Saturday, June 22, 2019

Solstice Gathering 2019


I haven't seen this many in our group together in a long time. Gus may have captured a few seconds in 360, with his new two-camera GoPro. He's on the cutting edge in VR, job related (fire inspections, recording the scene).

Stig, new in Portland, was our guest of honor. He not only looked Spanish, he's in love with Catalonia and Gaudi. We got right into it.  New cities.  How to mitigate trash through new lifestyles, advertised through media.

When FNB (I went to one tonight, before the potluck, and stuffed myself) set up the tent at Occupy Portland, that held the space. Then the less disciplined took over, using plastic utensils and paper plates.  That grossed us out and we moved our smaller operation to a different area.

You'll remember I was focusing on the recruiting vehicles around the periphery, meaning I was sensitized to various vehicles, some of them bizmos.  I was eyeing the camp with a recruiter's eye myself.  We had some serious, committed individuals with good social skills, all concentrated in one place.

Anyway, we want to prepare people for a life as more nomadic tourists, if they're up for it (many are). That means traveling light and not leaving a trail of waste.  Big junk piles, guarded by armed personnel, is not our idea of "not leaving a trail".

That doesn't mean a city the size of Old Man River is going to have no waste streams.  I discussed sewer systems with a Friend at the FNB event.  I'm putting some of the puzzle pieces together.

When you're not wasting a lot on packaging, you save a lot.  Bringing your own bags to the store rooms is only the beginning.  We're in no way wanting to duplicate the lifestyles of ranch style home commuter suburbians.  The idea of media rooms still makes sense.

The refugee camps on the drawing boards pipe in audio and video services.  The kids watch cartoons and play games.  The parents have a wide range of options.  We're not building a punishment park here.  We have playgrounds, even roller coasters.

We would all like New Cities TV I think.  But the old networks won't give it to us.  They don't have sufficient movie-making ability perhaps.  They fall back on the old standbys.