Your Children, Your Choice

               Peter the Pirate

Many of you would most likely see me as suffering from a peter pan complex, and that might be one of the kinder labels tossed in my direction.  While I do not argue the label, there is the inclination to challenge the validity of the mainstream concept of an adult.  Most in making the judgement are not questioning my intelligence, maturity, or understanding.  Often it's quite the opposite, with my analysis, and understanding being valued, and sought.  The seeming disconnect happens from my perspective in large part due to how people define an adult.  So what makes a well adjusted adult human?  Is it being able to conform and fit in, becoming a "successful contributing member of society"?  To a degree this would seem an obvious answer, how could one argue with being a success?  What happens when a culture is sick, is it still the rational choice to become what that culture covets?  This is of course the idea, that being considered sane in an insane society is not a measure of psychological health.  Take a little stroll with me, and maybe, just maybe, you'll find a little bit of the Pan you once were.

                Institutionalized

In the west we are so proud of our institutions, be they educational, financial, religious, the list goes on and on.  We leave off the flip side, prisons, mental hospitals, we do this because in general people have been taught to see the world in terms of polarity.  This of course ignores the fact, these are opposames masquerading as opposites, with the outcome of being institutionalized.

  : to cause (a custom, practice, law, etc.) to become accepted and used by many people : to establish (something) as an institution

: to put (someone, such as a mentally ill person) in an institution

These are connotations of pavlovian conditioning, not education, or child development. Taken to it's extreme the goal of an institution is to become indispensable, and condition those in it to become unable to function without it.  There is ample evidence this has been intentional, of course labeled as conspiracy theory.  Frankly that it has gotten that most dismissive of labels only warrants closer inspection.  Take moment, and look for yourself, Dodd Report, deliberate dumbing down,

or even though I'm leary of Alex Jones. Our much vaunted education system was hijacked long ago to keep a fresh supply of human capital ready for exploitation by the corporate institutions.  We want to believe so badly in basic beneficence of our culture, that we ignore some basic facts.  Entrenched systems of power seek to protect their position. Our leaders are selected from, and by these same institutions.  People say they wish only happiness for their children, or they wish for their child to be the best them they can be. Than they package them off to be institutionalized so they can find their place in society.

              Taking Candy from the Mouths of Babies Mama's

Marketing and Consumerism go hand in glove, like peanut butter, and jelly, and damn have we gotten good at it.  I have no doubt even Edward Bernays would be amazed by the level of sophistication our propaganda has risen to.  I call it propaganda because that is exactly what it is, structuring information to create a desired outcome.  In this case parting someone from some currency in exchange for a product, or service.  As corrupt and shortsighted as this economic model might be on the whole. When directed at children, it might just be a crime against humanity.  An extreme statement to be sure, but one that is not very difficult to back up.  Critical reasoning skills are needed in order to counter the automatic psychological processes exploited by advertisers.  Child development, and psychology experts are employed by organizations who have as their motivation profit. These folks use all their skill and understanding, not to enrich the life of your child.  Nah it's used to know how to make advertising that gets your child to ask for the product in as few as views as possible.  So what you say, my 5 year old does not make the buying decisions in my household.  Only our experts on conditioning have that all worked out as well.  We all have a surrender point, where we will agree to almost anything if only to make something stop.  If you think this is something exploited only in interrogation, just think back to how many times you have caved to repeated pestering by your child.  This is so well understood, even the big media creation outlets, such as disney, or nickelodeon have a nice predictable path set out for your childs idols.  Introducing the faces they will grow up watching, engendering a sense of connection and trust.  Using techniques as having the stars be just older than the audience, exploiting that natural tendency of looking up to those ahead of you.  Transitioning actors with a generation, so as a group ages there is a continuity, and trust is deepened. This is even taken to the point of switching from childrens tv shows to music seemingly just as your teen has seeming grown headphones.  In this obvious industrialized exploitation, and abuse of our young, it's unclear to me what is more disturbing.  That it's happening at all, or that those who are supposed experts on child development, and psychology have raised no moral objections.    

    Judged by Our Hero's

There is a metric often used to understand the health of a culture, as well as where in the development cycle a civilization is.  Who, and what are held in esteem shift as a civilization goes through it's life cycle. When a culture goes into decline, false or trivial accomplishment are celebrated beyond reason.

Activities that while they may have value, like sports, music, acting, cooking. Become blown to a status usually reserved for royalty.  People that once would have considered a liability regardless of a skill or talent become held as idols.  Style trumps substance, as leaders, and people stop asking is it right, in favor of is it legal, or can I get away with it.  You'd like to imagine we are unique, the greatest nation, of the greatest people to ever grace the earth.  While we do have unique traits, these stages of empire have happened for as long as there have been empires.  The United States of today have far more than the eagle in common with the Roman empire.  Ask yourself how many household names do we have today, that are just famous.  They are not famous for doing anything, they are just famous for being rich, or outrageous.  So while some jump on folks like Charles Barkley for saying he is not a role model, I applaud.  Mr Barkley may be many things, even may be a good role model, but if he is, it has nothing to do with how well he did on the basketball court.

As always make up your own mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Did Christianity Foster the Jewish Banker Stereotype?

               It's all in The Numbers

The Jewish Banker stereotype myth, and the perceived link between money lenders and changers and Judaism is as pervasive as it is seemingly unquestioned.  Of course being religiously linked, you do not have look beyond religious traditions, and dogma to notice where and why.  For right or wrong, and with great misunderstanding of traditions, the very foundations of Christianity paint the Jewish faith as having been corrupted by the money lenders.  Jesus as acknowledged by many works was a rebel, a reformer, or a conservative.  He was devout in his faith, and from his perspective felt the Temple had strayed from the true teachings, and his mission was to restore it.  This is poignantly shown in the money lenders in the Temple story.  In order to paint the picture we need to understand this is not a secular community.  Faith does not just guide what most modern western culture would label as "spiritual" aspects of life.  This is a state based on a Faith, which of course means, the faith governs all aspects, from the most mundane to the most exalted.  That is where the Shemitah needs to be understood.  This essentially governs economic, and production, but it also covers debt remittance between the people.  This idea of economic reset, would have been quite important to member of the house David.  Recorded are many ways in antiquity and modern times of man using clever wording to work around the Shemitah. An example of this would be the creation of a trust to transfer ownership of land to a non-jew for the year, so it can continue to be worked.  Also the use hydroponic greenhouses as they are not in the soil.  The cycles outlined, are in no way random, they show an understanding of compounding interest most lack today.

               Usury The Golden Ticket

 In the pre christian cradle of modern western civilization had it's own ideas on interest. Ranging from an outright condemnation as being against nature by Plato, and Aristotle. To the Greek and Roman laws regulating interest rates on loans.  The early Christian church in the 3rd and 4th centuries already banned interest on loans made by clerics, with some speculation it was already condemned if not banned for laypersons.  By the 11th and 12th centuries charging interest at all was considered a sin.  For those of Jewish faith the church had made different rules, which even by the 1100's allowed for reasonable interest to be charged.  A ban does not eliminate the desire, or need, we have been shown this in modern times with prohibition.  For Jews in the Christian controlled west, The position of money lender, or changer become inadvertently one they could uniquely fill.  This was at a time when Jews in the west were subject to much discrimination, and barred from practicing many professions.  Not until the 1800's does the Holy See acknowledge it as legitimate to charge interest on loans, as well as exact penalties for the failure to live up to the obligations of a loan. As I have discussed often one of the prime motivations for the American Revolution as stated by Franklin was interest on currency creation being charged by the Bank of England.  So for hundreds of years those of Jewish faith were not just allowed, but encouraged to take up a profession regarded as a sin. By the middle 1500's the portrayal of the greedy Jew demanding unreasonable terms is clearly in evidence in works such as The Merchant of Venice.  What had been set up was an exclusive right to the financial services sector of much of early Christian europe. While it being transactions between Jew and Gentile exempted it from the restrictions that apply to transactions between Jew's.

               Distorted into the Modern ERA

Most of this historical basis is before the advent of modern systemically problematic practices such as fiat currency, and fractional reserve banking.  That the modern opposition to world financial structures condem.  Could it be this distortion of history is in part to blame for one of the modern worlds worst crimes against humanity?  If I am honest, these is great discomfort in presenting these links of history, but feel it would be remiss to not at least raise the question.  When WWII is discussed and the how the nazi's came to power the changes in economic policy are largely glossed over or ignored completely. Being rightly overshadowed by horror felt at the depth of the atrocities committed.  Others have done much research into how Hitler came to power, and turned the german economy around through privatization, and banking reform along with clever financing.  This brilliance though belonged not to Hitler, but to Hjalmar Schacht who was forced out of the government before the war began due to opposition to rearmament. Jewish influences were used as a scapegoat for the surrender in WWI.  For a disillusioned profoundly disturbed Hitler returning from the front this was just the outlet needed to serve as a focus.  As we still struggle with ideas of stereotyping in the modern world, it might be worth while to be aware a label sticks long after it's reason for being is forgotten.

As always make up your own mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Tomorrow Tech, Yesterday Drives

       Just Entertainment?

We see many articles proclaiming the dangers of mass media, and I am not here to debate the dubious morals, of propaganda, and advertising.  From Control of information, to marketing to children, the list of possible abuses is undeniable.  Weather it's shaping discourse or public opinion, or revisiting some past triumph or tragedy.  Our modern media will churn out any perspective desired, often with contradictory messages.  When we take into account, the trouble we as humans have in determining reality from fantasy.   In modern times the very notion of what entertainment is, and it's purpose has been lost on the majority.  For most it has become a leisure activity, predicated on the cessation of critical reasoning.  A look at the origins of the idea of entertainment reveal it to be a horse of a different color.

entertain (v.) 

late 15c., "to keep up, maintain, to keep (someone) in a certain frame of mind," from Middle French entretenir, from Old French entretenir "hold together, stick together, support" (12c.), from entre- "among" (from Latin inter; see inter-) + tenir "to hold" (from Latin tenere; see tenet).

Sense of "have a guest" is late 15c.; that of "gratify, amuse" is 1620s. Meaning "to allow (something) to consideration, take into the mind" (of opinions, notions, etc.) is 1610s. Related: Entertained; entertaining.

     What Motivates

None can argue our technological advancement is, and has been expanding at rates we can scarcely keep up with.  Much of this acceleration is easy to understand when you grasp the implications of moore's law in the growth of processing power.  A simplified understanding is to think of all the processing power in the world, and think that it has been, and will continue to double roughly every year. The amazing pace of this advancement is often depicted in our media, hints at what lie just around the corner. Sometimes predicting tech that will not be seen for decades, or longer.  With a look at the possible social, and psychological issues related to the projected advancement taking a central role in the unfolding of the story.  Often having such a forward projected view on technological breakthroughs, does not seem to translate to the motivations of characters.  With all this future tech, and depictions of future abundance, the characters quite often would fit in nicely in a greek comedic tragedy. With even some supposedly brilliant people behaving in manors unbecoming in children, let alone in what are supposed to be intelligent adults.  This seemingly complete lack of anything other than academic or technological intelligence. With this in mind I find myself asking the question, is this a reflection, projection, or some mixture.  Are people so emotionally driven that it washes away any semblance of rational behavior?  Emotions are wonderful, but just as logic devoid of emotion comes to differing conclusions, so too do emotions devoid logic.  Six thousand plus years of history according to established thinking, and we still kill over ideas of god, boarders, and pieces of paper. 

Selection vrs Election

       The Democracy Hype

Much has been made of the potential spread of democracy around the world.  The words Pax Americana, can be heard, and might not be far off.  Democracy has become a catch all media buzz word, generally used to justify some manor of intervention. Which likely looks anything but democratic in nature.  As an American I can not deny the obviously selective nature of our desire for other nations to experience the blessings of democratic rule. The examples of support for "friendly" dictatorships by the United States would be laughable if it weren't so hypocritical.  While media outlets tout the overthrow of one regime as a victory for the people, and blow for democracy. Movements in nations with western friendly dictatorships are in large part ignored, and often these governments are receiving aid, or military backing from the US.  Leaving it painfully obvious, that as a nation we are far more concerned with our perceived national self interest than any notions of self determination, or democracy.  In the US we pride ourself on our right to vote, yet how many feel represented? How many even know how our electoral system works?  Democracy is great, one of the most amazing innovations, but like so many things context plays it's role.

     The Choice We Can't See

To serve as an elected public official can be viewed in many ways, an honor, an act of duty, maybe even a burden. The one thing for the public well-being it would best left not thought of is as a career. By the time a candidate is offered for your consideration, they have already been approved by their party, and in the days of money equals speech, the contributors.  It's not really a surprise than to see that often organizations fund both parties equally.  Call it strategic planning, or corporate governance, the effect is undue influence to put it nicely.  If you did notice, there were many on that list that did not fund both sides, which is just as telling.  When you have only two main political parties as entrenched as and pervasive as in the US, they can not be opposites, they can only be opposames. The parties never leave power, they share power, just changing the distribution. We find ourselves in a the role of child being offered choice as a balm for all the no's in our daily existence.

    Factions

 In an absolute government there can be no... equiponderant parties. The despot is the government. His power suppressing all opposition, maintains his ministers firm in their places. What he has contracted, therefore, through them, he has the power to observe with good faith; and he identifies his own honor and faith with that of his nation." --Thomas Jefferson to John Langdon, 1810. ME 12:377

"Warring against [the principles] of the people,... there is no length to which [the delusion of the people] may not be pushed by a party in possession of the revenues and the legal authorities of the United States, for a short time indeed, but yet long enough to admit much particular mischief. There is no event, therefore, however atrocious which may not be expected." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Smith, 1798. (*) ME 10:56   

Now revisit the idea that our parties never leave power, are backed pretty equally by most major corporate entities, in a nation who's currency is owned/controlled by a what amounts to a private bank.  Our two party system with elections, is seeming to offer less and less of real choice.


As always, make up your own mind
Jack
aka
PansyBard

B Movie Plot? or Hidden History?

          That is Just Ridiculous!

     From nazi's on the moon, zombie nazi's, alien nazi's, one might argue nazi's are more popular now than ever. Who can argue, they do make a bad guy not many would be willing to defend.  In the world of political correctness casting hero's and villains can be a minefield.  Enter the nazi's, a group so heinous, and dripping with the style of threat, and menace, and little to no current public representation.  For most the nazi threat disappeared with the conclusion of WWII, or shortly after, the known truth is much more complicated, and uncomfortable.  One that may not yet have been fully written, let alone fully told.  So what might my personal nazi b movie plot look like?

          Jumping the Shark

     Since I'm going for camp, I figure why hold back, something along the lines of  "Rise of the Alien Nazi's", or "White House Nazi", maybe even "Nazi, Slavers, from Outer Space".  The plethora of conspiracy theories combined with the sad twisted history, are so ripe with possibility.  Why not go for the grand overarching take over the world. It can't be true anyway, right?  Not so fast, some of the most outlandish do have at least partial basis in fact.  While it is true there was a public push, and show trial hanging some high ranking nazi's,  many more nazi's simplely reinvented themselves, with the help of various intelligence agencies.  The US had operation paperclip, operation alsos, and project ticom to grab as many nazi assets as possible. ostensibly to  keep them from the soviets. What of the people that were nazi supporters, or sympathizers that were in the US.  As laid out in much research american supporters of fascism, or Fascism Support Hitler US.  Backed up by a historically forgotten coup attempt, involving names almost everyone would recognize today.  Sprinkle with a dash of Tall White's control America, and we really got a fun story of historical intrigue.

        Tall Tale

     How might a rough outline of this fantastical alternate history farce look?  Well how about we take a look.  Likely we'd flash through some real history leading up to and through the war, slowing briefly to highlight some prominent figures.  Leading to a slow revelation of the alien backing of the nazi's, leading the US not to recruit the nazi's to counter the soviets, but initially to oppose the aliens. Cut to the Byrd mission operation highjump played out as a loss, and agreement to work with the Tall Whites.  This new shadow organization initially made up of portions of the intelligence community, and the military industrial complex, guided by the Tall Whites.  This group has no moral guiding compass easily shown through US foreign assassinations, 1960s era of assassination, or CIA drug involvement.  Of course we have to highlight some of our key players, tying our supposed villains to the cause.  A few well placed dramatically sinister scenes with loads of creative license, linking the Bush family as central players, in not just JFK, but all of the 60's removal of opposition, and various nefarious doings.  Being certain to add in social engineering, hippy movement, and ultimate takeover of media ala operation mockingbird. As if this were not enough, we'd also need to breeze through the economic changes.  So now that America has been taken over by alien nazi's, who is our hero?  Well why not just go all the way with our farce, and make The Bush family also be the hero's, protecting the human race from outright enslavement, or elimination at the hands of the Tall Whites.  Perhaps we make a story where the truth is so bad, that even an ugly lie is preferred.

as ever, make up your own damn mind
Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Transhumanist Goal in Sight

          So You Want to Live Forever?  

           Some may be aware of Transhumanism, many are likely not.  To me it's just a nice advertising friendly name, to what may be the most important event in human biological development.  To put it as simply as I can, Transhumanism refers to humanities move toward machine.  The event is oft called the Singularity, the moment when the line between man, and machine disappears.   Sounds like a sci-fi story, I know.   Some very prominent folks are not just expecting it, they are helping to ensure it's arrival.  Chief among them in the US would have to be Ray Kurzweil, though he is by no means alone as a google search shows, the 2045 initiative has it's path all mapped out.  The goal of course being technological immortality.  This opens up so many questions, moral, religious, philosophic.  A wonderland of one of my favorite questions "what if".

         What If's

           Much thought has been directed toward conceptions of immortality.  I had thought the question of immortality had been resolved with Einstein, or at least moved into the realm of not if, but the nature of.  A question of ego, what of me, as I currently conceive of myself continues.  Just to get this obvious one out of the way.  It is unlikely these will be available for everyone, so there is a high potential for a split, a break away civilization, or a revolution of sorts.  The masses likely lose that one, as there is little need for restraint, given the move toward automation.  This could ultimately be the end of humanity as we think of it.  That of course is an extreme version, with a toned down cyberpunk flowering out of imagination into the world.  Where there is a vast range of quality of artificial replacement components, along with a range of skill in application.  Though interesting, there are far more complex implications.  In all of our world religions even agnostic, there is an acknowledgement of an authority.  In many there is an idea of a covenant, or contract.  In many of the stories when judgement comes, it is often due to man stepping outside the bounds of this covenant. Given the context of some of these transgressions, like interbreeding, building a tower to god.  These attracted a direct intervention.  Is it to far out to consider, physical immortality might be reacted to in a similar fashion.  Mortality is fundamental to our conception of what is to be human. Can a being that is essentially immortal even be considered human?   This does not even consider the possible personal empires that could be sustained.  

      It's personal

      Ultimately this is another of those not if, but when events. With each of us having to make personal choices.  Just what it means to be alive, and what immortality really represents.  Will we lose what makes life worth living in our rush to make it eternal?  One thing is certain, it's going to be entertaining to watch it unfold.

Jack

aka

PanseyBard   

Is it Money?

This is a United States one dollar bill, it has been, and is many things.  If you have lived on planet Earth over the last couple of hundred years, than this piece of paper has affected your life.
If you have grown up in the United State, you have been told a story of how breaking the grip of monarchy has made you free.  Omitted from this narrative has been the story of the dollar, and how the war for it's control, has created invisible shackles of economic entrapment.  While it is beyond the scope to offer a complete historical account in a blog post.  I will instead hit some high points, and show how our collective misunderstanding of money, currency, and economics has left our continued freedom in doubt.

No More Kings:

    Yes the revolution was fought for the right to self determination. In other words to wrest control of the fledgling colonies from english rule.  This in part involved the physical arm of rule, the King, military of Britain.  Another aspect was the power to create currency, not create money, as I will show later these are not always the same.  The colonies had been using a self created currency to allow for trade amongst themselves, called colonial script, much like the paper money we use today. This had the effect of a healthy growing local economy, it also had the effect of cutting the Bank of England out.  By this time control of the bank of england was not in the hands of the crown, but had already transferred to private hands.  As evidenced by numerous passages from the time, they were well aware that this amounted to a hidden tax on all trade.  A hidden mechanism that ensured the transfer of wealth from the colonies to Bank of England.  As well as ensuring a method of control beyond force of arms, much like a parent might manipulate a child through monetary controls today. Well documented is the victory over the physical control.  When it comes to being governed through control of currency, we lost, so we do not hear about it.  Like any conflict, the history is written by the victors.  Once the physical conflict ended, the economic conflict kicked into high gear.  The First Central Bank of America was chartered in 1791, backed most famously by Alexander Hamilton, and opposed by Thomas Jefferson.

This Means War:

When the charter for the First Bank of America expired in 1811, and fueling the ignition of the War of 1812.  This conflict was fought all over the Globe with many varied participants, it ended in 1815. In 1816 the Second Bank of America was chartered, by James Madison with the promise of controlling inflation that had been created as a result of the the war.  Lasting until it's charter was not renewed by Andrew Jackson, who had denounced it as corrupt.  It's demise in 1836 created what has become known as the "free banking era".  During this time there were only state banks, and without a plan to replace the outgoing central banking authority.  There was nothing in place to ensure economic interests were being protected.  This period culminates in the Civil War, which while it had the effect of ending slavery, a close inspection shows it was not the cause or intent of the conflict. This conflict from a banking perspective culminates with the banking act of 1863. Which set up the national banking system, ending the free banking era.  This framework was exploited repeatedly to push forward the need for a central lender of last resort.  The final push of instability known as the panic of 1907, prompted the push for a lender of last resort.  After the failure of the Aldridge plan, The Federal Reserve Act was adopted in 1913.

The Beat Goes On:

Once The United States entered WWI, which had much of it's underpinnings found in the railway running from Iraq, to Germany, redrawing the economic power structure of europe,  The fledgling Federal Reserve became the issuer of the bonds used to finance US participation.  Post WWI, the Fed, was able to cement it's power to create and destroy the nations currency, under the leadership of Paul Warburg.  It proceeded to institute a series of policies creating booms and busts, leading to the crash of 1929.  At this point the United States is effectively bankrupt, the years following known as the Great Depression find their conclusion in 1933 and the New Deal.  This had the effect of holding all future generations responsible for the debts incurred by their parents, and grandparents. This was also when the US began to exit the gold Standard. FDR in 33, making it a crime for US citizens to own and hold gold bullion.  Once the gold had been confiscated the government price for gold was raised to $35 an ounce.  Enter WWII, which of course also, aside from having the highly emotional, and publicized drive of hate. The atmosphere which fostered these attitudes, had roots in the harsh economic penalties placed on Germany with the treaty of Versaille.  Post WWII, at the Bretton Woods conference, the dollar was established as the world reserve currency, with the Federal Reserve guiding international monetary policy in 1944.  The dollar becoming the world reserve currency had the effect of placing a hidden a tax on all trade settled, payable to the Federal Reserve.  This held relatively steady till 1971 when Nixon removed final ties to gold.  In it's place had been engineered what has been called the petrodollar.  The United States had engineered deals with the opec nations, to only accept dollars in exchange for oil.  Thus maintaining the need for all other nations to continue to use dollars to settle international trade.  This final decoupling of the dollar from gold, just solidified the identity crisis paper currency has had forever.

It Never Was Money:

Paper currency, even when backed by real money, never was, and never can be real money.  It is at best a representation of money, and that only while it is directly backed and exchangeable for real money.  Currency is money when it is made out of money, like silver, and gold coins.  In 1974 when Ford lifted the prohibition against American citizens owning, and holding gold bullion.  The minds of the people had already come to think of the paper as the thing with value.  To make things really simple, money is what people turn the currency they do not need for day to day living expenses in to. Currency on the other hand is the accounting tool. It measures how much an economic system owes you, or how much you owe it.  This basic misunderstanding has been used to ensure, the masses remain in perpetual debt, and considering this debt to be wealth.  Understand, this is not about enslavement on an individual basis, how much or little an individual participates is unimportant.  This about dependency on a macro level.  If you want to partake of the benefits of the system you automatically participate in sustaining.  There is a reason gold is considered money, even when it is obviously not currency, and the same can be said of silver, and many other tangible assets.  They hold value over time, and are exchangeable for currency everywhere.  Being key aspects of money, the dollar obviously does not fit, having lost over 90% of it's value since 1913.

Now and Forward:

What are called fiat monetary systems, with interest on currency creation have a mathematical life span.  This kind of system is in essence what is commonly referred to as a ponzi scheme.  It is also the background push behind the infinite growth idea.  The interest attached to every dollar created is a hidden tax, or wealth transfer. As long as the economy as a whole has a growth rate ahead of this interest no one is the wiser.  In 2008 this system reached a mathematical break point,  Interest rates now have to remain at near %0, along with passing around a series of currency printing. The ironic thing being with the suppressed interest rates this new currency does not enter at the bottom. Instead it directly goes into whatever will provide a return. This continues the decoupling of the top from the bottom started in the 80's, as well as lowering the currency velocity.  In the simple terms, this is the time of the monopoly game where 1 person owes everything is only a matter of dice rolls from attaining all the paper.  Alternately if interest rates are allowed to rise even above 3% the US government can no longer afford to borrow the currency it needs to function. Even at 0 interest, anyone can notice the debt has already gone parabolic, doubling in Obama's presidency this is likely to accelerate.  This broken system, will than be offered up as a failed idea, with fiat currency being shelved as evil.  Only nothing will be changed, the alternative gold backed currency will be just that. Gold backed, a representation of money, with debt still attached to it's creation.  Perhaps if done correctly what has been used to secretly enslave, can be used to ensure a move toward ultimate freedom.  

Solutions:

1: Nationalize the Federal Reserve, ownership to be a trust made up of ever citizen of the United States.  It's books to be publicly available, to ensure it's transparency. The fed would still be responsible the management of the currency. As well as the IRS, you still have to pay for services if you desire to have services. This is not as bad as it sounds in an a working system.

2: No interest on currency creation, this is so big it gets it's own.  Currency being different than money is only created by the Federal Reserve.  Money is not created, it's value being intrinsic.

3: End fractional reserve banking practices. This is actually covered in only the Fed creating currency, being in essence a mechanism for creating currency from nothing.

4:  End Corporate personhood, along with currency being considered speech.

5: End Currency speculation, currency is to facilitate, and encourage productivity, and trade.  Speculation only distorts the purchasing power.

These of course are not complete, or do I believe they are the only fixes.  These are small moves that would be steps on the way.

As always make up your own damn mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

I'm Ok, I'm Just Stuck in a Loop.

     This was me on a visit to Mom's in my mid 30's.  A fairly typical example of a person comfortable

with who they are.  Fast forward a little over 10 years, and I hardly recognize myself as having been that guy.  The transition from active participant in the experience of life, to a reclusive observer of life.  Was as gradual as it was inevitable, my own decisions leading inexorably to my  personal oubliette.  As is the usual circumstance, when looking back. The many opportunities to change directions are as obvious, as they are useless in my current experience.  Oft times serving as a rather depressing reminder that my current circumstance is wholly my doing.  That hard truth might just be toughest aspect to accept, and forgive.  Of course that forgiveness of self is high touted as essential in moving past perceived personal failings.  Perhaps that combined with that odd desire to pick at a healing wound is the prompting to write this. So whats put the hitch in my giddy up? In a single word, teeth.
    Just over a year ago, what remained of my rotted, broken top teeth were removed. As this pic

clearly shows, something needed to be done.  Infections in my gums were a normal occurrence.  I could count on the pain, and discomfort being bad enough to completely sideline me for days at a time.  By this point the shame had already stopped me from smiling.  I had learned to hide my top teeth from view in the course of casual interaction.  Most people were only to happy to play along and pretend they didn't notice, with only children being honest to ask questions that made everyone uncomfortable.  So by the time of this pic, my choices were already pretty limited.  Keep the teeth, and be sick, and possibly kill myself through inaction.  Or lose the teeth, and get physically healthy. At this point, I'd have to reserve judgement on the benefit, or detriment of my choice.
    When so many are so happy to get dentures, or implants, some of you might be saying something to effect of "suck it up girly pants", or perhaps "get over it already".  In honesty, there may be some validity to that type of perspective. This is such an obvious get over yourself kind of thing, that even being in it. I am unable to discount the sentiment.  It is this sentiment bumping up against ideas of quality of life being of more import, than just being alive.  When I ask myself having experienced using a top plate denture, is the quality of life granted by this prosthetic enough.  In all honesty no, not for me.  At 46 having experienced 7 or so months of life with dentures.  I found I could not project a future with dentures I had any desire to experience.  So looking at alternatives, there is of course implants.  I'd guess in large part these would be a workable patch, once a couple of hurdles were overcome. Namely they are prohibitively expensive, and far outside my current circumstance. Getting my teeth extracted, and the dentures already has soaked up almost 7k off someone elses currency.  Thank you to my Mom, and Stepfather are in order on that count.  Even with the expense there are other considerations that give pause in regards to implants. It's the state of development of being able to induce natural tooth regrowth. Researchers have already regrown full teeth in rats using stem cells, and laser treatments.  Knowing how close this is, perhaps 5 to 10 years out, perhaps even less.  All manor of other thoughts bounce around.  If I could get implants, knowing they are already obsolete are they are valid choice.  Would getting implants complicate regrowing the teeth when it becomes the mainstream.
   This combination of being a little to late to accept what many still few as perfectly workable solution. A little  early to take advantage of what will become the obvious norm. And me in a wait while loop, of my own devising.  Scrambling around to maintain enough currency flowing through while limiting social interaction to only what is required.  Generally if I do not have to leave the house I won't.  After having at least part-time employment for almost all of my adult life.  I now scramble to even keep up with basic living expenses.  Thanks to my housemate for helping me out when I got behind.  While it may often be my own projection reflected back at me. The effect is the same, an almost complete rejection of social interaction.  This overwhelming self consciousness is due in large part to knowing, I am responsible for it.  Through what has been dubbed mountain dew mouth, though I did mine much slower mainly with cola's. And even though by the time any problems showed, the insides of my teeth were already rotted. It was my own addictive style abuse of soda, I mean I did get to a point of 2 liters a day or more for years on end.  So while the physical aspects are enough to make most a bit self conscious.  The shame and guilt I feel at being the cause might be even worse.  Leaving me a virtual recluse, waiting for the breakthrough I know has already been made to save me from my own trap.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

App: Idea Auto Surround Sound Setup

    Just a quick one today.  A friend started talking about wanting a 3d microphone. Which being a bit high at the time sent my thoughts racing down how a thing like that would work.  Quickly returning the though of triangulation of the sound using the know quantities of the speed of sound, and the distance between the microphones.  Those are all you need to calculate where a sound originates, Once here it was easy to imagine listening to your favorite performance as if you were sitting in the middle of it.  Being able to point to a location in the room and say thats where the guitarist is standing.  Of course the recording is only half the equation, and my natural tendency toward playing devils advocate was only to happy to point out. Without a surround sound system correctly set up the effect would be diluted, or dispelled completely.  Crap this would for sure limit the appeal, I mean getting the settings right is the biggest pain in the butt for surround sound systems. That was when it hit me.  Take that same concept, and reverse it.  Make a smart phone app that has access to the microphone, and the settings and playback on the surround sound system.  The app plays a series of tones through the speakers. So the phone tells the surround sound systems to play tones out of the speakers, knowing an approximate direction to expect it from. The app tracks the time between when it triggered the tone to play, and when the mic heard the tone.  With that information the app can get a location, and adjust the settings for that to be the sweet spot.

As an aside, Many economists despite mainstream reporting of economic recovery, continue to warn of pending bubble collapses.  Now for the most part these types of events have little impact on me directly.  That doesn't change my curiosity involving this pseudo science governing our lives.  The main question asked over and over is when.  Not that I believe you can figure out the exact when, but there is a way to figure out a last possible date.  The math for when the system itself can not function, This would give you a collapse by date.  Of course it would have to be run regularly as the date would shift as policies are enacted to stave off the inevitable.  There are some known qualities, and well understood correlations.  Things such as, there is a cap on the maximum interest rate the federal reserve can set, before the US government can no longer afford to borrow the money to keep running. My understanding is this is currently about 3%.  There is also a predicable point where if the currency velocity drops below the system grinds to a halt.  Even the slow down in currency velocity is predictable, as the wealth is concentrated in fewer hands, the velocity of course slows.  These would give a great start point for the math certain end date, almost like the doomsday clock.  The other side is psychological, as people lose faith, the systems breaks down.   This is going to be tied to large indicators, that may or may not be an accurate reflection of economic health,  This does not make them any less predictable.  Such as, with compounding interest, there will come a point when people are unable to pretend anymore.  A mass holy crap, that can never be repaid, related to the rate of the debt increase, which is speeding up.  You can get the psychological by looking where it has already happened.

As always make up your damn mind

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Python, Tweepy, and Twitter.....Oh My!!!!

      If you landed here from twitter chances are you clicked a link provided by a bot.  This is not uncommon, everyday the access to easy to use development tools becomes more widespread.  Having not written a line of code since the late 80's imagine my surprise at how quickly a site like  codecademy walk me through entry level python.  Six days after the whim to check out python found me looking for a entry level project to solidify my newly acquired knowledge, and expose how sorely it was lacking.  So why a twitter bot?  I do not take things overly seriously.  That being said, I respect that other people do.  In twitter there is from my perspective a unique venue of real world interaction on a scale normally reserved for a few, along with low impact.  Meaning I am unlikely to cause anyone harm while messing around and learning, So while this is not intended in anyway to be a tutorial. After 6 days of an online course, and 3 days of playing, I hardly qualify.  The bot code currently looks like this:

#imports modulesimport tweepy, time, sys, random

#assigns text file arguments to variablesargfile = str(sys.argv[1])

#enter the corresponding information from your Twitter application:
CONSUMER_KEY = '123456'#keep the quotes, replace this with your consumer keyCONSUMER_SECRET = '123456'#keep the quotes, replace this with your consumer secret keyACCESS_KEY = '123456'#keep the quotes, replace this with your access tokenACCESS_SECRET = '123456'#keep the quotes, replace this with your access token secretauth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET)
auth.set_access_token(ACCESS_KEY, ACCESS_SECRET)

#sets up tweepy apiapi = tweepy.API(auth)


def hourlytweet():
    filename=open(argfile,'r')
    f=filename.readlines()
    filename.close()
    api.update_status(status=f)
    print("hourly tweet posted")


def follow_unfollow():
    followers = api.followers_ids()
    friends = api.friends_ids()

    for z in followers:
        if z not in friends:
            api.create_friendship(z)

    for z in friends:
        if z not in followers:
            api.destroy_friendship(z)
    print("follow, unfollow done")

def search_retweet():
        search_terms= ['python','technology','raspberry pi','anonymous','twitter bots']
        g = random.choice(search_terms)
        results = api.search(q=g, count=1)
        for u in results:
            api.retweet(u.id)
            print("retweeted top result for", g)



x=1y=2
while x<y:
    localtime = time.asctime(time.localtime(time.time()))
    hour = int(localtime[11] + localtime[12])
    print('current hour is:',hour)
    if hour>5 and hour<24:
        hourlytweet()
        time.sleep(1700+random.randint(200,400))
        search_retweet()
    elif hour == 24:
        follow_unfollow()

    time.sleep(1700+random.randint(200,400))


It currently has the basic functions, between 6am, and midnight local time, it will tweet from a textfile, than wait roughly 30 min. Perform a search on a term selected randomly from a list, and retweet the top result. wait roughly 30min and start over. At midnight, it will check for new followers and follow them, then check for unfollowers, and unfollow them.  Next I'll be looking at adding some more functionality, perhaps checking for mentions, and favorites.  Maybe adding in an exit condition, other than a crash or keyboard break.

Thanks for reading
and always make up your own damn mind

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

What IF!!!!!

Please Do Not Read This Post If:

     There has been an idea rolling around in my mind. A different perspective on a story almost everyone on the planet has heard.  The story of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the story of the expulsion from paradise.  That is why if you believe there are lines that there are appropriate boundaries for though experimentation.  Or that words, or ideas should stay within the bounds of good taste, and parsed for political correctness.  Go read something else, the fundamental conception of the Eden story will be toyed with, poked and prodded.  If that is something you would have a problem with, than it is your responsibility to stop reading now, or keeping reading, and don't forget to pray for my salvation. If your religious you might believe I need it.

The Who, What, Where:

      In the traditional conceptions of this story, our characters are easily definable, and laid out clearly.  God, the Serpent, and Adam and Eve.  Eve, and Adam are put forth not as us, but as the parents of Humanity.  We have in the main equated this with them being as we are.  That is not likely the case, these are pre-expulsion, pre fruit of knowledge humans.  A version of humanity that is able to walk in the presence of it's creator.  So while they might the most like us of the characters in the story, it is likely a mistake to equate them to us.  These are beings that exist in a state of pristine grace.

     The Serpent is of course put forth as the deceiver, the corruptor, or villain.   In our story, as it has been presented, The Serpent lies to Eve.  Seemingly in opposition to the wishes of God, Serpent tells Eve, you most assuredly not die, but become like God.  This is a rather odd predicament, it presents so questions not easily resolved.  Questions such as, God is presented as an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient being.  So how would Serpent, a creation of God, act in ways contrary to the wishes of God, as well as it being without God knowing.

    God of course is put forth as the all powerful, loving, creator of all things.  Who is a seemingly irresponsible deity if looked at from a rational perspective.  In our story, God makes all things, at some point making the Garden as a habit for the creation of Adam, and subsequently Eve.  While giving the tour of the habitat, God lays out the ground rules.  Basicly saying anything goes, but don't eat the fruit from the of the knowledge of good and evil.  Making the opposing statement to the serpent, that for they would surely die.  A prime example of irresponsible parenting. This would be akin to making a baby room, and putting a poison plant in it.  Combined with the reverse psychology setting a self reinforcing compulsion to eat the fruit.  So can we really say God did not intend for the fruit to be eaten?

    Eden is the setting of most our story, a paradise created for Adam, and Eve.  With most linking it directly to a location on earth, a sort of preserve, outside of which is referred to as wilderness.  Interestingly it does point to an idea there is not only other places, but other beings already inhabiting those places.  With that idea, Eden might just as well be considered a habit carved out of a larger environment.  Not unlike man altering an environment to be more conducive to the task at hand. Looked at from another perspective, Eden could be seen as the womb of humanity, the thing with a womb is, once in your expulsion is a forgone conclusion.

    The Fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Blech that is for sure a mouthful.  Many places have questioned if it was the widely accepted apple or pomegranate, or whatever. What the physical representation of the fruit is matters little.  What is important is the idea that eating it, causes a change to the nature of a being.  In our story this is put forward as an event, Eve eats the fruit, convinces Adam to do the same, expulsion ensues, and here we are.  The idea being that the fruit was eaten, and the event is over.  Is that accurate?  When we eat just our normal sustenance that is just the beginning. The majority of the story of consumption takes place after the physical act, it's in the processing of.  Might that be the case with our fruit?

What if They are Both Telling the Truth:

      Growing up with Star Wars, there is a line delivered by Ben, in defence of his using perspective, and tricks of language to not lie, but also not admit inconvenient facts.  Ben tells Luke, "your going to find that many of the truths we cling to, rely greatly on our point of view".  Might our Eden story, and it's related lies be hiding a similar lesson?   So in a much abridged, with great creative license.

     Adam, and Eve, have not comprehension of good or evil, actions are actions, experienced in the moment with no attachment, or even understanding.  They are also not as God, but in a state of grace in communion with God.  The connection to their source is always present, so death as we conceptualize it,  pain and pleasure have no meaning. Even if we accept there is physical existence as we would recognize it.  Adam and Eve pre fruit would not have the capacity of ego yet, that sense of I, we use to differentiate what we think of as self from the whole.   So God in saying you will surely die is telling the truth. Pre fruit there is no experience of loss, post fruit, the sense of I creates the sense of mine, loss, and death ensue.  So God in the story is telling truth, as evidenced by us everyday.  So how can Serpent also be truthful?  Perspective, is the short answer.  Serpent says we for sure will not die, and more over we will become like God.  In the story we are told we are created in the image and likeness of God, so the reality is, the only aspect missing is the famous delphic statement of "know thyself".  Adam, and Even in the Garden are already in every respect as God, they are only lacking the knowledge of what they are.  So the change that takes place when Serpent tricks Eve, is not a material change, but one of understanding, and knowledge.  That change is not one of a singular event completed when the last bite of the fruit.  Taking that first bite, set in motion a process of self discovery, that is ongoing.  The expulsion from Eden is not one of punishment, or even a violation of rules.  It is as natural a consequence as we find the development of a fetus in the womb, leading to the birth of a child.  Once the process of gathering the knowledge through experience of good and evil. Eden became a non viable habitat, as Adam, and Eve had become other that what it was created for.  As a parting, thought ideas of a return to Eden being through child like innocence, become more akin to going back to a state before the eating of the fruit.  Though a more likely outcome for this story is a moving through the process, and becoming as we were in the beginning with full knowledge of what we are in the present.

as always make up your own damn mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard 

Pseudo Productivity, or....Filling the Void.

The Setup:

     I grew up an only child, raised by a single mother who worked, and finished her education during most of my childhood.  This means I learned quite early how to be with myself as my only company. A nice match for my natural introvert tendencies. For reasons beyond the scoop of today's posting this proclivity for the avoidance of social interaction has gone from mildly reclusive, to almost full blown hermit over the course of the last year plus.  With freeing of time has come the desire to fill it with something other than movies, games, and maryjane.  So like many I have turned to learning, and as a tech lover, many of learning choices have been in that direction.

The Flourish:

      Once the wallowing in self pity ebbed to a point where the desire for activity could rise through the fog of self medication. What has become a concept of pseudo-productivity began.  An interesting concept in itself, basically meaning structured, goal oriented activity, where the activity is the reward. Video games are great examples of pseudo-productivity, having purpose only within the context of the game, and no real bearing outside itself.  The sense of accomplishment achieved can have profound effects on the psyche both positive, as well as negative.  Leading to a greater healing, or descending into a false sense stability.  So between scrambling to keep enough currency flowing to maintain my meager lifestyle, while avoiding as much face to face social interaction with public. I've had plenty of pseudo productivity, some days even measuring my day in these terms only.  

The Reveal:

     When the student is ready the teacher shall appear, seemingly extends far into abstraction.  Back in December a friend gifted me with a Raspberry Pi b+, and it quickly became a great outlet for my desire for productivity.  Though after running through Kodi(raspbmc),  Retropie, and the basics of Raspbian.  It became abundantly clear how end user oriented my interaction with technology had become.  While this serves me quite nicely in helping other end users, it does little to really give a sense of creative outlet.  It's more about being about to understand and follow directions, with being creative being a hinderance.  Than came some practical use ideas of said Pi, a vpn, personal cloud storage, a local file sharing node(priate box), to name a few.  Of course these all have the same fatal flaw, it's just following directions to setup.  In learning about the Pi, the linux environment, and development.  I became exposed to modern programming languages, having stayed away from the software side since the late 80's.  Exactly as the Pi's creators intended, my inner child responded. With the Pi as my platform, the language of choice was made easy, python. Off to Codecadey for an interactive course. Big ups to the folks over there, the interface is great, being able to code right in the browser, and receive instant feedback makes for an enjoyable experience.  Only issue with that was an odd interaction with the chrome instant translate extension wanting to translate my code as I wrote it.  Six days later, now I need to use it, or like so many things it will be quickly forgotten, but what to make.  If you came upon this blog from twitter, than you likely have already encountered my starter project.  A Pi based Twitter bot, big thanks to Dototot for the basic idea, and a framework to start from.  Thus far it's very limited, only tweeting once roughly an hour. A future post will go more in depth on the bot itself, but given it's rudimentary nature. That would be premature.

Share, Flame, Whatever

Just make up your own damn mind

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Fiat Currency, and Greece's EU Exit

           There is much ballyhoo made about the US dollar being backed by nothing but faith.  While it is true there is no material resource, gold, silver or the like acting as backing.  This does not mean it has no backing at all, only that it not resource based.  The truth as is so often the case is stranger than the fiction.  Fiat currencies in general are backed by the governments ability to tax it's citizenry in the future.  This is partially true for the US dollar, but the dollar has another backing, oil.  As I said a resource does not directly back it. Meaning you can not go to your local bank and trade your dollars directly for oil.  What we did was much more insidious, and far less noticeable to the everyday person.  The US made deals with the opec nations to only sell oil in dollars, ensuring the dollar would be in high demand.  Fiat currency is not the real issue at hand, as I've stated many times, if your going to use a currency system fiat is the only way to go.  Resource backed currencies always run the risk of the resource being cornered, altering the value of the currency.  Our problems with the global financial system are more foundational.  Currency creation being held not by the collective, but by private organizations, who than attach interest onto the creation of said currency.  This starts the cycle of fiat currency being treated as a commodity.  This speculation on what is essentially an accounting tool, distorts the real world purchasing power of the currency.  These combine quite nicely with fractional reserve banking, an other distorting effect.  Fiat currencies may be many things, legal tender, banknotes, and the like, one thing it is not is money.
          There is no way for Greece or any other nation within the EU to fix their economic woes while remaining in the union.  What we see taking place across the EU is a direct result of the structural issues of a currency union without a political, and/or a fiscal union accompanying it.  The rise of debt amongst the EU nations being shifted to the troika(EU, ECB, IMF) is about centralization of power. Greece was saddled not with economic relief, but loans, and policies that would ensure the loans could never be repaid. All Greece need do is exit the EU, bring back their own currency being printed by the government, not the privately controlled central bank.  This would allow them to internally jump start the flagging production, as well as lower the prices on Greek exports.  For a real recovery, look to Iceland.  For those saying the Greek's entered the debt, and must pay it, is just propaganda silliness.  We live within a debt based system, and most of these debts never have any reality other than on paper.  Add to that ideas of compounding interest, and debt transfer from private to public, and suddenly they look less and less legitimate.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Adventures in Raspberry Pi, First Impressions

                                          My Piary

           Having had a week or so to play with the Raspberry Pi b+.  The possibilities of this device are amazing.  It brings visions of cartridge systems, only your swapping out complete Os's.  So far I've had a chance to play with 3 of the more widely used, Raspbian, Retropie, and Kodi, more commonly known as Xbmc. Right off the bat a major difference is felt, yes this is a hobbyist flavor of Pc experience.  Having oft bemoaned not being in full control of "my" devices this was a welcome change, even if it meant some setup required.  For the techie types it's a blast, the versatile nature of the platform allow for usage from, basic computer to robots, or home automation.  For non techies while you may not want to be involved in the setup, you might be surprised by just what this little board could be setup to do for you.  

http://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-starter-ultimate-kit.html

        The basics

         Keep in mind the Pi, out of the box is a small main board, so it's all about what you add to it. The peripherals, and software make or break the experience here.  With that in mind, have a case, or some way to mount the board, it would be a shame to short something out before even getting started.  While buying a pre installed/configured  sd card does allow for plug and play type setup. Having a linux or windows based pc is a must if you intend to be more creative on build side.  While there are 4 full sized usb ports on the board, devices like external hd's will need external power source, so a powered usb hub can be almost a mandatory add on.  Have your input devices picked out in advance, if you plan on using your pi for retro gaming, or for streaming video, be sure the devices are supported, and you know where/how to install the drivers.  Command line is your friend.  We are all pretty spoiled by our intuitive gui's, and improvements in voice control.  Getting the most out of the Pi is likely to lead to spending some time in a text only environment. Get a class 10 sd card.  Having used 3 different cards thus far, a google search will yield some good information. A general rule of thumb go for the higher speed.  A wifi usb dongle, with wireless connectivity built into to almost everything these days, this might see obvious.  A really good source for information, ideas, and products is Adafruit Industries.  

        Raspbian

        The linux distro made for the Pi.  These boards we created with education in mind, so packaged in are all sorts of learning tools.  This was my first stop, and is the suggested OS to get a feel for what the Pi is about.  That being said, of the three, this is the one I have spent the least time in.  Going

forward that is sure to change, as it is likely to be the foundation for my next 3 pi projects. Those familiar with linux will be right at home, apple, and windows users will experience a bit of a learning curve.  While apple, and microsoft have been moving toward the OS taking charge of much of the day to day maintenance, linux only does what it's told.  With so many built in, and available development tools. This is a solid foundation to build on. For the application specific diy folks, the OS is built on a core, known to be solid, and designed to run with little to no supervision once set up.

Linux servers have been known to run for years without a reboot.  Certainly will have more to cover on this one in the coming weeks, as it will be the likely OS of my next few projects.

       Retropie

        Ever wanted your own arcade machine, or just hanker for some nostalgic video gaming fun.

 Retropie just might be the answer for you.  From ti99 through to mame, and up till n64 and ps1.  This is an emulation package OS using emulation station.  Configuration can be a bit tricky, and some of the emulators need a bit of tweaking.  When combined with the Pi i/o pinout you can fairly easily create professional level arcade style machines in your home.  For my purpose nothing so elaborate is needed, though I have to admit to a wish to make a dedicated arcade cabinet. Complete with arcade style controls.  Access to literally thousands of games, with the flick of a gamepad almost crosses into choice paralysis.  Setting this one up can be a bit tricky, like so much open source it's not a finished product, but forever a work in progress.  A few of the emulators will take some more time on my part to work out the settings needed.  Some are simple, and worked almost like plug and play. Making your own portable device is a realistic project, or perhaps it's a diy for the car dvd player. Of the three, this one held the most initial excitement for me.  Gaming being near, and dear.  There are just some games that never get remade, or get so changed in the updating, playing them old school is the only solution.  Of the emulators I tried, neogeo, and n64 were not plug and play style ready, and I have yet to spend any time in getting them functional.  N64 locked up the system each time I tried to load a rom, and neogeo didn't seem to function at all. A quick google search leads me to feel these can be fixed for the most part through some configuration.  Once those are functional, and some testing of the ps1 emulator, could see it replace the android mini pc as my goto for retro gaming.

       Kodi

         Kodi, or as formerly known Xbmc is an OS for a media center.  This one was of the three the one that attracted me the least originally.  Having for the last couple of years been using an android mini-pc for almost all my media needs.  I even installed an earlier version of Xbmc on my mini pc at one point.  It did not functional very well, more from the model of mini pc I have than anything else. This less than stellar earlier experience meant I had not really low expectations, just they were virtually non-existent.  Installing it started out just to see what it could do, just how many tricks could this pony learn kind of idea.  To say I have been blown away, is not praise enough, to admit that

losing the use of the Pi has stalled other exploration would be more accurate.   This is an OS designed to be controlled through a remote. Once setup is complete it can often be run right off your existing tv remote, through the hdmi cable.  Many of us are used to having apps on our TV's, netflix, and the like are common fodder for almost ever smart tv around.  Some will probably have like myself been using android mini pc's.  Kodi is like smart tv on steroids, with the ability to integrate your tv service, with data, and streaming services of the web, be prepared to get lost for a few days just playing with all the features.  This can be as custom or generic an experience as desired.  Want to set up a complete home theater experience with one click controls to home automation scripts? You can do that.  How about a central media server with plenty of storage for all your movies, pictures, and music, and access from screen in the house? You can do that!  Being an open source project, find something Kodi doesn't do, and you can learn, and code it, Or at least suggest it to one of the folks in the active community of developers.  When combined with the low power consumption, 24/7 run design of the Pi, Kodi is without a doubt a blast to design your media experience the way you want it.  Forget the ilife, Kodi allows you to really make it your own,

Next will be a vpn pi, just as soon as I can make myself go without kodi for a few days.

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

A Pi in the Face

             At it's best this classic gag is surprising, a bit embarrassing, and fun for the whole family. That would be a fairly accurate description for a completely unexpected gift.  A friend who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty handed me a small box, with the odd turn of phrase, "This is not a gag gift".  Being not entirely comfortable with receiving this little mystery box, it was quickly tucked into my pocket, with awkward thanks and banter about, and how I was allowed to open it trailed my foot steps out the door.  A few hours later while comfortably ensconced back at home curiosity brought the little box now on my dresser back to the fore front of my attention.  Not a gag gift huh, well lets find out.  Obeying the instructions to not go easy on the paper, which I was sure to have confirmed by two witnesses, just incase.  Lacking any projected desire, the new Raspberry Pi B+ in it's tiny box took me aback, by it's sheer thoughtfulness.

             For the first time in decades there were visions of sugar plums dancing in my head from a holiday gift.  Lets just say, there is grinch stuff in my room year round, and leave it at that.  Now compelled to express the true gratitude this cool gift engendered,  I did the only sensible thing modern convention allows, sent a text.  Webpages flying by, visions of crazy creative fun, and $70 later the double edged nature of this gift prompted another text.  Something more along the lines of "ok, this thing is so cool, but you just got me to spend $70, on a $35 gift,   I won't be posting any basics on the Pi, there is already so much information available, there is little for me to add,  To start it will just be a basic multifunction system, able to switch between, medi center, retro gaming system, and raspbian(linux distro designed for the pi).  A couple of planned projects with practical application are a dedicated vpn server allowing secured access to the net over any wifi.  An Onion Pi, to allow for less trackable internet access, and finally a private cloud storage server, to keep your data your data, yet still allowing you access to it from anywhere.  These might not seem all that glamorous, but amazingly useful, a low power solution to several common security holes in most peoples digital experience.
          The more fun, less practical ideas will more than likely make an appearance here, perhaps even video's with how too's.  For those wanting some information on this fun, practical device, head on over to http://www.adafruit.com/ or http://www.raspberrypi.org/. If you have ideas for custom builds, or just comments please share.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard