Below are the most recent 11 friends' journal entries.

Friday, November 6th, 2009
polydad	9:16a	Magpie Telegraph If you like the shinies, take a look at http://tinyurl.com/magpiealert . (Comment on this)
polydad	8:35a	Contemplating a new career ...as a Green Construction project manager. So far I have two projects I can manager; the new shop for the OSU Student Sustainability Center, and the new Social Hall for the UU's, which hasn't been approved yet -- though the UU's are infamous for not giving things a formal approval 'til long after they're finished. The Shop would be a volunteer job; the other would be a paid job; the former is "guerilla architecture," though with the *in*formal approval of the relevant authorities, the latter would be with full approval of any relevant or even remotely interested bureaucracy. So what do I have to know, and what do I have to learn, to do that job according to my own professional standards? Project management itself is a nearly infinitely-transferable skill; what matters here is knowing what fields I'll need to have field-specific knowledge in. The Shop will be of straw-bale construction; need to research that. Have already discovered it needs a particular type of foundation, rebar reinforcement, and waterproof stucco or plaster for the outside. Preferred construction technique is to build a roof and then build walls underneath it up to the roof, since load-bearing straw walls are against code in many places, even if an engineer can prove they *can* take the load. My first thought on the rebar was to build the walls first, climb up on top, and use a sledgehammer to pound it through and into the ground; if there's already a roof up, that doesn't work. I should probably do multiple websearches on the broader topic and see what comes up; off the top of my head I get active solar, passive solar, rainwater recycling, insulation, unconventional building materials, and life-cycle costing. (Edit: Gail reminds me to include greywater systems and composting toilets End Edit(An enameled steel roof, for example, is about twice the price of a conventional three-tab-shingle roof, and lasts between 3 and 4 times as long.) Got any other subjects for me? (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
sisterkatherine	8:51p	Hello Yall Hello, yall. Sorry I've been so quiet here. October was full of car stuff, and I've written more over at the other place. Things are winding down with all that. My last event is an autocross on November 15th. And to do that, it was back to the shop with the car this week to repair a leaking fuel line. I don't even want to look at the cash I've poured into the car this year. Apparently, however much it is, it's been worth it! ( Read more... ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
wendykh	10:42p	Yoo Hoo Locals, Want a Bunny?! x-posted to montreal Bunnies anyone? The SPCA sent this out today (I am not Stephanie, I am forwarding it for her). Hi everyone: The SPCA is currently quite full of rabbits. As such, we would need your help to foster an animal or aid us in finding foster homes. ( Read more... ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
polydad	10:32a	Touring my mind: Starting with a few bits Just read about Brian C. in Portland, via bikeportland.org, and his "bicycle motorhome," a misnomer as it has no motor. Unless one counts Brian, I suppose. I'm applying for a job as an "Office Specialist 3" at the Community Services Coalition in Corvallis. These two factors connect, via a discussion of class and grammar. I'd recently read "Butterflies in the Kremlin," a serialization in the Grantville Gazette ( www.crucis.org/ericflint ) . It painted what seems a reasonably accurate portrait of the political problems in Russia in the 1630's, which was all about the tensions between the nobility and the serfs. I see a lot of that tension in the America of today, and some of it in my own upbringing. The ficton was trying to bring a 'middle class' to Russia, and failing. I'm of middle-class upbringing, and Brian I presume to be of lower-class origins, because the extent of my knowledge about him is that he built a bike=camper, the picture shown of him is of a black man, and he apparently has no family. Okay, I've got all the initial data-bits out. Spinning them into a story is being difficult; I want to turn this into a research paper and prove all sorts of interesting things about emergent properties as applied to human social entities. But to keep the interest of my readers, I'll instead talk about how I might play Elvis Presley to Brian's Tom or Dave. Can't, right now. Need to go find real live people to talk to. For the moment I'll point out an engineering issue; Brian's 'motorhome' was too flimsy. When he wigged out, he kicked it to pieces himself. An underclass living vehicle needs to be robust enough that an untrained human can't kick the shit out of it. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
polydad	7:49p	Any giggle is a good one... I'm living in a rooming house with a very international clientele; I just walked through the kitchen to overhear three non-native-english-speakers debating whether garlic was a kind of onion -- apparently this parses differently in Italian, Spanish, and some third accent I couldn't identify. (Comment on this)
sisterkatherine	5:44p	Pimping the Pups! Is anybody still checking this thing? Sorry I've been such a total slacker. Catch-up to come soon. But first, I'm going to be all obnoxious and I'm going to pimp our pups! Rosie and Tess have entered a Dog of the Week contest sponsored by Kuranda Dog Beds. These are the beds I got back in the spring, the ones that have proven to be indestructible. Not only that, but Rosie and Tess really do love their beds. The vet said Rosie needed to have some support and be up off the floor for her bum knees, and we were never able to create that situation for her because they destroyed every bed we tried until these. If Rosie and Tess win the contest, a Kuranda bed will be donated to Birmingham TEARS in their name. And I think they win a fleece pad (wow, that will be interesting...). If you would be so kind, please go vote for Rosie and Tess for Kuranda Dog Bed Dog of the Week! Click the pic to Vote! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
wendykh	10:32p	I want this shirt ganked from grammarpolice (2 Comments |Comment on this)
polydad	3:26p	The weekend, and the future. I need to get done tending keyboard here and go mark and drill some MicroHouse panels in Laura's garage, while I'm here and there's light and it's not raining. Tonight may be halloween, but I have no plans for doing anything about it as of yet. Tomorrow, there's the Teacher's Luncheon at the UUFC, and I need to get my homework done for the Tuesday "safety club." And services and Sunday school in the morning. So I'll leave this document open for editing to add in the "talk about the future" bit, and go put my shoes on and see if I can Go Be Productive. In the meantime, here's my description of a Bike Travel Trailer; let me know if you can visualise the end product from this description: Build a box frame based on two pieces of flanged mild-steel C-channel running lengthwise, and a plywood box (3/8" ply on the bottom, 1/4" ply on the sides and top) with 1" triangular corner framing members on top of that, roughly classical dog-house-shaped, with the back end entirely missing. The missing back end fits another similar box, about one plywood-sheet-thickness smaller in all dimensions, that is on a frame of 1"x1" box beam that slides into the C-channel of the other box, possibly on bearings. Folding legs on the sliding half, door on the bike side of the trailer, and 3 small windows to allow the occupant to both get some light and see out while retaining a fair amount of privacy. When pulled "all the way" out, there should still be about a 2" overlap between the two boxes, with a felt gasket and a soft rubber bushing on each side of the felt to keep the drafts out. Add to that a folding foam mattress, a drawer underneath to store bedding and a change of clothes, and a small battery-operated camp lantern, and it should be reasonably cozy. Okay, back. Marked 3 panels; didn't drill any, But drawing sixty precise X's is still a reasonable hour's work. Bought a paper calendar, tomorrow I'll pick up a set of fine-point colored markers with enough for one color for each social entity I want to be involved with. I count ten existing and three I want to start. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
polydad	6:40a	Two elements; I managed to hang on to one of them. 'Spirituality'. How do I tell if I'm using the lack of definition of the word in English as an excuse for refusing to examine my own ideas? The other one had come up in a conversation about acknowledging feeling good, and that it is a positive value. I lost the label I'd been using to think about it; what I'm coming up with right now is "anti-puritanism", which is not exactly inaccurate, but isn't quite on the mark, either. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
polydad	8:56p	Progress, with a side order of frustration. Reported progress on accounting to the Bike Co-Op, and got my main problem expressed and on the agenda for the next meeting, in two weeks. That problem is that in the name of being a 'consensus organization' they have let an inadequate understanding of what 'consensus' means devolve into chaos. Consensus requires an assumption of personal responsibility; you assume the responsibility of acting *yourself* in the best interests of the group. You bring up what you think is best for the group, and if the group agrees, your thought or program is accepted. If the group doesn't agree, you get to decide if you're willing to go along with a consensus that doesn't include your idea, or leave the group. What we've had instead is people refusing to make a decision because someone else who feels strongly about the decision isn't there -- despite a stated policy of "policy is made by whoever's there, and the meeting will be every other week at the Center and if you want to make policy you have to show up." So next week, I can ask that we either get formal about that, or accept a Board-managed model. (1 Comment |Comment on this)