Self Education: In Hot Pursuit Of Curiosities

I learned how to make a Raspberry Pi button recently,
but I researched it my way.

I wanted to see if there was a way to do it on the command line,
with the simplest kind of programming, there is.

The GPIO header is represented with files,
on a Raspberry Pi.

I gave some thought to store bought devices,
as they relate to custom made ones.

I think store-bought is not that cool anymore,
in his funny song Thrift Shop, Macklemore calls it "getting tricked by a business", to say the least.

Plus the moment you scratch your screen your new device becomes old,
if you made it yourself, then you just get a new $20 screen.

And, hey,
maybe add some cool extras, while you're at it.

YEEES, It is true that homemade hardware, is freaking huge,
and sometimes you may need your friend to carry your phone in his backpack.

But that is what friends are for...
I think.

There is just something really weird abut not knowing what is in your pocket, what is in your store bought phone,
criminal phone hacking is only going to become more elaborate.

It has never been a good idea to keep personal things,
on an internet connected device.

The phones are going to use cheaper components,
become more expensive, and more closed.

And pretend a lot harder,
that recommendations are not ads.

When you make your own phone, you get to reason about the components,
it seems to me that a GPS map, should have a huge screen much bigger than a phone, and a bigger battery too.

When you use an overpriced off-the shelf phone,
you don't get a choice.

Anytime you build something,
you learn something.

Be it a reasonably sized Raspberry Pi Zero Mp3 player,
with those amazing slow and soft turning aluminum knobs for volume, treble and bass.

Or two or three 8GB Raspberry PIs jammed into a Beautiful Vintage Brick Phone,
with a springy antenna that doubles as a wifi hotspot for your 1024 closest friends...

...and maybe runs a leaked version of old MySpace, or Friendster,
or just freaking GeoCities where your whole family can come together and upload some Under Construction content with fancy GIFs.

Wouldn't it be amazing if all the telemarketers,
would have to find their way around a little labyrinth and fight a Freaking Grue, before they could leave a voice mail?

I am pretty sure,
they would love it.

Old is new, again,
it is hard to explain, it will be somewhat hard to learn, and it will take forever.

But not only won't it cost an arm and a leg,
building custom electronics, and learning programming, paints a pretty clear career path.

That is what High Schools were supposed to be for,
but they just can't do it, they don't know how to teach.

Be it electronics and Linux,
or Windsurfing, Day Hiking, or painting, or better yet whatever call to you.

It helps you with Knowledge, with Wisdom,
it is neither about some specific achievement like an MP3 player, or an Olympic Medal in Gymnastics.

It is about the million things you learn,
while you are in pursuit of curiosities, and adventures.

We have to pay attention,
to whether or not we are actually learning for real.

And all that we ever need to learn,
is all the things that are fun and interesting to us.

It is that path,
that teaches us everything else along the way.