r ransom

steward & author
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since Feb 05, 2015
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Biography
an insomniac misanthrope who enjoys cooking, textile arts, farming and eating delicious food.
and who almost never replies to pm's or emails.
My painting amazon wishlist, just in cases.
My music amazon wishlist, just in cases.
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Recent posts by r ransom

David Wieland wrote:

r ransom wrote:...
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it in the shops and now I'm wondering if it's a controlled substance due to people mistaking it for drinking alcohol.  I really don't want to use the major toxic stuff and drinking or medical alcohol doesn't bind to shellac.


Methyl alcohol isn't hard to find in my neck of the woods, but it's also sold as gas line antifreeze.  Methyl alcohol is also called methanol, methylene, and methyl hydrate.



That's what i expected. It used to be used for so many things.  

3 DIY shops, 2 Canadian Tyres (automotive section and paint section), a gas station, one agriculture shop, and a few other shops. I managed to find one person who actually knew what it is at a lumber shop, but they can't get it in.

The closest thing I can find is methyl tetra-something, but that requires fancy gloves (nitrate instead of regular ones) and can leave a nasty residue if spilled, and get into the ground water.  Not keeping with the permaculture style I'm going for.

I'm curious about ethanol working.   That might be easier to find.
28 minutes ago
Ah.. it's the word alcohol.  

We usually use Methyl alcohol (also known as methanol or wood alcohol) is the simplest alcohol, with the chemical formula \(\text{CH}_3\text{OH}\). It is a highly toxic, volatile, and flammable liquid used primarily as an industrial solvent, fuel, and raw material for manufacturing products like formaldehyde and plastics.

Basically, drink this for a fast path to blindness, insanity, and death.  Although, it does seem to be one of the least toxic alcohol solvents.  It doesn't burn skin, doesn't leave a toxic residual, is made from natural sources.

Once we get away from a social setting, alcohol is a word for very specific molecular chains.  Methyl alcohol has the perfect structure for binding to shellac with the lowest amount of residual.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it in the shops and now I'm wondering if it's a controlled substance due to people mistaking it for drinking alcohol.  I really don't want to use the major toxic stuff and drinking or medical alcohol doesn't bind to shellac.
2 hours ago



This year's Glorious Revolution painting was a lot of fun to paint.  Although lilacs are still difficult.

Details of the painting process are in my private painting club.
2 hours ago
I don't think I shared the finished version of last year's 25th of May painting.

let's fix that

16 hours ago
How are the fluid levels?  Ours does a warning like this if any of the fluids are low.  It often gets confused between oil, radiator, and the other ones.  It's good to check them all in case of cross wires warning light.

1 day ago
Fish Friday, eh?

I need more fish.

Would praw stirfry count?
2 days ago
The 25th of may is neigh.

Here is to freedom, justice, reasonably priced love, and a hard boiled egg.
2 days ago
Most of permaculture seems to focus on perennial plants.

It helps to think about why we rotate annuals.  Soil nutrients (build better soil), pests (companion planting), and illness (mostly companion planting and saving our own seeds so we don't need to bring in plants or organic matter from off site).

I found, if we observe carefully, I seldom need to rotate crops unless one of the three pressures mentioned above gets too much.  Then again, most of it is solved by running the chickens in that area for a winter.
2 days ago
Several more conversations on this topic over the last few days, I have figured out two important things.

1. As a culture, we've become plastic blind.  

Since the late 1950s, plastics as we know them today have become so normal, it's surprisingly difficult to spot them.  Both for people submitting and reviewing BB

The first step to breaking an addiction is to see it.  SKIP is a big help here.

2. The more people tell me, it's not easy for a normal person to cook without plastic or other toxins touching the food, the more I think, "it's a good thing  SKIP, and PEP is so strict about this."

I don't think it's designed to be easy.  It's designed for people keen to embrace permaculture values.

But also, it's designed so an individual can think for themselves and find a way to show the bb is achieved that fits with both their lifestyle and bb requirements.

Anyway
We found some more areas that might be up for review soon.  
2 days ago
pep