Relax

It's dark just a little earlier than I thought. It's quiet. Dog lying on the floor to my left. Cat washing herself on my right. Crickets chirping all around. It's a gorgeous night with cool fresh air wafting in through the window above and tickling whatever skin I have exposed. It must be August.

Dragon

This one is for Raya. She keeps buggin me to show her the dragon.

Erika is putting screws into the wall to hold the chicken wire and the mud. We don't want it to fall off.

Half of the first layer of mud is applied.

The left wing is up. You can see the screws in the wall to hold the right wing.
I think we are going to have a lot of cool looking walls if she hangs around a few years.

Sudden understanding

That fleeting moment of clarity... Oh how I love it.
How do I get it more often?, and make it last longer?
Sometimes it seems to come from nowhere. Usually, If you pay attention, you can notice what conditions helped to set it up.

One time I was just writing about the nature of time, a gem popped out in the text and the understanding happened afterwards.

Another time, I was walking on a track in a perfect summer night with nothing to clutter my mind. Suddenly the curves of the track opened up insights into Einstein's view of 4 dimensional space-time and gravity. I never understood it before.

Alas, These little moments of clarity seem so short, usually not long enough to write it all down. How do we pursue these beautiful butterflies of thought?

It turns out to be a healthy safety valve

Deep inside the mind is a psychological process that has puzzled me for decades. Some sources say that up to 40% of ordinary people are turned on by or have fantasies about being tied up. It doesn't take much time to find out that the internet has thousands of sites that pander to such things. There are also countless manufacturers making hardware to sell for that kind of play.

With most people who actively have such fantasies, it only comes around occasionally when the biorhythms and planets line up just right. The rest of their lives they really have little interest in such things.

Why would someone want to let someone tie them up or tie themselves up?
The answer is emerging... DANGER!

Some people pursue danger. They may drive fast, climb cliffs, take drugs, etc. Experts say that the reason some couples get a thrill from having sex in unusual places is the slight chance of getting caught.

Recent tests have proven that when men are shown pictures of pretty women they are more likely to take risks. (Pictures of plain women have no such effect.)
These things feed my theory…

Built into our genes are forces that convince us to conform and behave for the good of society. At the same time (and for very good evolutionary reasons) we have smaller counter forces that tell us to rebel, beat the odds, try something different. Biorhythms and circumstances sometimes align to make those forces stronger. Like most bio-drives, if they are ignored, they just build up pressure.

Some people end up driving fast cars, where the danger can cause instant carnage and death. Some people chase fast women, where the danger is divorce, disease, etc. For those who play games where they tie themselves up, or let a trusted loved one tie them up, they might get caught, or they have some risk of being controlled by another during their play. The danger is psychologically real but physically inconsequential.

This, if done well, is a healthy and safe way to diffuse our internal biological drives to court danger. Just like swearing, it has to remain illicit in polite society or it serves no function.

Third world country

Lately, I've been consumed by learning how to import solar heating equipment. I think it must be because of the challenge of learning new things, the intrigue of working with exotic foreign partners, the ability to economically create products that seemed out of reach a few months ago.

In many ways, I'm starting to feel like we already live in a third world country. Case in point is the solar tubes I'm shopping for. 90% of them in the world are manufactured in China. The few that are manufactured in america are priced many times higher.

In a few short years we have come to accept that products designed in the far east work better than american designs. They are assembled better too. And why not? They work harder in school. I am told that 55% of their college students are engineers, compared to 5% here.

All 7 members of the politburo, the top Chinese lawmakers, are card carrying engineers. Most of our lawmakers are lawyers.

The 20th century largely belonged to america. This next century will mostly belong to the chinese.

The future continues to wax and wane.

Always in motion is the future.

If you are designing a product that will be on the market 5 or 10 years in the future, you want that product to do well in the world to which it is introduced. How different will that world be from the one we inhabit today?

Six months ago I started a serious look into the future. Apparently the teacher took my quest seriously. Every week I was introduced to another view of up and comming technologies, each more startling than the last.

I was fascinated, but the cumulative learning threw me into future shock. Within the span of an average lifetime, we are in for many deep and profound changes. Absorbing this much realization caused psychic indigestion; mild depression.
(if you are compelled to do this; for a start, google Spiritual Machines and NanoTechnology and Desktop manufacturing and Space elevator Each of these will profoundly change our economic and social environment.)
Like fire or water, these forces are equally powerful for good or evil. The net result is that we are in for very positive and exciting changes, if we don't blow ourselves up first. I'm not going to try to detail them here because it would take several in-depth conversations for anyone to even begin to believe it.

Added to these technical changes, many ancient and modern religions predict that these are the end times. Economic patterns suggest hard economic and political times in the next 15 years.

Bottom line forecast:
Be prepared for hard economic times.
Be prepared for great economic times.
Be flexible, resourceful, out of debt, close to the earth.

Death as an advisor

Carlos Castanada wrote a series of books about his teacher, a wizard warrior named don Juan. Many of the lessons he was taught seemed bizarre at the time, yet they ultimately ring true. One of the simpler lessons is to use death as an advisor.

It didn't take long to realize that he is right. The advice you hear usually helps you to calm down, take things in perspective, not fear needlessly, go ahead and act.

Maybe it is because he has a lot of practice, but it turns out that death is a darn good advisor.

Minnesota weather

Two days ago I built a well water air conditioner just in time. Two days ago the nights were warm and the days were beastly hot and humid. The new gadjet cooled off the strawbale building like a dream.

Now the outside air is 50 degrees. Who knows if we will ever need an air conditioner again.

Energetic week

This week has has been busy so far. Negotiating new artists, helping Amy at the fair, negotiating with new business opportunities, new partners, new mud mixers, cob lobbers, rock seperators, built and installed custom air conditioner, tours for college class, designing new solar front for our building, sorting and cleaning and insulating, new massage person, attending tai quan do testing and babysitting, not to mention learning new plants and handling fresh farm produce.

The last half of the week looks good too.

The World's Healthiest Foods

The world's healthiest foods is a site that I just happened to bump into. I ended up bookmarking it because it is so well done, simple yet extensive.

Now that I think about it, Food is the set of habits that I am trying hardest to improve.