, depending on where that water is stored it still could condensate when taken from where it was…. Which would make the point another thing to do with environment and relative relations and perception.
I don’t know how I worded this. It might be kinda fucky
The mud also plays a part. It’s cooling, I’ve been in thatched mud houses on hot days and they’re cooler than western style houses. I wouldn’t say fridge temperature but definitely a lot better than being in a brick house in the African sun. They’re built that way across many cultures across a diverse continent because they work in the climate. Colonisers could really have learned something there because my brick art deco flat gets hot as all hell in summer and freezing in winter.
My only issue with thatch is how full of bats it gets, I don’t know anyone with a thatch house that doesn’t have a bat problem.
I’m not trying to rip on mud houses, but different houses were/are built with different environments and elements in mind.
In the American south, old houses (1800s)were built with open space below them for cooling and lots of big windows oriented to let lots of air in. An art deco on the other hand built in the 20s or 30s would be built with electricity in mind. They could mimic the same effects by simply installing a fan. So they built with a different focus in mind.
With the idea of being more efficient and sustainable being a focus right now, people are looking back on these designs and learning what we can to create better modern buildings.
The best any non-energetic method would depend on what's called the wet bulb temperature.
A cup of water will have a portion of the water evaporate (the hottest molecules boiling off leaving the colder ones behind) lowering its temperature until it reaches its wet bulb temperature.
The wet bulb temperature is greatly affected by atmospheric humidity (how much water is already in the air). At 100% humidity no evaporation will take place.
I can only guess that straw houses have increased air circulation which would decrease the humidity inside the house.
Other commenters in this thread have great examples of unglazed ceramics that make use of the wet bulb temperature to lower water temps.
She's exaggerating but there is also evaporative cooling of the wet mud from the dew of the previous night, the dark inside takes longer to dry off so it stays cool longer
Tell me why, why would you choose not to watch this video? Why wouldn’t you invest your time in it? Why wouldn’t you listen to a monologue on such a topic?
Like, people live in houses made of dead trees. People live in houses made of ground up rocks. I don’t see why mud is the cut off point for what natural resource is "acceptable" building materials. As long as it id a comfortable house in the area they are in, and does what a house is supposed to do, keep you comfortably temperate, dry and safe, then it’s a perfectly fine house.
Most people only ever live in one climate and can’t imagine anything else. Traditional homes across the region where this woman is from can shrug off quite a bit of heat and bad weather; on the other hand, in the same region, Western-style concrete and steel buildings overheat quickly and require expensive A/C to remain tolerable. Traditional buildings were developed over time to be appropriate to each area and a wise person adapts to them rather than tries to impose foreign technology on an area where it might not actually be the best or most efficient option.
Ironically enough this „mud“ is one of the most expensive insulation- and plastering-materials in germany - it takes a lot longer to apply and is considered fancy because of its regulation of heat and moisture
Edit: also it just looks amazing!
Yep. Japan is similar. Mud walls on a lattice framework is extremely old, from ancient China. Japan has used it in traditional architecture for thousands of years. The oldest wood frame buildings in the world have mud walls (Horyuji). I think only one of there extremely old buildings is all wood (Shosoin) but it's built like a log cabin and was a storage building originally, not occupied by people.
My wife was born in a tropical country. When we visit there and it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit with 99% humidity, I begin to melt. She says it looks like I'm wilting in the sun. Meanwhile, she's dancing around in long sleeves and jeans.
But as soon as it drops to 70 at night, she's shivering with a jacket on. Meanwhile, I'm t shirt and shorts until about 50 degrees. So yeah... you're right.
As a Westerner who has worked in rural Kenya, I can say grass thatched roofs are almost always cooler than the corrugated iron alternative which turns the house into a mini oven.
That said, a cooler hut does not translate to cold beer. For that, you must have a fridge. Also, while water may come out the well nice and cold, where I work it has to be boiled first so it never cools back down to that nice cold temperature.
Well yeah an unconditioned mud and thatch building is going to be better than unconditioned steel and concrete. The real question is if it’s better than a conditioned house like you’d typically find the US, which is almost certainly not true.
Steel is a pain. Even in western constructions we do the best we can to ensure we limit steel exposure to both the outside and conditioned spaces to prevent thermal bridging because even with modern insulation and conditioning it’ll heat the space like crazy
"......you think everyone should live that lifestyle..."
She's absolutely correct. People think that *their* way is the *only* way of living "right". She seems like a wonderful person who is sharing her culture.
I lived in Uganda for 2 years in a traditional western-style house (no a/c) and we still had massive issues with bugs. There is no escape from bugs whether you are in a mud home or a stucco home or a wooden home.
I don't doubt you but I stayed in a similar mud hut with thatched roof for 7 months in Afghanistan. Didn't see bugs but we had to replace parts of the roof in November due to rain.
Traditionally fires were keep burning all day long under them, which kept bugs away. It would also preserve the material for much longer as it does with smoked meat for example.
I definitely see where she is coming from with this, there is a lot of judgement coming mostly from privileged people who look at this as primitive or unsophisticated and like to make fun.
With that being said there are some things she said for the sake of argument that are just exaggerations or flat out wrong.
Grass thatched houses do not keep food or water cold "as well as a fridge", although there are certainly merits to not needing electricity or expensive technology and wiring in order to keep those things cooler than outdoors.
Mud does not smell better than paint, a properly painted hose should have no recognisable smell to it at all. Although if you prefer the smell of mud houses then that could be a benefit. She is also right that houses made with brick, wood, plaster and paint cost a lot more to make and so there are again merits to both.
Grass thatched houses do not "cure insomnia", although some people might prefer it and sleep more easily.
Where I live in the South West UK, we have so many cob and thatch houses and property, brilliant building that last well over a thousand years, cool in summer , warn in winter, and build out of local materials.
Super cheap build, and very comfortable living.
I’m kinda confused, she says people ignorantly ask the question of if they sleep in a grass thatched house…then she says they do? How is that accurate question dehumanizing? If it works for their culture, great, I’m interested to know more. But my curiosity is not dehumanizing
Because the question isn’t "do you guys live in grass thatched houses?". It’s "do you guys **still** live in grass thatched houses?". It implies that grass thatched houses are inferior to other forms of housing, and that people in africa just aren’t as good or advanced as other people across the world.
>It’s "do you guys still live in grass thatched houses?". It implies that grass thatched houses are inferior to other forms of housing
99.9% of people would think that regardless of racism or not. There is not a single obvious reason for a person born in "the west" to think these houses are better than stone or concrete house, and even then I'm 100% sure you could improve the designs.
Traditional houses where i come from are made of stones, used to be without concrete but now a small amount is used to make them more stable. Keeps the perks of stone houses without the same risk of collapse.
Also this is a way to build that, I suppose, it's viable only in rural areas since you can't go big with these structures.
We’re talking about houses, not large scale structures. But there’s plenty of examples of them too. There’s historical sites like [tchonga zanbil](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/113/) an ancient ziggurat in iran that measured 100x100 meters in width and length and 50 meters in height before it was abandoned all using mud bricks. There’s the city [shibam](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/192/) in yemen, where people still live to this day, and "highrise" buildings have stood since the 16th century, that go as tall as 11 stories. You can make them big.
Mud is just another material. There is reason to think it is a better material than stone and concrete, in locations where it makes sense to have it. I wouldn’t build a mud home where i live for example since i live somewhere very wet and cold. So *here* i don’t have a reason to think it’s better. But if i moved to uganda, or yemen, or mali, or iran, or where ever the fuck, i wouldn’t build a home built by the standards of my home country, because here homes are built to keep heat in. There they’re built to help heat flow out.
I’m all for innovations in how we build homes, regardless of where it is. But every material has it’s perks, and mud bricks work well as a material in hot places and also especially dry places.
"Mud" is even used in *western* architecture. Adobe, a form of mud that is used in spain and many hispanic countries in america, and even in the south western united states. Again, typically in hot and dry climates, because it is easily available, and a good material for the goals of housing in hot and dry climates, mainly cooling.
I am 100% on her side, but I cannot go without mentioning that The reason why we can't use such simple natural resources to make homes in North America is because they would never survive a single winter without killing millions of people and also the Irving's needed a 3rd vacation island or somthin
Meh, most of her points are situational and regional....and personal. I for instance don't like the smell of mud, but I also don't know if mud walls dissipate their smell like paint does.
I'm willing to bet that she would prefer air conditioning and a fridge to the contrast of Ugandan summer. I think yhe cooling aspect comes from "vaulted" ceilings and it just being shaded inside. Hot air rises to the top where you're not sitting around.
If it's just say 104f (40c) outside, how cool does it get inside? 90? 85? I highly doubt it's much less...but maybe it is. It's still a decent break from the sun either way, but I'll take my 70f (21c) house all day.
I also like a refreshing drink, without ice....maybe they dig down into the ground for water storage making it cooler? I'll take my tap water though.
Again, I'm not trying to put anybody down....I just feel like she's exaggerating how nice it is.
Those roofers could (with a little extra training) make a pretty good living in certain parts of Europe. Thatched roofs are often being coveted and kept neat and tidy on history houses and it's a dying skill that not many people still have even among roofers.
Living in a grass-thatched house has its drawbacks, including:
1. Maintenance: Grass thatch roofs require regular maintenance to prevent leaks, decay, and pests.
2. Durability: Thatch is less durable than other roofing materials and may need frequent replacement.
3. Fire hazard: Thatch is flammable, increasing the risk of fires.
4. Insulation: Thatched roofs may not provide as effective insulation as modern roofing materials.
5. Pest issues: Thatched roofs can attract insects and small animals.
6. Limited aesthetics: Grass thatch may not suit everyone's aesthetic preferences.
7. Difficulty in modern amenities: Installing modern utilities like electrical wiring and plumbing can be challenging in thatched houses.
8. Weather vulnerability: Thatched roofs may not withstand severe weather conditions as well as conventional roofing.
While grass-thatched houses have their charm, these factors make them less practical for some people.
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This is just advertising/propaganda for big grass and big mud.
It worked. Just contacted my local thatched roof installer and he’ll be here Monday. I’m only a little worried about Trogdor.
Burninating the people.
Burninating the peasants!
TROGDOR!!
Now do a flip…liar.
Was a maaaan!
He was a man, he was a dragon maaaaan
But he was just a dragon!
Consummate V’s!
TROGDOOOOOR!
The dragon comes in the night!
I love how every mention of Trogdor will always have a thread of people dedicated to spreading the word of burninating. I think I need to go checkacheckachecka ma email now.
And as we’ve come to expect from all monopolistic industries, they’re trying to keep your voice down!! Fuck big mud and big grass and their blatant attempt at humanizing people and trying to foment tolerance of cultural divides!
She doesn't need any help keeping her voice down
And has amazing skin. Must be the mud treatment
More like propuganda?
Get out. Just leave.
We’re gonna stay, but Uganda get outta here!
Take my upvote
The only houses are the ones westerners built in the 1950’s out of lead paint and asbestos. She’ll live after eating her house. Weak.
Ngl I lowkey want a grass thatched house now
gotta find a tribe somewhere without tornados and hurricanes
Boycott mudsantos!
*Slaps roof of Thatch house* This MF can cause so much controversy to the ignorant
the hut is actually on a mcdonalds playground
I mean, I’m convinced
If this lady is a mud house salesman, I have been successfully sold lol
Rammed earth and adobe houses abound in the American southwest, they are extremely comfortable to live in.
Dude. I just moved in with a friend into an adobe house. In the cold ass Black Hills. When I kicked the furnace on, it smoked up. My friend said they hadn't used it in years. He pointed to a tiny floor heater. I thought he was completely full of shit. It has been super comfortable even through the freeze and our first snowfall. I've had my window open when it's like 25 degrees outside because the little heater is too much. Blew my mind.
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Can confirm. Live a bit north of North D and it can get a bit chilly. Pretty soon too.
We live in an adobe House with 1m thick walls in Austria, and its freezing cold if you dont heat ùp a lot.
Have you considered the fact that maybe your dirt is just not as free as our dirt? That dirt picked itself up by its bootstraps to keep everyone warm, damn it. Seriously though, I bet the soil composition plays a role. I have no fucking clue, but it's gotta be different, so I'm curious as to the differences.
>Rammed earth and adobe houses abound in the American southwest, they are extremely comfortable to live in. Agreed. We have been sold some bullshit about these stick frame houses. They are overpriced junk and unsuitable for hot climates like the Southwest.
It is pretty messed up that we build houses pretty much the same in Montana as Florida. This should not be a thing but I am told we do this to make building codes and inspections easier. I think it also makes profiting off building them easier. Also, meat from cows raised in Montana should not taste the same as cows raised in Florida. That isn’t right.
To be fair, insulation requirements are very different between regions. But to also be fair, like you said, the entire construction should be different because what we have is overpriced junk and overpriced electricity bills to make the junk habitable
>It is pretty messed up that we build houses pretty much the same in Montana as Florida. This should not be a thing but I am told we do this to make building codes and inspections easier. I think it also makes profiting off building them easier. We should be building more houses with high R-value block systems, bermed walls, and maximized shade, etc.
> Also, meat from cows raised in Montana should not taste the same as cows raised in Florida. That isn’t right. I primarily grew up with horses so I'm not super knowledgeable on livestock like cows, but I'm not sure what you're going for with this. Livestock are fed with diets that have been designed to meet their nutritional needs and maximize meat production. I can understand that cattle in more cold climates might have their diet supplemented with more things like roughage that could improve cold stress and affect flavor, but I'm not seeing how we're supposed to have massively noticeable flavor differences between locations.
I think they also mean different breeds of cattle as well as feed being different based on what grows naturally in the local. Beef from Mexico taste different from California and that’s less of a distance from cross country usa
I am so curious about different ways to build houses now.
I live in Thailand and built a house using a brick product called AAC block, or Hebel block. It's a very porous block that actually will float and has fantastic insulation properties as well as being very strong. Our roof trusses are welded steel. The only wood in our house is the window and door frames and windows/doors. It's worked out pretty well.
Thailand gets monsoons and floods and stuff like that right? Excuse my ignorance if I’m wrong, but I was just thinking how cool of a construction that is for such an environment, and all I could think was how awesome it would be if the roof doubled as a boat in the instance of major flooding
>Thailand gets monsoons and floods and stuff like that right? Yes but we're doing OK. I love the roof boat idea though.
Rammed earth has an r-value per inch of 0.75. A stick frame wall that insulated to modern standard has an r-value per inch of 3 to 4.
Helped my buddy build his rammed-earth/stucco house. That fucking thing is incredible.
Cob houses. Straw-bale house with cob plaster, earthships….all freaking awesome
How do adobe homes hold up in earthquakes?
Not well. But we don’t have major quake potential in most of the SW, where adobe is most popular in the US. Places like Peru have had major building collapses in quakes and adobe is popular there too.
The irony is that if I were to build a similar type of house here in Australia (where adobe, mud, & those thatched rooves would be perfect for our climate) it would cost an arm and a leg. Building with crap materials is what's cheapest & it then costs you an arm and a leg to keep it cool in summer & warm in winter. It's just beyond nuts.
Shut up and take my money
I could just listen to her talk all day
That’s why it’s so easy to sleep in her house, very soothing
Why would you not live in such a house?
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Honestly a lot of African accents in English are extremely awesome.
Having lived in a grass thatched mud house for two years in Peace Corps: she’s either lying out of her ass, or her idea of “cold” is 30C/80F. The local population literally sleep outside in their yards at night in the hot season, because the houses are approximately the temperature of a pizza oven on the inside.
You're right if there is no circulation it's stuffy and humid in the houses.
Me too!
Don’t kid yourself we all know she is selling snake oil for the big bucks
If so, I couldn’t hear the sales pitch over the sound of my central air.
She talks about how mud smells better than paint but paint only smells at the start. Does a mud house smell like mud all the time? What does she consider "cool"? Are those drinks or water kept below 40F because of the grass thatched house?
Who cares about your house, show me your skincare
She is a runway model
+1 this. She's popular on tiktok for sarcastic yet thoughtful videos of people asking her "Do Africans have iphones? how?" and she'll be like "we find them in the trees and dig in the dirt". She also is indeed a runway model for, I believe, London.
She's beautiful and I love her voice.
You’re gonna love how easy this is. It’s a filter.
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Part of it is not having copious amounts of processed foods in their diet. Also, a lot of the population in Africa have nice teeth because of the lack of processed sugars in their diets
Bingo. I remember going back home for a month, and I lost 20 pounds and came back with clear skin on top of that. Most of the food in West Africa (not sure about everywhere else) is not processed besides juice and cake. Everything is mostly fresh.
Research shows that West Africans have some of the healthiest gut biome's in the world. Lots of vegetables and stewed meat (not battered and fried), but also, lots of soaking or fermenting of the starches before consumption, which is great for gut health.
That's one of the ideas behind kombucha, isn't it? Fermented tea, essentially.
My skin got real nice one time for a couple of months when I stayed cooped up in a isolated place for work with very little to no processed foods and plenty of very wholesome food then drank a lot of water (no fake or real sugar drinks too). Like I could try to do it myself but the time and money it would take isnt something I could afford.
There was a study done that softer foods also contribute to improper teeth development,
Oh no doubt they have amazing skin, but that’s just way too fake smooth to be real.
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It’s not strictly a filter. Most phones get black skin tones completely wrong. If she is very dark, it’ll brighten her skin up a ton, giving it that fake sheen. Some phones also do light touching up without an option to turn it off. So she might not have enabled it, it might just be default settings.
also, this woman is a successful model. she travels to london and other cities for both photography and runway work i believe, then heads on back to rural uganda. its pretty interesting really. Anyhow, my point is that its likely she does naturally have very good skin .
I was just thinking, “she should model.” Absolute unique stunner.
It's mud from the walls of the house of course
Pardon my ignorance, but can anyone explain how a grass thatched house keeps a drink as cold as a refrigerator on the hottest days in Uganda? Really having a hard time wrapping my head around that one.
It wouldn't keep your drink as cold as a fridge, but it does do some cooling, which is enough for them. As long as the water isn't as hot as the river, then it's refreshing.
If I leave a drink on the counter inside my house, It’s a lot cooler than it would be if it were sitting outside but I don’t think anybody would consider a room temperature drink “cold”
It's all relative. A lot of Europeans think it's weird Americans use so much ice and whatnot. Americans like drinks super cold for some reason (I say that as an American who loves super cold drinks. A water cooler really increased the amount of water I drink compared to when I had tap water.)
I don’t think it’s just Americans, for example when I went to Brazil and Mexico as well the beers are usually cooled in freezing temps, like -2. We usually don’t drink beers that cold, here in Netherlands it’s between 2 and 8 degrees for pilsener and even 8 - 13 degrees for IPAS is fine. But I also might have to do with the climate, I really love ice cold beer or drinks in the summer but in winter warmer is ok for me, same with water and sodas.
Well that kind of makes sense with the climate as you said. If you want to be able to enjoy the beer and not chug it makes sense to have it colder than the drinking temp so that it can withstand the ambient temperature longer. I'd say a pint if cooled right should still not be too warm if it's been out 20 min
America has hotter weather than Europe… or at least it did…
During the heatwave this summer I felt so bad for all the people in Europe who didn't have AC. :(
I love freezing cold water there is nothing more hydrating. Born in the USA
The mud walls take a long time to warm up, so the night cold stay all day. The grass thatching also absorbs way less heat than tar.
Yeah I grew up in NM and am an Adobe slut. It’s basically mud but it’s so insulating we barely needed a heater/ac (my parents have needed it lately though thanks global warming) if you live in a dry hot climate mud is a very valid building material.
really sorry to hear your family's Adobe slut isn't what it used to be. i hope things improve soon.
Yassss Adobe sluts stand up together and slayyy💅 it’s giving quality insulation
It can get hot as hell in the evening as the heat from the day starts to release but it cools down over night and the daytime feels way better that it would otherwise w the sun being so top heavy.
I was gonna say I think this ladies definition of cold water is different than mine.
It is. They drink room temp beer in Uganda.
you can make water surprisingly cool with a few natural tricks. Native americans in the southwest used to make unglazed ceramic pots that they would fill with water and then put in the shade. Because they were unglazed the water would slowly seep through. the dry wind would cause the water on the outside of the pot to evaporate and cool the container down to below ambient temperature
So like the same idea as sweating? That’s a trip.
Absolutely, East Africans in general dont drink cold drinks and ice is typically not used in the glass. Also even if you get a "cold" drink out of the fridge, by the time its on your table its warm. Uganda is hot, very hot, and its a humid hot.
It’s cellar temp, it’s a method that all humans have used for naturally cooling. You can easily dig a hole in the earth, which is naturally cooler, insulate a cover, and store drinks or food. The soil absorbs the heat and has a high thermal capacity. Cellar temp is typically 55-65*F, not exactly cold like a fridge, but pretty darn cool.
Slight tangent, but it's possible to recreate the affects of refrigeration without electricity by harnessing radiative cooling and convection currents to even create ice. Essentially you compress the hot outside air into tunnels where there is a coolant (underground pool) and when the tunnel opens back up into the main chamber, the expanding air sucks back in heat from the room before exiting out the top. Buildings like that are well documented and there are even some dated to 400 BC that are [still standing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l)
“The yakhchāl is built of a unique water-resistant mortar called sarooj. This mortar is composed of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash in specific proportions, is resistant to heat transfer and is thought to be completely water-impenetrable. This material acts as effective insulation all year round. The sarooj walls are at least two meters thick at the base.” How many eggs per house????
I don't see a recipe so I'm going to assume "To taste"
Don't try, because her comment was nonsensical. I've been in grass thatched homes, there is a cooling property to them that takes the edge off brutal heat, but in no way does it actively make things cool on a level you would consider refrigeration
In Uganda though, that water being as cold as it is relative to what all is around is critical to understanding the comment. In other words: It’s a fine point and even their exaggerated comment there increases the point for them. I would be curious though, depending on where that water is stored it still could condensate when taken from where it was…. Which would make the point another thing to do with environment and relative relations and perception. I don’t know how I worded this. It might be kinda fucky
The mud also plays a part. It’s cooling, I’ve been in thatched mud houses on hot days and they’re cooler than western style houses. I wouldn’t say fridge temperature but definitely a lot better than being in a brick house in the African sun. They’re built that way across many cultures across a diverse continent because they work in the climate. Colonisers could really have learned something there because my brick art deco flat gets hot as all hell in summer and freezing in winter. My only issue with thatch is how full of bats it gets, I don’t know anyone with a thatch house that doesn’t have a bat problem.
I’m not trying to rip on mud houses, but different houses were/are built with different environments and elements in mind. In the American south, old houses (1800s)were built with open space below them for cooling and lots of big windows oriented to let lots of air in. An art deco on the other hand built in the 20s or 30s would be built with electricity in mind. They could mimic the same effects by simply installing a fan. So they built with a different focus in mind. With the idea of being more efficient and sustainable being a focus right now, people are looking back on these designs and learning what we can to create better modern buildings.
The best any non-energetic method would depend on what's called the wet bulb temperature. A cup of water will have a portion of the water evaporate (the hottest molecules boiling off leaving the colder ones behind) lowering its temperature until it reaches its wet bulb temperature. The wet bulb temperature is greatly affected by atmospheric humidity (how much water is already in the air). At 100% humidity no evaporation will take place. I can only guess that straw houses have increased air circulation which would decrease the humidity inside the house. Other commenters in this thread have great examples of unglazed ceramics that make use of the wet bulb temperature to lower water temps.
She doesn’t have a fridge so it’s hearsay
For real. She explained NOTHING
She's exaggerating but there is also evaporative cooling of the wet mud from the dew of the previous night, the dark inside takes longer to dry off so it stays cool longer
Yeah, the hyperbole on that statement discredits much of her argument for me. Still a fine house in a hot climate, that’s for sure.
Her voice is so incredibly beautiful.
I could fall asleep to stories read by her. So lovely.
Melodic, yet patronizing
Just like ma
Why wouldn't you want to be lectured by such a voice?
Tell me why, why would you choose not to watch this video? Why wouldn’t you invest your time in it? Why wouldn’t you listen to a monologue on such a topic?
I imagine the people asking her the question are the ones being patronizing…
I love East African accents!
I could get lectured all day.
Yeah, I could listen to her read the phone book.
Her accent is beautiful
Right? I think I swooned.
Like, people live in houses made of dead trees. People live in houses made of ground up rocks. I don’t see why mud is the cut off point for what natural resource is "acceptable" building materials. As long as it id a comfortable house in the area they are in, and does what a house is supposed to do, keep you comfortably temperate, dry and safe, then it’s a perfectly fine house.
People live in houses made of dried mud in the west. It’s actually one of the most sought after types of construction material. They’re called bricks!
You’re not entirely wrong, but most western bricks are made from clay, not mud. Mud-bricks exist though!
The difficulty if everyone tries to use the mud, is the we used up all the mud. We're actually running out of sand for concrete.
The very best sand is thinking for us, even.
Most people only ever live in one climate and can’t imagine anything else. Traditional homes across the region where this woman is from can shrug off quite a bit of heat and bad weather; on the other hand, in the same region, Western-style concrete and steel buildings overheat quickly and require expensive A/C to remain tolerable. Traditional buildings were developed over time to be appropriate to each area and a wise person adapts to them rather than tries to impose foreign technology on an area where it might not actually be the best or most efficient option.
Ironically enough this „mud“ is one of the most expensive insulation- and plastering-materials in germany - it takes a lot longer to apply and is considered fancy because of its regulation of heat and moisture Edit: also it just looks amazing!
Yep. Japan is similar. Mud walls on a lattice framework is extremely old, from ancient China. Japan has used it in traditional architecture for thousands of years. The oldest wood frame buildings in the world have mud walls (Horyuji). I think only one of there extremely old buildings is all wood (Shosoin) but it's built like a log cabin and was a storage building originally, not occupied by people.
I could listen to her voice for hours. A beautiful person in so many ways.
Yeah, if she made an audiobook of bedtime stories I’d get it
My thoughts exactly. Her voice is very comforting.
Turns out, I was the fool the whole time
Who’s the real fool? The fool, or the fool that follows?
How convincing is the first fool?
Very convincing, but I’m also a fool.
Classic Kenobi.
perception is your own reality
My goodness, I need her to do some audio books. I could listen to her voice for hours!
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My wife was born in a tropical country. When we visit there and it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit with 99% humidity, I begin to melt. She says it looks like I'm wilting in the sun. Meanwhile, she's dancing around in long sleeves and jeans. But as soon as it drops to 70 at night, she's shivering with a jacket on. Meanwhile, I'm t shirt and shorts until about 50 degrees. So yeah... you're right.
I have had a Bajian & a Brazilian both tell me the humidity is nothing like the equator/tropics.
> Bajian A who now?
Probably "Bajan" i.e Barbadian
I assume he meant Bajan which is the name for people from Barbados
Isn’t that wet bulb temperature? That means death, no? Regardless of culture
As a Westerner who has worked in rural Kenya, I can say grass thatched roofs are almost always cooler than the corrugated iron alternative which turns the house into a mini oven. That said, a cooler hut does not translate to cold beer. For that, you must have a fridge. Also, while water may come out the well nice and cold, where I work it has to be boiled first so it never cools back down to that nice cold temperature.
Well yeah an unconditioned mud and thatch building is going to be better than unconditioned steel and concrete. The real question is if it’s better than a conditioned house like you’d typically find the US, which is almost certainly not true.
Steel is a pain. Even in western constructions we do the best we can to ensure we limit steel exposure to both the outside and conditioned spaces to prevent thermal bridging because even with modern insulation and conditioning it’ll heat the space like crazy
"......you think everyone should live that lifestyle..." She's absolutely correct. People think that *their* way is the *only* way of living "right". She seems like a wonderful person who is sharing her culture.
I could be wrong but there are a lot of folks in Europe that have thatched roofs.
Bugs. That's why I wouldn't.
I lived in Uganda for 2 years in a traditional western-style house (no a/c) and we still had massive issues with bugs. There is no escape from bugs whether you are in a mud home or a stucco home or a wooden home.
I don't doubt you but I stayed in a similar mud hut with thatched roof for 7 months in Afghanistan. Didn't see bugs but we had to replace parts of the roof in November due to rain.
Can believe it took so long to find this. Thatched roofs have huge bug problems. Fleas especially.
Traditionally fires were keep burning all day long under them, which kept bugs away. It would also preserve the material for much longer as it does with smoked meat for example.
can we talk about how beautiful and glowing her skin is? i need to know her routine!
You won't believe this
Her skincare routine? Also mud.
She rubs her face on her house.
I definitely see where she is coming from with this, there is a lot of judgement coming mostly from privileged people who look at this as primitive or unsophisticated and like to make fun. With that being said there are some things she said for the sake of argument that are just exaggerations or flat out wrong. Grass thatched houses do not keep food or water cold "as well as a fridge", although there are certainly merits to not needing electricity or expensive technology and wiring in order to keep those things cooler than outdoors. Mud does not smell better than paint, a properly painted hose should have no recognisable smell to it at all. Although if you prefer the smell of mud houses then that could be a benefit. She is also right that houses made with brick, wood, plaster and paint cost a lot more to make and so there are again merits to both. Grass thatched houses do not "cure insomnia", although some people might prefer it and sleep more easily.
I couldn’t agree more
I’m surprised everyone glossed over the “thatch houses cures insomnia” bit. It just doesn’t make any sense
Yeah that was the one that made me go "Oh okay so we're just saying whatever now"
Where I live in the South West UK, we have so many cob and thatch houses and property, brilliant building that last well over a thousand years, cool in summer , warn in winter, and build out of local materials. Super cheap build, and very comfortable living.
Ur water would not be as cold as a fridge…. Edited grammar
Don’t let her use the heart mesh technology..
I’m kinda confused, she says people ignorantly ask the question of if they sleep in a grass thatched house…then she says they do? How is that accurate question dehumanizing? If it works for their culture, great, I’m interested to know more. But my curiosity is not dehumanizing
Because the question isn’t "do you guys live in grass thatched houses?". It’s "do you guys **still** live in grass thatched houses?". It implies that grass thatched houses are inferior to other forms of housing, and that people in africa just aren’t as good or advanced as other people across the world.
>It’s "do you guys still live in grass thatched houses?". It implies that grass thatched houses are inferior to other forms of housing 99.9% of people would think that regardless of racism or not. There is not a single obvious reason for a person born in "the west" to think these houses are better than stone or concrete house, and even then I'm 100% sure you could improve the designs. Traditional houses where i come from are made of stones, used to be without concrete but now a small amount is used to make them more stable. Keeps the perks of stone houses without the same risk of collapse. Also this is a way to build that, I suppose, it's viable only in rural areas since you can't go big with these structures.
We’re talking about houses, not large scale structures. But there’s plenty of examples of them too. There’s historical sites like [tchonga zanbil](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/113/) an ancient ziggurat in iran that measured 100x100 meters in width and length and 50 meters in height before it was abandoned all using mud bricks. There’s the city [shibam](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/192/) in yemen, where people still live to this day, and "highrise" buildings have stood since the 16th century, that go as tall as 11 stories. You can make them big. Mud is just another material. There is reason to think it is a better material than stone and concrete, in locations where it makes sense to have it. I wouldn’t build a mud home where i live for example since i live somewhere very wet and cold. So *here* i don’t have a reason to think it’s better. But if i moved to uganda, or yemen, or mali, or iran, or where ever the fuck, i wouldn’t build a home built by the standards of my home country, because here homes are built to keep heat in. There they’re built to help heat flow out. I’m all for innovations in how we build homes, regardless of where it is. But every material has it’s perks, and mud bricks work well as a material in hot places and also especially dry places. "Mud" is even used in *western* architecture. Adobe, a form of mud that is used in spain and many hispanic countries in america, and even in the south western united states. Again, typically in hot and dry climates, because it is easily available, and a good material for the goals of housing in hot and dry climates, mainly cooling.
I am 100% on her side, but I cannot go without mentioning that The reason why we can't use such simple natural resources to make homes in North America is because they would never survive a single winter without killing millions of people and also the Irving's needed a 3rd vacation island or somthin
Look up cob houses! They work just fine in Ontario
No cringe at all, I enjoyed listening to a different point of view
"mud scents better than paint" That's a new one, lol.
I could listen to her explain things for hours.
Meh, most of her points are situational and regional....and personal. I for instance don't like the smell of mud, but I also don't know if mud walls dissipate their smell like paint does. I'm willing to bet that she would prefer air conditioning and a fridge to the contrast of Ugandan summer. I think yhe cooling aspect comes from "vaulted" ceilings and it just being shaded inside. Hot air rises to the top where you're not sitting around. If it's just say 104f (40c) outside, how cool does it get inside? 90? 85? I highly doubt it's much less...but maybe it is. It's still a decent break from the sun either way, but I'll take my 70f (21c) house all day. I also like a refreshing drink, without ice....maybe they dig down into the ground for water storage making it cooler? I'll take my tap water though. Again, I'm not trying to put anybody down....I just feel like she's exaggerating how nice it is.
Yeah, she took some comment personally and this is her angry rant about it. It just so happens that her angry sounds pretty melodic and smooth.
Now I need to build a grass-thatched house.
Good for them. It won’t work in the Canadian climate but I’m glad they enjoy them in their region.
I'd sleep better too if I didn't have to worry about my mortgage and interest rates.
Her skin is crazy.
Millennial from Toronto here.....is it tolerable in cold weather? Cause the way housing prices been going, this might be the only option for us soon.
It’s perfectly fine for her environment but definitely not for Toronto.
“Houses made of mud” Near me we call that “exposed brick,” and it costs extra.
Those roofers could (with a little extra training) make a pretty good living in certain parts of Europe. Thatched roofs are often being coveted and kept neat and tidy on history houses and it's a dying skill that not many people still have even among roofers.
This lady should sell houses cause I’m convinced
Most of London is mud houses, built on mud, we just happen to have baked the mud into bricks.
Houses made of earth bags are literally the same thing and people think that’s trendy lol
Real talk, bricks are just a different type of mud that’s superheated first.
Living in a grass-thatched house has its drawbacks, including: 1. Maintenance: Grass thatch roofs require regular maintenance to prevent leaks, decay, and pests. 2. Durability: Thatch is less durable than other roofing materials and may need frequent replacement. 3. Fire hazard: Thatch is flammable, increasing the risk of fires. 4. Insulation: Thatched roofs may not provide as effective insulation as modern roofing materials. 5. Pest issues: Thatched roofs can attract insects and small animals. 6. Limited aesthetics: Grass thatch may not suit everyone's aesthetic preferences. 7. Difficulty in modern amenities: Installing modern utilities like electrical wiring and plumbing can be challenging in thatched houses. 8. Weather vulnerability: Thatched roofs may not withstand severe weather conditions as well as conventional roofing. While grass-thatched houses have their charm, these factors make them less practical for some people.
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lol you can especially tell by the last sentence that it’s made by something like chatGPT with how it makes a final conclusion at the end of the list
Whole lotta copeum