patrick.net

Unless you're the uni-bomber, then Tiny houses are about Hipsterism.

It's not about living in a Tiny house, it's about how efficiently, cheap, self sustaining, off the Grid contraption with wheels, a door and a window, that you can create, for bragging rights. They are projects to invest Nerdy impulses into, with a clear plan of the duration of the experiment, that one would live in the structure. While blogging about it, and hopping that ad revenue will finance a down payment on a real house when the experiment is over.

I ran the mouse over the bar at the bottom. Nope, not going to sit through an hour+ of 2 people being interviewed.

I was excited... I thought it was a story about little people.

This is the "new norm" that is being pushed in the media. Why do we need to accept ever increasingly tiny houses? Some jail cells are larger than the boxes that the media pushes as so hip and cool to live in nowadays.

America is not a tiny country. There is ample room for our population +, if we can plan accordingly. Build infrastructure, move jobs and companies out of the dense cities, telecommute, start your own business. We are creating scarcity when there really isn't any.

Indiana Jones says

This is the "new norm" that is being pushed in the media.

Yes, this is my principal fascination with the topic.

Because even with all this "grassroots" support, it seems like it's been pumped and pumped.

As I said, from the description on Netflix, I was hoping to get a some real world numbers from this documentary.

They did show some of the construction techniques and at the very very end briefly (from outtakes) mentioned things like...oh, the heating system.

Omissions?

The Land. Although he was struggling to pay for the cottage all during the show, he didn't say how he found the pristine land to situate it on, or the costs.

Materials. He said he paid $26,000. Looking at the construction even that number seems way high! And how was he allowed to build the home right outside the mall near the Home Depot?!

The Water. He didn't say how he got the water out to the home..or where they showered and bathed and washed in the home.

Electricity. They said all solar...I'd like to know more. Did they have storage for night use? Gets pretty hot in Colorado desert...is it cool in there?!

Connectivity. Any Internet out there?

Shopping?

Vehicle? Gas?

Job?

How do you create a "documentary" and not document any of the salient points that a person would be curious about?! Maybe because the reality of it is simply impossible, and so they focused on showing "young people" how "cool" it all is hoping to rope others into this fallacy.

The worst part of it all is that no one seems to understand the equations for Area, Surface Area and Volume. Houses are not just square footage...they exist in 3 dimensions. Any small increase in square footage results in a big increase in volume...same with height. That is why these suburban mansions have boomed. Not because they are using proportionally so much more materials -- but by adding just a slight bit more material, a lot more interior space is created!! A house is not solid space -- it's Enclosed Space!!

The Tiny House is just the opposite -- you expend almost all the same energy to build it and up with proportionally less...losing all the advantages of scale! Here it's clearly the supposedly "smart" people who are stupid...and vice versa...

The question is- what is the motivation? Why are they promoting these tiny dwellings?

Money and/or power are the usual motivations, but what's the angle?

Indiana Jones says

but what's the angle?

One of the most telling moments was near the end where the guy's parents come to visit. His mother seemed impressed that her son built something at all, but her reaction would be the same if, as I had done when in the Cub Scouts, he had crafted her a plaque made out of pop-sickle sticks and alphabet macaroni.

The Dad's look though seemed to say, "He spent a whole year to build...a phone booth?! And now he and his girlfriend may live in this thing?"

So, to a rational observer, one with all his marbles still (and those are increasingly rare) you end up standing out amid a crowded folie à deux.

Oh now I get it, this is about a documentary of the same name on Netflix.

I'll go look at THAT, unlike the 1h+ interview at top of thread.

I had much rather watch any decent documentary, than another explosion-fest.

Excepting Guardians of the Galaxy.

John Bailo says

How do you create a "documentary" and not document any of the salient points that a person would be curious about?! Maybe because the reality of it is simply impossible, and so they focused on showing "young people" how "cool" it all is hoping to rope others into this fallacy.

I used to love Documentaries. It seems about the same time the Discovery channel's Channels stopped making documentaries, and became the national ministry of propaganda and reality shows.

I've tried to view the Documentaries on Netlfix, they are all GUT Feelings from some B grade Liberal film student, who's injecting his College professors teachings into a documentary about how socks are made. But will conclude with a foot note on Gay rights, and global warming warnings. When it's over, you still wont know a fucking thing about how socks are made.

CaptainShuddup says

you still wont know a fucking thing about how socks are made.

The key word is propaganda...there is no need to "explain" things because everyone (Everyone on the Inside) already "gets it". So these are go-to-church meetings not explications.