Make Mine With a Moat

If you lose your passport in London in 2017, getting a replacement at the new U.S. embassy there will require crossing a moat -- or a partial moat, or a bit of a moat, as critics have called the 100-foot wide pond and landscaping that will surround the building, according to plans recently announced by the State Department.

Moats are, of course, all about defense. A deep, wide trench with or without water, is great for keeping enemies and armies at bay, or in this modern day case, the reality of bomb-throwing terrorists. Moats were very popular in Medieval Europe, especially in Britain, which is why it's somehow fitting that the $1 billion American embassy building, designed by Philadelphia architecture firm Kieran Timberlake, has a sort of moat that relates to its location on the banks of the Thames -- although New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff described the building itself as "a bland glass cube" with "all the glamour of a corporate office block."

Moats never really caught on in the U.S., as far as we can tell, but there are some folks who hanker after them, in one form or another at their homes.