Edward Snowden today

 #Russia #NSA

This channel is flagged as AI.

RantWoman is posting this here without extensive comment.

"He likes me" Umm, BELIEVE THE WARNINGS

 #Yellowstone #Bison

DO NOT try to pet the bison! GIVE THEM SPACE!

RantWoman is always OUTRAGED to hear about some dumb tourist not respecting wild animals.

This video is much kinder but also blunter about realities.

Scary bison attack DECODED | Yellowstone National Park | Wild animal attack

Rutting season!

While we are at it, some other animals have their moment.

Man Taking Selfie With Bison Instantly Regrets It - Yellowstone Tourists Are Idiots

Man Approaching Bison Instantly Regrets It - Yellowstone Tourists Are Idiots

Ah Expectations and more of an adventure than one hopes.

Yesterday RantWoman set out on one of her occasional "OK, let's just try it" transit expeditions. Delivering something time-sensitive to Lynnwood in person sounded like, oddly, more fun than just using overnight mail. RantWoman also wanted to get back to Seattle for a late afternoon medical appointment. RantWoman was optimistic based on a late morning start. 

RantWoman is a grown-up. MAYBE RantWoman could have planned better. Maybe.

RantWoman first used Google Maps to her destination or basically how to get from the Lynnwood City Center station to a street address in Lynnwood. Google suggested several bus routings, all of which involved some walking from the last bus stop. 

The Lynnwood City Center station does not have great signage about how to find buses. Even worse, there is no sign at all marking a RideShare pickup area. More on that in a moment.

RantWoman does not have a great mental map yet of the Lynnwood transit center or of a path to the buses. There is wordy signage at the Light Rail station but RantWoman yearns for a more graphical presentation, with large enough letters that someone like her could read it, of course. 

RantWoman does not know Lynnwood very well but has an overwhelming impression of many cars, wide streets, probably sidewalks and MAYBE accessible pedestrian signals. So RantWoman was NOT excited about any bus routing that did not say something like "Walk 50 feet to your destination" from the last bus stop.

At some point RantWoman realized that her destination was near enough to Alderwood Mall that it probably is in the service area for the Community Transit Zip service.

Clap clap clap. RantWoman has previously, a long time ago, had good experience with Zip and a friend also uses Zip. RantWoman knows how to find the Zip / paratransit pickup area. There are nice benches.

RantWoman also checked FindARide. Destination definitely in the service for Zip. RantWoman has not set up a full profile on Find a Ride, but RantWoman checked several categories that apply to her including age, disability, use of a white cane. Find a ride definitely suggested the Zip service.

None of those options appear to be available on the Zip app. File that.

RantWoman has previously, quite a while ago had quite easy positive experience with Zip except for that version of the app being useless in accessibility terms. The App is better now. RantWoman learned this after ring, ring, I would like to book a ride. The first call: we have no record of you and there is not a ride available. Try the app. Call back in 20 minutes.

The app is better behaved than long ago. The app also gave RantWoman the same set of routes that Google gave her. It took two more calls at 20-minute intervals to actually book a ride.  RantWoman had to persuade the call taker that she is blind / low vision and intended to pay with her ORCA card disabled pass. Then a Zip vehicle showed up. The driver did not have the name identified. He waited but a rider never showed up. RantWoman also got a message that a driver had appeared but not found RantWoman and had gone away. So SOMETHING is confused and confusing.

By this time, RantWoman was climbing the walls. Summoning an Uber was feasible financially, if only RantWoman could find the RideShare pickup area. If only.

RantWoman and the Uber driver did manage to connect because RantWoman was able to tell him where she was. Yay Uber driver. Good tip.

Based on the length of the ride, RantWoman realized the distance might be walkable, if RantWoman were not feeling pressed for time and willing just to set out and trust Google walking directions. RantWoman has uneven experience with Google walking directions and did not feel like experimenting. If RantWoman makes the trip again, she will also try to summon more enthusiasm for one of the bus options.

The destination also turned out to be a quite non-descript office park with decent sidewalk but pretty subtle signage. 

But Voila! RantWoman arrived, made one wrong guess about how to find the office she needed and at last connected with a very nice human she has been emailing with for a while.

RantWoman summoned an Uber for the return trip to Lynnwood City Center. Bravo. RantWoman now understands how to find the Ride Share pickup area. File that.

RantWoman also realized that she just needed to reschedule a medical appointment she had hoped to get back to Seattle in time for. Sigh.

And a closing note: the Zip phone line kept offering RantWoman a satisfaction survey at the end of the call. At the end of the third call, RantWoman asked the woman not to route her to the survey. RantWoman just figured the survey would not capture everything RantWoman was cross about. Word!

Broadband Breakfast history of telephony in the US

#America250 #Telecom150 

A set of history videos that definitely belong in RantWoman's digital scrapbook though Broadband Breakfast is a hugely valuable resource for many telecom issues.

Blanche!

 Congratulations Blanche, recently proclaimed the Icelandair "World's worst photographer.

Readers who don't want RantWoman ramble, scroll down for comments specifically about this. Readers game for more piquant notes from RantWoman's life, moments from RantWoman's Instagram learning curve, and / or more contributions to crowd sourcing social media market research, stick with us. 

1. RantWoman does not exactly have out loud conversations with Ambassador Thwack, the badly behaved white cane and anger management consultant. RantWoman does suspect need to note the following:

"Hot lava AND ice caves? You want me to do WHAT exactly?"

"Relax. We can handle it when necessary. Just Chill. Wait. Is that the wrong word?"

2. RantWoman thinks she has figured out how to do a like that is not just a reply with an emoji.

 RantWoman, knock on wood, seems to have trained her instagram to skip the annoying thumbnails and always just open with a full screen photo that RantWoman can swipe about.

RantWoman has not figured out what a reel is, how to sort out who to follow into coherent streams, or how to fire up her phone's AI to read the itty-bitty text way too many stick in their posts. Sorry, but if it's too busy for RantWoman, RantWoman just swipes away fast.

RantWoman really likes Instagram posts with sound, either sound that tells a good story or sound that bears some relationship to the visual content.

3. RantWoman has not fully gotten into the reply vibe, but RantWoman is going to gripe anyway. Along with all the congratulatory posts for Blanche, there were people still trying to vote for Diane, the mom from Kansas who can't photograph her own children. RantWoman can relate. RantWoman did not submit her own "who are these people and why can't they take decent photos?" specimens. 

Why? Because privacy. Even though a lot of the "who are these people?" faces have long departed to other realms, enough of the ones who are allergic to the internet are still around that RantWoman did not want to subject them to mockery. RantWoman has been looking at other older, pre-digital family photos and grumbling about all the times no one thought to note who the person is next to Aunt Tilley, or where the photo was taken. So maybe a nudge to everyone out there laying photo tracks in the digital sand: label your photos as soon as you can after you take them.

4. The chorus of voices looking for some Mom energy jogged RantWoman's memory about one thing. RantWoman has watched a ton of Iceland videos. She onley remembers seeing a child in one channel and the child was a toddler riding in his Mom's video. Surely children exist in Iceland. Surely some arrive as tourists. 

Iceland is EXPENSIVE but RantWoman wonders whether some videos specifically about family friendly travel would put Iceland in a better position for the "planning a family vacation" market segment. RantWoman's mind also wandered to the question: do kids do pen pals any more? or what about some kind of teleconference learning and interaction? Understand, RantWoman is tossing out the idea without necessarily any capacity to work details out further, but there are so many interesting things about Iceland...

So now we get to Blanche. RantWoman thinks Blanche will be an absolute hoot to travel with. So again Congratulations Blanche!

Friday Night Fare Media?

#FareEnforcement

So there RantWoman was, on her way home from an afternoon of errands. The sky is clear blue. There is full sunshine with a pleasant breeze when what to RantWoman's febrile mind should wander: FARE MEDIA?

Puget Sound transit agencies love it when people pay fares with ORCA Cards, passes, or now amazingly credit cards.

Digression: RantWoman was asked recently how to find RFID blocking wallet or other way to keep one's bus pass separate enough from one's credit cards to avoid accidentally paying bus fare with a credit card. This is especially important since RantWoman has not looked up how the pay by credit card process works if one has a "regional reduced fare permit" (RRFP), colloquially a disabled pass. 

RantWoman's answer: go to your favorite store and #AskAHuman . RantWoman's first thought was "look on Amazon." Based on what RantWoman knows about this beloved senior's digital prowess, "look on Amazon" is a silly answer.

RantWoman knows a lot of people who just don't do technology and / or don't have bank accounts. Here RantWoman's free range policy analysis instincts wandered back to Metro's recent fare enforcement report. RantWoman has been doing civic participation in a lot of meetings talking about transit fares and fare enforcement. One key moment the report does not address at all: people who don't have bank accounts, like to pay for things in cash and need to pay fares to go anywhere need places near them where they can pay for passes or put money on their ORCA cards. 

So if RantWoman were evaluating the effectiveness of fare enforcement officers, RantWoman would want to know something about agreements with businesses throughout the area to sell ORCA cards. RantWoman would want to know something about how many such locations there are and whether fare enforcement efforts have resulted in more people using places near where they live to get ORCA cards. This question is not in the ordinance the report responds to so RantWoman is just going to toss the topic into the conversation and let public servants take it from there.

Iceland vicariously

 Iceland Iceland Iceland

Readers who just want reflections, geography, geological history and really cool sounding hikes, please enjoy the videos.

As with advice from multiple creators, don't overdo it. Watch something and come back.

RantWoman HAS OPINIONS on the other side.

Iceland: The Realm of Magic | Full Film | Explorer Albert

ICELAND AND SURREAL LANDSCAPES - Untouched Nature with a Cold, Captivating Beauty | Travel Video

Exploring Iceland’s Highlands: 7 Must-Visit Locations for Summer 2026

Iceland Highlands: Top 5 Places to Visit - YouTube

5 SECRET Locations in ICELAND | Guide to Iceland

The days are getting long in Seattle. The weather forecast promises temperatures in the 80's F, a temperature when many in Seattle begin to moan piteously about the heat. 

The long days make RantWoman think some of a Eurail trip around Europe decades ago after a study abroad in the USSR before it devolved just to Russia. The Eurail trip was a low-budget, grad student let loose expedition. 

RantWoman mostly slept on overnight trains, got off the train in a new city every day, walked the city for hours and then got on a train to go somewhere else. RantWoman chose routes intended to allow a decent night's sleep, without too many border crossings and their attendant need to fish out one's passport and then settle back to sleep. In a few cases, RantWoman visited the same city more than once and a couple times actually spent the night in a hostel to do laundry, drink good coffee, and rest.

RantWoman did not attempt too many museums, shopped in grocery stores away from the priciest tourist zones, ate well on a diet of good cheese, rye crisp, whatever fruit would hold up well, and Nutella.

RantWoman is thinking of all this because RantWoman is bus freak enough to contemplate an Iceland journey getting from one town to another on a bus and choosing towns where there are hiking trails close so that driving would not be necessary at all. This does not seem like a journey one should attempt alone, especially RantWoman. RantWoman can pass as a sighted person--until she can't. In all the videos RantWoman watches basically say "RESPECT NATURE. It can be unpredictable. But right now, with the world in turmoil and with Things to Work through close at hand, RantWoman definitely recommends staring into a volcano or two.

Some Useful Iceland-themed YouTube channels

Iceland Iceland

Whether one is abstractly planning a trip to Iceland or just massaging the idea for the IcelandAir Bad Photographer contest, here are some YouTube channel suggestions, sometimes based on one example from the channel.

RantWoman is amused by a few points:

--All the videos with the word "Mistakes" in the title.

--Advice from everyone not to buy expensive bottled water and shopping at the regular grocery chains, not the big tourist-oriented store in Reykjavik. Also comments about using the city bus from the airport and saving money over lagoon prices by going to the many public pools.

--Very adamant safety culture: no speeding. No drunk driving. No stopping except in designated lookout points to take photos. Park only where authorized. No walkiing on hot lava. Avoid sneaker waves. Do not get too near all kinds of edges of things. TAKE WEATHER WARNINGS SERIOUSLY.  Only 4x4 vehicles are allowed on the F roads, roads not on the ring road.

--Equally consistent culture about cleanliness: NO pooping out of doors. Shower completely nude before entering the various pools. Take shoes off when asked

--Contradictory advice about the Blue Lagoon, staying in Reykjavik...

Rick Steves Iceland

Learn Icelandic in 10 minutes 🇮🇸 Essential Phrases for Tourists Visiting Iceland

or at least an introduction before checking out the next video

Stop Using Google Maps in Iceland. Use This Instead

Info about weather and alerts specific to Iceland.

Note: other videos say use Google Maps to check location of Air BnB

How to Explore Iceland Like a Local (Avoid These 5 Mistakes!)

Skip the Blue lagoon because there are other cool hot springs near by

Visiting Iceland Summer 2026: Travel Guide & Best Local Tips! 🇮🇸

Base in Reykjavik and do day trips

What NOT to Do When Traveling To Iceland | 15 Mistakes To Avoid!

Don't base in Reykjavik.

Waterproof gear

5 Proven Ways to Avoid Crowds in Iceland (Like a Local)

travel in winter

Hidden Gems of Iceland: Avoid the Crowds & See the REAL Iceland!

Iceland Travel Tips: 10 Things You Need to Know (From a Local) 🇮🇸 

5 Mistakes You Make When You Arrive in Iceland    

Car rental, the "Flybus, and PUBLIC TRANSIT. RantWoman loves public transit and does not care that it will take longer. Maybe the Flybus for the first day, but public transit at some point.

The Blue lagoon is on the way from Keplavik airport to downtown Reykjavik but ...

20 Things Tourists in Iceland Learn Too Late

Weather can be even more fearsome than RantWoman previously imagined.

20 Things Tourists in Iceland Learn Too Late

VERY limited public transportation outside Reykjavik. No trains. Only intercity buses. RantWoman is a bus / slow travel nerd and might really enjoy some travel by bus

3 Iceland Itinerary Mistakes That Will Cost You Days

Don't spend too much of your trip at Reykjavik at the beginning.

Don't rush the South Coast islands

The Westman(?) Islands and The PUFFINS.

What will make Ideland unique to Me?

Iceland Itinerary Mistakes 90% of People Don’t Know About

10 Things You Should Never Do in Iceland (Locals Hate It!)

15 Ways to Insult Icelanders (A Guide for Travelers)

Moscow melts down without internet: forward to yesterday

 Roman telling it!

Update:

Something INSANE is Happening in Moscow Right Now - YouTube

Russia borrowing the Iran playbook

Interesting that Roman seems not to have connected with a lot of RUMORS...

Seduce Me. Upsell me? How about just get enough customer service points right...

Spoiler alert: Has RantWoman been listened to by a certain enormous telecom company????

Suppose the answer is YES and RantWoman's tale from last time she attempted to interact with a home internet promotion from enormous telecom company had an impact!

After an experiment in live interaction and upselling, RantWoman decided to try home internet. Perhaps this is still a silly idea. Over the past couple months, RantWoman has received multiple text messages assuring RantWoman that the network is being upgraded in RantWoman's neighborhood. However, if there were 5G service in RantWoman's neighborhood, both her old phone and her new phone should have been able to find it. Um, no. In fact, that simple test migh be more valuable than some zip code search. But there IS a promotion....

Wait. RantWoman is getting ahead of herself. 

RantWoman has been thinking of upgrading her phone for a while. 

Should RantWoman change brands of phone? Silly RantWoman last year about this time passed up an opportunity for free to crash test a phone for a whole year. Why? Aside from all the steps required every time RantWoman changes phones, RantWoman was relying on her phone a lot in connection with medical care. RantWoman decided that the privacy intrusion of a few more prying eyes, even if engineers interested only in technical info, not in RantWoman's personal business was just too much.

RantWoman could change telecom companies.

Well, yeah. But there is something about the devil you know....

Next, we come to promotions, promotions, promotions. Truthfully, RantWoman finds unraveling promotional info in the company's app or in email just bewildering. So off RantWoman trooped to a friendly, reasonably bus accessible store to just try the "Ask a human" algorithm.. 

First step: trade in the old phone. Wondrous improvements compared to previous experience:  First, transfer data from old phone to new in store. Even better, now one can take the old phone home for a couple days while setting up the new phone. SO helpful because RantWoman did need to compare one set of settings about font and screen size. More on that after further tech support adventures described below.

Apparently, RantWoman also secretly enjoys watching store clerks try to upsell.  This time, the upsell is "Try home internet" and we'll give you a 43" television. RantWoman does not need a 43" television. She does need a 24" computer monitor but that is a different problem. 

The other option on offer: a Samsung tablet. Will that happen now that RantWoman has returned home internet equipment? RantWoman has mixed opinions about carrying around another device besides her phone. Bigger screen sounds like a great idea. RantWoman might even like space to try out one of the braille input apps because those are a lot less vision intensive than the onscreen keyboard. (No RantWoman is still not into just making her devices take dictation. RantWoman's brain needs some kind of physical motion to help organize thoughts.) There is one large Samsung tablet that sounds especially appealing, but who knows whether that is part of the offer? And who knows whether the offer stands now that RantWoman has returned the equipment. 

Anyway, RantWoman packed home the new phone and the home internet equipment. At the last minute, there was even an offer to have someone come out and help set it up. RantWoman foolishly declined. After blunt reality check about whether there is in fact 5G internet close enough to RantWoman to matter, RantWoman decided not even to unpack all the gear for home internet and just send it back. So off RantWoman troops to say goodbye forever to data on her trade-in phone and HOPEFULLY to free herself of unwanted home internet equipment. 

Saying goodbye to the old trade-in phone needed a few minutes wait but was painless. Will RantWoman regret missing something? Maybe but now that RantWoman has gone through all the steps of setting up a new phone, she is not going back. 

Returning the home internet equipment took a couple steps, steps which in their simplicity almost made RantWoman swoon. Go to the UPS store, the one in the neighborrhood that does a better job than a different one. Stand in line a few minutes. Watch the clerk open the boxes, scan bar codes, print shipping labels, and hand RantWoman a receipt. 

SWOON. RantWoman remembers the long awkward phone call from a different UPS store abou generating a label that could be applied to the box (only 1 that time) and ... Eureka. RantWoman is clearly not the only person on the planet who found the old print a label at home process vexing. Now there is a super easy process! This time was SO much easier that RantWoman ALMOST forgives enormous telecom company for the need to return her equipment at a different place.

But wait. Two MORE customer service moments.

First, there was a text survey about customer service. RantWoman never knows how to respond when some of the service, such as "ask a human" in general was just fine and other parts less so but there are only number response. So RantWoman's rating generated both a text and a phone call wanting to follow up. RantWoman often does not have time in the moment to respond to such outreach. RantWoman would really, really, really be THRILLED if it were possible to call back later and on the number the calls come in on. Apparently that is never a thing in the world of call centers. RantWoman knows from listening to others' complaints that she is by far not the only person on the planet who thinks this.

As an aside, RantWoman would also be THRILLED if there were an option to review voicemails in order starting from most recent and going back. Right now RantWoman has some calls on her voice mail that are important for record keetping purposes but that, for both time and emotional reasons she does NOT want to have to listen to over and over if she mis hears a callback number.

On to the last customer service moment. After a whole bunch of set up, dealing with passwords, biometrics, accessibility features, RantWoman went to try to pay her rent through her banking app. This did not work. Various accessibility features were screwingup. RantWoman called a tech support number. RantWoman has done more than enough tech support to know that the odds of hitting someone who could interact easily with RantWoman's question might not be great but getting forwarded seemed like a good step. RantWoman spoke to someone who definitely knew enough about what RantWoman was talking about to try to help.

The only hiccup: the last person RantWoman talked to wanted to send a text with a link allowing him to look at her phone. The link went only to RantWoman's old phone. If the old phone had been powered off, would the link go to the new phone? Who knows? By the time RantWoman talked to tech support, she had already spent considerable time trying different things to make her banking app work and was just out of time in her schedule. RantWoman did manage to mess around with enough things to get her rent paid this month and will now see what other experiments might save the steps needed to pay her rent this time.

RantWoman has more to say, OF COURSE, but tis is plenty for tonight.

Pagliacci's new Verde Vito pizza

UPDATE. THis one did really well cold for breakfast.

Spices easier to feel

different expectations about cheese texture.

So...

 RantWoman is a GIANT fan of Pagliacci pizza. RantWoman is going to keep being a fan of Pagliacci pizza.

RantWoman is also the kind of adventurous diner who sometimes will try something once just to say she has tried it. Tonight's gustatory adventure: the new Verde Vita all plant-based pizza.

The verdict: meh while hot and we will see how it does cold for breakfast.

RantWoman has never felt an obligation to make plant-based products that simulate meat. Just do the plant-based protein like, say, walnuts, with pride and don't try to pretend it's meat. Plant based sausage on pizza, meh

The plant-based cheese had an interesting taste but felt gooey. RantWoman admits to the possibly unrealistic wish that cheese on pizza be stringy when the pieces are pulled apart.

RantWoman thinks the Verde Vita needs a little more spice. Which kind? RantWoman is unclear.

The plant-based cheese RantWoman likes best is an orange-y cashew-based cheeseball served at some friend's annual New Year's open house. Problem is, what would it take to make this cheese work on a pizza?

RantWoman now thanks her readers for indulging this digression from all the news and LIFE items making RantWoman's head explode.

SHORT NOTICE Invitation from Lumen Technologies and AARP 1 29 2026 In person UW Bothell

 Invitation from LumenTechnologies and AARP

You’re invited to join us for an informational session hosted in partnership with AARP’s Older Adults Technology Services (OATS). This event will provide helpful insights into modern phone service options and ways to stay connected as technology evolves.

Event Details
- Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026
- Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM PT
- Location: Room 202, Bothell Campus, 10201 E. Riverside Drive, Bothell, WA 98011


At this session, Lumen Technologies (fmrly CenturyLink) representatives will discuss transitioning from traditional copper landlines to modern, reliable voice solutions. You’ll also learn how these services can help protect against outages caused by copper theft and improve overall connectivity.

We hope you can join us—and feel free to bring a friend or neighbor who may also benefit.

Lynnwood City Center on the Light Rail.

 RantWoman would in principle like to pen a sunny "I love you all and I am sure life is going to get better" holiday greeting. That, alas, is not going to happen, or at least not before RantWoman just gets some opinions off her chest. With that in mind, RantWoman is going to offer a Christmas tree of posts assembled in such form as to give readers options to pick and choose which RantWoman eye views of the year sound most enticing, entertaining, elevating, ... Get the idea.

Lucky Lynnwood City Center Sound Transit station, the first window into RantWoman's year, and luckily for someone the topic RantWoman can most concisely summon rants about.

Start with Thanksgiving. 

There was an invitation to family for feasting in Lynnwood. There was also an offer of a ride all the way that was going to involve too many people, a dog, and a vehicle specially lifted for off-roading. RantWoman owes the world a whole post about getting in and out of cars. In this case, RantWoman was still flirting too easily with some post-surgery crabbiness and wanted simply to take transit and, if needed be fetched from a transit end point.

RantWoman should have somehow been able to ask her info sources "which light rail station is closest to the address?" The answer: Lynnwood City Center is about a mile away. Instead RantWoman got various unhelpful suggested routings wound up having to ask Irrepressible Nephew to fetch her from an intersection before the one suggested by the trip planner.

Nephew was EXTREMELY good natured about this.

Family feasted well, petted a cat and two dogs, and did fine about many things.Then came time to go home. Nephew dropped RantWoman off at a station entrance inside the parking garage. Another woman in the same boat joined RantWoman in fogging around until we found the hallway with elevators to the platform. Some signage in the parking garage would definitely not be a terrible idea.

Next comes Christmas Day. The RantFamily did Christmas Eve church gathered around a laptop at the rehab where RantMom is currently in residence. The laptop does not do justice to a church organ but that was the celebration needed for this year. It also left RantWoman free on Christmas Day to invite herself over for takeout Thai food with her buddies The Weed Whackin Wenches who also live in Lynnwood. RantWoman would have been happy to take Zip to their house, but WingNut was itching to drive a few days after several days of heavy pain meds due to a dental abscess.

This is now the second try for connecting with the Wenches and their car. The first time was opening day. There were crowds and crowds. RantWoman got to a point where the only thing that made sense was to stand still somewhere amenable to car traffic and act tall. 

Christmas day is SUCH a mellow time to travel on Light Rail. BIG shout-outs to everyone working on holidays. The train was not crowded. RantWoman found an elevator to "surface." The only problem: RantWoman does not consider it "surface" if there are 10 steps between the pedestrian path and what did turn out to be an acceptable driveway. RantWoman is not sure what signage would have provided more helpful guidance about how to connect with cars.

In any case, the day was a blast. The Wenches have been working on re-doing their kitchen. One appliance quit and then something else had to be moved and then another thing needed upgrading. Christmas saw the work paused in mid transformation. Hence the interest in take-out, along with a grand tour: new stove with an induction cooktop, big round tactile controls as well as the possibility to do all kinds of things from a smartphone app. Some electrical work is still needed to ensure the wiring is appropriate and now there is talk of a new exhaust hood to go with the new sink, new dishwasher, and new compact overhead ceiling fan. Never mind that the refrigerator is currently around a corner into the dining room. The Wenches just had so much fun talking about their kitchen. Everyone agrees that moving around the appliances opens up LOTS of ideas.

The Wenches also have two new cats, intriguing but not as snuggly as previous household felines.  The cats emerged for dinner. RantWoman appears to have passed muster. After supper, the more standoffish kitty sat at the other end of a long hallway and just observed for quite awhile. The other more adventurous one visited RantWoman's dangling fingers several times. RantWoman got two nose touches, a leg brush, and a tail brush. Apparently this is high praise for this kitty around strangers.

Now an awkward confession: the Light Rail plus one bus is easy peasy for RantWoman. The Wenches like to drive RantWoman all the way home. RantWoman is always glad for car ride conversations. RantWoman is A LOT less glad about rides in the dark involving a lot of headlights from oncoming traffic. RantWoman is going to have to find some way to...

With that, may there still be feasts ahead as we kick 2025 out the door.

Oh What the Hell: Protest Curmudgeon goes there. Try to avoid antagonizing...

ICE Agents CAUGHT Arresting Comedian For HUMILIATING Them

Forget tone "policing" RantWoman is about to go full generalissimo with a humble request to protestors.

1. Evidence from ICE hiring standards and ICE Barbie's endless propaganda efforts is that a lot of the brand new just signed on for the bonus ICE recruits are undertrained, uneducated, humor-impaired, and extremely thin-skinned. NONE of that is an excuse for all the different thuggery they are trying to pull off, but MAYBE could y'all, all y'all protestors possibly consider passing on at least SOME of the opportunities to torment and antagonize them? RantWoman admires creativity and really, really, really thinks y'all could all do MUCH better about verbal communications. So PLEASE try. Pretty please.

2. I don't blame the vulnerable families, veterans, people with disabilities, NEIGHBORS across from the ICE House of Ill Repute in Portland for being resentful of tear gas, blast balls. Try to sound concerned about them and keep pointing out that protestors aren't the ones bringing the tear gas and blast balls.

3. Remember this is about immigrants and all the hard work, creativity, richness they bring to the country. RantWoman is not sure how, meaningfully, to say "we've got your back," President #StableGenius keeps going off about how immigrants bring diseases. Immigrants have the same health issues as many other people in the US, but the President complaining about immigrants is NUTS when his own Secretary of Health and Human services is doing everything he can to shred public health infrastructure, disease surveillance, and OF COURSE vaccination.  Plenty of other really important "don't blame the immigrants talking points need airing and people who aren't crazy about running around in frog suits need to get their points heard too. Word!

And another video for the road

And Robby Roadsteamer in his own words. RantWoman recants, SOMEWHAT.

Robby Roadsteamer Sang Rod Stewart—Then ICE Opened Fire

ICE Agents KIDNAP Beloved Activist in Broad Daylight

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.

Social Media in Russia today.

Russian Censorship is Getting Bad...

A wholesome alternative to World Events anxiety: CONSTRUCTION at UW Montlake.

 

Map of the Montlake UW Medical Center

RantWoman has a medical appointment at the UW Montlake Medical Center soon.

Oh FUN! The reminder text came with info about construction in the main entrance, closed street crossings and who knows what all.

UW Medical Center – Montlake Entrance Upgrade and Waterproofing | UW Medicine

RantWoman first attempted to interact with the map on her phone. Bad idea. RantWoman has a couple options for enlargement but it's too easy to lose context and full orientation clues.

RantWoman appreciates that there are directions aimed at pedestrians. RantWoman however is baffled by some of the text and the map doesn't help. For one thing RantWoman is confused by the appearance of bus stops. The cute little bus icon seems to be pointing perpendicular to the direction buses travel and RantWoman is completely confused by how to get from the bus stop to pedestrian-friendly paths, with or without traffic signals.

Well, one suggested routing suggests to RantWoman crossing Pacific St somewhere Montlake. RantWoman has used that street crossing. RantWoman does not like it nearly as much as the simple straightforward one near a bus stop. RantWoman hopes between signage and the "Ask a human algorithm that she can find the underground tunnel referenced in the directions.

RantWoman appreciates that the text prints out in large print. RantWoman wishes she could say the same thing about the map shown above. RantWoman's first effort to print the whole webpage yielded lovely readable text but the map took up about 1/4 of the 11" side of regular 8.5 x 11 inch paper. 

Black and white printing also obliterated several of the lightly colored lines in the map.

But lo RantWoman is resourceful. RantWoman decided just to download the map image and print that. That is more steps than lots of people will want to try and RantWoman had to fight off several AI-based offers of "help." RantWoman now has an almost workable map.

HOWEVER, RantWoman how the miniscule map works for drivers, especially drivers unfamiliar with the area. Surely not only RantWoman but also at least some drivers would really appreciate an easily printable map, a page with only the map, with the text on another page.

There. Enough rant for now. RantWoman will now get to bed so she can pop out of bed and interact with the built environment well-rested.

PS. After whining and grumbling about all the travel disruptions over the weekend, RantWoman's travel experience was tolerable.

Adventures of RantWoman: Who needs riots? Thank you transportation planners? And Happy Ride Transit Month

Leg 1

7+5 downtown busier than usual and a helpful police officer directing at what is a pretty simple street crossing anyway. The 5 did fill up with people who all debarked at stops near the Fremont fair.

Event with a guest working on Accessmap.app who is going to get an email with suggestions about something to indicate whether streets are arterials, minor arterials or residential streets.

After event, a walk from Greenwood to Aurora along the N side of N85th street, to save a couple street crossings.

E line to another stop.

(Ordinarily RantWoman would just take the E line downtown and transfer to the 8 at Denny. Separate whine about that not being viable right now.)

Walk to catch the Eastbound 40 to Northgate station, followed by 1 line to Capitol Hill and the 8 home from there. Train crowded and platform way more crowded than average. Train was terminated at Capitol Hill, single tracking and there were humans to guide people to the shuttles (or bus lines) downtown. RantWoman found this tolerable even with having to add an extra transit segment and the Juneuary temps and bluster.

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! 

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OpenThePaths Thursday fast notes

Where RantWoman was all day  #OpenThePaths

OpenThePaths 2025 Conference Guide - Google Docs

RantWoman's brain is flying faster than her fingers so this post is some fast impressions. RantWoman has more to say and some views subject to change.

RantWoman is generally THRILLED that some many bright people are interested in the same issues clogging RantWoman's lived experience.

Interesting to hear how experience with Uber, Lyft and also BikeShare motivated city of Seattle DOT to take initiative about autonomous vehicles. LOTS of pitfalls as different cities have test programs. 

--How will people secure stuff?

--Some companies or cities require a driver / assister.

--Fully autonomous wheelchair securement is hard and it's hard to design a vehicle interior with wheelchair spaces. The one company that attempted to have fully autonomous wheelchair securement, Cruise, is out of business for multiple reasons including sense of Us/Them with respect to regulators. Collaboration will matter for future success.

Statewide sidewalk data:

--Definitely intriguing

--Hope to use machine learning is interesting. RantWoman means to go back through the tape and clean up her thinking in a little more depth. RantWoman for a bunch of reasons does not automatically trust machine learning on principle. BUT RantWoman would be open to experimenting on her own device about her own travel patterns, particularly rpeated travel patterns over time. RantWoman would consider SEPARATELY uploading her experiences to a larger ML system to see what is in common and what is unique to RantWoman or to only a small percentage of others who might share some characteristics when contributing to the larger pool. RantWoman probably needs to understand Machine Learning a little more to wander down this path and try something. RantWoman also wants a minimal coding option where she can collect data and not have to do too much coding.

--Where would RantWoman want AccessMap data? In all trip planners with an option to run different routings through some customizable criteria and recommend routings, possibly including ranking options presented according to pedestrian criteria. For an example narrative starting point, consider RantWoman's walk in the rain on Christmas day post Adventures of RantWoman: Plonkers, Parsnips, and pedestrian nightmare. Oh My

And some great Less is more items from the lunchtime opportunity to visit posters.RantWoman promises alt text and MAYBE some rearrangement soon.

    

Open Streetmap and Open Streetmap pedestrian advisory committee

--Crowd sourcing data collection sounds cool, but Rant Woman wants a cookie for helping populate data.