Category Archives: Culture

DIY Face Masks: Video Instructions

Posted on by

Bored yet? We’ve got video instructions for several different kinds of DIY face masks.

raincoaster's avatar#OpNazi

We’ve had a reader request for video instructions for making face masks, and it just so happens we’ve found some easy to follow instructions from Orly Shani, The DIY Designer. Note that these are not exactly the same as our previous masks, not having a filter, but they will definitely provide some protection. You can always put a panty liner on the inside (soft side facing your face) to help prevent spraying when you cough or sneeze (which you should do into your arm).

Remember, masks help in three ways:

  • They keep your hands off your face
  • They minimize the number of airborne droplets you put out into your surroundings
  • They minimize the number of airborne droplets you take in via breathing

While some fabrics are better than others, any fabric which you can breathe through and will stand up to machine washing will suffice.

Here are some medically-approved instructions…

View original post 159 more words

DIY Masks for Medical Personnel and Civilians

Posted on by

Instructions for making easy, affordable, and effective masks to wear or donate to needy hospitals or frontline workers. Reuseable, machine washable. #OpCovid19

raincoaster's avatar#OpNazi

Note that if you do not approve of making and distributing masks, there is the whole rest of the internet for you to read and comment on. This post is about making and distributing masks.

Comments on this post about NOT making or distributing masks will be nuked from space. :D

Many hospitals are reporting shortages of the N95 grade masks which are the standard for use with patients with Coronavirus, also known as Covid-19. Some hospitals are so short of supplies that staffers have been told to use a single paper mask per 12 hour shift. Obviously the best solution would be ample supplies of rated masks from an inspected manufacturer, but we don’t currently live in a world where that’s an option. We must look for alternatives.

An Anonymous volunteer in the medical field has created these instructions for masks which function similarly to the rated masks, and…

View original post 1,037 more words

It’s that time, people: CHRISTMAS MOTHERFUCKING LIST TIME!

Posted on by
The Banksy Christmas Card, 2015

The three wise men are bringing a ladder, a canteen of water, and a map of safe houses.

You didn’t get me anything for my birthday, and you know it!

We’ve been taking a short (what, six year?) break from the posting of Christmas Lists round these parts (these ones right here *points*) and you’ve all had plenty of time to save up for some good ‘uns, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

A donation to these poor people, neighbors of my cousins’, who lost their roof and the entire upper floor of their house in a fire. Since it was an historic log house, they couldn’t get insurance for it, and since they both worked at Walmart for 20+ years, they don’t have what you’d call cushy pensions (if they even have pensions). Just a reminder: it gets down to -40 here in the winters sometimes.
And if you cannot donate: Sharing is caring! Twitter, Facebook, email, church groups, wherever.

Cashmir by Chopard eau de parfum. And look, it’s on sale!

Really, really, really, REALLY good cheeses. Soft, smelly ones especially.

Lap desk. This one from Levenger is, of course, perfection, as is everything at Levenger.

Home Depot gift certificate. I have a wish list, but it’s long and complicated and I don’t have the exact measurements I need but if you hate giving gift cards and think they’re tacky you can go ahead and get me a shitload of copper tubing and a pipe cutter, plus assorted T joints and right angle joints, also in copper, plus some nice, thick red cedar planks and dowels, thick enough to go in a closet and hold up a rack of coats. Not that that’s what I’ll be using them for. Oh, and some lamp gizzards; I understand from YouTube that they come in kits.

Up, up and awayyyyyy!

She’s so thrilled to be my Christmas pressie!

An Andalusian mare, because why the fuck not? Nobody’s getting me anything from this list any damn way.

A newsboy cap, in grey. God, I love newsboy caps. Or a Greek fisherman’s hat. NOT a flat cap: I am not a wizened old cab-driving Man United fan.

A cozy angora or cashmere scarf, light enough to tuck inside a coat.

Hand cream with an SPF. Honestly, why is this so hard to find?

The book Flow. I need to work on my focus and my work habits, and flow is not something I’ve experienced in a number of years, literally.

Some nice copper doodads. Candlesticks, bar accouterments, trays, whatever.

Scented candles: cinnamon and Christmas scents for the winter, lilac for spring.

A nice three or four bedroom house with a fireplace and a view of the water somewhere on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The main living space or the office MUST face west, so I can watch the sunset. A wood-burning fireplace and/or stove would be a plus. So would “it comes with kayaks”.

A copy of Writer’s Market. For real, the new one. With the digital subscription, because fuckitall, I need to make some goddam money! Writer’s Market lists all the main publishers in each different field of both books and magazines (and now, websites!), what they’re buying, how to pitch them, and who to contact along with the email or phone number. And the digital subscription is continuously updated.

Some nice leather gloves, size medium. Grey, pink, or black.

A really big, really nice mug. I love big mugs, big glasses. I can’t be arsed to get up and refill it.

A car trip. Just a day trip. Doesn’t have to have a destination; I just love me a good road trip. Wilno would be cool, and we could eat at the tavern. Perth would be nice, because I’ve been here three years and haven’t had a chance to wander around the cute part of the town. Merrickville, same. Somewhere either the town or the countryside is pretty.

A book of legends about the Wendigo. Doing some research for something that looks like it’s turning into a novel.

A trailride or a hayride or something horsey. God, I miss horses. I live a six minute drive from a stable, but it takes an hour to get there on the bus, and I can’t afford lessons there anyway.

A nice, big bowl for homemade ramen and pho. This place only has cereal-sized bowls.

Blackout curtains. Desperately needed.

Decent-quality earbuds or headphones that are weather-impervious.

Some nice pens. I’m actually writing things down. In notebooks. It’s amazing!

A teapot. This fake Spode with triffids and daleks on it is awesome. Anything from Calamityware would be good.

Closer, by Doctor Teeth and the Animals

Posted on by

You’re welcome.

Here’s that ageless classic love song “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails, performed by the Muppets, and featuring the tender line, “I want to fuck you like an animal.”

No Answer

Posted on by

What do I want to do? I want to add ten bucks to my Paypal account. What does that take? It seems I have to link a new bank account to my Paypal account, one which has money in it. Okay, how hard can this be?

Add in the debit card/account info as a credit card, which it also is. Success! But I can’t add money to the Paypal from a credit card, it seems, which is what I need to do, so now I have to add in the same information, but as a bank account instead of a credit card even though the information is the same. So, how do?

Add in the information. Click to accept the terms of service. Get a popup saying they have to contact me with a code to confirm. Okay, you have my email. BUT NOOOOO. It says “choose your options” and I have a bad feeling, like in the Call of Cthulhu RPG where basically everyone goes mad and dies, the question is how far you can get before it happens.

There is only one option on the drop-down, an option which freezes the blood in my veins.

“Accept a phone call.”

The crew at Skype and Paypal do this deliberately and watch you scream and cry through your webcam, don't they?

The crew at Skype and Paypal do this deliberately and watch you scream and cry through your webcam, don’t they?

Oh no. ANYTHING but that. But, again, I’m out of options. I really just want to add ten bucks to my Paypal. In for a penny, in for a grueling nightmare of phonetree fails.

It gets worse. The only number they have for me is Skype.

I open Skype on the computer. THIS VERSION OF SKYPE IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED CLICK HERE TO UPDATE…

UPDATE FAILED.

Seriously, feels.

Feels.

Because of course it did. It did so, in fact, several times in succession, so fuck that shit. I go to Skype.com because I remember from the last century that you can still use skype to make and receive calls at Skype.com.

<interlude in which I reset my Skype password three times, because the first two I tried had already been used FUGATES and FUMSFT, imagine that>

I am ready. I click “Call me” on Paypal. I get a retro-tech doo-doo-dooby doo-doo-doo ring tone, but try as I may, I cannot find anywhere to click to receive the call. Skype, it seems will allow me to receive calls, but just not answer them. Sixty seconds later, I get a voicemail, a plaintive female voice asking me, over and over, to put in the code they are showing on my paypal page. Oh, trust me, ma’am, I would if I could, but the tech gods are against us tonight and Microsoft is in retrograde.

They're in the house, we already covered this!

They’re in the house, we already covered this!

I go through this entire procedure twice more, and then I get the genius idea to get my phone, which is charging elsewhere, and open Skype on it, and pounce the instant it rings. And guess what? Paypal says, on my fourth try, “We are sorry we are unable to verify your account” and now that I can finally, FINALLY answer their goddam skype call, they won’t call me.

There’s a metaphor about dating in there somewhere.

So, I guess my Paypal account will just have to be underwater until I get a client, and they choose to pay via Paypal, and I complete the job and invoice and wait, or until Skype actually works, or until I dunno, until technology finally breaks us all and we go back to stone knives and bearskins.

So, how was YOUR Canada Day?

deadpool canadian heritage