I've been following the way of the tin leprechaun for years now.

Whistles have a way of being the exception .. .. there is nothing like a whistle.

And .. as a promoter and maker of our little friend, I have gotten to see the underside of our culture.

The models of commerce we use are not very nice for humans.

The use of money is to transact value between strangers such that there is no value residue.

This is not good for whistles. Because all whistlers are, at the heart, friends.

SO .. I got it all up and running with what we were taught about money and trade and "markets".. all very good.

But what I found was, that if we use the method of exchange used for trade between strangers, that we are separated from those who are our friends. Even our own families ..

Comments? Insights?
C&F has proven to be the greatest concentration of friends I have found in this life - and I value your advice.

_________________
All the best!

mitch
http://www.ozwhistles.com

I get the thought about the exchange between strangers and business, however, with the advances with technology in general a much wider scope is possible. Without the internet or the C&F whistle forum I wouldn't have even known you (you all) even existed. My world just got a whole lot bigger.

Addressing value(s) can open a panoptic view while considering whistles. Such a simple gadget yet so complex. The vector may include friendship, commodity, craftsmanship, or any number of other possibilities. The labyrinth I like includes craftsmanship in particular. I'm not crafty and never was... yes, I've dabbled with a few avenues of craftsmanship in photography, lettering arts, and even music, but, never stuck with anything to master a particular craft. Life always seemed to get in the way. I've always had a "longing" for some form of craftsmanship that I can explore, develop, and create something... anything. And do it well. The next best thing to being a craftsman is observing a master craftsman (if allowed) doing what he/she does best. I was always admiringly curious about how a craftsman can go about their craft for hours on end, day after day, year after year. For lifetimes even.

What can possibly drive or motivate an individual so strongly to delve deep into that craft and dwell with all of lifes' interuptions knocking about. What is the reward, or satisfaction with devoting untold hours to one's craft? Is it comradery, mindfulness, or isolated bliss?

It is a form of human ascension.

_________________
Playing, not paying.

Madness.

It's a balance between passion and service.

It becomes who you are.

The isolation aspect is where the craft is between the craftsman and the result - the perfection and the journey are one. .. the player is important - this happens as a container for the effort. A guide.

Another aspect is the unveiling of tradition. The passion releases this and a glimpse is given to unbroken lineage - master to student - through generations .. unrecorded mostly, but at least 4 generations in living memory .. perhaps .. well .. a long, long time.

The tradition is like a skeletal frame .. life puts the flesh on it - and it grows.

A larger picture happens.

And that is why I ask about value .. money leaves no value residue between individuals .. and it seems to me that humans are nothing without other humans .. that the residue of value is what we maintain to overcome the larger events our planet can present .. volcanoes and such things that no individual can confront..

This value residue has been given another name of late .. it is called "profit" and it seems to be an expropriation from the value-residue we create and maintain to survive as community.

I'd like to say "so much for Ayn Rand" but I'm willing to be taught better .. cellular autonamata, for instance, work well ..but there might be 2 ways of looking at it.
Perhaps our cellular definition is done to create the collective rather than destroy it?

_________________
All the best!

mitch
http://www.ozwhistles.com