Resource Based Living

In tune with the Zeitgeist Movement, this blog, in its creator's own words:

"was started to discuss and share the possibilities and solutions to the problems above [see - ahem - below] . It does this in 2 ways:

1. Expose and attack corruption caused by the monetary system.
2. Help to free each and every individual from this corruption by providing solutions based on self sufficiency, sustainability, and technology.

It is therefore quite diverse in its content, but this is for good reason.

As soon as you are dependent on someone else to provide you with shelter, food or energy you leave yourself open to be controlled. This is why this blog contains many resources to help you achieve at least some level of self sufficiency.

The monetary system creates slavery, scarcity, and the devastating consequences of continual consumption. However, technology is finally breaking us free from this corruption.

This blog contains ideas and commentary for bringing about a future of technological abundance and sustainability."

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Here are the problems referred to as the blog has it:

"Say what you like about global warming, but in the “west” we are consuming at a rate that is completely unsustainable at the expense of the third world. We are squandering resources, filling up landfills and polluting our only planet.

Closer to home, our politicians fail us at every turn. Our trust in them is tested daily while crime rates soar and nothing ever gets any better. Yet we’re never given a better choice.

We find ourselves subject to ever-increasing crippling taxes, inflation and interest that keep us in perpetual debt. Unemployment rises exponentially as more and more jobs are lost to automation. All while a select few horde all the money and live a life of luxury."

Z-day

Z-day is 13 March each year, when all chapters of the Zeitgeist Movement promote the movement and hold meetings for as many as possible to attend. Over 350 people attended the London Event held at the City University.

Here is a link to a zip file of the presentations we saw. Not as good as being there, but informative and thought-provoking all the same.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8068/Zeitgeist/Zday%20Lectures.zip

The Equality Trust

http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/

From the book "The Spirit Level" (Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett): "If correct the theory and evidence set out in this book tells us how to make substantial improvements in the quality of life for the vast majority of the population. Yet unless it is possible to change the way most people see the societies they live in, the theory will be stillborn. Public opinion will only support the necessary political changes if something like the perspective we outline in this book permeates the public mind. We have therefore set up a not-for-profit organisation called The Equality Trust ... to make the kind of evidence set out in the following pages better known and to suggest that there is a way out of the woods for us all."

Zeitgeist movement

The Huffington Post has published an article based on a talk by Jacque Fresco, which succinctly explains this movement dedicated to saving the planet and human society.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/travis-walter-donovan/the-zeitgeist-movement-en_b_501517.html

Teleatlas

This is the firm that produces the baas maps for Google Maps and many sat nav units. You can send corrections to them here:

http://mapinsight.teleatlas.com/mapfeedback/index.php.

The online world is full of unnecessary competition, and maps are no exception. By correcting Teleatlas maps, I'm hoping that all the "mapplications" based on them will work better, but there are still too many organisations layering information on base maps in independent, incompatible ways. If there's going to be no agreed standard, then an industry standard is likely to, or perhaps needs to emerge. Google would seem to be a strong contender, even thought one or other of its offerings it doesn't always seem compatible with others, maybe because they've just bought them up from other developers.

We are missing out on so many of the benefits of technology because of unnecessary competition and the resultant need to get "proprietary lock in" that makes you stick with Acme electronics once you have bought one of their gadgets.

The way out of this is to co-operate to reap the benefits of technology.

Small Local Shops

Some observations.

Several in Barking town centre have very narrow aisles, not only making it difficult to manoeuvre, but very hard to see what's on the shelves. I know they want to make maximum use of their floor space, but they may have scored something of an own goal.

If local shops really want to compete with the major supermarkets, I think they would be better off collaborating more. The ones in Barking town centre that prompted my comment above carry very similar stock lines and the ones near where I live, in a local parade, all compete with each other to sell the same things, too.

If the shops in a local parade collaborated, they could carry more choice between them and compete with the supermarkets better. They could share costs and profits out evenly.

Cycle parking removed at Vicarage Field?

Why have the cycle parking stands that used to be in Ripple Road not been replaced? It would perhaps have been fair enough to remove them while the East London Transit works were going on, but now only informal locking sites are available.