Damn it Roger, none of this is mine.

[Remington]

I had a bit of a revelation while driving home today. I suddenly came to realize that in my life, there are few things that I personally created. Too few. My college courses are written by other people, I do them on a laptop conceived, designed, and built by other people, and I sleep in a house that I had no role in making. None of it is mine, damnit.

Sure, I own some things: the laptop, my car. I've paid for college partially out of my own savings. But it's not a true ownership; the kind of ownership that can only exist between creator and created. I've bought it, but I didn't make it (not so much for my college courses, but still). If I'm in the process of crafting my own ideas, viewpoints, and worldviews (IMO, that's what Discordianism is), why can't I be making my own things? Some things would be impractical (a DIY car, for example), but there's lots of things that could be made by a young, slightly insane CompSci major.


So tomorrow, I'm going to set up a Paypal account and buy several Fresnel lenses online. When they arrive, I shall make something, whether it be a water heater or a solar-powered death ray. Whatever it turns out to be, it is sure to be these:
1. Dangerous
2. Science
3. 100% mine.

Watch the newspaper headlines, Roger. It'll be like that scene from the one crappy James Bond movie (Die another Day), but not as controllable.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

A death ray would be nice.  Please test it out on Tucson, because this City is MINE, and I'd very much like to burn it down.

You can even set up on Mt Lemmon.  It's not a volcano base, but it's close enough.

[Jasper]

The DIY credo: If you can't crack it open and change how it works, you don't own it.  I bought into it a while ago while reading Make magazine.  I still don't know how to engineer Arduinos or machine replacement parts, but since then I've learned how to fix my scooter and I hacked the ever-loving crap out of my iPod.  Being able to take constituents and assemble them into a new thing is my latest enlightenment high, and maybe even something of a corollary to my own sanitized, secular spirituality.

[Kai]

I use a similar creedo for reading books: if you keep your copy glossy clean in the hope the resale value will go up someday, then you don't really own it.

When a book is weatherworn, with little holes and stains in the binding, and writings and underlines on almost every page, THEN you own it.

[Triple Zero]

I'm already sloppy enough with books. I read Illuminatus! 2.5 times, and the paperback is really starting to fall apart. The way I manage to fuck up books (seriously, how do people read a paperback without creasing the back spine?) I'm often a bit afraid to borrow books from other people. Fortunately they always say it's okay and books should look a little worn and read. Which is all nice and romantic, but if you'd lend such a book three times to the likes of me, the book would be broken.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm already sloppy enough with books. I read Illuminatus! 2.5 times, and the paperback is really starting to fall apart. The way I manage to fuck up books (seriously, how do people read a paperback without creasing the back spine?) I'm often a bit afraid to borrow books from other people. Fortunately they always say it's okay and books should look a little worn and read. Which is all nice and romantic, but if you'd lend such a book three times to the likes of me, the book would be broken.

I take better care of my books than I do of myself.

[Jasper]

My books take better care of me than I do myself.

[ThatGreenGentleman]

Death ray of awesome and win! Build it! Build it right now! 

[Bruno]

I'm on a similar mission. I'm trying to figure out how to connect my mini-fridge to my computer with an Arduino Mega.