Two recent photographs...

[elfs]

Trash fire

On my way from the pet food store to the bus stop, I noticed this trash can smoldering and giving off smoke in front of a "real women have real bodies" clothing store in the commercial district nearest to my home. I looked in and saw that someone had dumped a thick advertising flier on top of what is normally an outdoor ashtray, and a cigarette had set the paper on fire.

I went into the store and said to the first person I saw with an identification badge, "Excuse me, do you know that there's a fire in your trashcan?"

"Oh my god! There is?" The woman ran to the door, looked out, and said, "Oh my god!" again. She ran to the back, pulled out another woman to look at it, then said to me, "Do you know how to use a fire extinguisher? We're all women in here. We don't know how."

After recovering from that non-sequitor, I told her, "It's not a grease fire, it's a paper fire, it's very small and contained. Just pour a pitcher of cold water on it and put it out."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." I watched her run to the back. I went out to snap the photo, she came back out with one of those plastic pitchers you usually find filled with beer and she put the fire out. But, grief, "I'm a woman so I can't handle a fire extinguisher?" That's the stupidest thing I've heard yet, and I'm reading the political blogs!

---

Plug!

I saw this standing outside the Seattle Art Museum, and my first thought upon seeing it was, "Once upon a time, with enough lube I might have been able to take that!"

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Dude, not on you WILDEST day!

"Never eat anything bigger then you head" applies to your ass as well!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[elfs.livejournal.com]

It was just one of those things that floored me. I mean, I so wouldn't expect anyone to admit they couldn't read the instructions on the side of a fire extinguisher, and to blame it on her gender was just odd.

[solarbird]

Do you know how to use a fire extinguisher? We're all women in here. We don't know how.
Not enough punchings in the world. NOT. ENOUGH.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

?!?!

"Do you know how to use a fire extinguisher? We're all women in here. We don't know how."

W. T. H?!

I mean. What?

Thank *you* for helping to reinstate the sterotype that women can't do anything mechanically inclined or intelligent. I mean, wtf? Do you cook? Does your house have a fire extinguisher? Mine does, just inside the cellar door, within six feet of the stove. I know how to use it as well, and these people just....

I'm going to go have a little walk around. Maybe to my machines, that I can use, even though I'm a woman.

*facepalm*

[anthologie.livejournal.com]

No kidding -- I'd be tempted to go over there and teach them, if I weren't far away.

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

*floorthud*

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

*boggles*

Ok, I could understand not knowing how to use an extinguisher to put out a gasoline fire (for instance) because you haven't been trained.

But blaming it on your gender is just....ARGH!!!!!

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Last I checked, using an extinguisher didn't require a dick. Unless they have some very strangely-shaped actuators on them or something.

[areitu.livejournal.com]

Some Femenists may consider the fire extinguisher to be too phallic in nature to use. It has a hose and sprays white stuff.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

You know, instructions are printed on the label.

Good thing none of these women will ever have to rescue a child or something important like that.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

But the white stuff is a caustic powder . . .

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Improperly used, it can unexpectedly change the entire course of your life!

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Apparently, women who work in clothing stores for real women are dumb.

Film at 11.

[ladyallyn.livejournal.com]

1) OSHA/WISHA violation. They are supposed to have training annually. Perhaps a fire marshall inspection is due...

2) even with all the lube ever, *never* insert anything bigger than your head! (and thankfully, you don't seem to have that habit)

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

"Do you know how to use a fire extinguisher? We're all women in here. We don't know how."

"It looks troublesome and perhaps potentially dirty, and as a woman I have no problem with feigning helplessness in order to manipulate you into doing this for me so I can get back to whatever vitally important thing it is I was doing."

This is a more palatable translation, because I just can't fathom them actually being that helpless.

[fenton.livejournal.com]

You've read the instructions. That puts you ahead of approximately 95% of the people who even *have* extinguishers near enough at hand to do any good, which is a tiny percentage of those that should.

Hell, I've been guilty of not bothering to get one, when I lived in an apartment complex, myself, but even then I could tell you the instructions for every extinguisher that I would ever have had to deal with in my daily life. Without looking.

On a separate note, if you'd *like* to be able to practice with one, I suggest contacting your local fire department. Many of them have 'demo' units that they can recharge on-site for minimal cost, specifically so that they can train folks in their use (a rechargeable unit isn't all that expensive, just more expensive than is worthwhile for things that, realistically, a consumer should never have to use more than once anyway).

[mundens.livejournal.com]

Well, you are rather hunky, so maybe it was a weak attempt at flirting, sort of like dropping a hanky? :)

I am intrigued as to why the Seattle Art Museum has a giant butt plug outside it though.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Art installation

[mypain.livejournal.com]

It may be telling that I saw that second picture and thought "wow, that's a pretty low-poly model... visualisation/pre-final render shot?"

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately there are still women out there who will use the bat-my-eyes-and-tell-him-what-a-big-strong-man-he-is-and-he'll
-do-it-for-me-cause-I'm-too-lazy tactic.

Heck, it worked in college.

[danceswithlife]

Not to mention the fact that they might need to use it sometime when they don't have time to read the instructions. They should *practice* til they don't have to think about it.

Re: Art installation

[cthulu-for-pm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too.

Chess piece, perhaps?

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[fenton.livejournal.com]

True, they aren't difficult, and the ones the fire department has tend to be more on the order of the large "can" style (a cylinder maybe 3 feet high and 9-12 inches across), so they're not identical to the small style intended for wall mounting in kitchens and the like.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for the sheer glee of getting to use one. Or maybe that's just me...