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Story Cubes for Storytelling

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Four months ago, I received a “Must Read!” article from my wife: “6 Ways electronic screen time makes kids angry, depressed and unmotivated“. Sure enough, our 8-year-old son was showing some of the symptoms described in the article:

  1. Disrupts sleep and desynchronizes the body clock.
  2. Desensitizes the brain’s reward system.
  3. Produces “light-at-night.”
  4. Induces stress reactions.
  5. Overloads the sensory system, fractures attention, and depletes mental reserves.
  6. Reduces physical activity levels and exposure to “green time.”

Reset Your Child’s Brain

That lead to reading the author’s book, “Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time by Victoria L. Dunckley, MD

We didn’t go through all “TEN STEPS TO PREPARE FOR A FAST” that Victoria recommends:

  1. Define problem areas and target goals
  2. Get your spouse and other caregivers on board
  3. Set a date and create a schedule
  4. Inform relevant adults in your child’s life
  5. Obtain toys, games, and activities to replace screen-time
  6. Schedule breaks or treats for yourself
  7. If possible, enlist a playmate’s parents to join you
  8. Inform your child and involve the entire family
  9. Perform a thorough “screen sweep”
  10. Set your intentionMy wife and I talked for an hour on Friday night mapping out activities, games, and alternatives and how to break the news to the kids. Then, on Monday, we went cold-turkey on the ipads for both boys.

My wife and I talked for an hour on Friday night, mapping out activities, games, and alternatives, and how to break the news to the kids. Then, on Monday, we went cold-turkey on the ipads for both boys.

The Results?

After two weeks, the symptoms were gone! Now, at four months, the absence of these two “little” ipads in their lives (and ours) has been working out, splendidly.

The ipads were replaced with more outdoor time, interactions between them and with us, looking out the window on the way to school, lots of storytelling, and one thing we’ve still got to work on: watching Japanese dance videos on YouTube (via the TV).

Storytelling Design

The bromide that “Children are natural storytellers” is true, but it’s deeper than that. Children live in the story version of their lives, going in and out of what we adults would call the “real” version.

Here’s Lucas living in his story. Notice that his dad is standing six-feet away, recording him, but he takes no notice. Then, when his stuffed animal drops, he’s jarred into the “Real” life of eating his cereal.

Have you ever tried to get a yes or no answer from a child? They answer every question with a story because they’re living in one. By telling you a story, they’re not evading; they’re giving you a more complete answer.

Rory’s Story Cubes

A month after the ipads “disappeared”, I found a game that fit Victoria’s advice to replace screen-time with other  activities: Rory’s Story Cubes.

They come in packs of nine cubes. The 6-sides of each cube has a picture on it of either a thing or an action (a noun or verb in adult-speak). You roll the cubes and make a story out of the ones that roll face-up.

As I was reading the box, and wondering if the game would be too much for our 4-year-old, Lucas rolled the cubes and cut me off saying, “Once upon a time …”

It was more than adorable; it was wondrous to watch his brain firing on all cylinders, reaching into the vast experiences of his four years of life experience, and telling us a story. “Can you believe this?!”, I asked my wife.

It’s not only possible; it’s their preferred means of expression. Children are designed to communicate in story. Before they have words for the things around them, before they put words together in sentences, they’re tracking the story of what’s happening to them, and around them. A few weeks after they’re born they look at you while you’re changing their diaper and you can see them taking it all in. There are no words, but they’re recording the beginnings of their own story.

The Gillespie Cubes

When playing, we give each player six cubes to roll for a new story. We have 27 cubes in all (Rory’s 9-cube starter and 9-cube action sets, 3-cube pre-historia, 3-cube sports, and 3-cube medic sets). If I was purchasing for the first time, again, I’d get this bundle:

As long as you have the self-contained 9-cube starter set there’s no wrong way to add to the set.

If you’re expecting this article to end with us going through every step of the book and living happily-ever-after, that didn’t happen. Although Victoria’s book outlines steps to reintegrate screen-time back into your child’s life in a non-destructive way, we haven’t even thought about bringing the ipads back to battery life. We’re on pause, for now, and not looking for the “play” button.

There are a few things that would make me reconsider: if the Kahn Academy greatly improves their app, or a similar life-changing technology appears on the scene. If so, we’ll make the kids earn every minute of screen-time like an allowance. Until then, we’ll stick with the best killer apps, of all: playing outdoors, talking with people, reading, and telling stories.

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Communication

McGillespie’s Writing Personality & Voice

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Writers must know their writing personality. They must also discover, and write with, their unique voice. There’s even 7 Great Reasons for Non-Writers to Discover their Writing Personality.

In this essay, I’ll describe my writing personality and voice, for three reasons:

  1. So that my children will better understand their father, his vantage point, and the writing goals of McGillespie.com.
  2. To provide one example, one breadcrumb thrown down, for other writers (and knowledge workers).
  3. To complete the exercise under the artificial duress of having to publish it.

The Path of Discovery

I found my writing personality and voice by:

  • Writing, and singing, lyrics and songs. I remember melodies and forget lyrics. When I can’t remember the lyrics I make them up to fit the melody.
  • Writing for over 10,000 hours. Non-writers don’t need to do this. More crucial, for me, was …
  • Knowing what I wanted to write about. At the heart of good writing is angst and anger. I write to keep the former from turning into a toxic form of the latter. I’m thankful for angst. It impels me to read, think, and write to achieve clarity on what’s causing it.
  • Over-learning subjects that are important to me. I’ve taken many writing courses, such as  Stephen King’s “On Writing”, Julia Cameron’s “Artist Way”, and Jeff Goin’s “Intentional Blogging”.
  • Having a keen desire to master the “active literacies” of writing, argumentation, and public speaking to write the script of my own life.

Reading Personality

I love being immersed in a great story! That’s why I read so much non-fiction: The greatest stories ever told are about what really happens; what people really do.

My reading is non-fiction, punctuated by ecstatic binges of fiction (Which I’ll only read if recommended by a friend). If you often say, “You can’t make this stuff up!” or, “If this happened in a movie or book no one would believe it!”, perhaps you’d enjoy reading more non-fiction, as well.

Writing Personality

INFJ

I’m an INFJ on Meyers Briggs personality tests (MBPTs) with primary and alternative traits of:

Introversion over Extraversion (59%)
Intuition over Sensing (50%)
Feeling over Thinking (31%)
Judging over Perceiving (25%)

I’ve take more extensive versions of the MBPT but have misplaced the results. Those results are probably more accurate on the percentages. Still, I’m consistently an INFJ and, more rarely, INFP. That would be consistent with the above results as the “Judging” dominance is only 25% over “Perceiving”.

INFJ Personality Infographic

‘Careers’

The online test says INFJ’s might excel in “careers” around: Education, Law, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Arts and Humanities, Graphics Design and Multimedia, Humanities, Social Services, Health Care, Early Childhood Education, Librarian.

Note: I put quotes around “career” because it’s a silly word when applied to most people. There are lifetime occupations and callings. But, most people change jobs an average of six times over a lifetime. My experience in corporate America was that the word “career” is used to keep the employee motivated, and invested, in long term benefits that may, or may not, ever materialize. I’m all for people respecting the big picture of the company they work for. The word, “career”, however, is often a lying word used to sell something.

Communication Skills

To help others wherever possible, and even when it seems impossible, is what fills an INFJ’s life with meaning and serves as their main motivation. This is their main orientation in the world, and it defines how they relate to events and to people around them.

In communication INFJs come across as thoughtful, supportive, and caring. Communication with an INFJ is pleasant and easy, since they are inherently well-disposed towards the other party. They are attentive and empathetic to other people’s feelings. Whenever one communicates with an INFJ, he or she instantly feels just how much they care about the people they know.

INFJs find it easy to communicate with people of various types and on variety of topics. However, INFJs can occasionally come across as somewhat reserved in their communication. Yet what they do when they appear reserved is taking time to sort out their feelings and thoughts of other people or current events.

An INFJ’s everyday social circle is unlikely to be extensive. It mostly consists of close friends, colleagues, and family members.

Those who work in the same field (e.g. coworkers or colleagues) are often reliant on, or interested in, an INFJ’s expert opinion of counsel on professional subjects. An INFJ is perfectly capable of maintaining an eventful business communication agenda involving an exchange of ideas and opinions, as well as practical solutions.

BookGeome Project

Writing Personality Chart

This BookGeome personality chart is based on uses of dialogue, descriptions, prose, and pacing in fictional writing. Amber Helt explains how to use the chart. Though I write non-fiction I went through the exercise for the sake of completeness.

DIALOGUE — Expressive (E) vs. Stoic (S)
DESCRIPTIONS — Detailed (D) vs. Concise (C)
PROSE — Hefty (H) vs. Breezy (B)
MOTION — Patient (P) vs. Kinetic (K)

That would make me either an SCBP or an SCHP. That type, they say, is suited to write on subjects of Education, Business, Economics, Religion, Self-Help or Performing Arts. Those are, in fact, many of the subjects I’ve written about in the past.

Weaknesses

My current weaknesses are in editing and speed of publication. I often write thousands of words per day but don’t publish thousands of words per day. My ratio of written-to-published words is about 5-to-1 and that’s too high. The ideal is probably closer to 2-to-1. My ratio is too high for three reasons:

  1. Lack of brain dominance leads to indecisiveness in the editing process. The many options for phrasing, wording, ordering of paragraphs and sentences, feel more like solving a math problem than editing words. A hypothetical audience would probably see little difference in drafts after the first two.
  2. Fear of being wrong about something important. The material I write about is often deep territory. There’s usually much research and reading that goes into it.
  3. Fear of burning through the attention span of the reader before imparting the important points of the piece. This impels me to spend more time — too much time — in the editing phase.

Remedy

Publish more under deadline. I imposed an artificial deadline on this essay for just that reason. The less time I stew over editing choices — after the first two drafts — the better. Happily for all, needless words are omitted by the second draft.

My Writing Personality(s)

Within Jeff Goin’s blogging types, the strongest, for me, is that of an Artist. Almost equally strong is Professor. Only with a subject firmly “in hand” does the personality of a prophet creep in.

Journalist? Only if an important job requires it. My book, The Creature from Galt’s Gulch, required a journalistic personality. Since it’s not my natural personality I find it difficult to write follow-up articles.

Star? None.

Artist

I gravitate towards creativity, beauty, music, art, and entrepreneurship. I appreciate all mediums in which they present.

Beauty and functionality are rarely seen apart from one another. The shape and skin of a dolphin is as beautiful as the jet plane or submarine that mimics it. The reverse is equally true: That which achieves a high level of functionality is inevitably beautiful.

By starting with art, an artist need give up nothing of functionality.

Professor

Writing in the role of a consultant often requires the personality of the “Professor”. The challenge is to impart the information, professionally, without sucking the “voice” out of it. Even dry material is more easily digested when presented in a unique voice.

I like “Playing the professor” as it forces me break things down into implementable steps. That turns data into knowledge, making wisdom possible, and action (Or silence), possible, as well.

Anything that solves a problem is also beautiful, especially to the one with the problem!

Prophet

With artistic eyes, and the eyeglasses of the professor, I can sometimes look out at the landscape of the subject and make predictions. Such “prophecies” are not outcomes I wish to be so. They’re  outcomes I think likely to occur given the trajectory of the predicting elements of the matter at hand.

Only a fool would underestimate the power of man’s free will. Even in the Bible, foreknowledge is not predestination.

Voice

Take away the voice and all that’s left are facts and data. Even formal expression is more interesting, and easier to digest, when presented in a unique voice.

The activities and desires in “The Path of Discovery” are how I discovered my writing voice. I’ll try to fit those discoveries in the acronym of S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose:

  • Spiritual Gifts — Writing, speaking, and possibly flying, are spiritual gifts.
  • Heart — Truth, delivered carefully, is the best form of compassion. It is evidence of, and often indistinguishable from, love.
  • Abilities (Natural) — Songwriting, musical instruments, learning complex things fast, solving problems, consulting, the “gift of gab”.
  • Personality — INFJ, SCBP
  • Experience — Musician, Consultant, Songwriter, Writing

Conclusion

The journey to find my voice has been the greatest adventure of my life. Every part of it has thickened the connection between my inner thoughts and outer reality.

It’s a great thing to read and understand everything one can to improve our own lives. It’s a much greater thing to parlay that work into something to inspire, lighten the load of, or shorten the path for, others.

Things that can do that are, in my view, masterpieces.

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Writing Personality Chart
Creativity

7 Great Reasons for Non-Writers to Discover their Writing Personality

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Writers must know their writing personality. They must also discover, and write with, their unique voice. But, what about non-writers? Why would such things matter to them?

In short, because the “active literacies” of writing, argumentation, and public speaking enable you to write the script of your own life. And, at the core of their mastery is knowledge of writing personality and voice.

7 Great Reasons

  1. Write the main script of your own life, authentically, and in your own voice.
  2. Replace the scripts, given to you by others, in the Seven (irreducible) Matters of Life, with your own.
  3. “Get out of your head” by connecting your inner intellectual life with your outer reality.
  4. Help others by “giving voice” to their concerns. Influence them to take action on their own dear purposes or beliefs.
  5. Bypass the procrastination that comes from worrying that what you’ve written (or haven’t yet written) will “come off” as inauthentic.
  6. Recruit allies to your work, projects, interests, purposes, and calling.
  7. Write faster, better, and more effectively having removed these primary introspective blocks.

Ignorance of writing personality and voice are the primary introspective blocks to expression. With their removal the road to mastery of the active literacies is clear.

The Active Literacies

Any role requiring you to influence, share with, or teach others can be accomplished more effectively with mastery of what J.T. Gatto calls the “active literacies“.

America was literate beyond anybody’s wildest dreams, and not merely book-literate. Americans (Circa 1840) were broadly proficient in the formidable “active literacies” of writing, argumentation, and public speaking; things which had actually been a crime to teach ordinary people under British colonial rule.
— John Taylor Gatto, “Weapons of Mass Instruction”, pp. 17

John expands further in “The Ultimate History Lesson, a Weekend With John Taylor Gatto“.

We all are vaguely aware that literacy is at the heart of an intellectual inner life, but what we don’t understand is that is, prior to the First World War, literacy was commonly divided into passive literacy, reading, and active literacy, speaking and writing. And none of us are aware that in Colonial days, that to teach active literacy to ordinary people was a crime! Why? Because reading, you’re locked in your own head and you still have the benefit of being able to read the boss’s instructions about what to do. But if you can speak well, as our current President can, or write well, you can reach way beyond your own skull and recruit allies. That’s a no-no for ordinary people;, they’re supposed to be so inarticulate, or their writing will look so funny with ink blots and things in it, that no one treats them seriously.

Knowledge Workers

Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include software engineers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, public accountants, lawyers, and academics, whose job is to “think for a living”.1

As a consultant I know, firsthand, how knowledge workers must often become functional writers. They must excel at expressing the results of their work to merely deliver it.  Aside from formal occupations, knowledge work is almost unavoidable, nowadays. If you spend three or more hours a day behind a computer, chances are good you also need to write, or talk about, what you’ve accomplished. Words fly faster, higher, and more effectively, when the writer is resonating with their own personality and voice.

Writing vs. Reading Personality

What you read is not necessarily how you’ll write. You might read science fiction, romance novels, how-to’s, or biographies. That doesn’t mean your writing personality will fit one of those styles.
Of course, everything you read informs your writing. But, don’t feel compelled to match the styles or personalities of what you read.

The Path of My Discovery

I found my writing personality and voice by:

  • Writing (and singing) lyrics and songs. I find it easier to remember melodies than lyrics. When I can’t remember lyrics I make them up to fit the melody.
  • Writing for over 10,000 hours. Non-writers don’t need to do this. More crucial, for me, was …
  • Knowing what I wanted to write about. That’s something you can find out with relative ease. In the case of the knowledge worker, for example, the subjects are often given to you or dictated by the work. If you’re writing the script(s) of your life, however, this will take more introspection.
  • Over-learning subjects that are important to me. Toward that end I’ve taken many writing courses. I enjoyed Stephen King’s “On Writing”, Julia Cameron’s “Artist Way”, and Jeff Goin’s “Intentional Blogging”.

People are Blind to Their Own Strengths

People are the first to recognize their own weaknesses and last to recognize their strengths. Writing personality and voice have positive and negative attributes. Your writing will only improve if you recognize both. StrengthsFinder 2.0 is a great way to get started on finding your strengths. I also recommend taking a Meyers Briggs personality test.

Writing Personality Chart

Amber Helt explains how to use the graphic featured in this article which came from the BookGeome Project in association with National Novel Writing Month.

The Five Blogging Personalities

These personality types are described more thoroughly on Jeff Goin’s blog:

  1. The Artist … writes and creates because they love beauty.
  2. A Prophet … tells us the hard truth about the world or themselves.
  3. The Journalist … asks questions, assimilates the answers, and shares it with others.
  4. The Professor … teaches by taking something complex and breaking it up into small, actionable steps.
  5. The Star … is someone readers want to be around or be like.

If you’re not sure what personality you gravitate towards try giving samples of your writing to a few people you trust. Ask them for the first three adjectives that come to mind when they read them. Then ask them if your writing matches your actual personality. What’s missing? What’s not missing and rings authentic to the real you?

Use Your Voice

Take away your voice and all that’s left are facts and data. Even formal expression is more interesting, and easier to digest, when presented in a unique voice.

  • What makes your voice distinct from all others?
  • What impression do you want to give your readers/listeners?
  • Can you add a story (Or a joke) to illustrate the point?
  • Can you tell a joke to lighten up the mood?
  • Would a sarcastic comment get listeners to perk up?
  • Would a self-effacing comment add humility to an impression of arrogance that you don’t feel?

The main acronym of the book S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose is also great for discovering your writing and speaking voice:

  • Spiritual Gifts
  • Heart
  • Abilities (Natural)
  • Personality
  • Experience

It’s Worth It

The deep introspection involved in the journey to find your voice is worth it. Everything you learn thickens the connection of your inner intellectual life with your outer reality. What slowly begins to emerge is the masterpiece only you can be.

  1. Davenport, Thomas H. (2005). Thinking For A Living: How to Get Better Performance and Results From Knowledge Workers. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 1-59139-423-6. ↩
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Business

Markdown is the New Parchment

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If you want your words to last as long as parchment use plain ASCII text with Markdown. When found, your writing can be republished at the click of a button. It’s digital; make lots of copies.

Markdown is . . .1

… a way to format plain text to show the formatting choices of the writer.

The syntax is natural and the formatted text is readable (Unlike HTML from which Markdown was derived as a form of shorthand). And, since most publishing software can read Markdown, directly, the writer can write once, skip the hassles of formatting, and pass the text directly on to the publisher.

Half of the Markdown syntax is just how a writer would format text, naturally. For example, you type an asterisk or a number in front of bullet points or a list of items, or hit enter to separate paragraphs. Heading levels are marked by the number of “#” signs placed before the heading. Even footnotes, tables and web links are straightforward and the text remains readable after formatting.

Storage

Plain digital text bypasses the problems of paper storage. It also bypasses the format wars of proprietary software. Your writing is created, stored, and published from the same text file. If we can read Egyptian hieroglyphs, today, perhaps people will be able to read ASCII text files, 5000 years from now.

Ideally, you make a (Digital) book available and distribute it to hundreds or thousands of people. Upload it to a website where it will be indexed, and possibly stored, by a third party. Less ambitious writers could put their text on as many mediums as they can find. Put them in a safe, wrapped in a paper printout. Tell your family about them and put it in your will. If your lucky, your progeny will see it and use the search engine of the day to find a copy, somewhere. Otherwise, perhaps one of your digital copies is readable. In terms of survivability, the paper copy is likely the weakest contender after 100 years or so.

How Long Will it Last?

Markdown_table
Markdown_table

 

Search

The presumption, even today, is that if you have the title, or the author’s name, you have a fair chance of finding the book. As more books are published in digital-only formats the odds of being able to find any book will increase.

Write Once, Publish Anywhere

Markdown makes it possible to write once and publish anywhere. Every platform I’ve needed to publish to can receive markdown text. But, it’s even better than that: Most of my writing is outlined, written, edited, and exported directly to the publishing platform and archived in markdown from within one program: Scrivener. The text can then be updated or repurposed from the same place it’s archived! It’s hard to describe the relief of simplicity this workflow provides. It makes for a frictionless writing environment that shifts the focus of the work back onto content. You just keep writing and let the publishing platforms handle the formatting details.

Markdown Benefits

  • Liberates the writer from formatting concerns both during, and after, writing.
  • Liberates the writer from proprietary software jail.
  • Gives the writer the widest number of choices in publishing platforms.
  • Enables the writer to use the same text file to feed multiple software and publishing platforms.
  • Updates and editions are made to one file: The original text file.
  • Enables the text to be read now and for the foreseeable human future.
  • Puts the writing in simple text format which will outlast all software programs currently in use.
  • Text processing programs are everywhere as are publishing software and platforms that can read Markdown, directly. Pick one and start writing.

WYSIWYG Live Preview, Yes!

Ironically, writing in simple text was a big step for me. I worked as a typesetter before, and during, college and have always loved the look of well-formatted text and book design. My professional consulting is replete with word processors, project management software, presentations, adobe frame maker proposals, etc. To make it worse, I’ve relied heavily on HTML and InDesign for the past eight years. Must I do without the inspiration of formatted text to get all the benefits of writing in markdown?

Not at all! Marked reads your text file (Even a Scrivener file!) and displays a fully formatted version of your document in real time. As you type, Marked updates the displayed document. When you’re finished you can export the document from your original text editor or right from Marked, in all the standard formats.

Workflows

Website Articles

  1. Scrivener to WordPress.
  2. Markdownify plug-in within wordpress editor box.
  3. Images stored on dropbox or website image directory.
  4. Marked shows WYSIWYG of Scrivener file, including images, while the article is being written.

Guest posts

  1. Scrivener exported to publisher’s format preference.
    A. Cut/paste of Markdown txt?
    B. Html or pdf export from Marked
    C. Other?

Client Documents

  1. Scrivener to pdf export.
  2. Indesign for special formats only.

Books

  1. Scrivener to first draft.
  2. Edit drafts in Scrivener.
  3. Send to Editor(s).
  4. Make edits in Scrivener.
  5. Final copy to Indesign.
  6. Format for Kindle, PDF, etc.
  7. Succeeding versions in Indesign.

Project Planning & Tasks

  1. Omnifocus (Text only)
  2. Drafts (MD and Text)
  3. Scrivener (MD and Text)
  4. Excel

E-mails

MailMate

Notes

  1. Evernote
  2. Nvalt
  3. Drafts (iphone/pad) to Evernote to Scrivener

Misc. Tools

  • Byword
  • Brett Terpstra’s Markdown services
  • MultiMarkdown Composer

P.S., Nine Months Later

Shortly after starting to use Markdown I began using dictation software to talk words onto the screen. Dictation has now taken such a big place in my daily writing that my typing speed has declined. One thing I haven’t yet done is to train the dictation software to implement markdown syntax. For example, perhaps I could train the software so that saying, “Bold that”, puts double asterisks around the last word?

I no longer need Adobe Indesign or Word for daily writing. I much prefer to use Marked 2 for WYSIWYG of the draft folder of Scrivener. It’s not as good as Indesign but enough to be inspired by the clean text and formatting of what I’m working on.

When writing articles I sometimes use temporary droplink addresses of image files so Marked can show me how the picture will look with the text during the writing process. I also use droplink addresses to compose e-mails to friends (Also in markdown) if they’re to include photos. If I need the images to be viewable in the long-term I use “Transmit” to quickly upload the images to my website image directory and use that address in the markdown syntax.

When composing agendas and client documents I write them all in scrivener using markdown. I then use Marked to convert markdown to the pdf files that are sent directly to the client. Client work is started, and completed, in Scrivener where it remains in its final form. The pdf’s sent to the client are beautiful and archived in Scrivener.

Best Markdown Resources

  1. Invented by John Gruber and Fletcher Penny. ↩
  2. https://www.whalingmuseum.org/explore/library/from-the-vault/cuffe-manuscripts ↩
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_Bible ↩
  4. David Diringer noted that “the first mention of Egyptian documents written on leather goes back to the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2550–2450 BC), but the earliest of such documents extant are: a fragmentary roll of leather of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 24th century BC) ↩
  5. Jiahu symbols, carved on tortoise shells in Jiahu, c. 6600 BC ↩
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Communication

Equations in Words

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Equations are shorthand for words.

The symbols can be so mesmerizing we forget they’re a form of shorthand.

This equation…:

derivative-of-an-integral2

 

… Is shorthand for these words:

“. . .the net change of a smooth and continuous quantity, such as a distance travelled, over a given time interval (i.e. the difference in the values of the quantity at the end points of the time interval) is equal to the integral of the rate of change of that quantity, i.e. the integral of the velocity,” said Melkana Brakalova-Trevithick, chair of the math department at Fordham University, who chose this equation as her favorite.”1

The equation and the paragraph describe identical truths with two different forms of notation. To the extent the equation represents truth so do the words behind them.

What’s Your Bias?

Which do you trust more: The equation or the words?

Equations seem to have escaped the post-modern distrust of the ability to know absolute truth. They’re more likely to be accepted as truth by contemporary Joe. In Reality, equations and words are equally prone to error.

Sock Loss Index

To advertise a new washing machine Samsung asked a psychologist and statistician to team up and develop a formula to predict the likelihood of losing a sock.

“The probability of sock loss equals the laundry size plus the complexity of the wash minus the product of the level of attention being paid to the task multiplied by the persons attitude towards doing washing.”

 

sock_loss_index

 

Where, ‘L’ stands for ‘laundry size’, based on the number of people in a household (p) with the frequency of washes (f). ‘C’ stands for ‘washing complexity.’ Types of wash (t) is multiplied by the number of socks washed in a week (s). ‘P’, or ‘positivity towards the laundry’ is subtracted from the sum of ‘L’ and ‘C’

Compounding Error

Only one “minor” symbol in an equation, or word in a sentence, need be wrong to invalidate the statements. This has profound implications.

When vetting the underlying truth of a situation it’s often required to combine the vetting of many component truths before putting them all together. A seemingly minor error may compound to dangerously false conclusions. The first result may be only a little off. Over time the conclusions drawn are exponentially wrong.

95% True!

If the sock loss index equation is 95% true you lose a few socks. If the fundamental theorem of calculus is 95% true it means untolled human misery. Some things in life must be 100% pure or they can’t be used, at all.

There’s another name for things that are 95% pure: Poison. Rat poison is 95 – 98% natural food2. With 2 to 5% impurity you don’t even have to wait for the errors to compound. The rat dies in a day.

 

RatPoison1

  1. “The 11 Most Beautiful Mathematical Equations” (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-11-most-beautiful-mathematical-equations/) ↩
  2. “In a most preferred range, the rodenticide composition can include the natural carrier matrix in a percentage by weight of about 95% to about 98%.” Rodenticide Patent, US 8574638 B1 (http://www.google.com/patents/US8574638). ↩
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Arthur Rackham
Children

Fairy Tales & Mythology

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Words are how the truth comes to us. They’re also how it can be taken away. Seen only as symbols and grammar, truth and lies are made from the same raw material. Your only hope is discernment. Your life depends on it.

Tolkien and Lewis regarded the fairy tale as a perfectly suited literary vehicle for expressing eternal truth. Lewis credits Tolkien and a mutual friend with helping him see that his love of myth and fairy tale blinded him to, yet prepared him for, the Gospels. He reluctantly came to believe the Gospels were eyewitness accounts of a “true myth”.1

“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”2

Mythology or History?

Another term used as a pejorative is mythology.

All mythology is presumed myth as the victors decide what is official history. The history of the defeated is, by definition, written by outlaws. A generation later the history of the defeated is mythology or conspiracy if it’s remembered, at all.

It’s helpful to think of mythology as collections of potential truths inconvenient to the succession of political power. Likewise, “History” is as likely to be the glorification of bureaucrats and technocrats as an accurate re-telling of the facts.

A series of time-related truths, thoroughly vetted and discerned, is not mythology or conspiracy; it’s history.

Trivium & Quadrivium

The subjects of history and philosophy were considered to be so demanding, yet so important, that they weren’t even presented to the student until after they’d studied the subjects of the trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) and, ideally, those of the quadrivium (Arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy).3

“These seven heads were supposed to include universal knowledge. He who was master of these was thought to have no need of a preceptor to explain any books or to solve any questions which lay within the compass of human reason, the knowledge of the trivium having furnished him with the key to all language, and that of the quadrivium having opened to him the secret laws of nature.”4

“… When a few were instructed in the trivium, and very few studied the quadrivium, to be master of both was sufficient to complete the character of a philosopher … The candidate, having reached this point, is now supposed to have accomplish the task upon which he had entered – he has reached the last step, and is now ready to receive the full fruition of human learning.”5

“Some day you’ll be old enough”

The ability to grasp eternal truths and history and bring them to bear on decisions is a high achievement of a classical education. Only philosophy, by attempting to comprehend meaning, imposes greater demands for greater rewards.

“Some day you’ll be old enough” to start reading fairy tales again to glean eternal truths. Someday you’ll be educated enough to distinguish real history from stories convenient to political power.

Words are how the truth comes to us. They’re also how it can be taken away. Seen only as symbols and grammar, truth and lies are made from the same raw material. Your only hope is discernment. Your life depends on it.

  1. A 1931 letter to childhood friend Arthur Greeves, Lewis credits Tolkien (and mutual friend Hugo Dyson). Paragraph reworded and reordered from an article written by Bruce Edwards (https://erlc.com/article/c-s-lewis-051101). ↩
  2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis ↩
  3. Cathedral Schools of the early Middle Ages (527) on which the curriculum of Medieval universities were based (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_school) ↩
  4. Hist. of Philos. Vol ii. P. 337 ↩
  5. The symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining its Science and Philosophy, it’s Legends, Myths, and Symbols. By Albert Gallatin Mackey, M.D., 1869. ↩
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Outlier-pin
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The Outlier’s Handbook

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The world discards ideas and people that present multiple standard deviations away from “normal”. And yet, Reality has always been phenomenal and noumenal. To ensure you’re able to thrive in the artificial chaos of this generation you’ll need to be an outlier, in many ways. Here’s “The Outlier’s Handbook” to optimize your trajectory.

The Outlier’s Handbook

(Thriving in Artificial Chaos)

Table of Contents

Part 1 — What Outliers?

“Let Your Reasonableness Be Known to Everyone”

  • Ockham’s Razor: Benefits & Limits
  • The Bookends of Normalcy Bias & Cognitive Dissonance
  • “This Book Goes Too Far!”

What Outliers?

  • Outliers Defined
  • You Know You’re An Outlier If . . .
  • Outlier Benefits
  • Outlier Costs
  • Personal Secession and Other Outlier Mindsets

Part 2 — It’s Your World, Boss!

This Is Where You Live

American Roulette

  • The Constitution is Safe!
  • A Bank with Social Services Around It
  • Democracy: The God that Failed
  • The Corporation
  • The Deep State
  • Fascism, American Style

Lifecycle of Nations

  • “Poverty of Nations” Report Card
  • Imperial Collapse Playbook

Danger, Will Robinson!

Technocracy: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation

Regional Bloc Head Mercantilism

  • Gee, Maybe Nation-States Weren’t So Bad, After All
  • Solutions Amidst Global Fascism
  • Change Happens Like This, Now

Part 3 — The Usual Suspects

Call Them As You See Them

Origin & Story of Rulers and Authorities

  • Angelic Gen 6 View: Consistency & Insights
  • So, Who are “They”?
  • The “New” Face of Evil (Follow the Blood)
  • Long Term Trends Require Spiritual Unity
  • The Minions
  • A Working Structure of Oppression

They Walk Among Us

  • Serial Killers
  • How Can You Spot One?
  • Political Ponerology
  • 7 signs you might be dating one
  • Protection From Them
  • Speech Patterns
  • I, Psychopath
  • The Hidden Cost of Killing Psychopaths
  • Beware the Backlash

Elements of Their World View

Their Goals

  • ”Ye Shall Be As Gods”

Their Methods

  • The Moral Code of Evil
  • Inversion
  • Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
  • Counterfeit Money
  • Controlled Markets
  • Technocracy
  • Stacked & Interlocking Pyramidical Structures
  • Consolidation
  • Democracy
  • Eugenics
  • Perpetual Fear
  • Long-Term Planning
  • With Methods Like This, Who Needs the Occult?

Part 4 — Acquiring Immunity

Move #1: Acquire Personal Immunity

Personal Matters

  • Purpose is Everything
  • Managing Outlierhood
  • Growth
  • Ethical Time Travel

Health Matters

  • First Do No Harm
  • Clean Food, Water, Air & Place
  • Nutrient Dense Diet
  • Gut Flora, Probiotics and the Second Brain
  • Optimal Exercise
  • Stress & Breathing
  • Life Extension & Blood Sugar Management
  • Sensible Health Insurance
  • Putting It All Together

Spiritual Matters

  • Intelligent or Random Design
  • Oneism (Monism) vs. Dualism
  • CINO’s & MINO’s
  • Christianity Leads To Science, Islam leads to Murder
  • Gandhi or Jesus?
  • Get Blessed
  • Get Uncursed
  • Supernatural Immunity: The Mind & Way Of Christ
  • The Whole Council of God
  • Spiritual Warfare
  • Practical Examples of Spiritually Based Solutions

Locational Matters

  • The Best Place to Live
  • Where Not to Live
  • Should you relocate?
  • The World is Yours
  • The Illusion of Ownership
  • Mobility
  • G.O.O.D Project – Lessons Learned

Family Matters

  • Instrument of Recursive Perfection
  • Spouse Choice
  • Children
  • Extended Family
  • Friends Worth the Title are Family
  • Community

Legal Matters

  • Natural Law
  • The Constitution is Safe!
  • Jurisdiction Matters
  • Where is the Agreement?
  • It’s Hard to Be a Free Man
  • Unraveling Your Liberty

Financial Matters

  • Money is for Immunity & Purpose
  • Business as Extension of Purpose
  • Tax Penalties for Fear and Poor Planning
  • Mortgage Slavery, Repealed
  • Austrian Economics is Real Economics
  • Investments in Immunity & Purpose Have the Highest ROI
  • Asset Protection

Political Matters

  • Terms of “State” & “Government”
  • The Diversion Of Left – Right Thinking
  • The Votes that Matter
  • Optimal Government = Perfect Self-Government
  • The Chief Asset Of The State: Fear & Belief In It’s Necessity
  • All Matters of Liberty Are Related
  • Caveat Viator: Libertarianism and Anarchy are Aspects of a Complete Worldview
  • Govern Thyself Perfectly and Hold Death Dear

Perspective Matters

  • The Most Valuable Commodity on the Planet
  • Philosophers On Donuts
  • Terms of “Freedom” & “Liberty”
  • Equality & Authority
  • Freedom & Structure
  • Peace Does Not Flow From Passivity
  • Proof and Truth
  • You Can’t Beat Everything with Nothing
  • “Let’s Just Split the Difference and Find a Middle Ground”
  • Stoicism
  • The Opportunity in Uncertainty
  • If Swamp Rats Can’t be Exterminated Why Can You?
  • What About America?

Doing Matters

  • Tony Robbin’s Best Trick
  • Think Spiritually, Act Locally
  • Getting Things Done
  • Low Hanging Fruit
  • Tragic Flaws of Conventional Prepping
  • Expert Tips
  • How To Lose Without Fighting (An Outlier’s Not To-Do List)

Part 5 — Ants & The Human Mosaic

Change The World in Four Moves

  • Humans as an Ant Army
  • Move #1: Immunity
  • Move #2: Specialize
  • Move #3: Move
  • Move #4: Cooperate
  • Humanize the Best Attributes of Animals & Insects

Part 6 — Problems: Solutions

Move #2: Specialize & Pick One

Personal Concerns

  • Training Disguised as Education
  • Shortening Attention Spans
  • Media Agitprop

Health Concerns

  • Eugenics
  • Vaccines Vs. Immunity
  • Socialized Medicine
  • Food Fascism & GMOs
  • Fluoridated water
  • Nuclear Waste & Meltdown Disasters
  • Geo-Engineering
  • Disease(s) Cured

Spiritual Concerns

  • Psychopathy
  • Moral Relativism
  • Odious Debt (Slavery)
  • Wars of Conquest
  • False-Flag Attacks
  • End Times Decoder Rings
  • 501c3 Churches

Locational Concerns

  • Agenda 21
  • Scientific Control Grid
  • Power Grid Fragility

Family Concerns

  • The State as Great Father
  • Broken Families

Legal Concerns

  • Patent Squelching
  • Webs of Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
  • Drug Wars
  • Licensing
  • Militarization of Police
  • Surveillance State
  • Monopoly
  • Bonus: Beating Traffic Tickets

Financial Concerns

  • Fractional Reserve Banking (The Theft of Human Labor)
  • Disappearing Middle-Class A.K.A Unemployment
  • Currency Wars
  • US Bankruptcy
  • World Banking Systems
  • Institutional(ized) Theft
  • Market Manipulation
  • Global Cooling, Warming …Climate Change?
  • Technocracy

Political Concerns

  • Collectivism
  • Globalism

Part 7 — Appendices

  • In Case of Emergency: Read First!
  • Four Ways to Parse Solutions
  • Reading List for Outliers
  • Outlier Creeds
  • Sovereignty & Law
  • Agorist Manifesto in 95 Theses
  • Agorist Road-map Kyle Bennet
  • 100 Ways To Leave Leviathan
  • Wayne & Barry’s Guide for World Rulers
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Estate Planning Lessons From “The Art of the Steal”

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The documentary film, The Art of the Steal is a gripping tale of intrigue and mystery in the art world. The film traces the history of the Barnes collection of Post-Impressionist paintings, which was worth billions and became the subject of a power struggle after the 1951 death of the owner. Dr. Albert Barnes collected 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos and many other valuable paintings. Despite his best efforts political wrangling over the collection eventually led to its division and control by the very group of people he wanted the collection to be protected against.

Barnes was a shrewd man. He took pains to hire the best lawyers to erect a trust for his paintings to protect them from every imaginable threat. Ironically, the people, state rats and foundations that would eventually divide, move and control his collection were largely known to Barnes at the time of his death.

For the intriguing story of how they accomplished this I recommend the film.

Barnes drafted his trust in 1922 and modified it many times leading up to his sudden death in 1951. It took 58 years from the time of Barnes’ death before the judges ruling cleared the way for its division which overturned every one of Barnes’ express wishes for his collection and transferred control of what now is $25-$30 billion dollars of art into the very hands Barnes never wanted to to have anything to do with it.

While watching the documentary I was struck both by how long it took the collection to be divided and how short that period was with respect to the magnitude, beauty and importance of the art. It’s reminiscent of what is often said about a Stradivarius Violin: The current owner is merely temporary in the life of the instrument.

Barnes was a great man. As such, we who loathe that his magnificent collection has fallen into enemy hands have no better recourse than to glean from the rubble of this theft every possible lesson of what strategies might have worked in fulfilling Barnes’ true wishes.

The problems started when the Barnes Trust ran out of successor trustees.

Have More Successor Trustees

  • Have Children – Barnes had no children. There’s no guarantee that children will fulfill estate wishes but it would have put a few more options on Barnes’ table.
  • Designate a Lineage of Trustees – Barnes designated five successor trustees. This is the primary reason his collection was protected for the 58 years it was. Even though five seem like plenty it was not enough. More is better and a methodology for adding them, post-mortem, is even better.
  • Have Trustees (Vetted While Grantor is Alive) Designate Successor Trustees – The Trustees Barnes knew while he was alive performed flawlessly. If there was a mechanism in the trust for these trustees to, in turn, vett and add new trustees, this would extend the time and increase the quality of adherence to the original intent of the Grantor (Barnes, in this case).

“Poison Pill” Provisions

To avoid contention between competing trustees “Poison Pills” could be placed in the Trust to squelch trivial squabbles. John Lennon’s estate was famous for ensuring that anyone who contested the terms of the trust be cutout of the trust, as a result. It works!

Map Out Maintenance Strategies Using Corpus of the Trust

At one point, Barnes’ collection was in danger due to problems with the building that contained it. Multiple approved methods of raising money for maintenance could be included in the trust. This would take options away from untrustworthy trustees who see this as a crack in the Trust’s armor. It would also make it easier for good trustees who may not have the business sense to go along with their desire to adhere to the grantors’ wishes.

One option, here, for Barnes would have been a strategic sell-off of some of the collection. As terrible as that may sound Barnes would have been most familiar with his collection. Not everything he chose was untouchable. While alive Barnes might have chosen the order in which a very small number of paintings could be auctioned off for the good of the collection IF that was the only option available to the trustee.

Use Corporation(s), LLC(s) or Complex Structures in Lieu of a Trust

This opens up a whole different can of worms that I’d rather not explore in this article. I only bring it up as an option in reaction to seeing the limits of Barnes’ chosen protective entity: The Trust. The ultra rich typically erect complex structures of multiple entities to protect their wealth while they’re alive. Admittedly, maintaining such structures is much more difficult upon death but perhaps such complexity is necessary in cases like Barnes.

Prohibit Boards as Trustees

The biggest fractures appeared with the Barnes collection when Trustees morphed into boards who created their own rules about how the boards were run. Such boards were free to add members, for instance, that enabled a few members to change the consensus of the board. I’d say the only way to squelch this problem is to prohibit boards of any kind. Groups of people never behave themselves with as much integrity as individuals.

The Nuclear Option

Barnes was a great man. To become so takes a level of determination and single-mindedness that few of the rest of us can probably even imagine. After watching the documentary it occurred to me that Barnes was so determined to keep his collection in tact and out of the hands of his enemies that he never even contemplated a last-ditch option. With the benefit of the hindsight that Barnes’ experience has given me I think his best last ditch option would have been to focus on . . . .

The Creators Not the Creations

In the event that any of Barnes’ parameters were violated he could have put instructions into the trust that all the art in the collection be auctioned off for the benefit of the kinds of artists whose work Barnes so understandably admired. By doing so the actual art in the collection would have been randomly distributed around the world (To be collected by the next Barnes?) and he would have been funding the efforts of new great artists to create more beautiful and inspiring art for Barnes’ desired educational purpose of the art, itself. Not to mention that the existing art would have been put beyond the reach of the contemptible group that now controls it.

I’m not presuming that this is a better use for Barnes’ art than he, himself, imagined. I’m merely pointing out one possible backup option that Barnes probably wouldn’t even let himself consider.

They Ruin Everything They Touch

Greed, power, sociopaths and whatever “Foundations” they hide behind are like water falling on a building: They never stop eroding what they come in contact with. In life it’s often possible to avoid contact, altogether, with these brands of evil. In death, the best one can hope for is to delay the meeting for as long as possible.

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Knot Tying Practice
Children

Knots for Life – Part 2: Wide Before Deep Practice List

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As said in Three Knots and the Truth it’s incredible what can be done with three knots: The Bowline, Buntline and double sheet bend. If you’re content to learn only these three then get two pieces of rope and start practicing. For those who want to learn more it’s helpful to take a step back and look at the big picture.

There are knots for everything. However, almost every one of the thousands of knots invented do one of five things. They:

  1. Stop – Stop rope from passing through a hole or to stop strands from unlaying.
  2. Bind – Bind objects to other objects.
  3. Loop – Put a loop in the middle or the end of a rope.
  4. Bend – Joins the ends of two ropes together.
  5. Hitch – Attach a rope to an object.

To optimize your time I propose learning the best single knot for each of these five functions before learning many knots that do the same thing. In other words . . .

Go Wide Before Deep

You’re better off doing more with fewer knots than learning many ways to do the same thing. For reasons of memory, time and spatial confusion I’ve ordered the following practice list to cover the widest range of function with the fewest number of knots.

When you’ve got a minute practice these knots, in order. If you can tie one easily then go to the next knot. If you’re stuck on one it’s best to master it before moving on. Knots that you can tie easily are much more valuable that knots you can’t remember.

These 24 knots represent a lifetime competence list. Your ability to improvise rope solutions will be quite incredible with just the first seven knots. Don’t feel you must get to the end of this list to be competent.

A Note on Choices

The following knots are from my real life experience from the vantage point of a generalist. They are not activity specific. My choices favor knots that are most useful, strong, secure (Won’t slip), stable (Won’t capsize), easy to tie and untie though few have every one of those characteristics. No knot is perfect.

Type Name Notes Learn
Stop Figure 8 Building Block – Fundamental 1
Hitch Buntline Hitch Building Block, Trumps Clove Hitch 2
Loop Bowline Mankind’s favorite loop- Versatile 3
Bend Sheet Bend (Dbl.) Joins same sized or Thick-to-Thin 4
Bind Constrictor Knot Or a Boa if it needs to look good 5
Loop Alpine Butterfly Loop or chair tied mid-rope, strong 6
Hitch Rolling Hitch hammock, hoisting,lengthwise load 7
Bend Fisherman’s Bend, Dbl. Stronger than sheet bend – proven 8
Loop Bowline on a Bight Emergency Man Chair – Rescue 9
Hitch Prussik Knot Sliding loop for climbing, rescue 10
Bend Water Knot Flat-to-Flat, joins dog leashes 11
Hitch Anchor Bend Takes strain in all directions 12
Loop Figure 8 Millions of Climbers served 13
Hitch Round Turn w/2 HH Easy, less secure anchor bend 14
Bind Timber Hitch Use to drag trees, pipes, bundles 15
Hitch Truckers Hitch great and simple leveraged pulley 16
Hitch Half-Blood Knot filament to hook, fishing 17
Bind Bundle-S 4 heavy load, add bowline to hoist 18
Bend Zeppelin Symmetrical, won’t jamb, climbing 19
Bind Diamond Hitch Pack Mule Hitch/Car roofs 20
Hitch Munter Hitch (Dbl.) Abseil with carabiner 21
Hitch Adjustable Grip Hitch general lengthwise load hitch 22
Bend Sheetbend 3-way Joins 3 ropes securely 23
Bend Carrick Bend Joins Thick Ropes – Cruise ship 24

Practice Materials

All you need is two pieces of rope. Get 12 feet of small rope at the hardware store and cut it in half. Pick up a carabiner while you’re there.

Web

You can watch each knot being tied on the web.

Book

My favorite knot book is DK’s Handbook of Knots: Expanded Edition, by Des Pawson. It’s compact, comprehensive, the pictures are clear, and the plastic covering and glossy pages don’t run when they get wet.

Wallet Cards

I used to carry these waterproof knot cards when boating. Now, I practice from memory, learn new knots from the DK book or the iphone apps, below.

Phone Apps

John Sherry’s animated version of the wallet cards is slick, but, doesn’t have enough knots. I purchased the full version of the winkpass knot guide because it’s the most comprehensive. If you prefer video over slides then the full version of knot time is good though with less knots than the winkpass. I purchased both (For a total of $5) just to have the same knots tied from two points of view. Both apps advertise they intend to keep adding knots.

References

International Guild of Knot Tyers

IGKT Discussion on Best of Breed Knots

Knots on the Web

Knots for Life – Part 1: Three Knots and the Truth

Copyright © 2014 by Terence Gillespie. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given to McGillespie.com

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Knots for Life – Part 1: Three Knots and the Truth

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Knots are like guitar chords: You can rock n’ roll with three knots and the truth.

A minimalist could muddle through life with one knot: The bowline can be used as a loop, hitch or bend. It can be tied with one hand and its variations perform a wide range of duties. Double it for critical work.

Bowline Knot

To rock n’ roll learn two more knots: The buntline Hitch1 and the double sheet bend2.

Buntline HitchDouble Sheet Bend

It’s incredible what can be done with these Big Three knots. Practice them into your hands and rock n’ roll through most of life’s rope problems.

Do you prefer Jazz? It won’t take many more knots to improvise like a pro. This “Knots for Life” series will optimize your path with a practice list, improvisation techniques, rules of thumb and real life examples.

Whether you stay with The Big Three or branch out some truths about knots and ropes will set an optimal tone for the webs you weave. There are good reasons, even for a minimalist, to learn a few more.

Less is Three Times More

Knots are elegant tools that multiply the uses of rope. The right combination can transform an ordinary rope into the optimal tool for an endless variety of tasks. As much as I love tying them there are good reasons for minimizing the number used because . . .

Knots Weaken Rope

Knots weaken the rope they’re made from. Where strength is critical minimize knots even to the point of using non-rope materials.

Circus, Circus in Las Vegas uses metal, grommets and cables for their permanent circus installation. Ropes and lines are reserved for nets and swings that come into contact with the performers hands and skin. Braids, splices and loops are stronger than knots. Consider using them instead of a knot. There may not be time to braid or splice, but, why knot when you can loop?

When a knot is the right tool choose ones that are strong, secure (Won’t slip), stable (Won’t capsize), easy to tie and untie.

Knots are Hard to Remember

You’re better off with one knot you can tie than 10 you can’t remember. Keep a knot card in your wallet and two lines of paracord in your pocket. Practice The Big Three into your hands. Muscle memory ties when spatial memory fails. Speaking of which . . .

Knots Must Often Be Tied Upside Down and Backwards

The one knot you can remember may have to be tied hanging upside down, with one hand, in the dark or with:

  • Only one rope end available
  • No ends available (In the middle of the rope)
  • One or both ends under tension

Confidence gained in the living room with knot cards can be quickly dashed. The Big Three won’t handle all these situations. It’s best to anticipate, add a few knots to your list and practice them from different vantage points and without looking.

Ropes Vary Greatly

Rope problems often present with two ropes that are:

  • Thick-to-thin
  • Slippery-to-dry
  • Flat-to-round
  • Flat-to-flat
  • Bungy-to-vine
  • Vine-to-vine
  • Vine-to-object
  • paracord-to-paracord
  • paracord-to-shoelace
  • paracord-to-rope
  • dental floss-to-bungy
  • shoelace-to-rope
  • And on and on with every rope material on earth.

Ironically, a weak rope knot may be a strong vine knot, and vice versa. Once again, The Big Three can’t be expected to handle every type of rope.

Less is still three times more, but, there are practical reasons to learn a few more knots than The Big Three.

“. . .extreme simplicity can only be had at the expense of effectiveness.”
– Brion Toss – The Rigger’s Apprentice, 1984

 

1I like the clove hitch for quick undemanding tasks like securing the ends of a lash or keeping rope off the ground while barbecuing. But, I wouldn’t use a clove hitch to tie my dog’s leash around a pole. Why? Because I love my dog. Why use a clove hitch when you could tie a buntline for the same time and effort? Besides, the buntline has two clove hitches facing the loop, is only a slightly weaker replacement for an anchor bend and if made with with a full loop is hands down stronger than a loop with 2 half-hitches. The first paragraph of this article presents three knots with the widest range of utility for some who may not be interested in going any further than these three. With these criteria in mind? No clove hitch, no way.

2Why a sheet bend instead of a double fisherman’s bend? Frankly, I prefer the double fisherman, but, there are so many situations where two different sized ropes must be joined that a person who doesn’t have The sheet bend in their hands will come up short. Notice I specify the double sheet bend. If you’ll only have one bend under your hands then the 7-10% extra strength is prudent.

Stay tuned for “Knots for Life – Part 2”:

  • Knots for Life – Part 2: Wide Before Deep Practice List
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Jumpstart Your House in the Country. Build it Backwards (Or maybe not at all)!

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The most useful things built on land are built last. I propose reversing that order. Build it backwards. Small structures provide big comfort and improvements relative to their size and cost. Their return on investment is high because the investment is small and the return is relative to the “nothing” of vacant land.

Building backwards and small enables you to get the most important uses out of your land first, and soon. There are many advantages other than a high ROI. One might be to rescue this widely held and rarely realized dream from the never-to-be-crossed-out section of your bucket list.

We’ve started the project of securing a retreat in the country and there’s been a world of decisions in choosing one plot of ground. That part of the journey is ongoing and best left to a separate article. Between scouting trips thoughts have turned to solidifying the vision. As the vision became clear I started thinking about ways to Optimize the effort-to-value ratio of building any house in the country. We’ll be building across state lines so remote access factors come into play in our optimization approach, as well.

Plan the Site – Then Build Small and Useful

You have to plan the site anyway, right? Planning is an expense that enables every downstream cost (Including time) to be optimized.

Plan everything your dreaming of for the site. Make sure it fits with the natural flow of the topography. Be practical and figure what you want and what you don’t. Consider everything including the next owner and future generations. And when you’re done pick the smallest most useful element from your plans and build it first.

Easements and Road Access

If you don’t have road access or need an easement then you’ve got some road or legal work to do. Depending on your site design, however, it’s possible your first small structure is some distance from the main building site. If that’s the case then you’ll only need road access to the first structure. Working on that, and leaving the larger road work project aside, for now, still fits the general idea of building it backwards.

Universal Site Plan

If you plan well your plan will capture the universal truths of the lay of the land. Future owner preferences will vary though none would benefit from going against the natural flow of the land.

If circumstances change before you actually build out your vision then most of the things you’ve already built have a good chance of fitting in with the next owners vision. Though not more important than your own values and goals there’s good reason to believe that well-built structures in-line with the natural flow of the land will become permanent beyond you.

Possibilities

My working definition of useful is anything that provides shelter, storage, rent, access or produces income or savings. Ideally, it’s something you would have gotten around to building anyway and decided to build first rather than last.

Covering every possibility is impossible. There’s a continuous line of structures from a tent to the Taj Mahal. Here’s a trigger list to get your creative juices flowing:

  1. Rental Car
  2. Your Car
  3. Tent
  4. Teardrop camper
  5. Lean-to & Firepit
  6. Yurt
  7. Shed
  8. Gable
  9. A Finished Shed (House?)
  10. Trapper Cabin #1
  11. Trapper Cabin #2
  12. Small Barn
  13. Travel Trailer
  14. RV 5th wheel
  15. Camper Van
  16. School Bus Conversion
  17. Mobile Home
  18. Pole Barn
  19. Garage and Storage
  20. Pole Barn with RV Stored Inside
  21. Pole Barn with RV Parked Beside
  22. Airplane Hanger
  23. Railroad car
  24. Tiny Prefab
  25. RV pad/hookup
  26. Underground Storm Shelter
  27. Concrete Storm Shelter
  28. Tiny House on Wheels
  29. Tiny House on Ground
  30. Guest Cabins & Cottages

The popular descriptions of structures bleed into each other. At what point does a shed become a garage? When you use it as one. What’s the difference between a shed and a Gable? Roof design and quality. The difference between a cabin and a cottage? Depends on who you’re talking to about the property.

For Example

We’re securing a retreat in the country where we’ll build a downsized semi-off-grid version of the house we currently live in. We live in a 3200 sq. foot home and could easily chop off 1000 sq. feet as long as there is storage and room for guests.

We have a clear vision of the design and function of our future home in the country. We are also in the advanced stages of choosing the exact location. Once we’ve decided and bought the land there’s some big decisions to make. Made badly, or not at all, and the whole project could grind to a halt.

Build or Sell?

If our vision is clear why not find an existing place that fits and buy it?

  1. No debt. Purchasing the land and building slowly is a form of self-financing that keeps us from having to take a loan.
  2. Flexibility. As circumstances change and money comes and goes we can make optimal choices on the margin about the timing, cost and usefulness of the next step.
  3. Working harder now to build a second house will enable us to rent our current house in the future for retirement income.
  4. Doing so would require selling our current home and moving immediately. In addition to disrupting my wife’s job we prefer to hold onto our current house for backup.
  5. I like to build things and would prefer designing and building exactly what we want (Where we want it).

Most Bang for the Buck

The last thing we need is land we don’t use. Our best use for land would be to provide:

  1. Overnight Stays – Comfortable enough so they’ll actually happen.
  2. Storage – For Tools and Supplies.
  3. Income – Rental or from our direct use.
  4. Security – For our retreat and securing the property in our absence.

These are the functions we’ll keep foremost in mind when deciding what to build first. The sooner a stucture provides one of these functions the better. Chosen wisely we could fulfill all these needs with minimal cost and effort and spread more ambitious plans over time.

Overnight Stays

We could stay in a motel, hotel, apartment, rental cottage, cabin or at a friend’s house. There’s nothing like the occasional motel room to freshen up. However, we’d prefer to put money directly into improvements wherever possible.

Tent & Rental Car

Realistically, it will be yours truly driving a rental car, setting up a tent and enjoying some getaway camping, at first. This zero structure lo-fi method is a custom fit for me (Supplemented with an occasional motel room). Some of the best adventures I’ve been on were done car camping with a tent. I can’t think of a better way to stay overnight while jumpstarting our place in the country.

Lean-to or Shed

Depending on the land the first structure will be either a Lean-to and Firepit or a custom shed. Either will provide extra shelter and comfort for future solo trips. The Lean-to would become an outdoor gathering place when we’re living on the land, permanently. The shed would be a great place to store supplies and tools and also be a notch above a tent for shelter. Done well, either one will give a sense of accomplishment and start momentum towards the next improvement.

While building the first structure I’ll collapse the tent and check-in to a motel room to recuperate, now and then. Our location shouldn’t be more than 30-40 miles away from one. I’ll keep tools in the truck and haul supplies as needed. My SUV has been a champ playing this role on local builds. Though it hasn’t been necessary I could always rent a local U-haul for a day to haul large materials.

Mobile Home or RV

My wife will go two nights in a tent or lean-to. Longer than that and it’s time for a motel room. If we ever hope to stay on the land, together, for longer than a week then we’re talking mobile home or RV. Happily, mobile homes and RV trailers can be bought for a song, nowadays.

If we go with the mobile I’ll prepare the site and have it delivered. If we go with an RV I’ll pull it on-site with the truck. Either one is a big step up from, and will supplement, the lean-to or shed.

Time Out for Perspective

This is a big step. If I can make overnight stays a pleasant experience it would get my family on-site more often and provide support for the next build. That would pave the way for making progress on the rest of the project. If our project gets stopped we still have land, a shed for on-site storage and a comfortable means for overnight stays. Add the rental of a small public storage unit and we’d have a Bug Out Location, already.

There will have been significant expenses, at this point. However, in relation to their value it smacks of Optimal bang for the buck.

Nothing Wasted

Notice all of the above options leave nothing wasted though we’ll be implementing only four of them depending on the site:

  1. The rental car gets returned.
  2. Use or sell the tent at a garage sale.
  3. The lean-to and firepit become an outdoor family gathering place for BBQ’s.
  4. Everyone needs a shed and a good one, at that.
  5. The RV can accommodate guests or be taken on your next vacation.
  6. The mobile home can become a guesthouse, sold or moved.

Storage

Everybody needs a place to put things. Building requires tools and supplies and so do humans. Kick back on a hammock all week and your food and water is still better off out of the heat of the rental car. The questions are should the storage be:

  1. Underground?
  2. On-site or off?
  3. Secured by something/someone other than you?

I find underground storage options to be more romantic than practical. It’s expensive to build reliable underground structures and the drop-ins are no picnic with their delivery charge and crane installation. Completely concealing underground storage is hard unless it’s kept small and dispersed.

Until I have someone on the property full time my answer to off-site storage is yes. More specifically, we’ll supplement our on-site shed with a public storage unit. When we’re off site everything we can’t afford to lose goes into a public storage unit. That’s only $35/mo where we’re looking; cheap insurance for expensive tools.

A side benefit of renting public storage is it gives you a local ship-to address while you’re remote. Ask a friend (Or the on-site storage folks?) to receive the shipment and put the materials into storage for you. When you come into town stop by and pick up what you need to get started.

Gotta Love These Pole Barns

A larger pole barn is a possible one-building solution to overnight stays, storage and a little bit of security for the trouble. There are options to insulate them if it fits your long term goals for the structure. In fact, a pole barn that fits the site is so useful my first title for this article was, “Build the Barn First!”. However, building backwards is a more complete way to say it and opens up more possibilities.

If it fits the site plan we may skip the shed and go right for a larger pole barn. If so it would make sense to consider one big enough to house an RV. In the event we decide to buy an RV for overnight stays the barn would provide a bit more security and protection for it.

Even if the pole barn was not insulated it would become a second option for sleeping bags over a presumably more comfy RV. Also, if there are ways to secure it well enough, or, we discover that theft is a non-issue then we might risk storing an RV and more expensive supplies there. Such choices can only be made on the margin as things unfold.

Security

Nothing is 100% secure if you’re not living there. Second best is a house sitting friend or renter. Third best is line of sight view and regular stop-by’s from a neighbor. When you’re off site store anything you can’t afford to lose in public storage.

Put a Web Cam on it?

You’ll need electricity, satellite-only internet and a dedicated (Cheap) computer for this option. For the trouble you’ll get four to eight cameras monitoring your site. It’s not foolproof but it could make your eyes the first eyes to see anything suspicious. Call your neighbor and ask them to check it out.

Retreat

With all the excitement of working on your house in the country don’t forget it gives your family the added benefit of a retreat location should you ever need to leave your current home. Every improvement makes it that much more comfortable for you family in times of retreat. One need only browse recent headlines to become a fan of having some geographical diversity in your housing plan.

Income

What if you could build something that would provide a source of income?

If a moblie home were in the right location and had electricity and water then it could possibly be rented out. Nowadays that may require having cable and internet installed, as well.

A Tiny House

A second possibility is to stay in your mobile home or RV while building a Tiny House on Ground or a Small Guest Cottage. Once built you’d no longer have an issue providing a comfortable place to stay for your family. Depending on location you might even be able to rent it out to someone who could keep an eye on the place for you between builds.

Two is One

If you can rent out a mobile home or cottage then why not have two (Or one of each)? One for a renter and the other for you.

Building two enables leveraging of design, materials, labor and knowledge into a second identical structure. Rent one and stay in the other. If one isn’t rented then all the more options for family and guests. Even if you build one tiny house or cottage and don’t rent it you could then get rid of the RV or supplement the cottage with the RV.

Either way it will be much easier to get your family to stay longer!

Electricity

Speaking of Building it Backwards the smallest and last provision for electricity will be the first one on the back of my truck: A generator.

Bringing electricity to rural land is expensive. Even if your land already has an electrical drop the expense was built-in to your purchase price meaning you would have been able to purchase more land if it wasn’t. Whether you value more land or less with electricity is up to you. I’m a bit torn on the issue and will face it as we zero-in on our exact land choice.

My overall opinion is that electricity is the easiest utility to do without or provide by self-sufficient means. Since our goal is to provide at least some of the latter I’m not sure how much I’m willing to pay for the former.

Water

Water is life and mandatory. It’s so crucial to rural land it makes for a go/no-go buying decision. If you’re lucky enough to have a stream running through your land then you have a huge jumpstart! You’ll still have to setup pumps, plumbing lines, sewer and leach field, but, drinking water is only a two-stage gravity filter away.

Everyone else has to either drill a well and hope for the best or haul water in. If drilling a well is mandatory it’s too big a risk to not have an idea of whether you’ll be successful or how much money to set aside for the expense.

Cell Phone Coverage

Will you have to drive to get a signal on your cell phone? That could be a time and money losing proposition. Satellite has too much latency for any VOIP functionality you may be counting on. Best check on this, in advance.

Structure vs. Strategy

Structure order is only part of build strategy. You may know what to build and still get stuck on strategy. Since we’re building remotely I’ve been thinking through the various options. Here’s some thoughts off the cuff in the spirit of sparking a jumpstart or an idea to break the logjam of the theoretical.

As discussed previously, unless your paying someone else to build you’re going to need tools, supplies, a place to store them and a place to stay while you’re building. While large industrial one-use tools are best rented general tools and equipment are best owned for long term use.

  1. Store all tools and supplies underground on-site.
  2. Store all tools and supplies in an on-site Shed.
  3. Build an on-site shed supplemented with small public storage rental.
  4. Keep RV onsite or in local public storage and pick it up when visiting property.
  5. Rent and return a separate RV trailer for each building session.
  6. Keep RV on a friends property and pick it up when visiting property.
  7. Build a pole barn on-site large enough for supplies, tools and to store RV inside.
  8. Put a wood stove in the Pole Barn (Properly vented and with CO2 detectors all around) to heat.

We live a considerable distance away from our potential building site. That means any RV must be stored or rented locally even if we own it. I’ll be driving the truck to the site and it’s not worth the extra gas to haul an RV back and forth. The gas savings alone would pay for the RV or its local rental.

When in Doubt

The more clear and definite your vision the less time you’ll waste. The best use of your time is spent building structures that fit into your overall site plan. You would have built them anyway and just decided to build them first because of their superior marginal utility.

If you’re stuck on what to build first then there are three ways to go.

Build the Smaller Thing

Let’s face it, building something useful that you would be proud to have on your land is always a bit more difficult than you first imagine. Maybe what you have in mind is too ambitious. Take it down a notch or two. Instead of building a pole barn build a shed. Instead of a shed build a metal canopy. Instead of a canopy a Bear Grylles lean-to to take the edge off the wind for overnight camping.

Cut to the Chase

If you know a larger pole barn will obviate the need for a shed, smaller barn or serve as a workshop (And maybe even store an RV) and you have the means then the optimal use of your time is to build it first. Such a barn is a considerable project though much less than a home. The useful structures you build before your home may still, in themselves, be considerable projects. But, they still bestow the benefits of building it backwards.

Temporary Stuctures

Anyone who’s hauled a port-a-potty or scaffolding onto a building site knows that temporary structures can be the Optimal next choice. If a temporary structure has that much use, and you’ve got the money and time, then build it.

Build It Backwards Advantages

The idea of building it backwards can be implemented in an infinite number of ways. Limiting the focus to my family’s personal goals the approach has the following advantages over a more traditional strategy:

    • Gets you thinking of ways to use of your land, immediately.
    • Gets your land ‘producing’ at the beginning of the building process rather than at the end.
    • No debt. Purchasing the land and building slowly is a form of self-financing that keeps you from having to take a loan.
    • Flexibility. As circumstances change and money comes and goes you can make optimal choices on the margin about the timing, cost and usefulness of the next step.
    • Working harder now to build a second house will enables renting your current house in the future for retirement income.
    • You get to design and build exactly what you want, where you want it, and when you’re ready to build it.
    • Motivates site planning from the beginning which saves time, money and effort.
    • Provides a place to live on your property whenever you decide to be there.
  • Provides a place to live while working on or building the next phase of your country home.
  • May provide a place to rent for income or on-site security.
  • Starts momentum. Once you’ve built something useful the chances of adding further improvements rises exponentially.
  • Your improvements to the property for tax purposes will be minimal. By the time it amounts to something you’ll be getting maximum value from the land.

The most useful things built on land are built last. Reverse that convention and build it backwards. Small structures provide big comfort and improvements relative to their size and cost. Return on investment is high because investment is small and return is relative to the nothing of the vacant land your starting with.

Get the most important uses out of your land first, and soon. Doing so may rescue this widely held and rarely realized dream from the never-to-be-crossed-out section of your bucket list.

Copyright © 2014 by Terence Gillespie. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given to McGillespie.com

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Finding-Forrester
Creativity

Movies & Series for Writers

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Lips move in poetry only when they cannot not kiss. At least mine do.

Writing has limits. It’s an attempt to translate wonder into words to conjure thoughts of that wonder when read.  Good writing gets to the point. Great writing invades the body and takes hold of the imagination to project an experience onto the mind-screen. Movies start at the other side of the equation and travel direct. They project through the eye  and onto the mind-screen. If the ears are to hear only what the eyes miss then watching movies for writing is getting inspiration from a medium of more efficient delivery. They can leave all but the screenwriter, speechless. That’s why some of the screenwriting in these movies is a masterpiece of brevity and nuance of the spoken (Not written) language.

I’d rather write less about a life worth living than a million words about aspirations. But, other lives are inspirational, too, especially when captured by a good writer (And director).  So, when you can’t get another word down but have time for a movie here’s a list for you. They’re not necessarily great works of art but they’re good for writers.

  1. Games of Thrones
  2. Sons of Anarchy
  3. Downton Abbey
  4. Barfly
  5. Hearts of Darkness
  6. Finding Forrester
  7. Julia & Julia
  8. A Beautiful Mind
  9. Shine
  10. Amadeus
  11. Quills
  12. Tucker
  13. Wind
  14. Sherlock Holmes
  15. Ray
  16. The Aviator
  17. Searching for Bobby Fisher
  18. The Muse
  19. The Killing Fields
  20. Pollack
  21. The Player
  22. Don’t Look Back
  23. Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould
  24. My Favorite Year
  25. Ishtar
  26. The Big Fish
  27. All The Presidents Men
  28. Absence of Malice
  29. The Shining
  30. Purple Violets
  31. World According To Garp
  32. The Swimming Pool
  33. The Hoax
  34. The Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio
  35. Pandaemonium
  36. Finding Neverland
  37. Miss Potter
  38. Adaptation
  39. Shattered Glass
  40. Funny Farm
  41. The Hours
  42. Mr. Hollands Opus
  43. Deathtrap
  44. The Big Picture
  45. Henry & June
  46. Shakespeare In Love
  47. Wonder Boys
  48. Sylvia
  49. Stranger Than Fiction
  50. Before Night Falls
  51. Il Postino – Inspiration for “Tonight I know How Poets Feel”
  52. Big Bad Love
  53. Misery
  54. Iris
  55. Kafka
  56. Barton Fink
  57. Beloved
  58. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
  59. Deconstructing Harry
  60. Phenomenon
  61. Wilde
  62. Nora
  63. Tom & Viv
  64. Gothic
  65. Whole Wide World
  66. Shadowlands
  67. Adaptation
  68. Ask The Dust
  69. The Lost Weekend
  70. Harry Met Sally – sw
  71. Sleepless In Seattle – sw
  72. Shawshank Redemption – sw
  73. Goodfellas – sw
  74. Casino – sw
  75. The Verdict – sw
  76. The Making of ‘Star Wars’
  77. The Making of ‘The Shining’

More will be added as they get watched and vetted.

 

Copyright © 2014 by Terence Gillespie. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given to McGillespie.com

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