Maybe I'll have to dig into the primary literature of the time to find my answer.

This saves me € so I don't have to buy an aluminium straightedge. And this one can be re-trued if need be, which can't happen with an aluminium one, at least not in a woodworking shop.

(I think that's the most this queer gal has written "straight" in a single paragraph!)

620mm long wooden straight edge, top edge curved.

Close-up of the smooth grain on the straight edge.

Quartersawn end grain of the straightedge.

Next shop-made tool: a wooden straight edge. Yup, that's all it is, a straight edge. Extremely useful for telling when a board face or edge is flat.

Definitely a different set of occupational hazards when woodworking compared to computer programming.

Finger will be fine.

Not pictured: the dozuki saw that went through wood into a bit of my finger. I'm not happy with it right now so I'm not speaking to it. #operatorerror #notsawerror

Two shop-made low sawhorses from a design by Rex Krueger, along with the Shinto rasp with bright red handle that made quick work of the corners. Sawhorses in cheap lumber spruce. Not pictured: the dozuki saw that went a bit into my finger.

Newest shop made tool, some low sawhorses to use with my Japanese-style saws. The Shinto rasp is featured because oh it makes such quick work of the rounded corners. I never thought I would enjoy using a rasp, but this Shinto is worth all that I paid for it. #notsponsored

Refinished it with, of course, boiled linseed oil. I like how the patina of the old finish comes through the BLO finish. And the frankentote is much easier to use now. Amazing how much better the plane works with a solid tote! Let's hope this repair holds otherwise I will have to make my own.

I used a sapele offcut, sawed out the broken bit of the tote, reglued and reshaped the handle, and sanded off the ugly stain that was meant to make the handle look like rosewood. Not sure what wood it actually is, but am thinking beech or maple.

Repaired Stanley no 5 tote with sapeli offcut filling in a sawed out section at the base of the tote where it usually breaks.

Repaired Stanley no 5 tote with sapeli offcut, reinstalled on the plane, view of the back length of the plane.

Repaired Stanley no 5 tote with sapeli offcut, reinstalled on the plane, closeup of the repair.

Stanley no. 5 tote repair, my first one. This frankenplane had a tote with a break in the usual location.

Have had to turn down multiple residencies because the host nation was dangerous/illegal for me as a trans woman. And many events/opportunities in my area of practice are now happening in nations where I am illegal.

CNC cut hardwood (sapeli) panels, finished using only hand tools (trusty Stanley no 4, 5, and 151). Spokeshave for the roundovers on the corners, the planes for the finished surface. No sanding allowed :) Silky smooth surface as a result. Finished classically with boiled linseed oil.

3U 84HP rack with handmade sapeli wood cheeks, dark brown in color due to coating with boiled linseed oil.

3U 84HP rack with handmade sapeli wood cheeks, dark brown in color due to coating with boiled linseed oil, 3/4 view

3U 84HP rack with handmade sapeli wood cheeks, dark brown in color due to coating with boiled linseed oil, with the tools used to make it (two hand planes and a spoke shave) along with whispy shavings.

Back at my woodworking after a very long time away due to carework. Thinking about making and selling (as part of Selestium Modular, https://modular.selestium.net ) hand-crafted eurorack cases. Here are just some cheeks as an early test.

(And yes I know they still exist. But they aren't replacements unfortunately for the vast majority of people I need to reach.)

Note that you can resize your VPS for another 8 gigs for less than that.

Decide to do that rather than give a startup who obviously vibe codes their app any of your money.

Sigh, yet again.

It really is amazing how much these classics of STS are so apropos of our discourse today. And equally amazing how so few pundits and commentators seem to have knowledge of them--or at least, if they do, they're not sharing it with their reading audience.

I find myself pleading too: read Phil Agre!

EU court rules in Bulgarian case: Not allowing change of gender identity is contrary to EU law Legislation of a European Union member state which does not permit the amendment of the gender data of one of its nationals who has exercised his or her right to freedom of movement is contrary to …

This is huge! The European Court of Justice, the top EU court, has ruled that EU member states must provide a process to change gender markers on identity documents for trans people.

sofiaglobe.com/2026/03/12/e...

I know this marks me as officially Old but cummon people, we've been through this a few times before.

It gets very tiring to see the same arguments made over and over again because people don't *checks notes* read history.

It's not as if people have been arguing over this since 1956.

I saw a major critical AI paper recently that didn't cite one of the main figures of critical AI, Agre.

Sigh.

Dispatches from Radiotopia: Hamburg Rehearsal, by Selestra 4 track album

"Dispatches from Radiotopia: Hamburg Rehearsal": selestra.bandcamp.com/album/dispatches-from-ra...

Red lights of tower cranes in Bijlmer making the shape of a combined big dipper and Cassiopeia constellation.

The combined Big Dipper + Cassiopeia in their form as Tower Cranes

The dot of Venus just above a tall apartment building in Bijlmer, wispy post-sunset clouds partially obscuring the view

Good to see Venus again

We would perhaps not draw from hermeneutics today (and would instead reference new materialism, infrastructure studies, etc etc), but Agre's method of analysis is, I think, still quite valid.

I think a lot of our contemporary discourse around AI would be improved if we remembered that others have questioned the basic assumptions long ago, including in Phil Agre's classic text on critical technical practice from 1997: https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/agre/critical.html

Lift yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven.

Although I've found that I'm more partial to ASMZ these days.

This is real. This is happening.

Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses "The legislature did not include a grace period."

In case you're wondering how things are going in the US, the state of Kansas just invalidated the IDs of all of their trans residents who had changed their gender markers: www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sends-letters-t...

Is this database shared with the TSA? Does a suspended license prevent someone from passing through airport security? Would this potentually strand someone on the other side of the country? Because if so...wtf.

Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses "The legislature did not include a grace period." ERIN REED FEB 25, 2026 88 5 21 Share Kansas Sate Capitol // farzinvousoughian

1. Numerous transgender people in Kansas are reporting that the state has sent them a letter demanding the immediate surrender of drivers licenses.

Those driving could be arrested, charged, and see privileges revoked.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

This is like if 2/3 of the people in Wyoming fled the state.