Land O’Links and Open Thread

There are troubles with presenting free-floating holograms, the state of the art has barely progressed past the work done in the 70s. It’s (almost) all still illusory, inside a container. The technology illustrated (not demonstrated) in the video is like Google Glass, or Microsoft’s HoloLens.

Sadly, physics means there’s going to be no “Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi” holograms, or anything like it in the near future, for the same reasons there’s not going to be any light-sabers: You can just make light go just so far and then stop.

It’s something, being a big sci-fi fan, I follow research pretty closely and the closest we have to sci-fi holograms we have today, are “fairy lights” which use multiple femtosecond lasers generating an interference pattern and causing a point of air to burn. This video details it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoWi10YVmfE

Thanks, being the most unscientific person ever, I theorized this would be the way to make it work a dozen or more years ago.

Also, not being scientific, I hadn’t followed up on anything and the closest thing I’ve read/seen in news regarding holograms was when Tupac “appeared” at Coachella back in ’12. So I thought, maybe it’s possible. But is sure did seem too clean.

Oh well, it’s just a matter of time.

We’re also guilty of letting them merge.

Starve The Beast. And I know for a fact there’s dozens of choices, if one bothers to look outside of the big retail outlets that push the monopolies, and they provide as little money as possible to the monopolistic companies.

But it comes down to this: If you’re not willing to give up any of your completely superfluous (no matter how you rationalize it) consumerist frills, you’re never going to get out from under the thumb of billionaires.

Then, for internet, you do what I do: Buy the cheapest plan available. That definitely means not using “mobile” data and not giving, if the ISP is a cable provider, them any money for their awful shitty “Cable TV” streaming video.

You may not be able to completely stop giving the thieves money, but you can not let them rob you blind, while making half-hearted excuses, like too many “activists” do.

You gotta put skin in the game, you know? Me? I’ve moved to where I don’t need to own a car and only take public transport, have only a cheap $30/month “dumb” phone through an alternate provider. Absolute bottom Internet plan ($35/month), shop only at WinCo, etc. etc. I refuse to gladly pay thousands of dollars a year so billionaires can steal my future.

I just see most people complain about all these corporate thieves, then turn around and give them hundreds, even thousands of dollars a month and think, well, I guess my reaction is more visceral than thinking.

I don’t like blaming the victim, but there’s a point where you have to admit that people are self-victimizing.

Well, what do you call it when people know these cell-phone companies spend their money to rip them off further, but keep buying the companies’ over-priced handheld computers and two-way radio service?

I mean we’re not talking about victims of violence here. We’re talking about peoples’ voluntary decisions to use non-essential services.

And the biggest thing working against it, in my quarter-century of experience in trying to create change, is peoples’ lack of desire to give up the least of their creature comforts, to effect the change they say they want to see. I was that person myself, some 15 years ago, and made the change.

Others can too, they just have to want to.

Sadly, after 25 years of trying, I’m increasingly of the opinion that, basically, people want the yoke, even if it kills us all. And they’re never going to change their attitude fast enough, it seems, to stop or even turn away what’s coming humanity’s way.

It’s why I’m looking for land in The Middle of Nowhere, WA and getting away: Because that attitude, combined with the ongoing and worsening, catastrophic, effects of climate change mean things are going to fall apart faster than most people could ever dream.

Till then, I’ll keep trying. There’s always hope, even if it is only a fool’s hope, and I’m the kind of person that want to fight to the bitter end.

Here’s an example: About 6 years ago, I gave a talk to a group of 60 or so digital freedom activists; anti-monopoly, anti-surveillance, EFF type of folks. I made this same point, and asked, “How many of you own iPhones, for example?” Almost 3/4s of hands went up. Most expensive phones, most expensive monthly usage charges, etc.

Look at Satellite internet. Cheap as houses. Not as fast, but…

Right, I don’t buy nikes, or any apple products, nor do I shop at Walmart. Who here buys Anything from Amazon?

I don’t.

So it’s not people supporting the system, it’s how much they pay when they support the system.

I haven’t really bought anything except food for a couple of years now. I bought a pair of shorts in Japan in a store for $10 because it was hot. I only ever bought 1 book from Amazon (8 years ago) because I couldn’t buy it here (for my yoga course.) And that’s me done for shopping.

I used to buy a lot of clothes, but now I don’t. I have nice shoes. I never go shopping, never go to stores, never look.

My wife and I went to the local thrift store (which we also donate to) and then to Goodwill today. She picked up three “new” nurses uniforms.

yup

I learned how to live cheaply for freedom (or fewer ties)

I’ve been tuned out of it for so long now I am horrified and grossed out by it all. I want very little to do with it. Obviously we all need things to survive, but as little as possible please. I cook and eat at home. When I go out I take my own bottle of tap water and that does me. I can’t stand the waste, the packaging/garbage created and the destruction. It’s way way way too much.

I see a Starbucks cup and my mind wanders to a forest coming down for my convenience.

I hate eating out. It’s a pain in the butt. I think it’s from travelling and having to forage for meals every day and it gets to be a bore. I only eat to stay alive, not a foodie. (I like tasty food, but… ) I’d rather cook than eat out any day!!!

Hubby has the TV all the time, in the other room (and I make him turn the volume down.) It’s in Korean so it’s easy for me to tune it out. When I am confronted head-on with non-stop English TV it’s more than I can watch. >>bleck<<

I watched this yesterday. It might interest you. A whole new way. (So glad I grew up riding my bike over to see friends.)

http://thoughtmaybe.com/generation-like/

It was news to me how these young people become youtube stars and make money doing it and how the companies get involved… and how this “new commerce” works.

It’s why everyone walks around looking at their phones, I guess. I used my old flip-open phone for 1 minute and 16 seconds in July.

If I didn’t need one for my work I would cut all cords and refuse to answer mail as well. I would be a hermit and anyone that wanted to find e would have to literally come find me.

Probably means I would die after I fell and broke a bone, but that thought doesn’t really bother me.

That’s A Bargain. My rates just went up to $79 a month and they’ve totally throttled the speed.

You and me both.

Hell, man, I’m retiring into an off-grid cabin, miles from anyone: I’m sure to die from something completely preventable (like a broken leg, or fever,) if I was ensconced in our modern consumer cocoon. But, that’s OK, by me, because the freedom I’ll have before such a thing happens will be worth it.

I need to still work, at least until SSI kicks in, so I’ll be doing HughesNet satellite, at about $60/month for their bottom plan. Likely to be slow as shit, but I don’t need fast for forums/thread or uploading web pages. And I can work it at night, when there’s no one else eating the satellite signal.

Mostly I need to get physically away from people, because the kind of breakdowns that the effects of climate change are bringing on make large groups of people dangerous for an old guy. I have no desire to die in Phoenix because i was fighting a 20 year-old for government-provided drinking water, or some such thing, you know?

Too much history makes me all too aware of how fragile our “civilization” is and, in regard to Phoenix (and SoCal, for that matter) Colorado River flow is dropping precariously. The CAP is going to be getting 10% less water in 2017. And that’s only going to keep dropping. It’s going to be even worse for SoCal.

Most people here are ignoring it, but we’re all going to find out, very, very soon.

I have a weekend cabin on a slough. I’ve planned to install a solar and wind array there, but I’ve held off the last five years due to solar prices plunging. Why invest 20gs when I can wait a few years and get it for 12. Battery backup is my main thing. Commercial solutions like forklift batteries are still problematic, there is no way I generate enough to go for the old reconditioned “submarine batteries” their discharge is insane. I am waiting for something like the tesla battery array, something that will have a giant number of charge discharge cycles to its life. At the moment it all runs on a propane generator, I’ll keep that as a backup backup, and also as I run the heat and stoves from it.

Its probably not the most popular thing to admit here, but I also have a whole hidden cache built into a dead space, hidden in wainscoating and openable with a wire insert to hit a hidden latch. I have a whole damn closet full of revolution there. I’m not a prepper or an end times guy, but I consider all of those things put together to be prudent planning “in the event of”

If I’m getting it from the sun and the wind why not?

The big draws are microwave, water heater, fridge/freezer and ac. another big draw will be the rigs I’ll inevitably have running. Hell, I even installed floor heating under the tiles. On the other end though its very thermal efficient, well shaded, and built out of concrete, faced it with brick so it looks more like a normal structure.

I figure I’ll run a system with an inverter controller that can trigger the backup gene if load gets too high, try and maintain the batteries with a fairly conistent charge.

but yea, I actually estimate I’ll want around 5k or so input, then overbuild by 20% or so. I want that gene running as little as possible.

Most of the instant waters heaters are double 30 amps at the breaker, but then an electric tank is the same. The tank tends to be a steady draw though, where the instants hit the system about like a microwave.

go with a small tank setup. small tank can heat fairly quickly so you could set it to toggle as needed, Just have to be careful that you dont burn out the elements, but thats only really a concern if its heating empty. Big advantage in price, and also having an extra tank of potable water if it became absolutely necessary.

Well, the only thing I absolutely need (more or less) full time electricity for would be the freezer (even the well-pump I want can be hand-pumped, if needed.) And the freezer I’ve decided on is a DC/Propane combo. So propane backup it is, which means I’ll also get a propane-fueled genny. With a mass-heater/Hypocaust system, I need all the wood-produced gasses for heating the floor and interior mass.

If you’re not familiar with the rocket stove/mass heater style of system, here’s one of the more popular introductions to it. I’ve stayed in a couple cabins with one and damn, so they work great and are seriously wood-efficient.

yes, they are a sudden and very high draw. Its real easy to overload a circuit with them. Typically I’ll wire kitchens with 2 outlets to a circuit specifically because of them.

I have run into issues with apartments that I did not renovate the kitchens of popping breakers all the time. Its not code, but on the problem units I simply checked what wire I could see, and so long as it was sufficient gauge and not the ancient cloth and rubber coated 1940’s wire I just quietly substituted a higher amp breaker to solve the problem. Its not code, but its also not a hazard, unless they decided to hook up 4 microwaves, that might cause a fire…. But they are well insured.

Because the local industry is essentially farming and a slaughterhouse I’ve had a ton of tenants that are here on H1Bs, How they consider slaughterhouse work to be skilled labor is beyond me.. As a result I’ve had a ton of wonderful tenants from central/south america, and now the main wave is west africans, I see a lot of that type of thing, its how they did it at home and so its how they do it here. Some of the extension cord nests I see are damn scary. I’ve seen cords under rugs frayed so badly there were scorch marks on the carpets. I usually get the call when things quit working and then I see the culprit. Fortunately I have a wonderful man from Burkina Faso named Adama, He works as a translator, been in one of my units for seven years now, I cut him deals on the rent for doing translation work for me. We get them straightened out, He actually wrote me documents in the various french/local dialects that specifically cover several issues, dont overload extension cords, and dont pour grease down the drain are the two I use the most. He also makes a wonderful “dont ask me whats in this” stew. Very spicy and tastes about like a really good buckwheat noodle savory meat curry. If thats a decent description.

You’d totally go broke here.