Charles Gentry

Watched 'Deaf President Now!' on Apple TV. It's great to see a well-made documentary about the Gallaudet University protests, which aimed to elect a deaf President instead of a hearing person who knew nothing about the deaf community. (She would 'take lessons and learn to sign in a few months.' 😂)

My view on transgender: your body and gender identity are none of my business. Transgender people should be treated with the same privacy, respect and dignity everyone deserves. This current hate is vile and destructive.

So all those people are celebrating a victory over transgender women. So much hate and bigotry. How will people identify transgender people? What about transgender men? How will women like it when a big, hairy, transgender man goes into the women's toilet? Ask him to pull down his pants to check?

One afterthought: people bought Tesla cars years ago to be more "green". They were lauded for making a good choice. I don't think they should be punished now because Musk has become a raving nutter.

I hope people keep boycotting Tesla cars and X (Twitter). The only way to get back at these b*stards is to hit them in the wallet.

#boycottmaga #boycotttelsa #boycottmusk

The Upsetting Reason Why Your Raw Chicken Breast Is Stringy Experts estimate that up to 1/3 of American poultry has this defect.

Wonderful article in Delish about a phenomenon that seems to occur in the USA with chicken. "Spaghetti Meat": chicken that is just muscle fibre that splits apart.

www.delish.com/kitchen-tool...

Once upon a time people used the terms method, technique, or shortcut. Now people have decided to replace all of these terms with "hack".

I use the term for either programming (I hacked the program to solve the issue) or with negative connotations (Trump is a political hack.)

The US Gov. just approved $400million to buy 'armoured' Tesla vehicles. Electric - you know, needing to be plugged in. Of course they also frozen funding charge points. Hmm...no mixed message there!

Oh, and partner has been great support. He even made a thermos of tea for when we were waiting in hospital.

Spent 4 hours at hospital. Nothing broken but they are going to follow up. Three doctors poked, prodded, and x-rayed the foot. Think it might be sprained, but also worried about sepsis. Have antibiotics to take for a week. Hurts like hell.

Currently in Royal Surrey A&E having my LEFT foot looked at. Not sure what I did but hoping I didn’t tear the Achilles tendon.

I'm not making a lot of comments about the current horror of American politics, not because I agree or support them, but because I think there is worse to come. Constant outrage will just burn me out, and how many times can I say, "I told you so“?

Looking at Paramount+, I noticed they classified "The Ten Commandments" from 1956 as an "Action Movie". All that action: parting of seas, chariots racing around, and then tablet smashing. Whoo! So much action.

Or turn away from the mic to look at the screen behind them and tell you about the picture. "This picture ....... and the next one .....". Ugh. I'm not going to turn up the hearing aid to try and make out what you're saying!

Even with a hearing loss starting at 1kHz, I still enjoy listening to music. I miss some of the subtlety and a lot of the high sounds, but the hearing aids help. The only thing that bugs me is when people are talking, they need subtitles or lessons on how to use a mic.

Cover of Organ Day 2025 program in Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, London. Small pictures on the right side of the program have organ parts and 3 of the performers. The concert was on Saturday, 25th January, from 12:30pm to 7:30pm. Guests are RCO Academy Organ School, Philip Norman, Bruce Buchanan, Evan Lawrence, George Allan, Ben Collyer and, in large print, David Brigs.

I spent 7 hours in London listening to organ music and lectures on organs and builders. It was in a church, so I brought a pillow to sit on. Do they have to make church pews so uncomfortable it feels like a torture device? The music was good, and there was some great talent, too.

The mainline from Woking to London (coming from Portsmouth Harbour) is being repaired. The trip from London to Woking took an hour, and the rest of the journey home, with a driver change, took another hour. It usually takes 40 minutes.

Tomorrow is another meeting for Surrey BSL Meets at The Weatherspoon's Pub in the Rodboro building, Guildford, Noon to 3pm. Anyone deaf or learning BSL is welcome.

#bslevents

While I love tech, computers, theatre, films, and sign language, I also love terrible sci-fi films. Today's film is "Mars Needs Women", a film where aliens abduct women solely to breed. A film filled with misogyny, sexism, and really bad acting.

#scififilms

Managed to hobble up to London to meet two friends, Jimmy and Terry, for drinks and dinner. So glad I made the effort. Great guys and a good evening.

The US wants more gas and oil production and reliance. R&D follows the marketing, and this is going to reduce the research into wind, solar, hydrogen and battery tech. This will affect the future of American competitiveness. But, hey ho, you get bigger trucks that you can't sell anywhere else.

I didn't watch the inauguration on Monday. I was busy reading a book about the history of cheese in Great Britain (really), which allowed me to learn interesting facts without shouting obscenities at the TV.

Watching a man the colour of cheddar cheese become president was not at the top of my list.

I'm off to Remark! for the BSL Cafe today. There are some really nice people that go - anything from Level 1 through Level 3...and me, an almost-Level 6.

One person asked 'Why go if I'm at L6?' Why not? Those groups helped me when I was L1 - L3. It's about support and meeting people.

#bslevents

They voted for someone who voiced their every fear and discontent while pretending to give them hope. I'm just going to sit back and watch the horror develop - and hope and vote Britain doesn't go down that path.

Today, a new (or previously used) president is sworn in. Look at all those invited: Argentina's President Javier Milei, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, PM Viktor Orban of Hungary and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

My torn Achilles tendon kept me from a lot of social events. I am now able to wear plain shoes, so I plan to go to a lot more events.
#bslevents #deafpub #theatre

(4) No matter where you live, learning sign language is interesting. It even has changed how I communicate in speech; I’m much more animated. Plus I’ve met, and made, real friends.

(3) move to UK and meet three people that are deaf in a bar. Only one knew ASL. I decided I had to learn BSL if I’m going to live here. 2025: I’m still friends with all of them. They even put up with my poor signing for years. Now that’s friendship.

(2) Then I met deaf people and felt stupid for knowing how to speak basic French but I couldn’t communicate to a fellow American. So I spent years learning ASL and loved it. Fast forward to 2000…

One weird question I get asked a lot: why did I learn sign language? I think it’s a strange question because people don’t ask “why did you learn French”? So, my cousin was deaf and signed, and when I was 5 I told my mother I was going to learn, too. …