Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday

This was going to be a blog about Avatar which I saw last week. It's a visually stunning movie which really captures the meaning of "move" in movies. It soooo beats out Titanic since the love scenes are played out in graphic novel picture style and I didn't have to sit through that miserable hokey, unbelievable, stereotypical fairy tale tripe found in Titanic.

More of Avatar next week though. I want to see it again because some stuff just had to be explained to me (I am thick) and that took away from total comprehension (I am really thick.)

I did see Surrogates with Bruce Willis and James Cameron reprising his I,Robot role with a twist. I have no idea of the critical reception to this movie but I liked it. The premise is that humans have robotic surrogates whom they send out to live their lives while they stay home in a special sleeping chamber. Ugly humans can be roaming the city as beautiful people; old humans can have young surrogates; you get the picture. The glitch comes when a surrogate is killed and this also kills his "human."

This is a derivative of Asimov's 3 rules of robotics in that human death should never occur this way. Somehow the fail-safe protecting humans is disturbed and the movie has Willis, an FBI agent, investigating this crime(s), first in his surrogate form and then in his human form.

Of course, it's fantasy, but it's good fantasy. The writers were kind enough to explain plot points; you learn something at the start of the movie which you need for believability at the end of the movie.

You do have your obligatory car chases; your CGI stunts, your over-the-top plummeting of the hero (in real life, the guy would be dead), but you also have some interesting human and ethical dilemmas. The Willis character is carrying some heavy traumatic baggage and the ending leads you to think: Would I have made the same decision?

So it's part action hero saving the world but with some interesting thinking components. I'd even say that it could bring about some interesting dialogue between teens and their parents regarding the virtual reality world crowding in on human existence.

Definitely worth a Netflix pick.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Thoughts on Thursday

Apparently, the NJ GOV Chris Christie really fucked up the NJ application for the $400 million in "Race to the Top" educational funds. He didn't fill out a question properly! Jesus H. Christ!

Now the fine Machiavellian hand of the GOV is all over this application that failed since he personally made political capital by rejecting the first application drawn up with the input of the NJEA ("We don't deal with no stinking unions."), and by publicly humiliating his NJ Education Department Commissioner, Bret Schundler, for even trying to work with the teachers' union on this application.

The GOV has admitted he made a clerical error (well, I'm sure he's not taking the blame personally since he's hiring a second person to check these applications in the future!!!!!!!) but, hey, it's really all Obama's fault because the U.S. Department of Education will not let him say "Sorry." and get to play "do over." [Added 8/27, check the NJ Star Ledger web site for 8/26 where you see the videotape of the NJ application hearing in DC. NJ was asked during their DC presentation about the missing information on the application. The federal official is very kind and since NJ doesn't seem to have the info at hand says: Perhaps we can come back to that. (Which they do and still NJ can't produce the needed information.) Wow! There's a videotape! Who's liar, liar, pants on fire now? (Sorry, I can copy the link but I can't paste it. Weird.)]

It doesn't surprise me that Christie plays the blame-everyone-but-me game. I watched a clip of him doing it on Reporter's Round table last week. It was a different issue but the mantra was the same: It's Obama's fault. It's the administration's fault. (Never his administration, of course.) It's everyone else's fault.

Shit happens. We all know that. However, the NJ GOV wanted his carbon footprint alone on this application. He fought to get it there and he did. So he screws up and Jersey gets the shaft. Hubris is a bitch.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday

Everyone knows that I'm a sucker for pictures. Probably I heard that trite saying: A picture is worth a thousand words too early in my development and I got imprinted (I know, Twilight fans, I won't go there.)

This is the site I didn't post last week:

http://www.pixcetera.com/blog/2009/12/25/the-decade-in-pictures/

because I felt it was such a downer. And it is.

It's a decade of world pictures where, for the most part, you get to see the inhumanity committed man on man. It's sad and discouraging. The opening caption to the pictures says: A close look prompts one to think about the growing complexities in the world one lives in.

You have to come away from these pictures with your own take on optimism; it doesn't give you any.

Although the second and third pictures show the World Trade Center (NYC) on 9/11/01, this is not an anti-Muslim screed (how refreshing!)

Scroll down for an infamous Abu Gharib photo; scroll further for death and destruction in all forms.

The last shot - the scowling child and the sturdy dog looking into the camera - say, to my imagination, The world may be a shithole but we're here to stay. We'll survive.

Surprisingly, when I clicked on Galleries on the top bar, I got sent to your typical assortments of pictures: Fashion, Travel, Movies, etc. Worth a look but nothing spectacular.

But scroll through A Decade in Pictures. Read the captions. Do some thinking. Not every learning experience can be fun.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday

A rather dry Movie Monday. I did finally hear the end of the two (yes, only two) chapter Thing in the Attic by Blish. (It's on LibriVox.) It's a sci-fi short story which I've been listening to for over three weeks. No, I'm not a slow listener; I keep falling asleep.

Now, LibriVox is great because you only get to hear a chapter at a time so, if you fall asleep, you don't miss much. However, you can miss it often and I've lost count as to how many times I've awakened to the black screen on the computer and no sound in the earpiece. I finally beat the system yesterday though; after once again sleeping through the ending the night before, I listened to it when I awakened in the morning. It worked; I heard the ending, but just barely, I noticed my eyes closing.....

Thing in the Attic is an interesting sci-fi. Not your full-bodiced damsel in distress sci-fi and not your dreary polemic about human future; but a thinking man's take on the ageless question: What lies beyond?

Unfortunately, the only movie I sat through this week (outside of my knitting companions: HP and the......, 2012, and Angels and Demons, was Flawless (2008) with Demi Moore and Michael Caine.

What a dry, flat movie, a caper movie with no panache, a "figure out why" movie where you finally shout: I DON'T CARE containing one piece of revisionist history that annoyed the hell out of me.

The movie takes place in the 1960s and Moore plays the only female lower executive in the London Diamond Corporation. She realizes she has reached the glass ceiling early on and Caine, as the old, but brilliant, janitor asks her if she wants to help him steal the diamonds. (Now, this diamond company is the place from which all the world's diamonds originate. We're talking diamonds lying around like dandruff.)

We get your typical plot points: Will she help him? Why is he doing this? Will they get caught? Unfortunately, too soon, this question forms in our mind: Who the hell cares?

Michael Caine can add panache to any role. As one commenter said: Even when he's phoning in a role, he's interesting. Moore, however, disappears behind her costume of 1960s' perfect grooming and behavior. People forget the start of the 1960s was Andy Hardyville; it was only as the decade advanced did the hipness happen.

Moore plays it pre-Woodstock and she plays it historically accurate but oh so dull. It's as if the coiffed hair, the traditional suit, the black high heels just swallowed up any spontaneity in her acting.

However, I said in the beginning that it was the revisionist history which really turned me off this movie. OK, it was sort of dropped after a big splash at the beginning but it had a souring effect.

The movie begins with protests in London against blood diamonds. Now, the movie starts in our present time so at first I thought this protest was current and accurate. But this protest was supposed to be happening in the 1960s! No way. Just google "blood diamonds" and read the time line. They are just plain wrong. And this grated on me.

Combine this with the angst Moore feels for her lack of professional opportunities (Did women really have this feminist awareness in the early 1960s?) and I felt like I was watching a one-of-a-kind PC robbery caper. And, that's not meant as a compliment. Caper movies have to be fast-paced, witty, light on their feet, not vetted by the UN Human Rights Commission and NOW.

Then, tack on the the completely out-of-left-field social conscience ending: You must do good for the world, and I was left with one loud: Huh?

So I guess you can say for this movie we have blood diamonds as the beginning bookend, a boring caper movie in the middle, and a challenge to all successful women to do good as the end bookend. Dullsville!

OK, my job for next week is to find a movie I like. Avatar has arrived from Netflix. Hated Cameron's Titanic (not the ship, the plot) but I'm going to be optimistic.

See you next week.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday (which is technically less than 4 hours past Wednesday)

Why am I up at this early, early morning hour? Because Verizon changed my TV package and random 2 a.m. channel surfing (yes, 2 a.m. is my first "bright-eyed and bushy tailed" wake-up time which is probably not bad for a borderline insomniac) brought up a channel in black which announced that I couldn't watch it because I was not subscribed to that channel.

Well sweetie, I definitely was subscribed as I watched it at 8 p.m. last night. Long story short: I knew Verizon was changing the line-up today so I got up, went to their web site and read the line-up changes. And, that's why I'm up. (Turns out, my channel is not among the deleted ones - they are so mixed up.)

I had planned a fantastic photo site for this Website Wednesday with a decade of pictures, some of the WTC on 9/11 which I had never seen. But it was a real emotional-downer site and after the controversy in the USA re: the Islamic center in NYC, I decided to wait and perhaps talk about that brouhaha before I posted the website.

So, here's a worthy alternate which should keep you occupied well into the future:

http://www.dmoz.org/

I learned this about them from their up-to-date blog:

Since 1998, the Open Directory Project has been the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a passionate, global community of volunteer editors.

I learned this from their "About."

Join the Open Directory Project
1. Find a category that you would like to maintain.
2. Follow the Become an Editor link at the top of the category page.
Note that some categories do not have a Become an Editor link; you should find a more specific category which interests you, and apply there. Once you have joined, and gained some experience, you can apply for more general categories.

Wow! Universal learning where you can take an active part in the contents provided! No, this is not Wikipedia's older brother since it's website-based.

Clicking through these websites is like walking in fields of wheat. It's never-ending. You go from one website to another; one topic to another; one language to another......

I'm not going to comment on the accuracy of all the information but from what I clicked, Open Directory contains some very substantial websites. This is well-worth the bookmark for many future visits.

Final note: I remember this site from its inception over 10 years ago. Way before the proliferation of game sites on the web, this site offered a listing of online games. It was one of the first sites I bookmarked for that purpose.

Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday - Zombieland, Hollywoodland and women who follow the movies

First, I thought I would pass on a bit of true information in this escalating war of words against the Muslim cultural center to be built near the now defunct World Trade Center. It's going to be built on the site of one of the city's most holy sites - a former Burlington Coat Factory store. The horror!

Try to chill, people. This is another issue akin to the grandfather in the Invisible Man saying: The white man always has us chasing our tails.

We have really serious issues to resolve in this country dealing with the poor and unemployed vs. the rich and privileged. I shudder to think that this smoke screen of good old American's bigotry could decide some 2010 elections.

But on a happier note: WTF is big-money Hollywood saying about the role of young women in society today when they put them in movies?

Now, some indies nail young women right on. I liked Adventureland. Kristen Stewart's character makes some bad choices and while she ends the movie on an upbeat note, you see the arc of her development so the quasi-happy ending works.

But Zombieland? I finally revisited that movie and I'm still rooting for the zombies to finish off those sisters. What stupid people! In the land of zombies, they trick the two male humans who could help them - not once, but twice.

What's with that lame mission they're on: to reach a really neat amusement park so the younger sister will have some fun in this world filled with zombies! And then, on arrival, they turn on every light and musical device which is a siren song to battalions of zombies who descend on them.

OK, I get it; this is really a horror movie. But are these two twits what Hollywood envisions as the take-charge modern female? They're just a variation of the previous Hollywood female twit who stood there screaming and watching her hero get plummeted by the bad guy.

Which brings me back to the Twilight saga because I think I've found the answer to Hollywood's unrealistic treatment of women while reading the postings on Twilight Lexicon: http://forum.twilightlexicon.com/

First, this is a really good site for anyone who is addicted to the Twilight saga. It's well moderated and even if you think the Twilight books are poorly written, questions are posted here which have these Twilight fans discussing some deep philosophical thoughts - and, of course, some pretty simple thoughts also.

But what really strikes me is the romantic devotion so many of the posters have to the over-the-top relationship between Bella and Edward. (Or, for Team Jacob members, the relationship of Bella and Jacob.) Cripes, one guy's a vampire; the other is a shape-shifter! However, they both do adore Bella. I'd take a dollar for every time I read someone post they would love to trade places with Bella. Wow! I really understand this feeling from adolescent girls; there may ever be a primal trigger which activates this heart-racing, idealized love at a certain age. It's the stuff young girls' dreams are made of.

I'm getting very clear signals, however, that many of these posters are "older", beyond adolescence (way beyond adolescence) women, married women, women who have never had a caring boyfriend, women in abusive relationships, women out of an abusive relationship and many women who stopped their emotional development just at the point when they should have realized men are foible-filled humans; not gods.

So getting back to wacky memes which clutch American society so very often (who can forget that little incident in Salem MA in the early 1600s when young girls accused and the authorities condemned various townspeople as witches and warlocks?), I guess I have to cut Hollywood some slack for their depiction of women. For the major studios, the bottom line has always been money. I'm sure they poll much more extensively than I (well, truth be told, I don't poll, I just read.) This may be just what so, so many women want to see on the silver screen.

Next week, I'm going to expand my quest of the realistic portrayal of young women in movies.

See you then.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Knitting Friday

Since I last posted the Knitting Friday, here's what I've been doing this summer:


These sweaters were all inspired by the top-down Mohair Minimalist top which made me realize that a top-down sweater didn't have to have raglan increases. (That's the second time just looking at a pattern solved a major stumbling block for me. The first being the Mario blanket when I realized, after looking at a quilt of Mario, that I could make a knitted blanket in mitered squares.)

In fact, here's a very recent picture of that blanket on the boy's bed. You can really see the texture of the squares in this picture. I'm still happy that the vote to not block won. If we can keep the moths away, Mario may become an heirloom.

But getting back to my summer sweaters. I think I must have done madwoman or ADHD knitting on them since I finished more than 10 this summer. I like best the lace tanks (two on the right.) I wore them the most, over camisoles and they were just right for our long spell of heat and humidity. (Yesterday, was the first day all summer when the kids, Miss M, and I were able to take a long walk in the morning. OK, it was in the rain but at least the temp was not 90+ by 8 a.m.)

The top on the left above was started last summer. That is probably one of my longest projects. The top on the right is its "sister" top - same yarn -and that's a good example of the lace tops.

The generic pattern for these lace tops is:
Decide needle size based on your yarn. Have two sizes, the smaller for the top and bottom band, the larger for the body.
CO x stitches (80 for me.) Join and work seed stitch for the width of a top band. Last row: K front and back in each stitch. (x stitches increase to 2x - 160 for me)
Change to larger needles. (I go from US 8 to US 10.5.) Work the following pattern for distance from base of neck to shoulder. (For me, it's about 4.5")
Row 1 & 2: K
Row 3 & 4: *YO, K2tog*
At shoulder, bind off loosely for each armhole like this: BO armhole sts, work pattern across for front, BO armhole sts, work pattern across for back.
On the next row, CO x sts at each underarm (10 each arm for me) and work the front and back stitches in pattern. Next row, continue on all the stitches in pattern to length.
(This part is so simple. Here's how I do the bind offs on 160 sts: BO 30 sts loosely, work pattern across 50 sts, BO 30 sts loosely, work pattern across 50 sts. Next row: CO 10 sts for underarm, work pattern across 50 sts, CO 10 sts for 2nd armhole, work pattern across 50 sts. On the next row, when I begin the pattern to length, I'm working on 120 sts. This works for me but as I said: this is a generic pattern so you have to adjust it for your size.)
Finishing: I like to work Row 4 (which is the lace pattern) and then BO on a straight K row. Then I work 1 row of extended single crochet across the bottom, 2 rows of half double crochet and I finish off with the crab stitch. But you can just switch back to smaller needles and work a few rows in seed stitch and just BO.
Final Note: This pattern is stretchy. In fact, on a yellow lace top (not pictured) I had only 90 stitches for the body and it's not small.)

All the tops shown are a variation of this generic pattern. The top I just finished last night (also not pictured) changes the pattern slightly with 5 rows of K and one row of *YO, K2tog* for a small popcorn look.

At the left, is a sweater set from the first picture. It's made in a variegated white/beige cotton.

I wasn't planning on making a 1950s matching sweater set but I had the extra yarn. I wear them separately - and a lot.

So this is a "How I Spent My Summer" posting. I still can't believe I knitted so much. Right now, I'm ready to tackle a black cotton cardi. Pictures to follow.

Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday

My website pick for next Wednesday is such a downer that I thought, in keeping with the hot, humid weather which has returned to NJ, I would post a challenging, but fun, game:

http://www.cafecafegames.com/games/753/black-knight.html

Black Knight is a modified chess game; and I mean a deeply modified chess game. You only play with the black knight and his purpose, making only the chess move allowed to him - two squares straight, one square over, is to overcome obstacles to reach the starred exit square which takes him to the next level.

It starts simply enough where you only move to the exit square. Then it introduces red button squares which must be reached first because they activate "bridge" squares which connect you to places you need to go.

And finally, the other chess pieces begin to appear. First, the king, then one pawn. By level 12, I'm dealing with 4 pawns and one king. As I remember the earlier levels, you only have to eliminate the king in order for the starred exit square to appear; you can exit with pawns still remaining. (I forgot to mention, as you go along, you can't see the exit square until other pieces are eliminated.) However, by level 12 there is no way to reach the king without eliminating the pawns.

The game follows chess moves and as a new piece is introduced, his moves are described. Right now, I'm dealing with something called "forcing the pawn's position", meaning if I get within striking distance of a pawn, he can make a legal move to avoid me. This is extremely annoying.

You do "die" when another piece eliminates you. The good news is that you can retry immediately; the bad news is that you retry from the beginning of the level. At this point, with level 12, I beginning to feel that I'm in a Waiting for Godot nightmare.

Cafe games at http://www.cafecafegames.com has a lot of other neat games. Pooch Escape is an escape game even kids enjoy. But this seems to be a good news/bad news game site. The good news: Jay is Game and escapegames24 have walkthroughs for you. The bad news: if you play Sagrario's Room, for example, in CafeGames, the game appears with no inventory bar. So you get an existential nightmare of where you can collect and use your items but never see them. However, if you hit "Refresh", the game reappears with the inventory bar. But hey, it's possible this is a very random problem and you may never have it. Just remember, "Refresh" is your friend.

So whether you're broiling in summer heat or freezing in unseasonal cold (apparently CA is having a cold summer), enjoy Cafe Games, both for fun and recharging those brain cells.

See you next week.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Movie Monday & a pesky computer virus

Not that I was ready with Knitting Friday, last Friday, but I was ready to post the 10+ sweaters I knitted this summer (Yes, 10+, I can't believe the amount. I know I knit in my sleep but this is ridiculous!) on Saturday morning.

So, I wake up at 1:30 am Saturday with a dull but still bearable headache. My pictures were uploaded and I was ready to go but this is an unholy hour to write a blog so I start to cruise VERY RESPECTABLE (yes, I am touchy about this, considering what happened) sites.

By 4 am, I'm starting to get these pesky pop-up warnings saying that my computer is not secure/I may be unprotected. You know the type. I've gotten them before and they're ads to buy an anti-virus program. So I check my anti-virus program and seeing the "Secured" notice, I just toddle merrily along even though a professional-looking pop-up ad for Anti Vir Solution Pro appears and I can't get rid of it.

At 4:30 am, I opened a .pdf and it kept closing on me while the pesky pop-up boxes were impossible to close. I decided to re-start and the computer booted up again in the dreaded black screen - you know what you get in safe mode (but I wasn't in safe mode.)

At which point, my computer expert was awakened with: You better come look at this. But I didn't do it.

Long story made shorter: Anti Vir Solution Pro was not an annoying pop-up ad. It was the virus and was it nasty! Thankfully, we have a laptop (or else we would have been SOOL) and connected to the internet there. While we ran two full anti-virus scans taking 9 hours and producing zero infected sites, we were able to research this bugger and find a fix which was legitimate and free. (I love the internet!) One of the biggest problems with fixes is that they can be as bogus and deadly as the virus you're trying to eliminate.

Cut to the chase: Anti Vir Solution Pro does not get picked up by normal anti-virus programs. The program which finally wiped it out found 11 infected files and did the job in record time. I'm back in business.

And now, the movie review: A Boy and His Dog

OK, truth in blogging: I didn't see the whole movie; that I'll accomplish when it's back on in a week, probably in the dead of the night again. And I know from reading some comments that I missed some important stuff.

This is an oldie, 1975, with a very young Don Johnson (way before Miami Vice), and Jason Robards and Charles McGraw (among others) in clown make-up. Additionally, it's a cult classic and deservedly so.

I'm not wild about 1970s movies. They have a sleazy/cheesy, artificial, quirky look and even good actors seem to be playing shtick in them. But A Boy and His Dog is based on sci-fi type novella by Harlan Ellison and sleazy/cheesy, artificial, and quirky work.

I picked up the plot when Vic, our hero, played by Johnson and his talking dog, Blood, (yes, a talking dog and he really makes the movie) are trying to survive in a post-apocalypse world. Blood is a tremendous help to Vic as he fights marauding gangs. Unfortunately, when a nubile female appears and the hormones kick in, Blood is unable to convince Vic he may be going to his doom.

Which takes Vic without Blood into a fundamentalist Christian world called Topeka which exists underground in a missile silo and looks just like "mom and apple pie" small town America. But, of course, it isn't.

Just last week, I saw the original Planet of the Apes (1968) and thought: Wow, this is applicable today. I had the same thoughts with this movie. Of course, one explanation is that the authors of the source works, Boulle and Ellison, provided excellent futuristic-themed material. These movies were not pieced together by a committee of Hollywood screenwriters. (Though Rod Serling was a screenwriter on POTA - not too shabby.)

When we get into the underground world a lot is going on and this section needs at least two viewing to absorb it all. Here, the viewer is trying to figure out who these people are (not to mention why they wear clown make-up), what's really happening in this world, and what plans do they have for Vic and the girl who lured him underground. Outside of normal dialogue in these scenes, you have a loud speaker voice-over giving recipes, event schedules, etc. - just like a bizarre summer camp or cruise trip.

Once Vic learns of (and participates in) these underground dwellers' wacky reproductive plans for him, he's out of there. His escape looks like a cheap shoot-out worthy of porn movie acting.

The escape takes us to the final controversial scene in the movie. While Ellison's original work was changed throughout the movie (as always happens), this scene even drew ire from Ellison. (Apparently, it was left in because the audience loved it.)

In this scene, Vic and the girl escape to above ground and find a sick, starving Blood. It's a short scene and I won't spoil the ending. But, hey, remember the movie is called A Boy and His Dog.

Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Website Wednesday

I'm still on a summer schedule which probably means I'm a lazy s.o.b.

Did I mention that the 7th grade math packet did not appear on the school's website until July 19th? I wonder how many kids were already on vacation by then and won't even know about it until the end of the summer? We got the packet done in a week (which was a good thing with camp and vacation now upon us.) It was the same packet from last summer, probably a "rip and print" affair since it's still full of confusions. (Like, directions to solve the equation when you could only simplify.)

We both did a packet separately and once the dust settles from camp, we'll compare our answers and any discrepancies will get bumped up to a higher authority.

So I have been busy but I'm also thinking about my website. I was thinking about it last Sunday, sitting in the rain in the Wegman's parking lot and watching all the SUVs pull up and their perky occupants emerge with their eco-friendly canvas bags. That soooooo cracks me up!

And in keeping with that, here's a green website for this Wednesday:

http://greenopolis.com/

I'm totally in love with their About:

Greenopolis makes a very simple – yet powerful – promise to you, our user:

We are about doing good.

Specifically, our goal is to provide you with information and tools to:

• Help you to recycle easily
• Help to save our natural resources for our children’s children
• Track conservation through recycling and re-use
• Educate and reward conservation

They're about doing good! I'm about doing good! Talk about soul mates!

Their current issue discusses the best bags for groceries and the world's oldest leather shoe (5,000+ years.)

The eco-clothing article has pictures and prices of nature friendly summer wear. Or, should I say, expensive, nature friendly wear?

OK, their niche audience is probably affluent (and white?) The current issue is full of pictures of 30-something, 40-something white women.

But don't get your panties in a bunch; there are very good ideas here. I especially liked using old books as planters. OK, I hear the book lovers throwing objects at me, but I've worked at way too many book fairs not to know that when the DPW truck arrives right after the sale to cart the leftovers away they are going to the dump - not good, book-loving homes.

Maybe, you don't want to rip up a book but this gets you thinking: Before I throw this out, can I find a practical use for it?

Of course, it should really get you thinking before you even make the purchase: Do I need this crap?

Take a look at Greenopolis. It's a vitally important subject, a fast read, and full of interesting and helpful ideas.

I'm off to read the article on cleaning your grill with coffee grinds. The first line starts with: Now that Melissa has me washing my face with coffee grounds.....

This should be interesting.