today was Sunday

Jun. 15th, 2025 10:45 pm
kareila: (ooooh)
[personal profile] kareila
Glad we have the familiar interim minister starting next week. We had to listen to the Gideons today. But Robby was able to attend the service, so I didn't have to run the music two weeks in a row.

I told my Hiddleston-obsessed local friend that The Life of Chuck was finally on at the theater, so we went to see that this afternoon. It was strange but good. Happy to see [name redacted] on the big screen for the first time in something like 30 years.

Then I came home, turned on ESPN and started screaming when I saw that the Red Sox had traded Devers to San Francisco. No one saw that coming.
siderea: (Default)
[personal profile] siderea
I have a question about eye safety, maybe someone here can advise me on.

Apropos of the protests going on, I've seen a lot of helpful pointers about preparing for getting tear gassed or pepper sprayed, such as not to wear contacts and to have tight-fitting chemists' goggles. But not wearing vision correction is not an option for those who need it, and the alternative to contacts is glasses, which are apparently incompatible with most eye protection from gas or particulates.

I am aware of the existence of some models of full-face gas mask that have internal mounting hardware for glasses, but in addition to being expensive themselves, they require getting lenses made and fitted to the gas mask (i.e. not compatible with regular glasses). I'm surmising the existence of these means that other, cheaper, spectacle-compatible eye protection doesn't really exist, but I thought I'd ask.

My personal interest in the topic is less about protecting myself from chemical ordnance at protests – I only wish I could attend protests (though if things got spicy in the right location I suppose I could collect my fair share of tear gas at home) – than from wildfire smoke. The conjunction of the No Kings protests and the local air quality alerts from fires in Canada reminded me I should really be doing some preparation in this space.

I'm allergic to smoke. (It turns out it wasn't con crud I kept getting at Pennsic.) My reactivity to smoke only seems to be gradually getting worse over time. So when I've heard reports or seen pictures from the left coast of the sorts of wildfire smog they have there, I'm like "...not enough steroids in the world." I mostly manage this threat by not crossing the Mississippi, but it could happen here. Or upwind of here. It has. If not quite so "blot out the sun" bad, certainly bad enough for me to feel it.

So I've been looking at half-face elastomeric respirators, but that leave eyes unprotected.

Any suggestions?

Edit: I'm getting a lot of suggestions that aren't really helpful because:

1) Most safety goggles are for protection against impact or splashes, and as such literally have vent holes that make them useless against gases and airborne particulates.

2) Involve buying a prescription eyepiece. The whole point of my question was looking for alternatives to buying additional prescription lenses. Like I said, I am already aware of options that entail ordering custom lenses, I am looking for alternatives that don't involve that and are compatible with regular glasses the wearer already has.

There may not be any*, which would be good to know, but that is the question.

Allow me to put a finer point on this. If there is no affordable, readily available option for eye protection against gas/powder attacks for people who are dependent on vision correction, then that implies something important about protest safety that is entirely missing from all of the discourse of the sort that recommends having a gas mask to go to a protest.

* Since posting, I learned the term PAPR, and am now wondering why they're so expensive and whether that's a technology ripe for DIY.

three things make a post

Jun. 12th, 2025 09:41 pm
kareila: (escherknot)
[personal profile] kareila
1. Robby got his catheter removed yesterday and was given another three days worth of antibiotics in response to the on-and-off low-grade fever he reported. So far so good. His dad has been through the same recovery process and is offering helpful advice, which is a blessing.

2. Connor completed on-campus orientation for his first term of college classes starting in a couple of months. He really likes his advisor, which is great. (Apparently they are both M:tG players.) Connor wants to pursue a major in data science and a minor in creative writing, with a long term plan of getting an MILS degree. Unfortunately he left today's registration session extremely discouraged because it wasn't possible to schedule both EN 101 and CS 100 with the slots available. So he didn't register for EN 101, and we need to meet with his advisor again to get things sorted out. Personally, I think 13 credit hours is still an adequate course load, so it may be more of a matter of whether there's anything he was hoping to take this spring that would require EN 101 as a prereq. But first I had to talk him down from his knee-jerk reaction of "I guess I have to change my major???"

3. We had the opportunity tonight to see John Green speak in promotion of his new book about tuberculosis. He managed to both acknowledge the dismay and frustration of the current state of affairs in the world and also cultivate optimism about our ability to solve hard problems. The kids walked out feeling inspired, which made me hopeful in turn.

HEY THAT MOVIE IS TOTALLY GAY

Jun. 10th, 2025 06:25 pm
rmd: (Default)
[personal profile] rmd
Here's a random and utterly incomplete list of some queer movies where there's a happy ending. Sometimes after lots of violence, sometimes after doomful awkwardness, and sometimes just happy.

Pride (based on a true story)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_(2014_film)
(Paramount+, Kanopy)

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Priscilla,_Queen_of_the_Desert
(Amazon Prime, Peacock)
30 years after the movie, folks managed to track down the actual bus used in filming:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/11/the-30-year-hunt-to-find-the-priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-bus-my-jaw-was-on-the-ground

But I'm a Cheerleader
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_I%27m_a_Cheerleader
(Paramount+)

Everything Everywhere All At Once
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Everywhere_All_at_Once
(availble for digital rental etc, possibly not included on any streaming service's subscription at the moment)

The Kids Are All Right
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kids_Are_All_Right_(film)
(availble for digital rental etc, possibly not included on any streaming service's subscription at the moment)

Bound (The Wachowskis first directing credit, before The Matrix. Content note: the film earns its R rating with sexual content but also with some very intense moments of violence.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bound_(1996_film)
(Paramount+, Kanopy)

The Birdcage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birdcage
(Amazon Prime, Peacock)

Happiest Season
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiest_Season
(Hulu)

Desert Hearts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Hearts
(Max, Criterion)

Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredibly_True_Adventure_of_Two_Girls_in_Love
(Netflix, Kanopy)

Go Fish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Fish_(film)
(Amazon Prime, Kanopy)

Here's some queer movies I haven't seen that I keep meaning to check out that I think are probably in the same category or at least aren't too doomful, maybe?
Ammonite
Booksmart
Bottoms
Bros
Carol
D.E.B.S.
Fire Island
Love Lies Bleeding
Moonlight
My Own Private Idaho
Nyad
Power of the Dog
Red, White, and Royal Blue
Rustin
Saving Face
TransAmerica
Will & Harper
siderea: (Default)
[personal profile] siderea
2025 Jun 7 11:40 am: [profile] benjalvarez1 on Twitter:

WATCH THIS: https://x.com/BenjAlvarez1/status/1931375699786334704

Click through to see the video. You really, really should. Sound is irrelevant.

Text: "Tanks, fighting vehicles and howitzers arrive in Washington, D.C. ahead of next week's military parade. They departed from Texas on June 2." Two minutes and forty seconds.

Allegedly that train is a mile long and is transporting:

• 28 Abrams tanks (M1A2 main battle tank)
• 3 armored recovery vehicles (M88)
• 28 Bradleys (M2A3 infantry fighting vehicle)
• 5 Paladins (M109A7 self-propelled howitzer), and
• 28 Strykers (infantry carrier vehicle)

Source: 2025 Jun 6: @USAMilitaryChannel on YT [not official military channel]: "1-Mile Military Train -Texas to D.C. with Tanks, Armor, and More for Army's 250th Parade". I do not know if that source is reputable or if that inventory is accurate.

USA Today is reporting that "The military vehicles will be joined by 1,800 soldiers". (Source: 2025 Jun 6, USATODAY on YT: "Watch: Tanks, fighting vehicles head to DC for Trump's military parade", CW: face full of Trump, alt: screenshot).

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking that maybe the guy who attempted one coup already bringing a well-armed military force into our capitol city and, crucially, within artillery-range of the Pentagon, is just throwing himself a birthday party, but also maybe not.

ETA: For those of you confused by this, thinking, but doesn't he already control the military? You might want to watch this video about the rise of Xi Jinping.

Now, obviously, Trump would never play a long game like Xi did. But, 1) there are other ways to achieve the same end and 2) he doesn't have to, because his buddies, the Dominionists, did.

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