A moment of silence. . .

Very very very quiet in the forest tonight. Soft rain falling, and it's chill. It feels a very long way away from a lot that is going on out there in the world on one hand, but oppressively close on another, as something vague and malevolent lurking out there in the darkness.

Checking the news one last time. Briefly looked at the debates, was nonplussed.

Checking the financial markets around the world--Tomorrow is going to suck for a lot of people.

We all feel a bit exhausted don't we? It seems everyone has a bit of a too much coffee up too late kind of twitch about them, that we were way too excited about something that didn't deserve it.

There is a real hunger for quiet simplicity of the like I've never seen, nor ever felt.

Why real "communities" will indeed form.

There is a lot of pessimism about the potential success of "designed" community, or "eco-village" or that sort of thing. I don't share it. I not only believe that such communities will be built, I believe they will become inevitable. it is certainly happening in my neighborhood, and clearly happening among the Oar Club people in a manner unprecedented. Here's why.

Many believe that community spirit or a value of cooperation can only exist under very regimented strictures. Many believe that American people are too "individualistic" to operate under such control. Really? I think American "individuality" is a myth, and in most cases the "paraphernalia" of individuality is pretty generic, and is a response to the amazingly regimented manner in which our society works. You are defined by your job, and nothing else, and in the corporate world especially you are really just a brick in the wall. The "wall" itself is the greatest impediment to going it alone, as it's increasingly more difficult and litigious to make a living without participating in the corporate system. American society is very regimented--you can be only Republican or Democrat, and you must believe in a chain of ideals attached to each or your political power is utterly disenfranchised. You have to move in lockstep with the party line or you're not part of the group. Even in progressive groups it is very much the case. If you embrace ecological values but don't smoke pot you will find yourself often a pariah.

The biggest problem isn't individuality, it is simple greed. It has become a central cultural value to simply get for yourself whatever you can. Going against the community good for personal gain is wholly acceptable. In fact, even in marriages it's encouraged, at least for women, that no compromises need be, or should be, made in one's personal life--for the value of the marriage. You can have whatever you want, you deserve it. While I'm sure that was nice for some, necessity may be a bugger for this lifestyle very soon.

Human beings work together naturally, and enjoy it if the playing field is fair, and the team is pulling together for a common goal. This is all it takes--it doesn't require a hardcore ideology. Many people feel that being part of a sports team, or military experience, or part of a crew of a ship, or whatever, to be very valuable and rewarding experiences. We naturally long for this sort of experience. The obstacle is that one selfish interest screws up the works. But if you consider that a football team of 60 or so ego driven guys can pull together in very fine examples of cooperation, where "selfishness" is utterly intolerable, and the common goal of winning games is equally rewarding to all players--it only proves that it works.

So today communities aren't going to be a value, they are going to be a necessity. It isn't going to be a matter of feeling that you should pull for your neighbor, it's going to be a matter of knowing
that you must, as this will be the last and only remaining, however doubtful, adhesive keeping basic civility together. Once people understand that the reality is that being a good member of a group is highly in one's own self interest, suddenly things will change, and they likely will change rapidly. I really do believe that scarcity may well make mutual value and character a binding source of humanistic ideals potentially stronger than race, heritage, or sex, or even family. Am I saying there is only going to be cooperation in this Utopian future? No, rather there will be a lot of competition to be the best, most valued, and most respected member of a given society.

All it takes is for status within a community to be dependent on one's character and value to the community rather than one's bankroll. . .once the pretty girls chase after the guy with a good heart and skillful hands rather than the guy with a rich daddy and a new car. . .the world will change for the better in an instant.

This change is clearly happening right now.

What I would have done with a grant of $500000

Look, let's quit talking about it, really, it is not constructive, and don't send me any more e-mails asking. Please. I'm serious. Figure it out. It won't take long. Just do a web search, see who cares and why, and the conspicuous omissions will inform the debate. Learn from it too, as you'll see that average people of average means are buggered.

Look, if you work in software you will be able to promote the hell out of anything if you have the means and time.If you do it for a living, for the right companies, it's only easier. You can buy yourself access, and buy yourself credibility, and create for yourself celebrity status without ever doing a damn thing. I, while doing my Seasteading research, and launched my first two boats, drove forklift. It's s a precious miracle that any of you know anything about it at all.

I'm NOT competing with anyone. Especially I'm not competing with the powerpoint guys. That's obvious. Don't take it that way. We who Seastead, for real, at the moment, have NO ONE to compete with.

Look, I saw a headline today suggesting that Oprah Winphrey and Angelina Jolie are the most respected women in the world. You are fucking kidding, right? Where is Jane Goodall in that, my favorite, and dozens if not hundreds of others? As for the cheap breastfeed shot, I had no idea that babies could digest silicone. Promotion is everything, and most people prefer the imitation to the real thing. Especially in boobies, apparently.

The fact is that people get paid to daydream when it greases the wheels of the super wealthy. Seasteading--as some define it--is interesting because of the micronation blah blah mostly tax evasion aspects. Isn't that obvious? Really, isn't that obvious? Really really, isn't that really really obvious? That's certainly the only thing that certain "philanthropists" really give a damn about, obviously. Don't have sour grapes about it. I don't. I'm serious. There is no commercial viability at all in anything I do. It doesn't bother me that the "moneied world" doesn't care or is outright hostile. It simply enforces my pirate ethic. Which of course, is the traditional response. Pirates were, of course, the paradigm seasteader, and in response, exactly, to the same kind of crap. And now, when those rich ass "philanthropists?!!?" are getting bailed out with your tax dollars, maybe a cannon or two seems very sensible.

Freedom of the seas? You must be fucking kidding. At sea the elements are a dictator of the oppressive sort that few have ever lived under. There's a whole lot of stuff that's legal, mostly, in the Now Sanctioned and Funded Capital of Seasteading--San Fransisco. . . that you couldn't even physically pull off at sea, unless your abdominal strength was utterly fantastic. I mean come on! What is it that you want to do, that you can't, in San Fransisco? You're repressed, seriously, in San Fransisco? Well, there's taxes. . .

But, what would I do, probably? I would take a long hard think, first, and probably get really drunk. . .honestly, since Seasteading is about self-sufficiency at it's core, at least to anyone who's ever actually ever done any of it-- it really makes a mockery of the the whole thing to run it on grant money. I actually heard a guy say "I'm going to get a grant to teach self-sufficiency. . ." Woody Allen couldn't pen anything better. Seasteading? It needs to be a profitable venture, and. . .drum roll, there is a chance I may well pull that off. Updates on that later. It may well be a godsend. No promises. But, you all know I'm a productive S.O.B.

And no, I'm not trying to get a grant for Blimpsteading, creating libertarian tax havens for the super rich in the skies. The fact that I know little about blimps and haven't ever been on a blimp or built one shouldn't be any reason to think I'm not expert! I expect the check is in the mail!

So what would I do with 500000 bucks? Probably rescue the Falls of Clyde, which is going to be sunk here very soon. Oh man, what a boat. Iron. And it's ironic in the extreme that one of the bitchen'est sailing boats ever built, in mothballs for years, will be sunk at the moment it becomes commercially viable again.

What I wouldn't give to captain an engineless oil tanker. . .jeezzzzz uzzzzzzz

It terrifies me to think I might be one of less than, what, 10?, in the world, that have the experience and could.

As I can see, you would make 3 times that in one run. It's better than tea.

So, when she goes down, learn something.

Invitation to a discussion II:

Interesting and thoughtful comments.

Clearly we agree that the symbolic meaning of the act of "simplicity" is equally if not more valuable than the practical. I thought Thomas' observation that that there is simply more personal steam to be had in, for example, planting a potato for a cause than merely planting a potato--very useful. As well, the magnitude of the cause is related to the magnitude of the psychic energy it engenders. So then, the progression--boating begets sailing, sailing begets sailing without engines and other aids, "real sailing" begets sailing with a purpose of rediscovering traditional lost skills, and this ultimately begets a realization of sailing to discover a lost ideal, a symbol, of a vehicle appropriate for seeking hope and freedom. Of course there's a lot of power to be found in this task.

So, trying to define "simplicity" in terms as well defined as one might with the sailboat, we may need to invent or discover terminology. Two observations: It is clearly fitting and noble to be a first order producer of one's self. This necessitates self-reliance. As well, self-reliance requires simplicity for success, and simplicity in many ways is simply a product of capability and efficiency in living--not so much an end in itself, but simplicity will certainly be indicative of capability, efficiency, and I might also say maturity and nobility--or as engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists might say, elegance.

I find this at the moment a very fruitful consideration. The main observation is that one cannot strive for simplicity--but one can strive for personal effectuality and elegance--and simplicity will be the inevitable result.

Concisely: You can't go live a "simple life." Rather, your life becomes "simple" because of the way you live.

Other thoughts? Agree?

Invitation to a discussion:

Is striving towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance largely a practical matter, or is it mostly a symbolic act of self-actualization? I mean symbolic in the Jungian "big" sense, such as I did in the past with the usage of the terms sailing and seasteading. . .

It's clearly both, but I'm more and more leaning towards the latter. If so, it is important that we keep that foremost in our minds.

What do you all think?

If you've got a moment. . .

You may want to watch this presentation on "slowness."

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/carl_honore_praises_slowness.html

I don't think the presentation is particularly convincing, but I think it is interesting on a couple of levels. First, it is interesting that we are seeing a presentation of a "popular" idea of the jetset class, presented by a jetsetter himself. That's interesting, because it's indicative that there's a growing notion among the "alpha climbers" in society that their climbing isn't worth it. This was a notion held before our current economic problems became apparent to the average person. Of course the real "alphas" have always been idle, and they're not part of the discussion--my point is that among the priviledged "upwardly mobile" they're not satisfied that their progress is worth the cost. Of course this is pertinent to the conversation we've been having here.

Secondly, it's interesting that "slowness" doesn't necessarily equate "simplicity," but more so at this point "luxurious indulgence" in time. Which means to my mind that "slowness" is still a product of a consumer culture. This, I will believe will rapidly change into "simplicity" and "minimalism" by need, but, I find it constructive to see that the pumps of simple living have been culturally primed already.

A six month plan towards sustainability/survivability

And having this in place may engender a good deal of sanity.

First month--buy 500 dollars worth of groceries and pack it in plastic buckets. If you have access to a scuba tank it can be helpful to blow the dry air from the tank into the buckets to prevent mildew. A bit of dry ice can provide the same effect and ultimately fill the bucket with CO2 preventing bugs and other degradation. You will need 2 lbs of dry goods a day per person in your household. For me, the bulk of that will be rice. Lintels are another good staple. You must remember that rice isn't a particularly good storage food. In fact, nothing really is in this climate, so the point of the "grub stake" is to give you a fighting chance to get your garden up to speed. You will need every minute of six months.

If you're a poor and un-inventive cook, your lifestyle will suffer. Few cookbooks really teach cooking, they teach recipe following--and you're going to need to know how to make stuff pretty cleverly. You may consider finding good books dealing specifically with ethnic foods from climates similar to our own. Focus on the simple simple simple. Indian food expansive and is a good choice. So is most everything of Asian influence.

Plant sweet potatoes. As soon as the sweet potato cuttings are growing well enough to clip, cut them and plant more. Strive for 100 plants per person in the household. It will happen sooner than you think, but will take 6 months to get harvestable, and perhaps you'd need some potatoes early on.

Plant potatoes in general. They do nicely. Yukon golds are what I have mostly. Remember we're focusing on a survival garden, not growing salads. Once you're at your benchmark then you can start planting greens and other goodies. And, you'll have learned a great deal by then.

Month 2-Things will be growing, but not harvestable. Get a generator, a cheap one, and enough gasoline stored to be useful in emergencies. 50 gallons minimum. Store it safely. Think of it as an investment. It's a better one than gold.

Build a rocket stove so that if your utilites were off, you can still maintain a sensible living. Learn to cook with it--it's easy. Learn the art of using firewood. Stock up at least 100 cubic feet of fine dry firewood in small sizes, 2 inch diameter is ideal. Guava is ideal. It won't take long and you you'll get it for free.

Plumb coils in the rocket stove into your houses hot water system so that the house will function more or less normally. Have some sort of awning over the rocket stove so you can dry clothing near it if you need to do laundry sometime between December and March.

Month 3--Hopefully at this point you can wonder why you were so paniced about things 2 months ago. If so, have a cup of coffee and idly walk around looking at all the neat things you've done and think about how much less back pain you have now that you're in better shape. Have the satisfaction of neighbors looking with keen interest on the success of your projects. Feel just ducky; but keep at it.

Now it's time to get chickens, as they've place to forage and won't need feed. If you have some, they'll love you for it, but elsewise they'll pick incessently.

Get the garden going now, and plant stuff that compliments the staples you have and the things you might be running out of. Now you know more about the whole thing and will have more success. You'll need to fence the chickens out of the area of greens and things, but they can forage around it.

Bananas and Papayas!

Month 4--even if at this point you'll have discovered enough self-sufficiency that if things haven't gone all to hell you'll be mostly through acquiring new habits and will live in a new manner with new expectations. You won't need to go to the grocery store unless you want to, and if things are a little freaky in town you may not want to. As well, you may want to stay home and keep an eye on things, eh? Expand the garden and cut more firewood. Cram your lot wall to wall if you're in town, plant in containers, plant on your roof(hey! there's a lot of space up there!). People will think you're either nuts or you'll be the local guru. Those always come hand in hand anyhow.

Month 5--You'll beginning to harvest from the garden. Hopefully you'll have success and plenty. It's much more likely if you've had time to properly care for your plants, and with an economic meltdown you'll have the benefit of having time on your hands to do just that. Preserving extra before it goes bad is important. I've always used drying for everything but some enjoy canning.

Month 6--Take a look around! The least you'll have pulled off is moved from the personal realm of helpless victimization to a life of robust optimism, and that's hardly little.

Some quick thoughts waiting for the rain to clear.

Meaningful Living

So what is purpose of existence? To fill one's existence with purpose.

I'm not kidding. I really believe that.

For the last 15 years sailing and "seasteading" have been the means for me to achieve that goal for myself, and certainly the lifestyle was an apt vehicle for purposeful living. Through the period, for myself, as skills increased the act of sailing gradually became less and less important to me than the symbolic meaning the act suggested. In few other activities is hope or freedom of the human spirit expressed as viscerally as is in the act of a sailboat leaving harbor. I was very aware of this process especially during the last few years of sailing "Macha," as the boat itself was very near an archetype, and in the act of launching and sailing that boat there was simply no way to evade the very personal knowledge that what I was fortunate enough to be doing was important, special, and meaningful. And not only to me, but to others as well. The most important skill I learned by sailing wasn't sailing. The most important thing I learned was how to keep my personal life embued with purpose.

As such, and as I've said before, I got into sailing in the first place as a means to find meaning in my existence. I understand purpose in living can be, at least for a lot of us, pretty illusive. But I've come to know it's not illusive because purpose is hard to find. It isn't. It's illusive because purpose is difficult to achieve--meaning that in order to get there, you will have to push yourself to the limits of your abilities, to that moment where you simply and quietly know--ok, that's as good as I can do. That's really all there is too it. If one is caught in the modern man's trap of existential pointlessness, as far as I can see there's really only one way out. Dream big, and do better. You have galactic karmic permission to have the audacity to take on whatever you need to do to find your purpose in existence. If you don't have the backbone to start, well, to yourself and to the rest of us as well, obviously you've got no purpose. If you've tried and got nowhere, you'll need to try again and do a better job. Maybe you'll never succeed, and you know this. Maybe the heroism of seeking purpose anyway while knowing you'll never find it is what will create purpose in your existence.

Right now, we as a culture really need people who will take up that heroic task of trying to find purpose in a world where it's going to be pretty difficult to find. We need to take this task on seriously and with integrity. Some might suggest a lot easier for romantics like myself to dabble with big archetypes such as sailboats to create a meaningful existence than it might hacking out a subsistence life eating millet in some poor village somewhere in the 3rd world. As such, in the future of scarcity we face some might suggest I'm a bit out of touch. Maybe, maybe not. Actually, I think not. It all depends on how one looks at the task at hand. Again, the key to a meaningful existence is simply doing what you do in a sincere manner and to the best of your ability--which will often need to mean with such success and excessive bounty that it has a measurable positive effect in one's environment and community.

In other words, it may prove most important to the survival of mankind that there remain a critical mass of those who, heroically, deliberately, get out of bed in the morning and go about their business cheerfully--in spite of the future we may soon face.

An interview with Paul Volcker:

This is an informed and interesting and well measured conversation, and it's well worth a listen.

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/10/charlie-rose-discussion-with-paul.html

You may wish to follow it up with this one.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/nyus-roubini-sees-risk-of-severe-global-depression/1002794889

For the local people, I found this website very useful

http://www.canoeplants.com/index.html

He mai'a ke kanaka a ka la hua ai. . .

Now that speaks to my Haole heart.