Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Once in my teens, I went to a party where the conversation was predominately about trains and it was before my knitting days so my face probably showed my inner boredom and driving home with this guy, he turned to me and said: You know, not everyone is interested in trains.

 

Which brings me to my website pick:

 

http://9wows.com/  

 

and once again you get to look at, what I consider, Wow pictures. But just like my introduction, I get it that you may not be inspired as I am when I see these pictures nor wish to spend any time contemplating life, the world, the whole nine yards, as you look at these magnificent places. I get it; but I'm still going to be on the lookout for great picture sites.

 

And keeping with my passions:

 

http://listfave.com/  

 

More lists! You know how I love annotated lists and you get a lion's share here. Plus, it looks easy as pie for you to submit your own list. A lot of the lists are prepared by the webmaster, Raja, and the text he prepares to accompany each picture looks factual. Of course, when you're reading the "10 Top" of anything, the judgment is subjective; but the pictures draw you in and if you read the text, you won't leave without learning something. Now, that's a bargain! Plus, it's nice to find a site for which its founder has a passion.

 

Just two fun sites today but, hey, it's summer in the US. Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

 Movie Monday

After the Gracchi brothers were assassinated in 2 BCE, Rome lost all vestiges of democratic/representative government. Oh, the charade of "electing" an emperor was continued for a while and that emperor would throw crumbs to the poor when social discontent was high but the reality was that reform measures to help the less fortunate were history and absolute power was held in the hands of the very rich who basically only had to appease their "private" army, the Roman legions, until the fall of the Roman empire in the 476 CE.

 

It looks like the 2012 US presidential election may be a time when this country might be honestly compared to Rome at the time of the Gracchi. (I usually see a stronger comparison to Spain in the 16th century.) However, I think that all the years that Americans have been told that their best interests were always served when capitalism was vigorously defended has taken its toll and we are way past the tipping point for caring about our less fortunate citizens.

 

Just like those medieval farmers whose thoughts I ponder as they looked up from their fields to see Mongol hordes descending; the barbarians are now at our gate. But unlike that toiling farmer who could not control his fate, we are to blame. Unlike Theoden facing the orcs at Helms Deep, we can't ask: How did it come to this?  It came to this because we, as a society, allowed it. Whether it was ignoring Jimmy Carter ringing the alarm bell decades ago or the OWers' largely ignored, brutally put-down, recent protests, we walked away from the challenge of protecting the social contract. It was easy to do and we were so very busy with our private lives. Pretty depressing times ahead, I'm afraid. I think I need to find a Manichaean for a good (or evil) talk. 

 

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_top100films.htm

 

OK, back to the movies. No reviews this week but click on the outdated list above for a list of  the top 100 films. I said "outdated" because a British VIP list now puts Vertigo as the #1 movie in the world, beating out Citizen Kane. That's a mistake for while I think Hitchcock is a superior director (even his inferior Topaz has great touches like the conversation you see but can't hear), Citizen Kane, like the work of the much earlier D. W. Griffith, was a break-through movie. Welles did things as a director which had never been done. Plus, it told a damn good story. 

 

Looking at the top ten movies, I've seen them all and I'll still take issue with 2001. What a slow, boring movie (it also always pops up in my movie package so I'm sure I'm in the minority.) While I can understand the excruciatingly slow pace in space since space astronauts always seem to move so deliberately, those damn apes at the opening were on earth!. I was so frustrated with that pace I was ready to grab the rock and bean one of them just to move the plot along.

 

The site says of itself: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? should be viewed primarily as a cinematic traffic cop. In other words, we'll guide you in the direction of each director's best work (both from our own perspective and also from a critical-acclaim perspective).

 

I like the fact that in the top 10 films, 4 are foreign films. And a fantastic plus is all the links: to Amazon (you don't have to buy, just read reviews) and to other reviewers' thoughts on the film. This site, with all its links, will provide you with weeks, if not months, of reading. I know it's not Website Wednesday but I'll steal a phrase from it: This site is worth many return visits. Enjoy.

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday -  The Shawl Pattern, Crocheted Version

The Nameless Shawl, the slightly crescent crocheted version (which I love, though nameless, because you work to length and then to width so if you don't have enough yarn you get a scarf and not a visit to the frog pond):

Background: This shawl is made up of loops or "little boxes" with sides of double crochet or a chain 3 and each top and bottom as a chain 5. If you use a large hook and thin yarn, you'll get large loops. If you use a smaller hook, the loops will be smaller and you'll probably have a warmer shawl. I've made these shawls for summer wear over tanks and camis with crochet thread using an E hook and using a K hook.  In the  winter, using wool and wrapped around your neck, they can be as warm as thermal. Below the directions, I have pictures to explain what might be tricky if you're working your first shawl.

Abbreviations: Ch = chain; DC = double crochet; SC = single crochet; T = turn

Hook and Yarn Choice: See above but work #1 and #2 below in the Foundation Row section with a hook at least one size larger than the one used for the rest of the shawl.

Cast On: Ch a multiple of 5 ch + 8 ch. (I do a Ch 38  for 30 + 8.) 

Foundation Row: Use larger hook
1.  In the 13th ch from the hook make a DC.  (The 13 chains make the bottom of  a loop [5 ch], the side of a loop [3 ch] and top [5 ch]. The DC you make forms the last side of the loop.)
2.  *Ch 5 and work a DC in each 5th chain to the end*.  (6 loops) 

Pattern Row w/ Increases to Length:  Use your regular hook
1.  T. (Mark this row as your RS. On this row, the beginning yarn hangs on the right side of the row.)
2.  [ Ch 8 (= 1 DC and 5 ch)  and work a DC into the first loop. Ch 5 and work a DC into the same loop. (2 DC in first loop.)
3.  Continue *Ch 5 and make one DC in each loop* across to the last loop.
4.  At the last loop: *Ch 5 and work a DC in last loop, 2xs*] (2 DC in last loop.)
5.  T and work every row as stated in [#2, #3, and #4.]
6.  Continue working this row until your shawl is long enough. Be sure to end ready to work a RS row.

To remember in Pattern Row w/Increases to Length section:
1. Every row begins with Ch 8 but for the rest of the row, you work Ch 5.
2. Increases occur at the beginning of the row only. That's why you have to work a RS row and a WS row for the pattern (even though it's the same row) in order to keep the increases balanced.
3. You know you're at the last loop because every last loop ends with a ch 8, not a ch 5. You should be able to tell the difference. Use a movable marker if you can't.

Pattern  to Width: No Increase Section

1. From the RS: [Ch 8 and work one DC in the first loop.
2.  *Ch 5 and work one DC in each loop across, even the last loop.* T]
3.  Repeat [# 1& #2]  to your desired width. End with your RS facing.

To remember in Pattern to Width section:
1. Every row begins with a ch 8 but uses a ch 5 for the rest of the row.
2. There is only one DC in each loop; no increases;

3. Use a movable marker on the first and last loops of every row though the Ch 8 should remind you that you're at the last loop.

4. Count the number of loops in your first row. This number shouldn't change.

That's it. You can wear the shawl as is or work an edging around the whole shawl or just the bottom. Depending on the type of yarn I use, sometimes I block this shawl, sometimes I don't.

 

Pictures:

#1 The CO

#2 The Foundation Row

 

 

#3 Increases

#4 More increases

#5 No increase section

 

1. This is the CO of a multiple of 5 ch + 8 ch. The blue yarn shows the 13th chain from the hook.

2. The foundation row with the blue yarn hanging shows where you made your first DC in the 13th chain from the hook. When you flip the foundation row over to start the next row, you will be crocheting on the RS.

3. The blue row is your first increase row. Count the loops in the foundation row (6.) In the blue row you get 8 and in the top white row you get 10. You've made 4 "balanced increases.The beginning yarn is on the RS so you are ready to work a RS row.

4. More increases. If you can enlarge this picture, you'll see three pennies in loops on both sides. They show that you must work a RS and a WS row before you get your 4 balanced increases. (Two pennies in the beginning loop for increase loops. One penny in the last loop for no increase - even though both the first loop have two DCs worked into them.) You can see the crescent shape forming. Notice I forgot to mark my RS row. 

 5. I've started to crochet the No Increase section. I've marked the first and last loops with long blue yarn and if you count the loops on the blue yarn row and the top row, you'll find the loops are the same number. You can also see that the edges of the shawl don't curve like picture #4 anymore.

 

Final thoughts: 

1. The top of the shawl (by the blue row #5) come out a bit rather than making the perfect top of a crescent.  You can block this into "line" or just turn it over for a small "collar" under your hair.

2. A real plus feature of this shawl is that the ends are less wide than the body. Great for folding over and securing with a shawl pin; less bulk and it stays on my shoulders.

3. I just started making this shawl with a Ch 8 at the beginning of each row. Before I just used a Ch 5 and this made the top of the shawl definitely tighter than the bottom (which was easy for finding the difference.) I'm hoping this change will loosen things up a bit and may even change the shape from slightly crescent to almost rectangle. When I get my first revised shawl done, I'll post a picture.

4. A knitted version of this shawl in garter is OTN right now. As soon  as I'm finished I'll post this version. (Not necessarily in garter but knitted rather than crocheted.) 

5. And really important, please tell me if I've made any mistakes with the pattern. Thanks.

 

Enjoy.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Yesterday, I waited over 1 1/2 hours for the boy at Kumon since they do not let you go until they see that you have mastered a concept and he has hit the wall with re-grouping mixed numbers in subtraction problems. He told me that they only touched on regrouping at the very end of 5th grade in school during the time everyone was getting excused to practice for the last big assembly program. But it obviously has to be mastered by 6th grade because his  6th grade summer math packet has a lot of regrouping problems. Re-grouping is writing numbers a different way, for those of you who, like me, had forgotten this math concept. In a mixed number subtraction problem when the upstairs numerator is smaller than the downstairs numerator after you give both fractions a common denominator, you would borrow 1 from the upstairs whole number and rewrite it as a fraction. In the problem 3 3/5 - 1 4/5 you would rewrite 3 3/5 as 2 + 5/5 + 3/5. Then you would have the problem 2 8/5 - 1 4/5 which you can subtract easily.

 

Anyway, he's in the classroom working away and I have the iPad and I'm reading from my Great Book app - for a very long time. If you have an iPad, I strongly recommend you download the Great Books app (Books HD). It costs $2.99 and I think I mentioned that some users grouse about having to pay for public domain books. Since I really like their format and the ability to increase font size, that doesn't bother me. The latest upgrade adds a lot of public domain 20th century books, (I rewarded? punished? myself by starting Joyce's Ulysses yesterday.), and maybe some 21st century books also since I saw Obama's inaugural speech. Plus, this update has added audio books. I am psyched!

 

All this leads me to my website pick of public domain books today:

 

http://manybooks.net/ 

 

which has an easy to remember title: Many Books. You can take a look at the About page but this is pretty much a WYSIWYG site though occasional updates can be found on Twitter. They feature Books of the Week on the main page and clicking the left side bar will get you into genres which interest you.

I like their format. You get the essentials on the book (knowing it's an English translation is a real plus for me), an excerpt, usually some user viewers and then a right bar asking you so choose how you want to download your selection. What could be simpler?

 

Talking about English translations, click Languages for more language options. Or click on New Titles for up-to-date additions. Also, a nice feature is the clickable link to LibriVox if the book is available in audio form.

So I guess I really have two picks this week: iPad Books HD (Click on App Store, categories, then Books HD) and PC great books at Many Books. Both are great (sorry for the overused word) choices. Enjoy.

Final Note: The iPad does have a free app of great books but you're talking 60 books for free and 23,000+ books for $2.99. You may not have noticed in my blogs but I can be a cheap bastard; however, even I would spring the $2.99 for Books HD.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday

 

This is the anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan and the day after another terrorist killed a group of people in the US. Others have tread this ground with polemics more wisely than I can but unfortunately all this just adds to the many examples that tell me our species may be fatally flawed. But thinking a lot about the evolutionary crap-shoot which endows some homo sapiens to think through this absurdity called human existence, I had a minor epiphany. You know those beavers who are always building dams? Well, who says they are? Us? The observing "other" species who is not the actual specie doing the work? So I looked at those dams again and realized that beavers are not building dams, they're just gnawing wood and dumping the used wood in the stream bed. Building dams, my eye! This is their "bellying up to the bar" and then smashing their glasses on the floor under them

 

On to the movies: Let me do a long overdue, review of Dogville  and Manderlay; basically so I can delete them from my recorder. Both are directed by Lars von Trier who also directed Melancholia . I had major problems reviewing these movies because I first thought they were book ends of the human condition as A History of Violence and Eastern Promises are. (AHOV - bad man trying to be good and EP - good man having to be bad.) But they are not that and yet they do tell the human story.

 

First, there's a tremendous "visual" problem for me with both movies since in the earlier movie, Dogville (2003), Nicole Kidman plays Grace, the mob boss's daughter and the focal character. This is chronologically followed by Manderlay (2005) with visually younger Bryce Dallas Howard as the older Grace. I don't know if you needed the same actor in both movies but the age difference "jarred" the movies apart for me so I couldn't see Manderlay as continuing the story of the Grace I knew from Dogville. They are still very good movies though the "Our Town" sets, while catchy in Dogville, appeared more strained by Manderlay. By that movie, it felt like von Trier was having function follow form which makes the artificiality more glaring.

 

A short summary of what happens in these movies: Grace, the daughter of a powerful mob boss flees him into remote Dogville, Colorado where, through no fault on her part, her relations with the townspeople deteriorate harshly to a brutal denouement. Finally accepting rescue from Dogville by her father, they and the mob travel on to Alabama where Grace discovers a plantation stuck in the time of US slavery. Deciding to stay behind to "make things right" with some mob muscle as back-up, Grace gets an unexpected lesson in how the world should work versus how it really does.

 

You can see the continuation of Grace's Christ-figure role from Dogville into Manderlay. If you accept that the Caan/Dafoe mob boss characters in each movie represent the angry, vengeful god of old, then you can find a connection between both movies as Grace, daughter of this god, wandering her forty days in the wilderness of  Dogville and Manderlay. However, it's pretty obvious that von Trier's main purpose in Manderlay is holding US racial problems up to glaring light; always a provocative theme when done well, and it is here.

 

OK, I've come this far, so let me really stretch my thoughts to breaking. Finally, we have von Trier's Melancholia (2011) which is the story of the end of our planet. Has von Trier morphed Grace into Justine here? Could Justine, who is obviously mentally unstable, be the damaged Grace after her psyche-shattering experiences in Dogville and Manderlay? With these three movies is von Trier saying: The world is absurd and can and will damage you beyond repair. But you must do the best job of living as you can. And then is he visualizing this statement when it is Justine, the most damaged and least stable member of her family, who calmly accepts their fate and is the comforting influence for the others?

 

And that folks, is why I can't give up on movies. How they are presented as an art form angers me often  and you must sift through a lot of dross to get to any gems. But they are an art form like a painting or a book which inspires you to look beyond the obvious; and it's not always the message the artist had in mind which you take away from his work.

 

You don't have to enjoy Dogville or Manderlay, or even Melancholia, they may even make you uncomfortable, but they are all well worth your viewing and thinking.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I thought I would post some progress about my latest diet on occasional Fridays. Sort of like a periodic pep talk to myself. Well, I'd like to report: no progress so far. OK, I think my face looks a little leaner but the skirt which didn't fit two weeks ago, still doesn't. I'm adding 1/2 hour of treadmill exercise every day I can but not really changing my diet except not to grab "just one pretzel" between meals. For some reason, in the last week, ice cream has played a more prominent place in my diet than I would like. (Yeah, I know, someone is holding me down and shoving ice cream in my mouth.) Let's see where that is going to lead me.

Two strands of crochet cotton

On to knitting. First, at right is one of my ubiquitous tops but this one is done in 2 strands of crochet cotton so we're talking about medium lace weight. I'm knitting it on US10 in a K one row and *YO, K2tog* the second row in the round. It's that second row which is going make this fit because when you're done it looks so small; but does it stretch! I'm making this because I love lace yarn but I just don't have the patience, nor the talent, to knit successfully with it. Crochet is a different story but I would love to knit a lace weight top and finish it in my lifetime. It looks like two strands of lace will work but as Caesar said as he crossed the Rubicon: The die is cast. Once I join two strands, there is no going back.

Unblocked

Blocked

Remember the unblocked shawl on the left from last week? Here it is blocked in a difficult-to-see picture on the right. The final shape is a slightly wonky crescent (here, the bottom of shawl is at the top) which is 72" long, 32" wide at the center and 10" wide at the ends, which makes for easy tying and adding a shawl pin. All these shawls have a personality of their own for some reason. This one reminds me of knitting with straw. 

And finally, remember I said that in the picture on the left the top of the picture is the top of the shawl? Now, that looks real wonky! It looks slightly better in the right picture after blocking but not much. 

To modify the wonkiness, I've changed the cast on. Before, I used to start these shawls with CO 5 and single crochet into the first chain from the hook to form a loop. Turn, then basically just work a  *chain 5, sc in loop* across adding two loops in a previous loop at the ends for increases when necessary until you're finished.

Top of shawl folded down

Now I chain 30 in a slightly larger hook than will use in the body of the shawl and work my first double crochet (not single crochet) for a loop in the 10th chain from the hook. Then I chain 5 and work a double crochet in every 5th chain across which eliminates much of the point you see in the picture on the left because I end up with a 5 loop base rather than a 1 loop base. (I'm sure this cast-on row could be tweaked even more.)

At the right, you can see the same shawl where I folded over the top to make a small collar.  Another change I use now is to make the loops with a double crochet rather than a single crochet. This makes a fish net look. If you don't like this look, you can still use a single crochet which adds more substance. Of course, my problem is that I never know how much yarn I have and a double crochet makes a larger shawl faster.

Lately, I've been making this pattern in crochet but it works in knit also. (The instructions can be found in a previous Knitting Friday and next week, I'll reprint my revised pattern.)

I really want to add this shawl to the Small Shawl patterns forum at Ravelry for free. It's a small "thank you" for all the free stuff I get there. Unfortunately, I want to make sure it's perfect before I do since, after looking at all the beautiful free patterns available, my pattern is really the very poor relative the table.

Next week: The revised pattern for the shawl above.

Two weeks from now: Some helpful (I hope) hints on beginning the Emily Ocker's Cast On. This is a fantastic CO for circular knitting like round shawls, hats or socks.

See you then. Happy knitting.

 

  

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Gore Vidal died. He was an essayist when essays came with the personality of the writer and the personality of the writer blasted to his audience through the medium of TV and was not hidden within the anonymity of blogs as it can be today.

The Washington Post quotes that Vidal wanted to be remembered as the “the person who wrote the best sentences of his time.” He may very well be but those who saw him during his lifetime will always remember the dry, patrician speech cadence with which he delivered these best sentences.

I don't think I would invite Vidal to a dinner party as a convivial guest. I rather see him ensconced as the Sibyl in a cave where those wishing enlightenment traveled. And Vidal's enlightenment would never come from society's well-traveled path. He did speak truth to power unmoved by the inevitable discomfort that always brings.

Be sure to read his essays; he was a master.

In keeping with Vidal's legacy, let's start with this quirky website:

http://www.123inspiration.com/fallen-princesses-by-dina-goldstein/

I didn't get all the reference to the fairy tale princesses in these pictures but the first one of Snow White was a big clue as to what to expect. I guess you could say it's just another take on the old adage: fairy tales are only make believe. But it's very cleverly and, at times, uncomfortably (Rapunzel) done.

Be sure to click Categories on the top bar for more interesting pictures; but this page was what caught my interest.

OK, I didn't mean this to become a paean to quirkiness but try this site:

http://www.nickmom.com/blog/ 


and click on Top 9 Lists.


You know those "mom" sites where you get 10 Ways To Make Your Child Eat Broccoli  or Summer Fun In The Heat? Well, this ain't it. Here you get funny lists of what not to do with kids. Example: watching them play sports and really thinking: This kid sucks. This is the antithesis of those good parenting sites so it's fun for parents and non-parents. Click around for their Viral Videos and other stuff. I don't know if it's kid friendly though I do know you shouldn't tell your kid he sucks.

And finally, something a little more uplifting:
 
http://www.thatonerule.com/

People get to submit one rule, one line. You get inspirational, insightful, pithy, sardonic...... The most current rule, #1722 is: Never lose hope in love. Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your Prince. And the first rule submitted, #1, is: Trust your instincts and always follow your heart.

OK, I know I'm a cynic but there are times in everyone's life, and probably many times, when solace is found in cliches. And you don't have to scroll long for truisms like rule #6: Being size 0 will not make him like you. And if it does, he's a dick.

I like to read these rules because you're looking at 1700+ people who condensed a belief system into a single sentence. Now, that's interesting reading.

Enjoy the sites. I'm heading to find my book of Vidal's essays. See you next week.

 Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - Why We Fight review

(Small but major edit: It's WMD not WWD. I think I got the Worldwide Wrestling Federation (WWF) mixed up with Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). And, it's Adelman, not Adelmen Sorry)
 

I'm going to start with the much publicized breakup of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson of Twilight saga fame.. Anyone not living under a rock probably has some idea that the heart throbs of millions of teen girls, who have been a real couple or a publicity couple for the past three years (Hint: No intimate photos of Robsten [as they are affectionately called] have ever surfaced but the "affair" photos of Stewart and her director, Sanders, hit the streets almost as they were happening.)

In order to be completely honest, I have been following the comments to this story all weekend. And, while it sounds like the excuse men gave for reading Playboy when it was first published ("For the great articles."), I've been following these comments because I think they will segue into my review of Why We Fight.

To digression for a sec, I'm going to plow in with my theory for Stewart's abject public apology for the affair. Breaking Dawn, Part II, is coming out in November (the horror!) and stars contractually have to promote these films since their presence insures big box office. Perhaps, KS's rep read her contract and said: Hey, KS, you're a mufti-million dollar star now and look here, if you commit acts of moral turpitude which harm the box office you can be sued. How about a big, over-the-top public mea culpa because I do like my 15 percent?

As one observant commenter said: But she is a performer whose career is affected by how moviegoers feel about her. She makes an apology because she or her advisors believe that it will improve the perception of potential ticket buyers.... Bingo!

Which segues me into the transference meme. Freud defined transference as projection. Loosely put, it's when the individual identifies so strongly with something outside himself that he "feels" what it feels; his identity is tied up in its identity and often, reason be damned.

The Twilight books and movies placed so many young girls in Bella's "shoes" and thus in Edward's arms. Perhaps they were in no relationship or a doomed relationship; no matter, when Edward declared undying love for Bella, he was declaring it to them.

Two comments I read this weekend sum this up: at the risk of seeming a bit weird, maybe its because I saw the twilight movies, but I thought they had some kind of special bond. the notion of their characters were in love and so were they in real life. that they actually had some kind of otherworldly bond that transcended the movies and:

Plus, now a lot of Edward/Bella fantasies are probably shattered.

The transference/projection I'm describing above probably occurs to all of us at some time. Intelligent and lucky humans move on into a logical, reality-based adulthood but that transition, in the modern world, is always a struggle. I don't mean in the area of love and fantasy but in the area of pushing back against a more dangerous meme: I am your government. Let me tell you the enemies you must hate.

Propaganda is a good way to start but transference is so much more permanent and unless the government slips up like KS, the results may last for lifetimes.

Which segues me into Why We Fight. WWF is not the pro-war propaganda directed by Frank Capra during WWII but a broad historical sweep looking at how the US has been convincing its population for decades that there is an enemy out there against which we must always be most vigilant. Whether it was the red scare of the 1920s (Yes, it started back then.), the atom bombs dropped to show Stalin we were really tough, the lying about the Gulf of Tonkin or the most recent (I think) lie about WMDs in Iraq, like movie stars, the government has played vast swatches of the US public like the proverbial violin.

Why We Fight (2005) should be viewed on two levels. First, it is a superb documentary using Eisenhower's warning at the end of his term (1960) regarding the danger of the military-industrial complex as a linchpin to explore how prescient but unheeded this warning was. To me, there was no question as to this movie's theme but it is not a screed and you hear from all major villains, Adelman, Bush, Perle, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Kristol, etc. in their own words. You get to see the millions of people worldwide who protested the Iraq invasion and, more importantly, you understand how such a vast world-wide protest was marginalized. (Hint: Vietnam was the last conflict where journalists were allowed to roam free. Government learned the lesson of media control from this conflict.)

But it is on the second level where the movie teaches a more important lesson. In order to invade Iraq, lies were spread and lies were believed. After 9/11, the US went bat-shit crazy. Flags were flown to "show" Bin Laden, french fries become freedom fries because the French were not bully-war enough and the Patriot Act was passed by a craven majority in Congress. The lies produced at the top of government were spun down to the US population and believed. The enemies of a powerful military industrial complex which runs our government became the enemies of average Americans so they were willing, once again, to send their sons and daughters to die on foreign soil.

In a cosmic way, the hatred of the enemies of the rich (who would not pay any price for their supposed hate) transferred to the average American who just didn't get that (just like with the fictional Edward and Bella story) they didn't have a dog in this fight.

Why We Fight brings this fact home poignantly by following a retired NYC cop who loses a son on 9/11. Seeking revenge but also wanting the boy's life to have meaning, he petitions the government to get his son's name printed on a bomb to be dropped on Iraq because he was told and believes that Iraq has WMDs. After a lot of traveling up the chain of command, his petition is granted and we get to see the bomb carrying his son's name.

But here is where the story gets its sad twist back to reality: As the Iraq invasion goes poorly and allies start to hang the US out to dry, George Bush finally admits that Saddam Hussein didn't have WMDs and we are left with the father who dutifully believed his government, disillusioned and angered.

Pundits write polemics about important issues on a national or global scale. Average people don't live in this world. They buy into a love fantasy as their own and they buy into a hate meme propagated by interests which really don't give a shit about them.

I'm not saying that Why We Fight will change the world. After all,  millions of protesters stopped nothing. But, as our founders said, a citizenry must be informed. You owe it to future generations to see Why We Fight. It is a superb movie. And yes, you will come away disappointed but hopefully enlightened.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Saturday, with pics

 

Rather than agonize over formatting, I'm going to add a second day of knitting and not bother to edit Knitting Friday. On the right, is a variegated cotton, purple, blue, green and white, knitted on the old Boye Needlemaster. I had originally knitted this top with a body of 120 stitches which was way too large. This one has 100 stitches in the body and a crab stitch (backward single crochet) across the bottom as a hem.

Done on old Boye Needlemaster

The picture on the left is a different pattern for me. a row of knit, a row of YO, K2tog across. Then comes the oh, so, slow row of: *P1, (P1, K1) in same st, pass 1st P st over the second two*. Then a last row of P1, K1 across. But it's that third row which is so long and laborious.

Four slow rows of pattern

I'm using Harmony US 10 and probably a metal tip would have been faster. I see using at least the skein pictured and part of a third skein. This is making a very heavy top so even though it's cotton, the weight of the yarn should have been no more than sport weight. As it is, the DK cotton I'm using is going to weigh like chain mail. This body only have 104 stitches but the pattern is pretty open and I think it will work.

Done on new Boye Needlemaster

 

As I said on Friday, with all my new WIPs I went to a US 10 in the new Boye Needlemaster I just got from Amazon for $30 and change. It's a simple pattern of knit one row, YO, K2tog across for one row. The yarn is a nubby cotton blend which lived as an never-used afghan for quite a while before it went to frog heaven. I'm very happy with my progress and I don't find the Boye needles in the least cumbersome to use. I have about 2.5 inches to go before I can bind off for the armholes and then I'm hoping I will start flying along.

Crochet cotton shawl unblocked

Finally, a shawl. Although the shawl on the left is captioned unblocked, it's laying on my dining room table being blocked as I type. The point at the top is not the bottom of a triangle, it's the top! But though it's difficult to believe, this shawl will block into a slightly wonky crescent. Trust me, I've made a bunch of these shawls. They are my anecdotal evidence of climate change. Why? Two reasons. One: I like a "little something" over the camisoles and two: because I'm having to wear camisoles all summer because even regular tees are too warm. So the more days I reach for a cami and shawl, the more days I know the end is near. Who needs scientific evidence when you can produce knitting evidence?

 

So these are the pictures I promised. Hopefully, next Friday, some of these WIPs will be finished. See you then.

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Short thoughts today because I have no pictures. I'll be back tomorrow with them:

Not only have I added more WIPs to my needles (remember I was down to only two recently?) but I have added two 1/2 hour stints on the treadmill to my schedule. Yes, folks, I'm on another diet. The good news is the iPad props up beautifully on the display section of the treadmill and finally 30 minutes of exercise have taken an interesting turn. The bad news is: How soon is my body going to catch on I'm depriving it of food and play that nasty trick of keeping the scale from moving down for months while making calorie laden foods seem more and more attractive to my brain? 

I can report that I finished the top knitted on the old Boye interchangeable US 10 and it came out as nicely and as easily as anything I've done on Chia Goo or Knit Pick circs. In fact, faced with all these new WIPs, I just picked up a US 10 from my new Boye Needlemaster and have started another top. That's working well also.

The way I look at it, I wrote my review last week to see if Boye Needlemaster works well enough to make my inexpensive purchase worthwhile. It did. But I also learned that knitting needle snobbery is alive and well. I don't know why I would be surprised but I sort of was.

Back with pictures tomorrow.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Short and sweet (I hope) today, because my day is going to get wonky in a few hours.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/07/national-geographic-traveler-photo-contest-2012/100339/

 

Global warming, climate change, what ever you want to call it, is here. The only thing left debatable is if other countries in the world (because obviously the US is content to allow its energy guzzling economy to drive it over the cliff) can do enough, and do it fast enough, to give us a few more lifetimes of enjoyable living as a species.

 

The movie, Soylent Green, (still available at times on TCM) is relentless in its presentation of an ugly, gray, futuristic world of little food, overpopulation and welcomed state-assisted suicides. Edward G. Robinson takes this way out and Charlton Heston is with him at the end. What makes this scene relevant is that suicides are allowed the choice of a final movie and we watch as Robinson and Heston view magnificent scenes from nature. Heston says: I never knew it was like that.

 

Unfortunately, this could be the line our children/grandchildren may have to learn. 

So my pick for this Wednesday is the finalists in the 2012 National Geographics Annual Traveler Photo Contest. (You can see the link is to The Atlantic and not NG. That's because NG has a habit of closing down their sites so the link goes dead fast. I'm hoping The Atlantic doesn't do this.)

It's a good chance to see some amazing scenes from around the world. Scenes which may cease to exist in the not-too-distant future. Enjoy.