swim beyond the imagery

Flymo

Just now I recalled this lawn mower from decades ago, this intriguing machine that literally floated on air.

They disappeared from advertising, and figured the company or manufacturer had long since ceased making them or had closed.

Wrong.

I thought of Flymo today, some 30 years since last seeing one mentioned, and did a search. Wouldn't you know, but there is an active Flymo presence overseas, but not in the US or Canada.

I'm intrigued. I'd like one. They have a rider, but sadly... that one does not float. Bummer, I'd be sold.

Since this is the beginning of mowing season, here is to the ingenuity of Flymo, and the hope someone decides to sell them here.

Anonymity

Facebook is not a favourite because of its policy of actually putting you out into the ethersphere.

There is a place for lifting the veil, and we do so privately with anyone with whom we conduct business. Where I have a problem is with public information available to anyone.

This once again came to mind based on recent incidents I've been privy to. Anonymity can be a shield that harms, and it can be one that protects. The key is being able to break it down when harm is in the air, and protect when protection is warranted.

I like to share stories of my life; the highs, the lows, the joys, the pains, the struggles, the achievements, what goes through my head, what I strive for, stories of the past, present, and perhaps even potential future. And some of this information, were my name publicly attached, would find its way to my former partner, where it could cause undo pain and yet more suffering, instead of being a therapeutic endeavour for me.

Not my intent, and anonymity to the internet helps this be. And those who need to know, or who know me, have the info, anyway.

I've seen the uglier side of this over the weekend, not much more can be said, it is speculative, but spooky. It leaves one thinking, as well as hoping anonymity is not sufficiently established as to preclude efforts at safety for the general public, or the one.

Facebook, and why I dislike it (immensely)

Guard your personal information. Take care to secure with a multitude of constantly changing passwords. And wherever we work, we have to take special care with the information of others.

Along comes an online network, which can certainly establish and deliver wonderful networking to those who wish to build a personal or professional one, yet which takes the 'take care' mantra and blows it out of the water.

I have an account. There is nothing on it, nor will there be. I take that back, one friend in Wales is listed, and it does give me a way to check up on her.

Aside from that, I am positively aghast that the service requires one's real name. There is no way in hell I'd ever find any value in it, nor value in putting my information in the hands of someone inclined to make huge amounts of money by collecting and sharing information on my actual identity.

For all the value someone can find in this service, what it strips away is what I find so precious - privacy and my own, uninvaded bubble. Each time I log in, seeing my name staring back at me leaves me speechless, my stomach upwelling, contents not to distant from overspilling, against what feels right for me.

I'm no technological prude, and am fairly adept around this gizmo... but computer dexterity and respect for personal privacy and one's identity are two distinctly different things.

Would a trannie find use for this???

OK, two trannie postings right in a row. Geesh, one might think I have gender issues going on or sumpin.

In this case, for us trannies body shape can sometimes be a bit off kilter. Now comes hope for sending fat away from those nasty places and to right where we want it. For mtf's, that would be away from belly and to derrière and breasts. For ftm's away from derrière and breasts.

MSNBC reports on Shots that will help you lose that belly.

I take a rather rigorous regimen of hormones daily, 5 mg of premarin and 200 mg of spironolactone, and anti-androgen that sticks it's fingers in it's ears and says "nana nana boo boo" to that dastardly testosterone.

Has it made a difference in fat distribution? Undoubtedly, and my electrologist swears my skin is light years different than when I first showed there 4 plus years ago... but still, a little extra boost in moving this stuff to where it should properly reside would be kewl.

Not a lot of weight on me, but what is there could definitely stand redistribution. Hey, I'm about 170 and 5'10", that's not that bad, though my weight is best around 160. So send away to those overseas online pharmacies, fill up those carboys, get those power injectors hitched up, and start reshaping.

Birdcalls and bird walls...

Ever since a young child, a common summer bird would capture my attention with it's calling song.A rather distinct ree reeuuuu eee ooo eeet sound.

I'd not thought much beyond the immediate knowing of that call, it's quiet reassurance that summer was once again upon us. This morning, having heard the song drift in from my open window, I realised the internet might well - finally - shed some light on which species of bird was singing.

It did not take long. Who would think typing in a bird call would lead me to the possible tweetie in question? Up popped the google search results, with this entry Eastern Towhee. I've seen that bird! Yeah, I know.... duh.

According to  that article, it's a form of sparrow, with such a kewl, kewl, call.

While searching out the Towhee, I also decided it was a good time to find my traditional windows wallpaper, the Common Loon. A quick image search produced the very wallpaper I normally like to use, which I'm including with this posting.

I've often looked at that picture and pondered how long ago it was taken, if the mom was still with us, if the baby loons are. I've wondered about their lives, where they lived, and for how long. I've thought on the beauty of their appearance, and the sensational and unique call they make. This bird is at once fragile and vulnerable, yet one of the oldest species of bird on this planet.

More blog maintenance - searching this space

If you look down the left hand side of this blog, you will find an avatar for Search. This service is provided through Lijit. 

By clicking on the avatar, a search page will be brought up for you to search this blog, as well as Crossing The Great Divide, and World In A Song.

I'm still working on the particulars, namely centering the results page, but... if ya wish to search out a particular subject, the means is there.

A blog post for car designers and engineers

Trust me on this.

I don't know calipers from from an impact driver (well I do, but let's pretend my intelligence is truly measured by hair colour) but I do know it makes no sense to put gasoline tanks where the hell you please.

In other words, can we standardise this? Same general locale on every vehicle.

Fortunately for me, I've only one vehicle, and it's on the passenger side. When we had two vehicles, remembering which was which (they always had to be opposites)  invariably left me on the wrong side of the pump. Hmmmmm... sounds like a song title.

With the price of petrol approaching my salary, I endeavoured to fill my tank tonight at Stop & Shop. S & S is a kewl place for gas, because you get coupons for every $100 spent in store and can end up filling a tank for a bit more than peanuts, but without taking out a loan.

Here comes nelle, running on fumes, coasting into the station - headlong into a line of cars waiting for their turn. Is this 1973 or 2007? The line slowly advances, I pull up to a pump only to see... a car hidden by other cars, and she was setting there waiting for the spot I claimed. Shit. Reverse and let her pump.

And that scenario would not have happened if we were like siders... homogassers. Oh, that word is laden with potentially bad humour...

Alas, I emerged unscathed from the fill up... I say unscathed, perhaps... but bereft of $40.00 for a bit over 13.56 gallons of gas. No coupons on this fill up, otherwise it would have been around $24.00.

Sooner or later, someone is going to get into a standoff because of the design of these vehicles. So all you designers who religiously read this space *cough* take heed and get it right... er left. Wherever.

Elm trees

It's somewhere around 4:45 pm. I'm slogging my way through contruction traffic, accompanied by my usual passenger, NPR.

On comes a story not of the latest IED in Iraq, but rather of rootings... elm tree rootings for sale at Home Depot.

Elm trees. Wow, back to my childhood, when elm trees where everywhere.

We had one in front of our home as you faced the home on the left, and one to the back, on the right side. The frontward tree was *huge* probably 3 feet in diameter by the time it met it's demise, and a single trunk tree. You can see this tree, along with me at altogether too young an age, in the accompanying photograph. The back of the house tree was of three trunks, and well... was in that tree at the age of 5 my foot became lodged between branches, and I inverted. 

Yeah, what's new... I *am* inverted!

Anyway... I had to be rescued by someone or other. Hanging upside down in a tree, unable to move, is not a recommended way to have fun.

Now that front tree was ominous, spooky, and readily filled the local image from a monster tree movie. That tree was out to get me. I can remember thinking it was going to circle the house and grab me. I don't like monster movies. ;-)

Somewhere around the age of 8 or so, Dutch Elm disease, rapidly spreading across the continent, took out or majestic elms. The trees were felled by professional tree fellers, and only pictures and memories remain.

Elms were everywhere then. The NPR story mentions there are more Elm Streets in America than Main Streets, and I believe it. Now, after all these years of being ravaged by disease, a disease resistant tree is on the market.

How kewl to have elms make a comeback. It is my understanding chestnuts were once one of our most common trees in NH. If only...

A geek's worst nightmare

One of the fun things associated with owning a blog is to follow the searches that leads someone here.

Last week, someone searched out, interestingly enough, the name of this blog. Why, I haven't a clue, but... they did.

And so it was I spotted a reference to my headline animator. Curious, I set off along the trail, and found Line of Site, and both a referral, as well as my actual headline animator.

Har! If there is one thing I am not, it's a techie. I'll play and play and try and fail and try and fail and try again. I just did this today with my calendar, desiring a backtground image.

With the calendar, it was into the knowledge base on Type Pad, where the only useful thing mentioned was that the calendar is one of the few table elements they use... mkay, let's search out code for background imagery for tables, and that led me here.

At the very bottom of that page, wif the penguin imagery, lurked promising code... that I am at a loss to understand *or* explain. Hell, let's try it.... pasted it in, and up pop da penguins, though the calendar set below that image. Damn.

OK... I split the code, pasting the first part in as the table began, changing the imagery to the image I wished to use, and put the remainder just before the table closed.

I'll be dipped, it worked! Har! Don't ask me to explain why or how, because all I care about is that it worked ;-)

Ya put this thingie here, and that thingie there, and voila! Now that works for me.

Google, no

My old blog was on blogger, a subsidiary of Google. Google has google mail, they have You Tube, they own the search world.

And they want us to log into their universal account in all we do. No thank you.

When I post to blogs on blogger, no longer is my registered name recalled, password remembered. Not unless I use the google universal. Um, no. I'll sign in each day as needed, using the old blogger ID.

It would seem obvious as to why they are doing this... more stored information about each of us, more information means more money, because they can tailor products to what they understand about us. Individual content has to be a huge selling tool to those who will buy Google services.

I'm so glad to be blogging here!

I don't mind my blogging thoughts being shared with the universe, after all, I've made this space public. But when it comes down to packaging this with what is searched, what is emailed, no thanks.

The owners of Google might have a very altruistic view of how they make use of the power they have created. History tells us power gets abused if unchecked. And right now, they are rapidly approaching this breaking point.