Kodi Media Center

Just a quick run down on a little throw together media center/server I was able to throw together.

The monitor is one I had already, 24" samsung, with an audio 3.5mm out, hdmi, vga, and dvi inputs. It's been a good monitor, had it hooked to a mini pc, that I have lent to a housemate who's computer died. I keep warning them about unground outlets, and feedback into the electronics.  The speaker is an ihome, I picked it up at goodwill, had no ac adaptor, but I had one laying around from an old speaker system that was a nice match by specs and tip. Think this might be a fun set up to play with an old projector, and making my own screens. When I have a little spare currency I'll have to look at the goodwill site, and locally to see what I can come up with.

 I'm not much of an apple fan, it's not that they do not make quality products, it's that they are really not made for someone like myself. The I life is a bit more conducive to the tech being background, not a part of the fun.

 The tower is a slimline emachine, amd 64 bit, with only 2 gigs of ram, might upgrade the ram to 4, but really I'm not asking much of this machine, and I like that it's relatively low power consumption, and lower rpm fan system do not give off near the emf of high end system/ It was strangely enough as if brand new coming out the box, who ever had it before must have wiped before leaving it behind.  I still did a fresh install of win 7. The language pack updates are still by far the most time consuming of the process. Setting up Kodi is pretty simple, there are many tutorials online for specific options or settings.
This is all set up with dnla sharing, so it will stream all over the houses network.  As for control, below is my tablet, with the Yatse app that can link to any machine running Kodi providing it's been configured to allow for it.
All told this was a 7 doll hair set up for me, and I had been debating on turning my Raspberry Pi b+ into one. This is better solution all around, and allows me to push the Pi as either a twitter nanny bot, or look into setting it up a pirate box.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Tommy! Archetype for the Electric Kool Aid Initiation

      A couple of days ago, I hacked together an entertainment setup, from an old tube tv, a 3d blu-ray player with internet apps, and a directv remote I found to control it all. I plan on adding in a digital to analog converter box, and a homemade powered antenna, as the resources to do so become available. I began playing movies I hadn't seen since for at least 20 years or so, The great rock'n'roll swindle, and Tommy were among my selections for that first day's use.  Tommy in particular stood as having been completely misunderstood by myself, and seemingly most of the people I know who have watched it.  With the majority labeling dismissively as a rock opera, with little meaning beyond the entertainment value. Having come to the realization that entertainment has never been about enjoyment per se, but more about passing on cultural understanding and wisdom passed through the ages.  I was still in for a disconcerting surprise upon watching Tommy from my current perspective. What I was not prepared for was, the dramatization of what myself and others have experienced in our everyday lives.  The movie itself is an adaptation of the initiation rituals of the mystery traditions, skewed toward the inclusion of LSD as a catalyzing agent.
    Having first being exposed to Tommy as a child, pretty sure it was 3rd grade. It's message was lost on my, the effect of the movie for me than was one of feeling protective of those who were unable to protect themselves.  This was personified in a brief scene where a lovely girl is about to be shot, and Tommy shows up to alter the encounter just through his presence.  At the time, this was so profound for me that I had nightmares about it.  Nightmares are rare for me, and generally only occur when death is near me.  In that instance the death I was feeling was that of a babysitter, not mine, I did not need a sitter generally, and was offended when one was foisted on me.  Not being a fan of watching people die, and the effects it has on those who are left behind. My mother and I had moved out, in short order Stephanie, came home from school to find her sitter strangled. Likely if I had still been there I would have been with her, as we walked to and from school together.  This affinity for feeling the presence of death, yet not having to witness it's effects directly continues as a theme in my life. Almost a meet Joe Black kinda vibe, not that I equate myself with death, just that death is not my enemy, but a friend that accompanies me on my journey. Always ready to send me home if I become to distant from my core self.

    Watching it as I am now, was an entirely different experience, having lived the initiation being shown, and having taken it from a 3 that become one to a 7, and 13 that become one. I was struck almost dumb, as before my eyes, the basic blueprint for my existence was on display, In the film we watch as Tommy goes from a child, bewildered and overloaded by the new sensory data bombarding him, putting him the state of the deaf, dumb, and blind, or in other words, seen no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil. During this portion Tommy is repeatedly abused, though the abuse is lost oh him, he is unaware of the meaning behind the events he subjected to.  Than we get to a point where he is taken to Gypsy the Acid queen, played by Tina Turner. In the movie it is portrayed as a sexual encounter. Which if you've ever experienced psychoactive chemicals the experience is so intimate, and the movie was made at the end of the free love hippy movement, that the representation is to be expected. When the LSD experiences have cleared the pathways, the fog lifts, and we are introduced to a fully realized Tommy. Who proceeds to go out into the world, and help everyone else become as he is, without having to go through the trauma that he endured.
    Don't start tripping, and project delusions of grandeur, those are your hang ups not mine. When I first opened up in the late 90's, someone I thought of as a friend devastated me by stating he felt I was on the way to becoming a cult leader. Odd from my perspective, as I am appalled by the idea anyone would desire to follow in my footsteps, and when I related my personal journey. It is always with the idea my life is not to be emulated, but seen as a cautionary tale. How I got from my conception to the fictional character I am today is not comfortable, or even desired.  It is simply what it took for me, what it will take for you is up to you.  When during my last LSD experience I received a message, that if I continued to take it, it would become detrimental, I stopped.  Within a couple of years I had also stopped smoking Mary Jane as well. What followed was a 10 year or so switch. Where I became acutely aware of the negative cultural view on my life.  This was completely at odds with how people interacted with me on a personal basis. Where almost everyone viewed me as being a well adjusted healthy individual.  Not only was "drug" use condemned, my entire childhood was outlawed, as being unfit. Naturally I accepted the judgment of those who presumably had more experience and wisdom than I.  This too was a part of the initiation, the moving into darkness, and through a death like experience where the world shuns, and is shunned in return.  That is the ego death, where we accept the world, and everyone in it will keep on spinning regardless of our presence.  I must say I was ready and desirous of death, not suicidal, just not so in love with life, or self anymore.  The I in me longs for nothing, other than dissolution of self, resolution of the conflict inherent in the structure of what we consider "reality".
dailymotion tommy-1975-film-pt-1_music
dailymotion tommy-1975-film-pt-2_music

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. 

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