❮❮prevnext❯❯

viridian dreams

(2 comments)
2008.11.22
Boingboing posted to the last of Bruce Sterling's final Viridian Manifesto. He advocates for that certain kind of minimalism, dividing possessions into
  1. Beautiful things.
  2. Emotionally important things.
  3. Tools, devices, and appliances that efficiently perform a useful function.
  4. Everything else.
(With the implication that the 4th category should generally be disposed of.)

The tone of the essay can read a bit arrogant, and in some parts (like the insistence on a multitool) gratuitously high-falutin' rationalization of the author's preferences.

Some of the comments by boingboing readers were interesting; John Mark Ockerbloom, in particular, points out that Sterling is describing the ideal for a global nomad; nomads always travel light. Some people who choose to keep a surplus around themselves will do so for the sake of community, and as he and others point out others might be poor, or afraid of being poor, and the costs of keeping the extra stuff is a kind of interest payment, a hedge against a time when ready cash might not be available for a used item's replacement.

Sterling also argues for investing in good beds and good shoes. Beds are tough - he admits to the difficulty of cultivating the awareness needed, and I really despair of ever knowing what kind of bed is best. Even a catnap at a mattress store doesn't seem like it would be enough to know how a bed works for you overnight, and there are always so many variables going into a good night's sleep that I'm not sure I could ever isolate the power of a mattress. Which is a bummer, because I haven't been sleeping particularly well lately I think.

Maybe I'll split the difference and buy a $150 tempur-pedic mattress cover from CostCo.

Bush: LAMEST DUCK EVER. What is this, some kind of perverted "do-nothing" scorched earth policy? Seriously. Worst of All Possible Presidents
Talk afoot that Obama should ditch DST. Screw that noise - DST all year long! (I *hate* that a change for consistency is default "no DST")
Twice now I've seen guys getting the dunkin donuts order for their crews, orders scrawled on big pieces of cardboard with magic marker.
I'm usually pretty descriptivist and loose about others' usage, but the slogan "Exceptional Care. Without Exception" makes me sad.
I am trying to come up with ONE f'in business or technical reason why iPhone's don't do MMS. Lazy? Thanks for the tough-to-type codes, AT+T
Feeling oddly energized. Can neurochemically okish people go through times of being, like, mildly bipolar? Or is it just "having moods"?