Trickles of Transcendence (Ep. 3)
Bike Hunters
VanMoof, the Dutch ebike brand, offers a service called “Peace of Mind” when you purchase your bike (for an additional & substantial fee).
The VM bikes already have anti-theft features built in but part of the POM service includes help from VanMoof’s “Bike Hunters” should a thief be talented enough to steal your bike.
If they can’t find it, you get a replacement bike for free. The peace of mind comes at a cost, the price for both the maintenance and theft package comes in at a whopping $690 for a three year subscription. When we bought our bikes in January this seemed steep for us since the bike already comes with so much anti-theft tech to begin with.
Our condo building was recently broken into and my wife’s X3 was stolen. Her bike was locked with two locks and had an active alarm system engaged but the thief still managed to steal it. We filed a police report immediately but have gotten zero response or assistance from the St. Paul Police Department. So for the last week we’ve been forced to become our own bike hunters. Raymi and I have been trying to track down the location of her bike using VanMoof’s proprietary GPS tracking app, which we quickly discovered is basically useless.
The problem is the radius of the bike’s location in the app, as you can see from the image above, is so large it is literally like finding a needle in a haystack.
The bike pings it’s location a few times a day. The thief (or someone who bought the bike from the thief) has been riding it a lot which is funny because when you mark the bike “missing” in the app VanMoof completely shuts down all of the electronics so the culprit is riding a 50lb bike around with only one gear and no assistance from the motor. Her next bike will have an Apple AirTag attached to it so it can be tracked more precisely if it’s stolen.
Proof that Multiple Timelines Exist Simultaneously?
As an author, one of my niches has always been sci-fi. I’m a firm believer that there is a lot left for us to learn about the universe as a species. The thought that there are still many mysteries yet to unravel excites me.
If you search, “time travel”, “ufos”, “paranormal”, “exotic physics”, or anything remotely similar 99.99% of the search results will be utter nonsense but, every once in a while, I come across something that makes my brain tingle. Ken Webster’s account of his very strange experiences in the 1980’s is just such a story.
If you have forty-three minutes to spare and are even remotely interested in these kinds of things please take a peek at this video. This could be the real deal.
Death of the iPhone
Apple insiders have been talking about a revolutionary product the company is working hard to perfect for the past few years. Recently it was leaked that Apple is planning on replacing the iPhone altogether around 2032.
Apple’s new AR product, Apple Glasses will be released well before 2032 but won’t be advanced enough to make the iPhone obsolete for another ten years. Supposedly, Apple’s goal is to squeeze MacBook-level computational power into the glasses and the tech has to catch up to the concept.
In another case of fiction becoming reality, this very kind product played a central role in the HardFork Series scripts we wrote several years ago. Although I’m not thrilled at the thought of having to wear glasses again since having LASIK a few years ago I would, gladly, give up my reliance on the iPhone for something a little easier to carry around. We still have a decade to get used to the idea.
Last but not least I'd like to thank you all for the amazing response to my fifth annual Pay It Forward For The Holidays initiative. As usual, you guys rock!
It looks like plenty of people are on board this year to sprinkle a little kindness and hope around this wounded world.
(Gifs sourced from Giphy.com, photos are original.)
All for now.
With Gratitude,
Eric Vance Walton
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.
Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.
These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.
Let’s Keep In Touch
I do not know if you heard about this so far, maybe yes, maybe no, maybe I already mentioned this, because I talked about this in various comments on the Hive blockchain a few times.
There a phrase called Near-Death Experience (NDE). And there is a website called NDERF (Near-Death Experience Research Foundation). Nowadays this is the largest NDE database on the internet. Currently it has 4982 NDEs, and it is constantly/regularly updated.
The main point of most of the NDEs is that there is no real death, only physical. But we are not physical, and what we call "death" is actually a transition. Just like being "born" on Earth. We existed before we was born on Earth, and we will continue to exist after the physical human bodies die. Time does not really exists. There is only the present and the eternity.
Maybe we already talked about this, but I am really curious about how you (and other people) see this subject.
So what do you think about this?
I totally believe that we're more than just a physical body and that the narrow band of perception that we consider "reality" is just a small sliver of our existence. There are those who say NDE's are just chemical changes that happen as our physical form is dying but I believe they're more than that.
I nearly drowned when I was two or three years of age in a neighbor's backyard pool. I can remember struggling for a while but then an intense calm came over me and I saw a light. Time just sort of stood still as I remember it. I don't recall much more than that but the neighbor pulled me out of the water before the situation became life-threatening.
I've had other experiences too in my childhood and adult life that make me believe there is much more to this universe than we can even begin to understand at this stage in our evolution.
What do you think about NDE's?
I believe in "life before life" and in "life after life". Most NDEs are positive, while some of them are neutral, and there are negatives too. Based on the experiences I have read so far, I certainly believe that we are not this physical human body. We are just/only in it. We are just/only using it.
I rarely talk about this, and I do not even know if I dreamed or actually happened, but I believe that I came to the Earth by my own will, by my own choice to test it. To try it out. I feel like I remember a part of this choice, including a discussion and a decision. Some people may say that this is foolish, but I still write this down, because this is how I feel about it.
I believe that most of us are here to experience this kind of life. And when it end, we will return to our home, where there is love amongst us for eternity.
I currently do not know whether there will be another choice to live another life, and I currently do not know whether I would choose to live and experience another human life again.
That's very interesting @xplosive! I believe we choose to come here as well, to learn specific lessons. I think as we're born a kind of amnesia comes over us that causes us to forget everything that came before. However, sometimes as we age the memories sometimes come back to a greater or lesser degree. I've had some very wild things happen to me. Some day I'll be ready to share some of it.
It's a pity the bike. I think it's useless to watch if by a lucky chance
Thanks. Yes, at this point it's unlikely that we'll find it. It'll keep pinging as long as the battery has a charge and these batteries will hold a charge for around six months without use if they're kept above 45 degrees (F).
Compressing everything a MacBook into glasses is crazy.
Sorry about the loss of your wife's bike.
I guess the whole peace of mind thing is a copywriting advert based talk.
And I can say for sure that the person with the bike is the thief.
How can you be driving with only one gear?
It doesn't make sense
Yeah, it is crazy but I have no doubt that tech will advance that far in a decade. I've ridden that bike with no power and it isn't easy because it's so heavy. It definitely would be a great cardio workout.
This is so funny
Sorry for her stolen bike. I wonder why the alarm did not work during the thief. Did you also have chains on bike?
I aso like Sci-Fi movies especially about Parallel Universes and Time Travel. You must have watched Interstellar, an amazing movie.
Thanks, the alarm did go off but the thief loaded it into the back of his SUV so that must've muffled the sound. The bike was locked as well. I loved Interstellar!
I think the bike company likes to sell misleading advertising, I think it is a high price, yes, at least if it were useful or if the map, area, etc. were a little more specific... there it would be different. Another thing is that thieves nowadays are very modernized, I think they are very skilled with security systems in general.
Starting in March of 2021 the newer VanMoof models have Apple FindMy built in and that feature offers much more precise tracking. You're out of luck with the older bikes unless you purchase the Peace of Mind coverage.
Bummer about the stolen bike. It amazes me how companies can get away with charging you so much money to insure anti-theft, yet when it happens you realize it's a bunch of nonsense.
I continue to enjoy your books, your poetry is thought provoking and soothing, thank you again for sending me a copy.
Have a joyful day.
Yeah, it was a bummer. It's frustrating to see the general area the bike is in but not to be able to zero in on it.
Thank you! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the book! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Oh man, that sucks about the bike! I can't even wrap my head around how sucky that has to be. I am sorry you are having to deal with that. I haven't seen the airtags, much, but I have looked into the "Tile" before. I don't own any though. I was thinking it would be interesting to attach one to a disc golf disc. Might cut down on lost discs! It would probably impact the flight though...
It will be interesting to see how Apple does if it is Glasses. Google had a struggle with their offering and privacy. Hopefully they take that into account. Perhaps the world just wasn't quite ready for it yet when Google made a go.
Thanks, it sure does. We just got all of the adjustments fine-tuned too. We learned about the theft the night before we came home from Ohio. The AirTag is more or less identical to the Tile. I picked up a four pack during Black Friday and ended up getting a $25 gift card. My new VanMoof S3 has one built in but I'm going to put one on my older bike, the bike rack, and my wife's replacement bike.
I'm definitely not thrilled about the thought of having to wear glasses again but I'm guessing the convenience of the AR interface will make it worth it. Google was WAY early in the game with theirs. I'm guessing Apple will have some version of theirs on the market by 2025 or so but it won't reach its full potential for a few generations after that.
Hello Eric, sorry for losing the bike. It seems that bicycle developers have to make more sophisticated technology to anticipate people losing their bicycles. I hope your bike is found soon.
Thanks Eliana! We will probably be giving up on finding it soon. With winter coming whoever has it won't be riding it after the snow starts.
Hello dear friend @ericvancewalton good afternoon
I am very sorry for the theft of his wife's bicycle, as you say, peace of mind is expensive, but in such a situation, it is always better to be insured. I hope they can get it back, because if they wait from the police it will never happen
It is a real badge to accompany your initiatives, I have done some more help since the day you launched the initiative, and it feels very good after doing it
I wish you a beautiful afternoon
if the bicycle is lost, as my friend said earlier, there is an alarm on the bicycle but the thief is a very professional person, maybe he has a lot of experience but I really hope that the theft is the person who stole it, hopefully the security forces will quickly catch him so that he can be punished with the punishment that has been determined in the law thank you