Amazon Day Round THREE

Remember Adventures of RantWoman: AGAIN, Amazon? AGAIIN?

 It's way past RantWoman's email witching hour so RantWoman is ignoring her inbox.

RantWoman digressed from daily #Russia #Ukraine war video / Ukrainian independence day diet for The Insane Mystic Folklore Fuelling Putin’s War in Ukraine

Russian STATE TV HACKED- Show's War's REALITY!!

Soooo. RantWoman offers the world Amazon round 3, no thank you USPS.

1. RantWoman now has the three items, a lovely package of snacks and two items that RantWoman would not be thrilled to have to carry home. Hence the enthusiasm for DELIVERY.

2. Thank you to the very courteous human who helped RantWoman just request a refund after sharing a tale of woe involving the US Postal Service and zero likelihood that RantWoman's items would get delivered  by the next Amazon Day.

3. RantWoman also splurged on several mor pairs of fingerless gloves because they are brilliantly helping RantWoman keep nasty thumb arthritis at bay. RantWoman mentions the gloves because their packages would in fact neatly fit into RantWoman's mailbox.

fingerless gloves, round 1

More and better reserve gloves

So capitalism is making RantWoman happy and therefore all should be right with the world?


NOT SO FAST. The world needs one last round of RantWoman vs the Post office.

Inspired by her previous success with the bar code, RantWoman decided that, when in front of a bigger screen she would see about creating a USPS login and see whether she could induce the mail carrier to deliver RantWoman's package. RantWoman succeeded in creating an account on the USPS website. RantWoman even got to a page about something to do with delivery with notification.

But...no matter what RantWoman did, she got a message about something like "cannot set this at this time."

Really?  

RantWoman had good intentions about trying again during some traditional business hour.

Later that night, RantWoman decided "to heck with the post office" and grabbed her phone to text for help.

RantWoman got help. RantWoman appreciated help. MAYBE RantWoman will remember to call the postal service during reasonable daylight hours. Maybe.

court Supervision

 Recently RantWoman had occasion to consider one particular pothole on the information superhighway: the phrase "court supervision."

RantWoman does not exactly want to know the details of how the words "court supervision" came into someone's life with respect to computer usage. Scratch that. RantWoman can think of many different circumstances that might attract that phrase to one's life. RantWoman also is morbidly curious, but RantWoman does not get to know. RantWoman simply has to say No. So far RantWoman has not actually had to say no because someone appears to be complying with the terms of "court supervision. RantWoman is only aware that the need to say No exists.

RantWoman is also aware that in modern life, computer / internet usage can be vital for:

--online training

--job hunting

--searching for housing

--many forms of medical care.

--everyday financial matters

Disclaimer: RantWoman is not an attorney but does encourage attorneys and their clients to consider whether in some cases it might be possible to specify some of the list above as permissible activities.

RantWoman will keep her eyes out for technological or procedural options to support people complying with conditions of court supervision while still being able to do activities where computer use is absolutely necessary.

Fun times.

Boxes

a celebratory Christmas Cactus

 Happy Birthday RantDad.

If RantDad were still alive he would turn 90 today, one of those time horizons one hardly imagines, whether the celebrant is alive or not.

30 years ago, RantWoman flew back to MT to surprise RantDad on his birthday. That year his birthday fell on Thanksgiving. RantWoman missed out on Thanksgiving dinner but collected a nice incentive to take a later flight than the one she originally booked. The whole trip was the best birthday surprise ever.

35 years ago was a terrible tragedy RantWoman still smarts from.

But let us talk RantDad memories:

Bassoon music

Postcard collecting

Stacking boxes in boxes.

RantDad was frugal in a style that definitely did not permit throwing away all the boxes that crossed his path.  In fact, even though some kinds of math definitely were not RantDad's favorite, he made sort of a hobby of stacking boxes in boxes and then figuring out how to rearrange things to stack even more boxes in the boxes. 

When RantMom was getting ready for downsizing 1.0, we discovered that the garage of the family home still held boxes stacked from the 1960's, before the RantFamily moved from CO to MT.: All of these spatial reasoning masterpieces started going out the door during Downsizing 1.0 for RantMom. RantMom sold the home where she lived for 30 years, loaded her life behind a bulkhead in one of those we will move your stuff in our semi on our timeline deals and moved to Seattle.

And two downsizings later, RantMom's apartment still has a FEW boxes stacked in boxes remaining.

RantWoman smiles ironically every time she flattens an Amazon delivery box. The flattened boxes go to the recycle. RantWoman would be thrilled if the charming drivers who bring boxes of things to her door could, on subsequent trips. In the meantime, RantWoman strives to move the boxes along in the universe more elegantly than RantDad did.

And speaking of boxes, one of RantMom's recent excursions into boxes turned up this memorable phot of RantDad, probably from early college because RantWoman thinks RantDad played the baritone horn until he went off to college and fell in with the woodwinds.

RantDad with his bassoon in performance clothes

Day 6: Masks and chopped celery

Covid test card

 The last few tests, the second bar appears almost as soon as the test solution hits the card. This one took awhile.

Weird because I still feel a little #COVID y

Lungs keep clearing.

A little achy but the same taste I always get with tylenol.

Finally decided to go ahead and order vegetables. I should have waited because friends offered. But chopping and freezing celery and green peppers feels like needed exercise.

Cognitively, somehow misjudged distance. Bumped a neighbor who told me to go take a nap. But definitely had brain cells for next in a series of COOL software trainings.

Topical Rant

RantWoman HATES paper masks.

RantWoman dislikes waste and feeling forced into disaster capitalism.

RantWoman finds paper masks irritating.

RantWoman hearts cloth masks

any mask is better than no mask.

Enough said.

Do the Puyallup???

RantWoman does not apologize if the title is an out of date advertising slogan.

 Forget RantWoman's flirtation with the idea of a Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing expedition to Burning Man.

Forget the biomedical fantasy of 3-printing new body parts to spec.

This week's task is, on short notice, consider a group trip to the Washington State Fair Events Center - Puyallup, WA (thefair.com) 

Today RantWoman only cares about the transportation piece. Can a group of people with wheelchairs and sundry mobility aids travel together, arrive not completely exhausted, have decent time to have fun at the fair, and get home at a reasonable hour?

Can RantWoman learn anything about such options from the fair website? Uhhhh, download an app and here are the instructions for PARKING. Also try Uber or Lyft.  No mention of bicycles. No mention of transit options let alone the transit stops.

Did RantWoman mention mobility aids?  Are Uber and Lyft known for reliable capacity to serve people with mobility devices? NO!!

So F+ about helping people with disabilities and other non-drivers make travel plans. Luckily RantWoman is persistent and has her fingers on many look up a routing options.

One website implied that there are special Sounder runs every 4 hours but RantWoman on first pass has not identified any such. Oh wait, maybe RantWoman needs to put the right date into the trip planner.

Both SoundTransit.org and FindARide.org/tripplanner suggest basically the same 3 bus routing as the simplest. Remmember, RantWoman is talking a GROUP of people with different mobility devices. RantWoman's experience: wheelchair accessibility on some SoundTransit coaches, especially the ones that serve intercity routes leaves a lot to be desired. Ideally for group travel, a driver might deploy the ramp once, get everyone onto the bus and secured and then take up the ramp. The thought of using a lift one at a time for more than about two wheelchair users per trip is just too painful to contemplate.

But wait: there MIGHT be a vehicle? Can it go outside of King County? Stay tuned.. 

In the meantime, add bus-sized autonomous flying carpets to innovations that might someday emerge from RantWoman and her neighbors.

Affordable Connectivity: PLEASE Don't tell me to check the internet when the problem is the internet doesn't work.

Dear Congress,

PLEASE renew the Affordable Connectivity program if only because some customers have barely had devices and connectivity at their fingertips long enough reliably to do simple tasks, never mind the vast and necessary horizons of the internet.

Look, RantWoman imagines that one goal of the ACP is to get enough user experience out there to hit a better sweet spot about meeting customer needs as far as device access, human support, and targeted subsidies addressing specific populations. The world is a long ways from there and the way to get better data is not to halt the program but to renew it and commit to continuous improvement. Perhaps rantWoman will have more to say soon.

In the meantime, for one example of corporate hiccups: choosing an internet provider AND the right device, in the highly competitive world of wireless service providers we have:

Provider #1

--Seems to have subcontracted the store closest to RantWoman. Visit experiences include:

   --multiple customers and not enough staff

   --loose papers and half-drunk beverages all over the counter

   --a perky clerk having a conversation with an elderly customer where the amount he was going to need to pay bounced all over the place and then the clerk had the nerve to ask whether there was anyone he wanted to add to his account.

--Closed the branch across town where RantWoman was treated VERY kindly by an attentive but possibly lonely staff person

--numerous other fiascoes written about elsewhere.

The following is NOT an April Fools Day joke.

Enter Provider #2, the service provider for a specialized phone aimed at blind people. A customer recently called RantWoman and described what RantWoman interprets as either a general network problem or probably some kind of data cap when the customer tries to access the internet. In short, it is probably going to be really hard to send email even if the customer has figured out how to do email, something RantWoman thought the customer would be able to figure out. Anyway put a pin in the no email no internet issue.

Enter Mr. Google and a quest for the accessibility support line. The website is for RantWoman at least, reasonably well-behaved. RantWoman does not find a phone number but does find a form inviting RantWoman to write in and describe the problem.

Silly RantWoman, RantWoman described the problem, REQUESTED A PHONE NUMBER for the end customer to call, and sent the form off.

And what did RantWoman get in return:

Basically "please check out our website and consider switching to our services. We are sure we have a plan that can meet your needs."

Meet what now?????

RantWoman ASKED FOR A PHONE NUMBER to give to the end customer because "please try the internet" is not working. Currently, RantWoman's reflex whenever possible is to refer people directly to people getting paid to address the particular combination of technologies involved. 

RantWoman will try again in daylight and will ask the end customer's permission to submit the form on his behalf. HOWEVER, RantWoman is likely to get other requests for the same phone number in the same context. So, um, provider #2, DO BETTER.

And by the way, think POSITIVE influencers instead of grouchy frustrated ones.

One more thing: RantWoman reached out to end customer. No, he does not yet have email. But the internet data flow sneezes he was experiencing miraculously disappeared over the weekend. So #HappyEaster or some such thing.

Data hiccups disappeared. But end customer who struggles to pay the bare minimum price per month he now pays just got word, PRovider #2 wants to charge customers $5 / month for personal help.

Seriously?

End Customer vows to go in person for help. End Customer does not drive and also regales RantWoman with transportation realities involving THE BUS into downtown Seattle from one of the official burbs.

Moscow Shooting | Russian Misinformation | Day 759 PLUS there WAS an ad for Rokid VR glasses

#CrocusCityHall #AI

RantWoman is posting this here both to document the outrageous events before the Piknik  concert at Crocus City Hall in Moscow and because of the ad for smart eyeglasses that appeared when RantWoman first viewed the video.

RantWoman is both curious and HIGHLY skeptical about the high tech glasses.

RantWoman also wants to put a pin in the question "What should be required before smart eyeglasses technology  smart enough to allow blind people to drive relying on it. But in the meantime, beware the disinformation.

With that, a dry but nonetheless disturbing commentary about the Crocus City Hall attack

A whole lot of begats

This story starts with Bible study, a whole lot of begats, and the question "what is going to be the internet equivalent of the 20-year-old Honda?

Once upon a time, there was a Bible study. The Bible study started on Zoom. They have been taking on various segments of the old Testament. They have gotten to one of the books that starts with pages and pages of who begat whom. RantWoman agrees with RantMom: Unless one is really, really, really into geneology and impossible names, this is definitely not the most interesting part of the Bible, but Mom wanted to stick with the whole group experience, until...

until, that is, mid-course the host decided to switch from Zoom to Teams. RantWoman imagines this is probably because the host did not want to pay for Zoom; RantWoman has no idea whether the group tried the exit after 45 minutes and then come back trick that RantWoman has seen people cope with.

Talk about begats.

First the switch begat confusion. RantMom tapped on a link in her email and was puzzled about  why noting happened. 

Someone suggested she could open her Zoom app on her phone and type in the meeting ID and passcode.

If it's a Teams meeting, RantWoman is not surprised that did not work. RantWoman encouraged RantMom to ask the Bible study host about whether the platform had indeed switched from Zoom to Teams. Yes. Okay. RantWoman has a policy of not attempting tech support after dark on nightly phone calls.

The next time RantWoman saw RantMom in person, RantWoman decided to tackle the platform issue. 

RantMom did not want to try on her tablet. RantMom got the tablet several years ago on some kind of a Verizon promo. RantWoman is pretty sure that when the Bible study was in person, RantMom was able, just like her peers, to whip out the tablet and look up the study passages there. RantWoman, on the other hand, has always found the tablet vexatious because many basic accessibility features such as auto-rotate are disabled. RantMom complained that, although she was able to do Zoom, she could never get a swipe working to switch from active speaker to gallery view. RantMom is frustrated. RantWoman has not confessed a slight temptation just to throw the tablet at the wall, but RantWoman is definitely not discouraging RantMom from thoughts of new devices. 

RantWoman has the Teams app on her Android phone but somehow that did not occur to RantWoman to try Teams while visiting RantMom. RantWoman did later try to send RantMom a Teams meeting from her phone, but the app wanted some kind of sign-in that RantWoman did not want to deal with. RantWoman still means to send a Teams link from her home computer, but the technology journey begat enough other things to look at that RantWoman will get to this.

RantWoman suggested cranking up RantMom's decade old VERY slow windows 10 desktop.

Just turning that on and running updates took more time than the RantWomen had at that point so RantWoman has gone home to think about it.

Oh wait. RantMom does facebook church sometimes on her desktop, but as far as RantWoman knows the desktop has no camera and possibly no microphone either. That probably works fine for Facebook church, but Bible study should be more interactive. Put a pin in the device comments.

SO RamtMom needs some new devices.

Recently, RantWoman packed up her laptop and a hand-me-down IPad to offer RantMom an in-person hands-on experience. RantWoman will spare readers lots of details, but a couple short notes.

RantMom really enjoyed watching RantWoman play on her old iPad even though RantWoman did not turn Voiceover off AND all of RantWoman's Kindle books, the main thing RantWoman currently does with the iPad have migrated back to the cloud since RantWoman has not been reading much lately. RantMom especially liked seeing things in landscape mode.

Little Sister thought RantMom might not like a laptop because reasons. RantMom it turned out really liked the size of the keyboard and the fact that it is backlit. RantWoman's touchpad sometimes misbehaves but we had a productive discussion about external mouse and keyboard and wired or bluetooth.

This begat next steps: RantMom wants to talk to more people and find a way to take more classes. This seems wiser to RantWoman than immediately hurrying into some store full of shrink-wrap and sealed boxes with little opportunity to try features before buying.

Rant Mom needs some new devices. She does NOT need more connectibity unless one can connvince her that something will be a lot cheaper.

Here we digress to connectivity

Dear Verizon

At some point RantMom will be making a buying decision.

DO NOT try to sell RantMom ANOTHER line. RantMom BADLY needs to replace the tablet she got a long time ago on some kind of promotion. The tablet has actually served her well and faithfully. It responds to her stylus taps. RantWoman is pretty sure she has been able to do email, maybe Zoom, maybe online Bible reading. 

RantWoman herself had an unhappy experience trying out Verizon home internet and has no opinion about whether RantMom's television and device preferences and impending move will add up to Verizon Home Internet being her best choices, ANOTHER reason to ask around and get more information before setting foot in a Verizon store.

See Home connectivity and ...

So stay tuned....

Snowmageddon incoming?

According to all the weather forecasts, it's due to get COLD for the next few days. Probably not Snowmageddon, but definitely DEEP FREEZE.

 RantWoman is amplifying all the disaster preparedness info that shows up in her various info streams.

RantWoman is not sure the world is clamoring for her personal approach, but the world gets it anyway, if only to make space for other people to acknowledge their own funky realities.

First, Check with RantMom. RantMom is trying to book paratransit trips and wondering whether she should make them at all. 

RantWoman's advice: make the reservations. If things get too icy, they will get cancelled for you.

 RantMom's church is on the end of a bus run that tends to get cancelled in severe weather, so she will probably have to cope with the livestream and miss out on all the personal info that gets shared before the livestream starts. 

One of RantMom's volunteer gigs says "If school is cancelled, don't come in." RantMom's other main trip now happens on ACCESS because a bus route that used to be a one-seat ride went away when the latest light rail station opened. RantWoman is not guessing about that one but will make a mental note to check status at Little Sister's household.

Reminder to transit users: CHECK THE SNOW NETWORK before you go out.

Metro Snow Network links

RantMom also has a sufficient supply of battery-operated light sources, a land line, and a retirement community that was very conscientious during the pandemic. So RantWoman Peace of Mind!

As for RantWoman, the Snowmageddon checklist includes:

--Cook rice in case the power goes out. RantWoman has plenty of food that is more or less ready to eat. Rice will be good insurance. RantWoman will not be hurrying off an Amazon order for ready to eat soups that have enough salt to brine a large animal. RantWoman will not be looking for anything to add to the fridge. RantWoman may get bored, but she can COPE.

--Oops wait: shelf stable unsulfited fruit juice, anyone?

--Find the crank radio complete with flashlight and USB A and b ports. OOPS. The cellphone has a USB C plug.  OKAY, maybe an Amazon order for a USB A to USB C cable???

--RantWoman was thinking it would be fun to have some kind of imersion heater for hot beverages. What RantWoman really needs is a solar-powered imersion heater. Would that arrive in time for The Deep Freeze Will RantWoman even look for it?

--Make sure furniture is far enough away from the heaters that RantWoman NEVER even turns on unles, as predicted, the temperature falls to the 20's. RantWoman is very lucky to live in the middle of a building with apartments above, below, and on both sides of hers. RantWoman also lives across from a building with white walls that reflects sunlight splendidly into RantWoman's apartment. RantWoman also feels more energy when she is a little bit cold.

Then there are windows. RantWoman will TRY to get both windows in the living room closed all the way. RantWoman has no idea why this is difficult; RantWoman is just a fresh air freak and usually does not worry about the problem. But 20-degree weather DURING THE DAY is too extreme for RantWoman, even with plenty of layers and hats to keep the glare out and heat and brain cells in.

Note to everyone when it's cold: WEAR A HAT even indoors. Heat rises and people lose some large percentage of their body heat through the head.

There. Now GO PREPARE!

Devices after dinner. Awkward frontiers in digital inclusion. Thanksgiving Part 2

RantWoman's Christmas cactus
as of Thanksgiving

The feast of conversation after the meal

After dinner, RantWoman and RantMom had the most lovely chat. 

We chatted about this and that:

--having upwards of 60 people from her dad's side of the family for holidays at the family farrn house, and more importantly how that many people managed in a NOT THAT BIG farm house.

--impending construction, need to move, what RantMom values about where she is living, the Venn diagram of affordable elder care and transportation challenges when everyone in the family except Irrepressible Nephew the Subaru Influencer is transit dependent.

--some much-loved pictures RantMom discovered in a box as she tries to downsize before an impending move.RantWoman thanks the person who encouraged RantMom to hang up the pictures even though a move is several months away but on the horizon.

--How RantWoman decides what to trust as far as online transactions.

--RantMom's frustration with one site both of us love for simplicity, size appropriate selection, and everything except that some of what RantMom wanted to buy runs out quickly and RantMom would SO much rather order by phone.

Here we came to an awkward moment in RantFamily standards, the very presence of devices at holidays. RantMom would definitely prefer fewer devices and more conversation. Alas, the RantFamily feels awkward in each other's presence without regular electronic dopamine hits. ONE way to handle this issue is to offer RantMom useful information gleaned from the devices.

Here come the digital inclusion frontiers in all their mutant aggravation:

--RantMom is taking a new eye drop and does not know much about it. RantWoman set the Google on her phone loose and the first thing that popped up was several ads for how to by it. RantWoman had to scroll down a lot and finally just added "side effects" to the drug name. Modestly useful information which RantWoman will research in more detail on a larger screen. NO WAY would RantMom have wanted to scroll through all the ads.

--Somewhat more fun: what has happened to the last RantFamily home RantMom sold before doing the magnetic grandkids thing, picking up, downsizing, and moving to Seattle. RantMom was back once for a religious anniversary and did not like what she saw. But the Google exists and tends to include specific addresses and visual detail, perhaps from the last time the house was staged for sale: a coat of stucco to help insulate the concrete block construction, new probably double-paned windows, a beautifully redone kitchen. Redone bathroom. Marketed as 4 bedrooms which probably means the room that had been Rantdad's music studio is now considered a bedroom. No more pathetic grey paneling and NO MORE ORANGE DRAPES. On the downside, the front porch and a couple trees GONE. Not bad!

RantWoman had not only to figure out herself how to swipe through the photo gallery on her new phone but also to nudge RantMom toward justthe right gestures. We are not dissatisfied.

Jaahnavi's story 8 months later: body cam video

RantWoman missed what sounds like a wonderful Cascade Bicycle Club presentation about walkable cities. Instead RantWoman and Thwack the cane went out into sunshine and braved the oozing Denny Way rush hour marmelade of transit, single occupancy vehicles, and the occasional other form of mobility to attend the #JusticeForJaahnaviKandula event at Dexter and Thomas.

Various observations from the event and many strands of media. 

1. Massive shout-out to @DivestSpd, @EricaCBarnett and other dogged journalists for staying on the story, to the conscientious police department staffperson who flagged the video documenting outrageous comments. RantWoman apologizes: at time of writing she has not found all the citations that turned up earlier and will update with the articles she is looking for.

2. RantWoman wonders how many people besides RantWoman and one of the speakers were at the  vigil partly because someone(s) close to them have been killed or badly injured in some kind of #TrafficViolence

3. The part of Dexter where #Jaahnavi was killed is still a construction mess. It has evolved a bit since January. Then RantWoman put on her best #DressLikeATrafficCone hi-vis fashion gear and dragged @AmbassadorThwack the white cane out into the cold to go try to find another vigil. RantWoman did not find the vigil. RantWoman did find various indicators of construction. RantWoman also walked up one side of Dexter to Mercer and down the other side. Sidewalk quality was medium crappy in places. A traffic signal at Dexter and Thomas, in particular an Accessible Pedestrian Signal (#APS) would be lovely. The temporary barriers that will turn into a protected bike lane are to be treated with care by pedestrians during rush hour.

4. It's not a walkable city if a person can't walk home at night without getting mowed down by a police cruiser who apparently was rushing to an apparently not super emergency call without sirens and gunned his engine to 74 mph just as he hit the intersection

5. It's not a walkable city if an investigation of a pedestrian traffic death is lackadaisical, profunctory, and chock full of people who already have problematic history in the line of duty. Add blame the victim spin such as understating the killer driver's speed or the distance traveled by the body and dawdling 3 months about a toxicology test for the pedestrian killed.

6. It's not a walkable city if the President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild is too busy going on Fox news and complaining about Black Lives Matter, urban stresses and whatever all comes up that rantWoman has so far ducked away from. What should he actually be doing to address gun violence, record pedestrian deaths, ...?

7. It's not a walkable city if the City Council can't negotiate a police contract with both teeth to deal with bad behavior and incentives to recognize people doing a good job.

8. It's not a walkable city if police all over the city, not just Officer Dave the night #Jaahnavi was killed, are in the habit of turning on lights and sirens for short bursts just long enough to get through intersections when they don't want to wait for the light. RantWoman has observed this a number of times in her neighborhood. Occasionally, police leave their lights and sirens on, indicating they are probably actually going to a call. Other times, RantWoman peculiarly wishes the siren were an ambulance or fire truck because at least those drivers leave their sirens on long enough that RantWoman can assess peril and adjust her travel accordingly.

This concludes this episode of Dial a Tirade. DO BETTER PEOPLE!

Below are a number of media citations including occasional further commentary.

 January 2023 Seattle times: officer who killed student identified

Before that reported by @DivestSPD and Publicola

January 2023 Seattle Times What police have said so far

September 2023 Seattle Times" Investigation occurring

Fox 13 report 9 13 2023

NBC News reporting

KIng 5 reporting 9 13 2023

Some comments from Indian Press. 

How many Indian families send their children to Seattle for school and to work in the software industry. Cops who cannot treat all lives as valuable should NOT BE COPS.

Hindustan Times: India fumes, seeks probe

WION: Seattle cop makes racist remarks

Mirror Now: Cop laughs

NDTV: Gruesome deaths. Where does the buck stop?

OneIndia News

Story mentions involvement of the Consul General in San Francisco.

Mirror Now Why did the US cop...after mowing down student

India's tough message to US after student's death

News9 Live

Are they NUTS? Wait a minute! The 2023 Burning Man Mudpocalypse | Heavy Rain Turns Event into Disaster...

RantWoman has been hearing about Burning Man for years.

For most of that time, RantWoman has just thought "Are they NUTS?" Blazing sun. Very alkaline soil. No water. An instant city probably full of everything, every form of untrustworthiness and over the top intensity found in cities. It JUST SOUNDS NUTS

RantWoman has also been feeling alienated, definitely not within the circles of wealthy travelers able to pack  RV's many people can't even drive for a week of self-sufficiency and leave no trace fun out in the NV desert. 

2023 "burners" have come through days of mud after torrential rains, traffic jams, people walking out on foot. Some of those, when interviewed sound positively giddy about having tried and pushed themselves. Somewhere in all the weather wrought intensity though, RantWoman has a little bit been bitten by a bug.

Take a look, definitely heavy on the spin but still....

...a day or two after all the Burning Man commentary started hitting RantWoman's info streams RantWoman woke up wide awake thinking what if #CripCamp went to Burning Man?

Put together a caravan of people with a whole bunch of disabilities. 

Put extendable solar arrays on top the vehicles because people are going to need things like CPAP machines, satellite connections and a ground level mesh net. Blind people might need electronic wayfinding. People might have special diets and ways to refrigerate medications. .... Some people are going to need to define self-sufficiency in teams with caregivers and physical therapists....

Figure out some tech so that part of the art could be people not coming in person but live and blazing on a giant screen from their kidney dialysis unit or home bubble.

Get some blind people willing to crash test and hold smart app bakeoffs with all the different spiffy wayfinding tools out there.

See what other products need to separate hype from performance? (Autonomous vehicles anyone?)

So now, will RantWoman do it? Will RantWoman read up on the rules and expectations and try to put together an expedition of creative, imaginative, problem-solving improvisational people with disabilities, some tech bros into solar powered vehicles, some creative sleeping approaches, ways to fend off rain, lightning, sand storms, ways to either pack out or disappear waste of several kinds. 

Could RantWoman interest some venture capitalists in funding the trip???

Here's the deal: RantWoman probably does not go out drinking with the kind of people who could do key parts of this. However, should anyone else be bitten by similar bugs, RantWoman could be easily bribed with coffee, chocolate or other treats to at least bat around some ideas.

And one after action report

Ben Gleib reports to TYT about Burning Man

Why "Drag Is MORE Dangerous Than Guns"

Can someone PLEASE settle the writers' strike?

THe following sample of current culture is infuriating and NOT funny. And it's cruel to laugh in these people's faces but we need SOMETHING to laugh about.

Opportunity for readers in or near MASSACHUSETTS to participate in a research study about flat-screen devices

 RantWoman expects to be nowhere near MA on the dates this study is scheduled for but the topic interests her so this item is getting posted in hopes that it finds interested blind people.

Opportunity to Participate in a User Study at the Carroll Center for the Blind

We are excited to announce a unique opportunity for members of the Carroll Center for the Blind community to participate in a user study conducted by the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) in partnership with the University of Maine. The study will take place at the Carroll Center for the Blind located at 770 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02458 and will last for roughly one hour per participant between Monday, 3/27/23, and Wednesday, 3/29/23, between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM. The study has two concurrent research topics: Accessible Information Access on Touchscreens: Maps Accessible Information Access on Touchscreens: Graphs and Data Visualization Participants will be randomly assigned to either Study A or Study B, and compensation will be provided in the form of a $100 Amazon e-gift card. We are looking for participants who are interested in contributing to our efforts to better understand nonvisual interaction with visually presented information on touch screen devices. If you are interested, please complete this participant recruitment form. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to reach out to Paul.fink@maine.edu or Nick.corbett@carroll.org. We look forward to working with you on this exciting project! Sincerely, The Carroll Center for the Blind

Center on NonVisual Accessibility workshop on Collaboration Platforms Weds March 16 10 am to 2 pm pacific time

Attend the upcoming event to learn about the accessibility of communication platforms

Wednesday, March 16, 2022 from 1:00-5:00 p.m., Eastern, via Zoom

To collaborate and work together online, businesses and teams of all types use communication and collaboration platforms. The use of these apps and services has skyrocketed, enabling teams in widely distributed areas to work seamlessly with each other during the COVID pandemic. Join the National Federation of the Blind Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Access on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 from 1:00-5:00 p.m., Eastern, via Zoom when we will compare the accessibility of several top collaboration services. We will review Slack, Microsoft Teams, Trello, and Discord. For each service, topics covered will include:

·     Initial setup

·     Creating projects

·     Chatting among team members

·     Sharing files

·     And more

Take advantage of this free opportunity. Register today!

About Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility

The National Federation of the Blind is the transformative membership and advocacy organization of blind people. Our Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility (CENA) provides resources and events with access technology experts. Learn more about CENA. Nonvisual accessibility is creating equal access for blind and low-vision users. 

'Incredible Hulk' Is Teary-Eyed as Cochlear Implant Turns On

Heartwarming tearjerker of the week

ACB Celebrating 10 Years of Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Harriet Tubman's $20 Bill dream and currency redesign badassery

Harriet Tubman AND Accessible Currency all in one Blog Post???

Readers who want to observe #WomensHistoryMonth by learning about what a badass Harriet Tubman was are invited to start with the search engine of their choice.

As readers probably know, President Biden proposes to speed up the redesign of the twenty dollar bill and add the image of Harriet Tubman. RantWoman has encountered various opinions of this proposal.

 For instance, readers who want to see how comedian Amber Ruffin handles the proposal to put Harriet Tubman on the now being redesigned twenty dollar bill, enjoy. Realizing Harriet Tubaman's dream to be on the $20 bill

Warning: the Harriet Tubman part is a ways in.

Clockwise from the bottom, 1
$1, redesigned $5, and $20 bills

RantWoman's take: as long as the US proposes to put on its currency someone who fought to liberate her people from chattel slavery, would the Bureau of Printing and Engraving also please maybe possibly incorporate some more accessibility features into the redesigned bill? 

The American Council of the Blind a number of years ago won a court case ruling that the Bureau of Printing and Engraving is liable to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and to incorporate accessibility features into US currency. 

Many countries make it easy for blind citizens to distinguish different denominations of currency by varying the size and shape of the bills. Other countries use tactile elements such as easily discoverable fibers, braille, or other textured cues to distinguish bills. In the US, there is an ongoing redesign effort that has for instance made the numbers describing the $5 and $10 bills substantially larger and a different color than previous designs. 

Presumably something along that line may still happen for a redesigned  $20 bill. but all bills still remain the same size and a totally blind person has no way to distinguish one denomination from another, no way to count ther own change, no way to verify that they have been given back the right change.

Yes, but there is an electronic currency reader and at least one smartphone app that will identify currency??? 

Not everyone by a long shot has a smart phone.

ALso, picture a blind person with a cane or a dog, maybe a child in tow. Add some groceries or other purchases. Please tell RantWoman how the blind person is, on the fly, supposed to dig out their currency reader or flash their app to identify bills at the checkout counter. Please ? All those technologies are great. but they are no substitute for the ability to identify bills by touch based on built in distinguishing features. 

RantWoman means sometime to go look up accessibility features for different countries currencies. RantWoman hopes the US will honor Harriet Tubman and get onboard with many many other countries about accessible currency!

Going all motherhood and civics lesson on Rep. Lauren Boebert R CO3

The internet is a great and glorious thing, One can open one's Twitter and suddenly be swirling in tidal waves of rhetorical excess about a Congressional hearing.

The Internet is not such a great and glorious thing when one wants to swim against tides of bile and hasn't the time in the moment to wave a hand in the floods.

The Internet is a great and glorious thing: one can find a Congressional district lookup, type in the address of one's childhood home and learn just who one would be represented by if one still lived there.

Is it a great and glorious thing actually to find out?

As a public service, in support of motherhood and in lieu of just writing off every gun lover with the unfortunate term "basket of deplorables," RantWoman presents Rep. Lauren Boebert R CO3

Minutes 1-6 of this reportage make RantWoman wonder whether it would be possible to require people running for Congress to pass the same citizenship test immigrants have to pass to become citizens.

Around minute 6 RantWoman started to scratch her head for another reason. Search engines are a great and glorious thing though. See this: Colorado History page about the 19th amendment

Maybe rather than hyperventilating about the 19th amendment rep @laurenboebert  should brush up on her CO history . Women in CO have had the right to vote since Nov. 7 1893, 27 years before the ratification of the 19th amendment.  #CivicsForLauren

RantWoman also notes that Rep. Boebert is not the only mother in Congress. Maybe if she can find a place safely to lock up her guns and talk to some other elected mothers, would there be paths to progress about oh ANYTHING?

Further on the line between praying and trolling:

On Praying for Lauren Boebert

Also, because the season is upon us

#WomensHistoryMonth

Chorégraphie d'Excavatrices! | Bertrand Ostiguy Inc.

This moment of construction equipment performance art cracks me up almost as much as the famous cat filter lawyer meme making the rounds or Bernie's mittens.

With gratitude for being indoors during a storm