Imagine 10 dimensions

I have often tried to stretch my brain to try to imagine what a four dimensional object would be like. Then I learned that I have to stretch further. The following video goes a long way to help.

When you go there, click on the rotating icon on the right.

Feelings of the week

It has been a busy week of playing catch-up.
All around me is life and death and life again.
My family members are growing older. As long as I avoid a mirror, I am not.

Everything goes slower and costs more than planned, and yet all goes well.
People are enthused. projects are happening.
Every day more people are coming to HUG for advice about some aspect of sustainable living.
Every day HUG becomes tangibly more intertwined with our community.
The learning curve is still steep,
and I love it.

We think we made contact

This morning we went shopping for a person who could be act as a local agent for RoundBelly to buy from the local artisans. Guatemala is famous for colorful hand woven clothing. San Antonio Aguas Caliente is a village near us that is reputed to have the finest workmanship (workWomanship?) in the country.

Today we made a special trip to see more of their work and to talk with the workers. Most of the weaving is done in homes and sales shops. I took lots of pictures. Lynn bought samples. Most of the women can’t get their minds off of an immediate cash sale. They don’t seem to easily grasp a relationship resulting in a steady series of sales. They all seem very pleasant and fun to talk with.

I want to be careful not to force an industrial model onto their artisan lifestyle. We shouldn’t order too many at once, or expect every piece to be identical. We want to make their way of life more rewarding, not kill it.

Finally our guide brought us to a non profit museum dedicated to helping preserve the artisan’s way of life. They act as a micro-lender to help people buy thread and such. They act as a sales outlet and a museum. They are happy to work with us to sell their products.

Perhaps we will want to set up a fair trade section in RoundBelly’s website just to promote such work from many countries.

Lesson from Irwin, the martial artist

Written Sunday

We are staying at a resort in Antigua, Guatemala. This morning we were four American tourists trying to decipher the Spanish language activities poster in the courtyard. Suddenly a well-dressed black guy appeared amidst us. He introduced himself as Irwin, from Aruba, and from the time-share sales office next door.

I have been to a number of time-share sales pitches. The skills of the salespeople vary, but the pitches are relentlessly high pressure and well organized. He seemed likable and helpful, but my defenses were up as he learned who we were.

When he asked us which rooms we were staying in, he immediately brought up the worst feature of those rooms (they are too near the traffic noise) and he asked us what we thought could be done to improve the noise problem.

It was a problem that we could have just complained about, but suddenly our minds were engaged to solve it. For the moment it didn’t matter that we were not acoustical engineers or that he was not likely in a position to make changes.

In what could be described as the finest move I have ever seen in martial arts, Irwin had broken down our defenses, as we all became part of the same team. In one smooth move that we didn’t even realize he was making, he found where we were off balance and then used our own energy to his advantage.

Follow through is important in any martial arts move. He brainstormed with us on the traffic noise for a minute until WE changed the subject. He continued to be helpful with advice about local things. He made sure we remembered his name. By the time he left, we had no fear or hesitancy about talking with him.

Later this week, if it comes time for him to sell us something, Irwin already has the hardest stages out of the way. If he makes these kinds of moves a regular habit, I bet he is a very successful salesman.

Technofantasy and Affluenza

Two different topics in two different magazine articles caught my attention.

Technofantasy referred to our tendency to focus on the cool new changes in technology while we tend to forget that old technologies are the really important ones. We hype up the new and future stuff so much that we tend to build our psychological world around them. Meanwhile, our lives are really supported by technologies like corrugated steel roofing, water pipes, glass.

Affluenza points to clinical evidence that people in many western societies are getting more psychologically stressed and less prone to be happy.

It seems like everything I come across lately is giving me moral encouragement and hints how to build the down-to-earth neighborhoods that drive their own economies and lifestyles. Short circuit the rat race and replace it with a semi-simple physically active lifestyle that has the best elements of aboriginal wisdom and of modern life.