(Bonding over hardware)

For months the free dryer from Matt and Jess (see Shower of Sparks post) had been acting up, getting hot under the collar and in the sheets - in fact, burning hot.

How hot was it?

It was so hot that the smoke detector would go off from the heat when we'd open the door.

It was so hot that Trish's sheets (for Heartspeak Massage) would come out too hot to handle and with brown scorch marks. More like Heat-speck massage.

It was so hot that we feared leaving the dryer running if we had to do an errand. In fact, we feared leaving the dryer running longer than 15 minutes at a time.

Ever adaptable, we'd run it for 15 minutes, quickly open the door so it would stop and shut it before the alarm went off. Repeat if clothes still damp.

Since I knew that Grampa Dave had experience salvaging major appliances I kept "Fix Dryer" on his agenda for the holiday visit. Eventually, the day came when we tore the thing apart and found a burnt-out thermostat.

See the itty-bitty numbers? This is the L145-15F, an outflow thermostat for a GE clothes dryer.

Harold's appliance in Lacey had one in stock. They also sell fast-ons, which help join wire to tabs by way of goofy loopys (the technical term).

These have fancy blue insulators as well.

So everything is coming together for tomorrow and we just posted online maps with info at our blog below. If you have art to display and haven't found a place to hang it...email us ASAP Also if you would like to be involved with the collective and help us realize our dream of opening a community arts and venue space downtown please send us a email raccooncollective@gmail.com. Later this week (perhaps monday) we will be having a potluck to celebrate 1 year and discuss what other rejuvenating adventures we would like to create next!! stay tuned... -- *BEWARE:we never hibernate! www.raccooncollective.blogspot.com

There is a community meeting coming up tonight.  I'm sure there will be all kinds of discussion about alleged excessive force by OPD.  So for a framework for that discussion I thought I would post the legal measurement for excessive force.

Excessive Force: Whether force is reasonably necessary or excessive is measured by the force a reasonable and prudent law enforcement officer would use under the same circumstances.

So think it through, did OPD use more force than the reasonable officer standard.  The reasonable officer standard is much like the reasonable person standard for Probable Cause.  So, simply put if you have a 100 officers, put a bell curve over them and the ones under the bell curve are the reasonable officers.  The ones to the left are unreasonably light on force, i.e. failing to act, and the ones to the right of the bell curve are unreasonably harsh with force.

So then look at what OPD did at the Port in comparison with LE industry standards with respect to crowd/riot control, was OPD outside that standard?

If he stays in the race, he could pick the next president. If Clinton and Obama remain in a close race, which seems likely as there's not a lot of difference between them on the issues, and Edwards rolls into the convention with 10% of the delegates, then he of course will have to drop out, he'll then put his support somewhere, and where he puts it will decide the next president. I'm sure it's worth at least a cabinet position for him, or maybe a seat on the Supreme Court?

[via email]

Olympia – Find out everything you ever wanted to know about the ongoing search for Sasquatch from some recognized leaders in the field. The State Capital Museum hosts Bigfoot Expeditions: The Search for Sasquatch featuring presentations by Robert Gimlin, Richard Noll and Owen Caddy.

The public program will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2008 from 10 AM to noon. The presentations will be repeated in a second session from 1 to 3 PM. Admission is FREE, with a suggested $2 donation.

Gimlin was with Roger Patterson when they shot the now-famous Patterson-Gimlin film—24 feet of color film showing a female Bigfoot walking along a sandy creek, filmed forty years ago in Bluff Creek in Northern California. It is now among the most famous evidence of the creature’s existence. Expedition partner and outfitter Gimlin will talk about his experience and the famous encounter on that trail.

Noll, a longtime Bigfoot researcher, will talk about his work and the well-known Skookum cast. The cast was made from a partial body print found near Mt. St. Helens in 2000, believed to have been made by a living Sasquatch. A copy of the cast will be on display during Noll’s presentation.

Caddy will present “Digital Enhancement of the Patterson-Gimlin Film Subject.” He will share the results of the film’s digital enhancement, revealing for the first time many details of the film subject’s face.

All three speakers were featured in a recent Bigfoot episode of Monster Quest on the History Channel.

Bigfoot Field Research Organization will host a tabletop display in the museum gallery. Members of the organization will talk about BFRO and the many Northwest expeditions they have led. Learn about field equipment, research techniques and upcoming expeditions in 2008. Founded in 1995, BFRO is a leader in scientific research exploring Sasquatch.

I think this group rocks!

NetEquality.org

I'd welcome collaboration in trying this in Olympia (starting with the ENA FreeNet project or perhaps a downtown WiFi project).