Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Another short post because I am heading back to the DDS soon. I feel bad I missed Movie Monday because I had a review of Breaking Dawn Part 1 which was a surprise, even to me.

But Monday a.m. also saw a trip to the DDS (I have got to rent a room there.) in pain and loopiness since I had not been able to sleep in three nights. As my husband quipped, I walked into the dentist's office writing my will.

Today, I have to tell my DDS ever so diplomatically, so as not to give him a swelled head, that his drilling on Monday was a miracle. I can eat; I can sleep and I have very little pain.

My motto has always been: Stay out of the courts; stay out of the hospitals. However, like Thetis failing to uncover Achille's ankle as she dipped him into the river of immortality (Get it? Achilles' heel = your one weak spot) I forgot to mention: Stay out of the dentist's office.

My pick is rather mundane this Wednesday, compared to last week:

http://tech.lifegoesstrong.com/

Unfortunately, every click on "About" gets me an error page but it looks like an interesting on-line magazine with a lot of techie stuff but also your life, health, style, home, etc. sections. I have a feeling it could be aimed at the over 40?, 50? crowd but I can't do any research on-site and I'm too lazy at the moment for googling. But it's definitely worth a look. It seems like a site I would enjoy with my morning coffee when I was trying not to explode the top of my head off by reading the news.

Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

A short post today because I may be back at the DDS or just nursing my poor teeth until I get there on Monday.

I'm starting a KAL (Knit Along) or rather more a LAL (Look Along) for a while.

At right, is a sleeveless pullover I made for my mom when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I remember nothing about it except it's yellow wool and obviously I followed a pattern because it has an overlay of crisscrosses which are knitted as you go along.

Mom gave the sweater back to me a while ago and what you see in the picture is a right side sleeve opening where the original ribbing (which matched the hem, I'm sure) had been pulled out and replaced with a crocheted crab stitch. (The left armhole is different because I pulled out the crab stitch before I realized I was going to do this KAL and needed to take photos.) The neckband probably originally matched the hem but that also was replaced with the crab stitch.

So looking at this picture, it looks like that at some time after the sweater "walked" back to me I decided to salvage it. Obviously, I didn't replace the ugly hem because that would have taken some major work, perhaps cutting.

Well about a week ago, I decided to frog the whole thing and see if I could recycle it into a top I might wear. (No way was I wearing the beauty pictured above.)

What you see in the left picture is the sweater unraveled and separated into skeins. You can see that it's very crinkly; not good for much except the ever helpful trinity stitch.

I put the skeins in cold water and Tresemme hair conditioner. I use Tresemme for soaking all my shawls before blocking. (I happen to have a lot of it.) This time, I soaked the wool for about an hour; supposedly longer is better.

This final picture shows the wool after it dried and you can see that it unkinked somewhat.

That's it for today. Next week, I hope to start the new sweater and I'll post the pattern as I work it.

Back to teeth sitting. Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

I had nothing, nada, zilch for today until I saw Melvin Van Peebles, Classified X in the very early hours of yesterday morning.

Wow! What a coalescence of racism, unbridled capitalism, and general hypocrisy as it exists in the US and is portrayed through Hollywood. It's a 53 minutes long film made in 1998 and it's just Pebbles and clips from other movies and documentary footage. He laughs at the indictment of The Birth of a Nation (1915) as a low point in America with its portrayal of blatant racism and shows all the other Hollywood films after BoaN depicting blacks as dumb-asses or villains. Among other clips, Van Peebles shows the scene in the toted first talking movie from Hollywood, The Jazz Singer, 1929, where Al Jolson is getting ready to perform in vaudeville by smearing on the black face makeup and facing the camera with the stereotypical big, white lipped smile. But then Hollywood is like that; the whole country is like that; you put up one straw dog to beat up on while you continue your business off camera.

For any person, either too young, too ignorant or too new to the US who thinks: Why are minorities always grousing, that's past history? take a look at Classified X. From the footage of the smiling faces looking up at lynched blacks or the screaming white girl reacting to a black entering a previously segregated school, you'll see the hatred that is, unfortunately, still palpable today. (Anyone remember the yahoo carrying the Obama labeled monkey toy to a McCain rally?)

As a special bonus, you'll always get the lowdown on how Hollywood works. I've written about how Hollywood controlled the message during the 1930s Depression. Peebles talks about how Hollywood still controls the message. Perhaps not as completely now since the rise of the indies (and a mean excellent indies, not cheap bodice rippers or mysteries) but he points out that they still control access since they control distribution. (Trivia quiz: How many excellent indies can you name that died on the vine because no one could see them since they were never in theaters near you?)

So in Black History month watch this movie. You'll also get a lesson is US history. It ain't pretty.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I'm really into hats. Right now, I'm finishing a black winter hat, because, we all know, that black goes with everything.

Here are pictures of recent hats, and a peek of my ugly toes. They are all top down, starting with a crocheted circle. All except the green one on the right increase to 64 stitches. That green one is only 48 stitches, which in a K2, P2 rib works fine. The black one I'm finishing now has 72 stitches because it's a twisted K2 so the ribbing is tighter.

All the brims are in seed or moss (K1, P1 or K2, P2) on needles two sizes smaller than what's used on the rib section (US 8 to US 6.) Most of the tops have that spiral "pom-pom"; some worked on 20 chains, some on 10.

My b-day present came yesterday; 14 pairs of DPNs with 5 needles in each size. While the bamboo is not the quality of the Clover bamboo (it's a step up from chop sticks), I've used the size 6 to work the seed stitch on my black hat. It worked very well until I decided to try the hat on (the beautiful of top down knitting) and I had to switch to circs.

OK, let me post the pattern for these hats again. As I said last week, you can use any pattern for the body of the hat so it's a good pattern for thinking out of the box.

A Simple Hat (edited from last week with more explanations)
Materials: US 6 and US 8 needles circular needles, US 8 wood DPNs (5), I crochet hook, DK weight yarn
Crochet Set-Up:
With the I crochet hook, make a loop, chain 1 and work 4 single crochets (sc) into the loop. Join with a slip stitch, ch 1 and then work 2 sc in each of the 4 sc for a total of 8. Join with a slip stitch.
(You can now start working with DPNs or you can repeat the above and work 2 sc in each of the 8 sc for a total of 16 sc.)
So either with 8 or 16 sc, pick up 1 stitch for each sc around with your DPNs and divide evenly on 4 needles. Start Knitting Set-Up:
Row 1: K or P* around (16 sts)
Row 2: K front and back of every stitch (32 sts.)
Row 3: K or P around (32 sts.)
Row 4: K front and back of every stitch (64 sts)
Row 5: K or P around (64 sts)
*Purling these rows create a garter rather than a stockinette look. Your choice.
You can see the pattern - 1 row straight K or P; 1 row increases in every stitch
(I stop at 64 sts but you can keep increasing. You don't have to increase in every stitch [the next such increase in every stitch will give you 128 sts] but you can decide how many stitches you need for the width, divide them by 4 and increase evenly on each DPN.)
Start Pattern: (Note 1: Your last row should have been K or P evenly around, no increases. Note 2: You make want to switch to circular needles now and use the traveling loop - just google the "How To". I am going to give you the pattern I like to use but the sky's the limit with creativity here.)
Row 1: *K into back loop of 2nd stitch on left circular tip, K into the front loop of the 1st stitch on that tip, P2*
Row 2: *K2, P2*
Repeat these two rows till the brim.
Brim: Change to US 6 needles and work the seed stitch or moss stitch for your desired width. BO loosely but not very loosely.
Tassel:
1. With I or larger hook and leaving a long tail, chain 20. (Note: Not enough yarn left? Chain 10.)
2. Starting in the 2nd ch from hook work 3 sc in each chain to the bottom.
3. At the bottom, ch 2o and repeat the process above. (The chains will curl into spirals.)
4. Make about 3 spirals and then slip stitch them together at the base, cut yarn leaving a long tail.
5. Using the tails, work the spirals through the top of the hat and fasten securely.

Next week: I just had another knitting epiphany, the first being seeing a pattern for a top down pullover which was not done in raglan (you just K front and back in every stitch once you finish the neckband to double the stitch count.) My present epiphany was seeing a pullover knitted in lace weight. I was naive enough to think lace was only for accessories, like shawls. That may be my next project. More next Friday.

Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

The present government of Israel so wants to "take out" Iran. A wish that Americans could shrug off if they wanted to be blind to world events except for the fact that the Israel/AIPAC lobby has such clout in US politics. Nothing new here; this has been going on for years and has gotten worse to the point of the bizarrely surreal in the last 20 years.

But I'm not bringing this information up to discuss the Middle East but rather because, at this moment, wacky Republican presidential candidates are performing more and more cartwheels to persuade the wacky fundamentalist right of their party that he is "their man."

And that's what has gotten me spooked - again. For this wacky fundamentalist, vocal, millions+, right wing group in the US would be perfectly fine with the "war to end all wars" especially if it begins in the Middle East because that's where their "holy book" tells them the battle at the end of the world will be fought.

Think about it. There are influential people in this country who would welcome war/ Armageddon since they believe it will bring them swiftly into the heaven where the god they invented exists. (Of course, in their anthropomorphically inhabited paradise they see themselves among the saved and all their enemies among the damned.)

This is serious stuff, folks. Sort of like we're living the Marat/Sade movie (1967, Peter Brooks directed and worth renting) where the liberals are the insouciant audience of this play, the fundamentalists are the inmates and the outcome is.......... Well, you watch it. It ain't pretty.

I sometimes feel like a farmer in the late Roman empire, working in my fields, looking up and spying hordes of Goths/Visigoths/Vandals/Mongols (take your pick) riding towards me and knowing I'm facing my doom with no way out.

Which brings to me to my controversial website pick:

http://www.thinkatheist.com/

Not that I think I'm saving the world by posting this but it's like being a bystander watching a bully in action; sometimes you just have to take a stand.

Think Atheist has an insightful purple, talking unicorn as its video today. He makes some good points.

I love what they list as their purpose: Think Atheist was created to help people "come out" about being atheist. Our vision is to encourage everyone who is atheist to get involved with changing stereotypes and misconceptions regarding his or her decision to abstain from religion or a belief in deities of any kind. Bigotry against atheism is still very rampant in our communities, our schools, and even amongst family members. Think Atheist aims to give our members the proper tools to fight anti-atheist hate and discrimination.

Especially that last line: Think Atheist aims to give our members the proper tools to fight anti-atheist hate and discrimination.

I do believe it may be easier to come out as a gay than atheist in the US because bigots can "excuse" gays by saying they were born that way; but atheists? Atheists "thought" themselves into non-belief and that is inexcusable.

Take a look at Think Atheist's forums, a lot of interesting questions are poised. Scroll through their Featured Photos (912 of them) They're not all photos so be sure to hit "pause" to read some of them. They may make you smile, they may make you angry but I hope they make you think.

And don't miss the 977 Featured Videos including ones from Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Colbert, the delightful purple unicorn, Richard Dawkins, and Newt Gingrich!

OK, enough of my palaver, go take a look. It's well worth it.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Woody Allan said that producers today only want to spend $100 million in order to get a $500 million return. Therefore, they have no interest in "little" movies in the US.

There has always been something wacky about the US and when movies became the popular form of entertainment outside of the home, they reflected this wackiness. Take for example the review I did a long time ago of the US movies during the economic depression of the 1930s. They really weren't an indictment of the rich (Oh, they did throw a few very bad rich to the lions; usually in the form of Edward Arnold.) but rather they were the gatekeepers for the rich; that is, their protectors. In My Man Godfrey, we're given the frivolous rich but no one except the mean sister Cordelia even comes close to getting her comeuppances. Why, even the butler turns out to be rich. The same with Holiday, The Philadelphia Story....... it's a long list.

So I guess I can't be surprised that over 80 years later, Hollywood is still taking giant steps away from everyday reality. Hollywood has never been good at nailing the reality which happens after their swelling denouement music.

This was all brought home this weekend when I watched Priest, so bad as a movie that it's almost mesmerizing in its stupidity. I have to assume Priest is based on a comic (forget the graphic novel crap.) A popular comic I hope because I shudder to think that some screenwriter pitched this story as his original idea.

Priest has everything and nothing. The everything is: unrequited love by a priestess for a priest (priests and priestesses are superheros who fight vampires); a niece who is really a daughter; doomed love between a priest and a "mere mortal"; super weapons; funky motorcycles; really, dripping-looking vampires, the frantic search by the priest for his daughter/niece to save her from vampire-hood and, of course, the music.

It was the music which got my attention fast because really nothing happens in Priest without this stirring music. Whether it's blowing up a train or riding a motorcycle, the music informs us that this is important. For crying out loud, the priest prepares for his journey and then goes to get on his means of transport and............ it's a big motorcycle! Cue the music.

What surprised me about this movie was the religious theme. It sure looked like a Roman Catholic or high Anglican church which controlled this futuristic city and its inhabitants. The church in Priest is controlling a 1984 world, complete with slogans for submission.

But the mantra repeated often by our priest and priestess heroes is that you don't need a church to communicate with god. Was this movie aiming at a fundamentalist religious message? Why did they take a simplistic man vs. vamps, good guys vs. bad guys, hunt for the virginal maiden (well, virginal in that she wasn't a vampire - yet) themes and tack on a religious message?

If you strip away the religion, you're left with the typical story of the authorities who don't believe there is a danger of vampires ("Vampires were wiped out ages ago."), the lone warrior priest who knows they're wrong and starts his vampire quest, and finally the presentation of vampire evidence to the authorities. Of course, Priest, probably eying a sequel, has the movie end with the hero priest's story being rejected by the authorities in the church So, with fellow priests, he continues the search for the queen vampire.

I just described a cheesy SFT3000 movie plot. Did they think a religious theme was going to uplift it? Or, was there really a religious message in Priest?

It's a lousy movie but a good knitting one. You can look up occasionally and see all you need to follow along. Paul Bettany and Karl Urban are brave and ruthless from their different moral perches. Maggie Q has a perfect beauty but has only one scene of honest emotion. Cam Gigandet, the ugly vampire, James, in Twilight, cleans up very nicely and looks handsome as the lover of the kidnapped girl.

On the IMDb discussion board, there is a topic on the religious tone of this movie. Priest had a budget of $60M and grossed $78M worldwide with $49M coming from abroad; not the 1:5 ratio Allan was talking about.

Final note: Rent The Searchers with John Wayne after you see Priest. I'll say no more.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Birthday Saturday and Guilt about no Knitting Friday
(See 2/17/12 Knitting Friday for the Simple Hat pattern with more explanations.)

OK, it's my birthday. Are the only two songs about birthdays, Happy Birthday and It's My Birthday And I'll Cry If I Want To? Oh, there's Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday which Marilyn Monroe crooned to JFK and into history.

Whatever, I was all ready for Knitting Friday with pictures but then yet another gum infection leveled me for most of the day. Today, I'm ready to roll but the pictures are on another, occupied at the moment, computer but I'm going to give you a B-day present: a simple hat pattern. (Pictures will follow next week.)

A Simple Hat
Materials: US 6 and US 8 needles circular needles, US 8 wood DPNs (5), I crochet hook, DK weight yarn
Crochet Set-Up:
With the I crochet hook, make a loop, chain 1 and work 4 single crochets (sc) into the loop. Join with a slip stitch, ch 1 and then work 2 sc in each of the 4 sc for a total of 8. Join with a slip stitch.
(You can now start working with DPNs or you can repeat the above and work 2 sc in each of the 8 sc for a total of 16 sc.)
So either with 8 or 16 sc, pick up 1 stitch for each sc around with your DPNs and divide evenly on 4 needles. Start Knitting Set-Up:
Row 1: K around (16 sts)
Row 2: K front and back of every stitch (32 sts.)
Row 3: K around (32 sts.)
Row 4: K front and back of every stitch (64 sts)
Row 5: K around (64 sts)
You can see the pattern - 1 row straight K; 1 row increases in every stitch
(I stop at 64 sts but you can keep increasing. You don't have to increase in every stitch [the next such increase will give you 128 sts] but you can decide how many stitches you need for the width, divide them by 4 and increase evenly on each DPN.)
Start Pattern: (Note: Your last row should have been K evenly around, no increases.)
(You make want to switch to circular needles now and use the traveling loop - just google the "How To". I am going to give you the pattern I use but the sky's the limit with creativity here.)
Row 1: *K into back loop of 2nd stitch on left circular tip, K into the front loop of the 1st stitch on that tip, P2*
Row 2: *K2, P2*
Repeat these two rows till the brim.
Brim: Change to US 6 needles and work the seed stitch or moss stitch for your desired width. BO loosely but not very loosely.
Tassel:
1. With I or larger hook and leaving a long tail, chain 20.
2. Starting in the 2nd ch from hook work 3 sc in each chain to the bottom.
3. At the bottom, ch 2o and repeat the process above. (The chains will curl into spirals.)
4. Make about 3 and then slip stitch them together at the base, cut yarn leaving a long tail.
5. Using the tails, work the spirals through the top of the hat and fasten securely.

That's it. You're done. Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Apparently, Rick Santorum won the latest three Republican primaries/caucuses/whatever. I can't believe the money masters of the Republican party will allow him to be the candidate however. (But, you say, look at Reagan, he was a conservative. No, Reagan ran on the platform which won. He was never a true believer. Note: Reagan was also a lousy president.) The real Republican party (I love me that capitalism with all the tax breaks I can get.) knows it can't win with Santorum; not on the national level. It would be interesting to see Obama vs. Santorum bout though. Santorum would spout his absolutely insane beliefs on everything: government, women, sex, probably even little puppies and Obama would move more and more to the right as seems to be his doctrine of governance: meet the enemy and arrange a golf game.

But enough grousing, go to http://www.peachygreen.com/ and read about the good people are doing to save the planet: We’re here to tell you that amazing things are happening right where you live and all over the world, which make the earth a kinder, cleaner place. It’s time to put aside the doom and gloom and think positively about the people places and things that are making the world Peachy Green.

I know I don't believe the world is doing enough to save the planet and I haven't dug deeply enough to find the sponsors of this site; but there are good ideas here for going green and that can't be bad. That is, as long as you don't come away from the site believing just buying recycled goods, etc. will turn around climate change. But it is a start.

Then there is: http://www.twofoods.com/ where you compare two foods and get the calories and nutritional value of each. Yes, I plugged in apples and oranges and they are both very good for you. Then I plugged in dinner roll and doughnut. and all the types of rolls they showed were at least 100 calories less than the doughnut and had more than 3xs less fat. A bagel is a much better choice. However, a cinnamon raisin popped up with 273 calories while a multi grain bagel appeared with 2379 calories. I think some data entry person skipped a decimal.

These are fun sites. Be sure to click "Wildlife" in Peachy Green; adorable animals abound.

See you next week.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - Red Riding Hood and more

I've been thinking a lot of thoughts lately and that's probably why I was AWOL all last week. That and the fact that movies in my Verizon movie package have been pretty horrible lately. So I started the week staring at nothing for Movie Monday and the rest of the week just tagged along.

Of course, last week in the US, saw the drama of Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity vs. the very, very evil Planned Parenthood (whose evilness apparently SGK just discovered) play out.

I've never gotten on the SGK bandwagon because experience has taught me to be leery of mega-"charities" with mega commercial tie-ins. In the end, I don't believe the "left" took Komen down (although we surely could use some victories) but rather big business capitalism did them in. Capitalism will give loonies just enough rope to play with and make pretty knots but no way will they hand them the rope so they all can swing in the wind together.

SGK is a billion dollar money machine and it's perfectly all right for their new leaders to twist to the far right as long they do nothing to disrupt this cash flow. That was Handel's (SGK new anti-abortion VP) big mistake. That and the fact that apparently 23 cents of each dollar donated to SGK goes to research; the rest to salaries, overhead and generating more dollars. Sounds like a scenario ripe for demands for one of Congress' time wasting public investigations. I'm sure the charity backers didn't want that.

Unfortunately, the SGK brouhaha brought back into focus the billion dollar generating health care industry which is allowed to exist in this country. This industry is backed firmly by SGK's pink ribbon charity which went ape-shit crazy when the recommendations for starting mammograms was pushed up from 40 to 50 years old a few years ago. Of course, medical science blinked and women were allowed to return to the radiation giving, breast torturing mammograms starting at age 40 again. For, after all, to paraphrase Calvin Coolidge: what's good for business is good for the country.

I did get to see Red Riding Hood last week. This movie was royally trounced by the critics (5.1% out of 10 in IMDb and 11% in Rotten Tomatoes.) It was directed by Catherine Hardwicke who directed the first Twilight and the only Twilight I can ever watch. As I've said before about Twilight-1, I think Hardwicke did a more than serviceable job introducing this modern day Gothic tale and moving it and the audience along to a romantically plausible (I did say "romantically" plausible) conclusion. It's just a pity they didn't end the series then.

Regarding Red Riding Hood: As some people on IMDb have said, I was surprised at the almost universal rejection of this movie. Hardwicke is a good storyteller of implausible plots and I think she and the cast more than just "come through" in this mythical/metaphorical tale of the young girl living in a medieval god-fearing village which is plagued by the unknown, this time in the shape of a werewolf.

I liked the atmosphere and tone of this movie and I didn't feel as though I was in a Hollywood set medieval village. The myth/metaphor of the virginal young girl facing the dangers of her community and the "dark" outside with all its unique dangers is one of those "down through the ages" tales. I think Hardwicke and her cast do admirable work with their take on this myth. Watch it and see if you agree.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

This is going to be short review since my neck is killing me. You know the pain you get which makes you hope that driving in the near future will not demand much turning of the head. I've heard that the autobahn is a straight run.

My 6 and 1/2 pound handbag + my zillion pound knitting bag probably haven't helped the situation. How do I know the handbag weighs so much? I weighed it; all by itself and it registered. An event which only happens over 5 pounds. So I got a Kipling bag. Very light, nylon, looks like a dollar store buy but I googled it and found out the brand is expensive and can look bag lady chic. (A denotation I think is condescending and crude but, boy, that bag is a dream to carry; and filled, it doesn't register on the scale.)

My review is for a "little" foreign film: Valentin (2002). Set in Argentina, it tells of an 8 year old boy in the 1960s who dreams of being an astronaut, has a runaway mom, distant dad and lives with a devoted grandmother. Nothing much happens to the boy for a long time, except very ordinary things but as you watch he starts to understand the world and move away from primal bigotry which can plague so many families. Rodrigo Nova plays the boy with such charm and honesty that you're hooked early on in this simple story.

I'm a sucker for foreign films usually because they know that not saying something is many times more powerful than dialogue. For example, in the charming scene where Valentin meets his father's wife-to-be, he says something in all innocence which becomes the deal breaker for the marriage. He nor the audience is ever told what it is. The young woman with him says nothing except becomes sadder and sadder. With simple gestures, you learn something has just occurred to change all their futures. Any observant viewer understands what just happened but the script has the actors never verbalize any of this. It's so much more powerful this way; and so "un-American."

Alejandro Agresti is both writer and director so he must take a double bow. He just shows us Valentin's world; he doesn't judge or pontificate. So when Valentin finally realizes that what he has been taught to hate may not be deserving of it, it happens quietly and silently. Again, so un-American.

A charming movie. Well worth a viewing. In fact, I could watch it again.

Final note: And this is always disturbing. I got on the IMDb forum where someone posted his/her dislike for this movie. Within a few replies, the postings became hateful, calling the OP an idiot, pure evil and worse (some posts had been removed.) JHC! It's only a movie! Ironically, all the hate-filled posters were defending a movie which had as one of its themes, the foolishness/hurtfulness of bigotry.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Samurai Knitter and Ravelry had discussions of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) this week. It was Samurai Knitter who mentioned that if SOPA is passed in the US, a violation of copyright by a member on Ravelry could shut down that entire site. Jon Stewart explained (and it shows what shit we're in when a satirical comedian becomes the explainer) that SOPA doesn't remove the "offending" site; it just prevents anyone from accessing it. What was even more disturbing (and once again from Jon Stewart), I saw clips of the SOPA US House hearings and watched the pathetic understanding of the Internet displayed by both Democrats and Republicans. In 2011, with the ubiquitousnessof the Internet, I shudder to think that this country (and we know it is the greatest country ever!) should be run by such clowns. I try to put in only calming posts on Friday, but SOPA is really too onerous to ignore.

On to knitting. Finally, a picture of the Advent Scarf. This is not a great picture but it's 100" long so you miss a lot. Having said that, I am soooo happy with the results. It 's 16" x 100" so I can fold it in half to make a loop and once the loop is around my neck, the ends are long enough to see the beauty of the design. As I've mentioned before, I reduced the stitches for each pattern from the 90+ range to the 50+ range. That lesson alone made this project so worth it.

Here are some notes on the scarf which I sent to interested friends and I'll probably post with the picture on Ravelry:

What the pattern calls for:
1. Lace weight Yarn
2. First stitch of every row is Slip 1 as purl. Last stitch of every row is knit.
3. Every row begins: Sl1P, K3 and ends K4.
4. The scarf starts with a spacer section which 8 K rows.
5. Row 5 of the spacer section is a beaded row.
6. If you don't want to use beads you can just K the stitches which are labeled "P" for "put a bead with the stitch" in the spacer sections.
7. After the first spacer section , you work Day 1 of the pattern, then another spacer section, than Day 2, etc.
8. The 1st row of the spacer section may tell you to increase or decrease a few stitches since the spacer section should always be 91 stitches.
9. Usually, the 8th row of the spacer section will tell you to increase or decrease a few stitches across. That's because patterns differ in number of stitches they need to work.
10. You begin and end the scarf with a spacer section.

What I did differently:
1. I worked in fingering, not lace yarn. Since this would make a shawl width as written I decreased my stitches from the 90s to the 50s for each pattern.
2, In order to keep all the patterns around 54 to 57 stitches, I used the Twisted Stitch (K in back loop of 2nd stitch on LN, then K 1st stitch in front loop - uses 2 sts) and/or the R stitch (K stitch in back loop - uses 1 stitch.) Example: Say the pattern and extra stitches add up to 49 stitches. After the edge stitches, I would work 1 TS and 1 R stitch and do the same (1 R stitch then 1 TS) at the end of the row to give me 49 sts + 6 sts = 55.
2. I used a US 6 needle.
3. I only worked 4 K rows for the spacer section (not 8.)
4. I didn't use beads so Row 5 was just K and I didn't have to increase or decrease stitches on Row 1 of the spacer section. (I did have to on Row 8 sometimes for the next pattern.)
5. I didn't follow the order of the days and I didn't use all the days.
6. I changed Row 5 in the last spacer section, the pattern row, to the pattern row in the Feather and Fan stitch (just google for it.) The first spacer section has a Row 5 pattern row to give in a scallop but I found that last spacer section pattern row just gave me a straight edge. I'm sure, with research, I could have found a better solution but F & F gave me enough of a scallop that blocking made even better.
7. My scarf is 100" x 16".

And finally, if you are just a beginning knitter you may want to check out this pattern on Ravelry. It's also an Advent Scarf but so much simpler with the most difficult stitch being a double decrease:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lace-holly

There are six short patterns to work and a cute gimmick of rolling a die every day to see which pattern to make that day.

Happy Knitting.

Next week: This winter, I'm making hats....... and spirals. Get the pattern here.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

The black, large masthead above is my feeble attempt to protest SOPA - Stop Online Piracy Act - which would allow corporations or government to shut down websites immediately; no hearing, no trial. It has tremendous corporate support and Congressional support, including big-time Democrats. Obama has made a swipe at opposing it but in the end, true to form, he'll support it. No guts.

This is a day of protest of SOPA and, as you cruise the web today, you'll see much more effective "blackouts" by Google, Wikipedia, etc. Apparently SOPA started because movie/music types just do not like copyright piracy and have the clout and inclination to use draconian methods to stop it.

To me, SOPA is manna to governments throughout the world since the ubiquitous Internet is the fastest Pony Express in history. But what an annoyance! At one time, the lapse time between governments' enactments and citizens' awareness was huge. Today, pass a bill and seconds later, the world knows. What a bother! A point so well illustrated by use of the Internet and the success of the Arab Spring. (Something Obama profusely praised and aided when it occurred "there" but profusely ignored when the US equivalent took place in the form of the Occupy Wall Street movement.)

And what a political bonus SOPA is! Congress can vote for it to help their biggest donors and also put the lid on future protests at the same time. They don't come much neater.

So, also in protest, I ditched my original website pick for today for these:

First: https://www.popvox.com/

Pop Vox (short for the Latin "voice of the people") allows you to choose the bill you care about and send your message to Congress. It says of itself: POPVOX bridges the gap between the input the public wants to provide and the information Members of Congress want and need to receive. You should bookmark this site; it's simple to use and important to do.

Then there is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/explorerflash?timeregion=7#/object_gJpTVBtSSh-rRq2QFraNMA

I'm sure I've posted BBC sites before but this link takes you right to the simplest map of history through the ages. There's a time line scroll bar on the right. Click on a time period you want and the screen will fill with links to that time. It's not your dry look at history by rather it uses social and cultural images to give you the flavor of the time.

Your first click on an image will bring up the image and a short caption. Then clicking "More about the Object" will bring you to a new page with more info and sometimes even comments from other viewers.

Do try both websites. The first in order to keep your representative governance active; the second to keep in touch with the history we are all a part of.

Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Well, not quite. This is a national holiday in the USA which means we have a day off to honor Martin Luther King. Unfortunately, being the USA, this holiday is unofficially called the Martin Luther King Shopping Holiday for while state and federal offices are closed and politicians attend ceremonies to pontificate about how they honor this man (some do, some don't), the rest of the country will be gobbling up store sales.

So I thought this would be a good time to bring a book to you; in fact three books: Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, and At Canaan's Edge. All about Martin Luther King and his times, written brilliantly by the whitest-looking white man, Taylor Branch.

I hate the term "must read" but it definitely applies to these books. Here for the first time, I learned that Rosa Parks was a active member of the civil rights movement which planned the now-famous confrontation on the bus when Parks refused to move to the back. This was not a spontaneous incident of a tired black woman just refusing to move but a well-thought out plan. (It's interesting that the "myth" of this incident makes it just a serendipitous occasion while the truth of it portrays blacks as smart and savvy about their plight.) In keeping with this incident and its true genesis, I learned that Parks was not the first choice but that was the young girl who became unmarried pregnant and the movement didn't want any such distraction/controversy - smart move.

This incident is just one illustration why these books are must-reads. I know that when truth and myth clash, myth wins. But we must keep trying to get it right. Branch, in his Pulitzer Prize works, plays an important role in trying to do just that.

Below is a link to the first book on Amazon and you can get to the other two from this page. However, I'm sure they are available in most libraries across the country.

http://www.amazon.com/Parting-Waters-America-Years-1954-63/dp/0671687425/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326716838&sr=8-2

And finally, on a day the USA remembers a man who played such an important role in the civil rights movement (but, of course, not the only role), I'm wondering if racial hatred has finally succumbed in this country. Hell, no! Haters seem to have discovered new "hatees" to join their old favorites. Visceral hatred is tough to eradicate. Maybe we can never do it; it may be bred in the bone for many. But this is a good day to remember it's a goal worth trying to reach.

See you next Monday with that review of Valentin.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

But first, Miss L. The picture on the right is deceiving because it took a week for her to go into that crate willingly. Now, she just walks in and starts to play with her toys. Though she is still miffed that she gets locked in. She's 6 weeks old in this picture and the next.

On the right, she's asleep in my arms. She's a good sleeper and seems to catch on very quickly. Like her realization that when we approach the deck stairs, we're going in and her multiple attempts to eat leaves is coming to an end. At which point she digs in her heels (not an easy feat on patio blocks) and tries to extricate herself from her collar. .

More pictures will be coming but I like to start the record when they are so young and just forming their personalities. Next week, she's down to three meals a day. Ah, they grow so fast.

A quick pick today because today I am finally going to block my Advent Scarf. Lately, I have discovered Sudoku (long after the rest of the world did) and I love playing it on the i Pad since I don't have all those pesky erasures.

A new game for me in Ken-ken. Which is Sudoku like except with the added feature of arithmetic operations which must also be performed before solving. For example: in a 4 x 4 Ken-ken, you must use numbers 1 to 4 only one time in each row and column but unlike Sudoku there are no interior squares which must also use that rule - only one number 1 - 4 in each interior square.

However, within the total Ken ken square are areas marked off with dark lines. The areas within these dark lines can consist of any number of small squares, some L shaped, etc. In each of these "dark" areas, there is a number and a mathematical operation. For example, if it shows 2 -, it means that you must have numbers (2 numbers for subtraction in the easy puzzles) in this area which when subtracted will equal 2. If the operation is 10 +, you must have the numbers in this area add up to 10. Of course, you still must obey the rule of only 1 unique number per row and column.

Now, after I've confused you completely, try it out on this site, it comes with instructions:

http://www.kenken.com/

I think you have to type in the numbers here but I'm going to look for a site where you only click on a list of numbers. I am so lazy. (Edit: My mistake, all the numbers magically appear when you click a square - no typing involved.)

Enjoy. Time to play with the dog.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

When I see blogs not updated for years, I feel less guilty but only slightly. Sorry to be absent for a week plus but it started with absolutely no movie worth reviewing on a Monday and then Miss L arrived. (Pictures have been taken but still reside in the camera.) It turns out she's only 6 weeks old which I think is too young for separation from siblings and mom. (Are dog papas absent dads?)

She is a lab/golden mix; so tiny and fluffy; all black with streaks of gold and tiny white dots over her eyes. (You can tell I really don't like this dog!) Smart as a whip. I know, every dog mom says that. But she is. She doesn't just back off when reprimanded sternly (remember these dogs are all in training); she backs off and tries to get out of her collar to run away. Right now, she's housebroken, unless angered (that is, you leave the room with the royal bowing) when she gets pissed and pisses. She sleeps a good portion of the night and takes about 3 separate naps in the daytime. And she is so hungry.

More on Miss L in a later blog. On to the movies. In keeping with the mood of the royal bow I just mentioned, I saw The King's Speech last night. A quick summary: we watch the stutterer and future George VI of England get help for his speech problem, culminating in his important speech to the English public on the eve of WWII.

Among the principals, Colin Firth did an admirable job as a stutterer-duke/king (of course, this appraisal comes from a non-stutterer), Geoffrey Rush did his usual theatrical turn in a quirky role of speech therapist, Helena Bonham-Carter played a "normal" person well but probably not the queen mum, and Guy Pearce exuded nastiness in a historically comprised portrayal of Edward VIII.

That said: why all the fuss about this movie when it was released? It was a competent drama about a "fluff" in history. As someone said after the hoopla: Did you think England was not going to go to war if George VI hadn't made that speech?

There was a human interest story to be told here, but it wasn't. They only touched briefly on the family life of the Windsors. Both Edward and George were raised by cold parents (to be honest, coldness between parent and child was the norm for the time) and one reacted with a stutter, the other with behavior which changed the line of succession. However, Edward was not the rake as portrayed here. There are photos of him visiting the poor and accounts of his caring about their plight. For a sake a a neat Hollywood (I use the word generically) package, only George is shown here stammering through speeches to the working man and Edward is shown as besotted by Wallis Simpson.

In many ways, The King's Speech finds its roots in the god-awful historical dramas (the dreadful The Robe is now playing on my movie package) Hollywood churned out in the 1950s and early 1960s. They too played fast and loose with history, honing in on only one POV and ignoring accuracy for pomp and splendor. Even the music of TKS harkens us back to them, when important scenes were heralded by important music.

Reading reviews in IMDb, I discovered that other viewers had disliked this movie also, although official movie critics (Rotten Tomatoes) approved it by 95%. I had to search hard on that site for a negative review. Hollywood Bitchin' probably says it best with: the film never shakes the impression that it was made only to win awards.

(Note: Having nothing to back this up, I think perhaps Michael Gambon (who plays George V) may have auditioned for the speech therapist role which Rush plays. If not, he should have. I think he may have been a better choice since Rush, like Johnny Depp, unfortunately carries his Pirates of the Caribbean persona into every role he plays.)

Next week: also a small, family movie but done as it should be.