The Perils of Early Adoption

Update: Seems the problem was actually with Verizon, the gentle monopoly that provides me with internet service. They make their own modems which don't work with any new computer. They tried to charge me $99 for a new modem - the pricks, but if you threaten to drop your service they can "see what they can do" and give it to you for nothing. For that heavy handed tactic I downgraded my account and I'll be pricing for different service or I might just KISMAC through the condominium walls.

Moral: For minimal hassle, check compatibility before upgrading to OSX Leopard.

In case anyone was thinking of getting the new OSX leopard for an older mac - WAIT.
Make no mistake, it is beautiful and installed fantastically, but it also broke nearly every third party application I use, not to mention it has a terrible prejudice against my cut rate, verizon supplied Westell router. I can connect to my neighbors signal just fine and my Wii connects without a problem, but for some reason Leopard will not leap into my router.

So here I am at 2:00 am, with a fist full of hair, eyes bleeding with pure hatred - out $120 something dollars with a crippled, hobbled, frustrating computer that was working just fine a few hours ago, living another lesson against brand loyalty. Get ready to regret those Apple logo tattoos and if I may suggest... Ubuntu.

Warmer

The cold weather is upon us. Time to pull the sweaters and heavy down blankets from the shelf and shiver for the next few months. I am unfortunate to work outside, so the winter for me is a bit more serious. Being a yankee, born and bred, I have a few tips for staving off the cold.

Silk long underwear. I admit it, I wear it, I love it. Its a few extra dollars, but its easily washed in the sink, it doesn't hold stink and the wool stuff is just too itchy. You have to be careful with the bottoms, the crotch gives out, I don't recommend biking with them on. If you have no choice but to foray out into the harsh elements there is solace to be had in silk long underwear.

Merino wool. Again, a few dollars more, but worth every penny. Hats, scarves and gloves. Accept no blends or substitutes. It dries quickly, but keeps you warm even when its wet. Merino wool can smell gamey at first, but it isn't unpleasant as some of the other wools and its not nearly as itchy. Why not have the best?

Hand warmers. In my opinion these are a waste of money. I've had a few spanning the technologies of our time. Some powered by coal or lighter fluid, some oxygenating iron and most recently, supersaturating crystalizing salts. They are clever novelties, but you can get the same effect from micro-waving an old sock filled with rice.

At night don't forget the old, grimy, rubber hot water bottle. No new england home is without one. There are some pretty swanky antique bottles as well, if you are feeling victorian-y.

Don't despair, the winter is a wonderful season. Have some tea, read a book, get caught up on correspondence, before you know it you'll be sweating your balls off in the 100+ midsummer heat and wishing for an icy breeze from the north.

Oprah is a minimalist?

An article from consumerist linked to a page on Oprah's site about couples on the verge of financial ruin. I have to give credit to Miss Oprah Winfrey, she has done more for this nation than I previously thought. She promotes literacy (even if its fluff), battles obesity, has excellent taste, and now she's using her power to tackle irresponsible overspending. I love you Oprah....

Repurposed Objects

Apartment Therapy has a good collection of repurposed objects.

Another Book

The Enchiridion by Epictetus. In text, or if you are busy then audio. If you can't deal, nothing beats the stoics.

New York Hates the Handicapped

So the City of New York doesn't give any consideration to handicapped people on parking meters. Even weirder was of the three people I asked, a cop, a sanitation inspector and a transportation officer - only one knew the answer. If you guessed the sanitation guy, you win the prize. The meter maid had to call a supervisor to find out for sure. That means if you are disabled you better drag your crippled ass back and pay that meter.

If you live in New York, you have my sympathies, you will be eliminated from the population after your thirtieth birthday.

20 tips

There are some good space saving tips on this blog. Japan has an edge on the west in regards to minimalism because they jam into those little tiny apartments. Still a good read.

Columbus Day

I had the day off for Columbus Day and I stayed at home. The weather was poor so I slept, did some laundry, made tomato sauce...

In Denver they went fucking nuts. They poured fake blood in the streets, they called foul and genocide at the memory of Christopher Columbus and generally disrupted the parade. People were arrested and spent their day off in prison on civil disobedience charges, alleging that this holiday celebrates the first trans-atlantic slave trader and murderer of indigenous people. Not my idea of a relaxing long weekend.

Now I won't pretend that I know anything about Christopher Columbus, I only just learned that he was Italian a few years ago (He was financed by the spanish court, I just assumed he was from Spain or Portugal) and honestly - I can't be bothered. Protesting bullshit holiday's? Seriously people... Seriously.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good protest, but it should be creative and have a goal. Protesting the past is a waste of time since you can't change the past, and worse, many of these frivolous protests strip credibility away from whatever cause you might be fighting for. The protesters didn't seem to have any demands, they just wanted to make assholes out of themselves and spoil a parade. Which they did. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that every one of them took the holiday pay without any crisis of conscience.

I am active in my government. I vote, I know my representatives but more importantly, they know me. I go to town hall meetings and ask relevant questions or make reasonable suggestions. Going to such events spoiling for a fight, so that you can hear yourself say something clever won't solve anything. Many a neighbor steps up to speak with clenched fists and comes away sounding like an idiot because they didn't know an issue or didn't desire a resolution. Protests are similar, know what you want and why you want it. Be able to make a case and be open to the perspective of others, but above all be reasonable and intelligent. Pouring blood on the street or laying down to block people from entering a building, what is that? I think of a child in the bank rolling around on the rug and screaming for attention.

The minimalist moral for today:
There is a right way to do things and a wrong way, and if you wind up in prison on your day off? You have chosen badly.

Volcanoes in Boston

Doody in Africa

In america our lives are overly complex . Nearly every aspect of our society is mechanized or automated and we consider life without technology a hardship. There is no getting to work without a car, there is no communication without a phone or computer and entertainment is impossible without billboard sized televisions and the latest accessories. The average American is more concerned about celebrities than then their own families. That is why I like to read about Africa.

I have never been to Africa, and honestly the first time I ever took interest in the continent was to read about bumbling criminals who were fleecing people by email, which was a novelty at the time. Now Africa is no model society - far from it, but I took a keen interest in their science. Science as a discipline has the uncanny power to cut through religious and tribal misinformation and reveal useful data. If the west brought anything of value to the African continent it was scientific method. There being immediate need for basic sustenance, medicine and water much of the simple but genius inventions made me wonder why we had not thought of these things before.

I posted recently about my low flow toilet, but it was too long and no one read it. In rural Africa dealing with doody is much more difficult so some smart guy came up with this system. I was especially impressed with the "raceway" term to describe high velocity sections of the design. I liked the idea of my doody in a race when I flush.

This same site was the first place I saw the Zeer pot, which was so simple and brilliant I feel stupid for not having thought of it myself. Two pots are nested and sand goes in the space between. Wet the sand and the evaporation lowers the temperature in the pot. Cover it with a wet cloth and food that would spoil in days is good for weeks. The whole thing costs 30 fucking cents. Folks that used to hustle back and forth to market have more leisure time for schooling or 419 scamming.

The biosand filter was another stroke of genius. Anyone who has kept tropical fish is familiar with the biological cleaning concept. Pour nasty water in the top, algae and other microbes dine on the nasty stuff that lives in the water and the sand separates out all the debris. Gravity provides the motive force and clean water comes out the other side. The system isn't flawless of course, well water contains some heavy metals that can make it through, but it removes parasites and other gross stuff.

So the next time you put your brainmeat to work on that first person shooter or if you realize that you just spent an hour on the phone talking about poor Britney and her progeny, well maybe you should take a moment to - you know... think.

Scary

Pickles are pretty scary anyhow, floating in their bitter, briny tubs.
Ansis made them even scarier.
I like how the frankenstein has his head sliced open.
Would've looked awesome in color.

Brilliant.

I'm Weak

Lord help me, I saw this thing and winced. A freaking Robot that plays music and spins around? I know what you are thinking, surely the minimalist can resist something as absolutely mindblowingly awesome as a spinning music playing robot!

I would KILL for one of these. I would kill you as a matter of fact, to get my greasy mitts on this incredible device. It's called Rolly and I have noticed a trend where mundane things like clocks are mounted on wheels and interact with you with motion. Not to brag, but I could totally fucking afford this shit and boy would I be the coolest kid in the ghetto with an interactive freaking ROBOT RADIO!

But no. I can see using it a few times and burying it in a box somewhere or giving it to someone when I tire of it or just breaking it - I mean it would roll off the table of get crushed underfoot. Honestly I was surprised I didn't see it on the greatest blog of all time, but I guess its of little musical significance right now.

I am going to take a cold shower now...

art

Chris Jordan holds the mirror up so you can look at yourself America. A swirling mass of phone chargers has an almost natural look, like the floor of a jungle. Most of the photographs give you that creepy feeling, like flipping over a big flat stone and seeing the biggest crawlingest creature with - like a thousand legs and big sweeping antennae, all shiny with cascading legs as it moves closer to you with those sideways pincer mouth hooks and it might be poisonous and jesus, I wish I had left that rock the hell alone... Except the creature, that's you.

Best Game Ever?

As an owner of a Gretsch Guitar I am in the unique position of appreciating this game more than owners of Wussy-er guitars. Play by mashing the spacebar.

I Hate my Toilet

I said, I meant it, I hate my toilet. There is no more misguided a policy than the low flow toilet mandate. When I moved in here the bathroom was totaled. It was the reason I got this place so cheap, the floor was rotted from a slow leak and the toilet was pink and pretty far from working properly. It ran constantly and needed replacing right away, which is why I got to work on it a full year and a half after I moved in. While shopping for a toilet I fully realized the horror of the low flow toilet. There was no alternative. You could choose the color and shape, but flow capacity was fixed at a minority of liters with just enough force to push feces into the pipe. Now until I got this toilet I had never backed up a toilet before. Ever. I didn't know what to do, I panicked. I shut off the valve, I got a wrench, no water or filth reach the rim, but water that should have gone down was coming up and I couldn't think. I had no plunger because, like I said, this had never happened to me before, so I could only flush. It took about ten tries and I had to wait a while for some ca-ca to decompose, but eventually it went down with a satisfactory sploosh.

The low flow toilet was introduced to counter the conventionally accepted wasting of water. A trickle of pee-pee did not require 9 red blooded American gallons of water to wash it away, so to look at the numbers it was easy to make a case for a low flow toilet. The marketplace - however, did not agree and no one bought them. Honestly, I am a minimalist hippy weirdo and I wouldn't have bought one either. Strain on municipal water supplies and adventurous lobbying firms managed to get this new addendum added to the building code and before you knew it the old Cadillac toilets were on their way to the landfill to be replaced by sporty and efficient new models.

For the first time ever we would wake up to confront our feces staring back at us and you could actually be late for work and be excused just by saying, "I have a low flow toilet." The question kept arising, is it actually saving water if you have to flush it ten times? Considering that it happens maybe once every six months, then yes it is saving water, but that is not the problem. If you ever have a guest at the house and they back up the toilet - Guaranteed - you are sleeping alone tonight. Just the psychological factor of having to look at your own shit and get the plunger out and fill the house with a foul odor, just having to deal with it sucks. It sucks so bad that anyone you ask that ever had to deal with it will tell you enthusiastically and publicly just how much they hate their low flow toilet.

The future holds all sorts of new impositions on our way of life. Cars will become less powerful as peak oil peaks and supply dwindles, our homes will be hotter in the summer with fewer cooling options and the winters harsher and colder with less oil for heat. We can look forward to misery and sacrifice against our wishes, our wishes being for abundance and convenience. There will be less meat in our diets, solar panels on the roof, wider bike lanes, no more plastic bags from the grocery, mandatory recycling and composting, these are all done things. Many municipalities already have these policies, the low flow toilet was just the beginning, but no matter what good comes of it all - I will always HATE that fucking toilet...

TIP: the recycled toilet paper clogs my toilet every time, even treehuggers don't use it.

Design Show

There are only a few more days left of the Design for the Other 90% show at the Cooper Hewitt. I have known about this for a while, but being very busy I forgot to mention it. Many of these designs are not new but they will all be piled together for appreciation instead of individually being the major highlights of minor shows. My personal favorite is the "Zeer" pot, or pot in pot cooler. This is one of those items that make one wonder why we in the west never picked up on an idea like harnessing natural evaporation to cool our food, instead of having hulking refrigerator units eating electricity. This show is noteworthy because I live in abundance and choose this way of minimalism but not everyone gets to make that choice. The vast majority of the entire population of the planet barely scrapes by without good medicine, clean water, or decent educations. There is a lot of wisdom there, for example, if you want to know how to save water? ask someone who doesn't have any.

If this sort of thing interests you there is also thinkcycle, which is a collaborative post type thing for good ideas, you know, that might save millions of lives or change the world. If you are into that kind of thing.

Consumer Confidence

I hate to say I told you so, but here are the new consumer confidence numbers from Businessweek. Basically, 29% of people either expect a product they buy to fail, not work, or just overall not be worth the money. The result is that fewer people are expected to buy things. Analysts say this is a bad thing, because our economy is totally dependent on the exchange of cash for goods, but I disagree.
Look at what we buy, and how we buy it. Big box retailers promote a shopping experience, separated from quality. For example, an inexpensive product is displayed next to a very expensive product, giving the impression of equal measure. A reasonable person will not make the connection, buy the junky one and be right back in the store shopping for a replacement before too long. This is good for business, bad for people.
Online shopping is not much better. Most items are purchased sight unseen, allowing for a great deal of abuse by merchants and manufacturers. Factor in the incredible pain in the ass of returning products bought by mail - contacting the vendor, repackaging, shipping, waiting for a replacement, and the possibility that this one is no better, it's no wonder consumer confidence is at its lowest in recorded history.

The system is flawed. Money is a resource, like anything else. You either waste it or use it wisely. You can buy a $3,000.00 television on credit, built on untested technology to watch terrible movies, and destroy it the first time you spray it with windex to clean it, or you can put it away to buy a house, put the kids through college, or retire in relative comfort. Capitalism is fine as economic systems go, when it is honest and true to principle, but we don't see much of that these days. Low consumer confidence means people are wising up to the game and don't want to play anymore. 29% of Americans are that much closer to being minimalists and they didn't even know it.

Book

Born to buy, by Juliet Schor is an awesome book. How little you knew about the insidious world of advertising to children. Is it really as bad as you imagine? No, it's much worse. Told complete with creepy industry only terms like "Bro-ing" "Trans-toying" and "Age compression" it lays out the pursuit of the billions of dollars taken from children each year. Seriously, if you know someone who works in advertising - read this, then beat the living piss out of them. They really are evil.

She has written many books, all insightful and relevant to our times. I strongly recommend picking one up.

Aldo is a Genius

This is a tin museum badge cut and bent into the shape of a Mantis. Aldo made it, and about a million other little creatures with his pliant, idle hands. It is less than an inch high, but easily the most masterful piece of art I have personally encountered. Inspired, skillfully crafted, and singularly one of a kind. Genius. Pure fucking genius. I imagine him "accidentally" curing cancer while cleaning the bathroom... If he ever gets around to cleaning the bathroom.