Don't Be Square!
theWife and I have been talking a lot lately about buying/building our first home. And we came to the conclusion that we are going to buy some land in a rural area surrounded by the woods and build one of these bad-boys -- a
geodesic dome home (mad props to you,
Mr. Fuller).
I've wanted to live in one of these for a long time. The idea of living in a conventional home, or box, never really moved me. But the geodesic dome shape stirs my soul.
Turns out you can by these as a kit and supposedly build most of the structure
yourself. The idea of building something like this myself also stirs my soul. I'm a very hands-on sort of person and building my dream house with my wife will be a wonderful experience. It took some of the people who built theirs around 3 years to build; working mostly weekends only.
Here is a neat blog detailing the building of a dome home.
Since we will be building a home from scratch it will be much easier to implement self-sustaining, energy efficient features, versus trying to retrofit an existing home.
A Prophetic Gas Pump
Fun Food Additive Of The Day! "BHT"
Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
I was looking at the list of ingredients for three different types of cereal today and noticed BHT was an ingredient in two of them and BHA was listed in the third. Both BHT and BHA were listed as a preservitive, "TO PROTECT PRODUCT FRESHNESS." So I thought I'd look up BHT & BHA to see what was said about the additives and find out why freshness needed a bodyguard.
The following was lifted from
Wikipedia:
Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is a fat-soluble organic compound primarily used as an antioxidant food additive (E number E321). It also used as an antioxidant in cosmetics, pharmaceutical drugs, jet fuels, rubber and petroleum products, and embalming fluid.
BHT is produced by the reaction of p-cresol with isobutylene. It was patented in 1947 and received approval of the Food and Drug Administration for use as a food additive and preservative in 1954. BHT reacts with free radicals, slowing the rate of autoxidation in food, preventing changes in the food's color, odor, and taste.
In the chemical industry it is added to tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether in order to inhibit the formation of dangerous organic peroxides.
Controversy
Serious concerns have been raised about the use of BHT in food products. BHT is a suspected mutagen and carcinogen. There have been cases in which some individuals have had difficulty metabolizing BHT, resulting in health and behavior changes.
BHT has been banned for use in food in Japan (1958), Romania, Sweden, and Australia. The US has barred it from being used in infant foods. However some food industries have eliminated it from their products including McDonald's as of 1986.
Change for a finger
I had to cash a check, so I went to a "micro-bank" bearing the name of my selected banking institution. Chase(formally Bank One) to be more specific. In case you're not familiar with what I call "micro-banks," they're tiny little satellite banks spread out over an urban environment. Think of them as a Starbucks version of a traditional bank.
The relationship between the bank and the customer seems to have changed over the years, or maybe it's because I came from a small town. Since the check was drawn from an account from the same bank I decided to try and get the check cashed without going through the whole personal bank account bullshit, thinking they would just cash the check. First, the bank teller asked for 2 forms of picture identification which was acceptable to me, but then the teller slid a small ink pad under the protective glass and asked for a fingerprint. I laughed, then I told the teller that I would like my check back. I asked the teller if he realized how ridiculous it was asking me for a fingerprint. Surprisingly the teller agreed with me. The person next in line thought it was funny too.
I find it very humorous how far the
Federal Reserve (privately owned, independent from government), U.S. government, and financial institutions will go to protect ink-covered paper that has
NO intrinsic value (
fiat money). Meaning today's United States
currency is no longer backed by silver or gold. What is the value difference between counterfeit and "officially" ordained money? Nothing!
It seems to me that the only reason paper money, debit cards, and credit cards are still used is people's belief in this system. Magic.
Current Moon Phase?
Added a free 'Current Moon Phases Module' to the sidebar. You can grab your own
here.
Beach is that way ---->
To broaden the spectrum of this blog even further, I'm going to share some exercise and strength training information. Plus, I'll share more of my ongoing physical transformation experience.
I'm a big fan of full body workouts, supersets, and using mostly free weights.
Men's Fitness (magazine) has a great series of full body workout plans called 'MF Fusion'. Here is '
Fusion Workout II' that I'm currently enjoying. The online version does not include workout D though.
You should be able to crank-out these workouts in under an hour.
Television, Junk Food, and Violent Behaviour
Tough on crime, to hell with the causes of crime if they make money (via Guardian)
Research shows a direct link between junk food and violent behaviour. But governments are in cahoots with the industry
"Why should a link between diet and behaviour be surprising? Quite aside from the physiological effects of eating too much sugar (apparent to anyone who has attended a children's party), the brain, whose function depends on precise biochemical processes, can't work properly with insufficient raw materials. The most important of these appear to be unsaturated fatty acids (especially the omega 3 types), zinc, magnesium, iron, folate and the B vitamins, which happen to be those in which the prisoners in the 1997 study were most deficient."...
"Researchers in Finland found that all 68 of the violent offenders they tested during another study suffered from reactive hypoglycaemia: an abnormal tolerance of glucose caused by an excessive consumption of sugar, carbohydrates and stimulants such as caffeine."
Speaking of vampires... the federal government wants your blood, too
Feds Want Hacker's Genetic Code (via Wired News)
"According to his attorney, Lamo's refusal is based on a religious objection to giving blood, and he's willing to provide his DNA in another form. "He went in there with fingernail clippings and hair, and they refused to accept it, because they will only accept blood," says federal public defender Mary French. "Which is, you know, kind of in the Dark Ages."...
"The FBI's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, was created to catalog violent criminals and sexual predators. But the 2004 Justice for All Act expanded the system to include samples from all newly convicted federal felons, including drug offenders and white-collar criminals."
What dreams may come
3:37am - I just woke up from having a dream that I was at a fast food restaurant, in the men's room, peeing into a urinal. Well, it turns out that my physical body will make good use of a urinal no matter how it is presented, whether it be in this world or in the dream world.
In the dream, I was inside a fast food restaurant, walking towards the restrooms. There was a cop and a child sitting at a booth, next to the doorway that lead to the restrooms. The booth almost completely blocked access to the doorway and the child was playing with a toy, doing his best to block the entrance as well. For some reason I didn't like the cop.
After getting around the booth I went into the men's room, walked over to the wall of urinals and began peeing into one. It was a rush of urine, it had obviously been awhile, and the release felt very good. I was standing pretty far away from the urinal and was still able to hit the urinal.
All the sudden I had a moment of lucidity... I was not "awake" and was really peeing! I immediately woke up and checked to see if I had in fact pissed in bed. Yep, sure did.
Tuning In...
Rupert Sheldrake's theory of
morphogenetic fields, the
noosphere, universal consciousness – whatever you want to call it – has been a favorite subject of mine lately. So I was delighted to read Jeff Wells' perspective on the subject over at
Rigorous Intuition.
"
In one of Colin Wilson's works...he speaks of certain cases of people with brains that are largely fluid, covered over with a thin layer of cortex. While most people with this condition are severely retarded, there are known instances of such people showing normal or above normal intelligence. Wilson goes on to speculate on the idea of the brain not as an organ of thought, but as some sort of receiver for thought that arises outside of the body. The idea's an odd one, yet in many ways attractive for the number of loose ends it ties up."
...
"When ideas come of age they're simply
in the air. Inventors and great minds, suddenly and seemingly independent of each other, appear to tap into the same ineffable thoughtstream. Great artists are often recognized by the clarity of their manifestations of universality. In Martin Scorsese's
No Direction Home, singer Liam Clancy says about Bob Dylan that "it wasn’t necessary for him to be a definitive person – he was a receiver – he was possessed," while producer Bob Johnson says Dylan's work isn't to Dylan's fault or credit: "He’s got the holy spirit about him – you can look at him and see that.
" [...]
theWife and I have been talking a lot lately about buying/building our first home. And we came to the conclusion that we are going to buy some land in a rural area surrounded by the woods and build one of these bad-boys -- a geodesic dome home (mad props to you, Mr. Fuller).
