[UPDATE 10/21/2021 -After 2018 I started posting my updates on my Patreon page, and so I'm filling in the back-logs for this project retroactively so the whole story is in both places. You can also read all of these posts with their original photo formatting here]

December 31st, 2020 -

“In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch-Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.”

Happy New Year, dear patrons! What a fucking year it's been. Fuck. First off, if you happen to be reading this on New Years Eve and have nothing to do tonight, I'll be streaming Overview, the hour-long history of the universe dance party experience that I've been working on for years, live on Twitch, every hour, on the hour, until 2021 or until they shut me down for copyright infringement, whichever comes first.

Speaking of copyright infringement, isn't the concept intellectual property lame? Wow. Just, wow. But, if I've learned anything from building open source infrastructure, is how easy it is to forget to actually open up your source.

Source code can be vulnerable, for me at least. It's disorganized and buggy. It's full of mistakes that parts of me don't want other people to see. And it takes a lot of work to write it all down. And besides, why would I take the time to document this version, when the NEXT version is going to be so much better? 

After all, why shouldn't I keep it?

The truth is, not sharing information is easier than sharing it, and thats a big part of the problem when it comes to open-sourcing everything. 

So this year, my resolution is to just start keeping an openly accessible public drive, with all of the documentation and useful information that I have accumulated, and using that as my live lab notebook, including the current models and design files I have, and the best documentation I have, as I make it. 

If you're reading this, you can see and contribute to this documentation folder, which is currently available as a Google Drive folder entitled DON'T PANIC. 

It's an open book, a living document that I will add to and update as my projects evolve, rather than waiting to publish perfect documentation for the perfect version of the thing. If I have it, you have it.

I'll just post whatever I have there for now, and you can do whatever you want with it. Currently it includes a draft of steps to build the Biochar reactor, and a draft of a parts list with links to where you can source the parts, and a few other useful resources. I'll be adding to this drive consistently in 2021, and everyone reading this has comment privileges with THIS LINK.

It is the beginning of what I hope will be just my small contribution to the real hitchikers guide to the galaxy, the sum total of know-how needed for anyone anywhere and anywhen to survive in this universe, an open-source guide for exactly how to build all of the tools we can think of that enable all people to always meet all of their needs and care for the people around them using only the abundant flux of solar energy that courses through the atmosphere and into our veins, pumping iron through our hearts and bursting out of us in a pulsing magnetic flux the same shape as the four generations of stars that died to make us us, and though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

 Thank you for your patronage!

Sam