The Carpent'Hours

In a men's world

2019-07-13T12:40:00.003-07:00

Three days ago I had a meeting downtown LA in Angel City Brewery. Many people, many discussions. A young woman explained to me the difficulties she had to justify herself in a profession mainly represented by men. She is a graphic designer.

I told her how I have been working in Muslim countries and how I got my very first big job as a web designer in France. I had an invitation for the biggest IT job fair in Paris, and when I arrived close to the fair, not even inside, I saw only men in black walking in the street. Black shirt, black jacket, black pants, black shoes, black ties and black suit cases, all heading to the fair gate. I realized that I probably had nothing to do there because I was dressed all bright in blue. This kind of azur blue.

With my little blue snickers, blue jacket, blue pants and blue shirt, I decided to merge in the middle of the cloud and take a line for the cloudiest booth. That was my first experience in a job fair, and my first experience looking for a job as an IT.....? I did not even know what I was really doing, but I could hear the other guys talking and they never talked about their school, their graduations, their diploma. They were talking about their experience, "I can do this or that".

In fact, many things they could do, I had learnt to do it too and I felt suddenly that I may had I found a ladder. My turn arrived and I explained my experience. The guy who interviewed me asked me what I could do best. At this time of my young age, I had found a way to convert videos with a double compression ratio using two different codecs and Quicktime. This way, I could stream non stop on a 56 kbps network. Two days later, I received a phone call, had an interview and was hired by the International Union Against Tuberculosis as a webmaster.

I worked for two different departments, computing and communication and I had the chance to be in charge of their graphic charter and their website. For 4 years, they had tried to remodel their website and nothing never ever happened. The computer team was at war with the communication and the external company in charge of the website could not communicate with both. Here I was with my small blue snickers, an electron in the cloud. I solved in two months their biggest challenge and got both the graphic charter and the architecture of the website approved by the international board of directors.

There is not really any frontier to be a woman and as I told this young lady, I never ask permission. Don't ask permission, just do what you think you have to do. In Muslim countries, I have always given the best of myself and I had in return the best of the people too. As an architect, I have always given the best of myself and I have won a lot from it. As a carpenter, I don't question if I shall or not be a carpenter, I just do. I can read blueprints, make blueprints, buy wood and hardware. I can use most any tools and give precision to my work. I am skilled with geometry and have a good understanding of a structure. That makes me the person I am and it has nothing to do with my gender.

Sometimes I am strong, sometimes I am weak. Sometimes I laugh and sometimes I cry, but I have been a soldiers' godmother and I know that soldiers cry too. I don't ask permission and I don't try to excuse having emotions, sensitivity, passions and compassion. I have learnt from both, men and women and I am grateful for having received from both, but what I am has really nothing to do with weather I am a man or a woman. What I am is the person who can solve the problem of someone else with the knowledge and the experience I have.

While I was in France, I have been interviewed many times about my work and I really never realized how women where questioning their career until I had my first patent. The young lady in the brewery asked me how I got this freedom, where did I find the strength to be the way I am, and you know what's so funny, I got it from all the macho men who tried to stop me. I always compare my life as a long walk on the water. The water is cloudy, the water is black, and I don't have to drown inside. I can just walk above and find my way. I have always believed that women sensitivity was a skill, not a weakness. I have always believed that not being so strong was a way to become smart and as I told the young lady while sipping my beer, you know what, "men never read the manuals". Once a woman can put a shelve together on a wall, she is more skilled than any man in the world.

The classification of a converted school bus

2019-04-17T13:47:00.004-07:00

Introduction

School bus conversion appeared during the past 10 years as a way of permanent living in a market where housing has been shaken by different economic, political and environmental events. The tsunami of 2004, the crash of 2007 and international tensions regarding the climate change have clearly developed a tendency for affordable housing, yet comfortable, yet modern, yet owned as an asset to invest in a kind of life focused on social progress. School bus conversion has been a response to settle families in a new way of life as an owner of the home and a tenant on the land. Most conversions are DIY projects and most of them are converted on a tiny budget with home made blueprints. This kind of home-made conversion created a vacuum where none of the existing regulations apply.

To understand the regulations and the way they can impact the design of a school bus, I have compared the definitions provided by NFPA, ANSI and HUD. This post will give you a very short description of those regulations that I develop in the "Guideline to Convert a School Bus". This guideline version-1 will be available by 04/24/2019 here on my blog and on Amazon. You can receive a free copy for a limited time by subscribing to the newsletter :

Definitions in the law

In NFPA 1192, 3.352, a Recreational Vehicle (RV) is:

a vehicle or slide-in camper that is primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or seasonal use; has its own motive power or is mounted on or towed by another vehicle; is regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a vehicle or vehicle equipment; does not require a special high-way use permit for operation on the highways; and can be easily transported and set up on a daily basis by an individual.

A Recreational Vehicle can be labeled as a "Model RV Park" if it fulfills the requirements of ANSI-119.5. In ANSI A-119.5-15 of 2009, a Recreational Vehicle is:

a vehicular type unit primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel or seasonal use, that either has its own motive power, or is mounted on, or towed by another vehicle. The basic entities are camping trailer, fifth wheel trailer, motor home, travel trailer and truck camper.

A converted school bus is classified as a "motor home" by DMV. In the definition of "motor home", ANSI A-119.5-15 of 2009 refers to NFPA 1192 2008 edition. Unfortunately, the NFPA 1192 provided on the website of https://www.nfpa.org, does not provide any definition for "motor home".

In a Notice of February 8, 2016, HUD brings a limitation to the term of Recreational Vehicle. You will find the annotated document in my eBook.

...by including a requirement that units claiming the ANSI A119.5—15 exemption prominently display a notice stating that the unit is designed only for recreational use, and not as a primary residence or permanent dwelling.

Recreational vehicles are not subject to this part, part 3280. A recreational vehicle is a

factory built vehicular structure designed only for recreational use and not as a primary residence or for permanent occupancy, built and certified in accordance with NFPA 1192— 15 or ANSI A119.5—09 consensus standards for recreational vehicles and not certified as a manufactured home.

The National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 1 (Pub. L. 93—383, approved August 22, 1974) (42 U.S.C. 5401—5426) (the Act) authorizes HUD to establish and amend the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (the Construction and Safety Standards, or Standards). When originally enacted, the Act covered mobile homes, defined as “a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is eight body feet or more in width and is thirty—two feet in length.” Consequently, structures measuring less than 256 square feet were excluded from the definition of mobile home under the Act.

A recreational vehicle is a vehicle, regardless of size, which is not designed to be used as a permanent dwelling, and in which the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems contained therein may be operated without connection to outside utilities and which are self-propelled or towed by a light duty vehicle.”

In 1980, the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96— 399, approved October 8, 1980) amended the definition of “mobile home” in the Act by striking out “eight body feet or more in width and thirty- two body feet or more in length” and substituting “in traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet.” The Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 also added a provision to the Act that exempted from the coverage, “any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph [42 U.S.C. 5402(6)] except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary and complies with the standards established under this title.”

(...) HUD proposed removing the exemption for certain recreational vehicles from its Procedural and Enforcement regulations. HUD stated that it had received numerous comments from the manufactured housing industry and from the public criticizing the exemption, and that the exemption had been difficult to apply. HUD also stated that it proposed establishing a procedure under which manufacturers of units which meet the definition of manufactured home except for the size requirements may bring their units under the jurisdiction of the Act by providing for a certification. HUD stated that the proposed certification would be easy to comply with and place a minimal burden on the manufacturer.

HUD received numerous comments, however, which were critical of the proposal to do away with the recreational vehicle exemption. As a result, relying on a conference report on the 1980 amendments that directed HUD to consider a more flexible standard for smaller manufactured homes (such as park models) whose square footage is between 320 and 400 square feet, HUD continued the exemption but expanded it to its current form. Specifically, HUD determined that recreational vehicles were exempt from HUD’s Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards and its Procedural and Enforcement Regulations if a unit is:

(1) Built on a single chassis;

(2) 400 Square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections;

(3) Self—propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

(4) Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

In 1988, HUD issued guidance to clarify the method for measuring a unit to determine whether it qualified as a recreational vehicle under HUD’s exemption. In interpretative bulletin A—1—88,2 HUD stated that “measurements shall be taken on the exterior of the home. The square footage includes all siding, corner trim, including storage space, and area enclosed by windows, but not the roofing overhang.”

Conclusion 1

If the converted school bus is used as a seasonal living quarter, it is a Recreational Vehicle. In this condition, ANSI and NFPA standards apply. If the converted school bus is used at a permanent dwelling, it is a Manufactured Home and the HUD standards apply.

In HUD Manufacted Home Construction and Safety Standards :

Manufactured homes are homes built as dwelling units of at least 320 square feet in size with a permanent chassis to assure the initial and continued transportability of the home. All transportable sections of manufactured homes built in the U.S. after June 15, 1976 must contain a certification label. The label certifies that the manufacturer has built the home in accordance with HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (the Standards). The Standards covers Body and Frame Requirements, Thermal Protection, Plumbing, Electrical, Fire Safety and other aspects of the home, published under 24 CFR Part 3280.

Enforcement of the HUD Standards

The Department has approved 15 State and private third party agencies to conduct inspections of the manufacturer’s production facility at various stages of the construction process. Some of the third party agencies also approve a manufacturer’s home design to ensure the plans are consistent with the HUD Standards. These agencies are known as a Primary Inspection Agency (PIA). There are two types of PIAs: Design Approval Primary Inspection Agencies (DAPIA) and Production Inspection Primary Inspection Agencies (IPIA). Manufacturers contract directly with a State or private third party agency and pay for the design review and home inspection services. Manufactured home retailers also have certain responsibilities to assure that only homes meeting the standards are sold to the general public.

In other words, a converted school bus which is used as permanent dwelling must meet the HUD standards and tag their "Manufactured Home" with a HUD label.

About "Manufactured Homes"

To understand the difference between a "Recreational Vehicle" and a "Manufactured Home", it is important to understand why regulations are made. They are designed to protect the public against fire, accidents and the emergence of social dysfunction that would result in poor quality life, the emergence of classes and struggles. Standards are made to protect the public against the habits of poverty where struggle and hardship becomes a norm that anchors poor quality life such a way that social progress no more exist. Hardship can happen. Struggles can happen. Events can happen in a life that drives people into poverty but poverty is not a status. It is a short term passage when somebody is driven down and it is supposed to be a passage only because we live in a human society where the society has to play a role. The role of the society is to take the people who are driven down to bring them into a better world, and this world, to be able to work properly, needs to meet standards.

HUD has defined standards that generally would describe an acceptable way of living in a home to be safe, to be secure, to work and function properly for cooking, sleeping, having hobbies, educating children, having friends, pets, activities, being able to clean, organize and maintain the house on a budget that meets also reasonable standards for being able to pay the home, the food and the bills. Whether the home is a school bus or a in-site building does not really make any difference as long as the minimum standards of living are met, and those standards are meant to increase the quality of life.

When "Manufactured Homes" meet certain requirements, the HUD is able to help finance the loan for buying the "Manufactured Home". One of those requirements involve anchoring the Manufactured Home on solid foundations, but this requirement is framed exclusively to define which kind of Manufactured Home can receive financial support. Some Manufactured Homes will receive financial support while other Manufactured homes will not. More generally, when a home is anchored on solid foundations, it will receive financial support from HUD to purchase. When the Manufactured Home is not anchored on solid foundations, it is still a Manufactured Home but it is not eligible to financial support. In the Notice of February 8, 2016, HUD gives a definition of a Manufactured Home:

2. In § 3280.2, revise the definition of “Manufactured home” to read as follows:

Manufactured home means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is 8 body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length or which when erected on-site is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure. This term includes all structures that meet the above requirements except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification pursuant to § 3282.13 of this chapter and complies with the construction and safety standards set forth in this part. The term does not include any recreational vehicle as specified in § 3282.15 of this chapter.

Calculations used to determine the number of square feet in a structure will include the total of square feet for each transportable section comprising the completed structure and will be based on the structure’s exterior dimensions measured at the largest horizontal projections when erected on site. These dimensions will include all expandable rooms, cabinets, and other projections containing interior space, but do not include bay windows. Nothing in this definition should be interpreted to mean that a manufactured home necessarily meets the requirements of HUD’s Minimum Property Standards (HUD Handbook 4900.1) or that it is automatically eligible for financing under 12 U.S.C. 1709(b).

Conclusion 2

All Manufactured Homes, rather they are with or without permanent foundations, which are used as a permanent dwelling must meet HUD standards. This is the complete online version of the "MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS". You will find in the "Guideline to Convert a School Bus" detailed description and explanation of the text to meet those standards in a school bus conversion. Register now to receive a free copy of the book. This offer is limited to only people who register before the publication :

TABLE OF CONTENT

Forewords
About the Author
Introduction
Why to buy a school bus
How to buy a school bus
Limitations
Unlimitations
Fixed costs
Know your school bus
Preparation
Rules and regulations
Definition of the project
How to finance your conversion
Design
How to choose your equipment
Security
Organization
Construction
Keeping records
Documenting your project
Insurances
Long term investment
Painting
Decorating
Outdoors
Sustainability
Social perspectives
Political impact
How to live permanently in a school bus
Self-estime
Conclusion

About tiny homes

School bus conversions are frequently labeled as "tiny homes" and the question that generally emerges on forum is "which code applies?"

On NFPA, I found a "tiny home facts sheets" that sums up all the aspects of a tiny home:

a tiny home is typically a single-family home, generally 400 square feet or less, that is intended as a permanent, non-transitory occupancy. (...) Tiny homes are built in different ways, and it is important to identify the types of tiny homes that fall within the scope and application of building codes or related regulations. Many tiny homes include features or attributes of the following:

Recreational vehicles

Manufactured homes

Modular dwellings

Site-built dwellings

In fact, this text is not correct because the Recreational Vehicles are only temporary and shall be excluded from the tiny home description. A tiny home is a Manufactured home, 400 square feet or less, a modular dwelling or a site-built dwelling.

On a note, NFPA refers to a white paper called "applying building codes to tiny home" dated March 2017.

For the most part, a tiny home is just that — it is a single family dwelling on a very small scale. The tiny home community often states that the size of a tiny home is 400 square feet or less. But this threshold is subjective. There is no formal definition for tiny homes in nationally recognized building codes.

Tiny homes are dwellings. A dwelling is considered by building codes to be used as a non transient occupancy for the purposes of living, which includes sleeping and cooking. Dwellings are not for transient use, where occupants unfamiliar with the building will stay temporarily, such as a hotel room. Dwellings are therefore generally subjected to the same building code regulations as any other home unless specifically exempted. Those working to enforce code provisions on tiny homes may have difficulties because the nature of tiny homes introduces features that challenge conventional code requirements.

(...) Codes are adopted and enforced by jurisdictions to provide a minimum level of safety to protect building occupants and property. Their intent is to minimize dangers to life and property. These regulations protect against many risks associated with the purpose and use of buildings. The safety goal of building codes is to reduce the probability of injury or death from fire, structural failure, and building use.

(...) For the purposes of these guidelines, a tiny home is intended for permanent and non-transitory occupancy or residency. Also for the purposes of these guidelines, tiny homes are not attached to multiple units and would not be configured or used as a bunkhouse.

(...) There is one issue when following regulations for recreational vehicles (RVs). The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires RVs to be only “temporary living quarters,” and tiny homes often are intended to be permanent homes. Regardless, tiny homes taking this form are not regulated by building codes. As RVs, they more likely must comply with other state or federal regulations.

(...) Building codes require that a building be classified with an occupancy. See NFPA 5000 Section 1.7.6.2.1 and IBC Section 302.1. Tiny homes are separate buildings intended for non-transient living purposes. The occupancy that building codes establish for an occupancy for residential living is a dwelling unit: in NFPA 5000 the occupancy is a one- and two-family dwelling; in the IBC/IRC it is an R-3 occupancy.

Tiny homes are single-family dwellings, and under this occupancy description the building code will regulate them. A dwelling is defined as a building provided with permanent provisions for sleeping, cooking, eating, living, and sanitation. Tiny homes are not accessory structures, as considered by building codes. Accessory structures is a term used in building codes to refer to structures accessory and incidental to a building on the same lot. This means that an accessory structure is not for primary use. A dwelling, no matter what the size, is a primary use and a permanent, habitable occupancy. Accessory structures would more commonly be a shed or detached garage.

In the "Guideline to Convert a School Bus", I describe all the rules applicable to tiny homes.

Conclusion 3

A converted school bus may be a tiny home if the occupancy is permanent by a single family. When the occupancy is only temporary, then the rules of regulations of Recreational Vehicles apply which I describe in the "Guideline to Convert a School Bus".

Why follow the rules?

This document about MANUFACTURED HOME FIRES describes with graphs and pictures the difference between a home following the HUD standards and a home which does not. Following the standards drops the risks by more than 50% just only on fires. In the Guideline to Convert a School Bus", I explain the other incidences on a daily basis to prevent domestic accidents, thief, depression, cancer, expenses, etc.... Don't forget to subscribe to receive a limited-time free copy of the book.

New art prints in the Theosdoron gallery

2019-04-10T18:32:00.001-07:00

You will find new art prints in the gallery of theosdoron.com

New updates on Theodora

2019-02-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Find new updates on my painting and research about Empress Theodora:

https://www.theosdoron.com/blog/the-heritage-from-theodora

The menstrual cycle of men

2019-01-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

I found the other day an article titled "The Benefits of Sacred Seminal Retention: An Immortal Lesson" by Hank Kraychir on Gnosismasonry. He is talking about the Claustrum oil, what he calls also the sacred secretion.

On Wikipedia : "The claustrum usually connects to the cortex in an ipsilateral manner; however, the few that travel contralaterally are considerably weaker than the former. The claustrum acts as a conductor for inputs from the cortical regions so these respective areas do not become unsynchronized. Without the claustrum, one could respond to stimuli that are familiar to the individual but not to complex events. Additionally, the claustrum is essential in combining sensory and motor modalities so that various anatomical patterns are present. One of the proposed functions of the claustrum is to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information so that the latter can be ignored. Cortical components of consciousness include the fronto-parietal cortex, cingulate and precuneus. Due to the claustrum's widespread connectivity to these areas, it is suggested that it may play a role in both attention and consciousness. The neural networks that mediate sustained attention and consciousness implicate numerous cortical areas, many of which overlap in connectivity with the claustrum. Previous clinical reports suggest that conscious processes are lateralized to the left hemisphere in humans.

(...) Altogether, these findings leave the claustrum as the most highly connected structure per regional volume in the brain and suggest that it may serve as a hub to coordinate activity of cerebral circuits."

(...) The claustrum has been shown to have widespread activity to numerous cortical components, all of which that have been associated with having components of consciousness and sustained attention. This is because of widespread connectivity to fronto-parietal areas, cingulate cortex and thalami. Sustained attention being from the connections to the cingulate cortex, temporal cortex, and thalamus.
Crick and Koch suggest that the claustrum has a role similar to that of a conductor within an orchestra; as it attempts to co-ordinate the function of all connections. This “conductor” notion can also be supported through connections between claustral, sensory, and frontal regions. The claustrum has been confirmed to be reciprocally connected to the prefrontal cortex, visual, auditory, sensory, and motor regions respectively. Connections to these modalities provide insight into the functionality of the claustrum. Here it is proposed that the claustrum functions in the gating of selective attention. Through this gating process, the claustrum can selectively control input from these modalities to facilitate the process of “focusing”. It has also been suggested that it operates in the opposite context; through divisive normalization the claustrum may implement resistance to certain input modalities to prevent “distraction”."

In another article, "Why is intelligence correlated with semen quality? - Biochemical pathways common to sperm and neuron function and their vulnerability to pleiotropic mutations" published on the US library of Medicine.

"In a recent paper we reported a positive association between general intelligence and semen quality in male humans. Specifically, in a sample of 425 Vietnam-era veterans, we found positive correlations between a g factor (representing general intelligence, extracted from factor analysis of five well-validated cognitive tests) and three independent measures of semen quality: sperm concentration (r = 0.15, p = 0.002), sperm count (r = 0.19, p = 0.001) and sperm motility (r = 0.14, p = 0.002). None of these correlations were mediated by age, body mass index, combat experience in Vietnam, use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or hard drugs or days of sexual abstinence before collection of the semen sample. We argued that although these correlations were small in magnitude, they might be theoretically important for understanding the evolutionary genetics of human phenotypic variation."

The genetic, biochemical and physiological overlap between brain function and semen function illustrates why pleiotropic mutations may create a general ’fitness factor’ across many phenotypic traits—not only in humans, but in all organisms subject to a balance between harmful mutations and purifying selection.

Both neurons and sperm have high concentrations of PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) relative to other body tissues. Specifically, the long chain PUFAs docosahexaenoic acid [22:6(n-3)] (DHA) and arachidonic acid [20:4(n-6)] (AA) are the dominant essential fatty acid components of the brain. They are concentrated at synaptic terminals and play a central role in neurodevelopment function and maintenance. Crawford2 and Broadhurst3 described the high degree of evolutionary conservation of DHA and AA in the brains of land mammals, including humans. While AA is readily available in the land-based food chain, DHA is available largely from the marine food chain, suggesting that hominids probably evolved with access to seafood in addition to hunted land animals.

Similarly, sperm and retinal photoreceptor cells, in addition to olfactory sensory neurons, seem to share functional similarities in employing cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels in response to chemotactic, photonic and odorant signals, respectively. Many of these channels in sperm are T-type voltage-gated Ca2+ ion channels involved in AR regulation,while other odorant gene family receptors that are sperm-specific appear to directly regulate sperm motility and chemotaxis by downstream activation of CaV3.2 (α1H) Ca2+ ion channels. The CACNA1H gene encodes this ion channel, which is heavily expressed in the neocortex as well, and various mutations have been implicated in case studies of childhood absence seizures and idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

In addition to odorant receptors, mammalian sperm are known to express many other “neuronal” and classical neurotransmitter receptors implicated in essential roles of sperm function, particularly exocytosis. While the adaptive functions of sperm and neurons are ostensibly different, exocytosis is central to their individual abilities to perform these functions, and striking parallels in exocytosis function have been described. Neurons use exocytosis for neurite outgrowth and to release neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles, while sperm use exocytosis to perform the acrosomal reaction (AR), in which the plasma membrane of the sperm fuses with the egg's plasma membrane to facilitate fertilization.

NEURITE OUTGROWTH

ACROSOMAL REACTION

The acrosome is the little war head on the front of the sperm. It is made of enzymes that react in contact with the zona pellucida. The sperm uses exocytosis what means the release of cellular substance in which case, the enzymes. The release of the enzymes create a cortical reaction from the egg. Cortical granules from the egg dissolve all the binding glycoproteins of the zona pellucida what release the genetic material into the egg. Once there is fusion of the genetic material from the male and the female, this is called the fertilization.

The acrosome is thus a modified secretory vesicle, containing enzymes and other fertilization factors, and seems analogous to the neurotransmitter vesicles that fuse with the plasma membrane of the neuron to release its contents into the synaptic cleft. Biochemically, conception is a sort of synaptic communication between gametes—or synaptic communication is the way neurons impregnate each other with information.

To perform this exocytosis, sperm and neurons both use an intricate system of plasma membrane proteins consisting of syntaxin [a SNARE (soluble NSF-attachment receptor) protein], SNAP-25 (synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa), and synaptobrevin, among others. PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) directly modulate this system by increasing the physiological efficacy of lipid rafts aggregating these proteins, as well as undergoing intracellular phospholipase action (due to their favorable dissociation mechanics) to produce arachidonic acid, a soluble PUFA not requiring a protein chaperone. AA in turn activates the membranous protein complex to initiate membrane fusion in exocytosis.

On Wikipedia : Arachidonic acid is not one of the essential fatty acids. However, it does become essential if a deficiency in linoleic acid exists or if there is an inability to convert linoleic acid to arachidonic acid occurs. Some mammals lack the ability or have a very limited capacity to convert linoleic acid to arachidonic acid, making it an essential part of their diets. Since little or no arachidonic acid is found in common plants, such animals are obligate carnivores; the cat is a common example having inability to desaturate essential fatty acids. A commercial source of arachidonic acid has been derived, however, from the fungus Mortierella alpina.

In fact the Mortierella alpina is a mushroom, one plant that has more protein than beef.

It is interesting how vegetable that provide a high level of proteins are the same that burn fat easily.

Few years ago, I twitted Ricky Gervais that maybe, we shall collect nails all over the world to send in Chinese Consulates and Embassies in order to stop the killing of Rhino. In nails, there can be fungus and the precious formula for fertility, especially if we go hunting in the poor areas of the world. Kittens can also give fungus with the magical ring worm that grows naturally on cats when it comes in contact with fleas. DON'T KILL the cats!!!! That was a metaphor to explain that a reaction between two organisms can favor the fertility, but the real fertility is not into the enzymes.

The real fertility comes into the ability of the sperm to not be killed by the cortical granules of the egg, if ever the sperm has reached the zona pellucida, and thus the brain is a major function of the fertility. I would compare it to a water level.

As would say Archimedes, take a bath for example.

There is a natural equilibrium between the brain and the sperm. Eating more mushrooms for example, can bring more arachidonic acid to the brain because an addition of nutriments will equilibrate inside the body. Too much production of sperm without additional nutriments will result in less intelligence. More intellectual activities without additional nutriments will result in less fertility, and seminal retention is like the cheese cave, fungus makes it fertile. Of course, the fungus shall better grow inside the cave, other wise you might need some butt dry.

Seminal retention is for men, but what about women? Same. Mushrooms will bring more arachidonic acid to the brain what can increase both fertility and intelligence. Too much intellectual activity without arachidonic acid reduces fertility. Too much .... ? What, females cannot stop their cycle?

Of course they can, just by reducing the nutriments that make them fertile. Less fertile nutriments reduce the release of eggs which is like keeping the cheese inside the fridge for a while, and they take the cheese out when they want too. To cut the production of eggs, first thing first, less tomatoes, more rice and low energy diet. I will post later about the benefits of low energy diet.

So about the rhinoceros as we see, unless the horn is full of fungus, there is absolutely no interest in eating horn, and fungus can be found elsewhere than from an old ship full of mushrooms. The first source of fungus is by eating mushrooms and mushrooms alone are not enough. A good balance of natural nutriments is important and they grow just next in the garden. No gold, no money to spare for that.

The documents explain also the relation between the sperm and retinal photoreceptor cells, in addition to olfactory sensory neurons. They "seem to share functional similarities in employing cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels in response to chemotactic, photonic and odorant signals". Both male and female must look good and smell good to each other for their brain to release the cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels which is "heavily expressed in the neocortex". Since "claustrum usually connects to the cortex" we see how all the mechanic works to increase fertility:

Smell good,
look good
and eat good also !

I have selected some recipes using mushrooms

Here are also some good perfumes

Those are some fashion advices

Now, if you have eaten all your mushrooms
to process your brain properly,
you shall see that killing rhinoceros is bad !

Fertilization we have seen, is a fusion between genetic materials from a man and a woman. It needs two and only two genetic materials to make one person.

Females have an exocytosis of one egg every cycle of 28 days. It's about the cycle of the Moon. They, like males, release the substance that will create the fertilization when the acrosome of the male meet with the zona pellidula of the female. The female cycle releases estrogens in the blood. When the estrogens reach the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, the brain releases the hormone that develop the egg and provoke the exocytosis of the egg into the abdominal cavity of the female.

Most eggs pass through the fallopian tubes without being fertilized what create the female menstruation.

During the flow of menstruation, the male enter a new cycle which is the seminal retention. This seminal retention reinforces the acrosone and the fertility. Not all men and women will want to be fertile with the same energy and devotion. Cultural and religious factors will interfere to create an environment in which the people will grow but each individual is like an acrosone and an egg, or more exactly a zona pellucida. Women live in their spheres and men constantly knock the door, which is the way also that love happens. The most important question for an egg is rather this acrosone is attracted by love or by sexual satisfaction?

There are many detractors about love and many propagandas about polyamorous, non monogamy, bonobos, etc... I am not going to talk about it, you can find many videos on Youtube. The main propagandist movement compare the cycle of men and women and since men are constantly generating sperm, they shall extract it. Without being rude, men and women constantly produce shit, pee, nails, boogers, smells, farts, burtps, but for most of them, they try to hold it. Those movements would try to say "because it is natural for a man to be a bonobos, he can have bigger testicles, scratch them at the nose of everybody and be as fungus as he wants, brain is malleable". This is in few words the content of the next video :

With selling the idea that the brain is malleable, they only sell the idea that the female brain is malleable because if the brain is malleable, the male brain shall be malleable too and not go everywhere to spread his fungus. The reality is, behind the main stream that promotes polyamorous, non monogamous relationship, there is a power that is taking control of the brain. The more people have toxic sexual relationships, the less they think. The less they think, the easiest it is for a power to guide them in taking bad decisions. Remember what is claustrum. Claustrum is:

"to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information"
"it may play a role in both attention and consciousness"

Altogether, these findings leave the claustrum as the most highly connected structure per regional volume in the brain and suggest that it may serve as a hub to coordinate activity of cerebral circuits.

The more claustrum circulates in the body

to go down the testicles,

then you get the idea,

the more mushrooms he must eat.

I will write another article about "love & monogamy" and "students' loans". Stay tuned to follow the rest of this story inside consciousness.

PROPOSITIONS

Forbid the word "seminal" because it gives a wrong understanding of the role of men and women in fertilization.
.... please comment and subscribe to the newsletter down the page.

Baker electric cars

2019-01-25T14:42:00.002-08:00

The Baker Electric car was built in 1909. The owner is Jay Leno, in Burbank. You can visit his Big Dog Garage by taking appointment. This car designed by Thomas Edison. In 1806, Baker became the largest electric vehicle maker in the world with a production of 800 cars.One of those cars was part of the first White House fleet of cars. In 1913, the Baker company merged Cleveland automaker Rauch and Lang to become Baker, Rauch & Lang. The last car was produced in 1916. In 1915, Baker, Rauch & Lang had started the production of the Owen Magnetic under contract. The production continued until 1922. The Owen Magnetic was a hybrid.

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog. Both columns on the left and the right will subscribe you to the feeds of my posts. The subscribe button at the bottom of the page will subscribe you to the newsletter.

Women in construction trade

2019-01-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

As promised, I am going to comment this document : "Omitted from History: Women in the Building Trades" by Linda Clarke and Chris Wall. I found it in the Department of Architecture of the University of Cambridge. This document explains how the construction industry manages the apprenticeship and how this industry segregated apprenticeship as an almost exclusively white male preserve. There have been periods since the fourteenth century when "the women have had a not insignificant presence in the building trades" and the document compares those periods. The two main streams for this comparison are feudalism and capitalism.

Under the feudalism period, companies had specialties linked to their materials. Materials would develop the expertise of the companies, the way they provision their shops and the way they transform those materials into a building. To transform the materials, they have developed a system of apprenticeship of seven years after what the apprentice would become a master.

During the 14th century, construction was most exclusively linked to the construction of castles and churches. Apprentices would learn to build with houses, and develop enough skills to work on larger projects. Those larger projects are connected with two worlds, that of religion and that of the army.

===>>> Those are the results of Google for the architecture of the 14th century

On the second page of the document, the period of apprenticeship corresponds with the development of the sexuality from lad to man and the necessity for the establishment to control the period of time when maturity is better acquired with learning skills. Man are separated from women and they are forbidden to marry until they become master.

The guild system was not a segregated system with an apprenticeship for men and an apprenticeship for women, offering adequate opportunity for each gender to acquire craftsmanship. It was segregated in the sense that construction crafts were exclusively for men. Some women would be allowed to become mistresses who took over as widows from their husbands, but that would mean that their husbands were already masters. The widows would take the leadership of the company from their husband, but they would not perform as knowledgeable craftswomen.

Nonetheless were the women deprived from apprenticeship, but they would spend their lives as submissive assistant whose wage was controlled to stay under the value of men. Women would not have any right to personal property and as a consequence, they would not have any legal status in front of the law. They were dependent of their husbands and at some period of times, they "were restrained from being too involved in their husbands’ trade."

Outside of the control of town corporations, women "might often be found doing heavy work, such as carrying sand and lime, gravel and mortar or using a ‘great crane of iron’ " but they were "laid down in the Statutes for ‘women laborers’". Women in medieval times were treated just like women are treated nowadays in many emerging countries of the world where they carry water, tea leaves, coffee beans... They are laborer and they are not allowed to access knowledge.

In 1563/1563, the Statute of Artificers carried many reforms "through setting a framework for wage assessment and for the parish apprenticeship system". This system "was not gender specific but referred to apprentices as ‘persons’ and to ‘boys and girls’, ‘masters and mistresses’". (...) "Under the parish apprenticeship system boys were bound until they were 24 and girls until they were 21 or

were married." As we see, apprenticeship was still a way of control on the development of sexuality from teenage to adult, but under the Statute of Artificers, "34% of parish apprentices were girls, who were apprenticed in 51 occupations including as bricklayers, carpenters, joiners and shipwrights"."They normally completed and practiced their trade and were especially numerous in the eighteenth century. George, for instance, discovered the 1741 indentures of a female parish

apprentice ‘to be taught the art and mystery of carpenter’" - "Unlike the earlier period, after the Statute took full effect - in London, country and provincial towns and in the parish guilds – girls were to be found bound to men in the building trades throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including amongst the London carpenters in the eighteenth century."

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, wage labor became dominant. Labor was no more affected to a task but to the time on duty. During the feudalism period, the division of labor was established between the master as the person in charge of the task, then the journeyman, apprentice and below the statute of apprentice was the laborer and the servant. This organization changed with capitalism to foreman and skilled to craft worker, skilled, semi-skilled, apprentice and laborer. The evolution of labor excluded women to seclude them into "more heavily female trade such glovers, dressmakers and ribbon makers. "At the same time the range of occupations open to women declined dramatically, along with the number of female apprentices. Only five out of 75 trades in Middlesex between 1803 and 1822, for example, were mixed, the remainder being totally segregated. "Increased gender segregation went together with the development of capitalist production, rendering problematic traditional ways of reconciling work with familial control and responsibilities such as breastfeeding."

In the 19th century, the absence of statutory restrictions confined apprenticeship to men and thus acted as the key means of exclusion and control against women. "The early trade union view was that women should not enjoy the status of artisan and that in effect ‘skill’ was an essentially masculine quality or ‘property’". "Many women were left in a precarious position, constituting the majority of paupers from 1834; by the 1890s nearly 80% of able-bodied paupers on outdoor relief were women."

The decline has continued with the 21th century. "Higher proportions of women are evident in painting and decorating at 0.8%, but for bricklayers, plasterers, scaffolders, plumbers and civil engineering no more than 0.1% were found to be female in a survey of 2001".

This report takes only British facts into consideration, but most the American system has inherited from it, so the continue will be based on those facts.

* *

My first reaction when reading this report was a relief to be able to prove my statement in response to the Reddit comments (r/firefighters, r/forestry, r/woodworking) and at the same time, an extreme anger because I was addressing my posts to firefighters, forest owners/managers/experts and woodworkers. Globally, I was addressing several actors of the construction industry and many of them reacted like a gang of monkeys, aggressively and with subjectivity. I was not very surprised with the way men had reacted, this is pretty common in woodworking, but I was shocked with the woman firefighter, first as a woman, second a firefighter. This is the picture I have posted on Reddit:

Hundreds of houses burnt and full residential areas gone into ashes. Hundreds of people dead, wounded, traumatized and as much depression with children and adults. One very simple question: "how did it happen?" and answers such "Yah, people die and shit. It's what we deal with every day. You are preaching to the wrong audience." I was "preaching" with the "wrong audience". Later on, I made a research to understand what just had happened. I found this article:

Reddit’s r/changemyview is a template for how all online discussion should be

"For those who ignore the internet’s number one rule — “never read the comments” — you know that this is the sort of statement that precedes an orgy of insults and abuse. When rationality does make an appearance — often in the form of an insightful, sensible comment or a link with proof to the contrary — the chorus not-so-politely reminds them where to stick it."

Then I remembered rule number 9, "tell tearjerkers". I guess I found the right document for it, "segregation", "exclusion", "poverty". Doesn't it sound true? The following video will show you that the state of women is not so far with that of slavery -- I must tell you in advance, the video is extremely boring, but if you stick to the story without falling asleep, you might get those few words:

Introduction of the following video:
"The role of debt in sort of dislodging labor from the social nexus in which it has been placed it seemed from marriage systems but then seen from the perspective of wage labor itself which has a very interesting history and in many times a place is probably most seems to emerge above all from within the institution of slavery and then finally to look at a case where wage labor actually didn't emerge from institutions of slavery in Northern Europe and particularly England and in that case to look at the role of debt and redefining English agricultural industrial commercial workers not as creditors but essentially as debtors to those they worked for." This is comparable to the relation between the West and the emerging countries.

This imminent anthropologist from Birmingham compares marriage to slavery and most importantly, he explains the difference between bride-wealth and dowry. Globally, dowry is subsequent of wealthier families from the woman while bride-wealth applies at the bottom of the society when the family of the bride is poor or when she is taken as a sex-slave. He calls it the "commodization of the poors" and I tend to believe that the most apparent aspect of this commodization of the poors has become, with internet, a reactive orgy of insults and abuse. I though at first that the comments on Reddit were reacting at me, at my research and the discussion I was opening on Reddit, but the reality is way more disturbing. It is global.

It is difficult to dissociate violence from a lack of education and this lack of education is related to sexuality. Somebody who is intellectually involved in a constructive manner will not lose his/her time on toxic relationship while the "commodization of the poors" tend to manage the society with an hypersexuality that brings drama and disorder.

The youth is trapped in the society like Ace Ventura in a rhino. At some point, there is just a little "trou du cul".

More seriously, the norm for women has become the statute of laborer and if we see in 2019, women in trades essentially represented by men, this does NOT mean any progress at all. Social progress would mean to access equal training, apprenticeship, mastering and skills. We see clearly from the document that the norm changes when the politics are involved but we see also that the genders involve different kinds of politics.

On the Reddit platform, Whiskeysourpussycat accused me of racism when I mentioned immigration. This is the exact content of my post :

The recent fires in California are questioning the good sense. How did it happen?

The choking reality is that I am not even surprise. I arrived in LA in 2015, expecting to find the most advanced state in the US on green construction and I found instead a desolation. I work as a female carpenter and a designer. I am graduated in architecture and passed my graduation with an ethnographic study about South East Asian carpentry. In 2006, I started to focus exclusively on European carpentry, I passed concourses and was quite successful what paid patents and a prototype on high thermal efficiency, what I call the Fire Resistant Houses. I have been "on the field" if I may say as an ethnographer in an emerging country (Indonesia), as a researcher, as a humanitarian consultant and auditor, as an architect and as a wood construction company. I did not arrive in green construction from the magazines and political groups. I have always been on the field working with forest owners, forest managers, sawmills, cities, organizations, schools, and people of different colors but what I found in LA was similar to a humanitarian crisis:

the construction sector is hold almost exclusively by immigrants who arrive in the US with low qualifications and ethics;
there is an extreme sensitivity about communitarism and immigration what make any progress difficult;
only few architects work on the housing sectors what leave the opportunity to low qualified contractors to design what ever they want;
the cities control the permits on the structure, the electricity and the plumbing, but there is no control over the fire resistance of a house or a small building;
fires happen and tourists feel more concerned than the local population.

I could extend the list, but what I mean here is that "green construction" offer large opportunities for a better fire resistance of the buildings and one shall not be separated from the other. The term "green construction" shall be associated with the idea of a "fire resistant building" because the thermal insulation and the conception of the structure offer better standards. But "green construction" nowadays, only affects large buildings while most of the workforce on housing sectors do not have any basic training and there are not trained because nobody ask for better standards. Nobody ask for better standards because almost anybody do what ever they want, starting with shop managers. If you go in a Home Depot in LA, you will not find any mineral wool, any oak, any kits to design a DIY Fire Resistant House.

I am not sure that a product today could arrive on the market alone because it takes many different kinds of people to create one product, a large amount of money, some R&D and some determination from a higher level to decide the orchestration of one product, but isn't it the role of a government to give the lead with grants, programs, incentive and communication? Don't you think that the fire departments in each state and cities shall ask for better standards? Don't you think that firefighters shall train the population and lead the planning departments to better controls? Don't you think that architects shall also be part of the verification process like a lawyer in a court house? Don't you think that architects shall be trained for better housing and engaged into communication with the public?

I still cannot believe what I saw in California and I don't know about you, but I personally don't want to get used of it.

Traditionally, we have seen that the construction industry takes in charge apprenticeship. After the 19th century, the Unions have segregated women and without a political impulse, women in the 21th century would not access apprenticeship and mastership. The statute of "laborer" is equally applied to define the women of the construction industry and the immigrants. This is the same statutory tradition that segregates immigrants to a very low level of qualifications and wages.

An immigrant in California can be granted a driving license, but once driving away from DMV, there is absolutely no training to conform the level of the laborer with the security standard of construction. There are not even any security standards to regulate the way the construction are made, neither to impose some kind of resistance to fires, neither to comply the materials in the stores with the risks on each area. Contractors, once they have paid their fees and taxes, are not obliged to any kind of result in a case such residential fires and we see clearly on the pictures that residential fires result in dramatic chaos.

Behind the "R" word of racism, there is a reality : "segregation", "exclusion" and "poverty".

New section to this blog

2019-01-24T14:01:00.002-08:00

The other day, I wanted to increase the traffic on my website. I would like to gather a community around my projects to continue the R&D on forestry and CNG. I made a research and found an article titled: "14 Devious Tactics for Getting More Comments on Your Blog Posts"

1. Get visitors to subscribe : I have set up a subscribe form that opens until you subscribe. It's at the bottom of the page, so please, subscribe.

2. Emphasize email over RSS : I have done that both for thecarpentehours.com and theosdoron.com

3. Publish less often : Starting a blog needs some content, but I don't plan to post often anyway.

4. Email your unopens : This I will do when I have subscribers. I have always done that and use eTarget to manage my mailing lists.

5. Ask for links : I created an account on Reddit and I post on the communities most likely interested with my blog.

6. Revive the archives : That I do about once a week.

7. Write with more passion : Well, I try.

8. Assault the norm : Yeah, I created a "female society" section!!!!

9. Tell a tearjerker : I started one post titled "My book of life". I wrote one paragrapher and started to cry. Only the title makes me cry, so no, this is not my personality. It will break me down before anyone gets in tear.

10. Attack a common enemy : You know what, I found a common enemy in the r/firefighters of Reddit and it is.... a female. I will comment later.

11. Give a pep talk : I have started that in the r/forestry sub Reddit. Will continue.

12. Respond to the comments you do get : I am not sure it's a good idea, but some comments definitively need responses especially on Reddit where you find non-working people spending their time behind a phone to click up and down. It's like a jury where the jury don't listen the defense and the accusation. They just judge without reading and without looking the evidences. Some of them sit in Reddit like they would sit in the middle of the street. They don't blog, they don't have opinion, they do nothing, but they found a community there where they can play the Sheik Arab of America. Karma up, karba down, and those people love to cut heads !!!! Best thing of course is to respond, otherwise you loose all your efforts with one jerk doing nothing else than having time to put you down.

13. Ask a question that’s easy to answer : With some sections, it's not easy because they are mostly men and when you ask a man to think two thing together, they start to calm you down. By the way, I will comment about that in the "Female Society" section.

14. Resort to bribery : Yeah, maybe one day, I'll organize a party with my girls !!!!

As you can see, getting traffic is not relaxing. One first day on Reddit and all my clocks are set to alarm. I slept with my boxing gloves and I woke up with blood on my teeth. Now, I am gonna get things straight because I am a little bit tired of everything, men for sure, but also those women who think that wearing men trousers saved the world. I found last night a document that sums up quite everything. It's called "Omitted from History: Women in the Building Trades". I will comment this document in another post because it needs some deep analysis, but what you see in this document is at some points, two kinds of women. The labor and the artisan. I am none of them. I am an architect, but migrating in the US made me an artisan and I always have to deal with women happy to be a laborer. What shows the document is how the difference between the labor and the artisan deeply affects the society and I personally believe that it deeply affects the development of the brain, the cognitivity, the intellect, the comportments, the personality. Yesterday, I have been attacked by a woman on Reddit who named herself Whiskeysourpussycat. If I translate pussycat in French, that would be "trou du cul" and I spent my evening wondering whose man would call himself a "trou du cul". You add a little bit of whiskey on that, and some sour. You have the modern woman firefighter posting on Reddit that I am a racist. You remember the points 7 to 10..... then you get the name of this section, the "female society".

People and friends have been asking for about 24 years that I write "my book", and this pussy cat just gave me the reason why I shall not cry over myself. I have met wonderful women in my life and I have met wonderful men too. I have been successful in my work because of both and those people had the same vision as I did of a better society. I will be 50 this year and I have seen the world changing. I cannot speak anymore of anything actual without referring to the "old time", the way we made the change in the world. I am not gonna let a pussy cat on my way to insult me and take me down because she thinks she is a firefighter. I was polite and I believe that I was legitimate asking questions on Reddit. This document about "Omitted from History: Women in the Building Trades" just complement the reason why I initially posted on the r/firefighters section.

I also posted as an immigrant, somebody who grew up in France and arrived in America with the belief, in the beginning, that everything was going to be easy, that France and America were friends, that we were on the same level of the society and that we had the same vision of a civilization in which I could bring my contribution as a female and an entrepreneur. Nothing went like that. My graduation in architecture has no value in the US, not even as a designer. I cannot register with the AIA. If I want to design anything, I must create outside of the construction market or I must work as an employee which has been the case so far. Authorship is the only way I have to keep my status as an architect because everyday I meet men and women who would like to take me down and turn my brain as an assistant or a labor. Why a French architect cannot work in the US? Why my graduation does not let any other opportunity than being taken down by people who believe that they have more rights than I do. Why I am treated racist when I ask legitimate questions? All those questions needed a section because writing is my therapy in this crazy world.

This document "Omitted from History: Women in the Building Trades" brought many things back to my memory, things I have done by the passed, things I have said by the passed and obviously, things that need to be said again. The young generations take everything for granted while it is not. The path to be a woman with human rights in this world is very hard and very fragile. I cannot let a Whiskeysourpussycat to puke on me, my work, my own history, without me punching back on her nose. Some women just don't deserve the title.

These old classics are an inspiration

2019-01-21T20:42:00.003-08:00

Facebook ad *** updated

2019-01-21T20:00:00.001-08:00

I just started a Facebook ad campaign, spent $4.15 so far for 9 clicks in 3 days. The ad is a carousel of pictures with links to my pages on forestry, the Tecodrive, the jewels and a hire me link. All the people who clicked on Saturday were men. All the people who clicked on Sunday were women and I have a majority of clicks from men today. It's obvious that older people are interested to click while younger ones don't. Females from 34 to 65 don't click at all. The cost of each click on Saturday was around $0.22 while it raised to $0.45 today. The ad appears on many pages with very few clickers, but the average cost on Facebook is around $1.5/ click so I am not doing too bad.

Still, I have not reached my objective yet to get comments on my post. I have twitted today and I have gone big. I twitted POTUS, the White House, Warren Buffet, the House of Representatives from both sides and the Senators from both sides. I am gonna pray now to see if the seeds of hope are growing.

I took some contacts on Facebbok but get blocked after a while. A got blocked on twitter but could unlock my account after a while. I am not sure I want to engage in other forums to get my first comments so I will continue to send my articles where I believe they might get some echo. I have learned from experience that big project do not need big crowds, but just the right amount of interesting people. I hope to hear from the journalists on my Linkedin page, and I have about one thousand US lobbyists on an excel file... still a lot of work to do.

I will continue to update this page. To receive my updates, don't forget to subscribe !!!

January 21, 2019 - 10:22

Now, I have an equal number of clicks from men and women, but something I just realized, the percentage of women is higher. My ad appeared on 156 Facebook account belonging to women, and five of them have clicked while the same ad appeared on 299 Facebook account belonging to men and only 5 of them have clicked. The real ratio is 3.20% of women click on the ad against 1.67% of men !!!!

My public are women !!!! Girls, thank you !!!!!

Rain forest woods

2019-01-21T02:04:00.001-08:00

A new chapter is written with the page on the rainforest: http://www.thecarpenthours.com/p/rain-forest-woods.html

I present a program written in 2015 to "save the rainforest". You will find the PowerPoint and my comments to explain the PowerPoint. Don't forget to subscribe this website and to share this page on your Facebook profile.

The geography of the Apostles

2019-01-18T19:48:00.004-08:00

I had the project to write the "Geography of the Apostles" since a while and I lastly done it:

https://www.theosdoron.com/blog/geography-of-the-apostles

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Pi Heart Medaillion

2019-01-11T11:08:00.001-08:00

I just finished to create my first jewel, and this is going to be the beginning of a series that I am designing just now. Follow me on my boutique to receive updates:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/eimablank

If there shall be a film to go with this jewel, it would be Seventh Heaven directed by Henry King in 1937.

Fire resistant houses

2019-01-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

I just finished to complete the page about fire resistant houses. If you are interested with this technology, you can contact me via the comment section, the contact page or my Google Voice: 702-706-2307.

Drawing classes

2019-01-07T16:19:00.002-08:00

I started to teach art work in 2007 when my mother retired. She decided to learn artwork from an association where she felt lost and I started to give private lessons where she would learn the basic and more advanced techniques. In 2011, I have given private lessons to a young man who was isolating himself after finishing one of the most prestigious school of France. I have used art drawing to pull him outside and after few lessons, he had his first painting conquest, exhibit and meetings with other artists.

I have taught occasionally and I must be honest in this, I never taught to groups, but I have been in a prestigious school of Arts and I have enough experience to start small groups teaching. I decided to start classes because several people have asked me for classes. Not so many, but enough to start seriously thinking about teaching.

I am an old school teacher, very traditional and nothing special, but I am patient and enthusiastic. I guide my students into their own world rather than trying to bring them into mine. I try to emphasize their skills and talents while teaching the technique to improve their skills. When I paint, I am happy and I expect my students to find the happiness in painting. I am not a big master, I try to improve myself and I believe that teaching would push me into more art, more exhibits and more sales in my gallery. Usually I paint for myself, my friends and don't really make any business of my art. Teaching would be my first real step into making profits. In 1996, I have sold a piece $25,000 to a museum. I have never sold since then. This is something I am willing to change. More art, more money from my art and more time for it.

BEGINNER'S LESSONS

Basic design with felt pen
Basic wash drawing
Basic pencil design
Understanding the space, forms, the full and the empty
Quick perception of the space and the subject
Draw a scene
Draw a landscape
Draw an illustration
Draw an animal
Draw a human person

I provide the material for the first lesson. This lesson is about the philosophy of drawing, arts, you as an artist, your vision and your models. I use felt pens as a methodology to teach the basic perception of lights and colors.

The beginner's lessons will bring you into the world of an artist to become an artist yourself, anywhere, anyhow, whatever the circumstances. You will learn to draw with charcoal, cray, clay, coffee, eggs, pigments and basic materials from the kitchen. You will also learn to select your equipment and appreciate the maintenance of your costliest tools, paints, additives, papers and archival supply. Some materials are very expensive and you must appreciate the reason why. Just like a glass of wine, colors and brushes have a value that you will learn to appreciate.

Those lessons are for adults and children starting age 8. Children under 14 can be accompanied by an adult and work as a binome on the same model.

Every lessons are made outside, in the streets, the beach, cafes, restaurants, factories, museums. We have a brunch of 1/2 hour after 2 hours work. Every one brings something and share with the others. One full lesson with the brunch is 3:30 hours.

Every lessons occur in quiet atmosphere. You must be prepared to a total immersion into your work in relative silence and meditation. Discussions are not permitted during the drawing lessons unless necessary. You can discuss during the brunch and after classes. During classes, there is no social connection between the students other than art drawing.

BOOK A LESSON

ADVANCED LESSONS

Advanced lessons are meant to help you achieve an art project and understand the different steps to complete it. It can be a portrait, a landscape, an illustration, a cartoon. You chose your own model. I paint with you and assist you in your art project during the sessions. I teach groups up to 5 people.

Those lessons are for adults and children starting age 8. Children under 14 can be accompanied by an adult and work as a binome on the same model.

The lessons are organized in your house, your school, your association or your art studio. We have a brunch of 1/2 hour after 2 hours work. Every one brings something and share with the others. One full lesson with the brunch is 3:30 hours.

BOOK A LESSON

LESSONS FOR KIDS

There is too much things happening in a kid's head to really organize drawing classes for kids. When I teach drawing, I don't plan to book a schedule but rather bring someone into a world of creativity so for kids, I prefer a mix of drawing, modeling, and crafts and let the door open for the kids to choose what they really would like to do, then I balance between one activity and another. Once I see that a kid favor an activity, I will emphasize my teaching in the direction where the kids feel comfortable. The purpose is to find the best media for the kids to develop the best of their creativity and they cannot master everywhere, but if we find the medias where they can master, then they can enjoy art, and this is all the purpose of my program.

For drawing, I use water colors, pens, felt pens, coffee, tea, eggs, pigments, clay, and some acrylics.

For modeling, I use natural clay, polymer clay, paper, putty and plastics.

For crafts, we make jewels, sculptures, scrapbooks and decoration for the house.

BOOK A LESSON

The economy of wood

2019-01-06T06:44:00.000-08:00

I have finished the page on the economy of wood that complete the page on the Politics of wood. I have many more to say on those two topics, but you will find in those two pages the foundation of an analysis that explain why a tiny home project emerged and why fire resistant houses are just more than ideas. I hope that people who know nothing about the economy of wood, forestry and sawmills, will find interest going through the numerous links and videos that I provide to better understand and compare what globally the experts have to say on this subject. Forestry is the core of numerous economies and numerous political and military factors that shape our wealth, our health and our security. This is not anything that anybody shall ignore.

A dream comes true

2019-01-05T22:29:00.000-08:00

If you have read the story about the engine of the Tecodrive 7000, then you will appreciate the innovation above. It's a dream comes true, something that I am hopping Nevada and California will buy. New York, Washington, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago are sit on a mine of gold. The innovation in Connecticut has transformed the gold into sounding money and this is a tremendous step into the future.

Innovation must go forward and as they say into the video, the biomass infrastructures in Connecticut are designed for big projects while the technologies exist for smaller ones. It would not be hard to adapt some Chinese technologies and turn them into a true American product. Puxin was one of the first companies in the world to create small scale biomass digesters. Asia is way ahead to create small size plants with home digesters, home gas compressors, and home power stations. The US has the technologies to turn biogass into electricity, heat and hot water. The little innovation that shall be brought is more about marketing, banking and politics.

In 2009, I installed my first solar plant in France to prove that solar companies were over charging their costs to absorb the state incentives from the wallet of their consumers. Following this first experience, several farms asked me to study the feasibility of installing solar panels on their lands. I made several case studies using different solar technologies, mainly photovoltaic and dish stirling. You can read my article about stirling energy here. In my case studies, I wanted to show the returns made by the farms and the impact of solar energy on their credit score.

Green energy has invaded all kind of industries who invest their own credit value into a sector of the industry in which they do not belong. The first plants installed in France were made by the farmers at their own risks, and many of them have been into debt for a business that is not their business. After they had paid for the solar panels, they could no more buy the tractors, the material and the buildings they would need for their own jobs. Accountants started to take the energy problem seriously and separate the investments made on energy from the investments made for the farm. If they could not invest independently on energy with self sufficient fundings, there is no way that the farm could invest for it. Farmers usually had incentive loans to buy their equipment. The energy companies have taken advantage of those loans until several farms had to fill for bankruptcy because energy had killed their business and their business died from their credit.

Innovation on CNG must bring the financial tools that solar energy has never given with funds to pay and to share profits. The profitability of CNG is twice more efficient than solar and wind solutions what mean that half of the profits could go to the land owners who carry the projects and half profits to the investors who pay the construction of the projects. Those investors could be the pension funds or any other community funds that will finance the wealth of the people such health funds, school funds, innovation funds, trusts or ordinary banking. Just like India invented "micro credit", the United-States must invent a system that do not create a debt but rather a profit. Banks and investors carry the debt while the infrastructures are carried by people who can make profits such small compounds and micro grids. With minimizing the risks for land owners, it becomes more attractive to install and to develop the green CNG technologies. The Tecogen plant of Toren in New-York is a perfect financial example of self sufficiency, profit and micro-grid business. You can also watch my channel about Tecogen. Green technologies don't become a burden but rather what they are meant to be, a real gift from mother nature.

J'en veux un !!!!

2019-01-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

My first reaction when I found this video was "j'en veux un !!!!", "I want one". This is sooooo coool !! I want to build one !!!!!! I could imagine an all electric one just like this Baker car.

The Decoliner has been built on a 1973 GMC motorhome chassis which is worse about $5,000. The mechanic is similar to a boat with a driving wheel inside the Decoliner and on the bridge. The design is all aluminum like an Airstream built on steel frame. This could be a nice tiny home project.

Please somebody, give me a nice project. I know how to shop in "Pick a part" with my caddy and I have good mechanics in LA. This would be so cool.

Upcoming projects

2018-12-29T23:49:00.001-08:00

I will be available mid-January for starting new projects. This is a page with all the kind of projects I would like to do: http://www.thecarpenthours.com/p/dream-projects.html

I design, I make the estimate of costs in materials and I work by the hour on your job site.

During the winter, I prefer to work indoor, so I take also missions as a personal and corporate assistant. All the services and pricing are available here: https://eimablank.wixsite.com/eimablank

The engine of the Tecodrive 7000

2018-12-29T23:13:00.003-08:00

The Tecodrive 7000 has been built with the engine of a muscle car, but there are so many versions and I had so little experience that I had to learn from scratch. Just looking for the engine number has been kind of exploration under the hood, under the engine, behind the engine bell, climbing up, crawling down. I have been like a kid climbing a mountain and I am still very little. But I enjoyed and I am still enjoying the adventure. I wrote the story of the engine as I could compile it so far. There might be mistakes. There might be untold stories. There might be some chapters missing or some other to correct but I think that in the literature of the Big Block 427 Chevy, I wrote a page that is now meaning something, and I hope that you will enjoy it.

This is the page: http://www.thecarpenthours.com/p/the-engine.html

Have fun !

The Politics of wood

2018-12-29T22:53:00.001-08:00

Find the page about the Politics of Woods in the main menu of the website any time you need an update about this subject, you can follow me on Linkedin.

Merry Christmas

2018-12-25T14:02:00.001-08:00

As you may know, the Tecodrive 7000 is my art studio, so I decided to make this video to wish you a Merry Christmas. Fontana and I, we had a very calm and happy Christmas in our spaceship. As you will see on the video, she has her little space by her own.

I decorated the front of the Tecodrive with flamingos because flamingos always smile upside down. Santa Claus brought some toys for Fontana with some real chicken. She had a good party playing with them.

In the Theos Doron Gallery, I talk more about Christmas so I invite you to read and to meditate. Happy Holidays and be ready for the Happy New Year. This is almost there.

My conversion

2018-12-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

I am really happy to start this new section of the blog. I have merged the former Tecodrive 7000 website with the Carpent'Hours, I have created several pages to explain the prototype, the engine, the conversion of the Tecodrive 7000, but it did not leave any space for me telling my version of the story, the adventure it has been since the beginning of my ownership on this vehicle.

I found the Tecodrive 7000 in December 2016. It was sitting in a junk yard of Canoga Park and it has been sitting there for 14 years. The city of Canoga Park was developing new residential areas and they urged the owner of the junk yard to get rid of all his cars. I was not looking for anything specific at this time, but I was working on the renovation of an Airstream for a movie company and I though that it would be easier for me to have my own trailer with all my tools for woodwork and sewing. I made a research on Craigslist, not really willing to buy at this time, but I found an ad about a "school bus". I was working in Burbank, not too far from Canoga Park, I decided to have a look on this bus. When I saw the "Tecodrive 7000" tag on the bus, I knew that I had found something special. I gave a deposit to the guy and in January 2017, I became the owner.

The bus staid in Canoga Park until March 3, 2017. I had to find a place to park and I had to find a mechanic who would fix the air compressor. I found a mechanic who took $400 to buy the parts, then left with taking away my money, the brand new battery and few stop lights. I was desperate because my boss in the movie company had warned me that I was making a mistake and I did not want to listen to him. I did not want to give him the advantage of thinking that I was wrong because I was sure about my choice getting into this adventure. I wanted the Tecodrive and I wanted it so badly that I did not want to hear a thing what so ever negative about it. That's how I started to research, document and make videos, because I am happy with it. I feel like a little girl making her best and biggest accomplishment.

It was not going to be easy and in fact it was not. The former owner did not even have a paperwork. The vehicle was still registered under the name of the former school and DMV would not give me any information about it. Without paperwork, no insurance, nothing. I took everything one step at a time. I found a yard to rent in Westchester. Then I found a towing company who accepted to go up in Canoga Park and tow my bus all way down Los Angeles to Westchester. I found the towing company on Google, I paid by the phone and took a big bet that they would come that night of March 3, 2017. They were late of 1 hour. I waited in the dark not knowing what would really happen and believe me, I prayed.

From March 2017 to December 2017, I have worked on the conversion and when I say conversion, I really mean it. I have taken the seats out, I recycled the vinyl, the foam and I traded the metal against hauling services. I have cleaned, and cleaned again, and again. You might feel the dirt just watching my channel but every episode of this channel brings me joy today. I did it myself.

Since July 2018, I live in the Hollywood RV park where I am in the category of "artists". I am supposed to paint the bus but this is a heart breaking decision because this vehicle is a classic and I am not really a hippie. I don't know how I could really live in a bus painted, so I make projects and other projects, and then projects.... luckily, I am really busy.

So far, times go without paint, but some day, I will have to start so I decided to turn it into a yellow Marry Poppins bus, with tapestry painted all over like a wrap. I would have the budget, I would wrap it. This section of the blog will post the many ideas about the painting, and mainly, the many little things that happen to continue the conversion. I still have to build the bathroom and the electricity. I am not trying to make a tiny home inside the bus or turn it into a RV, but I started to live full time in it and of course, my ideas change. I have to compose with my budget, my busy life and the joy I have to not rush into it.

This Tecodrive 7000 is more than a hobby to me. It is my asset, my retirement plan and so far, the only thing I have since I arrived in the US. I want to create a value out of my work and think the project like a real estate property that I buy, flip and use for my work. Some day, I might rent it. Some day, I might sell it to a museum or some passionate collector who would love it as much as I love it now. Maybe I will keep it always and the value I have created is something very special and personal that I am going to appreciate every day. This Tecodrive 7000 is a love story and I am the dragon of my castle, some very happy woman who has fun with her engine.

The spirit of innovation

2018-12-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

After several years as an ethnographer, I came into carpentry from my innovations. I passed concourses, won several of them and was granted funds from an incubator that trained me during 18 months to become a business owner. My experience with this incubator brought me to talk in front of juries that came with high expectations. I won the first incubator grant ever given to a woman and I won the maximum funds available, BUT, the high level of requirements that was imposed on me did not let any room for any other choice than becoming my own boss, and in the world of carpentry, and the world of innovation, I had to invent my own rules to become a carpenter.

I patented my technologies on June 2012. In July 2012, I created my own wood construction company to carry the construction of several prototypes. I have worked with a public laboratory, engineers, I invested a lot of money, I recruited employees and I had found customers to buy my first prototypes, but when I moved to Las Vegas in February 2015 and watched the gaming in the casinos, I felt like a gambler who had spent 5 years taking bets for my own pride. I have spent 5 years in a world of innovation where patents only grant to lay ideas on paper. Once the innovations are patented, the spirit of innovation dies within. You enter a world of a competition where shareholders and stakeholders of international companies create a vacuum of morals.

Still, the spirit of innovation makes good projects, good designs, good dynamics to bring a wind of progress in the society. Just like the Go game, the purpose in fine may not have been to win, but to have made the game, and the most important game in a life, is the game we make for ourselves, the desire of an achievement, the dedication we put in a work, the positive energy that keeps the mind focused on doing better. Everything in life is about "doing better", learning from experience and going ahead, one step at a time.

I am not going to talk about my patents, this is for another story. I am going to talk about the self-standing stairs. My first design was made in 2001. My first meeting with a patent attorney was in 2002. I showed him a small model made out of balsa wood. He kept silent for 15 minutes then asked for a demonstration to break it and to build it again. The first prototype scaled 1:1 was built in 2013. The first industrial prototype was built in 2014. The first fabric model was made in 2018. This is still not a commercial product but I am one step from selling a manufactured designer line.

The spirit of innovation creates a state of mind willing to always progress. It did not work, "never mind", let's change the design. Maybe some day, it will come out well and just the idea that it might work is enough good to push the innovation ahead. I don't need to sell millions of them. I just need to sell the very good one that will be worse the million to me. That's what a stair is all about, escalating life with excitement, joy and self-estime, the satisfaction that what ever happen, "I did it".

Life is like walking above the water. The effort to not drown takes you up one step, then another and another until you don't feel any more drowning. The next steps are not about keeping the head above the water, but rather leaving everything ugly behind to focus on the beauty of the steps ahead. What does not kill you makes you strong.

Life is a series of innovations that we invent everyday to define our goals and sometimes goals are like a spiral, they are turning around. A stair is not a circle. A stair is like a march and a spirituality that elevates the mind to go higher. It's a direction and an irresistible attraction to a way of life made of progress.

A stair is like a window to heaven, it's a path and a destiny. What will remain might be beautiful, like a bone of geometry.

The spirit of innovation never stops creating new shapes and new functionalities. Innovation brings life in motion, it never stops moving, from the Latin word "movere". Moving means "going from one place to another", but also "influence", "take action", "provoke a strong feeling", "stir up", "make progress" and "propose for discussion and resolution in a meeting or legislative assembly".

A stair can become the place for a forum, a theater or a garden. There are so many ways to move on a stair. Motion becomes an eMotion, some kind of augmented reality floating above the same water, where we have been drowning before. But we were born drowning and like a flower finds the light, we have found the peace that comes with the path to innovate. Innovation is a spirituality, something that drives us into a direction of progress. Being a better person.

All my work is driven by this spirit of innovation, all my life, it never stops. It's never all good, it's never all bad, but for sure it makes me different from some other carpenters. Still, I am a baby compared to all the generations of carpenters who have/had skills and bright ideas way more crazy than mine.

You become a man when...

2018-12-14T19:05:00.002-08:00

You become a man when you fit better with black under wears,
A man, the same age as you, wishes he would be younger,
A man calls you "dear colleague",
A woman calls you "Sir",
A man says that you are "serious" about your work,
Nobody argues about your pay,
Emergency work are paid double wage,
People care about you,
Nobody talks about your gender and/or sex when you win a project,
Men compare themselves to you,
Men emulate you as a person,
Women feel "comfortable" with you,
You have other opinion than your sex/gender,
You don't mind being a man and carrying the sex/gender,
You are ironic and spiritual (when making this list, I am also ironic and spiritual),
You can laugh of yourself without guilt,
You can focus on something and keep it straight,
You dare to do what scares you,
You can take responsibilities and be a "good father",
You are an artist,
Women scare you,
You buy men trousers,
You smell like a man,
...

The Carpent'Hours

In a men's world

The classification of a converted school bus

Introduction

Definitions in the law

Conclusion 1

About "Manufactured Homes"

Conclusion 2

TABLE OF CONTENT

About tiny homes

Conclusion 3

Why follow the rules?

New art prints in the Theosdoron gallery

New updates on Theodora

The menstrual cycle of men

NEURITE OUTGROWTH

ACROSOMAL REACTION

Smell good,look goodand eat good also !

I have selected some recipes using mushrooms

Here are also some good perfumes

Those are some fashion advices

Now, if you have eaten all your mushrooms to process your brain properly, you shall see that killing rhinoceros is bad !

The more claustrum circulates in the body to go down the testicles, then you get the idea, the more mushrooms he must eat.

PROPOSITIONS

Baker electric cars

Women in construction trade

New section to this blog

These old classics are an inspiration

Facebook ad *** updated

January 21, 2019 - 10:22

My public are women !!!! Girls, thank you !!!!!

Rain forest woods

The geography of the Apostles

Pi Heart Medaillion

Fire resistant houses

Drawing classes

BEGINNER'S LESSONS

BOOK A LESSON

ADVANCED LESSONS

BOOK A LESSON

LESSONS FOR KIDS

BOOK A LESSON

The economy of wood

A dream comes true

J'en veux un !!!!

Upcoming projects

The engine of the Tecodrive 7000

The Politics of wood

Merry Christmas

My conversion

The spirit of innovation

You become a man when...

Smell good,
look good
and eat good also !

Now, if you have eaten all your mushrooms
to process your brain properly,
you shall see that killing rhinoceros is bad !

The more claustrum circulates in the body

to go down the testicles,

then you get the idea,

the more mushrooms he must eat.