I want this. All of it. I also want a library as a third place where I can hang out and meet people in a non-competitive way in my community. Let's do it!
Excellent post. Just after my 5th birthday in 1957 my dad took me down to the local public lending library in the small village I grew up in the north west of England and got me my first library ticket. From that day he would often find me sitting on the floor in the children’s section with several books on the floor around me and one in my hands. To this day I read books and not digital screeds since I also enjoy the tactile sensation of holding a book, turning the pages, going back to reread passages and gaining a greater understanding of what I was reading. When my wife and I bought my current house 25 years ago in a new sub division about 30 miles west of Atlanta, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone had their own lawn tractor do I bought one. It would have been a much better and a more cost effective idea to buy one lawn tractor to be shared between five or six households. It would have been simple to set up a schedule for use and maintenance and, if necessary, to make the decision that the current tractor was past its shag by date and purchase a new one. That’s not socialism, it’s common bloody sense.
I still live in Berkeley. I moved here in 1983 when it was the coolest and most radical place in the country. It's a far cry from that now -- not even any street vendors on Telegraph Avenue anymore! -- mostly yuppie suburbanites mixed with rich-parent college students, but it still has a good feel to it, even though its politics have gone to hell. And yes, we still have lending libraries.
We have this in Oregon. Check out Hillsboro Public Library, Brookwood. It's called the Library of Things. You can check out kitchenware/bakeware, board games, home equipment, musical instruments, recreational kits, etc. I would think that the biggest hurdle (for smaller libraries) would be the maintenance and cleaning required.
That's a brilliant idea. I do a lot of work with PE teachers, and I don't know why we don't have a 'library' where teachers can come and grab items for temporary events.
We were just saying this morning, "We could use an ax to get this one tree root loose. Wouldn't it be nice if we could check one out for fifteen minutes from the library and return it instead of buying one that we'll never use again?"
This is a very good idea! And of course it would save a lot of money. But would you please stop saying it's free. That is what the Republicans and conservatives are so often complaining about. It's not free! Obviously it is paid for by taxes. Who do you think pays the taxes?! Santa Claus?! Obviously the people pay the taxes! So duh! Obviously it's not free. Stop saying that things are free unless they really are free. It makes people who talk that way sound like little five-year-old kids. And it really gets the conservatives and Republicans going, shooting off their mouths so that we have to listen to those assholes even more! So stop giving them more fuel to use against the libtards! Or even against people who know those things aren't free but know that it's a way better system and will save lots and lots of money and resources and time and energy. If you want to get those conservatives and Republicans on your side and to go along with something as important as this you better tell them that, yes it cost money but it cost way less and saves a lot of money and resources and time and energy and work and we will be able to work a lot less and enjoy a lot more wealth!
I mostly agree. Nothing in life is free, though the cost of some things is not money. My father taught me this as a young child, and any parent who doesn't teach this (among other things like the world doesn't revolve around you, so be nice to others) is a failure as a parent.
You know how many times I couldn’t watch a CD from the library because it was scratched to hell? How many books had pages missing? Not everyone takes care of things. I know how not to wear out a book (and I care enough not to): no dog earring pages, breaking spines. But a lot of people don’t. Yes, it’d be an ok idea if you lived in a society where everyone had the same values. But we don’t and I don’t think, absent a great cataclysm, we ever will again.
Things tend to wear out with use. The lease and care policies of the library should take care of that: charging for damages (it's a real thing) and replacing old books and gear in time.
Right, but I know how to take care of my stuff. Libraries are better now that nobody uses them. Books tend to stay in better condition. Biggest issue for me is finding the exact books I want to read.
Like Lee, I much prefer sharing over individual ownership. I analyze the attitudes toward this this way: The fundamental element of spirituality is oneness. If you feel one with others, you don't feel the need to own anything, because we're all just part of the same thing. But people who are not as evolved mentally and spiritually feel more separateness than oneness, so they feel like they want and/or need to own things individually.
I do have to say that so long as most people are mentally and spiritually unevolved, people WILL steal things that are left out for everyone's use. My friends in Germany told me about 20 years ago that Germany tried to provide public bicycles that anyone could use, but the program didn't work because people were stealing them. I fully agree that capitalism is a cancer that promotes consumerism and must be removed from the planet for that reason independently, but even without capitalism, if people don't evolve to feel one with others, this problem will continue.
There was (maybe still is) a place in Seattle that had a shop with all the tools you needed to build most things one would want to build in a home shop, including a 3D printer. Table saws, scroll saws, hammers, etc., etc. etc. This idea got its money from memberships, but could easily exist with funding for libraries. I don't need all the tools I have, except that if I don't have them I won't be able to use them when I do... Once in a few months, or even years... what a pathetic way to hoard resources... in every garage, workshop, or toolbox, duplicate tools, never used.
I want this. All of it. I also want a library as a third place where I can hang out and meet people in a non-competitive way in my community. Let's do it!
Love it
Excellent post. Just after my 5th birthday in 1957 my dad took me down to the local public lending library in the small village I grew up in the north west of England and got me my first library ticket. From that day he would often find me sitting on the floor in the children’s section with several books on the floor around me and one in my hands. To this day I read books and not digital screeds since I also enjoy the tactile sensation of holding a book, turning the pages, going back to reread passages and gaining a greater understanding of what I was reading. When my wife and I bought my current house 25 years ago in a new sub division about 30 miles west of Atlanta, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone had their own lawn tractor do I bought one. It would have been a much better and a more cost effective idea to buy one lawn tractor to be shared between five or six households. It would have been simple to set up a schedule for use and maintenance and, if necessary, to make the decision that the current tractor was past its shag by date and purchase a new one. That’s not socialism, it’s common bloody sense.
It is socialism, socialism IS common sense...
You always have great ideas for us to ponder Lee. Thanks for being your humorous self and sharing these thoughts with us.
Love and solidarity
Such a great idea!
thanks for this! Berkeley CA had this (i lived there in the 1980's - 1994) - and may still..
i believe it is time to bring this back!
I still live in Berkeley. I moved here in 1983 when it was the coolest and most radical place in the country. It's a far cry from that now -- not even any street vendors on Telegraph Avenue anymore! -- mostly yuppie suburbanites mixed with rich-parent college students, but it still has a good feel to it, even though its politics have gone to hell. And yes, we still have lending libraries.
We have this in Oregon. Check out Hillsboro Public Library, Brookwood. It's called the Library of Things. You can check out kitchenware/bakeware, board games, home equipment, musical instruments, recreational kits, etc. I would think that the biggest hurdle (for smaller libraries) would be the maintenance and cleaning required.
Yes! We have some libraries in Minnesota that do some of these things, too. Including seeds! You can get free seeds and donate seeds! It’s great.
That's a brilliant idea. I do a lot of work with PE teachers, and I don't know why we don't have a 'library' where teachers can come and grab items for temporary events.
We'll look into it.
Didn't think of the teacher aspect. That's great
That’s called socialism. I may have read about this in a Richard Wolff book. Great idea.
We were just saying this morning, "We could use an ax to get this one tree root loose. Wouldn't it be nice if we could check one out for fifteen minutes from the library and return it instead of buying one that we'll never use again?"
There will be a setting on your bot to allow sharing of real world items with reputable sources.
You will benefit from less clutter and need for storage space.
This is a very good idea! And of course it would save a lot of money. But would you please stop saying it's free. That is what the Republicans and conservatives are so often complaining about. It's not free! Obviously it is paid for by taxes. Who do you think pays the taxes?! Santa Claus?! Obviously the people pay the taxes! So duh! Obviously it's not free. Stop saying that things are free unless they really are free. It makes people who talk that way sound like little five-year-old kids. And it really gets the conservatives and Republicans going, shooting off their mouths so that we have to listen to those assholes even more! So stop giving them more fuel to use against the libtards! Or even against people who know those things aren't free but know that it's a way better system and will save lots and lots of money and resources and time and energy. If you want to get those conservatives and Republicans on your side and to go along with something as important as this you better tell them that, yes it cost money but it cost way less and saves a lot of money and resources and time and energy and work and we will be able to work a lot less and enjoy a lot more wealth!
I mostly agree. Nothing in life is free, though the cost of some things is not money. My father taught me this as a young child, and any parent who doesn't teach this (among other things like the world doesn't revolve around you, so be nice to others) is a failure as a parent.
You know how many times I couldn’t watch a CD from the library because it was scratched to hell? How many books had pages missing? Not everyone takes care of things. I know how not to wear out a book (and I care enough not to): no dog earring pages, breaking spines. But a lot of people don’t. Yes, it’d be an ok idea if you lived in a society where everyone had the same values. But we don’t and I don’t think, absent a great cataclysm, we ever will again.
Things tend to wear out with use. The lease and care policies of the library should take care of that: charging for damages (it's a real thing) and replacing old books and gear in time.
Right, but I know how to take care of my stuff. Libraries are better now that nobody uses them. Books tend to stay in better condition. Biggest issue for me is finding the exact books I want to read.
Like Lee, I much prefer sharing over individual ownership. I analyze the attitudes toward this this way: The fundamental element of spirituality is oneness. If you feel one with others, you don't feel the need to own anything, because we're all just part of the same thing. But people who are not as evolved mentally and spiritually feel more separateness than oneness, so they feel like they want and/or need to own things individually.
I do have to say that so long as most people are mentally and spiritually unevolved, people WILL steal things that are left out for everyone's use. My friends in Germany told me about 20 years ago that Germany tried to provide public bicycles that anyone could use, but the program didn't work because people were stealing them. I fully agree that capitalism is a cancer that promotes consumerism and must be removed from the planet for that reason independently, but even without capitalism, if people don't evolve to feel one with others, this problem will continue.
There was (maybe still is) a place in Seattle that had a shop with all the tools you needed to build most things one would want to build in a home shop, including a 3D printer. Table saws, scroll saws, hammers, etc., etc. etc. This idea got its money from memberships, but could easily exist with funding for libraries. I don't need all the tools I have, except that if I don't have them I won't be able to use them when I do... Once in a few months, or even years... what a pathetic way to hoard resources... in every garage, workshop, or toolbox, duplicate tools, never used.