A Unique House Design Question
I did a book signing yesterday at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. These events are good opportunities for people to ask me any question they like about house design and homebuilding. I have been designing all sorts of houses for many years. I think Lincoln was President when I got my architectural license. It was so long ago I really don’t remember. Over that long time, I thought I had answered just about every question anyone could ask about house design. But yesterday I realized I have been living in a delusional world. I got a question that literally left me speechless.
A woman came up to the signing table, thumbed through my book, Designing Your Perfect House, and complimented me on it. Then she asked, “Do you design houses that protect people from radio waves.” My answer was the same as yours probably would have been. Total silence. I had no idea what to say.
Not put off by my dumbfounded look, she asked if I covered that topic in my book. Finding my voice, I said that I did not, but was terribly sorry for the careless omission of such an important matter. Of course, now my mind was racing wondering what peril she felt radio waves presented to body and mind. She volunteered an answer…I think. She said something about a friend who built a concrete house to keep his neighbor from doing some electronic mischief and fouling up his audio and computer system. I admit wasn’t paying close attention, though. While she was speaking, I was looking at a man adjusting the ear buds to his iPod and thinking of all of the radio waves that were zipping through my body at that very moment. Do you think some aluminum foil underwear and hat would help protect me?
This peculiar conversation reminded me of a man I know of who outfitted his house with a master switch to sever all of the electricity from his house during the night so as to protect himself from electromagnetic fields while he slept. His paranoia prevented him from accepting the simple fact that if no lights or appliances are operating, there is no electric current in the wires and with no electric current there is no electromagnetic field being produced. Alas, science can not compete with hysteria, I suppose. Witness the persistent news stories of the dangers all around us. It seems that nothing is safe any more.
Isn’t intense worry and anxiety debilitating to your health? Shouldn’t we be worried about being worried? And then they could worry about worrying about worrying, and so on and so on. It’s a downward spiral from there. Incidentally, my Mother has already gained world class status in worrying. You’ll be hard pressed to out-worry her.
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Tags: design your house, Home Design Books, home design solutions, house design books, house designs, Unique House Design
