Category: Ideas

It’s all happening

Some while back I wrote about how I wished people saw potential in things that have a clear purpose. Recently I’ve had a lot of people talking to me about what they’d like to do on the Tour, or other applications for the bus. I don’t think the bus is as much of a blank slate as an empty room – it had a purpose. People are starting to look at it (and I hope, everything) in a different way, seeing what could be done as opposed to what can.

Can is what is possible within a certain set of rules. A school bus is for bringing kids to and from school. So I guess we could bring people to and from places (not necessarily school). Could is what makes the rules for can. We strip out the seats, give it a crazy paint job, and live in it for four months. No, we use it as a metaphorical and physical vehicle for our movement. No, we use it as an icon for change. No, we give it pontoons and we’ll sail to Europe.

I’ve got to find some way to keep that potential alive as I outfit it for the tour.
Keep those ideas stewin’.

Bittorrent Advancements

Puttin’ People On The Moon by Drive-By Truckers
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/dbt2008-01-12.km184.flac16/dbt2008-01-12d1t01_64kb.mp3]

I started using AllPeers again recently, and since I had last used it, they added Bittorrent functionality. But even more interesting, is that they let you download individual files from a torrent. Because of UConn’s bittorrent cockblock, I haven’t even opened a torrent client on this computer yet, so I don’t know if this is a wide-spread feature or not.

Whatever the case, a website called BitLet (which I guess has some connection to Mininova) has launched, and it allows you to stream music from within a torrent. Yes, its cool, but apparently, there is video on the way. That is far cooler. So I started snooping around to see if I could find out any more about this technology, and apparently there is something called Bittorrent DNA put out by Bittorrent Inc. which does something similar. As I understand it, its a backend that you could integrate into a site like YouTube, and have users supply some of the bandwidth via bittorrent protocol.

So all of this new functionality got me thinking about my idea for a browser based off bittorrent protocol, where webpages and other things would be served up from the people viewing the site, instead of a central server. I don’t have anywhere near the technical knowledge that I would need to pursue this project, but I’m going to keep designing it to see if it could be feasible. Right now I’m thinking it would be best to have it as a Firefox extension, so it would be easily adopted by users. I’ll post more about this when I figure it out.

Clarification

For me, not for you.

Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/wz1978-07-27.sbeok.flac16/wz1978-07-27t05_64kb.mp3]

For a while I took the whole idea of subjectivism (?) to an extreme, where I figured since there isn’t an objective ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ you ought to do what you think is right. The problem with this is since nearly all actions are made out of self-interest, tolerance is unaccounted for. And that just can’t be.
So now there is the exception to the rule.

Free Your Mind

Casey Jones by Phil Lesh and Friends
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/plf2007-10-14.adkA51TL.flac/plf2007-10-14d02t02_64kb.mp3]

I think I finally realized why I don’t do drugs. Its taken me a while, and over time I had come up with a few explainations which tried to put my thoughts into words. I started off quite simply by seeing someone who was drunk, stoned, or in any sort of altered state, and deciding that I didn’t want to be like that. But I didn’t have a why.

For a while I said it was because I didn’t want to alter my perspective, and that’s closer to the why. Earlier tonight, someone asked if it was just about clear-headedness, and it is, but that still isn’t the answer.

When walking home tonight I realized what it all boiled down to: independence. Now, that word has a lot of interesting political connotations to it, that I don’t want anything to do with. Let me make it very clear: the definition of independence I’m using is ‘Free from the influence, guidance, or control of another or others; self-reliant.’

Mind altering substances reduce your freedom. If you don’t find yourself having as much fun, or being as creative, or as relaxed as you are in an altered state, then you’ve certainly lost some of your freedom. If you want to reach that level again, you’ll need to go back to whatever helped you get there in the first place, and you become dependent. It becomes a crutch, which you would prefer not to be without.

I find it interesting that people claim drugs help them free their mind, when in reality the opposite is true. This concept also gives a new meaning to the phrase ‘drug free.’

The theme of independence permeiates throughout all parts of my life. I don’t want to be tied down to anything that won’t come with me. The bus is an example of that.

I really do wish more people had this view, but I won’t hold my breath.

Shadows

Revelation Two Step by Donna the Buffalo
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/donna2007-10-11.meadowstage.sbd/donna2007-10-11.sbd/donna2007-10-11t03_64kb.mp3]

Walking back from breakfast today (which was really just minutes ago) I had the sun at my back. It was warm out with a nice breeze, clear blue sky, and all in all a perfect day to enjoy nature. When I looked down, I saw my shadow extending about six feet in front of me. And in the middle of this incredible gift of nature, I realized something: I really like my shadow.

Its the most immediate and tangible example of my impact on the world. Even people who are thought to have nothing, and thought to have accomplished nothing in their lives, always have their shadows. Its a reminder that we do matters, and that we do have an impact on the world. That gives me a sense of comfort, which I had never seen in my shadow before.

Revelations

Words Like Weapons by Brothers Past
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/bp2005-04-15shnf/bp2005-04-15d1t01_64kb.mp3]

Today I was thinking about how I’ve had a few large realizations that have fundamentally shifted the way I see the world.

The first was in 2004 (I think) on new years eve, in the Flordia Keys. I was looking out into the ocean, which was at extremely low tide. The ground and sky were the same shade of dark, and they blended into on solid wall of dark. It was incredibly peaceful, and it helped my mind wonder. That night I came to understand Subjective and Objective as I do now. I’ve found out since then that most people don’t have the same ideas about the Subjective and Objective. I don’t think I’ve ever really tried to explain it to anyone, because it is so pervasive.

Sometime in the following few years I came to understand definitons. I have a feeling that this understanding came from me realizing that people defined Subjective and Objective differently than I, and this is where our misunderstanding started. Which I’ve since found applies to almost any disagreement about anything.

I was thinking about this today as I walked by the dorm I lived in last year. I lived in the Noah Webster House. I always knew this, but everyone called it Webster, and somehow, even though I spent nine months there, I never realized it was the Noah Webster House. The man behind the dictionary. Definitions.

Noteworthy

Potential Energy

Quick and Painless by RAQ
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/RAQ2007-04-21.raq2007-04-21.flac/raq2007-04-21_bowery_matrixc_flac/raq2007-04-21_bowery_matrixc_flac/raq2007-04-21_S1/raq2007-04-21_S1_t10_quick_n_painless_64kb.mp3]

My parents recently finished an addition to the garage, giving them space for their business, and a room on the second floor for the family.

Downstairs, its clear they run their business from that room. But upstairs, there is no clear purpose. It is mostly empty space, with enough furniture to make it comfortable.

Whenever people enter the upstairs, they immediately see possibility for it. “You should live up here.” It would make a great apartment. “You could have a pretty cool studio up here.” Its true.

The lack of a clear, well defined purpose for that room lets people see what it could be. But I’m happy with it the way it is. If it stayed a blank slate, couldn’t it be all of those things, in turn?

Imagine if people saw the potential they see in an empty room, in something that already has a purpose. I hope you’ll join me in my mall.

Abandoned

Doobie in my Pocket by Keller Williams
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/keller2007-06-16.AKG463/KellerWilliams2007-6-16d2t05_64kb.mp3]

I’ve been meaning to post this song for a little while now. Its from his show at Bonnaroo, and been in my head since I downloaded the set. The problem is that since I finished writing about Bonnaroo, I haven’t really felt like writing anything else. I think that’s mostly because while I was writing about Bonnaroo, I was just writing about what was happening. I’m going to try and get back to future plans, weird hypotheticals, and other such nonsense.

So keeping with that theme, I was recently thinking about abandoned malls. I don’t know why, but one of those anti-urbanization groups is likely to blame. I heard the statistic that half of the retail space in the country is empty. When I heard it, that statistic had numbers to go with it, but you can’t expect my brain to hold on to things like that.

But there is all this bemoaning on account of companies pouring all this money into malls, and then leaving them a few decades later. Right now, malls are on the decline. Apparently big box stores (Walmart) are the new malls. I guess that makes sense, economically, at least. So towns are stuck with this massive concrete eyesore that no one wants.

“Well,” I think, “I’d like one.” And that’s how this idea started. I suppose I haven’t even explained that idea yet. But now you know how it started. Once that seed was planted, I noticed it lined up pretty nicely with some of my other dreams. I think communes, or even just really close communities are wonderful places to live. Now lets tie that idea together with old malls. If I were to acquire an abandoned mall, and open it up to housing, we could establish our own little community. It doesn’t need to be self-sustaining, or even a commune. But with enough people, we could manage property tax and utility bills.

Now you know the idea. I started to look into this, and thankfully the internet is on top of it. DeadMalls.com seems to be the authority, but the site isn’t exactly set up for my needs. They list not only dead malls, but perfectly healthy malls as well (for history’s sake). More exploring found sickmalls.wordpress.com, which lists malls which are on their way out, or already deserted. Its a good resource, but not really exhaustive. Lastly, abandonedonline.net which not only lists abandoned malls, but abandoned big box stores, churches, hospitals, schools, towns – everything. So why should I have to settle for a mall?

Big box stores are probably the cheapest to buy once they’re abandoned, but they are just one massive open space. Not really helpful to the commune idea. But all of those other abandoned buildings…sure!

This is a very long-term idea, but I’m going to keep it stewing in the back of my mind. Good things tend to come out of there.

Update: as luck would have it, my RSS reader threw this my way. Which lead me here.
Update 7/26: more MeFi links.

Definitions

Dondante by My Morning Jacket
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/MMJ2006-06-16..4011s/mmj2006-06-16.4011s.flac16/mmj2006-06-16d2t04.4011s_64kb.mp3]

What if a programming language could be made using nothing more than the English language? No, I’m not talking about something like Applescript which just replaces programming syntax with words, but I’m talking about a programming language which could actually understand English.

I don’t think this is as difficult as it sounds, at least not the creation of it. The hardest part of this would be making definitions for words in the English language. I would hope that such a creation would use something like Wiktionary, which uses collective input to establish a definition. I’ll be looking into this.
I want to learn more about linguistics; this sort of thing fascinates me.