Hard work

So, I’m effectively cut off from the Internet and going through computer withdrawals.

I’m typing this from my iPhone. Thank God for my iPhone.

My post today is about hardwork. The kind that makes other people say – dude that’s insanity, slow down just a bit. It’s my style – excitedly working on getting myself somewhere – diet coke in hand, charging hard through the thickets of work that interect themselves into my day. I’m by nature a bipolar person when it comes to work. I either want to – or I don’t. Spring is the time when I want to the least and fall is probably when I’m at my best… At least that’s my thought…

I recently decided to claim my rightful place in a top-notch residency. I’m smart enough for it…now I just have to work hard enough for it…

Three days outside of Facebook and while I sadly miss it – I’m on the way to making up for it with a vengeance…I can do this all day and night long.

I have two more weeks to be here…I’ve gotta make them count like there’s no tomorrow…because while that statement is a stretch – there is some truth in it…we aren’t measured in life by what we’re GOING to do. Or what we plan to do…We’re measured in life by what we’ve done.

That basically sums up this entire post. I’m not going to fight to get back west. I’m FIGHTING to go back west.

Nuff said, it’s time for a self-imposed drill school

Discipline is my friend…Discipline is my friend…

Soft on Crime vs. Soft on Value

I was reading the newspaper today, during a quick little break and decided to delve into the comments for a few moments. Mostly because the teaser is so damned intriguing. The article is about three men who were shot in Seattle. The long and short of it is that someone shot them, and the victims knew the assailant. The police hadn’t quite found the assailant, but were looking.

Why I looked into the comments, I don’t know. But I found a few gems.

Harsher penalties is the answer. These gangsters are worthless liabilities to society and if they can’t understand what is expected of them then it is our duty to show them what is expected of them. The prisons are a cake walk for these habitual criminals. We have to turn our prisons into work farms and make these criminals regret being sentenced to “hard” time. Make them suffer through complete exhaustion.

and

And I’m supposed to care, why? Glad to hear they weren’t “innocent bystanders.” As long as they keep taking each other out without picking the rest of us off, let ‘em. Better to decrease the worthless population.

The emphasis in the above quotes is mine.

But statements like “worthless liabilities to society”, “prisons are a cake walk”, and “Make them suffer” aren’t exactly enlightened thoughts.

People might say that the persons leaving these comments are merely being hyperbolic – but I’d refute that. We have a myriad of proof that shows that people who are poor, minorities, and/or somehow not in the current mainstream are seen as worth-less. Unfortunately, the gentleman is right – when we stop viewing our neighbors and citizens as assets and truly expecting them to contribute to society as opposed to giving up hope and losing respect for them as humans – people become liabilities to society, liabilities that our strained society cannot afford to pay for.

Companies are laying off people at a breakneck pace – jobs are drying up, markets are shifting and terrified – and I’d say that a large part of the reason is because of our value system. We’ve forgotten how to value people. We’ve forgotten as a society to respect our neighbors.

Sentiments like “make them suffer through hard work” aren’t productive. They don’t do anything to enhance the person, or society. Hard work can be incredibly rewarding. Hard work IS incredibly rewarding. Ensuring that someone, who has already shown proclivities towards violence has a terrible time in prison isn’t going to stop crime. Rather it only “hardens” criminals. Forcing people to act like animals to survive isn’t the answer to eliminating crime. Forcing people to act like human beings is.

Prison is a necessary punishment. I agree that the person(s) responsible for the shooting should if convicted after a fair and impartial trial, should go to prison.

But lets’ actually ensure that the people in prison (yes, people) are productive to society. Let’s make sure that they have the skills, both technical and affective, to succeed in the general population once they are out of prison. Let’s make sure they never want to go back because they view prison as beneath them – not because they are rationally afraid of an irrationally brutal system.

We’ve added year after year to minimum sentences. We’ve added firearms enhancements to criminal penalties, we’ve cut back on the vocational and educational opportunities for incarcerated people for decades, fearful of being soft on crime – and all its’ done has made ex-convicts more desperate and fearful of going back to prison.

That translates directly into police having to deal with more desperate and hopeless people. People who act irrationally and in unexpected ways.

I remember sometime ago when I was working with the Fire Department. We went to a motor vehicle accident and upon arrival found a car, flipped over onto it roof, with bullet holes in random parts of the underside of the car. Shell casings littered the ground.

The people in the car were okay – two women and their three children. The youngest child was about 15 months old.

The bullet holes they reported, came from the man who after hitting them broadside and thinking he had hurt them badly, feared going back to prison – “Fuck that, I’m not going back” he was reported to have said multiple times, as he emptied a clip of bullets into their car.

Yes he should be in prison. But it’s wrong to ignore that fear – that fear that leads to more irrational violence.

They were lucky their car was a late model one with actual steel protecting them from the bullets. But others haven’t been.

Our criminal justice system woefully needs repair. You can’t rehabilitate people when they haven’t been habilitated in the first place. You can’t teach civics lessons in the colliseum with gladiators all around. You can’t learn peace if you constantly fear violence.

The only way we’re going to be able to truly be “tough on crime” is if we can figure out how to instill in inmates the true value of the wasted potential that unfortunately characterizes the lives of most of their lives…

We have to figure out how to value their humanity in order to get them to value others…

Without doing that, we’re doomed to repeating the same mistakes and expecting something different.

Didn’t somebody say that was the definition of insanity?

Very Random Thoughts – # 1

I can’t help but wonder if people would eat less sodium, fat, sugar, and other calorically dense, nutritionally empty foods if they drank a glass of water immediately before each meal.

I wonder if it would have any effect on the taste – and what that might do…

Library of the Future

I’ve been thinking recently about what an intelligent, completely digital library might look like. It seems like a place that is heavy on atmosphere and light on actual books. It seems like a place where the number of laptops and wi-fi connections would be the most paramount object.

I’m imagining food, coffee, and drink vendors in a circle. People could sit on couches and chairs, and eat and read, listening to music with headphones on. Small palm computers would enable you to read and annotate books. The books, being digital could be read by a preselected computer voice.

There would be multiple different rooms. Quiet rooms for people who wanted to be in an environment of absolute quiet. White noise rooms for those who concentrate best in a crowded, noisy environment. Multimedia rooms for those who wanted to watch films, listen to music, and edit/make music or video. There could also be meeting rooms where groups could meet and collaborate on projects.

Electrical outlets would be ubiquitous. On the walls, floors, under tables, on top of tables, in corners – everywhere…

I think it could be great. Just great…

50 ways to Make Your City More Livable

For some time now I’ve been thinking of ways that individual citizens, as well as businesses and policy makers could collaborate and make an urban environment a much friendlier, safe, efficient, less stressful place. From reducing pollution, noise, crime, illiteracy, homelessness, unemployment – to increasing transportation, cultural events and traditions, educational attainment, and small business endeavors, these are the first 50 things that popped into my head as solutions/strategies for making your city or urban environment a better place…

50. Add trails for running and biking
49. Plant trees everywhere you can
48. Convince some people to replace their yards with vegetable gardens
47. Help artists, dancers, and musicians make a living by spending city money on commissions and performances
46. FlexCar or ZipCar
45. Separate large vehicles from the small ones
44. Help hunters in and around your city
43. Support your local farms – encourage urban farming co-ops
42. Make sitting on the sidewalk enjoyable
41. Get cars off the road – build subways, trains, ferries, and bike paths
40. Build more tunnels
39. Create business and industrial parks
38. Guarantee health care for citizens employed within
37. Make college affordable for your citizens
36. Reward efficiency
35. Citizen referendums on spending – not taxation…
34. Leverage technology heavily to improve urban problems
33. Use blogs to speak to affected groups
32. Clean, safe Public restrooms
31. Support food banks by giving money, time, or food every month
32. Create a city landscaping program for a persons front yard
31. Go vertical
30. Make it easier for taxis to do business
29. Put the Internet into every home…
28. Digital libraries instead of paper
27. Move utilities underground
26. Support urban farming
25. Support housing co-ops
24. Meld community centers with schools and museums
23. Create an Urban Corps- trade community service for tuition and college credits.
22. Build more bus and bike lanes
21. Make your public infrastructure low maintenance
20. Wage a gentle war on drugs
19. Require criminals to complete community service in order to leave county custody
18. Ensure the elderly aren’t displaced
17. Create regional centers of architectural and historical excellence
16. Widen the sidewalks, not the streets
15. Create a rich underground transportation infrastructure for companies.
14. Sharp tax breaks for living wage companies
13. Build as many pedestrian overpasses as possible
12. Encourage mixed income housing
11. Build magnet schools
10. Give substantial tax breaks to businesses that sponsor local little league and high school sports
9. Build shelters to get homeless people back on their feet
8. Give sales tax rebates to professionals whose presence improves the functioning of the city. Use this to recruit additional professionals.
7. Create housing surpluses with fiscal policy – use this to drive down rent prices, making the living wage lower
6. Ban smoking indoors and within 100 feet of public facilities
5. Establish “club shuttles” to curb drunk driving
4. Operate gun exchanges to get illegal weapons off of the street
3. Give civil service points for living within a high-density urban area
2. Make the cost of public transportation and biking tax refundable
1. Throw several festivals and cultural events every year.

Focus on Progress – Terroncito is Entropy

I already know I’m too fly…

Unfortunately, the rest of world doesn’t quite know yet. So it’s my job to prove it to the world. Earlier today I posted a synopsis (yes a synopsis) of my career/activity aspirations. Things like “rappel into lair of bad guys, shooting and yelling”, “fly a C17″ were thrown around…

ASIDE:
This is a poser: “I fly a C-17…it’s just that raw actually…but, you know, I care about the environment so I buy carbon offsets for it…which ends up being a few grand per flight, but you know, I’m a hustla so…”

Anyways, I’m back to the task at hand – talking about focus and progress…It’s progress for me to write daily. It provides an outlet for the thoughts that would otherwise build up and begin to pressurize my sensorium as I go through my daily routine. So my focus on progress has to include my thoughts, both good and bad, both well-connected and illogical. My focus on progress is more about chi and finding good ways to allow all of my mental energy to flow harmoniously.

Lest I sound like a complete hippie, let me also tie my resolutions to some concrete goals. In order to progress and focus – I need to create an environment conducive to that goal. Which requires a great deal of…consolidation.

I’ve fallen into a trap of consumerism – buying things to make me someone whom I’d like to be, instead of being who I am and liking it. Not to say that I am comfortable liking myself, but realizing the reason for many of my purchases, many of the purchases that complicate my life and clutter my supposedly academic milieu, is necessary to moving myself in a direction that is consistent with what I want to do.

I want to study uninhibited by visual or mental distractions. I want to read and review in a well-lit, quiet, engaging atmosphere. I want to look around and see a comfortable, retreat-like environment where reading is encouraged over napping. Currently, my environment is so over-exciting that I often tend to nap in order to escape the pressure of taming the relentless entropy that is my room.

So what does taming that entropy require?

First, it requires getting rid of massive amounts of paper. MASSIVE amounts of paper. Mostly because I’m paranoid about releasing anything that has my name and address or any type of account number on it. I’ve also proven to be paranoid about getting rid of school notes from the last year and a half.

Fortunately, I’m beginning to come to my senses. In order to learn medicine, I have to teach myself. My medical textbooks are a great way to teach myself. The lecture note packets that I have are seminally useless…they seed a certain despair which my thumbed through, highlighted, reviewed textbooks do not. Having given up designs on being an honors medical student, I’m free to construct my immediate environs in such a way that will, ironically, allow me to study in a manner conducive to receiving honors. Or moving out of my apartment quicker.

That is what my desired changes in my room also should move me towards. They should move me towards a greater mobility. Not only in a cerebral, symbolic sense- as I’m empowered to move my mind in more agile, nimble ways because I’m more focused – but also in a literal sense. I can pack my shit and go.

For some reason, I’ve been feeling the need to lighten myself, pare myself down to a dense, solidified core. Some psychological need to be able to escape. The world has become a pressure cooker and I’d like to be able to wander freely, while still being happy.

So onwards I march towards a simplicity that has alluded me for a little more than 27 years. I’ve got cluttered genes, with both my mother and father haven fallen victim to room clutter, but they also both have had a powerful need for organization in their lives. I’m feeling the same thing – seemingly equally as powerful, and it’s my time to develop a sense of comfort without physical things, because these physical things that we keep hold us back. They are literal and figurative weight.

It makes me wish more books were online. More books were in the form of PDFs. More texts digitally accessible, able to be highlighted, marked up, annotated, and commented. It would be a boon to my progress, because while I do indeed enjoy collecting books, I’d just as soon collect music and movies in place of the books, because they only reason I cherish their physical presence is that it makes them easier to read – although there is certainly a technological substitute for that – it’s called an Amazon Kindle…

So, bring on the color Kindle. Bring on the little digital stylus that can be used to highlight as well as scribble annotations. Wifi updates allowing me to track everything I’ve ever read, a personal bibliography that fits in my palm. Fits in my backpack, alllows me to purchase books from wherever I am. That would just beat all…

If publishers really wanted to succeed in the business of literaure, they’d succeed in making the Kindle and its’ ilk completely capable of replacing the milieu of a good book. Both for pleasurable reading, but also for study reading. I’ve got some ideas on how they could do that…
But then again, that would require me splitting my focus from reading for school, writing for my blog, and cleaning my room in order to line up with some “flight pattern” of expectations that I’ve established for my version of adulthood and life in general.

It’s now time for me to get to the business of clearing, not cleaning my room. I need an oversized garbage/recycling bin…that and a shredder…

I wanna I wanna…

I’ve been thinking recently about the things that I’ve wanted to do for some time.

I’ve got a stable list of things – many of them professions – that I’ve wanted to engage in regularly for at least 3-5 years. They range from white to blue collar. They range from requiring multiple degrees and certifications to primarilyrequiring a driver’s license, a strong back, and a willingness to listen.

Construction: For several years now, the allure of swinging a hammer and actually building homes has held a definite appeal in my mind. It’s the idea of creating something with a lasting benefit, something tangible that you can look at day-in and day-out. It also may have been a lucrative field – especially since I already had a job with benefits and great hours/pay.

Writing: Hell, right now i’m writing and I’m enjoying it. For sometime now I’ve wanted to describe, create, and give life to complicated, tragically funny, human, and sometimes inhuman characters. I’ve wanted to, again, be creative and craft mysteries and viewpoints that aren’t necessarily commonly held. Unfortunately, I don’t READ enough literature, and haven’t read nearly enough literature to be the amazing writer that I want to be.

Surgeon: I’m on my way. It’s a craft, a certain creativity, another profession with a tangible pursuit – although one that is somewhat more visceral than palpable. I like the combination of detective work and the butchery of it all. I like the hand-eye coordination. I like the technical proficiency, the detail, the creativity (although limited – see below) of it. I like the opportunity to definitively correct pathology, and I like the pressure of it. Ultimately I also like the idea of being more likely to work, medically, with those who acutely need good physicians and are the most unlikely to be able to identify with physicians…I also love the idea of working with my hands. The drawback is how much it seems to interfere with the rest of ones’ life. Which is unfortunate to say the least…

SWAT Team Member: Forgive me if my “adventure spirit” aka. testosterone occasionally gets the better of my judgement and conscience – all I can say is rapelling into a building, smashing windows out, and shooting a gun while yelling/screaming at “bad guys” does still hold some cachet in my brain – even if higher parts of me realize the sophomoric nature of it all… Unfortunately the whole, “being a cop” thing sort of bugs me about it though…

Adventure Athlete / Mountain Climber: Believe it or not, i like trail running – something I discovered when me and Jenn were bombing down a trail on Mt. Si a few years back. I also like the combination of technical proficiency, and the opportunity to be outdoors. Again, the use of ones’ body in the profession is a plus as well. God gave us arms and legs to walk, push, pull, and kick every day….If God wanted us to sit on our ass all day he at the least wouldn’t have given us legs…

Musician: The idea of sitting down every day, notebook in hand, guitar in hand, wearing sunglasses and something awfully rockstar funky, does hold a great amount of appeal. Playing over and over, riff after riff, practicing the craft until I’ve reached a level of technical mastery that seems to be unparalleled is really cool. That passion is something that will help me to become an amazing surgeon – but damn it would be cool to do with music as well…again the creative freedom that music allows is something that I find unique…to my knowledge, no fields offer the same level of expressive freedom as music – you can be very creative in construction, but it’s useless if the building doesn’t remain standing when it rains. You can be creative in surgery every once in a while, but if your patients die, they’ll ask questions…and you’ll have to answer them…Creativity on a SWAT team doesn’t really tend to go over so well “so this time guys, I’m thinking I’m gonna flip a coin before I rappel into the window and if it’s heads – I shoot the bad guys, tails I shoot the person I like least in the room…which isn’t necessarily the bad guy.”

Engineer/Designer: I definitely appreciate good design, and again the creative aspect of the profession combined with the technical proficiency needed to create something useful that won’t fall apart or break when its’ needed the most. I think a lack of true engineering is what has led to our countries’ auto company crisis. I think a lack of true engineering is why our transportation systems are quickly choking and dying. I think a lack of true engineering is why we haven’t figured out more energy efficient solutions to making durable goods easily recycled/repurposed; heating, cooling, and lighting our homes; driving our cars; flying airplanes around; and moving heavy (which if better engineered could be light) freight around. Coupled with a positive aesthetic, good well-engineered stuff

Physicist: String theory is cool. Quarks are exciting. The freedom to be a complete nerd, live in Europe (likely Switzerland), and be on the cutting edge of a whole bunch of things is intriguing. Too bad I’m likely not smart enough to do it…

Economist: The economic choices that our governments, corporations, and people make are interesting to me and I think that many of Western societies ills stem from inappropriate allocation of resources as well as inaccurate valuations of products, processes, assets, and liabilities, whether those be cars, waste treatment, people, homes, transportation options, prisons, police, or schools. Second to being a teacher, I think being an economist could fulfill a cerebral need of mine to truly, contribute to society and make an honest try to make the world a better place for everyone.

Lawyer: I like the idea of being a lawyer in a theoretical way only. Lawyers are perhaps those best equipped to handle themselves in our world, mostly due to their understanding of the legal basis by which our world works, as well as the pitfalls and holes that society, as a body of law, has in its’ fabric. Ultimately, at the very least the only thing you can rely upon somewhat is law. If you don’t know it – you don’t really know where you stand. Which is very unfortunate. Why only theoretical as opposed to in practice? Sitting down all day = no deal. I’d go nuts on day three. Suit and tie is okay a couple days a week, but isn’t there something to work on with my hands?

Landscape Architect/Farmer: I like plants. I like the idea of building something – again tangible. Using your body to do it. I like the idea of growing your own food – this was something brought home to me by reading the book the Omnivore’s Dilemma. I say landscape architect/farmer because if I could, I’d re-plant most of urban/suburban America’s boring lawns with self-sustaining gardens that would feed families and their neighbors. I’d allow people to be their own mini-serfdoms, where families could all pitch in and farm one home a week and have a huge bountiful harvest. Ultimately, reclaiming perfectly good, arable land from the chemicals and gunk that goes into “lawns” would prove healthy for our environment, as well as appealing to the eye and palate/stomach. Fresh corn, yams, tomatoes and spinach taste unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and I’d like my kids to know that taste.

Football/Rugby/Hockey: Speed, violence, working with your body, emotion, character, racing to catch your thoughts and your breath. Technical mastery, skill, agility, camraderie, and adrenaline all enter into these sports. The ability to be outdoors often (in all except hockey) holds a great deal of appeal as well. The strategic aspect of the games is enticing. Unfortunately, I have a difficult time feeling like it matters much. It could be different if it was tied to society in some meaningful way – like the winners of a particular team got to vote for a certain charity to be funded or something – but there’s really nothing at all on the line other than a “ring” which honestly – I don’t wear jewelry…

Track and Field / Speed Skating / Race Car Driving: It’s the idea of speed. Speed is very seductive to me. I like to drive fast. I love to run. Speed skating enters the equation because it is sprinting on ice. And god does it look fun. Especially the crashes and corners. The adrenaline in these sports must be sky-high. Again though, it just doesn’t seem like there is much you’d leave behind in terms of tangible accomplishments…

Soldier: Theoretically, being a soldier could be a very cool thing to do. I certainly respect the hell out of soldiers’ for being soliders, but I don’t necessarily respect what the military does. I understand that being a soldier requires two entirely different psychologies, and the ability to nimbly switch between the two personas – much like violent athletics actually – and that problems in a soldiers’ life arise when the two personalities are required to be around simultaneously… In a sense, I think that being a soldier is closer to the truth than at any other moment in one’s life. That is of course an uneducated musing from someone who is NOT a soldier. But there is excitement inherent in being a soldier – gunfire, running, screaming at innocent people to duck, shooting at people, fighting – exorcising the pent-up frustrations and day-to-day anger that “society” promulgates – for ones’ own sanity and clarity, and feeling like you are on the side of principle. Not just an empty vessel of consumerism…Or maybe it’s way less cerebral and much more about the discipline, camraderie, and surge of power and adrenaline that one feels when they shoot guns in teams, and call for their side to rain fire and destruction down on the other side. The only problem I’ve got with it is the idea of being made to kill someone…because of a lack of political will to deal with things in other, nonlethal ways…

Pilot: Again the speed thing is pretty alluring. You essentially strap yourself to the front of a bullet with two or four jet engines (read: mini-rockets) and you hurtle down a straightaway until the damned thing starts to lift off. Once you are at cruising altitude and speed you just watch the skies and talk to air traffic control to make sure you don’t hit someone else who is doing the same exact thing as you. The freedom to travel and see multiple places is cool. The technical proficiency is cool. The nomadic existence, living in hotels all the time is not. Also pilots don’t necessarily get to poke around in the cities that they fly to – they’ve got to sleep and get ready for their next flight oftentimes. All that said, I would absolutely LOOOVE to fly a large jet – not a Boeing 737 or anything like that – I’m thinking of a plane the size of a Lockheed C-5 or C-17…one with the wingtips that look tiny, but are actually 9 feet tall…I have to admit I wish there was a way to fly an airplane and not emit massive amounts of carbon…I also wish there was a way to do that without working for the military OR commercial airlines, both unappealing employers to say the least.

Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer: You get paid. To jump out of helicopters into pitching and rolling 40 foot seas. Swim to a person who is cold, tired, and likely slowly drowning. Put a harness on them – and then haul their asses out of the water…back into the perfectly good helicopter you jumped out of. You then take care of them while that helicopter hauls ass to the mainland…can you say adrenaline?

High School Teacher / Professor: I can think of no other job more important to society than that of a teacher. It is unfortunate however, that our teachers aren’t the ones held in the highest regard – our teachers are barely paid a living wage, and they are consistently underequipped in terms of learning materials

Dancer: Much like being a musician, being a dancer allows a great deal of creative flexibility, and it also allows you to work with your body. There is a certain adrenaline that goes with performing, and you get to listen to music all day long – although it’s probably the same music, all day long. Unfortunately, the pay sucks and the vicious nature of the business isn’t all that appealing.

Dreams a.k.a. intrinsic distractions

I read magazines.

Mostly because they trigger my dreams. They trigger my aspirations. They trigger my wants… My hopes…

I’d like to build things that challenge our current ideas about whats correct in the built environment. I saw a flat-roofed monolithic home located in Sweden in the middle of the latest issue of Dwell magazine. It sits in a prairie, ringed by low, sparsely flowered shrubs and tall pine trees. It is a monument to glass and concrete, juxtaposing a concrete slab roof and floor/foundation with crystal clear glass walls.

It sparked something for me.

Although the house was large I could instantly see it as a treehouse. I could see several of these structures, some made to appear cubic, hanging effortlessly from trees – connected by small skybridges…a modernist version of Swiss Family Robinson…

I thought about the roofs of these homes, they could be gently sloped food gardens, irrigated by rain water or mist. The “floors” appearing to hang, housing infinity edged pools for people to swim in. Decks with easy to manicure grasses could provide a space to recreate, listen to music, barbecue, or lie in a cool breeze. The vertical edges of the decks could provide space for landscaped plantings to both hang and project outwardly – the plants could provide a counterpoint, both contributing to a natural aesthetic, but also providing privacy – dampening noise and obscuring visual lines of sight.

Where plants wouldn’t provide an adequate blockage of visual/auditory sightlines, screens made of an opaque material that absorb sound could be strategically hung. They could grow moss and vines, and would provide both shade, additional privacy, and could solidify the green aesthetic.

Where would these homes go? In the middle of a greenbelt – in an area where native species could live on the ground.

What’s the benefit of placing the homes “in the trees”? Why such an unconventional use of space? How would it work?

Well, first, by placing the homes in the trees, a fundamental goal of the project is realized – more greenspace for people inhabiting the homes. There are additional benefits – reduced noise and light pollution due to the sound and light dampening properties of the tree foliage. The susceptibility of the home to wind/storm damage is minimized by trees on the outside of the “neighborhood” serving as a buffer to the elements. The issue of property drainage and land erosion is negated by leaving more land in a forested state than otherwise possible – having the trees around keeps the land adequately drained in the event of a major storm. Leaving the home in the air also clears the ground for more ecologically friendly uses – and removes a large heat sink from the home – the ground…This should make the home easier to heat in the winter time. By designing the home to be passively cooled, the energy savings should be impressive.

By keeping the size of the homes to a comfortable minimum, a good number of homes can occupy a small plot of land, with a minimum of land paved over. The unpaved land can be used in a variety of ways – as space for gardens, agriculture, habitat for small animals…The unpaved land can be partially cleared, and planted with hardy grasses to allow cars or bicycles a closer approach to the homes, although maintaining normal parking a moderate distance away encourages families to walk a short distance twice daily. Finally, by maintaining the land the way nature intended it, minimizes impacts and actually makes the home a more integral part of the landscape.

Instead of using the trees as the foundation for the homes, I would utilize concrete pillars, that resemble trees, and utilize “cut-throughs” of the homes to accommodate trees into the design of the home. The pillars would be reinforced concrete tubes lined with steel and carbon fiber, sunk into the ground on a footing – the lumen of each tube would serve as a conduit for utilities – water, electricity, cable, phone, sewage – although many of the utilities would be self-generated or collected on-site.

Something that at first might seem like a drawback of the project – the small house size – would later emerge as a benefit – the small house size makes the homes easier to heat and cool and ultimately more efficient. In addition, the homes being elevated helps to keep ground pests out of them. The long walk from the ground – via bridges to the homes would serve as ample points for pest control – allowing rats and mice to be trapped and released elsewhere…

Garbage and recycling collection could be done at central sites – with garbage and recycling being treated as a sort of dry-sewage – being disposed of via shredding and pressurized air blowing it through tubes to a central processing facility where it could be baled and disposed of…

I estimate that these homes would be more expensive to build than normal – although the extra expense would be passed on in terms of long-term savings to operate and maintain the home. In addition, the opportunity to live in an idyllic park-like setting would be unparalleled and very intriguing. Finally, the homes although more expensive could serve as a testbed of simple low-tech solutions to common problems (heating, cooling, electricity, water, sewage) that afflict poor tenants and homeowners in rural housing. The expertise gained in designing and building “homes that float in the sky” could be passed down to volunteers who work to build low-cost tree-housing developments in rural communities.

This is why I have a difficult time studying medicine…not enough dreaming to do just yet…

Podcasts and Documentaries: The Next Leap in Education?

It’s 8:11pm and I’m writing.  Writing about what I think could possibly be the next leap in pedagogy.  I’ve railed for the better part of a year on my medical schools ability to teach and the methods used to do so.  I’ve decried the lack of a coherent pedagogical style and generationally updated materials.  I’ve called the medical school out on it’s adherence to counterproductive and disproven traditions in medicine.  Now I want to share what I think could be the next big thing in terms of quality education.

America has always thrived on competition.  America is an extremely diverse and intelligent nation.  We have some of the smartest people on the planet here.  Unfortunately we don’t have one of the smartest educational systems on the planet here.

Just as brand new scholarly reviewed articles are brought into the lexicon of literature every day, we have a startling number of textbooks that are printed.  Unfortunately, they are hampered by two things: their scope and weight.

People don’t really like to carry textbooks around.  They are heavy.  4 lbs of overkill when the subject at hand is nearly always less than two to ten pages in length.  Rarely do students even bother reading their textbooks.  I certainly try to get away with doing as little reading as possible.

The scope of a textbook is also something of a problem – page 841 of the textbook on American History is rarely covered in public school classrooms.  Sometimes a textbook will manage to capture the interest and attention of a student, more often than not the students are merely trying to speed through their assignment so that they can do something more interesting.

Unfortunately for our educational system it was founded on the ideals of integrating people into society as workers.  It wasn’t designed to inspire people to realize anything close to their potential.  Critical thought is not a staple of our educational system.  Excellence is not a staple of our educational system.  Neither is for that matter competition.

Our educational system hands the tools to get a good education to about 1/7th of the students.  Those are the students who are able to deal with the traditional lecture based curriculums and for whatever reason have some type of imagination about their futures.  The people who do the best in the educational system are those who are driven.  Unfortunately our schools don’t do a great job of driving people towards any type of excellence.

But I digress.  My task in this post wasn’t to bad mouth the American Educational System.  Rather, it is to suggest alternatives that will enhance it.  First idea,

Eliminate textbooks.

Textbooks rarely get read.  Instead, create a scholarly refereed journal for high school and college aged students.  This does two things.  It puts knowledge in a more digestible format – that of the periodical, which encourages people to continue to read and study and learn.  Second, it teaches people how to read truly scholarly work.

For the classroom heavy hitting, I suggest making review “papers” in the form of podcasts and documentaries.  Podcasts are approaching the point where they can almost be interactive.  I can imagine a day when interactive software can and will be stored on an iPod and a small wireless connection will link your iPod to a screen of some sort.  Coupled with a wireless input device – digital pen, keyboard, mouse, joystick, video game controller – the opportunity for interactive learning is immense.

Next up, the documentary.

I was talking to my girlfriend about how reading would be great if I could do other things while I was reading.  Things like taking notes, looking up other things super quickly, folding clothes, cleaning my room, laundry.  I really can’t do most of those things – unless I’m “reading” an audiobook.

Audiobooks, are really just the soundtrack to a documentary.  In fact, for a large group of people, the audiobook is one step before watching a documentary.  Documentaries with their pictures, video clips, and animations are able to hold the interest of some of us less than focused people.

But that is a good thing, because you are able to actually SEE what someone is talking about when they share a message with you.

So how do you incorporate documentaries into education?

Simple, you start out with problems, you engage students.  You make the lessons that the students will learn the crux of the problem – and then you show the solution.  For some subjects, the actual learning will be a cumulative thing.  Students will not learn how to add from one story problem.  But if it doesn’t feel like learning, if the students are able to truly identify with the characters and their problems, then the solution to the problems will be understood, and the students will learn.  When put into a similar situation, the students should be able to translate the skills semi-actively learned into solutions…

Weight Loss

Would you like to know how to lose several pounds?

Several inches off of your stomach?

Almost instantly?

While still giving into your “sweet tooth”

I’ve got the diet and exercise plan that will work for you.  You see, I have an incessant sweet tooth.  Chocolate, muffins, bagels, croissants, honey, candies, cakes, pies, cookies, confections…I love them all.

But you can’t eat them all day long, otherwise you’ll get fat as hell.

But you CAN eat them.  You just have to do a little of “prerequisite” eating.  What’s that?  It’s insurance that you get yourself via eating.

You might ask me “Now, Terroncito, how the hell do I manage to eat in order to make sure I don’t get fat?”

And I’ll tell you.

I’m going to tell you for a low sum too.

Only $14.95 for my guaranteed Drop Down Diet DVD.

I’ll throw a subscription to the “Get Fit, Get Tight” podcast in for free when you email in the next 24 hours.

All for the low price of $14.95

No more gimmicky diets.  No more strange untried exercises.  No more embarrassing trips to the tailor or the big and tall section.  No more embarrassing post office applications for a new zip code…

Just pure, easy, stuff your face simple weight loss…

I guarantee that within a week of starting and religiously following my plan, you will be at least 5-10 pounds lighter and feeling like a million bucks.  Tired of your doctor nagging you to lose weight?  Tired of your thighs rubbing together?  Tired of paying for “portion controlled” food?  Tired of portion control?

I was too, and then I decided to do something about it.  I experimented for months, trying to find the right combination of fats, carbohydrates, protein, micronutrients, macronutrients, timing, etc…And finally one day I realized the secret.  I went to try to publish a book and the powers that be told me that the information was too powerful to release.  I’ve had captains of industry try to pay me off to NOT share my secrets.  Hundreds of food companies, dietitians, doctors, and personal trainers would love to see me discredited and muzzled.

Why?

Simply because my TOP SECRET EATING STRATEGY works, and using it, you don’t need to patronize them for weight loss, nutrition, and fitness advice.

My plan can save you thousands of dollars in food bills now, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills later on.

Already I’ve had hundreds of friends and family find success with losing unsightly and unhealthy fat just using my simple eating technique.  It’s entirely too easy, it takes little time, and it’s ideal for those who have minutes a day in the morning to make themselves something to eat.

My technique should be featured around the world in books and magazines, but it isn’t.  It would eliminate the entire market for diet books, diet shows, television workout shows, etc…

I’m risking my life sharing this information with you.  But more importantly I would be risking the lives of untold millions of people if I didn’t share this information.

Better yet, I tell you what I’m going to do.

I’m going to lower the price.  $14.95 is just too much.  $9.95 is about right.  That’s FIVE dollars of savings.  And I’ll even throw in another DVD.

In addition to my Drop Down Diet DVD and my Get Fit Get Tight DVD, I’m including my Slash and Burn podcast.  It shows you how to time your eating and exercise for maximal fitness and weight loss.  Imagine dropping three sizes in three months.  Imagine dropping two inches off of your waist in two months.  It’s possible.  That’s one DVD and two podcasts with over 400 hours of content for you to peruse and utilize that will make you one of the strongest, sleekest, fittest people you know.

All for $9.95

The only downside is that you will need an entirely new wardrobe, two to three sizes smaller than the ones you’ve had.

Order now, units are shipping fast!!