Hurricanes and earthquakes rip apart houses with wild abandon. But imagine a nail designed to withstand even the darkest moments of nature. Imagine something like a circuit breaker for your home's water that can be turned off (and from a computer, no less) if something goes amiss with the plumbing system. Imagine an easy-to-install home windmill (designed to cut your electricity bill) that isn't any noisier than your air conditioner. All of the above is real, sci-fi-come-true stuff that made it into December's Popular Science, which is a best innovations-of-the-year issue. The home tech category, in which all of these were included, was one of the most interesting. Product names, prices and Web sites are provided. GUESS WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT DECEMBER: December is the month of window dressings and displays and all kinds of finery -- which makes it appropriate that Beautiful Window Treatments, a "special" from Meredith Corp. (the publisher of Better Homes and Gardens), has landed on newsstands. For those searching for glorious window fare (which is back in style, by the way), this 160-page glossy is the right gift to yourself. The magazine leans toward traditional and classic window treatments, although some modern ones are shown -- in spite of the fact that "modern" and "draperies" aren't often spoken in the same breath. Each room in the house (living room, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, etc.) gets its own chapter. And although the lush photos do most of the talking, the text is noteworthy. The short copy blocks do a nice job of decoding the room as a whole -- relating the window treatments to the decor around it and the mood being set. ($12.95; on newsstands until Dec. 26). LOOK OUT! "Decorating on a budget can be done if one is on the lookout at all times." So says New York (society) decorator Carleton Varney, president and owner of Dorothy Draper & Co., in the December issue of Architectural Digest, of all the tony places. Actually, his unlikely quote appears in the ADstyle section to the rear of the issue -- ADstyle being an occasional feature in which the upper-crusty AD dives into the world of budget-consciousness and shows home/apartment makeovers and products for People of Medium Means. Varney got t
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