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| I stopped knitting long enough to update my knitting gallery, since it's been almost a year and a half since I last did that. Whoops. Heh. Plus there are now so many things in there that I broke up the Quick Find at the top into categories, so it'd be more...um...quick. http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k I'm not going to list everything out individually but everything from Elephant Girl down is new. Enjoy. | ||||||
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Blatherings
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November 29th, 2009
November 27th, 2009
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| Check out these funky knits...eyeballs and intestines! http://bencuevas.wordpress.com/ | ||||||
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November 22nd, 2009
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| Wow, this is some impressive knitting: knitting from nothing, rug by WWII prisoner of war - "The former prisoner of war, who spent more than 19 months in Germany’s World War II prison camps, not only survived interrogations and torture but managed to knit arguably Australia’s most valuable war artefact, outside a museum." | ||||||
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October 9th, 2009
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| Here's a toy to avoid for your pregnant friends (and it's one a lot of people would normally buy...we would have but I knitted a version instead): Fisher-Price Rock-A-Stack Bleeds Blue All Over Babies Fisher Price says it's non-toxic, but that's a far cry from edible, and really, do you want your friend mad at you when their baby goes smurfy eating the toy you gave them? | ||||||
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September 16th, 2009
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| Lego knitting machine | ||||||
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September 11th, 2009
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| I am behind on several topics. Here is a quick-as-possible update: 1) On the Tidy-vs-TV battle, we won, but needed reinforcements in the form of grandparental units. They were under strict instructions not to actually pick stuff up for Peo (and oh, did she try to ply them every way possible!) but were available to keep her company and help count items. The room got clean. Unfortunately, one of the motivators was to be able to go to my cake meeting that night...and I screwed up because the meeting was the following week. Oops. But I admitted my error and we made good by Peo by going out for Chinese food instead, where she happily chattered the words/phrases she knows in Mandarin. 2) Coolest/funniest/deepest thing Peo has said recently: she wants desperately to visit Kai-Lan and has been convinced that she has to go to CartoonLand to do so, and declared to Corran that if she goes to CartoonLand and meets Kai-Lan and Kai-Lan draws a picture of her, then it will be a picture of Reality. 3) With tons and tons of the right stretching in advance, I can now take short, stompy, unassisted steps. As in, not safe to be carrying a pot of boiling water or anything, but could probably escape a fire in the house. And the podiatrist told me to get a cane to try to get off the crutches. So I did (for $25 all they had were patterned ones and I didn't feel like spending extra for wood so I have an old-lady pattern but the least old-ladyish they had), and I've been using it when the ankle is nice and warmed up from stretching. However, I have to be careful to not leave myself abandoned with crutches out of reach, because after about 10 minutes of not-stretching, the whole thing locks up again and the cane is insufficient. Podiatrist says it's acute tendinitis and not the bones/hardware/surgery. So I've got more appointments with physical therapy now, and they can now do other stuff since they know it's not hardware in the way, so we'll see how it goes. 4) Taught the two cake classes last week. The Mensa one ended up with only two adults and two kids...and the kids were periodically unsupervised and made a mess of my gel colours. They grabbed them and were jamming my brushes into them before I even noticed (one of the brushes is still soaking to get the colour out from under the metal bit, grrr), since I was trying to teach the adults. Plus, I couldn't easily cross the room to get them back. So I asked very seriously for them to go easy and not mix the colours, but they did. Gahhhhh. The adults were very pleasant and the organizer very gracious and all of that, but I think I have a new rule that under no circumstances will I ever teach a class again that uses MY equipment unless there's a nobody-under-18 rule. Unfair, because I know of kids in their early teens who are highly responsible and quite talented cake decorators, but that's the last time I'm risking my stuff on someone else's kids. Plus I'm not sure how valuable my time was teaching two adults who thanked me but admitted they'd probably never try any of it themselves. I'd only do a class like that again if it had pre-enrollment, as opposed to this, which was part of a convention with a show-up-if-you-wanna style. Four other women came in near the end but really, I'm not sure how much they could have learned doing that. The cake club class went much better and I've received lovely positive feedback, so I'd happily do that again any time they want me. But no more casual volunteering for non-cakies, I think. 5) Corran's parents were here and are now on their way home (may have landed by now, not sure, US to Sydney flights are scary-long), and were very nice Cinderellas for us the whole time, helping cut into the backlog of cleaning that had piled up since my surgery. On the day they arrived, Peo suggested they go back home immediately, but then of course when they left she was upset. Today she roleplayed it out with toys, which seemed to help. 6) Been watching the Canadian show "Intelligence" on DVD via the library and it's very interesting...but I wish Matt Frewer would stop muttering all the damned time, especially since there's no closed captioning or subtitles. Grrrr. All the US DVDs I get have at least the closed captions...which may even be a requirement these days? Pain in the ass how many UK/Canadian ones don't. I have a hearing problem and men's voices turn to mud when there's low-note background music, which this show has in spades. So I have to listen to it LOUD or I miss half of what's being said, and then inevitably the next scene has loud music so it's a huge noise. Pain in the ass. We also finally got Watchmen from the library queue and Frewer was in that too, as was another guy from Intelligence. And two weeks ago I ended up seeing Felicia Day in a ridiculous amount of things all within a few days...rewatched Dr. Horrible, there was the video about dating the avatar, and there was an episode of Monk (which I'm also doing by library DVD) as well. And something else, but I forget. Am I being celebrity-stalked through my TV or am I just a pattern-finding ape? Hmmmm... Anyway, off to finish Intelligence so it can go back to the library today before it's overdue, and to work on the last bits of the Kai-Lan dolls (one for Peo, one for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nightxade's daughter) and then finish up the Biscuit Brothers stuff that has been taking for-bloody-ever. | ||||||
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August 14th, 2009
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| Consumerist: Consumers Finally Growing Some Damned Sense, Not Buying Bottled Water And someone posted this great Lewis Black clip about the stupidity of buying water (not work safe): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGWn-aW I looked for a Jim Gaffigan bit I recall about the French duping Americans into buying bottled water, but couldn't find it. Did find this good Penn and Teller bit though (also not work safe): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvv And for the record, yes, we have occasionally bought bottled water, almost always when we've been dumb enough not to have some on hand on a hot Vegas summer day and end up having to buy at whatever event we're at. I even accepted a free case of it twice at the grocery store when something else I'd purchased qualified me for it (several other times, I didn't accept). But we've never paid for a case, and we reuse bottles all the time (and yes I know that's a BPA issue, which is why Peo has BPA-free bottles I scored at Costco for a very low price). I put a small amount of fridge-filtered water in the bottles and then freeze them, so on any hot day I can grab a bottle, put in more filtered water, and voila, instant cold water on the go. I've even recently knit both Peo and I some holders with straps for easy carrying, but mostly because once we moved to Texas and were re-introduced to actual humidity, I decided it would help with condensation that was mucking up stuff in my bag. Her holders are fitted her bottles; mine fits the reused "disposable" ones. One of these days I'll get around to taking pics and updating my knit gallery... | ||||||
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August 3rd, 2009
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| Woot, I sold 5 knitted alphabet patterns in August, so that's slightly better than one a week. I've almost hit $800 in sales since the pattern was posted in April 2008. Mind you, as Corran and I have calculated, it hasn't even come close to paying for itself in labour at minimum wage yet. And that almost-$800 doesn't include the fees that Paypal and Ravelry takes (although the Ravelry fee is teeeeeeeeeeeeny...I just paid $3 for August on $60 in sales), but still, not bad, not bad at all... I can generally tell when it's been mentioned on a list or blog somewhere, because I'll get three or four sales in an afternoon. Nifty. Yay for the interwebs! | ||||||
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June 10th, 2009
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| How deeply is my brain integrated with all things Internetty and how much of a glutton for punishment am I in terms of my crafting queue? I just saw this pattern on the newly posted Knitty and my immediate thought was, "I should email that to Peo to ask her if she'd like one." Peo does not have an email address. I do not have time to knit this anyway. At least, not to be ready for this summer, which is kind of like NOW. *headdesk* | ||||||
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May 31st, 2009
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| More quick copy and paste fun...I got email from a knitter who made an awesome mini Harry Potter using my Little Dudes basic pattern: http://simplejill.wordpress.com/200 I love, love, love it when someone does something cool with basics I've provided and does it on their own with their own creativity going wild. It's like I get a bit of a hand in an artist's creative act but don't have to do any hand-holding. | ||||||
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April 30th, 2009
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| Infodump time again. I know that some of this stuff is probably already old news. Oh well, I share what I can when I can... Consumer Info/Activism Stop the Cap! Fight Back Against Usage Caps for Cable, DSL, and Fiber Optic Broadband - A blog tracking protesting activity against Time Warner and other cable companies who want to impose pay-by-the-byte style Internet access. If you live in North Carolina, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS (and anybody else interested in broadband access rights should as well): Save NC Broadband.com - A city in NC has a government-run broadband service (it still costs money (as opposed to being taxpayer-funded_, but is run more like a regulated utility) that's working quite nicely for subscribers, but Time Warner Cable is claiming they can't compete against it and is trying to force the state legislature to ban such services. There's a bill up for vote on May 6, so residents should be calling their elected representatives for support. Costco offer would fix hot fuel - If you didn't already know, temperature affects how much gas you get for your dollar. Fuel pumps are averaged, so if you buy gas when it's hot out, you get less than if you bought it when it was cold. Costco is going to change its pumps and its purchasing habits to stop this so consumers no longer bear the brunt of this. They're breaking away from other retailers and the oil industry to do this. Yay Costco! Going Against the Trend, Nevada Lawmakers Consider Easing the State’s Ban on Smoking - Soooooooo glad we moved out. This is just stupid. Of course revenues are down, you morons...it's a frickin' recession/depression out there! DUH! Here's What A Card Skimmer Looks Like On An ATM - Keep an eye out for these kinds of devices! Art/Craft/Entertainment Thanks to kbpenguin for sending me this amusing link:Periodic Table of Knitting A clever YouTube video showing how Disney has reused templates over the years. Some people seem to be offended by this, but I think it's actually quite smart re-usage of old stuff in order to save time and production costs. Unless you've been living under a rock, this one's probably old news, but I'm posting it anyway because I actually cried when I first saw it: Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 - I don't watch these kinds of shows because I loathe their revelation in misery and mockery. And sure enough, this woman - a perfectly lovely woman but not the kind of beauty the media wants us to love - gets mocked when she comes on stage, especially when she gives a little sexy hip-shake that would have been considered hot if she was underweight and younger. But when she sings, everyone who mocked her is rightfully put in their places. That's by far the best version of that song I've ever heard. I actually skip the version on my Broadway Les Miz album because I find the professional singer's voice irritating on some of the notes. I'd gladly buy a copy of Susan Boyle's version and insert it into my Les Miz playlist instead! Better still: I've read that she's been inundated with offers from cosmetic companies to do a makeover and she keeps saying no, as well she should, because there's nothing wrong with how she looks! Go Susan go! Science/Technology/Environment Zoombak Tracks Your Dog, Your Car, Even Your Children - I'm personally a little too antsy about the potential abuses of GPS tracking of individuals to ever want any kind of device on me or my loved ones all the time, but as a geek I'm interested in the technological aspects of this product, not to mention the fictional posibilities (let's just say that more than two years ago I had already planned political issues with this kind of technology about halfway through the Colony books). This is Your Brain on Facebook - interesting article about scientific examinations of brain plasticity related to Internet usage. How Green Is My Bottle? - Interesting article that lays out just how eco-friendly or not a reusable bottle can be. I do find it funny how people will jump on any eco-bandwagon these days without considering overall impact, and those type of people will frequently keep consuming anything with an eco-label well beyond their needs, thereby actually making things worse. As in, if you're buying a new metal water cup every few months to suit style changes or just because you love to shop, you are NOT saving the planet! Why Isn’t the Brain Green? - Examining why people rank environmental concerns so low on their lists of important issues. A reeeeeeeeeally long article. I haven't finished it myself yet, mostly because it's been hard to focus on it while on cold/flu medication. Study: Spammers scourge to inbox and environment - Guess that eliminates the argument that spam is eco-friendly because it doesn't waste paper. The Promise of a Better Light Bulb? - I'd consider buying one, if I could see it on in person to check it out. Astronomers Find Planet Closer to Size of Earth - Nifty. G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs on a Disc - So this means I can keep taking huge gobs of pics/vids of Peo, right? Parenting/Home Life/Food Scratch That: How cost-effective is it to make homemade pantry staples? - A really cool article about one woman's explorations of whether it's better to make or buy some foods. I love this. I don't generally read blogs out of lack of time but I'm bookmarking her blog in case she does any more experiments. Another Awkward Sex Talk: Respect and Violence - interesting article about raising kids in terms of gender-manners. Dark Sugar: The decline and fall of high-fructose corn syrup. - One can only hope. And it's not the same for anyone with diabetes or PCOS or any other health problem that super-stores fructose. Misc/Fun/Weird This Discount Store Enjoys Messing With Its Customers' Minds - warning: disengage mental logic circuits before looking. Bacon: the Other White Heat: You know bacon is delicious, but did you know it contains enough energy to melt metal? - Awesome. :D Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do) - This is a good list. I'm guilty of a couple of them but I know I'm very good about most of the rest (I'm talking about my professional writing...no fair critiquing my informal blog posts, dig?). More writer-wannabes should read this. Most of the painful amateur prose I've had the misfortune to read suffered from all of these problems. | ||||||
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April 11th, 2009
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| Now that the knitted Tiny Scarecrow doll is finally done (still working on typing up the pattern, then I'm going to test it), I'm able to start work on an experimental bit of knitting I've had in my head for several months. I came up with a concept that seems to me to have tremendous opportunity for making some lovely things, and so months ago I started looking for patterns using the concept. I figured there had to be many of them, since I could conceive of so many instantly myself. I was surprised to find very, very few patterns, paid or free, that use this concept. I thought perhaps that, since one of the styles involved was new to me, it must be that it doesn't work out right, and therefore nobody is really doing it. Or perhaps it would be unduly complicated, or there'd be some other problem. Well, I'm happy to report that in the last week's worth of experimenting, despite a few minor hurdles in getting things to look right, it's actually just as I envisioned: a really interesting concept that indeed has a lot of potential. It's not like I've invented something new; more like I appear to be taking something obscure and charging ahead with it in ways that I cannot find anyone else doing. Results will be shared eventually, when I'm ready with lots of samples. I'm wondering if this might be something I should put together as another paid pattern set, since it would be relatively unique... | ||||||
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March 9th, 2009
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| I've decided that I have neither the time, money, nor energy to fight the big yarn company who has an all-too-close version of one of my patterns on their website. Yes, I can almost certainly prove that my pattern predates theirs. The Internet Archive shows my first updated page as being last updated on July 2, 2007 (and the Archive recorded it in October of 2007), but the yarn the company is using the pattern to sell only came out that summer. I don't know exactly when their pattern was posted but I believe - based on Ravelry listings and on having gone through the company's free patterns many times myself - that it is fairly recent, fall of 2008 at the earliest. Yes, both patterns are a sort of natural kind of shape to do with DPNs, but their stitch count is almost identical to mine, which is what makes it suspicious. But the fact is, my pattern is more popular, has been converted to crochet, has a substantial Ravelry following in terms of completed projects and queue listings, and is frankly a better pattern since it has legs and if I do say so myself, a far cuter face. So fuck it. While I could launch an internet campaign against this big yarn company and no doubt get lots of people to write to them to complain, I don't see the point. They've ignored my email and my return-receipt letter (so I know they got it). They don't give a shit about potentially having ripped someone off. That means if I go after them, they may decide to make my life a living hell, and I'm not that much in love with the pattern to want to withstand a corporate assault. However, there are some things that will happen as a result of this: 1) I will NEVER post another free pattern that uses this company's yarn. The one pattern I do have that uses their yarn will be edited when I get a chance to remove that company's name and I will instead recommend competing yarn. 2) I will stop buying all yarns from this company. I'm too frugal to throw out what I already have, but anything made from it will not have patterns shared, and I won't acquire new stuff. I'm effectively boycotting them for the rest of my life, and will urge my close family and friends to do likewise. This includes removing myself from their mailing list, and when I get time, removing any of their patterns I might have in my Ravelry queue. I will also de-list any stash on Ravelry pertaining to this company and when I knit with remaining stock, will refer to it in generic terms. 3) Henceforth if asked about this company or their yarn, I will simply say that I am boycotting them for inappropriate conduct and failure to address customer concerns. Lastly, and pay attention because this one is a big one: 4) I will be less generous about free patterns in general that are likely to be easily stolen. Henceforth I'll only post patterns that, if stolen, are quite easy to recognize as such. That means no more quick little knits, no more easily modifiable bits and pieces that people can adapt for their own needs. I took time out of my busy life to post that stuff on the condition that it be used for non-profit, personal use only. I am not putting in my time for free just to have some etsy seller or big corporation profit from it. That's not fair. From now on, when I'm asked when a pattern for something easily stolen, I'll refer people to this post. eta: I actually removed their links from my patterns right now, and it turned out I had two patterns using their yarn. Generic terms remain instead. | ||||||
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March 5th, 2009
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| This is my first day with Peo in school that I don't need to be working on cake show stuff. So it's time to clean out the browser (so here comes an infodump), run updates, get rid of Norton and install Avast, etc. Maybe I'll even get time to deal with the mountain of unanswered email. Hahahahaha...nnnrgh. Let's begin the infodump! High Fructose Corn Syrup ATTN: HFCS Haters. Get Ready For Sugar-Sweetened "Pepsi Throwback" Snapple To Switch To Real Sugar Instead Of HFCS And another bit of info: some of you may recall that I've posted multiple times about trying different cereals to make rice krispies treats without the HFCS-laden actual Rice Krispies. Well, there's a new version of Rice Krispies called "Jumbo" which are allegedly "multi-grain", but more importantly, do NOT have HFCS! I have already found a box at my local store and acquired it for treat-making to come. Will report on results at the time. Consumer Stuff Best Buy Sells Busted Cam As New, Blames You. Oops! Employee Pix! - Yet another reason we no longer shop at Best Buy, and haven't for years. Going To The Doc? Be Sure You Don't Sign A Gag Order - putting this one under Consumer because it's less about medical and more about not being dumb enough to sign away your rights. Seriously, people, don't ever sign NDAs or gag orders unless you really do agree with them and are 100% sure you're okay with never changing your mind on that. Signing away your right to speak is almost never in your interest. Science Pen Mightier Than Passion - 60-Second Science - I actually haven't listened to this yet, but the blurb was interesting enough for me to go start downloading the entire podcast series for later listening. And while I'm linking that, let me also mention that I made a lot of that cake show cake while listening to old podcasts of Radio Lab. I'm only up to March 2008, but it's been fascinating. It's the kind of show with so much information that after a few of them, I need to take a break because my brain gets too full. I'm sure my fellow nerds will enjoy it. Natural Explanation Found for UFOs - "Mysterious UFO sightings may go hand in hand with a puzzling natural phenomenon known as sprites - flashes high in the atmosphere triggered by thunderstorms." Groovy. FIRST PHOTOS: Weird Fish With Transparent Head - Coooooooooooooooooooooooooool! Snow Flakes and Snow Crystals - some pretty spiffy piccies. Gorgeous stuff. Dry cleaning without solvents - Please note that this is a PRESS RELEASE, not an article, so it is heavily biased. However, I find it very interesting and do hope that the claims they're making are true and if they are, that they have great success in spreading the technology. Although I don't buy dry-clean-only clothes, so it doesn't affect me personally much. Parenting 3 Ways To Cut Baby Costs Without Feeling Like A Terrible Parent - Plus they've missed some obvious ones like breastfeeding if you can, using cloth diapers if you can afford the initial cost, and only buying infant clothes on resale. Police cite breast-feeding driver for endangering - Mmmkay I'm all for breastfeeding, but this is just stoooopid. Sheesh. If your kid needs boob NOW NOW NOW, frickin' pull over, idiot. Crafts/Art/Theatre What happens when you get married and most of your friends are into musical theatre gacked from bnwrenTHE ARTFULL BRAS PROJECT - fancy bras made for fundraising. Definite works of art in there. I guess this might not be considered work safe if you work with prudes. Knitters turn to graffiti artists with 'yarnbombing' - I love it, especially because unlike paint, it's relatively easy to remove if it offends the property owner. With a Knitting Needle Piercing Her Heart, Keeping Cool Saved Ellin Klor’s Life - Twice - Double meep. I've been extra-paranoid about how I carry and store my needles since reading this. Misc Supreme Court Rules For Injured Consumer In Big Pharma Case - this is an update on a story I've linked to before about a musician whose arm was amputated after the wrong application of a drug in a hospital. Short version: she won the case. Man Living in Cave Faces Foreclosure - but what really interested me were the photos of this incredible house they built into the cave. That'd be awesome for energy efficiency since caves take the median temperature of the area. It'd be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And quiet too. Ooo I want one. :) 25 Years of Growth in Las Vegas as seen from space - from indomitability. Not surprising, since Vegas is one of those places where if you drive by an empty bit of desert one month, it's likely to be a suburb or strip mall the next. We've only been gone for about 9 months but I guarantee you if we went back right now, there'd be stuff built we don't even recognize. It can make the slow-to-update Google satellite maps useless for finding a friend's house. Hell, even the street maps aren't updated fast enough for Vegas. Oh, and that's just a small view of the area, probably showing Vegas proper. Even though our address was listed as being in Las Vegas, we weren't actually in the city, and our house isn't even on those photos. There's so much more sprawl beyond what this shows."My iPhone Is Missing, And Some Guy Is Taking Pics Of Himself With It!" - I'm posting this not really because of the actual story, although that is interesting, but primarily because of this line of advice: "Before losing the phone, his dad set up a rule where any email sent from the phone blind-cc'ed his personal email address, which we think is a pretty brilliant low-tech security solution for tracking down a lost/stolen phone or laptop." Those with portable devices such as these might want to consider such a setup. A Colorado school district does away with grade levels - An interesting approach, especially since this is what I've learned a lot of gifted private schools do. I'm curious to see how it works out long-term. Arbitrary regulations on age and groupings are convenient but almost never great for all the kids involved. The Crisis of Credit Visualized - an interesting little movie that sums up how the credit crisis came to be. Forget the G-string - can ANYONE wear the new C-string? - Meep. | ||||||
| comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
January 20th, 2009
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| Hrm... Let's say you're a mostly amateur knitting designer, giving most of your patterns away for free online. Let's say you've got one fairly basic free pattern that isn't exactly the most original thing in the world ever, but it's relatively popular and you're known for it. Let's say you can prove that it's been available on your website since late 2007, using the Internet Archive. Now let's say that you notice a major yarn company has a strikingly similar pattern to yours, even down to an almost identical row and stitch count, albeit with a slightly different style of increase and is missing one feature of yours. They're using this pattern to sell their yarns, but their pattern is also free. You can't tell when the yarn company's pattern was put up, but it's only just been listed on Ravelry in the last few days so it's probably fairly recent. You also know that you've been through that yarn company's free patterns extensively in the past and certainly didn't see it available the last time you looked. You contact the yarn company and inform them of the similarity of patterns and illustrate that yours has been available for quite some time. You do this politely and indicate that the yarn company might want to discuss the matter with whomever submitted the pattern to them. What would you expect to happen next? What do you think would be fair? Your pattern was free, but does carry a pretty clear "do not steal" type message on its page. It is indeed pretty basic, the kind of thing anybody might be able to design, a sort of naturally occurring, easy pattern. Then again, that could be said of a lot of patterns that have been copyrighted. And their pattern is using the same stitch counts, which is awfully close for comfort. They're not selling the pattern, but they do stand to make money off of it through yarn sales, and your copyright message does specifically prohibit profit from your patterns. It's probably not worth a lawsuit, but there is your reputation as a designer to consider, lest it ever be turned around and you accused of plagiarism. Thoughts? What would you do? | ||||||
| comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
November 5th, 2008
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| New free knitting pattern: Christmas Lights! http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k So new I haven't even added it or other recent FOs to my gallery yet! It's up on Ravelry so you can add it to your queue. :) | ||||||
| comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
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| 1) I am developing a new little, quick knitted toy pattern and hope to have it posted this afternoon or tomorrow. It'll be free. It's holiday related. 2) I tried to explain the election to Peo yesterday but stopped when she just got upset when informed that the lawn signs with all of those delicious letters and words to sound out would be coming down soon. I also stopped short of explaining why it was auspicious that a black man might be about to win, because I decided I'd rather have her grow up in a world where that isn't auspicious at all, but something totally natural and possible. And now it is. 3) Besides, Peo's favourite thing about all of this besides the lawn signs was running around saying, "OBAMAMAMAMBAMABAMAMMMMMMMMMMMMA!" So now she can have at least four years of hearing the name on NPR and in household discussion and giggle it as much as she likes. 4) Speaking of Peo and literacy, yesterday she was making random-letter "words" on her magnet board and discovered that she can't pronounce her new "words" without cramming in some vowels now and then. Totally figured that out by herself. I think this means she's not Welsh. ;D 5) We watched Obama's speech and I do like how inclusive he is; mentioning gay and straight people, addressing other nations (it's amazing how many Americans, particularly politicians, seem to forget that there are some!), promising to be for everyone, etc. I also liked his realism in terms of saying that some goals may not even happen in a single term (already campaigning for the next one, eh?). He's very good at speaking and has high charisma. Obviously that's a significant part of what got him elected. I still remain doubtful about significant positive change, but I'll be very happy to say I was wrong if any of it happens. I just don't think that he's going to take the profit out of health care, which is what's needed to fix it. Nor do I think he's going to grant gay marriage rights (oiiii, Prop 8, breaking my heart over there...). 6) Speaking of Prop 8, wtf happens to those who were already married? Forced annulment? Can they sue if that happens? Could that actually result in forcing it to a federal level? And what about going to Canada, getting married there, coming back and poking the international treaty about recognizing marriage? Because if the US doesn't honour that treaty, that's going to go very badly for a lot of people (a significant section of Las Vegas' economy will die if people from other countries can no longer have their Vegas weddings recognized back home). Oh, and I just love how much the Mormons were behind the Prop 8 thing. Nice. As Jon Stewart pointed out, these are a people who founded a whole state to protect their marriage choices, but fuck anyone else who wants a different choice, right? GAHHHH. And anyone non-white who voted for Prop 8 (or any similar ban in other states) needs an educational smack in the head because duh, this is the same language that used to prevent mixed-race marriages. You voted for institutionalized bigotry at the same time the nation broke down a barrier of bigotry, you idiots. Sick. | ||||||
| comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
November 2nd, 2008
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| There are too many people online who are psychotic and/or don't understand how to use the Internet properly. I've got some woman from Australia hassling me because she bought one of those knitting peg doll things and the instructions that came with it are less than helpful. She emailled me out of the blue to ask for help but I had to tell her that I don't have one, haven't used one, and don't know how to help her, sorry. Now she's telling me off, saying that she was going to get a bunch for a preschool but won't because *I* haven't provided proper instructions. She reminds me that it's a "Pesky part of running a business but an important one!" to include proper instructions. And I agree with her...except I DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS SELLING THESE THINGS! DUH! WTF?! Where oh where on my website, journal, or anywhere does it say that *I* sell such things? The only thing I've ever sold online is my knitted alphabet pattern, which is clearly labelled as being for double pointed needles and for intermediate to advanced knitters. I really get the feeling that this clearly insane person went looking around the internet for knitting help, ended up on my site because of some of my tutorials (which have nothing to do with peg-knitting), and emailled me in some kind of delusional haze that all people who talk about knitting must be employed by the company that she bought her stupid little tool from. The mind boggles. And just yesterday at my knitting group I was amusing people with the story of the woman from Milwaukee who emailled a few years ago because she wanted me to make a Simpsons cake and ship it to her in a few days and was willing to pay $40 for the whole deal, and when I said no, she told me I had ruined her husband's birthday. And my knitter friends were amazed. I guess I've got a new Internet-idiot story to tell. Sheesh. | ||||||
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October 27th, 2008
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| I would just like to state clearly for the record that I DID NOT WRITE the article about me in the forthcoming Interweave Knits (Holiday 2008). I did an interview for it, but they turned it into a first-person column completely without my knowledge or consent. It has some grammar that would make my previous editors writhe in agony. It has several factual errors, especially pertaining to the story of how the DNA model came about, some of which come off as insulting to my family. It also fails to list my URL, which was a condition of being allowed to use my photos. I was looking forward to this article; now I'm annoyed. Grrrrrr. I've sent an email of complaint. eta...The editor of the magazine has replied graciously to apologize. Apparently that section is always in first person and I should have been informed. She says they'll put a correction with the URL in the spring issue. Then she was complimentary about my work. I'll reply to her when I get time later to thank her for that. Still, this is going to make me less inclined to do interviews again. I got interviewed for the Globe and Mail last year and the reporter promised to send me a copy (it's not like it's an easy paper to find in Nevada) and never did, even after repeated requests. Nice. When I was a reporter, I made sure to offer every interviewee a copy of the paper and if they said yes, the day the article came out I made it priority one first thing in the morning to get a copy packed up and put in the company's mail basket. When people take time out of their busy days to help you do your job, you do everything you can to give them the best possible experience with that. | ||||||
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October 26th, 2008
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| Part 2 of the January photo post: 21 photos and links to 2 movies (one of them is the Pi one!!), covering January 13 through 31. ( Read more... ) That's all for January. I hope to catch up with the rest of the months in the next few weeks. | ||||||
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Blatherings
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