Thursday 22 January 2015

Chainews hot off the wire; Chained in Holland Facebook group formed?


"for all chainmaillers who live in holland whom like to meet other mailers. I have a place to meet, this is the group https://www.facebook.com/groups/chainedinholland/"

Monday 12 January 2015

Have you ever thought about writing your Memoir?

Courtesy of Yesterday's Memory Workshop Here Are 38 Titles To Help You Out!

1 - All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
2 - Blackbird, A Childhood Lost and Found by Jennifer Lauck
3 - The Colour of Water by James Mcbride
4 - Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady by  Florence King
5 - Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
6 - Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir by Dava Sobel
7 - The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher
8 - In Search of Our Mother's Gardens by Alice Walker
9 - The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison
10 - Paula by Isabel Allende
11 - Prozac Nation, Young and Depressed in America by Elizabeth Wurtzel
12 - Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
13 - Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
14 - An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
15 - Fireflies by David Morrell
16 - Midnight Mass: Stories of an Italian American Childhood by Gerry Albarelli
17 - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
18 - Ring of Bright Water by Maxwell Gavin
19 - Round Ireland in Low Gear by Eric and Wanda Newby
20 - Contemporary Creative Non-Fiction: The Art of Truth by Bill Roorbach
21 - Rolling Home: A Cross-Canada Railroad Memoir by Tom Allen
22 - The Only Snow in Havana by Elizabeth Hay
23 - Romancing Mary Jane: Life of a Failed Marijuana Grower by Michael Poole
24 - Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir by William Zinsser
25 - Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art by Judith Barrington
26 - Living to Tell the Tale: Guide to Writing Memoir by Jane Taylor McDonnell
27 - How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Life into Literature by Bill Roorbach
28 - Your Life as Story: Discovering the New Autobiography by Tristine Rainer
29 - Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
30 - Any Given Day: The Life and Times of Jessie Lee Brown Foveuax
31 - Writing Family History and Memoirs by Kirk Polking
32 - Writing Your Life: Putting Your Past on Paper by Lou Willet
33 - How To Write Your Own Life Story by Lois Daniel
34 - Story Only You Can Tell by Toni Sorenson
35 - The Book of Myself by Carl Marshall
36 - Writing the Family Narrative by Lawrence P. Gouldrup
37 - Your Living Legacy by Susan Fielder Mears
38 - How to Write Your Own Life Story by Patrika Vaugh

Do you have any titles to add to this list?

39 - If You Can Talk, You Can Write by Joel Saltzman 
40 - On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft By Stephen King

Quote of the Day: You gotta what you gotta if you wanna do what you wanna.

Sunday 11 January 2015

What is your most powerful memory?

Day started with some expert chiropractic care, part of yesterday's birthday bonanza. Must say that my back feels better than it has in ages.

Also had a surprise visit yesterday from my best friend all the way from the big city of Sudsbury. We managed to squeeze tonnes of conversation into a very short period and I got caught up on the latest new from the real world.

I told my friend that one thing I really admired was his ability to stick to #100DaysOfNotMe on Facebook. It seems like every time I try to commit to something like regular Diary of a Chainman posts I always fall short and so with renewed I decided to start doing my own 100 Days of Not Me. (Bets are on for exactly how long it takes to post 100 not mes! I'm guessing about 3 years, but we'll see.)

Coincidentally today's not me coincides with the loverly afternoon I spent in the company of the Manitoulin Writer's Circle attending one of their excellent workshops*. Today I had the opportunity to rummage through old memories, see myself through another's eyes and learnt the difference between an auto-biography and a memoir.

For example, while an auto-biography is very "by the books" and sticks to the linear facts, a memoir is a recounting that can include fictional tools, such as dialog, in order to explore the or a overarching theme of or in somebody's life.

With my flagrant disregard for all but the most important fundamentals I can definitely say that Diary of a Chainman is in all ways a memoir.

The following was one of today's 10 minute writing assignments. We were instructed to write a stream of conscious letter to somebody who appeared in family photographs that we were all asked to bring as writing prompts.


For the subject of my unsent letter I chose my mother from the above photo. The writing on back says "Dylon 3 Months" which would have been in the spring of 1974.

I started the letter with "Stardate 1-11-15" because I actually have an old journal of hers and she used stardates of her own creation.

Dear Mom,

Greetings from the far flung future of Gore Bay.

It has been just of 34 years since your departure from our world and I often wonder what you would make of our modern times.

1980 seems a distant memory from a time before the home PC revolution. Today I, your brilliant son, makes his living repairing technology. A vocation that honestly drives me crazy and has seen it's own evolutions in the quarter century I've spent battling rogue IT.

Did they even have the acronym IT in your day? Today so-called Information Technology drives our world in ways that only the most far-sighted from the past could ever have envisioned.

For example, most average "PPL" today are continuously connected and broadcasting to a an instantaneously synchronous communication system that rivals in every way the Global Village of Marshall McLuhan's imagination.

Still, the Island has remained mostly unchanged. We do bear a few scars of technology taken too far, but I've heard that change is inevitable for all things.

Have you ever heard the saying, "As long as somebody remembers you, you're never really gone?"

That is the lasting effect your presence left on our community. After such a startling egress and subsequent absence, it almost seems as if our town was left without a spirit and mostly I can only imagine the energy you contributed to a place where they really do remember your name.

I am pleased to report that Dad is alive and well. Today we even have a small gallery and gift shop on the waterfront, north of the marina, called Whytes. We're part of an artist's collective in a recently renovated building called the Gore Bay Harbour Centre.

In fact, that's where I am today writing to your memory across the years as part of a creative writing workshop on the self-same topic of memories and memoirs.

I've also heard that home is where the heart is and if that's true then there is a part of both our hearts that will be forever tied to this place.


And that's all I had time to pen.

Quote of the Day: Strategy, they say, is choosing upon which ground to play will battle tactic deciding who will take the day.

*I've been taking creative writing courses from Margo Little of the Manitoulin Writers Circle since I was 12 or 13 and they never disappoint to inspire. I especially love the challenges involved, such as storytelling with partners. For aspiring authors I recommend seeking out similar resources. For me it's particularly hard to read my own work in public, my hand-writing is terrible and I get nervous when I'm not rehearsed. But I'd still trade a thousand serile on-line forums for the authentic experience of exchanging constructive criticism in person.

Sunday 4 January 2015

The only conspiracy is a belief in conspiracy?

(Other than a bunch of dumb, naked, fearful, self-domesticated, barely-sapient, mirror neuron soaked hominid descendants too busy playing in their own crap to actually give a $hit about looking after their one and only planet, that is.)

Read the Original Article Here

There are very real conspiracies in the world, and those conspiracies are always conducted by people “in the know” against those who are ignorant or naive of backroom machinations.

Past slavery was largely based on force (thus was much more obvious), but modern-day slavery is actually more widespread because global slave masters use all of the scientific tools at their disposal to win hearts and control minds , convincing us that our hands and feet are free, so we must be living self-directed lives.

There are signs that the mind-pyramids that technocrats have built to enforce their 21st-century global plantation slave system are crumbling as they press harder upon our cognitive ability to make sense of words and actions. The owners of the shoulders on which the structure of tyranny is supported are beginning to leave in droves. The pyramids are falling as slaves begin to recognize their unconscious effort, and consciously encourage others to find a different line of work.

Here are 10 ways that you can help collapse all of the pyramids of control.

1. Media and Intelligence – Information is knowledge and knowledge is power — this is where it all starts. Turn off the TV , stop passively receiving information that turns you into an idiot at the teat of the “idiot box.” Get creative: start a blog , a neighborhood newsletter, radio show, public access TV or YouTube channel, write encouraging letters to companies you appreciate and nasty ones to those you boycott; DO something; anything to increase awareness. Homeschooling is another great way to help short circuit the negative influences of systematic programming. Even if you don’t agree with homeschooling, or are not able, there are concepts that you can help introduce into your public school to enhance education. Intelligence – there are technologies to thwart constant surveillance , as well as low-tech solutions to high-tech tyranny . The Internet is being used to surveil the public, but it also provides an opportunity for the public to surveil and report the real criminals. Use the system against itself.

2. Health and Agriculture – Why do tyrannical systems always move to declare methods of independence such as farming, vitamins, raw milk, and natural medication like cannabis as underground contraband systems that threaten the health of society? Clearly because this is a cornerstone of freedom. Learn to make your own medicines , trade on the underground, support other states (and countries) who have embraced food freedom, and stand your ground by forming local community resistance against food and health tyranny. Moreover, simply making your mind and body stronger by pursuing what is natural and healthy will give you more power to challenge the system in every other way.

3. Energy and Technology – Support true economic development and pursue open source solutions to all technological problems that can affect humanity on the widest scale. These are the technologies that have been suppressed in the past, their creators destroyed; but now there are too many people pursuing goals to free humanity. Embrace innovation and technology, but only as it leads to self-empowerment, self-determination, and genuinely helps the human and environmental condition. There are reportedly many free-energy patents being kept from the public. These technologies can’t be kept secret forever as long as the Internet remains free and open. Support all efforts to maintain Internet freedom and the right to pursue innovation.

4. Mobility and Flexibility – Always be willing to adapt and move. The structure of tyranny might be global, but there are always pockets of freedom that tyranny ignores — normally based on economic interest. Become adaptable, don’t buy into the “American Dream” of having possessions to define your self-worth. Once you discard the unimportant things, look for specific towns, states, or countries to escape economic decline and those which promote freedom. It’s a difficult decision to pick up and move, especially when extended family comes into play, but discuss your ideas and the evidence for your concerns openly and honestly, and be the first to pioneer the building of a new future — if things begin to collapse in earnest, you will soon be sought after by those who once doubted your “crazy” reasoning.

5. Prepare for the Worst
– Along the same lines as being mobile and flexible, make sure that you store enough supplies to get through a few months or more of tough times. The current system relies on your dependence and they can easily control those who live just-in-time lifestyles. Most people don’t realize how much they “need” the system until something like a blizzard knocks out their power and wipes out the grocery store shelves. It’s wise to store back-up food, have the ability to produce food, gather tools and other items needed during power outages or other disasters, and actively pursue any and all other survival prepping and self-sufficiency techniques.

6. Refuse to Pay Unjust Debt – This is a moral decision based on the information that much of what was created to be a “loan” was based on a predatory system. As they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse, and that is duly noted, but when confronted with an enemy that has deliberately contrived devious ways to steal productivity and the fruits of honest labor, then the principle of justifiable self-defense is invoked. Forget about your credit score; it is the invisible chain that keeps you in prison. Refuse to pay debts that you know were fraudulently imposed. Remember, the banks never had the money they “lent” to you in the first place; they created it out of nothing to buy your servitude. If you are hesitant to simply quit paying the criminal banks, then learn how to reduce your exposure to all debts.

7. Create New Banking Systems – We have seen economic collapse taking down countries like dominoes across the third world, and now the first. These money junkies cannot and will not stop. It is up to us to develop systems which permit us to completely withdraw our support for the current system and shield us from manipulated collapses. This may be the most productive way to break free from modern slavery; whether it’s switching to local credit unions, storing precious metals instead of cash, engaging in barter systems or using alternative currencies, or supporting full-blown monetary reform.

8. Learn a Skill – Learn as many skills outside of your day job as possible. This can be as simple as giving more attention to your hobbies like fishing, hunting, gardening, painting, blogging, tinkering on cars, building things, sewing, cooking, etc. Whatever useful skill you’re most passionate about, learn more about it, become an expert at it, and acquire the necessary tools to start a side business with it. By doing this, you’ll reduce the dependence on your job and find much more fulfillment in life. Remember, skills are the only form of wealth that can’t be taken from you. Additionally, form clubs or partnerships with your neighbors and share your skills and tools to form a stronger community that will be resistant to whatever the systems of control throw your way.

9. Boycott – Activists have enjoyed many recent victories through boycott, most notably the rapid removal of “pink slime” meat from major supermarket chains following public outcry once they became aware of the product. It goes to show that the public still holds the power over corporations, but the masses must be educated before they’re moved to action. Not you though. Readers of this post know exactly what companies to boycott and why. Start living your principles and follow through on your knowledge. Voting with your dollars DOES work, but not if the aware crowd refuses to do it.

10. Taxes – Taxes are the most controversial of all — the one that catches the most flak, so the one that must be most directly over the target. How do you feel knowing that money is extracted from you by force to be injected into systems around the world that create violence, rip apart cultures, and put us on a path of complete annihilation and self-destruction? This is slave-like thinking in its highest form of denial. No Constitution of any country anywhere in the world openly recognizes that it is lawful to forcefully extract money you have earned enslaving you for life to kill others with it, upon penalty of imprisonment. It’s the final chain to be broken, and is admittedly the thickest. But how can a machine be built without the funding to build it? The entire prison system we see around us has been built with our own money. Did you authorize it? Did you authorize the preemptive wars, bank bailouts, corporate subsidies, the high-tech surveillance grid that enslaves you?

Significantly, these are all things you can do on your own. You don’t need to influence politicians, or ignite a mass protest, or wait for an uprising. There is no cavalry coming. You are the change you seek. Get out there and become more self-reliant and the system will lose its grip on you. If enough of us do this, the system will fall apart by its own unsustainable making. Refuse to be a slave today and unchain others by sharing this article and implementing the tips on this list.

Source: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/05/10-ways-to-stop-being-slave-and-bring.html


If you enjoyed this article then Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson is definitely a recommended read!


Quote of the Day: There are none so blind as those who will not see, they believe themselves to be free and so never will be.

 

Friday 2 January 2015

Ever had a hard time not giving a fuck?

Long time readers know that this blog is dedicated to learning of all kinds. This includes one of my favorite topics; positive personal development and motivation.

Today fellow spec fic author and creator of many real and honest stories, Aldan Tan, has agreed to be interviewed for Diary of a Chainman with his no bullshit insights for a happier life.

Q. Who are you?

A. Yo, my name is Alden Tan, and I’m a passionate Bboy and writer all the way from Singapore.

Q. Where are you from?

A. Singapore!

Q. What is your product?

A. Right now I`ve got a new mini-course, 100 Days of No-Bullshit Happiness!

Q. What makes you laugh?

A. Daring jokes. And extremely lame puns.

Q. What is something most people don’t know about you?

A. I’ve never smoked before in my entire life. People think I do because of the friends I hang out with.

Q. What are you working on right now?

A. On a new marketing campaign to bring my blog up to the next level.

Q. If there is no other side, why did the chicken cross the road?

A. He’s high as fuck.

Q. How did you get started?

A. Did the whole, “Quit my job to follow a dream” thing. Jumped in 3 years ago. And started writing my heart out. Took a lot of struggle though!

Q. What advice do you have for anyone who wishes to follow in your footsteps?

A. Invest in yourself early. Get a proper mentor or coaching program to learn the ropes. Minimize the learning curve.

Q. What is one thing you would rid the world of?

A. Rapists. They’re worse than murders if you ask me.

Q. What is the best question you have ever been asked?


A. “Do you want to come in?” by my then-soon-to-be-girlfriend.

Thanks again Aldan! If you’re interested in doing a mini-interview to promote yourself, product and/or service feel free to drop me a line Dylon@GrumbleDude.com

Quote of the Day : Mama always said life was like a big box of go fuck yourself!