whereabouts

I'll be hovering around Central Texas for family events and music festivals and will return to Far West Texas in Mid June to work some more on the dome.

greetings from new york city

I'm in NYC visiting my sister. Some say that New York City is the greenest city in America. For example, only 20% of the population here own cars...the rest use public transportation. This is a polar contrast to any other city in America. Much of NYC has curbside composting and residents risk being fined if a recyclable item is found in their trash. Extreme dense living lends itself to less resources used per person. Still, one month's rent in NYC costs more than buying 5 acres of land in Terlingua, TX. OUCH !

Spring Visitors

Besides the giant bluebonnets, we had many human visitors in the area this week for Spring Break. This includes some of my family and friends who all made the journey out here over the past couple of weeks. I have been very fortunate to be able to spend quality time with friends and family out here. Here is a link to some of their photos.

Thanks to everyone who has been writing. I have heard from a few people about the link to this blog not working. Please note that the old URL ( terlinguajournal.com ) is no longer active. Feel free to bookmark earth-language.com instead.

Stocks on Steroids

Is it really the right solution for the federal government to inject the economy, particularly the stock market and credit and loan bureaus, with 200 billion more dollars worth of federal emergency loans ? Where is this money even coming from when our nation is already in debt trillions of dollars ? Who does this injection benefit ? Who will pick up the tab and when ? What do the federal interest rate cuts actually do and what is the lasting benefit ? Are there any policies or rebates which encourage people to save, be resourceful, and avoid debt ? What are the tangibles which back up our currency ? Is it oil ? Is it housing ? What will we do if our currency can no longer purchase cheap goods and services from subordinate countries ? What if our leaders' eye on the prize in the middle east doesn't result in a return on our investment as they had hoped ? These are important questions to stop and think about. As the true reality of our economy presents itself, we may find great opportunities to be creative and make positive and necessary changes.

The Housing Market and Domain Names

When I tried to buy the domain www.earthlanguage.com , I was forwarded to a company called URL Collection ( www.urlcollection.com ) … the company who owns the domain name. They buy domain names that they think people may want and then hold it hostage until they find someone who will pay an extravagant fee for it. After I inquired about the domain name, they emailed me to let me know that I could buy it for $3500. Their email mentioned how it was a steal, being that they usually start their domains for $10,000. I have purchased domain names before, so I know how much they are supposed to cost. $10 !

The reason I am posting this story on this blog is because their practice selling virtual space is a good analogy for the current housing market and the reason why we are approaching an unecessary housing crisis.

While there is plenty of space and resources for everyone to live debt free in a home somewhere, most housing is artificially priced and controlled to where debt free home ownership is out of reach to most people. Due to strict city codes and outlandish property taxes, even a tiny plot of land in the central city is out of reach to someone in the creative class who could use that space to build their own home. This is a modern phenomenon. Housing has never been this indebting anywhere ever before.

In modern times, housing is quickly aquired by investors who are not as interested in building community as they are in making a return on their investment. This drives up housing exponentially for everyone because it creates a pyramid scheme where the investors up the chain must make thousands of dollars every time a house changes hands. And so the property, whether it is a domain name or a small plot in the city, doesn't go to the person who would make the best use of it, but rather, it goes to the person who is the most ambitious to make a profit. Perhaps who is most affected is the investor at the bottom of the pyramid who didn't cash out in time.

The spot where I am building my studio is not necessarily my first choice, but it is a domain that hasn't yet been considered by investors. There are many more of them ! When this project is done, the price tag of the five acres, building materials, and water and energy catchment will be less than $10,000... the price of a domain name from URL Collections.

While URL Collection sits on an address they will never sell for what they want to, I will have to keeping telling people, "It's Earth Language dot com, but with a dash in the middle of Earth and Language, NOT an underscore."

For more information, go to www.URLCOLLECTION.com or www.NAMESTORE.com

bicycles and gardens

I have started riding my bicycle to get my mail. The mailboxes are about 3.5 miles from me, so it is a nice 7 mile roundtrip exercise chore. The ride takes me on dirt roads right past camel’s hump. It then spits me out onto the Terlingua Ranch road, which is paved and mostly flat. Sure beats driving ! The weather right now is ideal for bicycle riding. Most of the year is condusive to bicycle riding really...may have to just adjust the time of day you choose to ride ( mornings and evening in mid-summer, mid-day in the winter ).

In other news, I planted some seeds today. Tomatoes and beets. John Wells then showed up with some green bean and squash seeds, so I planted those too. I attempted planting tomato seeds twice already, but they didn’t germinate in this soil. It dries out too fast. This time I used potting soil so we’ll see what happens. Planting seeds is a good practice in patience and planning. It makes the fruit of one's labor that much more tasty. There are many ways to plant seeds in our lives and those are the things that are most worthwhile. And the motivation behind it is that while new seeds are being planted, older ones are yielding, giving a constant flow of, in this case, FREE food. It works the same way for energy and water harvesting. The instant gratification of a mass produced, purchased item can wear out quickly without leaving any residue of appreciation for what was consumed.

The dome building is back to a snail's pace since Emile left back home to Oregon, but progress is being made. The window wells are now fully lathed, and I've started to stucco them.

I have been listening to too much news while working, so I have begun listening to a music station called Sirius Disorder, a satellite station that is actually pretty good. No commercials. I am still only using 45 watts of solar panels, but it has been plenty so far, especially since Don Mcdowell ( another local Don ) graciously donated a brand new 12 volt battery. Thanks again Don !

Don't forget about total lunar eclipse tomorrow !

watering the dome

For 28 days, I am supposed to water down the stucco on the dome each day. This helps to cure it and make it much more stout over the long run. Being that there was a heavy dew this morning, I was able to skip a day. The thick dew saturated the dome inside and out. I asked Don what would happen if I missed a day and Don replied, “In a thousand years noone will notice”. It takes about 6 or 7 gallons of water to shower the dome, so this morning’s dew saved some agua.