kengr

I plugged "anagram" into google and it asked "Do you mean 'nag a ram'?"

Somebody on Freecycle posted a couple of items the other day. I asked and got both.

Turned out they lived less than a mile away, and on the bus route that goes past here. When I headed out last evening I had to wait about 7 min for the bus. Got off about a block and a half from their place. I scooted in, got the two bag s of stuff and loaded in in my folding cart.

As I got to the street I could see the bus coming about six blocks away. I didn't make it to the stop but the driver had seen my alternate waving and running and pulled over to let me get on.

So that was about as short as a run could be.

What did I get? A grocery bag full of blank CD-Rs *in cases*. That'll come handy come Christmas.

I also got another grocery bag full of old software they'd cleaned of their shelves. Various old games a lot of home office stuff, and lots and lots of driver disks. Got several copies of some things. Like 7th Guest.

I'll paw thru them some more and eventually pass on the stuff I have no use for.

Gotta pay special attention with the driver disks. A lot of ones for vid cards have games to install to demo that graphics quality. So I'll be doing a lot of digging for those.

And tomorrow I need to head out to the computer parts place I've been using for years. They're going out of business, and I want to get a few things while they are in stock. A couple of PCI gigabit ethernet cards for a couple of boxes that don't have it built in, and an HDMI to DVI cable, so I can use one of the monitors with a DVI connector as a backup if the TV dies.

May also be meeting someone at Powell's later in the day. Haven't heard back from them yet.

I read a lot of webcomics. And I've slowly been working my way thru a backlog of comics folks have recommended to me.

I recently caught up on one, and was quickly able to catch up on several others. In order

Spinnerette A different take on "getting spider powers. Very silly at times

Grrl Power Words fail. But I pointed Fay at it last night and she was reading and giggling for the rest of the time she was here.

Magical Girl Neil an interesting subversion of the Magical Girl trope

And I'm currently working my way thru Magical Transvestite Cherry So far a rather *different* subversion of the Magical Girl trope

Check my feeds for most of the comics I'm following. I also follow a bunch that don't have RSS feeds, but I'll get to those some other day

conuly's post a week or so back about science experiments for kids combined with some stuff from an older post of ysabetwordsmith's about emerrgency preparedness kits to remind me of my collection of stuff for starting fires As well as a few things I don't currently have, but have used in the past.

Okay, first thing you need is a source of heat. Without that you aren't getting anywhere.

Next you need some sort of tinder for the heat to ignite. If you are carrying it, rather than improvising with what you can find, you need it in a waterproof container.

Ok, sources of heat (more or less in order from primitive to modern):

Carrying coals or a flame with you: Doable, but tricky. The container needs to be well insulated, and there are other concerns.

friction: the classic rubbing two sticks together, firebows, etc. Doable, but takes a bit of skill and is *hard* work.

Compression: The fire piston. Doable, but hard to find/make.

Flint and steel (or flint and pyrite). Doable, but requires practice to avoid damaging yourself.

There are a lot of ways to do this. You can grab a properly shaped (sort of a wedge shape) piece of flint and try to strike sparks from a piece of iron pyrite.

Or you can hit a historical re-enactor group that does the traders/trappers type stuff and pick up a flint and a fire steel (piece of iron shape like the letter C) You hold the fire steel sort ofg like a pair of brass knuckles and strike the flint downward, at an angle to produce sparks. Watch out for your fingers!

You can take a chunk of a broken grindstone and a "worn out" file and make sparks by strike the stone against the file.

Or, you can buy a neat item available from a number of sources. It's a metal rod with a handle. The rod is made of the same weird alloy they use for lighter flints. They usually include a piece of steel suitable for striking agianst it to create sparks. You strike at an angle like you were trying to shave off bits of the rtod. *Huge* showers of sparks. and the piece of steel is usually attached to the handle by a thing.

lenses and mirrors: a large enough magnifying glass (at least 4" in my experience) will concentrate enough sunlight on a large enough area to ignite a piece of dry wood. And a "shaving mirror (or other concave mirror can do it as well. Both require a sunny day.

Radio Shack used to sell a "solar cigarette lighter" which was a small concave mirror with a set of folding "prongs" that'd hold the tip of the cigarette at the focal point. Worked for other things as well.

A bit large, but quite suitable. Modern LCD TVs and monitors have a fresnel lens as part of the screen. Take apart (carefully) a dead monitor, and you can often salvage the lens. Be warned. These will concentrate *dangerous* amounts of sunlight. As in you can melt *metal* with the larger ones.

matches and lighters: matches need to be kept in a waterproof container. Lighters, may need to have the same.

Electricity: you can get sparks from a battery to start a fire. Probably takes at least a 9V. Not that practical in most cases. Though it works well if yoiur tinder is steel wool. Might work with magnesium shavings.

Ok, now for tinder. And remember, *all* varieties of tinder need to be kept dry, and an airtight container isn't out of line.

"punk" wood is an old standby. This is basically partially rotted (dry rot) wood.

Char cloth is another. This is squares of cotton or linen cloth (*not* wool or synthetics!) that have been heated (preferably in a container that restricts airflow) until they are "charred". Not black but beyond "golden brown. Either get it at a reenactor event or *carefully* experiment with making your own.

Steel wool. The kind *without* added detergents and crap. You want the fine grade. Tear off a *small* piece and put the rest back in the airtight container. This stuff ignites *very* readily. And since it burns white hot you *really* don't want to be holding it. Or having it sitting on anything you don't want to burn!

Magnesium. A lot of those high-tech flint rods have a second rod mounted in the handle. a magnesium rod. You can shave off tiny bits of magnesium with the same bit of steel you use for striking the sparks. And once this catches, it'll ignite even *wet* wood.

Some gun shows and the like will sell you containers of powdered magnesium to save you the trouble of shaving off bits. A warning hear, this *will* absorb water over time and turn into a sold chunk. And in the case of the one I bought split the plastic container in the process.

And, even moreso than with steel wool, you don't ignite this stuff when it's sitting on anything you *don't* want to burn.

I've seen folks do the friction method, never got anywhere with it myself. I've seen a demo of a fire piston in a chemistry class.

I've tried a fire steel and flint. Takes practice to strike sparks and *not* gash your fingers. Never tried the flint and pyrite trick, but I've read about it.

I own several of the high tech flints, a couple with the magnesium rods. I own several magnifying glasses that I *have* started fires with.

I've actually done the file and broken grindstone bit at a boy scout event. the tinder was steel wool, and we were burning dry pine needles. It was a race to see who could boil water first.

I hgave the solar cigarette lighter, as well as several magnifying glasses that I've lit fires with.

And I have strike anywhere matches in a pocket sized match safe, as well as a few butane lighters.

Do not plug the vacuum cleaner into an outlet in the living room if the air conditioner is also plugged into an outlet in the living room.

Pakistan has issued its first passport with an X gender marker. Washington, DC has followed Oregon in allowing an X gender marker on IDs and reportedly, both California and New York state are in the process of allowing it.

I'm fairly sure I'd heard of at least one other country allowing an X marker on passports.

DC should be interesting, as if there's any sort of legal challenges it goes straight from the local court system to the US Supreme Cort (that's how a couple of 2nd Amendment issues that the FEDS had been studiously avoiding for three quarters of a century wound up before the Supreme Court).

And with California and New York, that's a big chunk of population and *votes* that will be behind this.

There's also a case in Colorado involving an intersex person who is trying to get a US passport that doesn't have an M or F on it.

The State Department's replies to letters from doctors certifying that the plaintiff is intersexed are ludicruous. They are saying:

“The Department is unaware of generally accepted medical standards for diagnosing and evaluating a transition to any sex other than male or female,” reads a US State Department refusal letter dated 1 May 2017. “Thus, the Department does not accept a medical certification that specifies transition to a sex other than male or female as evidence for the issuance of a passport.”

Yep, they think the person is *transitioning" to a non-binary gender. Sorry guys, this person was *born* non-binary.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/06/27/federal-court-allows-intersex-person-to-reopen-lawsuit-over-gender-neutral-passport/

Finally got my air conditioner deliered today. It arrived in town early on the 4th, but since UPS didn't have to deliver it until the 6th, they didn't.

Showed up about a quarter after 1 pm . And the driver was nice enough to haul it upstairs for me.

Got it unpacked easily enough, and moved into position. But to be able to attach the hose that carries the hot air out the window, I had to move the bed. Not fun at all. That futon is *heavy*.

Even with it moved, the AC is at an angle. I'll have to rearrange stuff more drastically eventually.

Per instructions, I had to let it sit upright for 2 hours before turning it on. So it was after 3:30 when I pulled the box fan out of the window and stuck the adapter for the hose in. Much wrestling ensued to get things positioned usably.

But I got it all done and turned on. Temp has been dropping slowly ever since. The AC has gone from indicating 84 to 80. And the temp here at the computer has dropped several degrees as well.

I think it's time for a nap under the AC outlet... :-)

Ok, as some folks know, someone here in Oregon sued for the right to list their gender on their ID as "other". and they won.

Back in May or June it was announced that Oregon DMV was going to change the process and forms to allow anyone to do that.

I grabbed a copy of the "Change your Gender Designation" form back in June, but it hadn't been updated. eventually I'm going to upload it to my website as historical document.



It's got two parts. The first is filled out by the person requesting the change. It has the usual "I'm not doing this to commit fraud, blah,blah" stuff.

The second part had to be filled out by a shrink, social worker or the like and they had to attest that in *their* opinion, the change was necessary.

Fairly normal for such stuff.

Here's the new page:
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/Pages/driverid/chg_gender_designation.aspx

Yep, it links to the same application you fill out to renew or replace your drivers license or state ID. Only change from the old form for *that* is changing the option in the "sex" box from M & F to M, F, and X.

No more gate keeping, just fill out the same form everyone else does and pay your money.

Since I've never been fond of my middle name (don't ask), I'm thinking of changing it to Brooke, the name I use when I'm presenting en femme. That way I can get some debit cards as Brooke [last name] as well as ones in my current name.

I'd looked into doing it using a DBA (doing business as), but you have to refile that every so often. Getting one with my middle name shouldn't require anything but a bit of talking.

I'll probably wait until I do that to change the gender marker on my ID.

This is going to be lots of fun though. Everyone in Oregon is going to have to change their databases to add that X. Ditto for lots of businesses and agencies outside Oregon. Which will provide some much needed shaking up.

Why do I say they'll have to? Because while *I* wouldn't spend the money on suing them if they don't, other people *will*.

Also, I can't wait for the "head explodes" incidents as folks with a X marker present their *legal* IDs to various inflexible folks in Oregon and nearby states, to say nothing of states far away.

First few Federal applications for things are gonna be fun too.

Do note that several other countries allow an "other" marker already, up to and including their passports. so it's not like it wasn't going to become a problem anyway.

This was a throwaway idea for a Whateley fanfic. Probably not possible even in that universe, but too silly not to go with. I decided to post it after ysabetwordsmith made a particular comment on someone's story.

Sandy was waiting for the last of the new batch of freshmen to show up so zie could take them on the tour. There was a zweet-boing noise from behind zir. Zie turned just in time for the human-sized roadrunner to startle zir with a loud "Meep! Meep!"

Zie was still boggling when the bird held up a sign with one wing. [Hi! I'm Velox.]

The sign flipped around and read [Is this the orientation tour for Twain?] Then it vanished.

"Uh, yeah. What's with the signs?"

[I can't talk anymore. Just make that sound.] flip [But I can manifest these signs] flip [Neat, huh?]

Sandy just shook zir head. Even for Whateley, Velox was a bit odd.

The last few freshmen showed up, and zie started the tour. After showing them the required places and things it came time for the usual "what's your power and how did you get it" talk.

Velox demonstrated his speed. The cloud of dust he raised was weird because it'd rained just that morning.

[Besides being fast, I'm either a reality warper...] flip [... or a probability warper.] flip [Weird stuff happens around me.]

[Don't EVER bring anything made by Acme near me!] flip [no way to tell what'll happen.] flip [but it won't be good for you.]

"What's with your code name?"

He held up a sign with a picture of a bird captioned [Lesser Roadrunner (Geococcyx velox)]

***
"So how'd you wind up like this?"

Apparently Velox got asked this a lot. He dug a paper from somewhere and handed it to the questioner. [Read it out loud, please.]

"Some friends had scored some weed, cheap. And we were having a party at my house since my folks were out of town. We were pretty stoned and I'd queued up all the Warner Brothers cartons on the player. We'd been watching Roadrunner cartoons for a couple hours when we all started feeling weird."

"I managed to call 911 before I passed out."

"Seems the guy who grew the weed had picked up some chemicals cheap. Fertilizer, pesticide, I forget what. They were cheap because they were some devisor stuff that didn't always work right."

"My friends just got sick. I turned into this."

Police raid Stonewall Inn, 01:20 am EDT, June 28, 1969 (10:20 PM June 27 PDT)

Not the first times trans folks fought back (that was the Compton's Cafeteria Riot). But the first time it really stuck.

And yes, it was trans folks, and POC at that that did much of the fighting over then days that followed.

Here's some more info on what was going on before Stonewall:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-Stonewall_LGBT_actions_in_the_United_States