CSA, Environment, Hearth and Home Comments turned off

Reading — where and how

By on January 17th, 2008

Reading in a bookshelfOn one of the lists I read the talk has been about how to read while knitting. The topic is important for me because I read a lot of books because I review them. Reading sort of means that I can’t really do anything else but if I could figure out how to hold the pages open and get them turned when needed, well I could do some mindless stocking knit stitches which is a big part of socks and sweaters and other projects. So far I have a weighted holder and one of those fold-up book holders. The weighted one works best with all types of books. The folding holder only works with hardcovers or trade paperbacks (paperbacks cause it to fold up and fall over).

A Chair of booksThe other problem is finding good seating. I’ve got a great chair, it’s a chair and a half really, but I feel like a kid cozying up for a good time of reading when I sit there with a cup of tea or coffee and a book. It’s my nest really, with books, knitting, side table, and really good lighting. But I got to wondering today what kind of options there were to reading chairs and found the photos you see with this post.

It seems that there are as many places to sit and read books as there are people to read them. I have fond memories of reading under the covers with a flashlight when I was young. Yes, I know that’s sort of a cliché but then there is a reason some things become clichés. I was read to as a child, so I read to my son. I have many memories of us snuggled up on the couch with a warm blanket, and a wonderful book. He also turned out to be a reader with his own collection of books and reading memories. Guess I wonder if there are better ways to enjoy reading — ways to make it more pleasurable but the more I think about it the more I think that as long as you’re comfortable and the journey in your mind is exciting, then reading itself is a pleasure because you almost don’t notice the surroundings because you’re in that other world — the one within the covers of the book.

Environment, Fiber, Hearth and Home 1 comment

Moths — the scurge of all fiber and fibery-goodness…

By on January 15th, 2008

Moth holes in a sockI doubt there is anything worse for a knitter than finding a moth in the house. Well, finding a moth has eaten a hole in a beloved project or two or three. It’s been on my TO DO list for a while to go through all my stash and get it organized and figure out what I have and where it is. If you remember one of my New Year’s resolutions was to finish some of my WIPS (works in progress) and UFOs (Unfinished Objects). So, finally this past weekend I started. Imagine my delight when I found this sock — I still like the yarn. I started to wonder why I never finished it and remembered it was my first ever toe up sock and I didn’t have a pattern for doing that and was winging it and having some problems with the heel… turned it over and started looking at what I’d done…. Horror struck — it had been eaten by something.

Living room stash in zip-lock bagsNow, a while back I’d heard that Zip-Lock bags were a gift to crafts people protecting fiber from moths, dust, dirt, and other damaging whatevers that could cause fiber disasters. So, I’d bought boxes of various size bags and had been putting yarn into bags by project as it arrived at the house. However, I hadn’t yet started on the stash. So, tonight I started going through my living room stash: checking for damage, sorting by yarn and color. Now I feel better since I, so far, haven’t found any other evidence of moth damage or any other damage — so my delusion is that only this one sock/yarn/project has a problem. I’ll live with this delusion as I move on to my next stash area and more organization.

Politics, Rants Comments turned off

I haven’t moved but I’m now living in ’60s USSR….

By on January 13th, 2008

Constitution of the United States of AmericaI’ve noted over the last few years that the United States seems to be taking some very unexpected turns. But with the article in CNN on New Rules on Licenses, I’ve realized that without changing my abode, I’ve ended up living in 1960s USSR.

When I was growing up the Cold War was very hot. People were afraid most of the time: of rock and roll; of hippies; of Cuba; of communists; of nuclear war; and of fear being afraid. I remember hearing in talks among adults, seeing in movies and books, the evils of communism. The biggest one talked about was how citizens couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without (and this last was usually mentioned in a whisper as if it was a dirty word) papers. Guess what. Soon Americans are going to need papers (disguised as a RealID) to travel within their own country. American’s use to pride themselves on not having a National ID, of being able to travel where they wanted, when they wanted, without having people track their every move, library book, and purchase. Personal anonymity use to be a hallmark of our society. We only gave up what we absolutely had to, and only when there was an overriding imperative, because we believed we had the right to be left alone. Those days seem to have passed.

What happened to move us in this direction? Fear. People today are afraid: of terrorists; of strangers; of each other; of immigrants; and, worst of all, of fear itself. Once people are filled with fear, they want to do things that will make them feel safer. Polls show that a whopping (that’s a technical term) percentage of Americans are willing to give up most, if not all, of the rights guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights to be safe.

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” Benjamin Franklin.

Whenever you give up your freedoms to be safe, you’ve started on a downward slope that will rob you of your freedom and make you even more vulnerable than you were before you gave away your rights. In listening to people, I hear them say over and over that all this security is making us safer. How? That they can’t answer, because they don’t feel safer. Studies show that with all the extra security at the airport, we’re no safer now than we were before 9/11. Most of the security that’s been implemented here in the US is more for show than for safety. Most American feel that if they get horribly inconvenienced then they must be safer. Well, they’re not.

The problem is 9/11 can’t happen again or at least not the way it did. The paradigm used won’t work anymore. In fact, due to communications technology it didn’t work on the third plane. Once people realized that the “hijacking” wasn’t in fact a hijacking, they fought back and kept that third target from being hit.

Are we safer today than the day after 9/11? No, we’re not. In fact, in some distressing ways, the terrorists have won. The United States of America, Home of the Free and the Brave, the country I grew up in no longer exists. Our Constitution is in shreds under attack by our executive, congressional, and judicial branches. Our Bill of Rights is being eroded away by the courts and people who are afraid to have too much freedom because someone might do something someday that they might get hurt by. So, the US is gone, it’s now becoming the USSR of the 1960s; a land of scared people, constantly under watch by their government. Its kind of ironic that the USSR has been broken up and is working on becoming a democracy.

I miss my country and I want it back. I want to once again be able to be proud of my country and its accomplishments. I want to live in a country where human rights are for everyone, torture is abhorred and not sanctioned by the government or its president, and with a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that apply to everyone, not just a select few. I didn’t want to move, I want to live in America, too bad it moved out from under me.

Hearth and Home Comments turned off

Chaos breeds contentment…really

By on January 13th, 2008

Mandelbrot set...OK, so maybe for most people chaos does NOT breed contentment. Well, probably it doesn’t work for all people. I like a bit of chaos in my life. If everything runs too smoothly, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and badness to happen.

So, I guess I’d have to say that this weekend (so far) I must be really happy. On normal weekends we run errands, clean house, shop, and otherwise do all the stuff that doesn’t get done during the week. This weekend we hosted the e357 (SFRevu, Gumshoe Review, TechRevu) staff meeting at our house. Not a problem, except we still had our Christmas tree in the living room (as of Friday) and all the other Christmas decorations up. AND, we still hadn’t made the bed in the guest room (seen from the main room if anyone needed the bathroom). Not to mention that we’d moved all our files out of various places and bought a new file cabinet and…well…hadn’t actually gotten around to putting them all in the new cabinet and getting them out of the temporary boxes and bins and the old file cabinet. “Not so bad”, you say. Well it wouldn’t be except we bought the new file cabinet last summer. And did I mention that this is the time of year to plant spring bulbs and we’d stored those in the basement right near the door — our most used and convenient door.

So, a whirlwind cleaning event occurred. By 1AM last night (hence no blog post) we had the tree and all the Christmas decoration down, packed, and ready to go to storage. A bit of sleep and another marathon whirlwind of work found: cleared floor space, setting for eight people, all unsightly-ness hidden from public view, and snack tray set out and pizza in-process just as the guest arrived.

As a side benefit, I’ve got a clean house with clean floors and bathrooms, all the Christmas decorations packed and stored for next year, the guest room all set and ready to go for another guest, I found several WIPS (works in process), and my desk is cleaned. I could just sit here and revel in the joy of a clean house — aaaahhhh! Unfortunately, another side benefit was a new task list as well as the realization that the spring bulbs need to be planted (after all the moles, voles, and whatnot might be hungry). And I still need to clear up the file cabinet and now it’s all easily reached to do it.

CSA, Environment, Rants Comments turned off

A $2,500 car…why don’t we have one?

By on January 11th, 2008

Tata NanoOkay, I was reading one of those technology sites today — I’m a geek, so tech news rocks, what can I say? Anyway, there was this article on the Tata Nano. It’s made by Tata Motors and will be sold in India. It seats 5 and is expected to get 54 US miles per gallon.

Sounds great and the price is under $3,000. Why don’t we have a car like that in the United States? If you go to the article there’s a link to a video of the unveiling (watch with sound OFF — it’s horrible and the video is shaky) — the car is really cute — but that’s beside the point.

My point is that I’ve been reading about these new cars in Europe that are coming to the US. They all get tremendous mileage compared to American made cars (here I’m talking American brand of cars not foreign cars made in America (Honda)). So, why can’t America make a car that gets 54 miles per gallon and doesn’t cost the same as 4 years tuition for a college education? We’re supposed to be the best and yet we continue to put out cars as if there isn’t an oil crisis. We built bigger and with more bells and whistles that we don’t need, as if the environment isn’t also having a crisis. What’s wrong with us?

I’m talking not just about the industry, but you and me. They’re never going to change if we don’t stand up and say “this has got to stop, make me an ecologically sound car that gets 80 miles per gallon, that can take me and my family to school, work, and on errands.” The government recently changed the rules and now US cars have to have meet 35 miles per gallon (currently 27.5 mpg) averaged over their fleet of cars by the year 2020. What that means is that car manufacturers only have to drop their most gas guzzling model or two and hey we meet the standard, business as usual. Whoopee for the company and the heck with the consumer and the environment. And they don’t even have to do it for another 18 years.

Someone once told me that American’s don’t want hybrids or fuel efficient cars. I said, “But I know that Honda has waiting lists for their hybrids.” The response: “See, no one wants one.” “How can that be, if there’s a waiting list to get one. Obviously people are willing to wait their turn to get one.” But says he, “American’s don’t want them or there’d be more on the road.” I hope you understand that logic because I surely didn’t and still don’t. I’ve known people who waited for almost a year for their shot at a hybrid and they love the ones they have. I’d certainly get one if I could afford one, but my old Honda (over 10 years old) is still running strong and most of the time gives me better mileage than that new ruling from Congress.

It seems to me that as long as we as taxpayers, consumers, and citizens are willing to sit back and let corporations rule us, we’re never going to get out from under. I believe that if Tata’s Nano could be sold in the US — it would sell like hotcakes. Who wouldn’t want a car for under 3K that got 54 mpg. Oh, I forgot — it might not make it in an accident with those big behemoth gas guzzlers. Because, I also know that people are afraid that if they get a smaller, lighter car that gets good mileage, they might not be as safe as in the big behemoth that would probably hit them since they couldn’t see them since they’d be so much smaller in comparison. But, maybe, if we all drove the smaller more ecological and economical cars that safety factor would cancel out. [NOTE: Found a site with some safety information on the Nano — Jan 10.]

So, I ask why can’t America come up with a decent low prices, high mileage car? Is there any other reason other than they don’t want to — because the rest of the world seems to be able to do it.

Uncategorized Comments turned off

Blogging as history…

By on January 9th, 2008

William Henry Bonser LaminFor a long time, people have been talking about the Internet and how it’s killing historical documents collection because email, blogs, ezines and other forms of electronic documents are ephemeral and won’t last as technology changes. Yesterday, someone sent me a link to a blog that is historical. WWI: Experiences of an English Soldier is a blog 90 years after the fact. Bill Lamin had his grandfather’s letters and wondered what to do with them. He decided to start a blog of William Lamin’s letters to his family. Each letter will be posted as it was written on the blog 90 years after it was originally written. There’s a BBC programme about it also.

While electronic communication may or may not be ephemeral, it does have an impact on our lives now. Bill Lamin’s idea will allow us to read the worries, concerns, and daily life of an English soldier much as his family experienced it — waiting for word, hoping and praying that the next message they get is a letter and not a notification of his death or injury. This can and aught to be an wonderful adjunct to history units on WW1, a time and a war that most of us have only read about or seen in movies.

While history books may have a difficult time maintaining records of today’s world, this blog is an indication that perhaps the Internet may be a new tool in keeping our history alive for all of us now.

Socks 2 comments

Basic socks — comfort on down days…

By on January 8th, 2008

Socks with Ditto yarnWell, I tried my hardest — those Zinc thingys, lots of juice, lots of water, staying warm but it hit and hit hard. This flu-ish/cold thingy looks like it’s here for a while. Since I’m not, as my son says, working with full thrusters at the moment, I decided to dig out some sock yarn I’d recently purchased and start a pair while watching Pride & Prejudice.

The first attempt with size two needles had a far too loose fabric. So, out it all came and now with size 1 needles, it’s looking much better. These are basic socks. Toe up increasing 4 stitches every other round until it looks big enough when I try it on my foot then knit until two inches from the end of the foot, do a short row heel (this time I might try something different), and then a 2×2 ribbing until I run out of yarn and bind off. That’s it; not much thinking because I’ve done this lots of times but I can at least feel productive while sniffing, coughing, and feeling like an undead who didn’t get it right.

CSA Comments turned off

Roadside shrines….some thoughts

By on January 6th, 2008

Roadside Memorial CrossWe were out running errands today and passed one of the many roadside shrines that people put up to commemorate a loved one lost in an accident — usually involving a car. This one has been gathering stuffed animals nailed to the tree, lots of plastic flowers and ribbons, candles in holders, a large cross and several smaller ones. I imagine that leaving mementos must somehow make the family and friends feel better but like many I wonder about these growing tributes to death, the danger to those who stop to add to the clutter, and the eyesore they are to others driving by on these roads.

Searching the internet, I found that this custom is a cultural one in the southwest. I found a site called Descansos that talks about that and has some photos. The photos on this site show small memorials that do not overpower the area. If all these roadside shrines were as simple in line and function, I guess it probably wouldn’t become such an issue. A quick Google search showed that many states have passed legislation to clear up these roadside shrines as dangerous and in some cases unsightly. The New York Times had an article, “As Roadside Memorials Multiply, a Second Look“, in its February 6, 2006 edition.

In many ways, I can understand the family member wanting to commemorate the death of loved one. My brother was killed many years ago in a tragic car accident, leaving a wife and two children, mother, sister, aunts, uncles, friends, and acquaintances — bereft and tearful. But, not once did any of us think to put a shrine on the site of the accident. For me, that would be celebrating his death not the life he lived. To me the best way to remember the lost family member would be to remember their lives and share memories with those who knew him or who might have liked him if he’d lived to met them.

It just struck me today, that I have no idea why people do this. Maybe it’s a lack in my understanding because to me it’s got the thing backwards keeping the death clutched to their heart rather than celebrating the life they had and the memories they shared. But that’s just me — rolling ideas around in my heart and head.