Jan's Tool Shed
Wednesday June 01, 2005
TechXtremes -- from flintknapping to computers (with side trips) I've had an interesting week -- I just succeeded, for the first time
in 4 years of trying, to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together.And I'm putting back a module to whatever exactly we're going to call the 10- incarnation of the Trusted Solaris Operating Environment (it's NOT going to be called the Trusted Solaris Operating Environment, because it will sit on top of the Solaris 10 OE.)
Since I still need to get more details how to talk about this while following all the right trademark and other policies, I'll go back to the primitive technology.
I just got back from spending Memorial Day Weekend at Rattlesnake Rendezvous in the east bay (Sunol Wilderness.) This is an event where if you get caught trying to use a match or lighter (or even flint and steel) to start a fire, you'll be teased incessantly for the next 10 years. I mean, these folks think the SCA (Society for Creative Anacronism AKA "Harmless Historical Nuts" (Hi, Leslie!)) are 'way too modern!
So I've been letting the other folks start the fires while I tried to fix a major hat-felting mistake (BIG hat, originally formed over a large plant platter and a Harry Potter Souvenir Popcorn Tub, turned into teeeeeny hat when I tried to wash it.)
But finally one of the teachers announced that his bow drill class was infallible -- guaranteed success!
Since 4 years ago I spent a week trying to use a cedar-on-cedar bow drill under a tarp in the rain and failed miserably, I have been considering myself too traumatized to go back to trying to make fires.
But, hey! With the right tools and the right materials and a little guidance, I DID IT!
Man, I cannot believe the difference tool design makes! The original bow I tried 4 years ago was arm-length. This bow was heart-to-fingertip on a tall man, and I'm a medium-sized woman, so I got lots of nice torque out of it.
And using bone-dry cottonwood for both the hearth board and the drill helped, too.
I also finally got to eat out of my "burn bowl" -- made from a nice piece of Sycamore. But the burn bowl is another whole story -- Dick said people my age are not supposed to be stubborn^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H persistent enough to make one of those for real.
Well, if I wasn't stubborn, I would have given up before I succeeded in creating the fixes for some of the things I've patched, especially for the Trusted Solaris OE.
So the world can just put up with my eccentricities.
BTW, anybody from soc.men or soc.women circa 1989, HI!!!
( Jun 01 2005, 06:18:05 PM PDT )
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