From the The Universal Household Assistant or What Every One Should Know (1884):

Lamps — why they explode. — Many things may occur to cause the flame to pass down the wick tube and explode the lamp.    1. A lamp may be standing on a table or mantle, and a slight puff of air from the open window or the sudden opening of a door, cause an explosion.    2. A lamp may be taken quickly from a table or mantle, and instantly explode.    3. A lamp is taken into an entry where there is a draft, or out of doors, and an explosion quickly ensues.    4. A lighted lamp may be taken up a flight of stairs, or is raised quickly to a place on the mantle, resulting in an explosion. In all these cases the mischief is caused by the air movement -- either by suddenly checking the draft, or forcing the air down the chimney against the flame.    5. Blowing down the chimney to extinguish the light is frequently the cause of an explosion.    6. Lamp explosions have been caused by using a chimney broken off the top, or one that has a piece broken out, whereby the draft is rendered variable and the flame unsteady.    7. Sometimes a thoughtless person puts a small-sized wick in a large burner, thus leaving considerable space in the tube along the edges of the wick.    8. An old burner with its air drafts clogged up, which rightfully should be thrown away, is sometimes continued in use, and the final result is an explosion.

From the The Universal Household Assistant or What Every One Should Know (1884):

Things to try. — Try popcorn for nausea.    Try cranberries for malaria.    Try a sun-bath for rheumatism.    Try ginger ale for stomach cramps.    Try clam broth for a weak stomach.    Try cranberry poultice for erysipelas.    Try a wet towel to the back of the neck when sleepless.    Try swallowing saliva when troubled with sour stomach.    Try eating fresh radishes and yellow turnips for gravel.    Try eating onions and horseradish to relieve dropsical swellings.    Try buttermilk for removal of freckles, tan, and butternut stains.    Try taking your cod liver oil in tomato catsup, if you want to make it palatable.    Try hard cider -- a wine-glass three times a day -- for ague and rheumatism.    Try taking a nap in the afternoon if you are going to be out late in the evening.    Try breathing the fumes of turpentine or carbolic acid to remove whooping cough.    Try a cloth wrung out from cold water put about the neck at night for sore throat.    Try snuffing powdered borax up the nostrils for catarrhal "cold in the head."    Try walking with your hands behind you if you find yourself becoming bent forward.    Try a silk handkerchief over the face when obliged to go against a cold piercing wind.    Try planting sunflowers in your garden if compelled to live in a malarial district.

Sol, lifebringer and lightgiver, our star, the one which holds us tight and keeps at bay the outer darkness. Sol, thank you. Your winds dance in our sky and your breath allows our existence. There is nothing more powerful, nothing greater, nothing more brilliant or amazing in this system than Sol. While there may be bigger things out there, that effect our existence here and now than does Sol. While today we may look to Sol, truly everyday is Sol's day, for without Sol there are no days.

I've been thinking about the Hexagon of Saturn ever since I read about it on apod this morning. It looks almost solid in the time lapse movie. It seems the wind shear should rip such a fine shape to shreds on Saturn, but it has been there for over 20 years. The thing is huge, 3 earths wide. While there is a good chance that a natural explanation for this will be found (polygons have been know to appear in the eye walls of Earth hurricanes as well as in rapidly spinning buckets of water), it is still fantastic enough to spark my imagination in ways the "face" on Mars never did.

I can no longer work the old magick. Matters not. I have new magick now.

Where I've been seems so distant now: a different time, a different place in a different world. A different me. I am the shadow of what was come to find its own life. However, I know I am where I have always been, I'm just looking from a new perspective. The perspective of now.

I still hear the winds. When I no longer hear them, I will know they have finally taken me. Until then, I have my small place here in the Happening that is the Becoming. After that, I will go wherever the wind takes me.

I am thankful for the chance to have seen not just one sunset, but hundreds. To be able to bear witness to some small part of the Glory of the Universe. Sure, sometimes I do ask for more, sometimes I am impatient and even jealous. But, that is my own failing. I must be more mindful of what I have. I have tasted fire and touched wind, what more should I want?

I started work on a new staff/cane yesterday. My current one needs occasional maintenance, and there are many times I need a walking aid. I used a small hacksaw (the only appropriate cutting tool I have) to cut the windfallen branch down to size, peeled off the loss bark, and sanded it. Later today I plan to apply the first coat of polyurethane.

My old staff (which I may start calling my serpent staff to avoid ambiguity of which staff I'm referring to) will continue to be very special. It was a gift from the tree færies, and has come to symbolize many things for me. It is unique and cannot be replaced. The new staff is too young yet to see what if any spiritual meaning or purpose it might have or develop. But, if nothing else it will serve as a cane when I am not using the old one, which might be a good idea on many occasions simply to reduce wear.

A graphical representation of what you think your soul would look like if it were an existing entity around your house.



My sister (ellynx) got me this oil lamp so long ago that i do not remember precisely when anymore. It's quite fragile and has been a lot of places and seen a lot of things. Most objects I owned back when I got this have been lost to the wind and much sturdier things had crumbled. It's had it's share of close calls, but somehow the winds not yet been able to break it.

I broke my new cell phone last night.

I guess I'm not up to speed with all this new fangled technology. The phone crashed while I was trying to take a picture of mazzycat. I tried to reset the phone, and couldn't find a reset button. I saw a small hole just wide enough to stick a safety pin in. Thinking this was the reset button that is often found on older electronic devices, I stuck a safety pin in it. However, it was not the reset button, it was the microphone and it was destroyed.

I completely freaked out, and went deep into hating myself. I felt I can't take care of anything. I looped that I lose or break or otherwise damage or taint everything I come in contact with. Escalating all the way.

After a neitherday walk (a slightly creepy one, as neitherday walks on weekends aren't as safe feeling), I realized that I can use an auxiliary microphone. I will superglue it to the phone, as I will need it anytime I use the phone. It will essentially be the main microphone. The phone will be jerryrigged, like everything that is truly me and mine. It is perfect and meant to be.

I need to be more mindful of the fact that obstacles are just part of the plan. They make life interesting and the make life go where life would not otherwise have gone. Keep calm and do not fight the wind.

I had fun with recoiling at pride, even if it was a bit colder and rainier and windier than I would have liked. It's been an odd June weatherwise. Most of the candy thrown from the floats fell in the puddles, but the people passing out sunscreen and fans were hilarious. Obviously the event was planned in anticipation of a warmer day.

Every year the corporate side of pride gets more and more blatant. Near the beginning of the parade was a loud and obnoxious Delta Airlines float. Its booming stereo, by far louder than anything else in the parade, literally made me nauseous. I couldn't decided if I though the bad placement of the Stolichnaya float directly in front of the "Sober and Proud" group was amusing or disturbing.

All in all, though, I had a good time and enjoyed being there. While the weather wasn't wonderful, it was still a nice change from the normal swelter Pride is usually held in and groups like the Stonewall Warriors still counterbalance the corporateness to a degree. And of course, the Dykes on Bikes were kick ass.

i am worried
i am worried that i won't be able to stay above the waves
i am worried that i will be sucked back down
i do not want to go back to where i've been
i do not want to return to those roads
but i often feel the darkness closing in
there is much i am keeping inside right now
and telling no one at all
the world does not feel real
i am far behind the window eyes
i look out the window
and i hear the winds
the same winds that are always there
i do not know where i am going
but i do know that in the end the winds will come for me
i ask, what i am here for?
my eyes look upon what is before them
i note the what is right before i forget it
the demons are still with me
i do not think they will ever leave
i walk through the mud
and reach for the sky
i cannot take in these things
i am not a great person
i cannot make long sense of what is here
only in passing does it match
every angle changes
forever
no paradigm can stick
flux
change
eternally
nothing constant
i wander still here
i walk still here
i forget still here
what is coming must soon come to pass
i have trouble staying in the body now
more and more
i leave it behind
i am not going mad
i never left mad
soon the sky will be yellow and the grass blue
for reality never was where i am
adrift in a sea of dreams
always forgetting where i am
and never find the shore

here that?
it is the winds
strike the ground
and let what will be come to pass
and let that which never was fade away

where is this going
some seek escape from this trap
some seek to find its beauty
some seek to define it
some seek to hold mastery over it
but the darkness will come
the creeping empty consumes all

brightness dark
darkness bright
contradictions here
the nothing that is the everything
there is no truth, only lies

speak that which cannot be spoken
and riddle will be broken

I did a nice bit of tiding up downstairs, very much in zombie mode. I am not done, but I can do no more tonight. I accomplished enough so the task tomorrow will not seem insurmountable, which is important if I'm going to motivate myself to actually do it. Taking on too large of a task tends to paralyse me these days, while years ago it would invigorate me. I need to catch that wind again.

Why do I care?

It's not like anything is real anyway.

I am not of this world.

This is not my place.

There have been times I have allowed myself to believe is my home.

But it never was and I've never truly been here.

The eyes I look through are distant from me.

They are windows to a place apart.

What purpose is there in visions lost?

I no longer see the light.

I wonder ever there ever actually was a light.

Or if it too is an illusion.

Through the winds, my queen calls for me.

Home.

Far away.

All forgotten still.

Echoes of what never was.

There are very many stresses in my life right now. I feel as if I'm being pulled in every direction at once. So many hooks wanting to sink into me. Wanting to pull me apart again. A seemingly endless supply of things to be stressed by. At some point I have to accept that I cannot make everything well. I must simply make the best with what is. Accepting that is something I'm working on, for it's easy to say, it is easy to know, but it not easy to truly accept and be mindful of. Now is an important time to make that effort. To be mindful and stay centered. The winds are howling and change is coming whether I want it or not. If chaos is to rain down, then I must be at peace with the storm. I must not fight the wind, instead I must seek the future.