I've started to gather links to truly important
things on the Internet that I find. I'm going to post about them once a month. I
got bored of the daily lists.
The first is about copyright and the Internet. I'm sure if you've
been on the internet much at all you understand that this is a big
deal to a lot of people. There are some good reasons for that. See
The
Grand Unified Theory On The Economics Of Free, In case you're
still not convinced, have a history of the Entertainment
Industry overreacting.
Next is for fools like me who thought sexism was an old faded
thing with only a few scraps left on its corpse. Sexual internet abuse,
often without even the courtesy of being truly anonymous, is
thriving. See On
Blogging, Threats, and Silence.
The next one is a little weird. It's a post from the growing
movement of people who don't use soap(except on their hands) or
shampoo. It makes sense when you look into it. Soaps are detergents
that wipe out all the oils in your skin. Your skin needs oils. Your
body adapts, and produces more oils, so if you don't use it for a
couple days you have too many. I've started doing this myself. See
I’ve
given up using soap & shampoo forever.
I've been learning a lot lately about how to manage personal
finances. I thought this was a good example of important stuff people
don't think about because it's so easy to follow. See
cost-of-commuting.
The next is written by someone that seems a little sketchy, but
the story he tells seems inspirational to me. I've always had an
instinct to escape the grid. The world IS insane, most jobs are just
make-work to include people in the economic process. Our current
system needs inefficiency to work, and I dislike inefficiency. See
How to Drop Out.
The site for this article is down as I write this, but it's
an insightful work about population, inspired by the world population
reaching 7
Billion this month. Too many humans.
Biased news reports, economic revolution, Why
Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not.
Another financial post. Ariel has been mad over my adoption of the
cost-per-calorie unit. It's useful though. Learn to start Grocery
Shopping With Your Middle Finger.
This is sort of a financial post, but for me it's more of an “OMG
I love learning about construction, why the hell don't I BUILD things
more often!?” type of post. See What
is Thermal Mass and How can it Make you Money?
Apparently Noam Chomsky is kind of insane, but I found this to be
a wonderful piece on the Occupy movement. See Noam
Chomsky Speaks to Occupy.
Google
Advanced Operators (Cheat Sheet) is useful to everyone that ever
wants to find information on the internet. A minority, I'm sure
How
To Repair a Headphone Cable is a good DIY article for a problem
we all have, eventually.
My last post might just be the coolest. For me, anyway. As a
technophile and anti-capitalist, I have some conflicting interests. I
want to support great content on the web, but I can't stand ads(and
usually have no interest in buying merch). There exists technology to
tell if an ad has been loaded, and adblockers directly impact how
much money a content-provider makes. I run an adblocker anyway. I
wanted an alternative to ads to make a better, less commercial Internet. I found one. Flattr uses
embedded buttons in sites, like Facebook likes, to automatically
split money between sites whose content you liked. Just pay a bit,
and every month your money goes out to support great content.
November 27, 2011
October 24, 2011
Lists!
Lists!
Reasons I Hate Windows:
1: asking permission a stupid number of times
2: asking permission a stupid number of times, then refusing to do what I want.
3: Poor security/viruses
4: It has too much of a monopoly on programs, although that's being fixed.
5: It forces terrible programs like windows media player in and makes them impossible to remove.
6: relatively slow
7: relatively less freedom to customize your system
8: overpriced.
9: owned by an evil corporation
10: has less support online than linux
Things I have in my room
1: window
2. desktop
3. desk
4. dresser
5. easel
6. toolbox
7. artbox
8. closet
9. filing case
10. books
Stuff I Want To Do More
1. Bike
2. Play Grounders
3. Visual art
4: Keep up with news/politics
5: Take part in social movements
6: Hang out with the friends I don't live with
7: Writing
8: Try new things
9: Buy used/freecycle
10: MAKE things
Skills I Want To Learn
1: Parkour
2: Sewing
3: carpentry
4: programming
5: some sort of instrument (keyboard?)
6: time management
7: hydroponics
8: personal paperwork management
9: from-scratch cooking
10: actual magic
Things I Intend To Change To Save Money:
1: ISPs.
2: Stop paying dnd subscription
3: Never pay monthly for a cell.
4: Don't keep cash/ meticulously keep track of cash.
5: Destroy vestiges of brand loyalty
6: Sleep on any non-essential purchases
7: Periodical transfers to a savings account
8: Bike and bus more, cab less
9: buy fresh ingredients only when needed
10: make my own bread
Webcomics I Read
1: Homestuck
2: Questionable Content
3: xkcd
4: Templar, Arizona
5: Ménage à 3
6: Bad Machinery
7: Underling
8: Pictures For Sad Children
9: Candi
10: White Noise
Animals I'd like to have
1. Cat
2. Falcon
3: Goat
4: Chicken
5: Ferret
6: Some kind of fish in a pond
7: Raven
8: Horse?
9: Fox
10: Rat
Things I should be doing
1: Looking into occupy fredericton
2: Applying on jobs
3: Cleaning
4: Picking up my parcel/groceries
5: Making cookies
6: Working on my awesome halloween costume
7: Editing my previous blog entry to make sense
8: Finishing my weird art collage so I can get junk off of my floor
9: Working on the dnd game I've been meaning to do forever
10: Rebuilding social contact with my friends I don't live with
Qualities I possess
1: I associate gods with tyrants
2: I am inspired by music
3: I am made of meat
4: I love knowledge
5: I am socially awkward
6: I am often careless
7: I battle with self-deception
8: I find most physical exertion bothersome
9: I am a technophile
10: I generally like people
Regrets I would have if I died right now
1: I never learned to play an instrument- oh jegus that's a big one
2: Never pursuing any of my interests enough to become exceptional
3: The pain of those hurt by my death. No real avoiding it.
4: The friendships that died because I didn't put the effort in.
5: All of my procrastination.
6: That I kept my eyes so tightly shut for so long on my
obligations to the world
7: All the abandoned ideas and plans I had that could have been more if I had only given them the attention they were due
8: My imbalance of learnt theory and practical skills that can actually do things
9: That I never learnt to enjoy work
10: Hurting Erin. I think I've hurt myself with it more over the years than she ever was, but it's the only time I really hurt someone intentionally and for no good reason. And she was my best friend.
Reasons I Hate Windows:
1: asking permission a stupid number of times
2: asking permission a stupid number of times, then refusing to do what I want.
3: Poor security/viruses
4: It has too much of a monopoly on programs, although that's being fixed.
5: It forces terrible programs like windows media player in and makes them impossible to remove.
6: relatively slow
7: relatively less freedom to customize your system
8: overpriced.
9: owned by an evil corporation
10: has less support online than linux
Things I have in my room
1: window
2. desktop
3. desk
4. dresser
5. easel
6. toolbox
7. artbox
8. closet
9. filing case
10. books
Stuff I Want To Do More
1. Bike
2. Play Grounders
3. Visual art
4: Keep up with news/politics
5: Take part in social movements
6: Hang out with the friends I don't live with
7: Writing
8: Try new things
9: Buy used/freecycle
10: MAKE things
Skills I Want To Learn
1: Parkour
2: Sewing
3: carpentry
4: programming
5: some sort of instrument (keyboard?)
6: time management
7: hydroponics
8: personal paperwork management
9: from-scratch cooking
10: actual magic
Things I Intend To Change To Save Money:
1: ISPs.
2: Stop paying dnd subscription
3: Never pay monthly for a cell.
4: Don't keep cash/ meticulously keep track of cash.
5: Destroy vestiges of brand loyalty
6: Sleep on any non-essential purchases
7: Periodical transfers to a savings account
8: Bike and bus more, cab less
9: buy fresh ingredients only when needed
10: make my own bread
Webcomics I Read
1: Homestuck
2: Questionable Content
3: xkcd
4: Templar, Arizona
5: Ménage à 3
6: Bad Machinery
7: Underling
8: Pictures For Sad Children
9: Candi
10: White Noise
Animals I'd like to have
1. Cat
2. Falcon
3: Goat
4: Chicken
5: Ferret
6: Some kind of fish in a pond
7: Raven
8: Horse?
9: Fox
10: Rat
Things I should be doing
1: Looking into occupy fredericton
2: Applying on jobs
3: Cleaning
4: Picking up my parcel/groceries
5: Making cookies
6: Working on my awesome halloween costume
7: Editing my previous blog entry to make sense
8: Finishing my weird art collage so I can get junk off of my floor
9: Working on the dnd game I've been meaning to do forever
10: Rebuilding social contact with my friends I don't live with
Qualities I possess
1: I associate gods with tyrants
2: I am inspired by music
3: I am made of meat
4: I love knowledge
5: I am socially awkward
6: I am often careless
7: I battle with self-deception
8: I find most physical exertion bothersome
9: I am a technophile
10: I generally like people
Regrets I would have if I died right now
1: I never learned to play an instrument- oh jegus that's a big one
2: Never pursuing any of my interests enough to become exceptional
3: The pain of those hurt by my death. No real avoiding it.
4: The friendships that died because I didn't put the effort in.
5: All of my procrastination.
6: That I kept my eyes so tightly shut for so long on my
obligations to the world
7: All the abandoned ideas and plans I had that could have been more if I had only given them the attention they were due
8: My imbalance of learnt theory and practical skills that can actually do things
9: That I never learnt to enjoy work
10: Hurting Erin. I think I've hurt myself with it more over the years than she ever was, but it's the only time I really hurt someone intentionally and for no good reason. And she was my best friend.
October 19, 2011
Investment is stealing
It annoys me so much when people talk about "making your money work
for you!". I keep seeing it, encouraging you to invest. It's a full
metaphor, not just something people say. They usually start talking
about how your money is thousands of little employees who will
tirelessly work for you so you don't need to. But money can't work,
money is supposed to be an abstraction of labour value. It can't produce
itself.
I've been trying to look up more about what investment actually IS, and the information is actually really hard to find. So I may have a few things backwards, but my point is fairly self explanatory I think. Money is an abstraction of labour. It's only supposed to exist when someone works for it. Thus, getting money for nothing is a way of stealing someone's labour value. This could be by underpaying those at the bottom, or more indirectly like printing money and driving up inflation- undermining EVERYONE'S labour.
When you look for information about investing a lot of what you'll see is just this kind of stuff:
"It's actually pretty simple: investing means putting your money to work for you. Essentially, it's a different way to think about how to make money. Growing up, most of us were taught that you can earn an income only by getting a job and working. And that's exactly what most of us do. There's one big problem with this: if you want more money, you have to work more hours. However, there is a limit to how many hours a day we can work, not to mention the fact that having a bunch of money is no fun if we don't have the leisure time to enjoy it
You can't create a duplicate of yourself to increase your working time, so instead, you need to send an extension of yourself - your money - to work. That way, while you are putting in hours for your employer, or even mowing your lawn, sleeping, reading the paper or socializing with friends, you can also be earning money elsewhere. Quite simply, making your money work for you maximizes your earning potential whether or not you receive a raise, decide to work overtime or look for a higher-paying job." - Investopedia
Practically, that tells you nothing. It implies that the money is coming out of thin air and doesn't say a thing about the processes. I think most people just leave it at that and head off to learn how to use those magic stock numbers to get rich. But even if you don't see it, someone is getting hurt. I understand venture capital is sometimes needed to get things off the ground, but with new crowdsourcing capital generators like Kickstarter, that's not such a problem. And most people just buy off the TSX or something. Besides, fucked up corporate law requires companies to make every attempt to maximize profit for shareholders, which is horrible and stupid. Yay mindless pursuit of growth! Supporting that kind of system would suck even without the rest.
In the end however, it's a powerful income source that everyone has access to. I'm not sure how I feel about lower class people taking advantage of it. In the end, it's their (pshh, talking like I'm not a minimum wage worker) money that's being siphoned off by this system. They have a right to it, but it seems they shouldn't support it. And yet, maybe it would force corporations to behave if more lower class people were shareholders? Banks go and invest your money anyway, and give you a pitiful cut of the proceeds. I guess you should invest if you're lower class? But mostly everyone feels like they're poor, and push themselves into debt with stupidly extravagant purchases. The middle and upper middle class will only cement this system by jumping in,and I'm not sure where the cut off should be. Damn that's annoying. I'm tempted to just keep everything in cash on principle, but I have a feeling that would end badly and accomplish little.
I didn't realize this at first, but this entire post is reminiscent of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon quote I first encountered in high school and struggled for so long to understand- "property is theft". I should really go read his book.
I'll probably edit this at some point to make it more readable.
I've been trying to look up more about what investment actually IS, and the information is actually really hard to find. So I may have a few things backwards, but my point is fairly self explanatory I think. Money is an abstraction of labour. It's only supposed to exist when someone works for it. Thus, getting money for nothing is a way of stealing someone's labour value. This could be by underpaying those at the bottom, or more indirectly like printing money and driving up inflation- undermining EVERYONE'S labour.
When you look for information about investing a lot of what you'll see is just this kind of stuff:
"It's actually pretty simple: investing means putting your money to work for you. Essentially, it's a different way to think about how to make money. Growing up, most of us were taught that you can earn an income only by getting a job and working. And that's exactly what most of us do. There's one big problem with this: if you want more money, you have to work more hours. However, there is a limit to how many hours a day we can work, not to mention the fact that having a bunch of money is no fun if we don't have the leisure time to enjoy it
You can't create a duplicate of yourself to increase your working time, so instead, you need to send an extension of yourself - your money - to work. That way, while you are putting in hours for your employer, or even mowing your lawn, sleeping, reading the paper or socializing with friends, you can also be earning money elsewhere. Quite simply, making your money work for you maximizes your earning potential whether or not you receive a raise, decide to work overtime or look for a higher-paying job." - Investopedia
Practically, that tells you nothing. It implies that the money is coming out of thin air and doesn't say a thing about the processes. I think most people just leave it at that and head off to learn how to use those magic stock numbers to get rich. But even if you don't see it, someone is getting hurt. I understand venture capital is sometimes needed to get things off the ground, but with new crowdsourcing capital generators like Kickstarter, that's not such a problem. And most people just buy off the TSX or something. Besides, fucked up corporate law requires companies to make every attempt to maximize profit for shareholders, which is horrible and stupid. Yay mindless pursuit of growth! Supporting that kind of system would suck even without the rest.
In the end however, it's a powerful income source that everyone has access to. I'm not sure how I feel about lower class people taking advantage of it. In the end, it's their (pshh, talking like I'm not a minimum wage worker) money that's being siphoned off by this system. They have a right to it, but it seems they shouldn't support it. And yet, maybe it would force corporations to behave if more lower class people were shareholders? Banks go and invest your money anyway, and give you a pitiful cut of the proceeds. I guess you should invest if you're lower class? But mostly everyone feels like they're poor, and push themselves into debt with stupidly extravagant purchases. The middle and upper middle class will only cement this system by jumping in,and I'm not sure where the cut off should be. Damn that's annoying. I'm tempted to just keep everything in cash on principle, but I have a feeling that would end badly and accomplish little.
I didn't realize this at first, but this entire post is reminiscent of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon quote I first encountered in high school and struggled for so long to understand- "property is theft". I should really go read his book.
I'll probably edit this at some point to make it more readable.
October 13, 2011
bluh?
What, is this a new post? What the fuck? Guess it is.
I guess I kind of extremely lag behind the general populace when it comes to mastering organization. There has been a breakthrough however. I have mastered the great and powerful art understood by toddlers everywhere: lists.
They help. A lot. My previous attempts to use them had a problem; I would either forget to put things on the list, or I'd forget to check the list. The difference this time relies on a simple little Firefox add-on called reminderfox, a calendar application that runs straight out of my browser. The application has support for user created lists: groceries, to-dos, anything like that. I created a to-do list, and soon everything I could think of soon found itself in a list. I don't even use the reminder portion of the add-on that much, but whenever it sends me an awesome little alert I am forced to remember to check my lists.
Right now I have 8 different lists on reminderfox: reminders, to-dos, groceries, music, linux prep, house upgrades, contacts, and free services to support. On my desktop is a list of passwords for different sites I used to put an end to my horrible password reuse habits, a list of stuff that I want but probably won't get, and a list of various life decisions I've made or am making. Sometimes the lists are practical, sometimes indulgent, and sometimes the only reason I can think of for them existing is to provide a map of who it is I am. I didn't think lists had such poetic potential, although that's silly because everything can be poetic or beautiful perceived from the right angle.
In homage to my new tool, one of my few weapons in this big bad world of confusion, I'm going to make a ten item or so list every day from now until I lose interest, and post them here every week or so. I'm not even going to try and make these lists very logical, it's hard to think of everything and I'd sort of prefer not to stress too much over something this random. Here's the first:
Things that make me happy:
1. Music
2. Learning things
3. Biking
4: Hanging out with friends
5: Technology
6: Making something worthwhile/ doing work I can readily see the results of.
7: Opening my mind to new ideas.
8: Daydreaming
9: Being busy with things I want to do
10: Being in love
And for no real reason: Song!
I guess I kind of extremely lag behind the general populace when it comes to mastering organization. There has been a breakthrough however. I have mastered the great and powerful art understood by toddlers everywhere: lists.
They help. A lot. My previous attempts to use them had a problem; I would either forget to put things on the list, or I'd forget to check the list. The difference this time relies on a simple little Firefox add-on called reminderfox, a calendar application that runs straight out of my browser. The application has support for user created lists: groceries, to-dos, anything like that. I created a to-do list, and soon everything I could think of soon found itself in a list. I don't even use the reminder portion of the add-on that much, but whenever it sends me an awesome little alert I am forced to remember to check my lists.
Right now I have 8 different lists on reminderfox: reminders, to-dos, groceries, music, linux prep, house upgrades, contacts, and free services to support. On my desktop is a list of passwords for different sites I used to put an end to my horrible password reuse habits, a list of stuff that I want but probably won't get, and a list of various life decisions I've made or am making. Sometimes the lists are practical, sometimes indulgent, and sometimes the only reason I can think of for them existing is to provide a map of who it is I am. I didn't think lists had such poetic potential, although that's silly because everything can be poetic or beautiful perceived from the right angle.
In homage to my new tool, one of my few weapons in this big bad world of confusion, I'm going to make a ten item or so list every day from now until I lose interest, and post them here every week or so. I'm not even going to try and make these lists very logical, it's hard to think of everything and I'd sort of prefer not to stress too much over something this random. Here's the first:
Things that make me happy:
1. Music
2. Learning things
3. Biking
4: Hanging out with friends
5: Technology
6: Making something worthwhile/ doing work I can readily see the results of.
7: Opening my mind to new ideas.
8: Daydreaming
9: Being busy with things I want to do
10: Being in love
And for no real reason: Song!
May 27, 2011
The need for work
Once I get going, there's plenty of things to work for. It's just hard getting past the initial stupor. Comic is Pictures For Sad Children.
March 30, 2011
Fucked dream.
Sorry it's been so long since I posted here: it's a mix of having nothing I want to say at a given time and totally forgetting this blog existed. I guess I should give an update on my life right now, but I don't feel like it. Some other time.
Anyway, I had an interesting dream last night and I thought I'd copy Ari and make a blog post of it.
I stumbled across this ancient city place with relics of technology and magic everywhere. Allen was there with me, but he mostly just walked with me. We came upon a black gate eventually, twisted black iron with one of the hinges broken. Outside is a vast manse- green gardens and flowers stretched out into the great estate. For a moment I thought it had to be some magic of the old city, for I could not fathom that something this ancient could be so easily accessible, or that people could have found it and not told the world.
In a moment I heard a noise, and saw two groups of people approaching either side of the gate. They had the appearance of being some sort of religious procession; their clothes were similar to those of Christian leaders. I instinctively knew I didn't want these people to find me- that they would not want news of this place to reach the outside. But if I moved now it would be obvious. I gestured to Allen to follow my lead and became a breathing and blinking doll, hiding in the city's magic.
The groups stopped almost next to me, and briefly discussed the novelty of such a thing, but were too sure of themselves to notice it was an act. They spoke of things not for my ears, obviously secret things that didn't fully make sense to me. The groups then joined and went deeper into the city. One person stayed behind, however, a tortured looking girl who was either curious about the doll or suspicious I wasn't one. She gave me a few kicks and such as if to reassure I wasn't alive, and I acted it perfectly. Convinced, she hits, bites, hugs, talks to me for what seems like hours in ways I know she'd never do if she wasn't alone, but needed to get out. Eventually she speaks of something that's still fuzzy in my head, but makes me stop acting.
I talk to her, erase all her old loyalties and MAKE her my ally. I offer her the change in herself she so badly wants, and symbolizing this I change her very body. Without ever thinking it's strange, I slide my fingers into her body and reshape it: her flesh and bones no more than putty in my hands. I make the contours of her face and body more pronounced, giving her elfin and primal seeming features. In the end she only resembles a human. Then I wake up.
Kinda fucked up, no?
Anyway, I had an interesting dream last night and I thought I'd copy Ari and make a blog post of it.
I stumbled across this ancient city place with relics of technology and magic everywhere. Allen was there with me, but he mostly just walked with me. We came upon a black gate eventually, twisted black iron with one of the hinges broken. Outside is a vast manse- green gardens and flowers stretched out into the great estate. For a moment I thought it had to be some magic of the old city, for I could not fathom that something this ancient could be so easily accessible, or that people could have found it and not told the world.
In a moment I heard a noise, and saw two groups of people approaching either side of the gate. They had the appearance of being some sort of religious procession; their clothes were similar to those of Christian leaders. I instinctively knew I didn't want these people to find me- that they would not want news of this place to reach the outside. But if I moved now it would be obvious. I gestured to Allen to follow my lead and became a breathing and blinking doll, hiding in the city's magic.
The groups stopped almost next to me, and briefly discussed the novelty of such a thing, but were too sure of themselves to notice it was an act. They spoke of things not for my ears, obviously secret things that didn't fully make sense to me. The groups then joined and went deeper into the city. One person stayed behind, however, a tortured looking girl who was either curious about the doll or suspicious I wasn't one. She gave me a few kicks and such as if to reassure I wasn't alive, and I acted it perfectly. Convinced, she hits, bites, hugs, talks to me for what seems like hours in ways I know she'd never do if she wasn't alone, but needed to get out. Eventually she speaks of something that's still fuzzy in my head, but makes me stop acting.
I talk to her, erase all her old loyalties and MAKE her my ally. I offer her the change in herself she so badly wants, and symbolizing this I change her very body. Without ever thinking it's strange, I slide my fingers into her body and reshape it: her flesh and bones no more than putty in my hands. I make the contours of her face and body more pronounced, giving her elfin and primal seeming features. In the end she only resembles a human. Then I wake up.
Kinda fucked up, no?
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