Iceland Iceland and IcelandAir bad Photographer Contest

The daily trees photo

Iceland Iceland

Land of volcanoes that can eat small villages and occasionally disrupt global air travel. Sobering to think of that in this the year of our Lord 2026 when all global energy prices are through the roof. 

Thanks to RantWoman's volcano video habit, YouTube has previously sent RantWoman assorted tourism themed videos. Based on these videos, RantWoman has formed the impression that Iceland is very interesting geologically and if one wants to chase the aurora borealis. Also, nature is gorgeous but experiencing it can be challenging.  The weather is to put it diplomatically unpredictable. And travel is EXPENSIVE. 

Part of RantWoman's fun has been elaborating and adjusting that impression as well, repeatedly, as asking Google / Gemini questions and coming back with answers that keep RantWoman coming back for more and even thinking about how travel to Iceland can be affordable for many categories of travelers. More in a moment, in a few cases just RantWoman's queries replicated for readers to do their own next steps.

Land of many summits of world leaders. RantWoman is the kind of nerd tourist who might go to and even enthusiastically participate in a half day or even a full day opportunity to replay one of the summits held in Rekjavik. RantWoman has not gone looking to see for sure whether such a tourist attraction might exist but would seriously consider participating in it if it existed.

Land of many churches interesting to photograph, not just the famous tall one in Rekjavik.

what churches can one visit in iceland - Google Search

 Land of lots of hot springs and geothermal energy. Lots of the videos talk about people renting cars to travel independently. If RantWoman is travelling alone, renting a car or even a camper is not really an option. Global fuel prices are forecast to stay high for quite a while so RantWoman has wondered about but not researched, what is the electric vehicle scene like in Iceland. Is there geothermal electricity generation? Is that ubiquitous enough that people could simply plug cars in at every stop and charge without needing special charging stations? Is this whole paragraph just a dream that might need to be more fully realized

Land where one can't name their child Harriet? The short answer: a concept near to RantWoman's language nerd hear, to wit noun declension.

why can t you name your child harriet in iceland - Google Search

Icelandic girls can't be called Harriet, government tells family | Iceland | The Guardian

Iceland parents told children cannot be called Harriet or Duncan because they are not government approved names | The Independent | The Independent

Icelandic Naming Committee - Wikipedia

RantWoman did it. RantWoman submitted a VERY barebones video entry saying basically, RantWoman has a lot to say and cramming it all into a one-minute video is not happening so please check out this blog. RantWoman is having fun thinking about this contest. That is the main thing.

PS. There is a question in the application form about how comfortable one is being on camera. RantWoman can manage. RantWoman has other thoughts about whether one is supposed to be good or bad at social media in general, but the application does not ask that.

Stay tuned for some of RantWoman's favorite YouTube channels.

But, but, do blind people really do photography? Sure. Now take me to the volcanoes

Which details
are not in the Alt text and / or
should just be cropped

 

Still a few days left to enter the IcelandAir "Really bad photographer" contest, and RantWoman is trying to demonstrate unique skills.

RantWoman again encourages everyone who might be intrigued or even just slightly interested to read the contest guidelines.

Really bad photographer | Icelandair US

But, but RantWoman keeps talking about vision loss and accessibility mixed in with bad photography commentary.

Yep. Plenty of visually impaired and blind people are very interested in photography, both as a craft and as something essential for documenting  realities of daily life that Need To Be Dealt with. Lots of people in the blindness community get very good at describing our wildly varying visual experiences. Readers who need some RantWoman perspective, please consider checking out the Death By Powerpoint topics.

But, But this adventure sounds like it might involve a lot of outdoor activity and Ambassador Thwack the Badly Behaved White Cane and Anger management consultant has a thing or two to say.

Thwack may have a thing or two to say but RantWoman is in charge. Would RantWoman pursue some sighted guide options? Will RantWoman rely on AI or call-in services? RantWoman will be interested to know what is available in Iceland. Plus, RantWoman wonders how much choice a person will have about where to visit....

RantWoman, do you actually know anyone in Iceland?

RantWoman does not know anyone in Iceland but does know a very wise accessibility hero originally from Iceland. RantWoman met this person a long time ago at the sort of mentoring event where people with different life timeliness and blindness experiences get together to network, share perspectives.

These days, RantWoman encounters this person from Iceland on the internet. He turns up in online demos of people using screen readers, text to speech tools that enable blind users to navigate around the Internet, or at least to do so better than without screen readers. One reality of screen reader use is the playback speed of the speech. RantWoman tends to fall asleep when listening too long to normal speed screen reader speech and runs her own screen reader quiite a bit faster. However, many blind people working in tech or finance can be found on the internet demonstrating screen reader speeds a lot faster than RantWoman.

Please note: a screen reader is not the only thing necessary for online accessibility: websites, apps, portals all need to be developed with some standard features to ensure that screen reader users can find and operate the same functions as other users, some of whom might have other accessibility concerns. The people and organizations who do this right are truly accessibility heroes.

The real reason RantWoman considers this acquaintance a hero: RantWoman's most recent Google search turned up a LinkedIn profile showing a job at a large financial services organization and lots of  connections to other names widely recognized in the online accessibility world. These are the people who not only persist in their work in their own organizations but also insure that organizational websites work for the likes of RantWoman who just wants things to work so she can do other things sighted people take for granted, in this case including managing whatever earnings there will be for 10 days of work after one figures out what all expenses to take on to make the trip a success.

And for fun some erupting volcano videos for different perspective than the pacific coast subduction zone

25 million M3 of Magma on Hold by Grindavik - Earthquakes in South Iceland

Iceland Magma Is Primed, But When Will It Erupt? Geologist Analysis

Iceland Is On Fire

Iceland: Fourth and strongest volcanic eruption in three months | DW News

Bad photographer cred?

 

Again with the tree photo
this time basically
at the crack of dawn

Still a few days left to enter the IcelandAir "Really bad photographer" contest, and RantWoman is trying to demonstrate quirky skills.

RantWoman again encourages everyone who might be intrigued or even just slightly interested to read the contest guidelines.

Really bad photographer | Icelandair US

The contest does not want anyone who has ever done professional photography. Do the following comments mean RantWoman might be over-qualified? 

Part of the instructions ask for a one-minute video about a bad photography experience that still turned out well. There is also the part about other skills. One of RantWoman's skills is going on at length. Hence the multiple blog posts.

First Prize in the 4H photography category at the county fair: there were no other entries. 

This happened decades ago at an age when RantWoman officially could see enough with glasses to maybe do decent photos. RantWoman remembers giving a speech about sewing. RantWoman may have entered some baked goods. But the blue ribbon went to an album of black and white photos. RantWoman has long since lost the actual album but remembers that it was in black and white. Some of the composition was less than perfect, though RantWoman also remembers at least one shot of one of the town mountains that she really liked

The fambly reunions:

RantMom, may she rest in peace, and her siblings had a tradition, after their kids were grown and everyone was on less tenuous financial footing. of getting together every couple years with at least a few at a time of the cousin generation. So there RantWoman was recently looking at photos ahead of RantMom's memorial. Quite a bit of the time, RantWoman found herself thinking "who are theese people and why can't anyone take decent photographs? RantWoman can tell that photographs of people standing with light behind them in front of various forms of scenery do not do justice either to the people or to the scenery. Does that observation already make her overqualified for the contest? The memories are FUN regardless.

The cat and the disposable camera. 

While RantWoman was trying to land on her feet after her midlife vision-related DNA kicked in, RantWoman signed up for a workshop series called "Getting involved in your Neighborhood." Part of the project involved handing RantWoman a disposable camera with instructions to document one's surroundings. Very funny. RantWoman really could not even locate the camera viewfinder and took a few pictures just by framing the camera based on externam things she used to orient the camera. The Queen of Meow, RantWoman's cat overlord at the time liked to jump up onto the railing of the balcony across from RantWoman's apartment. To RantWoman's surprise, a couple of RantWoman's cat photos showed the Queen of Meow proudly strolling along the railing, oblivious to the 4-floor drop to the patio.

The incision at the bottom of RantWoman's neck.

Scroll forward a couple decades. Add a smartphone so theoretically RantWoman can better use her limited vision to frame the photos at least a little better. Oh, but wait: a new task. Recently RantWoman had a surgery related to a different strand of DNA lotto. The surgery involved a small incision at the base of RantWoman's neck, sealed up with surgical glue and steri strips. RantWoman lives alone and cannot really see into the mirror to monitor healing. RantWoman an also has a smart phone that attempts to tell her how to capture her face. RantWoman did not want to capture her face. RantWoman wanted to capture her incision as it healed. To do that RantWoman basically had to ignore the instructions offered. RantWoman probably would have been able to tell if she were developing a raging infection without photos. Luckily, RantWoman has a coupe people in her life willing to receive daily photos and comment on the evolving color palette. The doctor was impressed at the follow-up visit.

The daily tree motif

RantWoman's apartment looks out on a tree, actually more than one tree. RantWoman does daily tree photos more or less just for fun. RantWoman is not preoccupied about the quality, composition, contrast of the photos. RantWoman's task is to write alt text for the photos. Alt text is description used by screen reader users to describe content of photos. Nowadays, a lot of platforms have AI which automatically does a mediocre job. RantWoman's efforts are also possibly inadequate. Sometimes the descriptions include details like the building in the background or the plants growing on the window ledge or some observation about weather conditions. There is some dance of messing with AI, attempting to improve on AI, and meditation about how much description is just right for different situations. Does RantWoman just have weird ideas of fun?

Binge watching Salmi

 RantWoman's binge watch of the week, in this time of global discombobulation and offerings struggling to emerge from the keyboard in memory of RantMom is a tuxedo cat named Salmi.

Behold. Check out her entire channel.

The opinions are definitely Salmi's but RantWoman is wondering whether perhaps she has persuaded her human to take dictation.

And should Salmi be able to bear sharing the spotlight with the tuxedo cat of RantWoman's childhood, please enjoy 

RantWoman and the RSOF: Mr. Tuxedo: reprint from the WA Council of the Blind Summer 2022 newsline

Adventures of RantWoman: Severe Weather Recommendations

PS RantWoman has never been to Finland in winter, but Salmi should be glad she has a radiator to sit on. And yes, winter air in CO mountain towns is probably at least as dry as in Finland. It's physics.

Rose Monday in Germany ahead of Mardi Gras

 Humor. Some will consider it tasteless humor. It's German. RantWoman laughed VERY hard.

Laissez les bonnes temps roulez

President #StableGenius drives Amazon TO CANADA.

Amazon ABANDONS Seattle for Canada — Trump's $15 Border Fee BACKFIRES | ...

Gratitudes--and Irritability

image from Free Press Journal

#HAPPY THANKSGIVING 

Happy posthumous 91st birthday to RantDad. And special appreciation to all transit, deivery, and taxi etc. drivers, with a particular asterisk for resonance about a couple anniversaries of horrible tragedies. The tragedies never go away, even when there is much else to occupy people's souls.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone involved in food production and food distribution! 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone however you do or don't celebrate.

 

The pink Christmas Cactus

RantWoman considers Thanksgiving at least as important as Christmas. Enough said.

This year, the prep got off to more of a rocky start than usual. Dial-a-Tirade available about software updates and AI that seems to fry RantWoman's phone and other forms of technological disdain for RantWoman's current realities. On top of that, RantWoman spent half an hour of her usual Wednesday morning hourlong webinar trying to figure out a new portal.

Another novelty: an invitation to dinner with nephew and woman friend in exotic LYNNWOOD, but not the part of Lynnwood in range of the Alderwood Zip service. (Earth to RantWoman: did you check Find-a-Ride to see whether the service area might have expanded? NOooo.)

Nephew is both chef and chauffeur, with an offer to fetch both his parents, RantMom, and RantWoman, all in one trip. RantWoman had to reality check this offer. RantWoman is recovering well, but is still feeling a little irritable after some surgery last week. The thought of being crammed in a car even with one's nearest and dearest just does not sound fun.  RantWoman really did not want to request two roundtrips to assemble the whole clan. Somehow a request just to fetch RantWoman from a nearby transit location is too much. RantWoman is quite happy with some exercise and public transit before a holiday feast. More on that in a moment.

RantWoman also learned that Little Sister just assumed RantWoman would be bringing cranberry something. It is a VERY good thing RantWoman discovered a big bag of cranberries stashed in the bottom of her freezer and has been able to assemble TWO kinds of sauce. Uncooked relish will have to wait for another holiday and fresh instead of frozen berries.

Off RantWoman went to Google Maps with the freshly supplied street address. The options with a couple nuances: either Link + the Swift Blue line plus a walk with suggestions to have realistics expectations about walkability or E line plus a Community transit line that runs once an hour on Sundays and holidays. Also, expect rain. 

The actual walking distance from a close bus stop to final destination does not look very long. It just involves interacting with Highway 99 and no indication of crosswalk options. So fabulous: just take Uber the last leg of the trip and expect that family harmony will last a little longer with the right transportation options.

CO mountain towns: A dream destination for people needing permanent supportive housing?

Full Disclosure: RantWoman has visited, has family connection to, and might consider living in Durango, Crested Butte / Gunnison, Telluride, and Vail. Further reactions on the other side of the video.

Top 10 Colorado Mountain Towns in Total FREEFALL (The Real Estate Disaster)

RantWoman has clearly not been keeping up with the latest in real estate issues in CO. 

It has been more than 50 years since RantWoman and the Rant Fam lived in CO though RantMom still has a couple dozen living cousins, a lot of whom live in CO. 

Irrepressible Nephew, now residing securely in auto company influencer life and off-roading culture, including many destinations in CO, is not likely to land permanently there. 

RantWoman actually still finds the mountains stunningly beautiful. RantWoman even indulges in magical visions involving transportation for non-drivers and solar-powered eco friendly, water minimizing lifestyles. None of that seems remotely feasible in a market banking on short-term visitations by the uber wealthy, but RantWoman is entertaining the idea, if only because snow and sunshine might be more psychically appealing than grey skies and drizzle

Even more visionary, RantWoman is entertained by the thought of all the people living unhoused on the streets of Seattle finding permanent supportive housing in all the underused mansions in CO.

Sorry, city planners. RantWoman knows that idea is probably terrifying. It's also unlikely to come to pass, but please indulge RantWoman in reflections about gigantic wealth gaps and the well-housed of Seattle also being annoyed by the considerably less well-housed.

Admittedly, no matter the destination, it would be a tough sell to persuade people living homeless in many cities to pack up and move to places known for harsh winters, some risk of altitude sickness for people moving from sea level. But could some kind of 21st century neo homesteading movement save at least some of these communities??? Could it work? Are there people on the streets who might, just MIGHT be game to try it...?

Hark: the voice of iceland and Atlantic ocean current cycles.

For everyone tired of many forms of politics and enchanted by more slowly evolving disasters.

“A Global Climate Disaster Is Coming… And Iceland Just Sounded the Alarm”

Prayer service????

Protest Curmudgeon erupts again, regarding the Christian rock performance and counter protest at Cal Anderson Park. The bottom of this rant has links to many of the sources RantWoman has interacted with.RantWoman apologizes for sometimes lacking precise citation and is trying to make clear which points are speculation and which are derived from long familiarity with the tiresome repetitiveness of protest dynamics in Seattle.

For background, RantWoman hails from a definitely open and affirming faith community and here is an example of a relevant statement.

Minute of Inclusion.pdf

RantWoman still has not connected with members of various faith communities who sent out an emergency email about an event later in the day. After hearing on Twitter / X about melees and arrest, RantWoman decided that bad eyes did not need to get mixed up in whatever was going on and that RantWoman needed to deal with mundane matters such as grocery shopping.

RantWoman believes strongly both in free exercise of religion and in religious pluralism. RantWoman just decided that social media is going to have to be her venue.

b-b-but RantWoman...

Yeah. RantWoman has skimmed the Mayday USA tour website, the website for the On Fire ministry. RantWoman is not sure we are reading the same bible, but does have, at least for Capitol Hill, a higher than average tolerance for diversity of religious messages.

Call RantWoman a cynic though: chances are pretty good that somewhere in the Mayday USA crowd there is someone struggling with their sexuality or their gender identity or some kind of abuse experience who might have caregivers completely unequipped to walk with someone, someone who might  DESPERATELY want some kind of emotional safety valve.

But No. NO! NO!

Nothing says safety for transgender youth like people sort of trying to speak up for transgender youth by just chanting "fascists go away," and getting tackled by police, by getting everyone drowned in pepper spray and raising questions about whether officers' body cams are even turned on.

B-b-but one of the Burner podcast staff was told that the praying group had rented the whole park.

Is this a thing? It's hard enough for people who live here to rent even one picnic shelter. How do people who bus in from out of town get to rent a whole park? RantWoman is also amused by a comment about a police officer telling a journalist just to pick a side. It's STILL A PUBLIC PARK.It's open worship with a come as you are message. Aren't people allowed just to come and watch?

B-b-but they weren't just watching.

Noted. Needs more investigation. 

Finally RantWoman has had enough recreational blood pressure elevation and is not going to delve too far into the background and religious witness of Mr. Ross Johnson, of Spokane's On Fire ministries, but RantWoman has one thing to say to him:

No. NO NO!

Dear Mr. Ross Johnson

No, you DO NOT get to bus into town, demand to put your anti gay "worship service" in the gayest neighborhood in Seattle and then demand that Mayor Harrell resign. For one thing there is an election coming up. You don't get to vote unless you move to this hellhole one of your prayer service attenders basically in need of cleansing.

But thank you, RantWoman supposes for contributing to the latest rounds of:

--rage on the internet about what a godless hell hole Seattle is and how everyone involved in protests should be locked up

--Rantings on social media about protestors going unpunished

--complaints from the Seattle Police Officers Guild that Seattle PD is understaffed. (They are but many parts of town would probably prefer more ordinary neighborhood patrols and less pepper spray.)

PS. Maybe don't brag on X about starting a riot just by praying.

And now citations.

https://www.theburnerseattle.com/post/bigots-rally-in-gayborhood-katie-wilson-makes-her-case-as-a-labor-champ-and-the-burner-gals-hate-i

23 arrests at heated ‘Fascist Family Values’ protest in Seattle | The Seattle Times

Mayor Harrell Statement on Extreme Right-Wing Rally at Cal Anderson Park - Office of the Mayor

Seattle Police make multiple arrests during counter-protest of fundamentalist church group’s rally in Cal Anderson Park — UPDATE | CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News

Shout-out to Mayor Harrell, quoted at the end of this video.

On Fire Ministries – For His Kingdom

About - On Fire Ministries & Kingdom Christian Academy

Mayday USA event at Seattle's Cal Anderson Park sparks arrests and controversy

Protesters arrested at Cal Anderson Park appear in court

8 arrested during rally, counterprotest at Cal Anderson Park appear in King County court

23 people arrested at Cal Anderson Park when rally, counterprotesters clash

23 arrested during religious rally in Seattle

Seattle leaders blasted for permitting religious rally that sparked protests, arrests

MAYDAY SEATTLE RECAP

extremely produced propaganda recap

drone footage

🌟MAYDAY USA| Seattle Washington 🌟

No, RantWoman did not watch the whole video. After some testimonials, RantWoman skipped forward several times. At the end of the show, people who attended were exhorted to pick up their trash and guys were exhorted to walk women to their cars. RantWoman had an ick reaction but was fine with "don't walk alone."

Check out #DontMessWithOurKids on your favorite social media platform

Red Alert about the Cascade subduction zone?

Geologists ISSUED Red Alert as Subduction Zone Under Vancouver Surges in...

This post is dedicated to anyone who wants a refreshing break from multiple strands of human-caused disasters.

The first video is a compilation of comparative data of different kinds and geographies, seasoned with lots of language about "suggests," "could happen," "would happen if..." the Cascade subduction zone ruptures. Readers are invited to consume and consider for yourselves.

And in temporal conjunction, in other news from the Ring of Fire

UNUSUAL Pattern of M7.5 Argentina Earthquake and its Aftershoks is raising concerns among Scientists

Jesus is dead and you want me to find my bus pass?

This post is dedicated to a former co-worker who always said, when declining to schedule a meeting on Good Friday, "Jesus is dead and you expect me to work." Further theological meditations belong on RantWoman's other blog. The point of this post is a small rant and a couple comments about shared dining.

RantWoman did not go anywhere to church for Good Friday. RantWoman did not go find a livestream. It has to be enough that RantWoman thought about the entire subject.

In particular, RantWoman rode the bus to a favorite neighborhood fried chicken place. RantWoman does not do fried chicken very often, but it seemed an easy way to get a couple bones to make chicken stock. RantWoman walked a couple bus stops toward home to a stop where there are two buses that between them come at least every 15 minutes and go straight to the best evening stop for RantWoman. RantWoman wound up actually dining al fresco with enough time to spare to wipe her fingers well before needing to find her bus pass for the return trip.

Except RantWoman could NOT find her bus pass, at least not where RantWoman usually puts it. THANK YOU to the driver who let RantWoman ride free. RantWoman was embarrassed and kind of in a panic. RantWoman has places to go this weekend and does not carry cash. Somewhere in this muddle, RantWoman remembered that AT LEAST she could do whatever is needed to link her MyORCA app to her Google wallet 

Honestly, RantWoman knows that paying one's fare from one's phone is supposed to be hip and wonderful. RantWoman, though, just finds the whole thought cumbersome. RantWoman almost always carries Ambassador Thwack the badly behaved white cane, a purse, another bag and of course her phone. RantWoman could probaby set her phone timeout interval longer, but it's just CUMBERSOM to have to wake the phone up, find the wallet and then wave the phone. 

But WAIT! later yesterday evening, RantWoman dug frantically through all the various pockets in her daily gear and, ta-da!, found her actual physical bus pass.

RantWoman is soothed! 

Celebrate (?) Seattle's Infamous Redlining Guide.

Okay, Okay, RantWoman will NOT give in to all the ways one could misread the event title.

Instead, RantWoman VERY much esteems the work the following invitation represents, both diligent research and, as RantWoman can attest, creation of electronic content with lots of great accessibility features.

RantWoman is going to let the rest of the event speak for itself.

Please enjoy the electronic walking tour even if you don't make it to the celebration described below.

Thanks to a grant from 4Culture and support from friends, the new self-guided digital walking tour, Seattle's Infamous Redline Guide is ready for release. It can be downloaded for free from the App Store, Google Play, or on the web.

Please help us celebrate! The celebration takes place Saturday, March 22, 2-4 pm at HOME | Made Space Seattle 

The tour begins with the founding of the Central District by William Grose, through the rise of a vibrant community despite the city's efforts to exclude Black people from land and wealth, and ends at Africatown Plaza and Wa Na Wari with an invitation to join efforts to fight displacement and build Black prosperity. Now more than ever, we need to remember the past as we work for a positive future.

Please come celebrate with us, and spread the word. You can let us know who's coming by clicking the link in the attached invitation

Hope to see you there. I should mention that the venue is wheelchair accessible.

A fight that others may need to have: HOA forbids me to install a ramp for my mother,

A cool #WhenWeFightWeWin story

A Couple of Bad Days for Russian Shipping: if you thought parallel parking was hard, try maneuvering an icebreaker alongside a stuck ship and otherphysical and metaphorical rough sea moments

RantWoman has discovered a new and exotic way to distract herself from....

It's a YouTube channel called "What's going on with Shipping" RantWoman may have written of it before, but it's time to do it again.

RantWoman considers the channel an AWESOME go-to for LOTS of different shipping and navigation terminology. Not exactly comprehensively indexed as far as RantWoman knows, but a MASSIVE well of terminology.

The other point: paying attention to all the dimensions of global shipping offers one window into why the heck a certain President is getting expansionist about both Canada and Greenland. Global warming could be a GOOD thing if one wants easier shipping and access to mineral resources in the arctic and doesn't care too much about filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide from traffic in and burning of fossil fuels.

Enjoy the video. More snark on the other side.

in related news

Putin's Hopes CRUSHED Again! Russia's Most Important Fleet COLLAPSES!

No RantWoman, do not go there. Do not wander further into SCIENCE just because someone on Twitter / X brought up the calving of Antarctic glaciers in the spirit of "all this talk of climate change is a hoax."

A chunk of glacier "the size of Rhode Island" has calved off a glacier in Antarctica. 

RantWoman did not appropriately mark the tweet that referred to a satellite study saying that an incident like that is about average for yearly glacial calving, a point which is only one of the hazards of attempting scientific discussion 280 characters at a time in Elon's sandbox. The other part of the assertion: so no one can blame global warming on someone's SUV's.

Wanna bet?

First, receding glaciers aside, there a TON of urban design and pedestrian safety reasons for a #WarOnCars.

Next, meander back into historical records of the Little Ice Age, sundry volcanic eruptions and patterns of glacial recission all over the planet over recent decades. Do not attempt precise scientific reasoning 280 characters at a time. Do not mention sea level rise or shifting mountain tree lines or...

Then, although RantWoman is desperately seeking escape from any meditation upon the current occupant of the White House, apparently going there is almost inevitable. As long as #DementiaDonOld spouts all kinds of nonscience nonsense, tries to reroute hurricanes with a sharpie, blubbers about bringing prices down... why the heck NOT also blame receding glaciers on a presidential Bad hair day or something?

OK, OK. RantWoma, ENOUGH for tonight. Save further commentary about Elon's sandbox for another evening.

A 911 call and then....

The following compilation of videos and commentary is dedicated to:

--Everyone who knew Shawn Kim, everyone who helped nab his killer, and everyone remembering what a great guy he must have been.

--All the transit drivers who will be working through the holiday season, especially the ones who deliberately choose routes that come with different difficulties

--Everyone whose holidays include transit and especially when holiday dramas spill over on the ride to or from festivities (count a couple mildly memorable moments from the RantFamily.)

--Everyone who, like RantWoman, thanks our drivers when we get off the bus. This social point is one reason RantWoman is not necessarily eager to consign bus driving to some kind of robot overlords.

Happy Holidays!

Drivers who choose to drive the night runs.

Like everyone else whose lives are entwined with transit, RantWoman was outraged to wake up last week to news of the stabbing of Shawn Kim.

RantWoman has seen plenty of times when drivers were able to deescalate all kinds of extremely stressful situations. People sleeping on buses also often do not react well when drivers waken them at the ends of routes. Murder is horrifying.

The stream of details becomes more heartbreaking with every new media account.

Rant: the murder occurred in the U district. Were there no University police anywhere in the area? Transit police are from the King County Sheriff Office, but do local police routinely respond if a 911 call comes from a specific jurisdiction?

RantWoman is really grateful for comments from people who knew Mr. Kim. RantWoman totally sympathizes with grieving relatives who really might have no mental space for media figures sticking microphones in their faces. At the same time, at this point, enough images of the suspect. How about more images of the murdered public servant?

Bananas did not go to the vigil

RantWoman apologizes if the heading above sounds flip.

RantWoman is very glad there was a vigil. RantWoman expressed interest in finishing off her day of errands with a stop at the vigil, more or less on RantWoman's way home anyway. 

But RantWoman scored bananas at a very cool new supermarket she will celebrate separately. 

And, completely unsurprisingly, there was a Metro alert advising riders to expect delays on every bus route that travels through the crime scene. So, RantWoman picked a different route home; the video will have to be enough for now, and not enough of course for all the events every day on Metro.

Description!

RantWoman, like a lot of armchair experts on social media would not have minded more of a description of the suspect sooner. Too much of the social media RantWoman saw was certain the killer must be Black. Like every transit driver in the area, RantWoman was glad to have enough of a description to rule out a lot of the riding public. 6'5" and white comes with a pretty definite body characteristic more useful to RantWoman than brown hair and brown eyes as well as some expectations about voice.

RantWoman is very thankful not to have encountered the killer.

RantWoman is very glad drivers had the description!

Arrest: a secure place to sleep.

RantWoman comment: this is pretty much a picture-perfect arrest from the police perspective. Completely cooperative suspect. No altercation of any kind. RantWoman also only sees white faces.

We are all grateful that this guy will have a secure place to sleep for a long time, without even any bus drivers to wake him up at the end of every run he lands on.

UNITE HERE rolling strikes for better wages and working conditions come to Seattle

UNITE HERE statement on series of rolling strikes around the US

The #WhiteCaneDay walk route went right by the Westin hotel.

How did RantWoman and the other walkers miss a picket line?

Never mind. More on the other side.

The kinds of physical labor needed to keep a hotel in top service form and to handle food preparation are very physically demanding. 

Add to that commute time if the places workers can afford to live are miles away and / or the workers don't drive.

Workers should be able to survive on one job, not 2 or 3 to keep the wolf from the door.

This strike is part of a nationwide campaign of rolling strikes coming into the holiday travel season.

RantWoman hopes the strike gets resolved.

RantWoman hopes the strike gets resolved in a timely way, without drama.

Enough said for now.

Two bars on the test, two days in a row.

RantWoman KNOWS #COVID numbers are up and RantWoman has got spoiled about going mask free. One excuse is about needing wind and sound on her cheeks to help about navigation. RantWoman is also just tired of everything to do with the topic but does fully intend to get booster vaxed.

RantWoman is also white knuckling prayers that two activities last weekend were not places RantWoman infected anyone else. RantWoman can live with the possibility that she got infected at one of her activities but definitely does NOT want to have infected anyone else.

Two days of drippy nose.

Being easily able to sleep far longer than usual.

Drippy nose seemed to be getting better about like average cold but unusual headache.

All right. All right. Do a COVID test. What is the expiration interval? Who cares? Two bars CLEARLY visible even with RantWoman's bad eyes

Call doctor? Ask for Paxlovid? Nah, not so much. But figure out needed isolation period and order chicken soup from Amazon

Need to cough. Some of the time it hurts to cough.

Coughing is productive sometimes. 

Body in general feels better with movement.

Not much mental or physical stamina, 

So, take it seriously. 

Cancel weekend travel. 

Cocoon. Do as many needed chores as tolerated. 

Ask a couple people to check one me if they don't hear anything for a couple days. Try not to overstress people already overstressed.

Treat YouTube like supermarket tabloids.

Pay attention to some writing deadlines.

Be VERY grateful because it could be worse.

 

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.

That was fast:alumni solicitations in 2024

 First RantWoman offers a shout-out and encouragement to every recent college graduate who might be even a little nervous just starting out a public school teaching job, especially a teaching job in one of the tiny rural communities that dot our nation's educational landscape.

RantWoman particularly offers such encouragement on behalf of RantDad. RantDad's first public school teaching job was teaching 7 study halls and band in a TINY town the interstate bypassed not far from Billings MT. The tiny town still exists and a couple years ago sent one of its son to a job trimming RantWoman's hair at Great Clips on Capital Hill. Back to Rant Dad: his calling just out of college was bassoonist in the Billings Symphony. It's just that the study halls and band gig ensured that RantDad would eat and live indoors.

RantWoman wishes to thank the alumni association from RantDad's alma mater for this mental excursion. Today, much to RantMom's surprise, she received an alumni association fundraising letter. Understand, RantDad passed away 29 years ago. RantMom also recently moved and was marveling at the fact that the letter came with her name on it to her new address. In other words, whatever data refresh the alumni association uses is pretty dang efficient.

RantMom was perplexed and a little opinionated. RantWoman is less surprised than if RantMom were receiving alumni solicitations from somewhere neither of the Rant parents attended. Besides this year RantDad would turn 90 if he were still alive. So is that the occasion?

Because this is the internet:

U of WY Alumni Association

Cultural artifact

U of WY alumni songs

and because of other connections

The Laramie chapter of Health Equity Circle