EGC Clambake for October 10, 2005

Note to Rocketboom fans – If you can possibly download the bittorrent, please do. There’s a whole lot of you, and all the bandwidth you save helps. When you download a legal torrent, you stick it to the man!

Here is the Bittorrent link and direct MP3 download for the EGC clambake for October 10, 2005.

This is the special Converge South episode! I talk a little about my very positive experience there; I play a song by Alana Davis; I tell the story of the barbecue at the Hoggard household; I play a song by Bruce Piephoff; I play the interview with Amanda Congdon and Mario Librandi of Rocketboom; I play a song by the Murray Street Band; I welcome a new sponsor and fade out like an exhausted guy might.

This episode is sponsored in part by the fine folks at iPod Observer and Reel Reviews! Don’t forget, you can fly your EGC flag by buying the stuff package.

This show as a whole is Creative Commons licensed Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0.

Links mentioned in this episode:

PlayPlay

Published by

dave

Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.

23 thoughts on “EGC Clambake for October 10, 2005”

  1. Yo Dave, Good show. Good energy good content-no points off for technical glitches-after all you’re not with CNN-you’re with EGC. I’m not sure on a catch all term-will think on it. The end was Jack Black from School of Rock?

  2. I’m digging your “streets has it’s own use for things” unified theory.

    To me, it’s about knowing how to use cheap, easy, tools well. If anything Web 2.0 is about building easy-to-use tools – rather than wholly-baked products.

  3. Hey Dave…good stuff. I definitely get what you’re saying with the DIY/Maker/Street/cheap aesthetic. I’m on board 100%. As an aside, I particularly dug the cable reference; I too have made cables for $5 that someone wanted me to pay $75 for, and few things make me happier than that kind of “stickin’ it to The Man”. I don’t mind paying someone for value; but when you’re screwing your customers to that level, I’m pretty disgusted with you.

    On a related note…I don’t think this’ll give you any name ideas, but have you been reading Cory Doctorow’s serialization of his new novel (the first third of it, anyway) in Salon. It’s on part 4 of 10 now, and he’s banging on the same drum. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend checking it out:

    http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2005/09/12/themepunks_1/index_np.html
    (for part 1).

  4. Remember the 70s 7-UP commercials where they called it “the Un-Cola,” as in “opposite of Cola?”

    How about “Unsumer” – the opposite of “consumer.” I guess it’s a bit obscure, and not that catchy, but it’s the best I got off the top of my head.

  5. Not sure the right word or phrase to “summarize” your thoughts on the new unified theory. I’ll definitely think some more on it. At eTech 2005 the word was “REMIX.” Which is part of it but not all of it; especially with the integration of business sense, finacial stability, etc.

    What about using a foreign language word? Like the Spanish word for independence or a Latin phrase.

    Also the Coconut Monkeyrocket band is really cool. Thanks for the pointer – Steve

  6. The term for this diy thing is usually called “cheapskate”. Unless you’re poor, then it’s called “not having enough money.”

    Can’t buy it? Learn to build it. Can’t afford to build it right? Figure out how to do it on the cheap.

    America is amazing. I have two 17″ monitors I picked from the streets, and a 15″ I got for free. In the past five years, I’ve pulled at least five monitors from the junkstream and sent them to better homes. The last two TVs I’ve owned were from the garbage, and the one before that was a hand-me-down. I’ve given away a few computers, and they’re probably still in use. I listen to your show through an amp plucked from a dumpster (but on nice speakers I paid for) and you sound great.

    [soapbox]
    Despite this, I just got rejected for health insurance because I fessed up to smoking pot a couple years ago. Something about our social priorities are really fucked up when pills are expensive and health insurance companies are greedy, but computer monitors are pretty much free if you look around hard enough.
    [/soapbox]

  7. Hi, Dave:

    Outstanding!

    Those Coconut Monkey guys were great, along with the whole show. An extra amount of energy and passion were enjoyed by all. A minor nit, not in the “neener neener, got ya” vein, but in the “damn, I’m still not too old to observe” vein, was that CoconutMonkeyRocket was Technorati-tagged as “coconutrocketmonkey”, and intro’ed in the last song as “Coconut Monkey Riot”, as I heard it.

    I’d also humbly proffer a term for the Web2/Make/indebtedness idea; IMHO, the logic behind the term is impeccable, even though the term itself may suck:

    cynonomics (sin-OH-nom-icks)

    The logic is that in a lot of ways your comments were all about economics, in the classical sense of being debt-free, minimizing business costs via RubyonRails, et.al., as well as in the wider sense of one’s life being free from bullshit intrusions from corporate entities. Combining the episode title “Cynicism is a Positive Value”, with “economics”, and a term is born.

    No Google/Yahoo/Dictionary references at least, and the term is easily modifiable to fit common speech, and buzzword husbandry, if that’s important; e.g. “cynonoverse”, “cynonosphere”, “cynono{your_object_of_choice}”.

    Whatever you or anyone thinks of the term, I eagerly look forward your blogging and podcasting a lot more on the whole subject; this has been one of your banner shows, as far as I’m concerned.

    Enjoy the Greensboro conference; looking forward to the details..

    –Ken–

    Note:
    Readers of this comment may question why the term wasn’t “cynomic”; it’s more concise. Cynomic is not Google/Yahoo clean on a search, some German company already has the term.

    Also, whatever label/name is coined, let’s all remember the concept behind it.

  8. Hi dave,
    Excelent show, all that stuff about consumerisum is right man. its good to be independent. And the music is excellent (sorry the conyinues use of one word but im rather tired) Im going to buy some CD’s the soon as I actualy get paid and dont have to buy any more text books.

    p.s
    (keep it up yours is the only podcast im right up to date on 🙂

  9. Dave. I don’t have a good word yet, but am thinking. Talk about a matter of good timing. Yesterday, on “History according to Bob” podcast, (this is a very cool podcast, by the way), he did a little 5 minute thing on Diogenese the Cynic. Man, this is right up your alley and right on topic. Check it out.

    dt

  10. Your description of this re-junk concept (maybe that is the term?) got me thinking about my late grandad. I really didn’t know him all that well and wished that was different because the concept that you are talking about seemed to be embodied in him too.

    Let me indulge by quoting a small passage from his eulogy:

    “Despite living his life one day at a time, he was a man with strong views about the degradation of the environment, unemployment, personal human dignity, and social justicefor the poor. Some of these views were published in the Letters to the Editor in the local papers, gaining an award on one occasion, as he took up his pen after his wife died.

    “He grew up in an era when all resources were highly valued and he was the ultime recycler. Today we would say ‘he trod lightly on the Earth’. He had few clothes; all packaging was stored and recycled, food scraps were composted; scraps of timber, and old leather shoes were turned into useful items, old bolts were rethreaded and given a new lease of life, the best of each crop he grew was saved as seed to grow the next crop and he walked wherever possible.

    “His life spanned a period in our history where social and technological change occurred at an unprecedented rate. He embraced these changes in a considered way. Selecting new technologies that were of benefit, leaving the fads to others.”

    It goes to show that what you are talking about is not about cybernetic limbs and digital brains, it is about how we interface with the stuff that is all around us. This concept is not new but there is something special about being able to say that you “tread lightly on the earth”.

    Thanks for the thoughts Dave.

    –nick coster

  11. I haven’t listened to your show in a long time which is entirely my fault and not any issue I had with your show. When I downloaded the past few weeks from you I loved the band Coconut Monkeyrocket so much I had to come thank you for sharing this with us. You said their work was indicative of the things you’d found on ConvergeSouth before so this morning I’m going to rummage through the site and see what I can find, good stuff.

  12. Gekitsuu, Comfort Stand is the net label that came from. Their first release was TWO ZOMBIES LATER, a double album of stuff a lot like that. If you like this, you’ll like a lot of Comfort Stand music.

    Nick, I agree with you down the line.

    Don, I’ll look that up. I heard an interview with him on Small World, but never the actual show.

    VCG, you are too kind. Thanks.

    Ken, as I posted elsewhere I like that thinking. Another term that has been raised is “lonomics”, same kind of thinking but using “lo-fi” as the front portion. Let’s keep throwing these against the wall and I think we’ll all mutually feel it when one sticks.

    JohnK, recognizing that the value of our waste stream is higher than some countries have in their product stream is a good start.

    Steve, all these things work together, so just getting the term that encompasses but stands apart is the hard bit.

    Ken K, There is a lot of that aesthetic in SOMEONE COMES TO TOWN… as well.

    Garrick, cheap tools leads to better making, absolutely.

    BB, bingo. That was it.

  13. Thanks Dave I was going to ask why there weren’t any songs on ConvergeSouth anymore 🙂 I remembered it started with a “C”. Your show is the second one I started listening too when I got into podcasting.

  14. Dave:

    I’d agree that “lonomics” is further to the right on the zing-o-meter than my term, even given that my term is an anagram of “cynics moon”. (The ol’ internets anagram server has been very busy the last day or two).

    I’d further concur that when we hear or read the term, we’ll have a group “aha!”.

    –Ken–

  15. indienomics – I think it could be the economics of acting as an independant. Your are a maker and you trade with other makers.

    Saw one reference to the term via google that did not define it but referred to it.

  16. retek (aka re-tech) – re-use or re-purposing of existing technologies to extend the original functionality or creating completely new and unexpected functions. Use: all attempts to retek the enclosed product will void the warranty.

    re-teker – one who reteks (see above).

    retek kiddie – one who follows the retek instructions from MAKE magazine.

  17. Maybe we need more than one term? I thought of one for the not-being-in debt aspect: un0wned (with a zero).

    A hacker in the traditional sense (particularly hardware hacker) covers much of the tech aspect, but there’s no hope of rehabilitating that term. I thought about nacker, but it’s probably too close to the tarnished term.

    Coconut Monkeyrocket is great. I’m going to grab some of their stuff.

    Dave, you and the Brooklyn Blues Man have me thinking about podcasting, to the point that I’m looking at hosting arrangements. dragonfort.net + WordPress looks as close to free and effortless as anyone could hope for. I want to start by reading a book. I’m in discussions with the copyright holder now. The work is currently offered under terms similar to Creative Commons by-nc-nd.

  18. Re: searching for a term… to me, everything you speak of is simply DIY, or the DIY ethic, but I know that’s not sexy enough for a proper meme. “Indienomics” comes close, but the word “indie” has been co-opted by the corporations in much the same way “alternative” has, so that’s a tough sell.

    I’ve mused on this myself, with the exception of the no-debt part, but it does dovetail nicely with some things I’ve written here. The point is being independent of others in the pursuit of your dreams. Joseph Campbell spoke of “Following your bliss.” “Blissonomics” might work, except it requires explanation. That, and it kinda sounds like “blister,” which is a bad thing to have associated with a paradigm-shifting meme.

    Once we have this work, we all need to push it like madmen, and grab all possible domain names so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands!

    Keep thinking. Hope to see you at Podcast Expo.

  19. Coconut Monkeyrocket now has a CD for sale available only at coconutmonkeyrocket.com. Check it out!

Comments are closed.