Camera Story

I've been hobbling around a bit, and actually took a cane, no, almost did, to that comedy show at The Aladdin.  The reason is I swerved out into the street, as a pedestrian, out of social distancing habits, but forgot, when re-merging with the sidewalk, that I'd be walking over rough terrain, some decorative boulders.  I went sprawling, but was proud how I landed and didn't bang my head or anything.

The upshot of all that, was I immediately forgot about it and continued onward to the supermarket, getting some provisions for a friend.  Only later, walking home, did I pat myself, my hoodie pouch especially, and realize I was cameraless.  Walking out the door, I was sure I'd had it.

To make a long story short, I woke up at 5 AM the next morning with lots of leg pains, which jogged my memory, and I thought "Ah, I bet the camera fell out when I took a spill".  It had been getting dark, which is partly why I'd missed seeing the boulders I now believe.  I hobbled out into the darkness of the early morning, iPhone flashlight in hand, to look for it.  I'd been to the supermarket Lost & Found the night before.

Given how much I loved that Lumix L-7, a point and shooter that starts to crossover into higher end, very fast, very trusty, I went on the internet and used all my skills to find a good deal on a used one.  I could afford it.  I took the plunge.  We're talking $250.  That includes a spiffy case, another charger plus battery, and a protective pouch, along with the second camera.

Yes, second camera, because in the meantime, I found the first, not smashed on the sidewalk, but safely next to my hat and McMenamins face mask (which I consider stylish, pandemic or no pandemic), at my friends house.  Starting with the fall itself, and on through some hours after, I was at a low point in my awareness of my devices and peripherals (accessories).  I get this way sometimes.

I'm glad to have two copies of the same camera and do not regret the purchase.  The main consequence of all this action is I'm still working on renormalizing around that knee.  The day after, I'd gone on a test walk with Dr. D., to make sure I could still do a few miles.  That was probably not the best therapy however, and I've been paying the price ever since.  Derek has confirmed my propensity to keep stretching and claiming my range of motion.

Speaking of claiming, I claimed by first Urbit planet today.  You might have thought, judging from writings, that I'd already invested in such a ship, but in fact, I've been practicing on comets and more recently a moon.  Stepping up to a real planet is somewhat a rite of passage in this universe (semantic space) and I was sure to mark it accordingly, both privately and publicly.

Urbit Food Pod

:: asylum food pod ::

One could do the prototype simulation without any hardware, so to speak, meaning no real food need be cooked for real animals.  Maybe there's a Planet "bank" (a conversion point, intra-currency), and each "cart" or "truck" is but a Moon of that Planet.  Good design?  I'm still learning.

Getting that shopping cart app up and running in Urbit may be a solved problem.  What's more interesting is not the app per se, but the task of educating the public, and what more could a Food Pod be?

Those following my blogs know I tried to interest the Methodists in converting an abandoned church into a community center focused on experimenting with exactly such simulations, with a microwave tower aligned to OMSI's.  That was Project Ghost Church.  Like a lot of my projects, it's more science fiction than real science at this point, more like Dark Matter or one of those.

You're probably thinking I must be backed by a bunch of wild and crazy libertarians, the Web 3.0 crypto warriors and so on.  I'm aware too that Swiss cantons were hoping to cash in on the crypto craze by leveraging their pre-existing savvy around financial services.  

I have to confess I'm not really up to date on what either of these groups is up to.  All I know is I'm still looking forward to visiting one of these newfangled Food Pods some day.  It wouldn't have to be implemented in Urbit, although that seems like a natural fit.

When testing, players need some "funny money" like in Monopoly, a currency accepted within the game. Spend funny money to get your virtual burritos.  Playing the "board game" (pun intended) is how one develops expertise in advance of actually implementing such a facility.  "Simulate with software and players before you build" as a way to work out some kinks.

What is Work?

One of the memeplexes I revisit, and seek to untangle, at least in my own mind, is where a Protestant idea of "work" meets a Physics one.  We have the work ethic, versus the idea of wasted energy, i.e. leakage away from the real work getting done.  But to what extent is "work" in the eye of the beholder observer?

For example they say a steam engine leaks energy away in the form of heat and noise, but what if your main purpose, as a steam engine, is to entertain with your noises, while heating the room?  As a side benefit, you also power the whole museum.  That's not your paid work though; you do that for free.  Yes, I'm addressing a steam engine here.

Maybe there's nothing deep here.  I'm drowning in the shallows, where many drownings happen.  Yet it seems the idea of a work vector, along which no waste is happening, is really in a multi-dimensional space higher than the eye can see.  

Invisible means complicated.  Side effects may be main effects.  

This was the charm of the honey-maker moneymaker bumblebee concept:  that cross-pollination is precessional to what the "bees" (moneymakers) are about.  The flowers use them to exchange genetic information (get the real work done).

I find it hard to get away from the idea of a taskmaster, the Protestant, very puritanical about what "work" means and quick to call anything "entropy" that is not strictly to his liking.  

The fragility of his mindset in the face of even minimal chaos, as he sees it, is not a mental condition we would welcome or wish to nurture in ourselves.  We want our physics meaning of "work" to stay pure of such an influence, unaffected by the religious mores of some random republican farmer, newly emigrated to North America from some homestead in Eurasia.

I take comfort in how many humans are in retirement or "at the ready" but not really doing anything in terms of directly constructing infrastructure.  We already have a huge carrying capacity with respect to people needing food, shelter and healthcare, and from whom little is asked.  They've performed their service already.  We either call them "veterans" or "retired".

We only need so much infrastructure.  Cities for the sake of cities are not really a social good.  From a movie-making point of view, we need a balance between plot-advancing box office action, and locating sites to build sets.  Sometimes the movie is about the making of the movie, which is what we think of as real life.

Choreography, script writing, is the name of the game i.e. what will the lifestyles be like?  

Saying they contain "a lot of leisure time" might be a moral judgment, like when the honest work of a homemaker, caring for kids, is somehow really "leisure time" because "unpaid".  

The guy with the job, the breadwinner, was the only "worker" in the family, whereas caring for other animals only counted as work where animal husbandry was concerned, as when raising sheep or other livestock.  

Then both parents "got jobs" in the nuclear family model, leaving the suburban home mostly empty during the day (the kids were in daycare), with the urban office space mostly empty at night, and jammed freeways in between.

And then all these ideas about "net worth" seem rather morally perverse, as if dropped from the sky by some giant egg laying monster.  The moneymaker game seems to casually assume ownership of the public's good words, as if entitled.

In the physics world, just breathing is work.  It's work to pump air in and out of the lungs.  It takes joules, and a minimum amount of muscle power.  

Given breathing is necessary to life, no puritan is in a position to argue that no useful work is being done.  Ergo, why not pay this person on a per breath basis?  

That proposition takes the breath away, in some circles, because isn't the whole point to make life support hard to afford?  That's an old school belief with its hands on the steering wheel to this day, according to lore.

The gymnast does a "workout" which we call "work" whether or not she or he is paid as a professional gymnast.  Many professions put a premium on looking one's best.  

So that's spending energy to better one's physique.  

Sure, much energy is lost to heat and sometimes noises, but a gym wouldn't be a gym without all those vibes.  In that sense, nothing is wasted, as entropy is factored in as a necessary feature, not as a cosmic defect or original sin.

The Asylum Project

What I tell people regarding Bitcoin is that I'll never be interested in having any myself unless it's easy to charge my wallet, from my bank account say, and spend the bits on burritos and other sundries, at a Food Pod that makes that easy.

A Food Pod is like a Food Court, made more international by the World's Fair franchise.  However the Pod consists of carts or trucks, which may be trundled away, leaving spots for new mobile restaurant kitchens.  

One of Portland's more famous Pods is Hawthorne Asylum Food Truck Pod, at the intersection of SE Madison and SE 11th.  Hawthorne Asylum is named in honor of the mental asylum, run by one Dr. Hawthorne, for whom the nearby Hawthorne Boulevard is named. 

However, the trucks are not equipped to accept Bitcoin easily.  I think the business model should be an experimental Pod that only takes crypto, but with an easy way to pay for some with your phone, much as Club Med used to exclusively take plastic beads for its optional purchases internally.

I know that refugee camps have been experimenting with crypto currencies, which brings me to the refugee camps the State of Oregon is considering.  I'm not saying my Vortex 1 + Country Fair + Rainbow Gathering + Occupy template has been accepted.  Calling it "a template" is a bit of a stretch, but we do know the State of Oregon has experience with at least a one of those models.

The reason life in a refugee camp might be interesting is it's a place to test prototypes, as well as therapies. Journalists are always welcome, and many will take cheap shots, as the faculty learns the ropes.  

Much needs to be invented.  Experimental community building (aka "nation building" on a smaller scale) is a job for social engineers with a secular background, not just for religious wonks.

Car Talk

There she was, waiting for me.

One develops attachments to things, not just people.  Sometimes the things are stand-ins for people.  Other times, they're just favorite objects, and/or, in the case of a car, something needed to get around, to enjoy a specific lifestyle. 

K&M Auto Service knew exactly what to do, as I did (see previous blog post).  But I didn't have the right size, shape or skills.  Only $118, with a full diagnostic.  They say I should replace the brake fluid.

Small Time Stuff

I dunno if it was Synchronicity or what, but that guy in the junkyard, on YouTube, had my exact car, same color and everything.  A Nissan Maxima.  The brake pedal, when relaxed, does not hold the circuit closed, such that charge leaks out of the battery through the brake lights.  They won't go off, even with no key in the ignition, in park.

So that YouTube showed precisely the problem and the fix.  However a big guy like me isn't cut out to be up under the steering wheel.  Dave got some paper in there, to save charge, but that won't last.  I emailed my mechanic this morning, but I have no idea how busy they are.  I'll have them look for other problems.  Yes she's a junker but I don't believe in throwing away serviceable equipment unnecessarily.

I bought a new phone-based HOP card recently, so I can hop a bus any time.  I'm likely going to refrain from driving for awhile, until I get a clear lane so to speak.