Chateau Supersize

Published 8:03 pm Thursday, February 26, 2015

The McMansion is back: Forget all the talk about not-so-big houses and walkable urban communities. The median square footage of homes built in 2014 was nearly 1,000 square feet larger than in 1992, and they’re being built in ever-sprawling suburbs (Page A9).

America’s houses are getting so big and far-flung that before you know it, cars will be needed not only for all errands outside the home, but inside it, too.

Who cooks for you — and rips your flesh with its talons: Attacks by an aggressive eagle owl with a nearly 6-foot wingspan have left residents of a Dutch village cowering in terror.

Townspeople have taken to shielding themselves with umbrellas — which also come in handy when the owl, in a follow-up attack, relieves itself.

Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1911, inventor Charles F. Kettering demonstrated his latest creation: the electric automobile self-starter.

Fun (and completely true) fact: Kettering’s invention was made infinitely more practical by the invention three years earlier of the battery jumper cable.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff