Saint MacKenzington Station collected some of her inane ramblings and childishly drawn pictures into something called "half-'zine, half-religious tome, half-idiocy" which is impressive due to it being a tiny book.
Be your Self
20110430
Distraction
What you think about shapes who you become. It is for this reason that I didn't know anyone got married on television until someone asked if I saw it. Nor have I seen that funny commercial. I don't give away my attention to just anything. It is all, every bit of it, an intentional distraction from... From what? Look around and find out for yourself what you've been missing. If you pay attention to what's important, you'll likely find that there's no profit in real joy, so no one is selling it (hint: stop trying to buy it).
Be your Self
Be your Self
20101110
What are you not thinking about?
You don't know what you're not thinking about?
Then who does?
Conspiracy theory 1: the advertising industry is partially built on this. Frighteningly plausible.
Shake up your brain, get off of farmville, Warcraft, or whatever else, and do something else. Your mind is based on the past, is this the future you want to be preparing for yourself? Really?
--
Consider yourself god and you gain dominion over your world.
20100808
Doing less to save the world.
I understand and support the movement towards greener consumables, but we seem to have forgotten to simply consume less.
Energy can not be created or destroyed, simply exchanged or altered (assuming we have faith in physics). The energy we are spending on production of anything (green or otherwise) is still energy. Do things yourself, be happy with less (it's pretty easy). The people I've talked to who do more for themselves report feelings of fulfillment and pride in their work.
How many people do you know who recycle their paper and plastic cups and forks and such after microwaving dinner?
--
Consider yourself god and you gain dominion over your world.
20100728
Plant care
To me, my plants (my bonsai in particular) represent my mindful focus on devotion and attention to slow moving things. Ever feel like you're racing around?
Remember, you are a slow moving thing. Pay attention.
--
Consider yourself god and you gain dominion over your world.
20100726
Flowers and women
Ever really thought about flowers and how they do what they do? Simple example: a flowering plant, ready to reproduce (it's horny) creates a flower (puts on makeup and a short skirt) to attract bugs and other critters to it's nectar (sex!). These critters may have visited other flowers (potential mates) and are carrying their genetic information in the form of pollen (semen). Because these bugs may have visited plants with undesirable qualities, many flowers have developed the ability to sort pollen. That is, they completely ignore the pollen from plants of other species and are selective with the pollen from plants of their own species.
Because we, as physically mobile breeders, have the ability to observe and select the mate firsthand (how YOU doin' sweet stuff?) we have never developed the ability to sort semen inside the womb. That is, we sort the males before we get it on. We have developed, instead, selective relationships along with birth control methods.
Perennial flowering plants which are not healthy enough to produce healthy offspring often never create the flower at all, and wait until the next year.
As a mindful being, I wonder if the love created is as much the fruit as any potential offspring. The possible child is not the whole point, and is often irrelevant to the mating process among humans. The relationship itself is fruit sweeter than a cherry. If you're not prepared to make sweet fruit (separate human or otherwise) then perhaps you should wait for next season and become stronger yourself first. I didn't consider this an option for a very long time, and then I had that realization. I had thought I was taking care of myself, but wasn't aware enough of me to really know! I did separate myself from relationships (mostly) for a while before I found this love that's made me lucky again. I wouldn't have been prepared for this had I jumped in! I love myself, I'm ready to make fruit (though not a baby)!
Think about it, though thinking
rarely replaces doing.
--
Consider yourself god and you gain dominion over your world.
Because we, as physically mobile breeders, have the ability to observe and select the mate firsthand (how YOU doin' sweet stuff?) we have never developed the ability to sort semen inside the womb. That is, we sort the males before we get it on. We have developed, instead, selective relationships along with birth control methods.
Perennial flowering plants which are not healthy enough to produce healthy offspring often never create the flower at all, and wait until the next year.
As a mindful being, I wonder if the love created is as much the fruit as any potential offspring. The possible child is not the whole point, and is often irrelevant to the mating process among humans. The relationship itself is fruit sweeter than a cherry. If you're not prepared to make sweet fruit (separate human or otherwise) then perhaps you should wait for next season and become stronger yourself first. I didn't consider this an option for a very long time, and then I had that realization. I had thought I was taking care of myself, but wasn't aware enough of me to really know! I did separate myself from relationships (mostly) for a while before I found this love that's made me lucky again. I wouldn't have been prepared for this had I jumped in! I love myself, I'm ready to make fruit (though not a baby)!
Think about it, though thinking
rarely replaces doing.
--
Consider yourself god and you gain dominion over your world.
Frustration
So I've narrowed down my failure at producing usable biodiesel so far to two possibilities: inaccurate measuring devices or insufficient temperature control during transesterification. So, I've ordered some graduated glassware in the appropriate sizes and rechecked the scales for accuracy. And I have a plan for maintaining the temperature during agitation.
That aside. We camped near home for the night on Friday, then headed out to the Touch the Sun music fest this weekend at the beautiful Stonehedge Gardens. We camped out there for the night, heard some seriously awesome performers so on so forth! If you're in that neck of the woods ever, be sure to stop by and support this incredible place. They never ask for more than they need, and they maintain so much life at that place. I hear they have some really very cool plans for a currently untouched section of the property involving community built living areas for people to live at the site.
That aside. We camped near home for the night on Friday, then headed out to the Touch the Sun music fest this weekend at the beautiful Stonehedge Gardens. We camped out there for the night, heard some seriously awesome performers so on so forth! If you're in that neck of the woods ever, be sure to stop by and support this incredible place. They never ask for more than they need, and they maintain so much life at that place. I hear they have some really very cool plans for a currently untouched section of the property involving community built living areas for people to live at the site.
20100712
Finally! The KOH arrives...
The KOH arrived last night! It took well over a week to get here, but it was over a holiday weekend, so I guess that's not completely ridiculous.
So, this morning I got up and prepared my methanol/KOH mixture. They weren't joking when they said it gets hot! So right now I have methoxide in a chemical jug on a humid day. If something goes wrong with this batch, I'm thinking it's most likely going to be excess water from the air. I'm hoping it's not that bad, since I started in the morning before the heat picked up all the dew and so on. I suppose we'll see!
We will return after a brief message from our sponsors, stay tuned!
So, this morning I got up and prepared my methanol/KOH mixture. They weren't joking when they said it gets hot! So right now I have methoxide in a chemical jug on a humid day. If something goes wrong with this batch, I'm thinking it's most likely going to be excess water from the air. I'm hoping it's not that bad, since I started in the morning before the heat picked up all the dew and so on. I suppose we'll see!
We will return after a brief message from our sponsors, stay tuned!
20100707
Still waiting!
So, the KOH was ordered on 6/30, and it just left Texas today! Yar, I was hoping to get started on the processing today, but instead I get to look over all of the instructions, the chemistry, make sure I have all of the other required ingredients and equipment, and busy myself with other matters (such as a very hot day with dry tomato plants, or this blog).
As I'm looking it all over again, I think maybe I should stop! I need to stop thinking about it until I'm ready to start. As it is, I've looked over it all to know that the KOH is all I need, and rerereading those safety warnings is just making me nervous about, well, safety! But I know I've taken all of that into account too, so really... I'm just working myself up over it all.
WARNING
Making Biodiesel requires the use of flammable, toxic liquids and strong caustics to make a fuel. No matter what safety precautions are put in place or what equipment you use, making biodiesel will never be a safe hobby and can place you, your property, and your family at risk of injury or even death. Make Biodiesel at your own risk.
As I'm looking it all over again, I think maybe I should stop! I need to stop thinking about it until I'm ready to start. As it is, I've looked over it all to know that the KOH is all I need, and rerereading those safety warnings is just making me nervous about, well, safety! But I know I've taken all of that into account too, so really... I'm just working myself up over it all.
WARNING
Making Biodiesel requires the use of flammable, toxic liquids and strong caustics to make a fuel. No matter what safety precautions are put in place or what equipment you use, making biodiesel will never be a safe hobby and can place you, your property, and your family at risk of injury or even death. Make Biodiesel at your own risk.
20100705
New direction
Due to my tendency to experience rather than record, I've been slacking on blogging. Which, for a wannabe blogger is a sin. Instead, I'm broadening the scope of topics.
Here you will find a more complete view of me and mine. I do consider myself a god, but I also consider myself an insect. Both are simultaneously true despite being (because of being?) logically inconsistent. Human minds work associatively more than logically. Those who believe themselves to be purely logical creatures (as I have before) are less powerful than those who can be fully logical, fully illogical, or any middle combination. You'll find whatever comes to mind, whenever it comes to mind, here. Welcome to my mind dump! Have a look around.
Next topic at hand:
I've escaped wage-slavery, my time is no longer measured in dollars and cents. I'm working towards a goal of living sustainably mostly-off-grid altogether, eventually. We run a business, this is going to be a whole lot of work! We have a whole bunch of godly tasks in front of us. This is only fitting for a couple of gods, naturally.
There's a whole lot that goes into this. Our living arrangements are big, but they're on hold until we acquire our own plot of land. Our food is largely in the same boat, I'm living on someone else's property and as such I can only have a small garden. I already have a compost pile that is hot and active most of the time, though I'm having a raccoon problem recently...
So, until the land is available, my task is to successfully master the process of producing biofuel for the work truck. In time, we plan to trade my car in for a diesel Jetta or something similar, and acquire diesel fueled equipment for the company.
I'm starting with high quality materials in small amounts until I'm comfortable with the process, with the intention of building my own processor. This will stay relatively small (20 gallons or less at a time) until, again, we acquire our land. Currently, I'm going with a simple single stage base reaction using methanol. Eventually I'd like to make the switch to using self-produced ethanol, as methanol is yet another petrol product. The ethanol is simply adds a whole difficulty level to the processing of the biofuel, though, which I'm not quite ready for!
I've decided to use KOH instead of NaOH for the lye. It's also possible to make the lye at home, but it's difficult to measure the strength and purity and chemical content and, as an added bonus, the byproduct from using the more pure KOH is compostable! Not much KOH is needed, and it's not particularly expensive. The homemade lye has enough unknown chemical components that, at least for the foreseeable future, I'm going to avoid it.
I have gotten my information from a whole bunch of places, but for the most part I'm following the beginner's instructions found at Journey to Forever, who seem to be a really great resource for anyone looking to improve the quality of life for the planet! Really neat stuff they do over there, they are worth checking out for all sorts of reasons.
Ok, that being said. I have everything I need except the KOH, which I ordered online from a soapmaking distributor. With the holiday this weekend, I'm hoping that it shows up tomorrow.
The methanol I have for my first small test batch is HEET gas-line antifreeze, which it turns out is exactly the same stuff I'd get from the racetrack or if I ordered it online from a biofuel distributor. I'm using two #2 plastic containers, the proper sort of plastic for this kind of chemical reaction. Who would have figured that the jugs my kitty litter comes in would turn out to be the right sort of thing to live again as biofuel processing mini-tanks?
A completely different consideration, but easily as important, is the legality of the whole deal. Again, because of the holiday weekend, I wasn't able to get ahold of anyone at the PA tax office to ask my questions about the road tax and whether I need a fuel blender's license, as I've heard about from other states. This/these phonecall(s) will be made tomorrow.
As it is, I'm doing some waiting right now. I invite you to come on back and see what happens! I'll be posting some pictures of the process and anything else that comes up in the next few days.
I think the proper focus will allow this god to be a better blogger.
Cheers! Live free and happy.
Autexousious
Here you will find a more complete view of me and mine. I do consider myself a god, but I also consider myself an insect. Both are simultaneously true despite being (because of being?) logically inconsistent. Human minds work associatively more than logically. Those who believe themselves to be purely logical creatures (as I have before) are less powerful than those who can be fully logical, fully illogical, or any middle combination. You'll find whatever comes to mind, whenever it comes to mind, here. Welcome to my mind dump! Have a look around.
Next topic at hand:
I've escaped wage-slavery, my time is no longer measured in dollars and cents. I'm working towards a goal of living sustainably mostly-off-grid altogether, eventually. We run a business, this is going to be a whole lot of work! We have a whole bunch of godly tasks in front of us. This is only fitting for a couple of gods, naturally.
There's a whole lot that goes into this. Our living arrangements are big, but they're on hold until we acquire our own plot of land. Our food is largely in the same boat, I'm living on someone else's property and as such I can only have a small garden. I already have a compost pile that is hot and active most of the time, though I'm having a raccoon problem recently...
So, until the land is available, my task is to successfully master the process of producing biofuel for the work truck. In time, we plan to trade my car in for a diesel Jetta or something similar, and acquire diesel fueled equipment for the company.
I'm starting with high quality materials in small amounts until I'm comfortable with the process, with the intention of building my own processor. This will stay relatively small (20 gallons or less at a time) until, again, we acquire our land. Currently, I'm going with a simple single stage base reaction using methanol. Eventually I'd like to make the switch to using self-produced ethanol, as methanol is yet another petrol product. The ethanol is simply adds a whole difficulty level to the processing of the biofuel, though, which I'm not quite ready for!
I've decided to use KOH instead of NaOH for the lye. It's also possible to make the lye at home, but it's difficult to measure the strength and purity and chemical content and, as an added bonus, the byproduct from using the more pure KOH is compostable! Not much KOH is needed, and it's not particularly expensive. The homemade lye has enough unknown chemical components that, at least for the foreseeable future, I'm going to avoid it.
I have gotten my information from a whole bunch of places, but for the most part I'm following the beginner's instructions found at Journey to Forever, who seem to be a really great resource for anyone looking to improve the quality of life for the planet! Really neat stuff they do over there, they are worth checking out for all sorts of reasons.
Ok, that being said. I have everything I need except the KOH, which I ordered online from a soapmaking distributor. With the holiday this weekend, I'm hoping that it shows up tomorrow.
The methanol I have for my first small test batch is HEET gas-line antifreeze, which it turns out is exactly the same stuff I'd get from the racetrack or if I ordered it online from a biofuel distributor. I'm using two #2 plastic containers, the proper sort of plastic for this kind of chemical reaction. Who would have figured that the jugs my kitty litter comes in would turn out to be the right sort of thing to live again as biofuel processing mini-tanks?
A completely different consideration, but easily as important, is the legality of the whole deal. Again, because of the holiday weekend, I wasn't able to get ahold of anyone at the PA tax office to ask my questions about the road tax and whether I need a fuel blender's license, as I've heard about from other states. This/these phonecall(s) will be made tomorrow.
As it is, I'm doing some waiting right now. I invite you to come on back and see what happens! I'll be posting some pictures of the process and anything else that comes up in the next few days.
I think the proper focus will allow this god to be a better blogger.
Cheers! Live free and happy.
Autexousious
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)