Feminist Freedom

Fellow Jurors: be informed

2011-01-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

So last summer I learned about this great organization called the "Fully Informed Jury Association" (FIJA) but so far I haven't done much with it because I'm way too lazy and I would have to actually start the Georgia chapter which is scary to me. However, I have been getting "Progress Reports" from this really cool old dude from FIJA named Julian who basically just stands around and hands out pamphlets (and maybe sometimes smokes a little weed while yelling into a bullhorn, but that's a totally different matter). His most recent progress report was quite disturbing. Basically he has been charged with (felony?) jury tampering charges just for handing out pamphlets informing citizens of their rights as jurors when they report for jury duty. He does not direct the jurors in any way and does not target jurors for specific trials; he's just out there to make sure they actually know the rules as they pertain to jury trials and the jurors themselves.
It's outrageous that he is being charged for a crime at all, when any ethical system would be thanking him for helping them out and without pay! I have reproduced the parts of his most recent progress report below that pertain to his upcoming trial. Please read it and spread the word! Also let me know if you're interested in helping me start up some FIJA activity in the state of Georgia.

FIJA's website
Julian's Progress Report

Progress Report: 2011-01-12
Hi Tyranny Fighters:

OUR TIME HAS ARRIVED!

On January 11, 2011, I was notified by summons that I have been criminally charged with jury tampering. The moment of truth has arrived. My response to the court is given at the end of this E-mail. The dance begins. Finally we will have the opportunity to inform the jury in the U. S. District Court: Southern District of New York that the judges have routinely lied to it.

This trial could be the defining trial of the decade. We must not blow it. I will represent myself as counsel pro se. However, I am asking all the attorneys and others knowledgable in the law on the Tyranny Fighters mailing list receiving this E-mail to join as co-counsels. Particularly, I hope that the American Jury Institute/Fully Informed Jury Association and the American Civil Liberties Union join me to provide advice, guidance and strategy.

I maintain the role as lead counsel, because I can and will say and do things that could disbar any attorney.

In addition, I request that all of you that write for news outlets, have radio shows, and/or blogs will publicize this trial to the hilt. I intend to provide a blow by blow flow of trial information. Be sure to send your material to major news outlets. The rest of you can write letters-to-the editor of your local newspapers and magazines with trial information as it becomes available.

I want this to be the ultimate public trial.

....

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE

THE PRICE OF JUSTICE IS ETERNAL PUBLICITY

Yours in freedom—Julian

734 Rutland Avenue

Teaneck, NJ 07666

814–880–9308

January 13, 2011

Pro Se Clerk

Room 230

U. S. District Court

Southern District of New York

500 Pearl Street

New York, NY 10007

Re: United States v. Julian Heicklen, Cr. 1154

Dear Clerk:

On January 11, 2011, at 1:25 pm, I was served with a summons by Officer Martinez and 2 other unidentified Federal Protection Service Officers to appear for a hearing on January 24, 2011, at 10:00 am in Courtroom 15B. This is less than the 20 days usually allowed by this Court. Furthermore a summons should be served by federal marshals, not law enforcement officers. Additionally there are other problems:

1. Was I indicted by a Grand Jury? If not the indictment is not valid. See U. S. Constitution, Amendment V and J. Heicklen “The Non-Trials,” Ch. IV (2011); just published.

2. If I was indicted, I was not informed of any hearing, and thus was denied the opportunity to testify before the Grand Jury. That makes any indictment invalid, as I am entitled to present my information to the Grand Jury as given by FRCrP Rules 7 and 58(b)(1):

Rule 7. The Indictment and the Information

(a) When Used. (1) Felony. An offense (other than criminal contempt) must

be prosecuted by an indictment if it is punishable: (A) by death; or (B)by imprisonment for more than one year.

(2) Misdemeanor. An offense punishable by imprisonment for one year or less may be prosecuted in accordance with Rule

58(b)(1).

58 (b) Pretrial Procedure. (1) Charging Document. The trial of a misdemeanor may proceed on an indictment, information, or complaint. The trial of a petty offense may also proceed on a citation or violation notice.

3. The arraignment was not done in open court in the presence of the defendant, in conflict with FRCrP Rule 10.

Rule 10. Arraignment

(a) In General. An arraignment must be conducted in open court and must consist of:

(1) ensuring that the defendant has a copy of the indictment or information;

(2) reading the indictment or information to the defendant or stating to the defendant the substance of the charge; and then

(3) asking the defendant to plead to the indictment or information.

4. In addition to those technicalities, the summons does not include any deposition from the accuser, so that I do not know the specific incident that is involved. The summons states that there is only one charge, but gives no particulars, including a date, time, location of the incident, names & dates of jurors tampered, & how tampered. This is a violation of FRCrP Rule 3.

Rule 3. The Complaint

The complaint is a written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged. It must be made under oath before a magistrate judge or, if none is reasonably available, before a state or local judicial officer.

5. It also is a violation of the U. S. Constitution, Amendment VI, which requires that the accused “be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.” It also violates FRCrP Rules 43 and 44.

Rule 43. Defendant’s Presence

(a) When Required. Unless this rule, Rule 5, or Rule 10 provides otherwise, the defendant must be present at: the initial appearance, the initial arraignment, and the plea; and

Rule 44.

(2) every trial stage, including jury impanelment and the re- turn of the verdict; and (3) sentencing

6. Since I am being charged with a criminal offense, I am entitled to a jury trial as required by the U. S. Constitution, Amendment VI. I will need such a commitment in writing from the trial judge before proceding further.

7. Before I appear for a hearing, I must be notified of what will transpire at the hearing, so I can prepare appropriately to respond and defend myself, as required by Rule 4.

Rule 4. Arrest Warrant or Summons on a Complaint

(b)Form.

(1) Warrant. A warrant must:

(A) contain the defendant’s name or, if it is unknown, a name or description by which the defendant can be identified with reasonable certainty;

(B) describe the offense charged in the complaint;

(C) command that the defendant be arrested and brought without unnecessary delay before a magistrate judge or,

if none is reasonably available, before a state or local judicial officer; and

(D) be signed by a judge.

(2) Summons. A summons must be in the same form as a warrant except that it must require the defendant to appear before a magistrate judge at a stated time and place.Finally Judge Wood threatened me against using my legal right in another case #08 CV 02457, and she recused herself upon my request. She cannot conduct an impartial trial and must be recused from this case.

8. Finally Judge Wood threatened me against using my legal right in another case #08 CV 02457, and she recused herself upon my request. She cannot conduct an impartial trial and must be recused from this case.

I thank the Court for the opportunity to discuss jury nullification in front of a jury in this court. I look forward to the experience.

Sincerely yours,

Julian Heicklen

Defendant

Counsel Pro Se

CC: Rebecca Mermelstein, Assistant U. S. Attorney, S. D. N. Y., U. S. Courthouse, 300 Quarropas Street, White Plains, NY 10601

Another Bra Quickie

2008-12-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

figleaves is having a Christmas sale. They have lots of stuff 90% off. I don't think you can return anything, which is annoying, but for 90% off, it might be worth it anyway.

My experience with Jeff Monk of the Laurel, MS Police Department.

2008-10-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

So Monday night I got the chance to get acquainted with the jackass K-9 unit of the Laurel, Mississippi Police deptarment, and in particular, Officer Jeff Monk #206

So the good new first: I was in New Orleans for VoodooFest this weekend, and found out the Faint were playing a show Monday night long after we should have been on our way home. Of course we stayed for it and we were right at the front (as in holding onto the stage to try to keep from getting pushed around too much, and having the singer hold my hand for a second after the show!!) and it was totally awesome.
But we had to be back in Atlanta Tuesday morning. My fiance was supposed to be back by 8:00 AM, but we figured we'd be pushing that pretty close since it was 1AM ET before we even left the show.

A couple hours later, I was driving us through Laurel, Mississippi and my fiance was asleep in the passenger seat. Suddenly, the speed limit dropped from 70 to 40. I think there had been a sign claiming it was a work zone but there was no indication of any work being done. There were no other cars around. The road was in good shape and was wide open. The 40 mph speed limit was COMPLETELY unreasonable. Anything below 65 would have been unreasonable. Laurel, after all, isn't much of a metropolis. So I kept going at about 50 mph (the speed limit dropped to 60-50-40 over about 1 mile...45 mph is the MINIMUM speed in most places), until I saw a police car on the side of the road. I slowed a bit, passed him a ways, and then saw him pull onto the road. UGH. He followed me VERY closely for several miles. He obviously was going to pull me over, so I couldn't imagine what he was doing. I suppose he could've been trying to see if I was drunk, but in retrospect that was unlikely since he didn't even ask if I'd had a drink, much less test me for anything like that.

So of course, Officer Monk did eventually pull me over. He came up and told me that I'd been going 50 when the speed limit dropped down to 40. I was having trouble finding my driver's license, so he asked for my fiance's license and went to run that. Asked if he'd ever gotten a ticket, had any arrests, etc... When he got back, I gave him my license (it had been under my fiance in the passenger seat) and he asked me the same thing. All pretty standard so far, although I guess it's a little odd that he asked for the fiance's license, but I guess it didn't seem weird at the time because I couldn't find mine.

So as he was running my license, I noticed another police car drive up behind us. A little weird, I thought, for a person going 50 mph on the wide open fucking road. Especially since the cars behind me seemed to be speeding quite a bit more than that. I guess that at this time it's worth noting that my fiance still has a Ron Paul bumper sticker on the back of his car.
Officer Monk came back to the car and told me to grab a jacket and step out of the car, saying "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do." I figured he was either going to write a warning, or else write a ticket for our burnt out tail light instead of the speeding since that would be a lesser fine. I figured it would be at most 2 minutes, so I didn't bother with my jacket which was in the trunk. So he started off telling me that he was just gonna write me a warning. Playing good cop I guess. Then he paused and stated that my fiance seemed nervous. "Is he always like that around the po-lice?" I stated that I thought if anything it was because he'd been asleep. We'd been standing around outside for a while as he was writing out a warning; my fiance glanced back at us, which is apparently very suspicious. So they took that as their chance. One of the cops went back to the car to ask my fiance to get out of the car and put his hands of the roof for a frisking. He had to empty his pockets: wallet, keys, bouncy ball- you know. At this time, we also had a 3rd car arriving along with a barking dog. The timing for all this is kind of confusing. He had told me they were just going to let me go with a warning, but he and the other guy were both standing there talking to me the entire time, so they had clearly called the dude with the dog BEFORE he told me he was letting us go. Fucked. Really.

So the second cop took my fiance over to his car and talked with him. Monk asked me to walk around to the back of his car and sit on his rear bumper. The third cop brought out the dog to sniff around our car. Afterward, Monk brought me back around to the front of the car (so I was again right behind my car) and asked if there was anything in the car that his dog wouldn't like. I said no. (In fact, we don't use illegal drugs, just a little drinking- and on this particular day my fiance had 1 beer 7 hours earlier and I'd had a cappuccino about 14 hours earlier. The only drugs in our car were 3 Prilosec OTC and to be fair to their drug dog perhaps some residual smoke since we had spent the weekend at a music festival, but again to be fair to us, they'd had no reason to bring out the dog at all except for our political ideology) He said that his dog was acting like they might find something, and that if it was just a misdemeanor amount of weed they'd throw it on the side of the road and let us on our way. My fiance later told me that at the same time they 2nd cop was asking him "Come on- you have just a little something?" "No, we really don't have anything" "You don't REALLY have anything, so you've got just a little something." So apparently they were separating us in hopes that one of us would confess to something. Of course, there was one flaw in that plan. We didn't have anything.

I told Monk and cop 3 that I was 100% certain they wouldn't find anything. We allowed them to search the car because my fiance was in a hurry to get to his meeting and since we REALLY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING we figured that would be the fastest way. Under some circumstances I might have wanted to be more annoying but I would have wanted to get my fiance's permission first...ha...especially if there was some reason that we didn't want to go to jail at the time.
Monk and cop 3 searched the car. At that point I (and my fiance says he as well) started to get pretty nervous that they might "find" something after all. From the things they were saying to us, they weren't even allowing for the possibility that they might not find ANYTHING, so it was a little bit scary. Maybe there was a reason for that certainty, you know?

But luckily, we were just a couple of white kids. They didn't find anything in our car. Unless you count the two cases of tortilla chips I'd bought earlier in the day. (The Whole Foods here doesn't carry El Milagro, even though they have a factory in north Atlanta, so I had to stock up while I was in NOLA.) They wrote out the warning and let us on our way.

Now, in retrospect, I'm sure the "warning" was just a bargaining chip. If he was giving us a warning, he could threaten us with a real ticket if we didn't let them search the car. But after looking him up online, I don't think he's even a traffic cop! I don't even know if he has the authority to write speeding tickets in the first place! He's part of the "Interstate Interdiction Team" which as far as I can tell means that his job is to catch people transporting drugs or illegal immigrants. He clearly intended to search the car before he ever even pulled us over. If I hadn't been speeding he would've pulled us for the tail light and searched anyway. In fact, while searching his name, I found this little gem.
http://www.leadercall.com/local/local_story_043094409.html
The guy was nervous so he called for back up? Bullshit. They're randomly pulling cars and searching them because the drivers/passengers "seem nervous." Fucking convenient how subjective that is. Sure he seems like a hero when he gets 100 lbs of weed off the street that was heading out of the state, but how many people's rights do you have to violate before you can find someone whose actually got something?
If I had had some weed I would've still been pissed because I wasn't being suspicious and laws against drugs are wrong in the first place. But since I didn't have anything, I have the benefit of also getting to be indignant. How dare they assume that just because I want to legalize drugs that I use them myself!

I really love being a drug-free libertarian and now feel especially validated in that position.

Finally, we were out in the freezing cold for about a half hour and now I'm pretty sick with a cold (I didn't have a jacket- after all)

Quickie on Bras

2008-09-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

So I promised pictures in the update:Here you go. This is the kind of bullshit that makes it so hard to find a well fitting bra. This model clearly is not wearing the right size

The band size is too big; it's riding up her back
The cup size is too small. If she pulled her band down and pulled the straps back properly (rather than having her breasts spilling forward) then she would have the double-boob deal going on BIG time. I figure it's at least 2 sizes small

But models never wear the right size, because the proper fit often doesn't look as sexy. Models usually have their pectoral muscles flexed- not how you normally walk around, and what's more, they normally have their cups tilted forward rather than fitted properly against their chest because that gives more cleavage.
I tried on one bra tat fit me perfectly. I filled out the cup, I didn't have any spillage, it was perfectly tight on the loosest setting. Then I looked at the picture on the bra hanger. It pretty much looked just like the picture above- which I didn't look like at all. I thought about going back down a cup size before I realized all these stupid tricks that they do with models so that you think a bra should look one way when it actually isn't designed that way at all.

It's like the high-schooler stores (A&F, Hollister, AE, etc...) that pin the backs of the shirts and jackets on their mannequins. It's so stupid. Don't they think people will put the clothes on and see right away that that's not actually how the shirt is made (like with normal size shoulders but an absurdly narrow waist)? No one is gonna wear the clothes that way.

I always liked going in and untying the shirts.

P.S. I received a comment on my last post which linked to a bunch of GREAT articles and websites on finding the right fitting bra. It was even suggested that the right band size is actually the SAME as the underbust measurement! Gasp!

Yeah having "huge boobs" is great, until you need to buy a bra

2008-08-29T17:29:00.001-07:00

(I know, "pics or it didn't happen." GTFO, boys, obviously this post isn't for you :-P)
I've been away for a while. I've been working some on the house, but I've also been working on this: http://www.cku.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2981194&cp=3001613.3149555&parentPage=family
Yes, that's a link to a bra. I need a new one for the wedding (and this is probably it), but looking for one has thrown me TOTALLY for a loop. The short version is that I tried on bras for 3+ hours today and the best fitting size was a 30DD even though I've historically worn a 34B. The long version follows.

When I was trying on bras today, and the last time I went bra shopping both, the ones in the size I traditionally wear weren't fitting very well. I've always thought of myself as being little more than totally flat chested, although I know some of that is just distorted body image, and I've in the past year or so come to accept that it's not really true, and that porn stars are probably not appropriate for comparison (but who else's boobs do you get to seen naked, typically?)
I wore a 36A when I was a lot younger, then realized the band size was WAY too big (I also liked to pretend my feet were bigger than they really were. I don't know wtf was wrong with me) so I went down to a 34B. So I've been wearing basically a 34B most of my life. I've been measured like once but the girl wasn't very thorough and I think told me I was a 34B or 34C. I rolled my eyes at her because for one, I didn't understand that if you went down a band size that the cup size is the same. (In other words, a 36A/34B/32C/30D are all the same cup size.) I thought "what is this woman thinking saying I could be a C cup?!" because I thought the cup size stayed mostly the same as you changed band sizes, just with slight fluctuations.
But last year some time, I was shopping with my friend who raves about Calvin Klein bras, and I remember when I was younger owning one in a B cup, because a friend had told me that the cup sizes run small. Another friend who was with us also just got measured and found out the reason her bras weren't fitting well was because she was wearing too large a band size, so I was adventurous and tried on a 32C. It fit SO much better than the 34Bs I'd been wearing. Like in every way. I thought I was barely a B cup because of how my cups were never quite full, but in retrospect (and currentspect too, because my 32Cs are giving me similar problems) I realize my cups were just moving all over the place because the band was just too big!

So since all this wedding crap I've been measuring myself over and over again because I'm frustrated with all the bras I have and I'm frustrated that last time when I went shopping for 32Cs my boobs were popping up all over the top of the bras. Also, as a recent development from today, all the 32s I tried on were honestly too big in the band, because to be comfortable, I was fastening on the tightest setting, and that to me means that once it stretches at all, then it's pretty much time for the trash. I like to start my bras on the loosest setting and work inwards so that I can get a little extra time out of them. That's another reason the 34Bs weren't working for me. They were too loose after about a month.
So. There are two ways you can measure for the band size of a bra. You can measure right under your breasts and add 4 (or 6) or 5 for odd numbers. I say 4 or 6 because some places say to take the number and add 4 if it's even, 5 if it's odd, while others say to take the number and add 5, and round up if the resulting sum is odd. (note also that this is only if your measurement is less than 33", or else you should add less) I measure 29-30" so I should be a 34 or 36 depending on who you ask.
But wait! The other way is to measure above your breasts, under your armpits. If you do it this way, the number you get is supposed to be your band size- no addition necessary, but round up if it's odd. Although I think it seems better to round down because as far as I can tell, having a band a half size too big is much worse than a half size too small, especially since it will stretch out. But I bet rounding up is better if you're trying to sell bras. This way, I measure right at 31" putting me at a 32, or as I just said makes more sense to me, a 30. So these two measurements, which "should" be 4-5 inches apart are at best two. This is why I have such a hard time figuring out my bra size! Apparently I'm all disfigured!
Actually, that is kind of part of my size problem. I think that because the gauge of my chest is large compared to the rest of my frame, my breasts are wider than average, so they have a larger volume than you might suspect by looking at me in profile- making my cup size larger than I realized.
For the cup size, you measure right around the largest part of your bust, while wearing a nice fitting bra (hey if I could find one I wouldn't be measuring!) that isn't minimizing or padded. Subtract from this number your band size (here's where you get more problems. They tell you to subtract your rounded band size which will almost definitely get you the wrong cup size if you did in fact have to round). For each inch difference, add one cup size. So 1"=A, 2"=B, 3"=C, 4"=D, etc...up the alphabet. I measure 35". So this means I'm either a 36AA (-1=AA) (yeah right it would fall of of me), a 34A (HA, I'm spilling out over a 32C which is a full size larger than that!), a 32C (not a bad guess, but I already stated my problems with it) or a 30DD (30E). WTF.
So I bit.
I went to Macy's and grabbed basically every Calvin Klein bra they had, since it was the only brand that went to 30DD. Or at least the only one organized enough to be able to find any particular size. I tried on some 30Ds which were pretty nice, but did give me just a little of the bulging at the top, especially when my arms were up, or I was standing with proper posture (shoulders back and down, back straight and all) but it wasn't too bad. Some 32Ds were actually good too, except for a little puckering in the band that I couldn't get rid of, suggesting to me that the band was slightly loose still. Certainly no spillage in that one. The cups looked really great actually but I think after a month or two the band would be big enough that they move all around like with the 32Cs I have now.
Really, the 30DD was perfect. The cups fit great, the band felt like it wasn't going anywhere. I tried on padded, push-up, fabric cups. There was a slight puckering with the fabric cups, so I'm actually probably a 30D1/2 (eyeroll) but it still fit better than 30D. (actually IIRC it was the 32D with the puckering. The 30DD was damn near perfect, even with the fabric cups. The push-up was amazing. This is it. Note how they don't have that one in 30DD online, even though it was in the store. And they have the wedding bra I want online but not in the store. Brilliant!) Of course, what it comes down to is that if I want a 30DD or even a 30D I'll almost never be able to buy in a store. 32Ds are a little easier to come by, but not by a whole lot really. (I think I found 1 brand other than Calvin Klein that had some, and I only found 2 styles in that brand. CK carries 30-38 A-DD in most if not all of their styles.) Even 32Cs are hard to find. I'll have to buy mostly online. And I'll never be able to buy on sale because there aren't a lot of them to begin with so I guess they sell out fast.

Now, I know that probably a lot of this has to do with companies making cup sizes that run small in the same way they make clothing sizes run big. You want to get up a girl's confidence so she is more likely to buy your clothes. ("You mean I'm a size 2 and a 30DD?? Wow I'm never shopping anywhere else again!") But even by measurements, (I'm using the second band measurement because the first one so clearly doesn't work for me in anyway and also my theory that probably the difference between your two measurements should be what determines your cup size, rather than using the already rounded number) I should be a 32D/30D. So that's not really very far off, even using measurements rather than the sizes of certain brands (like CKU which I said may run small in the cup according to a middle school friend of mine.)
So maybe a lot of the problem is that they're really right, that 70% or whatever of women are wearing the wrong size bra. Probably MOST women need to go down a band size (and therefore up a cup size) I mean I thought I should be wearing a 34B and am now looking for 30D/DDs.
So I recommend everyone go out and get measured, or measure yourself. Try it both ways, to get a good idea, and then do what I did. Spend 3 hours in the bra section at a department store trying on ALL different sizes (I tried on some 34Bs/34Cs just to check cup size, even though the band size was too big, I just pulled it tight. I tried a bunch of combinations of 30/32 C/D/DD)
CK was the only brand I could find any specific size in really because (a. their cups run small and b.) they were the only one organized at all. So you might want to look there if you can't find the size you want elsewhere. That said though, the 32Ds I tried on in other brands fit like a charm too, so it's not like this is some fluke in CK's sizing. (although one Wacoal was a hilarious uber-push-up that made me look like I was auditioning for Baywatch. They were UP and OUT though, and filled out nicely, so it wasn't really a bad thing except for the $60 price tag.)
I don't recommend Victoria's Secret. When I told a saleslady the 32C was big in the band and small in the cup she suggested I try a different style in the "swing size" of 34B, assuring me it runs small in the band (2 sizes small? and does it also run large in the cup? Or did you not here that the 32C *doesn't fit*?!)
What I'm really hoping is that everyone goes and gets measured, decides they're wearing the wrong size, and the whole demand curve will shift and I'll be able to find my own bras easier.

And the moral of the story? If my boobs are actually getting bigger, I hope it's not because I'm pregnant.

I couldn't take all the extra bra shopping that would require.

A New Technique

2008-08-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

So this post is going to be all about freedom. Freedom from the oppression of the base ten system that our fingers have for centuries condemned us to!
OK yeah I'm lame whatever.

Here's the question: How high can you count on your fingers? Strictly speaking, most people can count up to 10, although if you can keep it in your head, some people can get up to about 30.

I can count to 1023 on my fingers, because I count using binary.

I know the word "binary" is going to scare people because they think of the matrix and the long streams of 1s and 0s, but that's not what I'm talking about. All the math required to do this is the ability to multiply by 2 and do some addition. The addition does get a little bit complicated, but the great thing is that you can still just count as high as you can add it up.

Fingers are inherently binary- they can encode either a 1 or a 0 by pointing or not. And since you have 10 fingers, you can count up to 2^10 - 1 = 1023 on your fingers if you use binary- at the very least you can count up to 31 on one hand.
Because binary is base 2, each digit (haha...digit...) is worth some power of two. The first is worth 2^0=1, then 2^1=2, 2^2=4, 2^3=8, and 2^4=16 for the first hand. Therefore, if each finger is "ON" (pointing, or worth 1) then you add up all five numbers...1+2+4+8+16=31

So here's the technique...hold your right hand with your palm facing you and all fingers in. This is 0 (00000). Put your thumb out for 1 (00001). Each finger corresponds to the 1 or 0 in its place in five digit number. (pinky ring middle index thumb). To count, the technique is always the same. Find the rightmost finger that is OFF (not pointing) and put it ON (pointing). At the same time, turn all the fingers to the right of that finger off. Repeat...
0-00000
1-00001
2-00010
3-00011
4-00100
5-00101
6-00110
7-00111
8-01000
etc...
Again, the digits are worth... 16-8-4-2-1

So have fun. If you have any questions, post me some comments. Otherwise, just don't be overzealous with #4 or else you might find yourself in a bar fight!

0-10

minirant

2008-08-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

OK today was very busy so I'm going to do another minirant already (luckily I'm pretty sure there are lots of things that annoy me so I don't think I'll run out of topics any time soon)

Bumper Sticker: Women want Raises not Roses

WTF? I like roses and that doesn't make me less of a woman! Frankly right now I'd like either but that's another story- it doesn't matter because the not means we don't want roses at all, even in conjunction with raises.
You don't speak for all women, mystery driver. Women are not some hive-mind like the Borg (Yeah I'm a Star Trek geek, what of it?) who all have the same thoughts and feelings and all want the same thing. We are individuals who thankfully have our own minds because if you shared my thoughts you would have smacked yourself in the face by now.

And since I'm driving behind you I'd rather you wait til you're off the roads.

Intro to Knitting Night

2008-08-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday (at least until Monday Night Football starts back up) my girls and I get a little group together to gossip, drink beer, watch sports or other TV, and sometimes even knit. First let me introduce you to the players:

Amber

Level: Advanced
Current Project: 2-tone handbag (on hold: a second sock)
Pets: Dog Kaisa

Rachel

Level: Expert
Current Project: Fingerless gloves (on hold: shawl)
Pets: Dog Emma

Sarah

Level: Intermediate
Current Project: Harry Potter scarf
Pets: none (although I'm sure she'd love to adopt a pair of sugargliders)

Casey

Level: Intermediate
Current Project: Cute Fish mobile thingy (for her sister's baby)
Pets: Dog Ralphie

Sharon

Level: Intermediate
Current Project: PSP cozy
Pets: 2 cats (I haven't met them yet though)

Michelle

Level: Beginner
Current Project: Potholder (or possibly a scarf by now)
Pets: Cat Pokey

And me..
Lauren

Level: Intermediate
Current Project: Fishtail lace scarf
Pets: Snake Ulitakiwa (Uli)

(please no one get offended by my "level" rankings...I defined "intermediate" as anything after rectangles, "advanced" as doing all kinds of cool techniques, and "expert" as being able to tackle almost anything with confidence)

This week we picked an at-home locale and were therefore able to watch episodes of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (click to watch for free!), we were joined by Amber's friend Fiona (a newbie to knitting as well) who will hopefully become a regular, I fixed my missing stitches (apparently expert knitters like to intentionally put little mistakes in their work as evidence that it's handmade- we'll say that's why I have an extra hole as well) , and Amber finished half of her bag which looks awesome so far! (Pardon my photography skills)

And here's the progress so far on my scarf:

It looks beautiful when it's all stretched out so you can see the laciness, and that's how it should look on its own after blocking (in theory anyway.) Here's a close up of the lace:

As a treat to any of my readers out there who might like to try their hand at lace, (note, you should probably first try some potholders before moving on to things with intentional holes!) I'm including the .pdf of my pattern, available free on the interwebs (all kinds of freebies in this post!)
Fishtail Lace Scarf
This pattern is really easy and is good for a first lace project. I'm doing it exactly how they suggest, 41 stitches, Blue Sky Alpaca (I'm using the "Melange" instead of the standard sport weight in color "Relish"), size 4 needles

Lemme know what you think!

Update

2008-08-19T10:57:00.001-07:00

First, I wanted to point out the new video player, which should have lots of yummy recipes on it. I love getting recipes from videos; it helps me sometimes to actually see the techniques instead of just reading over the text.

Secondly, I posted a couple of comments to follow up my minirant on fluorescent lamps, but I also wanted to go out and get some numbers, since that's what us engineers love. Here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Incandescent
Efficiency: 17 lumens/Watt
Lifespan: ~1000 hours
Dimmable: Yes
Fluorescent
Efficiency: 50-67 lumens/Watt
Lifespan: 1,200-20,000 hours
Dimmable: No (typically)
LEDs
Efficiency: 100 lumens at 1 Watt
Lifespan: 50,000-60,000 hours
Dimmable: Yes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp

Finally, I have my knitting night with the girls tonight. I'm hoping to bring back some pictures of everyone's projects and maybe even fix my dropped stitches.

The Family Hierarchy, Part Deux

2008-08-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

So the other question is one of how much freedom is appropriate to give your children. I'm probably not quite qualified to answer what with the not having any children of my own, but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion.

It's part of my fundamental core of beliefs that a person should have the freedom to do basically anything he wants as long as he doesn't hurt anyone else. This, of course, is the central belief of anarcho-capitalism as well, although I still remain unconvinced as to whether or not this can be enforced without a state. More on that later, you can rest assured.
As I said previously, I was confronted by some anarchists asking how I could believe it is legitimate for parents to "rule over" their children given my beliefs of (nearly) unlimited freedom. The problem with this logic is that we're not born rational beings. Children need their parents' help to learn right from wrong, and that actions have consequences, and how to use reason to make their decisions.
But even given that, I'm not really sure I do believe that it's legitimate for parents to control their children excessively, especially into the age ranges where it's standard in our culture. I mean don't get me wrong, many 16-year-olds think they know everything (wow that's not cliche) only to be completely embarrassed in hindsight by how they acted as teenagers. But how are young'uns expected to learn how to make the right decisions when their parents restrict their decision making opportunities as much as possible? And I don't mean that we should completely protect kids until they're teenagers and then turn them loose. Children need to be given more freedom (and for another cliche..."with that freedom comes responsibility") from about the time they're starting school, if not sooner. Teach them to pick out their own clothes and leave them to dress themselves. Let them have sleepovers but let them pick out their own healthy snacks and invite the people they want (maybe even boys and girls!) If you take care of your kids 100% and don't let them do anything to take care of themselves, then they'll fall behind in the game and get overwhelmed when they run off to college.

The argument from the other side actually makes me feel pretty icky. The response to the anarchist argument has been a whole lot of "Kids can't take care of themselves so they're out of luck until they're old enough to move out." While this is pretty much true, it's not a good sentiment to get behind, especially for us libertarian-minded people. Kids should certainly not be treated like serfs just because they're vulnerable! And it's certainly not very freedom-loving to say that it's acceptable to take advantage of people with less abilities than our own. Our children aren't our slaves or even our puppets just because they're helpless- in fact, they're only so helpless because we make them so!

So in conclusion, let kids make some of their own decisions and therefore their own mistakes. Give them some responsibility and give them some freedom- they're not indentured servants paying off a debt for the pregnancy, food, and shelter you've provided.

And when the day comes (because no matter how I try I know it's inevitable) that I first say to my child, "because I said so and I'm your mother," I'll cry.

minirant

2008-08-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

I'm really angry that I can't find out how to dispose of the 4' poisonous light bulbs that I have in my house.
I'm extra angry that the government has outlawed the other major kind of light bulb. Does anyone know if there's any subsidizing of fluorescent/CFLs going on?
I encourage everyone to avoid CFLs which are stupid and instead buy LED light bulbs, which are more expensive, but probably completely worth it, since you don't have to worry about breaking them, they last basically forever without using any electricity and you don't have to do anything special to dispose of them. They're obviously superior in every single way yet we have CFLs pushed on us from all directions. Wake up "environmentalists." For real.

*for those of you who have read this post before, you'll notice it's now rated PG!

The Family Hierarchy, Part I

2008-08-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

This one's a two-parter, because as far as I can tell, there are two hierarchies in the standard Western family. The most obvious is of course parents over children; the other is the rule of one spouse over the other (traditionally a husband ruling over his wife.) Since this blog is supposed to be about feminist issues, I'll go ahead and start with the latter.

I guess I should back up and explain my motivation to even talk about hierarchy...
I consider myself an individual- this is part of the reason why I'm hesitant to use labels such as "feminist" which in a way give people permission to make all kinds of assumptions about what you believe without you ever having to bother with actually discussing your beliefs. As an individual, I believe in individual liberties. I'm a bit politically obsessed, so I'll get into that later, but for now I'll just say that in my discussions with other people who support such individual liberty, I've come across a lot of anarchists... When pointing people to this here blog, I was quickly asked how I felt about the anarchist views of some feminists regarding the structure of families. My answer basically amounted to "I don't know."

Well that's only kind of true...As far as the hierarchy of one spouse over the other, I do know where I stand. As I said in my opening post, I support equality for women and I without a doubt support equality in marriage. But what this topic really brings me to is some great advice from my dad (which in turn came from his Father-in-Law.) When my parents were getting married, he gave my parents two pieces of advice. First of all, he told them to decide who will be the final decision maker when, despite all efforts, neither party is willing to compromise and a decision can't possibly be reached. The implications for the familial hierarchy in this case is obvious, and maybe I'm just too young and unexperienced, because neither my fiance nor I have been able to concoct any situation that would actually effect both of us equally and substantially where, because we couldn't compromise, one of us would be willing to give up our right to have a say. The other advice though I found quite valuable and I'll get to it in just a minute.

How can two people who are both individuals, bringing different things to the table, be equal partners? My fiance right now is at a seminar to be a teaching assistant so that I can afford to sit here at home talking to strangers on the internet. But then I try to keep our laundry and dishes clean and I do most of the meal planning and preparation. With the going rate of a live-in housekeeper/chef I'm not sure he's getting the short end of the stick!
I've lived with roommates before, and even in that case it's exceptionally rare for each person to contribute equally to household chores, and even if they succeed at that, it's nearly impossible that no one will get mad thinking they're being taken advantage of. And with roommates you've just got chores- not (usually) dinners, unequal monetary contributions, and of course sex. I can't even imagine what counts as equality in sex, especially since I consider backrubs to be acceptable payment for a sexual debt.

When it comes to household chores, that's where we come back to my grandaddy's advice... The other thing he told them is that no matter what, never expect your partner to do more than 10% of the household work; always anticipate your contributions to be at or greater than 90%. I think anyone out there trying to make it work in an equal partnership should really take this to heart. Think back to when you had roommates. At least from my own experience, even when my roommate was contributing a fair share (or moreso, since I tend to be a deadbeat and hate living with people who aren't family) it never seemed like they did better than 20% of the work and I was always frustrated and angry with them. It always feels like you're doing more work than you are, and you'll never notice most of the work that someone else does when you're not around. If you expect 50% and you get it, you'll think you're getting screwed because you'll only notice 20%, but if you expect 10%, that 20% will be a treat! OK so I know that's a lot of numbers, but in my defense, I am an engineer, so please just be thankful that I didn't go into fractions of a fraction.
My only point is that the only way to be happy with a truly equal partnership- hell the only way to even have an equal partnership- is for both of you to expect to do most of the work.
And well...as for sex....
I would say the same rule applies.

What is Feminist Freedom?

2008-08-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

I'm a girl. And I am proud of it. I think women deserve the same pay as men for the same work, I believe women deserve the same job opportunities as men, I believe that women should not be expected to stay at home to raise babies and take care of her "dear husband." Many feminists will be quick to let you know that they are for equality of men and women, not advancement of women at the expense of men. Yet I don't identify myself as a "feminist."

There are a lot of reasons for this. One of the simplest is just that using the word "feminist" makes me think that I'm being lied to. If you consider the way words are usually constructed, there's no reason the word "feminism" should mean "equality for females." I guess I can sometimes be a language freak and such words that don't really make sense tend to make me angry. So either the feminists are lying by using the wrong word, or else they're trying to pull the wool over my eyes because they really do seek the destruction of all "man"kind.

But the real reason I don't call myself a "feminist" is because I believe in options for women. It's gotten to the point where any woman whose goal isn't to become the first female president is "setting back the feminist cause by decades." I said before that I don't think women should be expected to stay at home cooking, cleaning, and raising babies. But I do think women should be allowed to do this if they want. One self-proclaimed feminist told me that I was hurting women by wanting to stay at home- that I should make my (now) fiance stay home with the kids while I go to work. Who cares if I want to stay home, and my fiance doesn't want to? Who even cares that my fiance would support my decision if I did want to work? For the advancement of feminism, I was required to go to work- and he is a misogynist for not forcing me to.
Now isn't this backwards? If I were to cave to my fiance trying to force a lifestyle choice I don't want onto me, then that makes me a good feminist. As it is, that my fiance is unable to "force" anything on me, I'm setting back the feminist cause.

Here's hoping that the majority of feminists support Feminist Freedom, and being a stay-at-home mom isn't outlawed alongside analog television.