BREYDON’s breydon.id.au

Most of this material is formed on biik of the Kulin alliance; much of the rest, on Country of their fellow Blak nations.

           ⟤ Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land. ⟥

I would like to pay my respects to Aboriginal and Zenadth Kes people of and in these places — especially to Elders — and to all First Nations communities around the world to whose lands, waters, or skies these words may extend.

Except as noted, works at the domain breydon.id.au are by me and I hold the copyright, with all rights reserved.

As for my copyrightable works of computer code: unless stated otherwise, this software is in the public domain. It is free for use by anyone and for any purpose. The software is offered “as is”, without warranty of any kind.

Reader contributions remain their own, and are used only with the authors’ and performers’ permission.

For those who’d like to hire me — I’m pretty alright at public speaking; facilitating productions in the arts or media; and consulting on inclusivity anywhere.

If this sounds useful, or you rightly suspect there are other grouse things I could do for you, too, just sing out.

I like to examine, create, and facilitate works that inspire stretchy conceptualisations of theatre.

My practice in visual arts has blended hand‐drawn animation, dark‐room photography, comics, sculpture, digital performance, and cartography.

As a writer, critically, I think a lot about physicality as sociological text: whether that be in textures of inhabitation; the kinetics to communication; infrastructural, industrial and agricultural manifestations of politics; or continua merging “beings” and “surroundings”.

In aural media, I especially love music, subaltern story‐telling, nudging techniques around, and to pick — as a nesting bird with a coir pot — at field–recording/–re‐forming.

Speaking of being out in the field, I love organic gardening (particularly bolstering indigenous habitat), bushwalking, city walking, and community radio.

I am a big appreciator of super walkable urban design, dense and intense public transport systems (particularly through electrified, decentralised rail), and the treatment of roads foremost as community space; as integral networks for trams, bicycles, other mild vehicles, and people themselves, including wildlife.

When I say “walking”, I mean wheeling chair and such, too. Appropriate provision of assistive technology is another passion; attitudes to this are so connected with issues of societal and environmental health.

The author grinning from an iced‐up wheelchair sinking in its own tracks through a snow‐covered park. Photographer: A Whitfield. Photo © A Whitfield.

Possibly the world’s first non‐binary athlete in elite football of any code, I am acutely conscious of the denial of safe sports opportunities to marginalised populations. I would love to connect with others yearning to fix this. And to play for play.

I enjoy skating (in chairs, on boards, or even on skates), am unreasonably fond of basketball, make an awe‐filled/awful swimmer, and am fascinated by dance.

At my most sensible, my engaging in the physical world is informed by musicality.

Formally, I am most at home on finger‐tickled string instruments, playing the acoustics of a scenario, or in abstract theoretical spaces. Arranging is divine. I play piano like someone who has paid too little intellectualisation to too many forms of art music, and atonal percussion like a poptimistic sound designer.

Despite a preference for the irrefutably physical, I can get painfully earnest about the possibilities of electronic synthesis for microtonality, adaptive musicianship, sophisticated timbral innovation, interrupting the westernisation of recorded music, and of course stagecraft.

More than anything, I struggle to accept what my motor impairments have done to my precise manifestation of rhythm, although there will be something phenomenal to touch once I begin to, for sure.

Music has far more to teach people about the universe and ourselves than we impart to it. Still, what an extraordinary repository of culture.

Unsurprisingly, I am deeply absorbed in the interrelated nature of community, environment, and story. I hope to continue to help nuture oral histories, t’support decolonising media (well, everything), and seeing about what better things might follow the field of “international development”; to wax enthusiastic.

No doubt I have left everything out. Please let me know if there is anything you would like covered within this gopherhole, gemini capsule or website!

Oh, and there’s always The Most Lackadaisical Press‐Clipping Scrapbook.

Erin Kyan’s Love and Luck is a gentle drama I recorded. Even on hiatus, Love and Luck continues to attract acclaim and find special places in new listeners’ hearts.

Love and Luck has been included in the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia, was selected as an example of “the best Australian podcasts” by the Wheeler Centre and Audiocraft’s Australian Audio Guide, wound up a finalist in the Australian Podcast Awards multiple times, and comes recommended by a slew of critics in the meedja.

“Everyone’s very hungover,” begins Julia Pillai. “Let’s not beat around the bush.” The Vinyl Café is scattered with a modest but attentive audience and the panel coax them in closer… Despite everything – the hangovers, the daylight savings, the unbearable whir of the coffee machine – this panel is engaged, thoughtful and surprisingly perky.

⸺ Bridget Lutherborrow (National Young Writers’ Festival Press Room)

Another public panel of four artists. There are beanbags and a small dog in the foreground. Photo: National Young Writers’ Festival.

After that odd episode in which I went from lapsed social basketballer to actual St. Kilda footballer, the club told fans that “Kermie Breydon… looks like they have the making of a fantastic forward”.

During the COVID‑19 pandemic, I will not be attending big events. If you happen to encounter me on our respective essential outings, do say hello.

You might have my old P.G.P. public key. I am no longer using it. Encryption is prudent (vital!) stuff, but for now my priority is establishing reliable access to electronic correspondence at all. After that, a new public key should soon follow. You will find it on this page.

In the meantime, you can try sending me messages via Signal, to the number +61 480 253 456, so that they will be encrypted automatically.

The most dependable way to contact me from a great distance is by tangible mail ―

K. F. Breydon
PO Box 107
Clarinda, VIC  3169
Australia

Emailing me is well worth a shot if convenient and safe for you. For accessibility, please be sure to send:

• Message bodies in plain text (rather than H.T.M.L.)
• All other essentials as small attachments

Well‐audited, free¹ options I am open to considering. Let me know what works for you.

Currently, on federating, web‐based social media, you can get in touch @wrul@dondon.breydon.id.au.

Thanks for taking the time to have a squiz at this page. If there is anything else you would like it to cover, please let me know.

I look forward to hearing from you!

I would like to serve material over the amiable Gemini protocol and perhaps Gopher. Some of the leggier patches of my personal website are now separated into smaller chunks, ready for sharing the same pieces across various realms, for the minimalist and maximalist alike. Here’s to a flourishing gemini capsule in 2022!

Breaking with over two decades of pecking out handcrafted H.T.M.L, the heart of the site/capsule‐/hole‐/pamphlet‐to‐be is now one reasonably elegant Org file. The sunnier styling of 2021 remains to be adapted to this new system, as regular readers will probably have noticed. The low‐fuss is having a refreshing effect on me — how about you? Maybe you would like the plainness to stay?

I have been doing all this reconstructing on a pretty versatile pocket computer I am setting up. I’m also exploring the idea of a smartwatch (the Pine64 PineTime) for housing littler everyday assistive tools.

Postponing a physiological directive to relearn guitar in the opposite handedness to the one I started in and to move to upright bass, I retuned my guitar strings to major third intervals from the utterly rampant harmonic framework of twelve equal divisions of pitch for every two times a reference frequency (let’s say “12edope2”) and tried horizontal fretless bass when my body would allow. The guitar tuned in major thirds is a modestly effective distraction from scheming about xentonality, just intonation, and rhythm. The fretless tantalisation: not so much!

Further teasing myself, I designed a skatable, danceable, compact urban cruiser of a daychair, which I am looking forward to learning from, once it has approval to be built.

Though still fairly stuck, where possible I slip outdoors to weed, to mulch, and to lure garden beds across lawns. It rends holes at my knees and eventually into my frequently exposed socks. In recent months, I have finally exercised what was a wistful interest in visible mending on several actual garments.

Previously under the heading of “News Since Mid–Late 2020”.

Writing electronically is becoming more realistic a prospect, in more scenarios.

My physical access to the existing technology has improved.

The set of annotated stennie dictionaries I have been developing, littoral, is growing sufficient lexicon and systematic features to function (slowly) for real texts. Littoral’s initial grammatical framework has got me through some urgent exchanges. Early trials of methodical compilation helped form my approaches to merging affixes, assigning briefs, and distinguishing between homophones. Now, I am bulking its English vocab up on academic literature as well.

In taking stenographed notes to boost baby‐littoral’s relevance, I’ve been raptly distracted by B. Ajani Brannum’s BAROT series, “combining tarot, performance criticism, and cultural somatics”.

Greetings also from the middles of Mullumbimby, by Melissa Lucashenko; Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance, by Phil Jamison; Transgender Marxism, edited by Jules Joanne Gleeson and Elle O’Rourke; and the inaugral issue of kindling & sage, edited by Natalia García.

I am thinking of picking through the titles referenced in Kehinde Andrews’ The New Age of Empire: How Racism & Colonialism Still Rule the World, a rickety but compelling lecture, which excluded huge and pertinent questions while citing pivotal works on them!

Still stranded indoors without a daychair, I’ve been having moments of whizzing through chapters of books, slogging through podcasts, or dagging around with electronic flashcards.

I have fallen into low‐key study of language‐in‐its‐own‐right again. Perhaps the most surprisingly transformative has been becoming that bit better acquainted with jōyō kanji, through Philippe Daouadi’s script‐drilling application, Kakugo. Despite the software for easy codeswitching not yet being written, (at least in terms of overall coverage) even stark gulfs between language variants a set of machine stenography dictionaries can simply creep across.

The reprieve on my hands that steno facilities have offered has allowed me to get back into (small spurts of) drawing, as well. I joined a zine club online. It’s been lovely!

Aqueous allegory for a human rights movement.

(560 kB PDF)
8 pages, monochrome

Quiet quest for a lost soccerball.

2·4 MB P.D.F. file: Fluid Dynamics (plus coverpage)

Read it, teach it, critique it, translate it, adapt it, share it, or take comfort in it. If you are in a position to do so, please contribute something to refugee rights movements in your region.

The comic Fluid Dynamics © 2017 by Kermie F. Breydon (they/them/their) is licenced under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 License. Individual licences under more permissive terms are available by arrangement.

Dear Eaten Fish was “an artistic open letter of love, defiance and solidarity from Australia to Manus Island”, compiled by Jini Maxwell for fellow cartoonist, Ali Dorani. The beautiful, blue‐risographed letter ii debuted at the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2017 Melbourne Art Book Fair, with full proceeds from sales of the zine helping finance healthcare urgently needed for refugees in Port Moresby.

The Australian government had illegally imprisoned Ali in its notorious system of concentration camps. Taking on the pen‐name Eaten Fish, Ali reported from the inside through his art. His frank, big‐hearted cartoons exposed harassment and violence, and encouraged international condemnation of Australia’s systemic human rights abuses towards people seeking asylum. By 2017, Eaten Fish was in dire need of complex, specialised medical treatment. The Dear Eaten Fish zines arose from a broader campaign to get him freed and properly supported.

Ali was finally hospitalised later that year. He went on to find refuge in Norway. The shutdown of the Manus compound, where he had been kept prisoner, would be protracted and fraught. For many immediate victims of Australia’s macabre immigration policies, the struggle for freedom and for safety continues on into a new decade, in other institutions. Meanwhile, the political precedent for responding to appeals for safe haven with industrialised torture lingers in the global conscience. So too does the capacity for kindness and accountability.

Contemporary accounts of the period may be found in works such as these:

• Behrouz Boochani, translated by Omid Tofighian, No Friend But The Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, Picador Australia, 2019.
• Helier Cheung, ‘Ali Dorani: Iranian cartoonist on the drawings that saved his life’, BBC News, 26 May 2019.
• Madeline Gleeson, Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru, NewSouth, 2016.
• Abdul Aziz Muhamat and Michael Green, The Messenger, Behind The Wire and The Wheeler Centre, 2017 – 2019.

'FLUID DYNAMICS' as told to Kermie F. Breydon

A deep‐sea fish, Macropinna microstoma, models its distinctive facial anatomy. Text eddies across the ocean, in sympathy with its ideas.

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

See the dome covering my eyes, to protect them?

Weird, huh?

It is full of fluid.

As fish, we are made up of water.

Water, and little bits of other stuff.

We wrap our watery bodies around still more water which we pump in and pump out of ourselves to live.

The fish performs gentle acrobatics. Bold outlines have made way for stippled shadows, which gradually present as tiny individual blobs. Phrases loop back on themselves, as the fish propels itself around in a slow barrel roll.

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

We
   move our watery selves to
We
   move the water around us to

And all of it —   ⸺   — is the coming together
our surroundings   ⸺   of much
our bodies   ⸺   smaller
our breaths   ⸺   parts.

Scattered particles funnel together into a mass of demonstrators.

PROTESTING PARTICLES:

Bring them here!

Close the camps!

We can’t stand by!

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

When lots of bodies come very, very close together…

The crowd starts to move like a liquid.

Actually, if there is an extraordinary amount of pressure, the liquid becomes like a solid. (Never pack people too tightly!) To help keep everyone safe at big events, organisers put in barriers to interrupt the rippling
 ⸺ turbulance chaos ⸺ 
that otherwise
 ⸺ waves ⸺ 
spreads through huge crowds

The text and particles are demonstrating the fish’s words.

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

I hear a similar thing happens, where people can pour a cupful of dry seeds. Each tiny seed is like
one person
carried along by the many around them.

The fish swims on. It is little, against the void.

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

Deep in the ocean I am alone a lot.

Where are my fellow pips and pulses?

Distant squiggles of energy.

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

Maybe I am tinier. Like an atom.

There can be big gaps between atoms.

The fish and distant pulses are in a vast dance together.

MACROPINNA MICROSTOMA:

Or maybe I am smaller still.

Drifting in the atom.

A crucial part. One of many. All us waves.

Then I feel like…
… we are full of gaps and wateriness…
…but also, our world, our “water”,
is made out of us.

This conclusion is underlined by a journal‐style author bio:

Macropinna microstoma is an amateur physicist from the Northern Pacific. It likes jellies.

I’m getting injured and falling multiple times a day, and am stuck much of the time; the present situation is ridiculously dangerous.

…

…

…

There are associated things that it would be wise to obtain — some in the meanwhile. The latter items will depend on the particular chair to which they are to fit, but the first few will be applicable immediately.

For anybody considering a wheelchair or other mobility device, the World Health Organization’s Guidelines on the provision of manual wheelchairs in less resourced settings is full of vital information. Yes, even if you are in an amply resourced setting or dealing with different technology! Much in these Guidelines applies to everybody, yet is regularly overlooked. When you learn it for yourself, you can much more easily advocate for you and others.

The videos in the companion course, Wheelchair Service Training Package - Basic level (also from the W.H.O.) show the fundamental concepts in action. They feature real people with many different requirements, demonstrating a range of skills, in a variety of kinds of chair.

Speaking of diverse chair design — I am summarising some of my findings on different models in trials.

Elsewhere, you can examine tweaks to a specific machine: ART CHAI, a GRIT Freedom Chair Spartan lever‐propelled wheelchair.

I live in a fairly flat suburban environment, but do things in other settings too. Independent access to parks and nature is particularly important to me, especially for getting around town safely, as someone who suffers severe impacts from air pollution. Travel is predominantly by “walking” (wheeling), rail, bus, and — occasionally — aeroplane.

As well as wheelch bushwalking, I am desperate to participate in wheelchair skating and dance.

Without appropriate assistive tech, I have been really struggling with absolute basics like getting to the bathroom.

My level of motor impairment varies from moderate clumsiness to complete paralysis, sometimes with spasms. The condition affects my entire body. I have four limbs, two hands and two feet, no limb difference, and am vaguely symmetrical in both anatomy and function. I am about 173 cm (5′8″) tall. Floppy, ill‐fitting chairs have caused me crippling joint pain and forward falls.

I have been most comfortable with wheelchair seats of 35 cm (14″) in width. I struggle to grasp push rims accurately enough to propel myself over longer distances, although I find using them much easier than scooting with my feet. I cannot perform transfers safely by feel, but strongly prefer a tippy chair. I rely a lot on aural and visual feedback, and on consciously calculating positions/trajectories/flex/etc.

While open to considering certain power chairs, I am foremost looking for efficient self‐propulsion. My priorities are:

• maximum manoeuverability in tight spaces
• easiest trekking outdoors

Achieving both to a satisfactory degree might take two separate chairs, or the use of interchanging components. Please refer to both links, for their respective requirements.

oof, well

It would be ridiculous to mention every wheelchair that I have ever given a go, but here are some of the most relevant examples.

I will give each trialled model a star rating indicative of overall appropriateness for me these days, between 0 (‒‒‒‒‒) and 5 (★★★★★).

• Suitability for short‐term use begins somewhere around 3 (★★★‒‒) and 4 (★★★★‒).
• Suitability for ongoing use will lie nearer to 5 (★★★★★).

Ratings are for a (hypothetical) brand new chair in the best available fit. Specifications given are for the actual chair I tried.

Two people looking contemplative among an assortment of scissor‐fold wheelchairs and pressure cushions.

I am still particularly interested in trying the likes of…

Being nimble is critical for indoorsy domestic stuff, cramped workplaces, skating and dance.

It is especially crucial for moving about bathrooms, kitchens, and across thresholds. This helps to open up options for where one can safely and affordably live. It can be the difference between being able to visit people in their homes or not. It reduces stress and awkwardness when navigating the greengrocer’s or tight passages between market stalls. It is essential to much work or leisure within venues that are crowded or spread across floor tiers, such as studios and theatres.

A personally appropriate degree of agility is also invaluable in wheelchair skating — which you might encounter under the confused term W.C.M.X — and some forms of dance.

For such contexts, these qualities are the most important:

• compact chair‐footprint in use
• precise, snug fit
• frame that maintains its shape under strain in any direction
• nimble handling
• very high predictability during transfers — this means keeping flimsy/sponginess to a comfortable minimum, and eliminating fiddliness

These are the features to achieve them:

• external dimensions: short and narrow
• very little or no wheel camber
• strong wheels front and back, in appropriate sizes and materials
• a bit of controlled suspension — in the form of balloon tyres and/or actual systems
• a rigid frame, made to measure and carefully balanced
• tucked‐in seating position
• seat back, bucket, etc that support/enforce good posture
• shaped pressure cushion(s)
• steady, symmetrical, fixed, one‐piece footplate
• suitable places to attach belts or straps — waist, lap, torso being of particular consideration
• solid (or tension‐adjustable) seat that will not sag over time
• robust and easily replaced sideguards
• side guards ending before the tops of the push wheels, leaving plenty of access to the tyres
• push rims designed for those with limited hand function (maybe in concert with glove/cuffs)
• unobtrusive mechanism for parking brakes

Here, I am assuming a chair with two large drive wheels controlled by push rims, plus one or two tiny castor wheels forward of the heels.

Chairs definitely up to skating:

1. RMA SK8R Made to Measure
2. Box WCMX
3. RMA SK8R Club

Chairs which may or may not be durable enough:

4. Melrose Scorpion
5. Küschall The KSL [Mk I or 2.0]
6. Ottobock Zenit R CLT
7. something like Mogo have
8. Lasher Sport BT-X
9. Motivation Active Rigid Frame
10. Melrose Hornet
11. RGK MaxLite
12. Küschall K-Series
13. RGK Octane Sub4
14. Melrose Hawk Ultra
15. Ottobock Ventus

…And other predominantly welded, rigid, active chairs.

Compared with the pokey indoors, there is a contrasting set of considerations for unpaved terrain, longer distances and hilly places.

Even in smooth, flat neighbourhoods, safe trekking is important, whether popping out for a stroll, commuting, or simply getting around a large site (for instance doing field‐work, exploring a museum, or penetrating an immense shopping complex). Sure, think anywhere that heavy mobility scooters or fussy powerchairs might whizz without incident — but don’t neglect a world beyond, in which those would be only more hindrance.

At a minimum, my ordinary routine is rounded out with gardening well off‐piste, travelling through fields and forests, playing with my dog at the park or beach, going bushwalking, and dreaming of taking outdoorsy gigs. I don’t want a mobility device to restore precious tastes of passions past. I am here to become more involved than before.

Here, these qualities are the most important:

• stability and traction on uneven, slippery and soft ground
• minimal strain on shoulders
• high torque, low gear
• easy slowing and stopping
• cruisey jogging pace on the flat
• capacity to lug stuff
• opportunities to change seating position

These are the ideal features:

• lever‐drive system
• long wheelbase or wide wheel track
• three strong wheels, in appropriate big sizes and materials
• readily appliable braking system
• substantial ground‐clearance
• possibly a little little bit of controlled suspension — flexy metal, balloon tyres, or actual systems — I’m not sure exactly yet; lacking diverse enough first-hand experience of this to be certain even for me
• excellent ventilation for strenuous use
• adequate space to bundle up in warm layers of clothing or blankets
• seat back, bucket, etc that support/enforce good posture
• suitable places to attach harnesses or supports — trunk and head being especially important in remote or risky environments
• multiple foot positions for switching stance
• thick pressure cushion(s)
• solid seat that will not sag over time
• robust or easily replaced sideguards
• wherever there is a choice, parts should not be adorned, wrapped, drenched, or coated in anything that will be sloughing off much (or harmfully) into the environment, even from a chair under extreme and persistent force…

While the last point is an important consideration with all products, this category involves drive chains, electrical systems, vast impact areas and exposure to the elements at an intensity completely alien to the typical day chair. Ensure that it will be possible to avoid lubricants containing petrochemicals or P.T.F.E., to keep batteries from leaking, to stop hand grips from perishing, to prevent glittery paint from ripping into cellular structures (by circumventing its production in the first place), and so on.

Chairs incorporating levers:

1. Mountain Trike eTrike
2. Leveraged Freedom Chair
3. Mountain Trike MT Evo
4. Mountain Trike Mountain Trike
5. GRIT Freedom Chair Pro
6. GRIT Freedom Chair Spartan

Chairs lacking levers of their own:

7. Ram Overlander
8. Motivation Rough Terrain
9. Motivation Pioneer
10. Lasher Sport BT-X
11. Trekinetic GTE
12. RMA SK8R or similar plus a third wheel‐ or handcycle‐attachment such as the Stricker Lomo 360
13. Freedomtrax FT2
14. Trekinetc K2
15. Box Beach Bomber / Trail Bomber

…And the occasional other.

There have been a few companies offering similar products in recent years, so there are sometimes other options. Here is one example:

• Langhøj NuDrive Air: A clip‐on lever drive for 22″, 24″, or 25″ wheels.

• Stricker Lomo 360: Stricker mainly make handcycles, most notably for touring. The Lomo 360 retains that seriousness of intent, without all the bulk and complexity of an actual handcycle. Generally, Stricker kit can be fitted with safety brakes, cargo baskets, and other features.
• FreeWheel FreeWheel: An alternate third‐wheel attachment. Careless name (“freewheel” already having a meaning in the context of geared wheels, which is relevant to certain wheelchairs). Not as robust‐looking as the Lomo 360, nor able to be fitted with accessories with which the Lomo 360 can.

• Stricker Lomo 360: The Lomo 360 retains the handbike tourer’s seriousness of intent, without all the bulk and complexity of an actual handcycle.
• Stricker Handbike Tow Bar: For towing chair behind a bicycle.
• Stricker Wheelchair transporter: For towing stuff behind chair. 100 kg capacity! See also: Stuff‐lugging in Past and Current Supports.

• Wheelblades Wheelblades S: Winter runners that clip onto castors. (Potentially useful on sand as well?)
• whatever the bigger ones are called (in the case of large‐castored 3‐wheelers)

…seem to be distributed by Ottobock Australia?

• Freedomtrax FT1: A pair of tank‐style treads powered by a battery and controlled with a joystick, the FT1 is an aftermarket device that mounts, when needed, below a typical wheelchair. It is limited to an 8‐mile (12·87 km) range and 5 km/h top speed. Daychairs with a wheeltrack of between 50 and 58 cm are accommodated… I think; the business uses the wrong terms on their (European) website. Manufacture is in Colorado, U.S.A. and headed by what sounds like a husband‐and‐wife team, who call the FT1 an “all terrain platform”. With the battery, said platform weighs 34·5 kg, its dimensions being 120 ( L) × 60 (W) × 23 (H) in centimetres. While the range is insufficient for my usual patterns of travel and it denies the occupant a means of self‐propulsion, riding on caterpillar treads is an interesting idea. It could be perfect for would‐be powerchair‐pilots who cannot afford full‐time bulk.
• Freedomtrax FT2: the same platform with a rudimentary frame and seat built on.

(to date)

• GRIT Freedom Chair Pro: Readily fit seats and harnesses that are more supportive than on the other versions. Lighter, stronger fork.

During the interminable wait for a daychair, I turned to a GRIT Freedom Chair to reach select appointments around town. The Spartan variant boasts a reinforced frame, lateral handles at the back for an attendant to push, and an athletic gear ratio. The Spartan I’ve been using also sports what has proven to be an invaluable “utility clamp” — specfically, the version for towing the chair out of bogs and up slopes, which is also threaded to accept bicycle pedals for use as alternative footrests. So far, so brilliant.

Only on occasions can I hold myself up easily enough to safely sit in this chair. But, in our combined elements, the Spartan is very effective. It can be fun. The physical sensation of gentle manoeuvres evokes that of canoeing: an impression of buoyancy, intervals of paddling and attentive rest, the steering of a long and tapered craft. Confined, technical work crosses rafting with mountain biking; mounting logs and stalling on ledges to carry a watering can into nooks of a garden produces the imagined splendour of world‐class exhibition. In the Spartan, I casually traverse grassed hillocks whom I couldn’t dream of edging partway‐onto in a conventional wheelchair. Pushing such a heavy mobility aid from behind can be strenuous, but the Spartan’s high, well‐made handles make the experience more “pram” or “lawn‐mower” and a lot less “short‐statured wheelie bin”. All of which is to say that where this chair works well, outcomes are exceptionally satisfying.

Unfortunately, engineering attention apparently petered in and out following development of the leveraged drive (initially devised for the L.F.C.). There are many little, glaring problems with the GRIT line that surely could have been rectified at a prototype stage, which betray a distraction from much of the potential real‐world application for this tool.

Pushring‐friendly drive wheels should be standard (I elaborate on rims for rims) and, with so many metal parts moving in different directions under strong forces almost immediately seatside, sideguards should be too.

Though GRIT do sell skirtguards (in plastic, at an enormous price), the seating is sadly representative of how the GRIT Freedom Chairs’ worst aspects are not easily ameliorated at home. Especially crippling are the slick, haphazard nylon wall of a seatback on its jerky frame; the swivelling nature of the footplate’s attachment (which even when so tightened that its quick release fails, still slews around at a wisp of exertion); and, most prohibitively, the Spartan’s structural hostility around any kind of torso harness or safe head support.

GRIT chairs further surprise with an unpreparedness for luggage. However, some little pockets of opportunity are pleasing.

There is definitely a lot of literal room for improvement all over. The Freedom Chair’s use of bicycle parts allows this to be a huge plus. Many different non‐invasive changes are possible (some of which I will cover in more a detailed examination, ART CHAI). Perhaps even, I am hoping, some sort of seatback swap, to help hold my body safely and within more comfortable reach of the levers’ arc.

Alas, for me personally, further inherent restrictions confine GRIT’s Freedom Chair to stopgap status, ever a slightly sad, sporadic steed. Lever stowing and retrieval, an essential part of operating these chairs within tight spots, is difficult with upper body impairment. At cruisier speeds, maintaining direction on cambered surfaces can be exhausting.

The (flicking?) mechanism for deployment on Mountain Trike’s self‐propelled chairs would be far swifter and more achievabale to operate. Mountain Trike course‐correction sounds less taxing; the MT Evo variant of their steering and braking controls are probably adequately graspable for me. Mountain Trike also at least had the foresight to offer a readily fitting bag rack, and make far more thoughtful allowance for thoroughly supportive seating on all their models. GRIT’s Freedom Chair Pro might provide sufficient postural support in its own right, or allow for the easy installation of appropriate seating.

• ‘???’ (Boston: GRIT). https://www.gogrit.us/grit-freedom-chair-spartan-chair, accessed March 2022.
• ‘ART CHAI’ (Narrm Melbourne). https://breydon.id.au/locomote/artchai/.

• RMA Sport SK8R Made to Measure: Skate and day chair. Robust frame. Suspension (castor) forks. Adjustable rear shock absorber, with option of dual shock absorbers.
• RMA Sport SK8R Club: Similar to the Made to Measure above — but adjustable, less well‐fitted.
• RMA Sport Vida: Made‐to‐measure rigid day chair.

• Trekinetic K2: The manual one.
• Trekinetic GTE: The power one. Same kind of shape and size as the K2. Fitted with two 24V 120W motors.

• Lasher Sport BT-X: Modular rigid, made‐to‐measure, multipurpose chair. Castors, forks and drive wheels can all be swapped without using tools. There are a few choices of sets: for paved roads, for sand, etc. When not fitted to the chair frame, the alternative wheel set can be rigged up as a luggage trailer and towed behind the wheelchair.

• Mountain Trike MT Evo: Adapted for limited hand function.
• Mountain Trike eTrike: Hybrid manual/electric version. One 36V 250W motor. Range of 8–20 mi (13–32 km).
• Mountain Trike Mountain Trike: Manual, self‐propelled. Could be easily converted in the future to a dedicated attendant‐driven (MT Push) or electric (eTrike) chair.

(to date)

Compare with other outdoorsy chairs for ease of trekking and nimble chairs for manoeuverability and tight spaces.

• Motivation Rough Terrain: Very much like the L.F.C., but without lever propulsion. The Rough Terrain takes a very sensible rear tyre size of 37-590 (650A / 26×1⅜″)
• Motivation Pioneer: A smaller, folding take on the Rough Terrain.
• Motivation Active Rigid Frame: A compact aluminium four‐wheeler. Castors have quick release mechanisms too; not just the drive wheels.

• Motivation Australia - A disability and development organisation (Aldinga: Motivation Australia, 2020). https://www.motivation.org.au/, accessed March 2021.
• Motivation: Freedom through mobility (Bristol: Motivation, 2018). https://www.motivation.org.uk/, accessed March 2021.
• ‘Sports wheelchair sales’ (Aldinga: Motivation Australia, 2020). https://www.motivation.org.au/sports-wheelchair-sales/, accessed March 2021.

Of the few models I have tried, this is by far my favourite sports chair. I value the elegant pragmatism to the design.

I love the solidity of the side guards, and how dependable the (foot, shin, thigh, and pelvis) straps are (but they could be quicker to do up and undo).

If only such a wide chair weren’t so tricky to transport or get through doorways.

Motivation make some rigid day chairs, which sound great.

• ‘Multisport wheelchair’ (Bristol: Motivation). https://www.motivation.org.uk/multisport-wheelchair, accessed March 2021.
• ‘Multisport wheelchair: AU$995 + freight’ (Aldinga: Motivation Australia, 2020). https://www.motivation.org.au/ma_sales/multisport-wheelchair/, accessed March 2021.

(to date)

Compare with other nimble chairs for manoeuverability and tight spaces.

• Ottobock Zenit R CLT
• Ottobock Ventus

Not as bad as the TiLite 2GX, but no more appropriate than my old chair was new. Possibly slightly wider (push‐rim to push‐rim) than my Ergo Lite 2.

Ottobock do make fitted rigid chairs as well, which I would be interested in trying.

• Ottobock, ‘Active in daily life’. https://www.ottobock.com.au/wheelchairs-and-seating/active-sports-and-outdoor/active-in-daily-life/, accessed March 2021.

(to date)

• Küschall The KSL: Very lightweight. Made‐to‐measure rigid. Great variety of drive‐wheel, castor and upholstery choices. Wonderfully small. I have tried what seemed to be the earlier version of The KSL. But it would pay to confirm and/or retrial before making a decision regarding either iteration!
• Küschall K-Series: Modular rigid: seat module is independent of the frame. Among the cooler chairs aesthetically. (Particularly the earlier generation).
• Küschall Champion SK: Like most collapsible wheelchairs, the seat kind of concertinas awkwardly. However, the folding mechanism is based around a sturdy‐looking hinge. With the SK option, the chair reduces to a much more compact shape. If I wanted a concertina chair, this would be my first suggestion to try. RGK’s FX approach sounded less of a compromise on fit and efficiency; however, the Küschall Champion SK could well lock in place better!

• Küschall. https://kuschall.com/, accessed March 2021.

Getting warmer! I was wonderfully surprised how short (front‐to‐back) this mystery chair was (until finding out the make and model).

At 380 mm, the seat width starts to become steerable for me (though 360 mm or less would be better). This demonstrator still got stuck at narrower doors. Lose the camber, go for a 340 mm or 360 mm wide seat, choose smallest skate wheels — and it would slide through effortlessly both backwards and forwards, hold me more comfortably and be much less hassle in tricky spaces at difficult times! Would be safer for dance and skating, that way, too.

This particular chair propped me a couple of centimetres too high up off the ground, at which height the centre of gravity (~ 110 mm?) was slightly too far back for going up slopes safely. Easy fix: would need only spec it a bit lower, and maybe use an anti‐tipper on very wonky occasions. (Keeping in mind that carrying stuff — water bottle, daypack… — relatively low and forward on the frame will affect centre of gravity, too.)

Seat‐back was tension‐adjustable at half a dozen or so levels. Salesperson meddled with the tensioners without my consent while I was stuck sitting in the compromised chair; he very quickly made it impossible for me to hold myself up or hold myself still or to move anywhere but into a fall. Yikes. (“Yikes” what a jerk and “yikes” how vulnerable this type of seat‐back makes one to mistakes.)

Two big concerns: fragile carbon‐fibre side‐guards… Could we weld on some sturdy ones instead? Or order a frame with bolt‐holes but no guards (carbon‐fibre being a tricky material to recycle, so v wasteful if surplus to needs), then pop on some wooden plates; or even just fashion something out of waxed canvas?

And is the chair as a whole robust enough to go skating regularly?

Note that the second generation KSL (The KSL 2.0) and the first may differ in important respects! In particular, the front of the 2.0 looks as though it might be easier to orient hands around during difficult transfers. It could be illuminating to compare them side‐by‐side.

• Küschall, ‘The KSL’. https://kuschall.com/international-en/products/the-ksl/, accessed March 2021.

(to date)

• RGK MaxLite: Might be slightly more suitable for my needs than the Tiga/Octane chairs — for sitting comfortably, if not so much usage‐wise. Seems to have metal sideguards!

• RGK, https://rgkwheelchairs.com/, accessed March 2021.

I have tried two Octane Sub4s: one with random, wrong axles and one with appropriate axles.

• RGK, ‘Octane Sub4’. https://rgkwheelchairs.com/wheelchairs/daily-wheelchairs/octane-sub4.html, accessed March 2021.

Rigid‐like, but folds pretty flat, with the front of the frame tucked up and the backrest down. Imagine lashing something like this to an outdoorsy chair or modest cargo bike, to swap into at the end of a cross‐country trip. Or, much as RGK’s advertising emphasises, the peace of mind when flying (or on long‐distance rail).

I tried this chair a tiny bit, indoors, but neglected to closely examine or try operating the folding mechanism! Rolling around and reaching for things on a kitchen bench, I found that the fold‐joints proved to have many times more play (despite being done up), than I had expected. With changes in inertia, those on the front hanger would lurch between two extremes maybe five degrees apart. Those on the seatback felt unpredictable (which, to be fair, was exacerbated by the backrest being too reclined for me). The side‐guards jostled around. Sure, this was a demo model — but the disappointing performance cannot be excused on the basis of hard, longterm use, because (business‐class frequent fliers aside, perhaps) an active traveller’s chair needs to withstand weird and numerous strains. This is miles below any of the standards that most of the folding bicycle industry manages, so on the bright side there is enormous potential for future generations of this concept.

This, the Tiga FX is aluminium; Octane FX is the same chair in titanium. Extra flex in the tubing itself is a slightly daunting thought, but then it would pay to insulate iffy hinges from undue shocks.

• RGK, ‘Tiga FX’. https://rgkwheelchairs.com/wheelchairs/daily-wheelchairs/tiga-fx.html, accessed March 2021.

• Box Wheelchairs WCMX: Like the RMA SK8R Made to Measure, but uglier.
• Box Wheelchairs Beach Bomber / Box Wheelchairs Trail Bomber: Unfortunately four‐wheeled, but maybe worth a look anyway.

(to date)

• ‘MKCC’ (Papanui: Melrose Kiwi Concept Chairs). https://melrosewheelchairs.co.nz/, accessed March 2021.
• ‘Melrose Wheelchairs | Adaptive Concepts Australia’ (Oakleigh: Melrose Wheelchair). https://www.melrosewheelchairs.com.au/, accessed March 2021.

• ‘Scorpion’ (Papanui: Melrose Kiwi Concept Chairs, 2020). https://melrosewheelchairs.co.nz/wheelchairs/scorpion.html, accessed March 2021.

• ‘Hornet’ (Papanui: Melrose Kiwi Concept Chairs, 2020). https://melrosewheelchairs.co.nz/wheelchairs/hornet.html, accessed March 2021.

• ‘Hawk Ultra’ (Papanui: Melrose Kiwi Concept Chairs, 2020). https://melrosewheelchairs.co.nz/wheelchairs/hawk_ultra.html, accessed March 2021.

• Ram Wheelchairs Overlander: Looks like a beefier Rough Terrain. 30cm balloon castor! Multiple size options for drive wheels. Choice of chrome moly or titanium frame. Welded side guard options.

• Top End Crossfire All Terrain Wheelchair: Looks just the product to stoke and exploit a horrid blend of internalised ablism and toxic masculinity. Four wheels… Flimsily rotating footplate held in place by brute bolting… The design ethos embodies a detached, violent attitude to landscape unlikely to be very efficient or effective at negotiating most kinds of it — any surprise this is pitched at hobbyist hunters, fishers (fish‐hunters), and those who desire to “conquer… terrain”?

At least the Lasher, though also four‐wheeled, offers some specialisation. Seems a stretch to suppose that a Crossfire All Terrain could be of real value over a BT‑X, Overlander, Rough Terrain or Pioneer, K2, Mountain Trike, or Freedom Chair. Anyway, please, prove me wrong.

(to date)

Purchased new from a rehabilitation shop. The people on staff encouraged me to buy the chair in a much bigger size than I needed.

My first chair of my own, and still relied upon as of March 2021. Although it has been a life‐saver, I cannot get around in it anymore and it was not really appropriate to begin with.

It has had a turn at everything from holding me up while I wait for the microwave to finish, to solo international travel with great strings of transit connections. I have used it to board and disembark a variety of buses and metros and suburban trains and intercity trains and international trains and big airliners; and stowed it in cars (with the chair in collapsed form) and vans. This chair has taken me through snow, into mud, in grass, among cobblestones, on skateparks, up and down steps, along smooth streets in fine weather in some of the flatter urban neighbourhoods of cities like Melbourne, Sydney, London, and Paris… even across carpeted rooms and through polished halls. The Ergo Lite 2 is honestly — at this point — one of the best chairs I have ever used, but it was suited to none of these things. Incredibly labourious. In motion, it would feel like my body’s frame and the chair’s were in a continual clash.

People pushing it have found it very tiring, too. Places like downtown Newcastle (New South Wales) or villages in the Dandenongs proved absolutely beyond it, but so does just about anywhere. The Ergo Lite 2 did, however, in its heyday, make pretty nice lounge seating.

• Karma Medical, ‘Ergo Lite 2’. https://www.karmamedical.com/product/km-2512/, accessed March 2021.

Emergency hire to get in and out of toilet. Poorly balanced. Blousy castors. Came with non‐standard footplates fitted (presumably for people with much less leg than me), which forced my knees ridiculously high, increasing this chair’s precariousness and causing excruciating pressure.

(to date)

• Permobil, ‘TiLite TR’. https://www.permobil.com/en-au/products/manual-wheelchairs/tilite-tr, accessed March 2021.
• Permobil, ‘TiLite ZR’. https://www.permobil.com/en-au/products/manual-wheelchairs/tilite-zr, accessed March 2021.
• Permobil, ‘Manual wheelchairs: Tailored performance’ comparison matrix.

Less appropriate than my old chair!! Probably even bigger, too; harder to fit inside bathroom and through doors.

TiLite do make two models of fitted rigid chair: the 1″ dual‐tube TiLite TR and the 1·25″ monotube TiLite ZR. This clumsily‐engineered lump has put me off trying them.

• Permobil, ‘TiLite 2GX’. https://www.permobil.com/en-au/products/manual-wheelchairs/tilite-2gx, accessed March 2021.

Not really a model I would call nimble; quite asside from the bulk of this demonstrator (thrust on me in place of a 14″‐or‐so RGK FX!!?). This hypothetical star‐rating is particularly generous, based largely on the potential for a more supportive seat and the much improved footplate, compared with the folding Ottobock’s.

The ZRA I tried was fitted with a carbon‐fibre, rigid seatback. The specific placement and so on did not suit me. I would like to properly explore rigid seating (for installation on an appropriate chair!).

• Permobil, ‘TiLite ZRA’. https://www.permobil.com/en-au/products/manual-wheelchairs/tilite-zra, accessed March 2021.

Being a somewhat unfinished implemetation of an excellent concept, the GRIT Freedom Chair can be much improved. ART CHAI began as a shipment of a 16-inch Spartan, a rope mount utility clamp, and one (extra) set of torque couplings. Some changes of note follow.

Typically, a drive wheel for a manual wheelchair has two different components that are known as rims. To plan a wheel, it is vital we distinguish them — hence referring to the loop of handrail as a “pushring”, and to the structural frame as the “wheel rim”.

In many situations, an aftermarket wheelset is needed on the GRIT Freedom Chair to improve performance, safety, and practicality.

I am working with an early 2020s Spartan model, which is fitted with GRIT’s Sand/Snow Tires option as standard. The stock wheels on the 3.0 and Pro models are very similar; although their tyres are narrower, and the Pro can be ordered with lurid colouring to its polymer spokes.

The drive wheels that GRIT supplied for the Freedom Chair Spartan are of a 32‐spoke structure, with 57-559 C.S.T. Patrol tyres, and nearly entirely in black finishes. I suppose possibly this could be adequate for certain recreational settings, but there are substantial downsides to GRIT’s selection.

Before beginning, there are some things to be aware of.

Great care will need to be taken in drilling the wheel rims to accept the pushrings. For unpredictable arms like mine, pushrings are to be nearly flush with the wheel, so that fingers don’t get caught and damaged.

Both wheels may be built without dishing the rims off‐centre, unless the choice of tyre is too wide to otherwise clear the lever‐drive.

The torque couplings get bolted to the disc brake mounts.

The wheels attach to the chair using the wheelchair axles and torque couplings.

One wheel will be mounted “backwards” (from a bicycling perspective), so directional tread is to be oriented accordingly.

This project entails designing a pair of practically identical wheels, with each wheel consisting of the following:

Parts here are described according to the size of tyre that they are designed to fit (or be), and expressed in I.S.O. sizing (also known as an ERTRO size). Note that the vernacular and commercial designations tend to use other, mutually conflicting systems.

Remember that the bead seat diameter referenced in the ERTRO sizes is not what ultimately determines the fit between a wheel rim and a pushring — because that’s not where they connect. Nor does the size in the other tyre‐oriented systems of shorthand. Wheel rims come in various shapes. On some wider wheel rims, pushrings can mount at a range of positions relative to the spokes.

If in doubt — and one should be — consult products’ actual physical form, or use unambiguous measurements according to a ruler.

Choice of sizes will be determined by availability of pushrings or possibly, to a lesser extent, adventurousness of technician.

Possibilities may include:

• 635 pushring on a 40ish-635 wheel — if pushrings built to fit 635 size are on market or affordably makeable.
• 622 pushring on a 40ish-635 wheel — might be possible with careful choice of screws and spacers?
• 622 pushring on a 50ish-622 wheel
• 590 pushring on a 50ish-622 wheel — again, might be possible, if sketchier?
• 590 pushring on a 37-590 wheel — though chair would be no less tippy than with stock wheels

Or if really desperate, the 57-559 CST Patrol tyres and their tubes could be reused for:

• 559 pushring on a 57-559 wheel

Last but not least appealing are:

• smaller diameter pushrings on a very fat‐tyred wheel — as long as dish to clear lever‐drives, and keep tyre‐width around 10 cm (give or take a couple)

As with all wheelchair parts, it is also important to consider what sizes and systems are readily available in the regions and circumstances in which the chair is to be used! In this respect, it is hard to go wrong with a 37-590 wheel. But I would prefer either around 100-507 or the 40-635. We’ll see, hey?

1. 100-507 or wider, on very wide rims to maximise volume (youth fatbike sizes): Tyre and rim choice is likely to be very limited, but otherwise this strikes me as ideal for the time being. I may need to trim knobs if tread is cluttered. I don’t know if 36‐hole rims are available in this size range?
2. 40-635: Worth looking into extra durable 12‐tab sports chair pushrings designed for 700C [xx-622] wheels, bending tabs and substituting longer screws with spacers as necessary. The match is not as critical as on a day or court chair, and the ease of replacing other parts on the road / in remote areas / overseas would probably more than compensate.
3. 37-590: Even easier to get parts for (particularly pushrings), although at my absolute lower limits on tyre width and seat elevation, for this chair.
4. Adult fatbike sizes [primarily 559]: Super interesting possibility, with a wide variety of options for rims/tyres/pushrings. Extra care would need to be taken around some of the larger tyre volumes possible; parking brakes could need abandoning or creative changes to articulation, and overall wheel width could substantially curtail the levers’ arc. However, a big boost to rear elevation would bring immediate, massive improvements in the supportiveness of GRIT’s way‐too‐reclined seatback, so I am super enthused to explore this approach whether now or as a secondary wheelset in the longer term.
5. 50-622 or smidges wider: Not amazing as poss for travel (in terms of sourcing spare parts, from either wheelchair or bicycle worlds), but a size ripe for cargo/city tyres with great visibility and load‐bearing. Note also that even in the absence of pushrings, a comfortable‐enough tread on a tyre even of this much width could still represent quite an improvement for short bursts of low‐speed hand‐wheeling.

I’m still asking and scrounging around for other manufacturers’ data, but this is a start.

Some potentially distressing content (within the notes below) is preceded with a hash symbol and quick statement as to its nature. So too is the occasional spoiler. But far from everything of concern is marked in this way.

The public face of been reading is automatically generated from a file that I use to keep track of library loans and which quotes or notes I have posted on social media.

The books among these are for my BookWyrm profiles wrul@bookwyrm.social (pre‐2023), which is no longer even loosely in synch; and wrul@book.snailhuddle.org (subsequent reads).

Some of the borrowed items were assigned to me, rather being than of my particular choosing.

Neither reference nor quotation, and not even ranking, equate to endorsement.

“F”s seemed almost pure harm and were poorly written. “E”s were slogs and wastes. “D”s I would have refused publication pending thorough rounds of redrafts, reframing, and/or reresearch. “C”s read neither fantastically nor awfully, or they did both just enough that it cancelled out — unless they delighted but I barely began, so couldn’t reliably say. “B”s held something, substantial, of distinct interest or especial enjoyment, which might richly reward a deliberate revisiting. “A”s may not ring perfect to me, but I would gift or receive with unhesitating gladness.

These designations were derived from an old podcast prioritisation scheme of mine, which asked:

How keen was I on this?

A ★★★★★

top priority

B ★★★★‒

fairly worthwhile

C ★★★‒‒

almost missable

D ★★‒‒‒

only bother if extremely convenient

E ★‒‒‒‒

garbage

F ☆‒‒‒‒

don't dare

The two systems don’t completely align. I often forget which one I’m using, and how they relate — so don’t trust small differences in grade to be meaningful! Especially when it comes to magazines and novels, these rankings are haphazard.

Let’s discuss some of the considerations around access(ibility), and visitors’ privacy and security. For those interested, I loosely document the distinctive methods that form the place.

Increasingly, material at this domain is available across multiple formats, including plain text, spoken word, and hypermedia.

For example, breydon.id.au/meta/access is the home of this present document, and enough for you to receive a copy of its full text. But if you want, you can load a specific format. Putting /index.html at the end of that address leads to a webpage; whereas /index.txt leads to a text‐only version. There is also a pamphlet, using /index.pdf; an Org‐mode file under /index.org; as well as gemtext, with /index.gmi.

Some sections of breydon.id.au will have a “spoken aloud” link, in case you would like to have a real person to talk you through things.

As well as individual passages (pages or tracks), you can download a whole lot at once from the collection BREYDON’s all.

All of these are available over your choice of Gopher, Gemini or the World Wide Web (W.W.W.).

The methods used to produce and supply BREYDON’s documents aim for a comparable representation of the core text and any illustrative devices, regardless of the medium.

Although I do keep users of screen-reader software in mind while I’m tapping away in the source code, I have not done any subsequent testing of how the material renders in sound or in braille. I recognise that I might need to substantially adjust my practices! If there are any shortcomings for you, please let me know about them.

Likewise, if the audio recordings could be better matched to your needs, I would love to hear what to improve.

Finally, while I do play around a little bit with presentation for graphical display, I consider doing so more of an indulgence. If the results don’t work so comfortably on your device, I’m sorry. Maybe shoot me a screenshot, so that I can see what’s gone awry? If it’s a webpage having the problem, for the meanwhile you can try turning off my style sheets, in your browser.

I am absolutely not interested in tracking you, nor in tricking you. I would rather others not track or trick folks, either.

Note that I will keep vague, minimal access logs in the very very very short term, purely for diagnosing failures (if I even notice them).

As my stuff runs on hired server space, unfortunately, I can’t truly determine how the equipment’s operators behave with regards to your info. And then there is all the other infrastructure in between us!

There is not a great deal that I can do alone, as a lowly hobby-dabbler, to minimise the risks inherent in how the internet itself is constructed. But I would like to do as much as I’ve (or ’develop) the skills for. Moreover, there is hope and immense power in collective effort.

The “Adaminaby” or Marginalian Capital Territory webpages (from Noted Festival’s Pulpture exhibition) incorporate home-made pieces of ECMAScript, for switching which sections are displayed. This kind of thing:

function displayCondishosoOfPartishies() {
      var CondishosOfPartishies = document.geteElementById('condishosofpartishies');
      var CondishoLede = document.getElementById('condisholede');
      if (CondishosOfPartishies.style.display === 'none'){
              CondishosOfPartishies.style.display = 'block';
              CondishoLede.style.display = 'none';
      }
   // and so on
}
// and so forth

These have been left in, for archival interest. The pages were written to turn out legibly in browsers that ignore scripting — so no pressure to enable it!

Caution, though: the Pulpture videos are still hosted elsewhere, by Vimeo, with Vimeo’s interface embedded on some pages of the Pulpture-subsite, through iframes. Ah, whoops.

Otherwise, I have weeded out cookie-droppery and scripts in general, as well as stuff hosted from beyond the Breyds. You might still want to block such things anyway. Even if you trust me, it is not going to be me who takes advantage of any sneaky stuff that does slip through. There is, for instance, no reason for me to send you a H.T.M.L. email (whether directly or via a newsletter company) or call on a showy font kept by some big data mob.

For a couple of decades, I cast the raggedy knits of Hypertext Markup Language (H.T.M.L.) and Cascading Style Sheets (C.S.S.) that strung my webpages. Typing directly in H.T.M.L. is still, I reckon, the best way to make a small website — especially for the novice!

So why do it any differently? In my case, a few things have changed:

1. Living pages grew much more numerous.
2. The use of my fingers has diminished.
3. I am no longer all that interested in the web.

Now most of what I write for the internet goes into one continuous lump. This file is easily arranged using a format called “Org”. I bung in some annotations (for special details such as links, dates, or captions), and then use Org mode (in the text‐editing software Emacs) to generate a variety of documents for each section.

As of February 2022, new and revised pages around here are produced with:

• Carsten Dominik’s Org version 9·5
• Justin Abrahms’ ox-gemini.el version 0, for gemini hypertext
• Jonathan Kew & Khaled Hosny’s XeLaTeX; and other packages in TeX Live 2021, for print‐oriented formats
• LilyPond 2·18·2, for music notation
• some ad hoc hacks of my own making

Though it would be lovely to breeze along on sophisticated, automated processing of everything, I just manually export specific passages as needed. :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: paths ensure correct placement within the directory structure and can be used to label draft runs.

* Pronouns & titles   :about:pronouns:
:PROPERTIES:
:custom_id: pronouns
:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: breydon.id.au/DRAFT_about/pronouns/index
:header-args:text: :tangle breydon.id.au/about/pronouns/gophertag :noweb-ref pronouns-gophertag :exports none
:EXPORT_TITLE: BREYDON’s pronouns
:EXPORT_OPTIONS: toc:nil
:EXPORT_DATE: 08 November 2020
# and so on
:END:

Before going online, I also export the source file as one whole unit (afresh), and introduce the newly generated updates to my other material for publication.

rsync --exclude 'DRAFT*' --update --recursive --verbose ~/breydon.id.au/breydon.id.au ~/public/

The revised sections then sit in ~/public/breydon.id.au/ waiting to be copied to the server. Along with the updated documents, this folder holds unchanged, earlier exports and things like audio and hand‐coded files.

To ensure no‐one misses out on them, image descriptions and credits stay out of the (often heavily obscured) metadata and instead feature in the main flow of t’ text. In most media the descriptions are formatted as quotes — contributors to the conversation.

Where practicable, the picture itself follows as a captioned figure. The figure caption can serve as an index listing.

It took some fiddling to find a compromise that would suffice across many media, while keeping the single, shared source file succinct. This is where I’ve settled for now:

#+begin_quote
[​[filepath][A one‐line description of the image.]]
Role: Person. Thing copyright who, used under what licence.

Any subsequent detail for the image description.
#+end_quote

#+name: fig:unique_identifier
#+caption: Event or subject. Location, month year.
[​[filepath]]

This same approach can be applied to music notation, rubrics, and other means of visual representation, regardless of whether an actual image file is involved or not.

We can go beyond the wall of text, of course.

Synchronised captions for speech and other sounds are possible if the audio is presented like a film clip.

Once the audio is mastered, a written copy of the text goes into a subtitle file, where I gradually break the piece down into time‐stamped chunks. For a basic monologue, the simplistic SubRip format is adequate. Working in the absence of dedicated subtitling software, Web Video Text Tracks (WebVTT) are even easier to edit.

Next, the sounds and the subtitles are packaged together. Some might prefer if helpful imagery chaperones the subtitles, despite video files incurring bigger demands. But to conserve space and energy, it should be possible to distribute all the subtitle tracks that anyone could want in a humble Matroska audio container.

Alternatively, app‐aspirant H.T.M.L. tags can combine the audio with WebVTT on a webpage, like so:

<figure id="videoContainer" data-fullscreen="false">
  <video id="video" controls preload="metadata" poster="whatever.jpg">
    <source src="whatever.ogg" type="video/ogg">
    <p>
      Even if the audio will not play on this page, you can still
      <a href="whatever.mka">download a captioned recording</a>.
    </p>
    <track label="English" kind="captions" srclang="en" src="whatever-en.vtt" default>
  </video>
  <figcaption>A close‐captioned recording of whatever.</figcaption>
</figure>

For publishers with adequate resources, captioned readings could easily extend to subtitles in translation and footage of signing interpreters!

If anyone knows of Australasian or Asian V.P.S. hostererers aux chatons (du Collectif des Hébergeurs Alternatifs, Transparents, Ouverts, Neutres et Solidaires), please get in touch! Human rights respectin’ and environmentalist practices preferred.

Meanwhile, why not work on organising such community infrastructure?

Running an internet server might sound like an overwhelming idea. Trying to know what needs knowing struck me as beyond daunting enough in itself. Really, charting a comfortable course was perhaps the hardest part. The actual doing unfolded surprisingly smoothly.⁵

It helped to break the study into stages:

1. Figure out what machinery to use for a server.
2. Prepare for logging in.
3. Set up a firewall.
4. Ready whichever service(s) one intends to kick off with.
5. Organise back‐ups for anything irreplaceable that is not already backed up regularly.
6. Everything fine? Point D.N.S. records at things.

Here’s something of the present Breydon method…

The romance of rescuing an unloved machine and feeding it sips from a portable solar supply propped up at a sunny window, empowering loved ones to engage with the world over seasonally‐responsive hours and in fulfilling ways, that appealed to me greatly. But I was not prepared to ask nor teach other members of the household to babysit a computer, when I didn’t even feel ready myself. Realistically, it was going to be a while before I could power it from anything but a dubious mains blend anyway.

So first came entering a decent agreement for a fairly modest V.P.S. to be provided in a manner relatively gentle on the world. Wind power. Respectful privacy policies. Use of the proceeds towards the public interest. Ideally, non‐proprietary firmware and hardware, but that is incredibly rare still in this era. Long service lives for equipment. Climatically appropriate architecture. Whatever considerations you can think of could be taken into account. If we are going to draw up yet more of the toxic “cloud” into its superfluous being, we ought to at very least be sensitive to its palpability, hey?

This then also determines the choices of operating system (O.S.) available. The hardware owner might not permit a wide range. For the sake of properly free software, secure‐ish functionality for several years, and plentiful beginners’ instructive material should anything bamboozle: how about the latest stable version of Debian?

If something comparable but more efficient is on offer, though, great!

For smol/slow/static content shared among a smol/slow/cosy readership, computer memory, storage, and processing capacity can all be minimal. Consult system requirements for running the O.S. without a graphical shell. That’ll do.

• homepage: A personal homepage.
• AOC: Acknowledgement of Country.
• COPYING: Copyright notice.
• all: (Almost) omnibus downloads.

• about me: If you are swotting up on me for whatever reasons, here are some of the sorts of things that you might find.
• pronouns & titles: Quick reference.
• most lackadaisical press‐clipping scrapbook: Slack as.
• résumé-bé, bébé: An old C.V.

• contact information: How to contact me.

• old news: Periodic updates.

• Caramel BREYDON [H.T.M.L.]: in memori‐Bun

• comix
• AFTER I UNDERSHARED AND YOU OVERTOOK [560 kB P.D.F.]: Quiet quest for a lost soccerball.
• FLUID DYNAMICS: Aqueous allegory for a human rights movement.

• “Adaminaby” or Marginalian Capital Territory [H.T.M.L.]: part of Noted Festival’s Pulpture exhibition.

• visible mending [H.T.M.L.]: Conspicuous, colourful, folksy repair.
• Davy [H.T.M.L.]: Thermal long johns.
• Blueberry Mary [H.T.M.L.]: Pair of denim jeans.

• after, things i’d be: Material wants.

• to locomote: Info on getting around with motor impairments.

• ’puting [H.T.M.L.]: Technology criticism, accessibility improv, and increasingly theatrical literate programming.
• nevr [H.T.M.L.]: Noodly espeak voice-replacement.
• turntab [H.T.M.L.]: For dizzy touchscreens.
• typing computers better [H.T.M.L.]: Some kindly scripts and commands, which have made it easier for me to use a laptop.

• sports [directory]
• wheelch football [h.t.m.l.]: A.F.L. Wheelchair.

• been reading: Notes mostly on library loans.

• internet housekeeping: Meta.
• access(ibility): Formats, protocols, accessibility.
• privacy and security: Stance and notice.
• patchwork sitemap: A partial overview of what can be found on breydon.id.au