Minimalist Multifunctionism in the Quest of Dog

[Queso]

How would you go about doing that? (not faultlines, just for anything) that sounds like an interesting and fun project....

[Biochemist]

On board my wagon is all the necessary equipment for electrical service. Solar panel, 100 amp hour deep cell battery, 120V/800Watt inverter. Aprrox weight, 70 pounds.....Here is the beauty of the race idea: since there is a real limit to what a person or 2 can pull, each has to determine on their own what is essential. My complete kit & kaboodle is somewhere around 500 pounds by my estimate. ;)

I think I am a little thick, but I lost the thread in my head about the 'race'. Are you trying to minimize the amount ot stuff to be self sufficient, and to make that amount portable? Does the weight include perishable stuff like food, or just hard goods?

[Turtle]

___Orby said, "How would you go about doing that? (not faultlines, just for anything) that sounds like an interesting and fun project...."

+++I don't understand which 'that' you refer to. Please clarify.

 

___Bio said, "I think I am a little thick, but I lost the thread in my head about the 'race'. Are you trying to minimize the amount ot stuff to be self sufficient, and to make that amount portable? Does the weight include perishable stuff like food, or just hard goods?"

+++The race idea came after I had my wagon well outfitted just as you describe, ie self sufficient & portable. The 500 pounds does include food (also water which I will come to presently). I am slowly accumulating freeze dried food to replace the dry beans, rice & can good I started with.

___I have been at this 3 or 4 years now & building bit by bit, adjusting to fit the circumstance & my limited budget. I have to rush off now to watch perry Mason. ;)

[Turtle]

___A photo of my empty wagon is now in the Gallery. Bit by bit we shall fill it with suitable multifunctional things. What goes in your wagon?;)

[Turtle]

___Well... ;) Do you think the Survival Wagon deserves a thread of its own? ;)

[Biochemist]

___Well... ;) Do you think the Survival Wagon deserves a thread of its own? ;)

Hmmm. I suspect we could make a slightly broader thread, like "value of and approaches to asceticism" or something. That way all of the folks that think an ascetic lifestyle is nuts would be encouraged to ask you why the heck you are doing this, and to offer an opposing argument.

[Turtle]

___Inasmuch as your suggested thread title BioChemist is the subject of this thread, it appears we need no new thread at all. Onward!

___Now in the vein of racing with survival wagons, I have to say that now I think a better muli-wagon adventure is to procede as a wagon train. The racing stuff might be cool for a reality TV show idea, but the fact is racing increases the likelyhood of accidents.

___Because I already have this wagon set up, I have it in mind really to encourage others to build their own & so establish a community of wagon campers. Of course I realize here again it seems contradictory to 'form' a group inasmuch I as I trying to minimalize, but it is just these types of problems of balance that this is all about.

___Now I just called it a camp wagon, but it is a survival wagon & I have already once used the equipment in a minor emergency. Two years ago at the New Year we had an ice storm here & at one point the entire neighborhood lost power. Within minutes people were leaving their homes to drive (in spite of the ice!) to motels. I brought out my power backup on the wagon & my house had light, TV, & hotplate cooking (we heat with wood because the landlord won't fix the heaters, but they are electric & we are better off with wood). Granted the outage lasted only 3 hours, but we all could have done quite nicely for a week or more.

___The next addition to my wagon I have pictured now in the Gallery:

http://www.hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=82&c=3&userid=796

This is my own design & construction & weighs 14 pounds dry. I will describe all the salient multifunctional features in the next post. How many uses can you imagine in the meantime?

[Biochemist]

___Inasmuch as your suggested thread title BioChemist is the subject of this thread, it appears we need no new thread at all.

I'm really glad you clarified that. I never knew what the title meant. In fact, I am pretty sure I still don't.

 

...But did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic insomniac that woke up every night wondering if there really was a Dog?

[Turtle]

___That is a good one ;) It is by the way the same Dog I quest for in the title. Bio said, "I'm really glad you clarified that. I never knew what the title meant. In fact, I am pretty sure I still don't."

___The 'minimalist' part is the word now in vogue for your word 'asceticism'. The word 'multifunctionism' is my way of measuring and/or justifying those things which I do have/keep.

___Together 'minimalist multifunctionism' is the pursuit of the most comfort with the least stuff by means of having that stuff function for more than one purpose.

___To wit, the wagon accessory pictured in the Gallery. The multifunctionalities of it are it can be a table, it serves as a rack in the wagon for securing gear, & it holds, heats, & dispenses 3.5 gallons of water. ;)

___

[Biochemist]

The 'minimalist' part is the word now in vogue for your word 'asceticism'. The word 'multifunctionism' is my way of measuring and/or justifying those things which I do have/keep.

___Together 'minimalist multifunctionism' is the pursuit of the most comfort with the least stuff by means of having that stuff function for more than one purpose.

I appreciate the explanation. In my case, I would have to integrate my multifunctional environment around my 1200 pound piano. I could certainly sleep and eat on it. Clearly, portability could not be a high value until teleportaion is readily available.

[Turtle]

___You may minimalize vicariously through me. ;)

___I thought to explain how the accessory dispenses & heats water. The heating is passive solar, which I did not plan for but serendipitously found when testing the system on a summer day in the Sun. It can heat water to well over 100deg F.

___I also didn't originally plan to even put water in it, but saw it was a good multifunctional application. The problem lies in getting the water out, & for this I placed 1/4 vinyl tubing down each leg to the bottom. Then I joined them all with 'T' fittings & an outlet vinyl tube 3/8" as a spout. The final piece is an air inlet in one of the top caps that accepts a bike pump (actually you can even just blow in the fitting). Tighten the caps & pump a few strokes & voila, water out the spout. Once going, it continues on siphon action & no more pumping required except to get the last out.

___I did hook it up to a little car battery compressor; it ran up to 20 pounds & stayed there, squirting a good little stream several feet for nearly 4 minutes before running dry.

___Next photo I will show the electrical supply equipment in place on the wagon & one other item. ;)

[Turtle]

___Here is a twist; the landlord called the house yesterday & we all have to move becaue they are selling the place. The upshot is I likely won't have time or soon even access to post. I guess I'm going to find out how much stuff I really have; I already know it's more than I figured. Mon dieu! :eek:

[Biochemist]

Best of luck with the move.

[Turtle]

___Already I have thrown out my calculus book; I tried to use it to solve a problem recently & I couldn't make a lick of sense of it. I did find in the back of it however a second photograph I took years ago. It is a special effect mutiple (11) exposure of light trapped in a flowing column of water. I scanned it & made a small version which I have set as my avatar for now.

___I have not very well prepared for just how exactly to load my wagon onto/into my car. Yikes! Well, I have a lot of work to do so I may have little time to post, but I will try to keep it up as long as possible. No way to tell how long or if we get another hookup to the net.

___Keep a chair warm for me & a beer cold. :friday:

[Turtle]

___I've found a little time today to post up; this moving thing has me a bit rattled, but everyone in the house is telling me it's OK as we have enough time. Of course I still have too much in my view & I have recycled, reduced, or reused a bunch of sculpture materials I had laying about just in case. You can always find a stick on the ground afterall.

___My housemate Ace said don't worry about loading the wagon onto the car as he is getting a truck when the time comes to go. Anyway, I will go ahead & put everything back on it & if I have the chance snap another few phtotos of it.

___Last Summer I started a large acrylic on canvas painting of some of my K math & it has set in the closet unworked for 5 or 6 months. Anyway, everyone is telling me don't quit & throw it out so I brought it out & painted some today. Again the juxtaposition of producing something of questionable worth & service while claiming to reduce just such material property. Such things as the creative urge hardly fit into CPTU's or VPP^3.

___As it happens, when I do aquire something new I immediately disposess myself of an equal or greater amount of something else. All in all, the less I have, the less I have to loose. :) :)

[Turtle]

___I really hate all this not knowing stuff about moving; no idea of when or where I'm going, people quarelling & yelling, having more than I thought, having other people deciding if I'm fit for living somewhere or not, having to notify all those authoritys who demand to know what I'm doing, having to try & save enough money to move while at the same time not being allowed to have much money, & just plain having to have all this extra junk running around in my head to the point of distraction.

___I just would rather walk off with my wagon (which is apart & in my trunk now) & leave. It brings to the head the understanding that the things one has aren't all material, but in every real sense all the relationships, contracts, agreements, conversations, etc. command the same diligent attention in their removal. :)

[Queso]

in the midst of all the new convenience, there is now too much to worry about.