2011-02-28

Pattern Language in Aquaponics

Pattern Language in Aquaponics

To: Christopher Alexander
livingneighborhoods.org

Dear Mr. Alexander,
Your Pattern Language book has made a profound impression on me. I want to thank you for your inspiring work.
Some weeks ago, I mentioned Pattern Language to my Transpartisan friend Joseph McCormick,
http://reunitingamerica.org/
and he referred me to a website on the subject of pattern language in “Dialogue and Deliberation”:
http://grouppatternlanguage.org/
I have long had an interest in ‘architecture without architects’, and during the past year, I have been involved in learning Aquaponics; I am sure that I have seen your book referenced elsewhere, and seeing it a second time, and seeing that the work is so archetypal that it has been applied in other domains, I went to the shelves of the Willits (California) library, and found there a copy of Pattern Language.
I read (almost) the entire volume over the next couple days, and reread numerous parts. In a rare impulse, needing to return the book before leaving for a trip to Seattle, I left a few of the last sections unread to savor another time.
The book had a nameplate at front, ‘Gift of the Jeavons Family’. As it happened, I was about to dig a trench, and had also checked out a video called Dig It, in which John Jeavons
http://www.johnjeavons.info/
shows how to select and use a shovel – my background is ‘white collar’ and this year in the woods represents an effort for me to learn more about using materials and tools, and about working with plants and animals. Since John’s name had arisen twice that week, and since I was so grateful for Pattern Language, I wrote thanking him.
Since that time, I have been effusively telling one friend after another about Pattern Language, as it seemed germane in numerous conversations. I have been wrestling with what I call ‘design criteria’, and the desire to better understand the same, with the intention of writing an article on the topic. I have found that much of what I learned about design, and about project management in my past decades in publishing, websites, and video, is transferable to designing and building aquaponics systems. In my struggle to design an aquaponics system, I have found Pattern Language to be a revelation. Parts of Pattern Language concisely described things I had long felt, (such as the need for crosswalks to be elevated above the level of the street), and other parts explained things I had long wondered about. Other parts came as a relief, explaining why I feel uncomfortable in certain situations (such as a seating area not set back far enough from a walkway).
I have begun Timeless Way of Building and am looking forward to reading your other works, and also the derivative works such as the Dialogue techniques.
I am presently in Seattle visiting friends, one of whom lives at a co-housing community (in Bothell) called Songaia. At breakfast, I mentioned that I had just read Pattern Language, and that while reading it I was repeatedly reminded of Songaia. For instance, the communal workshop. One of the community members there explained that before Songaia was built, the members had a study group on Pattern Language. I wonder if you have ever visited Songaia, or if this is the first you have heard of it. It is a wonderful group of people, and a wonderful built environment, and I could ‘feel comfortable’ there.
Shortly I will be returning to my adopted home town of Ashland, Oregon, to proceed with an aquaponics project. My friend Asha, owner of Pacific Domes, has arranged for Rudy Behrens to visit to teach his version of aquaponics, Tetraponics. Rudy’s system includes an electricity generator that burns biomass, namely, duckweed, with its only emissions being CO2 and water vapor, that he calls the bio-energy dome.
Asha has long worked diligently towards building sustainable community, as have I, and so this project is only one expression of a larger mission, I want to invite your participation in this project at whatever level you might like. Your Pattern Language will be reflected in some degree in our projects, so at least I wanted you to know how grateful I am to you.
Thank you,
DanShaw.com

2011-02-09

How I Measure Up

How I Measure Up
I have measured quality of life in teacups
I have measured my education with a ruler
I measured the moon with my thumb
I measure hurry and boredom with a clock
Human kindness I weigh in a thimble
Money I do not number but arrange by author like fiction
The time between sunrise and sunset I measure
By how much I can jam in or leave out
Distance I measure in hours and days
We have a number for measuring the mind
When the sun is highest, that is not noon
All clocks bow to the satellite
Each day I consecrate to some obscure god or occult planet
Each year insert two Popes between six and seven
Except February which has 28.
Pick a new starting date and number backwards from there.
I am still using a calendar from 1491 as flat as the Earth once was
I measure years in waiting
Streets in stop lights
I draw straight lines on maps
I am so sure I am right.

A More Tragic Figure

A More Tragic Figure
I have not stood on battlefields
Earthquakes and hurricanes have missed me
But I have seen news of such disasters
But one will never see a greater tragedy
A more tragic figure
Than the man of reason,
The man of reason believes that God does not exist.
That man has made Reason his God (and emotion his Demon)
The man of God believes in a God existing
Why should I care if you believe or don’t?!
Believing is not knowing.
To believe is to not know.
In my magical reality
I have seen enough miracles to know.
Science is the world “exterior”
Where perhaps two people can share a consensus “reality”
Spirituality – experience of the Divine – is a world to each his own
For the man or woman who believes the scientific realm is the whole world
I weep
______________
DanShaw.com

Make changes to your site yourself:

Make changes to your site yourself:
Uploading web site pages, etc.
using a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program
such as WS_FTP or Fetch
WS_FTP, CuteFTP, etc. are for PC’s; Mac’s use Fetch.
If you don't already have WS_FTP (or Fetch) download it from www.download.com.
Install the program by double clicking the icon. Macs: Drag the Fetch dog icon into the applications folder.
WS_FTP
Click Connect (in the lower left). In the Session Properties box, select NEW. Use an obvious profile name, such as "!publicftp". (The exclamation point onveniently will bring this session to the top of the alphabetical list).
You will need a host name, a user name, and a password.
Host Name/Address is often in the form of: ftp.hostname.com
You may need to set Host Type to Auto detect.
Select the "Anonymous" checkbox and User ID and password default. Choose SAVE PASSWORD.
You will see your files on the remote server appear in the right hand frame. to To send a file to the remote server, Double-click to select it, and drag it; or, select it and click the transfer arrow.
Fetch
The same settings apply. Select “PUT”, then choose the local file you want to send to the remote host, then PUT again to send the file.
Back-ups!
Always be sure to make back up copies of your original, unedited files onto the local server into a new folder titled, ‘backups’ before you begin work. That way, if your web pages don’t look right once you’re edited them, you can always revert to the earlier version!