Memory Suck (Dream Worlds Project)

Last night I got closer to success than ever before with my efforts to record my dreams. The first computer programmed phone call came at 3:30, and I accidentally hung up on it (damn subconscious), but it primed me for the second at 5:30 this morning.

I was dreaming, my phone started to ring, I remember experiencing all memory of the dream getting washed away by the ring of the phone. My ringer (the NES Zelda ending theme) erased my memories. All I had left to tell my computer's recorder was that mere seconds ago I had been insulting someone, somewhere for some reason.

But (bright side??), my glitches aren't all attributable to human factors, it turns out that my recorder catches the phone ringing, and my answering machine message, but it can't pick up my voice when I speak. I might have accidentally switched sound drivers, or Skype might be playing tricks. The dream world project continues to be bogged down by reality, but it will manifest!

Your Partner

No one has sat down and explained it to me, so I can be forgiven for not really getting why some couples speak of their 'partner' instead of 'boyfriend', 'girlfriend', 'etc.' Maybe it sounds more progressive, or mature, or affected. I don't know.

What is harder to forgive is the hostility that I can never suppress when I hear it. So, New Rule: You can only be partners if you fight crime. That will also make you progressive.

Enfascinated: Cooperative Birth Control

Dear Jodi shared with us this recent Sunday her experiences with a new form a birth control. She and her boy Jay are on their fourth month of the experience. The method involves charting many physical, personal and other traits over the course of the month. There are three main things that ones tracks when practicing condom free, hormone free birth control.

First: monitor vaginal fluids. viscous and slippery means less fertile, tacky and gooey means more fertile

Second: take your temperature (in your mouth). Lower body temperature means less fertile. Temperature rises by about .6 degrees during and after ovulation. Since ovulation lasts for no more than three days, it is safe to have sex after three days of a .6 degree rise in basal temperature.

Third: Classic cycle watching. The days two weeks before the period are the danger danger zone. Using a calender or something more reliable than memory, find out exactly how long your cycle is (any where from 20 to 40 days) and pinpoint (plus or minus a week) when you are ovulating.

This method is outlined in the book A Cooperative Method of Natural Birth Control. (http://www.amazon.com/Cooperative-Method-Natural-Birth-Control/dp/0913990841) The argument is that any one method isn't completely reliable, but the three together, along with the awareness that comes with carefully monitoring any natural process, can reliably insure recreational sex. Go Sex!!

Sidenote: During the talk, it came out that we want to know more about human relationships with the moon. Any self proclaimed expert is invited to provide a paragraph on why this is a fascinating subject.

Enfascinated: Bucky Fuller

CJ Fearnley from Upper Darby, PA has offered these resources to help me understand why Buckminster Fuller is fascinating. :
"
So here is my blurb about Buckminster Fuller:

Synergetics is Fuller's magnum opus. It is on-line at http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html

Here is the description of Synergetics that I maintain for the Synergetics Collaborative:
Synergetics is the system of wholistic thinking which R. Buckminster Fuller introduced and began to formulate. Synergetics is multi-faceted: it involves geometric modeling, exploring inter-relationships in the facts of experience and the process of thinking. Synergetics endeavors to identify and understand the methods that Nature actually employs in coordinating Universe (both physically and metaphysically). Synergetics provides a method and a philosophy for problem-solving and design and therefore has applications in all areas of human endeavor.

Synergetics is hard to read. So I wrote an essay
"Reading Synergetics: Some Tips" http://www.cjfearnley.com/synergetics.essay.html

CJ Fearnley
Executive Director
Synergetics Collaborative
http://synergeticists.org
"

Uhhh...human factors...(Dream World Project)

So with the hopes of gaining a more active relationship with my dream self I wrote a few scripts that call me at 3:30 and 5:30 in the morning every day and record everything I say. I did it with Skype's limited command line support, Total Recorder and some really simple scripting. When I say simple, I mean that it took me all day and if you don't know what bash is you won't be able to do this on your own using my method.

SO... it works, except it hasn't worked. I get two calls a night but I sleep through them both. So now I have a bunch of computer recordings of my voicemail message. But I'm a trooper and with luck my dream self will have an internet representation as well.

Here is the simple script (mangled from), called from a .bat which is called from Total Recorder's scheduling system:

c:/Program\ Files/Skype/Phone/Skype.exe &
sleep 10
c:/Program\ Files/Skype/Phone/Skype.exe /callto:001XXXXXXXXXX &
sleep 120
killall -m "Skype"
exit 0<

I also have windows scheduler open Total Recorder a few minutes before 3 and 5 thirty and close it a few minutes after, that helps.

Assass

So this video is not just a magic moment in itself, it was the culmination of three months of hunting and killing on my part, and hiding on Romie's part. An epic game of assassins. In the very beginning we promised not to kill each other if we were the last two alive. And when we were, we kept the promise, despite some close calls, and made a bargain to split the win. I got the glory, he got the prize. We staged a grand final showdown, that is ultimately for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LpdsBfKwT0
Notes: this was in 2003. Bitkower annotated the hefty bag. Romie saved his moustache just to look more evil for the film. No kittens were harmed, but I almost lost my face.

Jeremiah's Fascinations

Medium to extensive knowledge on:

hacking society
creation myths
patterning of humpback whalesong
indigenous textiles
middle America life
the constellations
animal emotions

drug adventures that change time

the chemistry of baking
good beer


Wants to know:
the rise and fall of String Theory
the science behind the structure of music, and how it affects human emotion
the development of the modern pencil
arguments in favor of cannibalism
how ants communicate chemically
Neanderthal society
self-castration for religious purposes
whether sexual orientation is decided by genetics
the development of SCUBA equipment
a brief history of execution by hanging

Everything is Enfascinated

Here are some things that I want to learn about. If you know any of these things I would love for less than a page and more than a paragraph on what it is that makes that subject so totally awesome.

More importantly, I would like your list too.


indigenous textiles
the joy of joy and power of misery
better living with simple machines
living with serendipity
health benefits of fruit
the hidden rules behind how to be cool
party dances of the fifties and their funny names
the history of any Idea
the forgotten implications of the nation-state
intro to hustling
fame
wealth and fame
how do trees grow and
what is so great about dirt
and the constellations
the chemistry of baking
ways of knowing very complicated systems
DIY anything/everything
similarly: I'm trapped on a desert island. How do I . . .
animal emotions
plant emotions
Internet culture
ornament
drug adventures that change time
Can you fix your eyesight with simple exercises?
what goes into a really good sauce?
and whats up with Miso soup?
dream worlds
vanity as a virtue
ADD as a necessary human adaptation to the information age
What can you say when very very smart people believe things about society that you don't want to be true (like Von Neumann's Mutually Assured Destruction)?
hacking society
monsters
type design (renaissance faces)
past visions of the future
changing visions of the past (and the history of history)
is there any point to meditating without entirely leaving society.
how to speed read
emergent properties
paper watermarks
creation myths
how to communicate neat ideas/change peoples minds/make people really care.
similarly, how do people work?
LED lighting as a replacement for tungsten
kids stories from the turn of the other century
is there any astrology deeper than generalizations?
looms
California Native history and California before it was called that
Japanese pop culture and rural culture
middle America culture
artificial life
what is natural?
similarly; the history of floral prints
linear systems
everyday chemistry
everyday physics
everyday geology
everyday math
everyday statistics
everyday linguistics
what idea from your field had a big influence on your everyday life?
Buckminster Fuller
the insults and cusses of the world's languages (There are 6000
languages in the world today. 3000 will be extinct in the next 50 years)
demography
untranslatable expressions from Japan
superfoods
Russian urban youth culture
rap in different langauges
emerging markets
the (rising?) role of comedy in politics
how can I stay awake in class (and why do I always fall asleep)
is nostalgia anything but a marketing tool?
Are there any other methods besides meditation for improving clarity
of thought?
What is the difference between exercise and strain?
is the free market the closest implementation of a decentralized
evolutionary system
in economics?
is there a tradeoff between memory and creativity?
whats wrong with 'technology will solve our woes'

Instructions to my next hairdresser

So I don't have much hair, and the situation will only get worse. My options are few: shaved head baldy(to the bone or 1/4 inch), combover baldy(denial), gradstudent baldy (greasy, fro-like and neglected). Not much to work with, the only real option is the first, and hats, but I've got an idea. On the top and back of my head I get these little cowlicks, and when they are short they have a mischevious six year-old vibe, when they are long they look like Caesar's laurels. In between, we'll call it the little Caesar, its kid-like. So take the tuft up front down to the bone(can't stand the tuft), and take the back, sides and most of the top to a quarter inch. But play up the laurels. Make them stand out enough that someone paying attention will notice, but subtle enough that no one else will, so it looks like it just grows that way.

These instructions aren't all that far out, but I don't think any (stylist? barber?) that doesn't know me would take me seriously. This vision can be made to work and it can be made to not work. I've done what I can do, outlining the goal, the rest is up to the cutter. This is what you've got to work with: www.myspace.com/enfascination. If you think you can make it happen, get back to me. With a shared vision for the future male pattern, little Caesar will conquer as surely as strands wash down the drain.