I'd hardly say this is a purely objective view, but it's certainly becoming a popular one (finally). In fact, Obama recently hit on it and while he was initially admonished for actually saying what he was thinking (correctly I will add), as people wake up and open their eyes, he's now actually being praised and surging polls are suggesting that he's outclassed Hilary.
Here's a portion of Obama's speech given last week:
-->
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
<--
Initially people freaked out, citing his choice of words completely incorrectly and out of context (per usual), but under further review they realized he was referring simply to people being so jaded to the usual crap that they default to, from their perspective their only clear and present choices - religion, guns and voting against the people who are smarter/different than they are and those best equipped to run the country out of spite. This has happened before, leading up to the last 8 years of abysmal leadership by baby Bush and his gang of criminally negligent and incompetent staffers. Cast aside all relevant issues and focus on.. (coin toss).. abortion, and then gay marriage. Purely inconsequential issues that somehow trumped the economy, the environment, the war and hundreds of more important issues. Next of course will be immigration, with a polarization that promises to get the gun toters out to the booths in record number.
So, this as much a hopeful note as it is a slap on the back of the head to the lowest common denominator that ushered in baby Bush and his cronies. Wake up, read, listen and vote the issues (you'll notice that's plural), and not the contrived, manufactured inconsequential bullshit. I'd even go so far as to say put your money where your mouth is.. but wait, did I forget to mention the pathfinders, trailblazers, firestarters, scout leaders, foot rubbers, democracy rapists, croneys, talentless short cutters and jackasses?
Talk about dishearterning:
-->
But the McCain campaign, which struggled over much of the past year in raising money, is now seeking to emulate the record-setting money machine that powered George W. Bush to victories in 2000 and 2004, bestowing special titles upon bundlers who exceed certain financial targets.
Instead of Pioneers and Rangers, as Bush's top fund-raisers were called, McCain is dubbing the 73 people so far who have brought in $100,000 or more Trailblazers, while the 33 who brought in $250,000 or more are being called Innovators.
Campaign finance watchdogs criticized the Pioneer and Ranger system for establishing an elite class of donors, many of whom went on to ambassadorships and other political appointments. But McCain's advisers believe the system offers the best chance to encourage as many people as possible to raise large amounts of money for the campaign.
McCain has distantly trailed both Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in fund-raising - in March he brought in $15 million, compared with Obama's $40 million and Clinton's $20 million. While McCain's Democratic counterparts, especially Obama, have enjoyed much success in harvesting small-dollar donations over the Internet, McCain has not built an effective Internet fund-raising machine, forcing him to depend on a circle of wealthy donors
<--
Ahh, GW - where haven't you gone wrong? The answer is simple: you pandered to the lowest common denominator and were dumb enough for that group to feel like you'd be a cool guy to go drink with and you wouldn't make them feel stupid (at all). The only refinement you were missing: You wouldn't have had to steal Florida if you had no teeth.
Will the ignorant LCD masses wise up this time around? Time will tell. My fingers are crossed.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Super Simple Time Filler
..an interesting concept when looking for something to intellectually process while otherwise held corporally captive. Flights, commutes, conference calls, meetings and the like all qualify as ideal times to mess around with intersections.
I propose (or maybe even hypothesize) that any two ideas/objects eventually intersect if you push them around long enough. Let's call it the inescapable voyage to the lowest common denominator which occasionally results in something useful theory. Take for example: cup holders and chewing gum , an available USB port and too much time, or even a website and a lot of poorly thought out ideas.
So. Free brain processing time plus the catalog of crap you've been exposed to that is still rattling around in your brain and the concept of merging them together in pairs, one at a time until you come up with something: funny, ridiculous, useful, wasteful, marketable or simply interesting. I find it helps to pick one interesting idea or object and bump as many other ideas or objects against it until something decent comes out.
A notepad and google (plus a random letter or combination of letters) can add a whole new element to the process. Add alcohol for worse results.
I guess it could also be called 'captive creations', or 'poor man's data mining', or even 'here's what I came up with during our last business meeting that is completely unrelated to what was discussed'.
A random personal few from my last meeting:
poker fishing - I didn't say these were good, merely random.
basic competency testing printed on dollar bills - must be answered before redemption, wrong answer = exploding bill.
*vending machine, martinis, home pregnancy kits - weekend hangout
air horn and obscenities - really, really loud obscenities
* a triple inspired by being forced to listen to a co-worker's ramblings that sent my brain off on a tear about what her social life must be like.
I propose (or maybe even hypothesize) that any two ideas/objects eventually intersect if you push them around long enough. Let's call it the inescapable voyage to the lowest common denominator which occasionally results in something useful theory. Take for example: cup holders and chewing gum , an available USB port and too much time, or even a website and a lot of poorly thought out ideas.
So. Free brain processing time plus the catalog of crap you've been exposed to that is still rattling around in your brain and the concept of merging them together in pairs, one at a time until you come up with something: funny, ridiculous, useful, wasteful, marketable or simply interesting. I find it helps to pick one interesting idea or object and bump as many other ideas or objects against it until something decent comes out.
A notepad and google (plus a random letter or combination of letters) can add a whole new element to the process. Add alcohol for worse results.
I guess it could also be called 'captive creations', or 'poor man's data mining', or even 'here's what I came up with during our last business meeting that is completely unrelated to what was discussed'.
A random personal few from my last meeting:
poker fishing - I didn't say these were good, merely random.
basic competency testing printed on dollar bills - must be answered before redemption, wrong answer = exploding bill.
*vending machine, martinis, home pregnancy kits - weekend hangout
air horn and obscenities - really, really loud obscenities
* a triple inspired by being forced to listen to a co-worker's ramblings that sent my brain off on a tear about what her social life must be like.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Singularity - The pinnacle of evolution
Oh, where to begin. Perhaps here:
There are singularity conferences now, and singularity journals. There has been a congressional report about confronting the challenges of the singularity, and late last year there was a meeting at the NASA Ames Research Center to explore the establishment of a singularity university. The meeting was called by Peter Diamandis, who established the X Prize. Attendees included senior government researchers from NASA, a noted Silicon Valley venture capitalist, a pioneer of private space exploration, and two computer scientists from Google.
So what exactly is the singularity? In essence (and in my simple words), the singularity is the date after which biological limitations are no more. There's a feeling out there (backed by the like of the above quote) that near the middle of this century technology will enable to immortalization of human consciousness. Even simpler? The belief is that artificial intelligences will be created in such a fashion that they will assist humans cheat death. AI's that fight disease, repair organs and reverse aging, you name it.
This concept (oddly religious in nature) has not only been validated by more than a rare few 'mids' out there, it has actually become a social movement. One of it's biggest proponents is Ray Kurzweil. Here's a little about him:
In his childhood, Kurzweil was a technical prodigy. Before he turned 13, he'd fashioned telephone relays into a calculating device that could find square roots. At 14, he wrote software that analyzed statistical deviance; the program was distributed as standard equipment with the new IBM 1620. As a teenager, he cofounded a business that matched high school students with colleges based on computer evaluation of a mail-in questionnaire. He sold the company to Harcourt, Brace & World in 1968 for $100,000 plus royalties and had his first small fortune while still an undergraduate at MIT.
It goes on and on, but you get the idea. He thinks differently and with more focus on exponential evolution rather than linear, which is the key in this kind of forward thinking. He's a bright dude. He's penned a couple books on the subject: "The Singularity is Near" and "The Age of Spiritual Machines', neither of which I've read but they're on the list.
Statements like this make me think of old Walt's and The Duke's bodies shivering away in some deep freeze hoping for eventual salvation:
The doctor charges $6,000 per appointment, and wealthy singularitarians from all over the world visit him to plan their leap into the future.
Yes, there's a doctor in Denver who sees 'patients' (rich, rich patients) who are pushing to live long enough to become immortal (most are hedging bets and have money to burn, but some are converts).
Immortality will come in stages called bridges though, according to the philosophy.
First, lifestyle and aggressive antiaging therapies will allow more people to approach the 125-year limit of the natural human lifespan. This is bridge one. Meanwhile, advanced medical technology will begin to fix some of the underlying biological causes of aging, allowing this natural limit to be surpassed. This is bridge two. Finally, computers become so powerful that they can model human consciousness. This will permit us to download our personalities into nonbiological substrates. When we cross this third bridge, we become information. And then, as long as we maintain multiple copies of ourselves to protect against a system crash, we won't die.
So. Hopeful? Bleak? Crackpots? I guess we'll see. I'm fairly comfortable in my fatalistic mind set. Having to change it and embrace the concept of remaining productive for the rest of my life (which is now apparently inevitably never ending if I can cross that first bridge) is creepy.
Coming Soon! The Big Bang 2! An intelligence explosion that facilitates immortality! Yes, Mr. Kurzweil is writing and filming his own autobiographical documentary in which he takes the concept further through sharing with us his thoughts on becoming a virtual woman as women are inherently more interesting to be with, therefor must be more interesting to be.
It is a romantic thought though ain't it? Not so much the shift from procreation being the meaning of life (biologically speaking) to expanding and extending consciousness through downloading our intelligence into a box, but more the thought of moving from imperfect, flawed, failing systems to limitlessly self repairing and replicating beings with a whole new set of shattered boundaries to explore.
More to come on this I'm sure..
There are singularity conferences now, and singularity journals. There has been a congressional report about confronting the challenges of the singularity, and late last year there was a meeting at the NASA Ames Research Center to explore the establishment of a singularity university. The meeting was called by Peter Diamandis, who established the X Prize. Attendees included senior government researchers from NASA, a noted Silicon Valley venture capitalist, a pioneer of private space exploration, and two computer scientists from Google.
So what exactly is the singularity? In essence (and in my simple words), the singularity is the date after which biological limitations are no more. There's a feeling out there (backed by the like of the above quote) that near the middle of this century technology will enable to immortalization of human consciousness. Even simpler? The belief is that artificial intelligences will be created in such a fashion that they will assist humans cheat death. AI's that fight disease, repair organs and reverse aging, you name it.
This concept (oddly religious in nature) has not only been validated by more than a rare few 'mids' out there, it has actually become a social movement. One of it's biggest proponents is Ray Kurzweil. Here's a little about him:
In his childhood, Kurzweil was a technical prodigy. Before he turned 13, he'd fashioned telephone relays into a calculating device that could find square roots. At 14, he wrote software that analyzed statistical deviance; the program was distributed as standard equipment with the new IBM 1620. As a teenager, he cofounded a business that matched high school students with colleges based on computer evaluation of a mail-in questionnaire. He sold the company to Harcourt, Brace & World in 1968 for $100,000 plus royalties and had his first small fortune while still an undergraduate at MIT.
It goes on and on, but you get the idea. He thinks differently and with more focus on exponential evolution rather than linear, which is the key in this kind of forward thinking. He's a bright dude. He's penned a couple books on the subject: "The Singularity is Near" and "The Age of Spiritual Machines', neither of which I've read but they're on the list.
Statements like this make me think of old Walt's and The Duke's bodies shivering away in some deep freeze hoping for eventual salvation:
The doctor charges $6,000 per appointment, and wealthy singularitarians from all over the world visit him to plan their leap into the future.
Yes, there's a doctor in Denver who sees 'patients' (rich, rich patients) who are pushing to live long enough to become immortal (most are hedging bets and have money to burn, but some are converts).
Immortality will come in stages called bridges though, according to the philosophy.
First, lifestyle and aggressive antiaging therapies will allow more people to approach the 125-year limit of the natural human lifespan. This is bridge one. Meanwhile, advanced medical technology will begin to fix some of the underlying biological causes of aging, allowing this natural limit to be surpassed. This is bridge two. Finally, computers become so powerful that they can model human consciousness. This will permit us to download our personalities into nonbiological substrates. When we cross this third bridge, we become information. And then, as long as we maintain multiple copies of ourselves to protect against a system crash, we won't die.
So. Hopeful? Bleak? Crackpots? I guess we'll see. I'm fairly comfortable in my fatalistic mind set. Having to change it and embrace the concept of remaining productive for the rest of my life (which is now apparently inevitably never ending if I can cross that first bridge) is creepy.
Coming Soon! The Big Bang 2! An intelligence explosion that facilitates immortality! Yes, Mr. Kurzweil is writing and filming his own autobiographical documentary in which he takes the concept further through sharing with us his thoughts on becoming a virtual woman as women are inherently more interesting to be with, therefor must be more interesting to be.
It is a romantic thought though ain't it? Not so much the shift from procreation being the meaning of life (biologically speaking) to expanding and extending consciousness through downloading our intelligence into a box, but more the thought of moving from imperfect, flawed, failing systems to limitlessly self repairing and replicating beings with a whole new set of shattered boundaries to explore.
More to come on this I'm sure..
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Just Funny
Still laughing about this one.
C.B. Embry Jr., a Republican member of Kentucky's General Assembly, introduced a measure earlier this year to boost the state's spirits and honor "one of the bright spots" of Kentucky's economy. But with pressing issues such as the state budget, casino gambling and proposed tax hikes occupying the legislature, the effort to honor the Corvette has been tabled for now.
Other measures put on hold include a proposal to name Kentucky Fried Chicken as the official picnic food and to make cornhole -- a bean bag toss game -- the official state game.
Of course this leads immediately to thoughts of:
"Welcome to the cornhole state" on Kentucky plates.
"My brother's name is cornhole" on t-shirts of rival state residents
.. and many, many more colorful iterations. Cough medicine is a beautiful thing.
C.B. Embry Jr., a Republican member of Kentucky's General Assembly, introduced a measure earlier this year to boost the state's spirits and honor "one of the bright spots" of Kentucky's economy. But with pressing issues such as the state budget, casino gambling and proposed tax hikes occupying the legislature, the effort to honor the Corvette has been tabled for now.
Other measures put on hold include a proposal to name Kentucky Fried Chicken as the official picnic food and to make cornhole -- a bean bag toss game -- the official state game.
Of course this leads immediately to thoughts of:
"Welcome to the cornhole state" on Kentucky plates.
"My brother's name is cornhole" on t-shirts of rival state residents
.. and many, many more colorful iterations. Cough medicine is a beautiful thing.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Evolution - yet another perspective
I was watching a couple hours of random TV while working on getting over illness and came across some chatter about faith based initiatives. Through the course of the chatter, one of the panel brought up the idea that each country in the scope of the conversation had a burden to carry from its founders that is impacting conventional issues.
A few examples:
Canada - the French
Australia - the Criminals
United States - the Puritans
Talk about a provocative concept. Which is the worst? The French? Nah, they're separatists and offer little to the Canadian people and country, but that's a relatively light burden. Criminals? If anything, that helped Australia based on the state of that country today.
It's the puritans hands down as I see it.
The very concept of puritanism is yet another one of those 'safe enough sounding on paper but a huge mess when implemented' things. How many times have you seen, read or heard about one of those down the nose lookers (often republican types) being caught with his hands in another guy's pants, or sending naughty emails to underage guys, or being on the top 10 client list at a brothel? I inwardly smile and slowly shake my head when I see the verbal venom slinging preachers vilifying the very things they are most likely involved in, or secretly craving to jump into with both feet.
Puritan is directly interchangeable with hypocrite for most intents and purposes, especially in public life (politics, celebrity etc.) as far as I'm concerned.
If I had the time or the inclination, I'd blog up a list as I cruise around reading about all the recent examples. Instead I'll go with:
Hell, just google 'moral scandal', 'republican scandal' (which is basically synonymous with the previous), 'evangelist likes little boys' or any similar mix of those words.
A few examples:
Canada - the French
Australia - the Criminals
United States - the Puritans
Talk about a provocative concept. Which is the worst? The French? Nah, they're separatists and offer little to the Canadian people and country, but that's a relatively light burden. Criminals? If anything, that helped Australia based on the state of that country today.
It's the puritans hands down as I see it.
The very concept of puritanism is yet another one of those 'safe enough sounding on paper but a huge mess when implemented' things. How many times have you seen, read or heard about one of those down the nose lookers (often republican types) being caught with his hands in another guy's pants, or sending naughty emails to underage guys, or being on the top 10 client list at a brothel? I inwardly smile and slowly shake my head when I see the verbal venom slinging preachers vilifying the very things they are most likely involved in, or secretly craving to jump into with both feet.
Puritan is directly interchangeable with hypocrite for most intents and purposes, especially in public life (politics, celebrity etc.) as far as I'm concerned.
If I had the time or the inclination, I'd blog up a list as I cruise around reading about all the recent examples. Instead I'll go with:
Hell, just google 'moral scandal', 'republican scandal' (which is basically synonymous with the previous), 'evangelist likes little boys' or any similar mix of those words.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Back with a Flash - Memes
February was a month of annoyances, illnesses and intrusions. I saw no reason to document it and advancing my human condition/evolution was stunted almost completely so nothing worth prosing about there either.
Thankfully though, now that the month is over (yes I'm writing this on that quad annual day that really shouldn't belong to February anyway), I was pulled back into my quest by the following read:
"Wired: Do successful memes have certain qualities in common?
Blackmore: Yes. Lots succeed because they're good for us or they're true or beautiful or useful and we select them for those reasons. Some other memes succeed, in spite of not being beautiful or true or useful, by using tricks. So religions, for example, have some value, but by and large they're false ideas that use tricks to get into people's heads -- threats of hell, promises of heaven, the allure of being a good person or of God loving you. There are also memes that trick you into thinking that you're going to get popular or that you're going to get rich or that you're going to get a bigger penis, whatever it is. "
That very concept readily defines my generation. What better way to sum up how we attempt to be, and are manipulated into joining, parting with dollars, propagating, or subscribing to ideas that have no inherent value.
From a usable definition perspective:
"Wired: What's the difference between a meme and an ordinary idea or thing? Does an idea or thing have to be wildly popular and widely adopted to be a meme?
Susan Blackmore: Absolutely not. The whole idea of a meme is that it's information that is copied with variation and selection. So any idea that is copied from person to person is a meme. But an idea that you think up for yourself and is not expressed is not a meme. The emphasis has to be on copying, because that's what makes evolution possible. Lots of ideas are never copied at all. They just go to a couple people and then they fizzle out."
Thematically this is a perfect fit for my exploration. I've already established that I can near-instantly gratify any retail need with a quick trip to eBay, and I can spout opinions on any subject I choose, but now through the concept of memes I can find like minded (steering clear of the collective conscience stuff) people shopping for or proclaiming the very same things that tickly my conventional fancy. The magic of it all is that I don't have to leave the house to do any of it. I can in essence evolve with some chemical reactions in my brain and a keyboard connected wirelessly to the Internet. What does that say about young people actively looking for direction? Keep them the hell away from computers.
Thankfully though, now that the month is over (yes I'm writing this on that quad annual day that really shouldn't belong to February anyway), I was pulled back into my quest by the following read:
"Wired: Do successful memes have certain qualities in common?
Blackmore: Yes. Lots succeed because they're good for us or they're true or beautiful or useful and we select them for those reasons. Some other memes succeed, in spite of not being beautiful or true or useful, by using tricks. So religions, for example, have some value, but by and large they're false ideas that use tricks to get into people's heads -- threats of hell, promises of heaven, the allure of being a good person or of God loving you. There are also memes that trick you into thinking that you're going to get popular or that you're going to get rich or that you're going to get a bigger penis, whatever it is. "
That very concept readily defines my generation. What better way to sum up how we attempt to be, and are manipulated into joining, parting with dollars, propagating, or subscribing to ideas that have no inherent value.
From a usable definition perspective:
"Wired: What's the difference between a meme and an ordinary idea or thing? Does an idea or thing have to be wildly popular and widely adopted to be a meme?
Susan Blackmore: Absolutely not. The whole idea of a meme is that it's information that is copied with variation and selection. So any idea that is copied from person to person is a meme. But an idea that you think up for yourself and is not expressed is not a meme. The emphasis has to be on copying, because that's what makes evolution possible. Lots of ideas are never copied at all. They just go to a couple people and then they fizzle out."
Thematically this is a perfect fit for my exploration. I've already established that I can near-instantly gratify any retail need with a quick trip to eBay, and I can spout opinions on any subject I choose, but now through the concept of memes I can find like minded (steering clear of the collective conscience stuff) people shopping for or proclaiming the very same things that tickly my conventional fancy. The magic of it all is that I don't have to leave the house to do any of it. I can in essence evolve with some chemical reactions in my brain and a keyboard connected wirelessly to the Internet. What does that say about young people actively looking for direction? Keep them the hell away from computers.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Instant Gratification - a Case Study
So I'm wandering eBay for the last few weeks looking for the items mentioned in previous postings and I come across a poster I like the look of. It's promoting this summer's release of the Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins from 2005 which thankfully ignores all previous Batman movies and starts anew. I find that there are a handful of these posters available on eBay and I throw a few on my watch list to see what the eventual sale prices are to gauge what the market value is before I buy one. Wouldn't you know it.. Heath Ledger up and dies (he plays the role of the Joker), sending the price of these posters through the roof 2 days after I start looking for one. Average selling price was $14-$22, and overnight it climbs to $180+. I decided to watch the goings on on eBay and track the mad rush to grab this particular poster, which appeared to be the 'rookie card of death' for Ledger. That mad rush lasted about 12 hours as near as I can tell, with a peak selling value of $180. Now there are several postings of both the A and B poster (B is the Ledger poster) for 'buy now' of $60 and I'm expecting that it will continue to fall as the day plods along.
When I wore younger, more impulsive clothes I'm sure I would have been in the fray but I'm happy to sit back and wait a few days for prices to normalize. I imagine that reprints will be the next big piece of this event, so be wary if you happen to be looking for one. The quality is never quite as good on a reprint in my experience, and they're usually a smaller, less impressive size.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Progressing Nicely
The collection phase is well under way with somewhere in the 90 piece count range now.
Most of the items are pretty flat when it comes to anything other than strict technological comparative value. The level of detail in the way coins are minted and stamps are printed is noticeably improved, license plates remain largely unchanged, music is somewhat cyclical with a 'hitch' every generation or so that wakes up the current generation to the popular music of the previous generation(s) which at present is taking the form of all of the sampling of real music in the rap music culture.
So, focusing on print media seems to be the best way to round out the various eras overall. I've seen strikingly similar events through the years.
2006 - "When will it end?" (Iraq occupation based on an invasion for reason other than originally stated)
That sums up the last 40 years rather elegantly. US depends on oil. US finds oil in the middle east while looking for water (1933) and wrestles control of it through local government manipulation including war, genocide (through backing madmen through the years), wanton large scale murder and all of the other delightful shit we've all grown to blind eye into 'it's over there, why should I care?". We still crave oil. We still meddle in the affairs of countries that have grown obscenely rich and incredibly corrupt, and we won't stop anytime soon. Our elite rich are covered in it oil and they influence (run) everything. Perhaps this whole green house gas/global warming thing will wake governing powers into reducing oil dependency through alternative fueling and such, but in all likeliness it will be after hundreds of thousands more are dead over dead dinosaur juice.
I digress. Time capsule.
I now have enough in the way of items to begin sourcing a good storage solution.
Most of the items are pretty flat when it comes to anything other than strict technological comparative value. The level of detail in the way coins are minted and stamps are printed is noticeably improved, license plates remain largely unchanged, music is somewhat cyclical with a 'hitch' every generation or so that wakes up the current generation to the popular music of the previous generation(s) which at present is taking the form of all of the sampling of real music in the rap music culture.
So, focusing on print media seems to be the best way to round out the various eras overall. I've seen strikingly similar events through the years.
Here are some telling, notable titles from various news magazines:
1968 - "Russia in the Middle East" (Afghani war attempting to secure s foothold in the middle east)
1973 - "Arabs, Oil, Evil" (Oil Embargo against the US, painting the middle east as evil because they stopped selling us oil)2006 - "When will it end?" (Iraq occupation based on an invasion for reason other than originally stated)
That sums up the last 40 years rather elegantly. US depends on oil. US finds oil in the middle east while looking for water (1933) and wrestles control of it through local government manipulation including war, genocide (through backing madmen through the years), wanton large scale murder and all of the other delightful shit we've all grown to blind eye into 'it's over there, why should I care?". We still crave oil. We still meddle in the affairs of countries that have grown obscenely rich and incredibly corrupt, and we won't stop anytime soon. Our elite rich are covered in it oil and they influence (run) everything. Perhaps this whole green house gas/global warming thing will wake governing powers into reducing oil dependency through alternative fueling and such, but in all likeliness it will be after hundreds of thousands more are dead over dead dinosaur juice.
I digress. Time capsule.
I now have enough in the way of items to begin sourcing a good storage solution.
Friday, January 4, 2008
RTC Find: Creem Magazine
Creem Magazine, April 1973.
With Spidey on the Cover.
Articles on Rundgren and
the Rolling Stones. It even
has a heroes and villains
pinup, heh.
RTC find: 1973 License Plates
A notable find for the RTC.
Pristine license plates from 1973 with the old stickers from '74 and '75 still on them, also in pristine shape.
Somehow they made their way to Missouri and were then posted on eBay. They're now mine for a mere $6 + shipping.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Reverse Time Capsule (RTC)
It's a simple enough concept.
Assemble a list of representative sample items from a given time.
Span it across 3 generations (in this case 5 people).
Source, acquire and catalogue the items.
Enjoy the collections and use them as reference for future generations.
I figure the process will cement my sense of self, as well as pique the interest of my family (which it now has) in the scavenger hunt-esqueness of it all, and provide a birth year legacy for my son who in time will hopefully continue the exercise (or tradition if you're a romantic). I'm amazed how technological evolution churns out these great tools (like eBay, blogging, wikipedia) and it's purely by accident that we find (well it could just be me that wakes up to practical interesting uses for the continual waves of new and cool tools crashing over us) ourselves able to facilitate a project like this through the tips of our fingers. This project would have been completely impractical and improbable just one generation ago.
So, first steps first.
Decide on the representative facets. I tried to find things that have persisted since 1950 so their respective comparative evolutions would be fairly evident. Not just in the contents of the item, but the format in which it is stored and/or delivered. In this way I'm tracking the advancement of technology, social perception (which even at first glance is hilariously cyclical), communications, and several other elements at the same time.
Decide on the time(s). I chose birth month and year of both of my parents, my wife, myself and my son. CAUTION: Do not surf eBay using excel listings late at night or you will undoubtedly mix years and months and end up with a few cast offs. I just won an auction for a Popular Science magazine from my wife's birth year and my mom's birth month. Annoying.
So I've started with music, printed periodicals, coins, stamps, comics, books, and license plates. That should keep me busy for a while, as the research for each can take a while, then the sourcing and acquiring can be a little tedious depending on how far back you're going.
Music. 1973 was an amazing year for music. Dark side of the Moon, Houses of the Holy, Goatshead Soup, Goodbye YellowBrick Road, The Piano Man, Band on the Run, Tres Hombres with debut albums from Aerosmith, Queen and Skynyrd, not to mention about 200 other albums, the majority of which were incredible too in their own rights. I'll work on LP versions of each, which will then spawn the purchase of a record player.
Magazines. The cross section of magazines I chose includes some great titles. You'd be surprised how few magazines were around back in the 50's and of those that were, even less from back then are are still around today. Hot Rod, Esquire, Popular Science/Mechanics, Reader's Digest, Life, TIME, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest, National Lampoon and Home and Garden have all made the list so far. Not all of those 'zines them stretch from 1950 to 2006, but a good number of them do, and a few of them made the list strictly for that reason.
Coins. I chose to attempt to assemble the standard 6 coin sets from each year, preferably in a mint proof set. Penny, nickel, dime quarter, half dollar and dollar coins. 2006 was a breeze, with 1973 and 1968 being not too much harder, but 1951 and 50 are a mess. $700+ for a mint set has changed the original goal to a loose collection of the coins. At $80 for a nickel in decent shape from 1950, it's going to take a while to get that set rounded out.
Stamps. A simple USPS stamp set from each year will do here, at least for now. I haven't messed with them much yet.
Comics. I compiled a spreadsheet (like I have for the other categories) of all comics released in April 1973 and I'm working on 1968 now. I'll pick a dozen or so from the list and gather those next.
Books. I plan on finding one each of a fiction, non-fiction, children's and cook book from each year. That'll take a little research to get something relevant and interesting of each type. Fiction from 1973 was easy - Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, so Breakfast of Champions it is.
License Plates. This one will be fun. I've decided to mix year and city of birth for these. I found mine already, but working on my wife's is becoming a challenge. Apparently Texas plates are rarely turned in, as they never actually expire (or something, I'll never figure out Texas) so they're harder to come by and most of them have bullet holes in them. Alright, that was a stretch, but they're spendy and rare so far.
Simply through the collection process I've stumbled over a few interesting tidbits from 1973. Cameron Crowe's first article for Rolling Stone was published the week I was born, Watergate broke a few weeks before my birthday, the US pulled out of Vietnam, the landmark Roe V. Wade case overturned the state ban on abortions, the World Trade Center and Sears tower opened, the DEA is founded and NASA launched Skylab. Those are just the things I've picked up from looking at the covers of magazines and reading the descriptions of items. A little digging should turn up all kinds of cool and weird things from the time.
I'm looking at steamer trunk type storage for all of this stuff. I haven't decided on what type or size yet, but I figure one for me, one for my wife, one for my son and one for my parents combined should do the trick. When it comes to storing everything I may have to consider seeking off site storage.
Assemble a list of representative sample items from a given time.
Span it across 3 generations (in this case 5 people).
Source, acquire and catalogue the items.
Enjoy the collections and use them as reference for future generations.
I figure the process will cement my sense of self, as well as pique the interest of my family (which it now has) in the scavenger hunt-esqueness of it all, and provide a birth year legacy for my son who in time will hopefully continue the exercise (or tradition if you're a romantic). I'm amazed how technological evolution churns out these great tools (like eBay, blogging, wikipedia) and it's purely by accident that we find (well it could just be me that wakes up to practical interesting uses for the continual waves of new and cool tools crashing over us) ourselves able to facilitate a project like this through the tips of our fingers. This project would have been completely impractical and improbable just one generation ago.
So, first steps first.
Decide on the representative facets. I tried to find things that have persisted since 1950 so their respective comparative evolutions would be fairly evident. Not just in the contents of the item, but the format in which it is stored and/or delivered. In this way I'm tracking the advancement of technology, social perception (which even at first glance is hilariously cyclical), communications, and several other elements at the same time.
Decide on the time(s). I chose birth month and year of both of my parents, my wife, myself and my son. CAUTION: Do not surf eBay using excel listings late at night or you will undoubtedly mix years and months and end up with a few cast offs. I just won an auction for a Popular Science magazine from my wife's birth year and my mom's birth month. Annoying.
So I've started with music, printed periodicals, coins, stamps, comics, books, and license plates. That should keep me busy for a while, as the research for each can take a while, then the sourcing and acquiring can be a little tedious depending on how far back you're going.
Music. 1973 was an amazing year for music. Dark side of the Moon, Houses of the Holy, Goatshead Soup, Goodbye YellowBrick Road, The Piano Man, Band on the Run, Tres Hombres with debut albums from Aerosmith, Queen and Skynyrd, not to mention about 200 other albums, the majority of which were incredible too in their own rights. I'll work on LP versions of each, which will then spawn the purchase of a record player.
Magazines. The cross section of magazines I chose includes some great titles. You'd be surprised how few magazines were around back in the 50's and of those that were, even less from back then are are still around today. Hot Rod, Esquire, Popular Science/Mechanics, Reader's Digest, Life, TIME, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest, National Lampoon and Home and Garden have all made the list so far. Not all of those 'zines them stretch from 1950 to 2006, but a good number of them do, and a few of them made the list strictly for that reason.
Coins. I chose to attempt to assemble the standard 6 coin sets from each year, preferably in a mint proof set. Penny, nickel, dime quarter, half dollar and dollar coins. 2006 was a breeze, with 1973 and 1968 being not too much harder, but 1951 and 50 are a mess. $700+ for a mint set has changed the original goal to a loose collection of the coins. At $80 for a nickel in decent shape from 1950, it's going to take a while to get that set rounded out.
Stamps. A simple USPS stamp set from each year will do here, at least for now. I haven't messed with them much yet.
Comics. I compiled a spreadsheet (like I have for the other categories) of all comics released in April 1973 and I'm working on 1968 now. I'll pick a dozen or so from the list and gather those next.
Books. I plan on finding one each of a fiction, non-fiction, children's and cook book from each year. That'll take a little research to get something relevant and interesting of each type. Fiction from 1973 was easy - Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, so Breakfast of Champions it is.
License Plates. This one will be fun. I've decided to mix year and city of birth for these. I found mine already, but working on my wife's is becoming a challenge. Apparently Texas plates are rarely turned in, as they never actually expire (or something, I'll never figure out Texas) so they're harder to come by and most of them have bullet holes in them. Alright, that was a stretch, but they're spendy and rare so far.
Simply through the collection process I've stumbled over a few interesting tidbits from 1973. Cameron Crowe's first article for Rolling Stone was published the week I was born, Watergate broke a few weeks before my birthday, the US pulled out of Vietnam, the landmark Roe V. Wade case overturned the state ban on abortions, the World Trade Center and Sears tower opened, the DEA is founded and NASA launched Skylab. Those are just the things I've picked up from looking at the covers of magazines and reading the descriptions of items. A little digging should turn up all kinds of cool and weird things from the time.
I'm looking at steamer trunk type storage for all of this stuff. I haven't decided on what type or size yet, but I figure one for me, one for my wife, one for my son and one for my parents combined should do the trick. When it comes to storing everything I may have to consider seeking off site storage.
Organic Evolution - The Reconditioning Begins
The first 'fruit' from this whole reconditioning exercise has presented itself. I got to thinking about the songs and movies during the list creation over the last week or so and the theme of my birth year kept cropping up. From that nugget came a little research into the general 'look and feel' of April 1973, which spun into the eventual idea of assembling what would be an ideal cross section representing life and times in that period. Basically a reverse time capsule comprised of items collected from all facets of life in an attempt to get in and crawl around my birth month and year. From music to fashion, fiction, non-fiction, entertainment, media, politics and every other conceivable piece of the daily life pie would be represented.
I'm sure everyone eventually starts looking at their life and who/where/when they came from and this is nothing new in the grand scheme of things but it's a personal revelation and a new branch of personal evolution so I thought it noteworthy enough to give it it's own entry.
It gets a little more sinister though, as most thoughts do. My cynical self also wants to track the descent into spun, revised, mis-reported and blatantly (brazenly?) tainted media over the years. I'm looking into collecting samplings of life from 1950 and 51 (parents), 1968 (wife), 1973 (me) and 2006 (son). The whole project should be quite interesting. Thank whatever god/thought/idea you believe in (but continue to keep it to yourself) for Ebay.
I'm sure everyone eventually starts looking at their life and who/where/when they came from and this is nothing new in the grand scheme of things but it's a personal revelation and a new branch of personal evolution so I thought it noteworthy enough to give it it's own entry.
It gets a little more sinister though, as most thoughts do. My cynical self also wants to track the descent into spun, revised, mis-reported and blatantly (brazenly?) tainted media over the years. I'm looking into collecting samplings of life from 1950 and 51 (parents), 1968 (wife), 1973 (me) and 2006 (son). The whole project should be quite interesting. Thank whatever god/thought/idea you believe in (but continue to keep it to yourself) for Ebay.
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