The Conservatory

I will continue my series on the various areas that will be in the town that I will found. Today we will look at The Conservatory.

The Conservatory is a district unto itself yet is in reality a mixture of districts, or rather has influence from a few different districts.

The Conservatory is one building, or rather I see it as being one large building, but it could be a few different yet connected buildings.

The area that The Conservatory will take up is 5 acres, which will be 1/16th of a mile wide with 1/8th of a mile long. In essence take any of the other smaller areas and cut it in half length wise.

The Conservatory will be an extension of The Science District and will be looked after or be assisted by people from Applied Botany and/or Laboratory Botany, with some input and suggestions from Theoretical Botany as well.

The Conservatory will be a large, self-contained environment with: a burst of colour, plants, trees, walkways, paths, birds, bees, small creatures . . . you name it, it’s here.

If you have ever been inside a large greenhouse and/or indoor conservatory, you will know what I am talking about.

I see a series of tree house type buildings up in the tree canopy with walkways (think of the Ewok Village in Star Wars, The Return of The Jedi. Why? Why not.

The other district that will have an influence on this area is The Commercial District. Why is that? 

Well, as you can imagine, this large conservatory can not only help further science but also be a tourist attraction. 

This is where the fine folks from The Commercial District come in. 

For while people from The Science District know how to help grow all types of plants, people from The Commercial District have expertise in making money. 

This is a good example of people from different groups within the town working together to help each other while at the same time, helping further their own goals and objectives. 

It’s called cooperation and collaboration . . . try it . . . you’ll like it.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive and keep moving forward!

The Science District

I will continue my series on the various areas that will be in the town that I will found. Today we will look at The Science District.

This district will be where all of the scientific groups are located, as well as where the projects are worked on and completed. 

This area will be laid out in a manner that reflects its need. It may or may not be laid out as a grid or it may be laid out like a university or other type of institution.

As far as the architectural style goes, I see it being something futuristic (yet not ridiculous) or perhaps something ultra-modern. 

It will look like exactly what you would expect a place of science to look like: reflecting and envisioning the future.

In essence this district will be the shrunk down version of the scientific part of the town that I really do want to start (you have to start somewhere).

As far as how it will be run, it will also have a democratic, responsible government with each group electing its own leader.

The leaders of each group within a Pillar (each area such as: Analytical, Theoretical, Laboratory, Field, Applied, and Trade Guilds) will together form the governing body for that Pillar. 

The leader of that governing body of a specific Pillar will be elected from and by the whole group of people that work within that Pillar.

So, within the Laboratory Pillar, shall we say, we will have a number of groups. Let’s say Laboratory Biology for example. 

The people working in the Laboratory Biology Group will elect from within themselves a person to manage the Laboratory Biology Group. 

That Elected Leader, (of the Laboratory Biology Group) will not only lead the Laboratory Biology Group but also sit on the governing body for The Laboratory Sciences Pillar.

The leader of The Laboratory Sciences Pillar could be anyone within the whole of The Laboratory Sciences Pillar. 

The same is true for the governing body for the whole of the Scientific District. The elected leader of each Pillar will sit on this governing body with the overall leader elected from the whole of the population of the Science District.

I see the Enlighteners (Library, Archivists, and Educators combined) as well as The Healers (Medical System) also headquartered here, but with facilities throughout the town.

The idea is to have various groups working on science in the manner and way that they best enjoy. 

Each Pillar or Group within a Pillar should and must collaborate and work with other groups and other Pillars so as to further science together. 

As in each group or Pillar furthers: science, knowledge, technology and understanding in the manner in which they do it (as defined by their Pillar) yet handing off their work to another group or Pillar when the work strays into their (the other Pillar’s) scope of science.

I could go on but the idea is to have an area of the town that furthers science, knowledge, technology and understanding in a manner that is governed and controlled by the scientists themselves in a democratic, responsible government model.

It is also important to note that those working in this District will take no salary, yet have all of their needs met by the Science District.

As far as funding goes, while some cash can be transferred from other districts, it will be important to somehow secure funding, grants, donations, licensing patents etc, to fund this place and hopefully break even (or come close).

I could go on much more, but this should give you an idea as to what this District will do. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

The Homestead Fund Update

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” (to build my "Homestead Fund") 

Okay, so let’s see how I did . . . 

   

For review, here is how things looked from last payday . . .

   

That is 40.7% (of my Savings Target).

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on this payday’s budget . . . 

   

That’s right things jumped up to 40.7% of my savings target. 

That means I put away 0% of my total Savings Target this payday.

That is actually something of an accomplishment, believe it or not. You see, not only did I not put any cash into my savings, I actually took some cash out of it.

This payday is always my most dismal every year when it comes to savings, you see, it is the payday where I pay for my truck insurance all at once. 

I was also hit with a few other expenses, nothing drastic but a bunch of smaller expenses that added up. 

What also impacted things was the fact that my truck insurance went up despite the truck getting one year older and not having any claims. 

The insurance company didn’t blink when I told them that their increase in claims wasn’t my problem . . . they stared blankly at me and increased my premiums anyways.

How this affected the budget was that instead of putting $100.00 into my savings as I had planned, I had to draw out $300.00.

Yet with the dance of the dipsy doodle of my two various investment vehicles, while one dropped slightly, the other one went up enough to make up for the loss and the withdrawal from savings.

So, all in all, not losing ground this payday is a victory in and of itself. A win that I will gladly take.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

The Arts And Culture District

I will continue my series on the various areas that will be in the town that I will found. Today we will look at The Arts and Culture District.

Now, to be fair, I am not much of a graphic artist. I can’t draw all that well and I haven’t painted since I was in elementary school.

Art and Culture cover a wide range of activities and so my writing is an art form. Just like plays, theatre and music are also art forms.

Yet the expression, and exploration of that art is also culture. It is important for a society and a community to foster and embrace art and culture.

Yet, it has to be done in a sensible and responsible way, and no I am not talking about regulating or validating art or culture, I am talking about the allocation of funding.

Since our town will be founded on the concept of “there is no magic money tree” each area will have to somehow be self-sufficient with the funds it can raise (sorta, I’ll get into this later).

What this means is that while a whole area of the town has been set aside, the same size as the Commercial District, or one of the areas within The Urban Nomad’s Park. (10 Acres or 1/8 mile by 1/8 mile)

I see the overall layout being similar yet different than that of the Commercial District with similarities in how it is governed (an elected body of Artists and Culturists? Working and/or living in The Arts and Culture District).

I see this area laid out in a grid format with streets and buildings and all that, to be different, I see the buildings built in the Timber-framed or Half-timbered style.

Solidly built and built with all of the modern conveniences in it, but done so with style.

As to what is here, I see artist’s studio spaces, of varying sizes. I see various theatre spaces of varying sizes and styles. 

The prerequisite coffee houses with open microphone to express your spoken word art.

It would also be nice to have a replica of the Globe Theatre (the theatre that Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed in (why not, and it would be a tourist draw).

I see our Globe Theatre having a roof, which would be a screen, on which the sky would be projected, nice blue sky with a few clouds in it before and after the show, with the sky darkening to night sky with twinkling stars for the show itself.

I see a number of schools and academies in this area to help teach, expand and explore arts and culture through the next generation, and all those willing to learn.

Just like the Commercial District, all buildings would be owned and run by the Governing body of The Arts and Culture District, so as to keep the price of rents low.

While you will be expected to somehow make money with your art, or rather make money to pay to be able to pursue your art, art will be the focus of this area.

While art will be fostered and expressed, you still need to have a way to pay to live. Such is the balance between moneymaking and charitably fostering art, that the people of this district, and the governing body thereof will need to find and walk.

On a note of making money with art and culture, why would the people of this district do this alone.

They could, and should, seek the assistance and partnership with the individuals or groups from The Commercial District. 

After all, The Commercial District are focussed on making money and good at it, so why not use their expertise and passion to help fund and further the expertise and passion of those in The Arts and Culture District?

I could go on, but this should give you an idea as to what I have in mind for The Arts and Culture District of the town that I want to start.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

The Commerce District

So, for fun, I thought I would continue my series on what I see my town to be like. Today we will look at the Commerce District.

Yesterday’s blog was about The Urban Nomad’s Park, so if you missed it, feel free to go back and read it.

I see the Commerce District to be 1/8 mile b y 1/8 mile, or 10 Acres in a square. It is the second district to be built because if you have people somewhere, you need jobs.

To have jobs, you need an economy. To have an economy, you need businesses. To have businesses, you need a place for businesses to grow and thrive. 

Thus the need for the Commerce District.

I see it being built in a small town style, with mostly brick and stone three or four story buildings.

The streets will be typical two lane streets (one lane in each direction) and one parking lane on each curb side. 

Back alleys are needed for deliveries, so as to keep the heavy trucks off of the streets as much as possible.

I still want to have all of the utilities placed underground and out of sight in some sort of utility corridor network. 

I don’t want to see power lines, phone lines, crisscrossing the streets. It looks ugly and gets in the way, besides it is unsafe.

I also like the idea of serviceable and accessible water, gas and sewer pipes, pipes that are not buried, and so subject to the moving and shifting of the earth.

I digress, I see the buildings being commercial space on the first floor (or more if desired). Office space could be on the second or third floor. 

A few apartments could be on the top floor. While there will be a residential district (that I’ll get to in another blog) These would be for the workaholics or “passionately employed.”

As to what businesses will be there, I don’t know, as it will be whatever businesses that desire to open and can afford to stay open.

So as to help business flourish, I see all of the buildings in the Commercial District being owned by the Commerce District itself (a governing body thereof).

This is not to bleed money out of business so as to keep them almost broke yet not quite, but rather the opposite.

I see the Commerce District bundling together as much expenses as can be bundled together and simply charging a certain percentage of the business’s gross income.

That way, the better the business does, the better the Commerce District does. Who runs the Commerce District? 

Why elected representatives of the businesses located there, of course. 

I would like to see a balance of one half of the governing body being made up of elected representatives of business owners and managers, and the other half elected to represent the employees of those same businesses.

I would like to see a large car park building near the entrance of the Commerce District which is disguised as a regular building (for esthetics).

This would encourage more foot traffic, rather that vehicle traffic throughout the Commerce District.

There is more, but you get the picture. I will continue this series on the various sections I want to see in my town. Monday it’s the Arts and Culture District!

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Inspired Day Off

So, yesterday was Canada Day, yet all events to gather together was cancelled. That didn’t mean that I was bored though.

While I did take a moment to say “yay Canada!” I also got a bit of work done. Both on the novel series that I am writing, but also on the Homestead Project (My Town).

With the town, I was talking with a friend of mine and a few areas or districts of the town was agreed upon. 

Since this is the incubator for the larger concept, things were simplified and merged together, and a few other areas were added.

One of the areas that we added was what we are calling “The Urban Nomad’s Park.” What it is, is a few areas aimed at those whose lifestyle is mobile. 

To start with there are four areas in this quarter section of the quarter section (as in take a Full Section of land (1 square mile or 640 Acres) and chop that up into four equal parts.

One of those equal parts, a Quarter Section (½ mile by ½ mile, or 160 Acres) is the size of the land that I want to purchase.

Now, take that land and chop it up into four equal parts and you have the size of the land set aside for this Urban Nomad Park (¼ mile by ¼ mile, or 40 Acres).

Chop that up again into quarters and you have the size of land set aside for each of the following areas (1/8 mile by 1/8 mile, or 10 Acres)

There will be a tiny home park, as in a development designed for people to bring their tiny homes and park them there at. 

There will also be a mobile home park, for people to bring their mobile homes or manufactured homes.

The other two parts will be a campground, two rather. One is a typical campground, designed for those who stay a day to two weeks. 

The other is designed for those who stay by the week, or month, mid-term to long-term staying, in your RV.

That park, the Mid-Term Park will have the usual amenities but also include a larger recreational hall and centre.  

One other thing is the workshop, or workshops. What there will be is a series of workshops each one fitted out with tools and equipment needed to fix and repair RV’s.

Also, attached to each shop will be a Spartan living space. Since you are fixing up, and/or tearing out the walls of your home, you need to live somewhere, so why not live next to where your home is being discombobulated.

The idea is to rent those shops at an affordable price, yet high enough to motivate you to complete your project in an expedient manner.

The concept is to develop a community of Full-Time RVers who could work together to fix up RV’s, perhaps during the winter months.

Me and my fried discussed this and decided to start with, the most likely place to start the whole town project would be to build that Mid-Term RV Campground and expand from there.

The land would have to be on or near a highway and since the town will be off-grid, thoughts as to how to generate that much power consistently in an ecologically friendly way will need to be figured out.

Also how to handle waste, as in sewage, (gray water and black water) as well as garbage will have to be figured out, as the overall concept is to be as close to zero waste output as possible.

Sorry, that I don’t have pictures, but that is the latest update with regards to The Town Project. (If I had the cash, I’d start it now, as it is needed now).

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

Here it is, Canada Day, the day we celebrate the forming of our country. It is quite sensible and Canadian reason why this day is the anniversary of the birth of our country.

Back in 1867 (or thereabouts) a group of politicians sought to create something larger than just a series of individual colonies of the same mother country. 

After a bunch of political wrangling and back and forth it was agreed to join five of those colonies together into one “dominion” which was to be called “Canada.”

The bill to do that which was called “The British North America Act” which was actually the first in a series of acts which divested powers from Britain to Canada (over Canada).

The important thing is that that first bill, received Royal Assent, meaning it was signed into law by the Sovereign, who was Queen Victoria at the time on March 29, 1867.

Since there was some time needed to implement the actual joining of the colonies, the actual joining did not take place for a few months yet. 

For whatever reason, the date of July the1st was decided. Thus how Canada Day was born.

Now, while it was an imperfect start and there are problems within Canada that need to be addressed, and yes some historical wrongs that need to be righted, for the most part, I would say that Canada now, is a good country and a great place to live. A country that I am proud to call my home and a country that I am proud of.

I choose to see the good and build on those as we try to fix what needs to be fixed. That we make Canada a great place to live for all people who call it home.

So, to all who call Canada home, let me say, have a happy Canada Day!

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!