Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday

 

I realized a long time ago that most voters don't live in a politically wonky world. I don't either though my daily reading about political/economic/historical events has me on the fringes of this world and probably would enable me to hold my own in a politically wonky heated discussion.

 

But in spite of the fact that good skills in analyzing political rhetoric and then informed voting may be the important factors as to the degree of comfort their futures hold, most voters worry about getting kids to soccer practice, paying bills, gossip at work. looking for a better job - perhaps a mundane list, but that's where they live.

 

I came into a conversation with our pool lifeguard last week as I heard a resident extolling loudly: But you must vote. This is your future. I think the guard was happy to get away and she told me that she knew nothing about the national candidates, politics were never a topic in her home and she didn't get much of civics while she was in school. I told her I was voting for Obama because of the anti-abortion platform of the Republicans and while she agreed with pro-choice, I could tell this issue wan't going to get her to the ballot box.

 

She was seriously against the fact that students were defaulting on loans. (As I remember the framing of this issue, I think the horror of student loan default is a talking point of the right so, though I didn't ask, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox News wasn't the channel of choice on her parents" TV.)

 

I touched briefly on the recent Gary Hart op-ed piece saying that Americans didn't feel any civic duty to their country and suggested that in exchange for free undergraduate college, graduates give 2 years of national service (teaching, health care, military, etc.) thus producing citizens with skills to contribute to their country without saddling them with lifelong debt. She seemed to like that idea also.

 

So I left her with the advice to read as much as she could about the candidates and try to separate the truth from the fiction.  I told her to use the scientific research skills she was learning in her college courses to plod through all the propaganda. I didn't leave this conversation thinking that I had set her on the path to the ballot box nor that she would even make an "informed beyond the ever-present right-wing propaganda" voting choice.

 

Which brings me through the back door so-to-speak to my movie pick: Tomorrow When The World Begins. TWTWB, like The Hunger Games, is based on a popular teen trilogy where teens are placed in dangerous situations and must make serious choices to save themselves and the world.

 

Heavy stuff but there is a huge difference, a crucial difference, between these movies. From Box Office MoJo, TWTWB grossed $16M, THG grossed $600+M. Future installments of the latter is ensured while the former may sink into the retirement home for box office duds.

I saw value in Tomorrow When The War Begins because this movie made me feel, for the first time, what a country's invasion was like. Told through the eyes of a handful of teens who "missed" all the initial trauma since they were away in a remote Australian camping location when the foreign army landed. Realizing soon what has happened (brought home swiftly as they sneak up on a make-shift concentration camp and watch prisoners being herded onto trucks or shot), they band together and start doing guerrilla  damage to the invaders. As their tactics become more effective, the verisimilitude of this brave band of teens' effectiveness gets more difficult to accept. However, a good portion of the beginning of the movie with the bucolic camping trip followed by the realization that the world they thought they were returning to is no more was more effective to me than all the heroic resistance fighter WWII movies that Hollywood produced by the 100s.

I thought about this movie again after my poolside conversation and since I do believe that the US is in dire need of a civics curriculum on a national scale, I wondered if movie like Tomorrow When The War Begins could be used as one teaching tool. Unfortunately, almost all of the teen connection movies today are fantasy (Harry Potter), futuristic (The Hunger Games) or grossly silly (you add your choice here.) 

 

In the US, we allow teens to vote at 18 (as we should since we allow them to die in the military at 17), but do we care if they cast an informed vote? I'm not thinking a viewing of TWTWB will lead to better citizenship but is there a market for teen movies which treats them like thinking creatures who have a stake in a realistic future? Or is the IMDb list the only future?: 

 

http://www.imdb.com/list/rrOHZwE2DFo/

 

 

 Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

 Knitting Friday Revision on Saturday

I've started my second top and I've streamlined the directions for working the second row increases in the Sundance Not Yellow Tank:

http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/pdf/SundanceNotYellowTank.pdf
 

I’ll be using directions for my size and my cast on is 96 stitches. For more detailed directions, look at yesterday’s Knitting Friday.

You will need:
1. 8 markers of 1st color.
2. 1 marker of 2nd color
3. 1 marker of 3rd color

Terms: PM = place marker; (# of sts) = # of sts after the increases, hdc = half double crochet, st = stitch, sp = space

Placing Markers: Before you begin Round 2, place your markers. 

Round 2 runs: 1st sleeve section, back section, 2nd sleeve section, front section. On my cast on of 96 this runs: 17 stitches, 31 stitches, 17 stitches, 31 stitches. All the markers listed should be moved into each round you work. Plus, even when you stop your increases keep the markers in the 1st and last stitches of the Front and Back sections.

1. Place a 3rd color marker in the slip stitch which joined Round 1 to Round 2.
2. 1st sleeve section: 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 17.
3. Back section: 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 31
4. 2nd  sleeve section: 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 17.
5. Front section:* (see below) 1st color marker in stitch 1 and stitch 31
17 + 31 + 17 + 31 = 96 sts.

Rnd 2: (inc of 8 sts) Ch 2

1. This Ch 2 is always considered one hdc.
2. Place the  2nd color marker in the space this ch-2 makes. Be sure to move this marker along as you work your rounds.
1st sleeve section: 2 hdc in 1st hdc, 1 hdc in next 15 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (19 sts)
1. Work 2 hdc in your first marked stitch of the sleeve section.
2. Work 1 hdc in each of the next 15 hdc.
3. Work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch of this sleeve section.
4. You don’t have to follow the directions PM, since you already placed the markers before you started this round. 
5. Be sure to move these markers along as you work more rounds.
6. You now have 19 sts in the 1st sleeve section.

Back section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next in 29 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (33 sts)

1. Work 2 hdc in your first marked stitch in the back section.
2. Work 1 hdc in each of the next 29 hdc.
3. Work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch of the back section.
4. You don’t have to follow the direction "PM" since your other markers are enough.

5. Be sure to move these markers along as you work more rounds.

2nd sleeve section:  Work as the 1st Sleeve section.

* Front section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next 30 hdc including the joining sl st of previous rnd, sl st into first hdc to join.

1. This section is slightly tricky since it looks like you are making 2 increases + 30 stitches which only gives you 32 sts total. I think the directions should read: "1 hdc next 30 hdc plus the joining sl st of previous rnd"
2. Here's what I did: 2 hdc in the 1st marked stitch, then I worked 1 hdc in the next 31hdc (for  32 sts) and 1 more hdc in the slip stitch which you already marked for the 33 stitches you need.
3. Join your round with a slip stitch in the Ch2-sp which is always the 1st hdc. (Be sure to mark your new slip stitch.)

At the end of the round in my size, I've increased to 104 hdc; 19 sts each sleeve; 33sts each front and back.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday (see streamlined knitting directions on Saturday, 9/8)

As promised on Wednesday:

http://midwaysimplicity.com/100-simple-nutrition-tips/  

Here are 100 nutritional tips which look good except for #20: Never smoke after eating. There are good times to smoke? and # 86: Avoid open buffets. Closed all-you-can-eat buffets are OK?  But the advice is sound though I never remember more than a few tips on these mega lists.

Want to ask about my diet? Remember the uproar when Michelle Obama said she was finally proud to be an American? Well, I'm finally proud to look in the mirror. I no longer have to play the Picture of Dorian Gray game. That is, ask myself: Does my chin finally look firmer? The diet is working. It may be the 30 minutes a day on the treadmill (increased speed; no incline) and/or the cutting down on carbs but something is happening. No earth shaking: OMG, I fit into that again? and I don't doubt that a few days of cheating could be disastrous. I'd like to say that I'm happy because it's important to live healthy but there is a good component of pride in my pleasure. The US population may be fat but the meme is thin. More on my progress on another Friday.
 

Now, if you awakened this morning asking yourself: Why crochet? I'm here to provide the answer.

 First, a crocheted tee/tank top:

http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/pdf/SundanceNotYellowTank.pdf 
 

You may remember that about a month ago I was blithely designing my own top-down crocheted top. You may not remember that I canned the project fast because I had no clue on how to work my way from the neck down. As I remember it, my design was developing into a new geometric shape rather than a top.

Well, Kristen TenDyke has done what I couldn't: She has designed a top-down tank top which, once you work past the yoke increases is so unbelievably easy to work. Thank you, Kristen.

I cast on for the yoke yesterday and this morning I'm already two inches into the bodice. The yoke and the top of the bodice are done in half double crochet and you can see the bodice changes into a V-stitch design. I'm not wild about this look so I may continue with the HDC throughout or pick up the stitches and work a knitted stitch for the bodice.

Now for anyone who likes this pattern and wants to start crocheting, let me say that the Ravelry comments mention the difficulty in working the yoke increases. You produce a slight raglan look in your yoke increases so you want to get a diagonal line look, not a wonky line look.

#1 Neck band of the top

Yesterday after I fell in love with this pattern, I was feverishly writing notes to myself to make the increases easier and I'm going to post them here. 

I'll start with the neckband of the top at the left. (Sorry, this would not rotate properly. The back of the top is at the hook.) The directions say: Ch 96 and join. You're looking at this but soon after the picture I restarted with a foundation single crochet row (google the process, it's a great crochet foundation row) which was easier to join.

I made a list of explanations and suggestions which, I hope, make the yoke increase section easier. (I'm only using my size for the example.) Here they are:

1. Make a more-than-you’ll-need amount of long yarn threads in two colors. I'll call them 1st color and 2nd color markers below. (I like long threads rather than typical markers.) Make one long thread in a 3rd color.
2. If you make a personal copy when working this pattern, eliminate all the sizes except yours. (So cuts down on confusion.)

2a. (Variation: Work a row of 96 foundation single crochets instead of your typical beginning chain row and don’t work Round 1 but start on Round 2. Then the hdc referred to in Row 2 will be sc to you.)
3. Join your first row with a slip stitch and put a marker in this slip stitch (Very important throughout.)
4. Your original stitches are going to be divided into four sections: 1st sleeve, back, 2nd sleeve, front and Round 2 will set-up how many stitches are in each section.
5. You will begin each round with a Ch-2 which you are always to consider as a half double crochet. But I can’t figure out how this Ch-2 comes into the count of stitches. It seems to be used only as the “anchor” for the slip stitch which ends the round and connects the end of the round to the beginning. Still, be sure to mark this Ch-2 sp throughout.

I’m going to dissect Round 2 because this round is different from Rounds 3 and 4 which will be your repeat rounds for the yoke increases. If you get past Round 2, it's easy as pie. I'll be working with my size which has a CO of 96 stitches.
Terms: PM = place marker; (# of sts) = # of sts after the increases, hdc = half double crochet, st = stitch, sp = space
Rnd 2: (inc of 8 sts) Ch 2
1. This is always considered one hdc. Put the 3rd color marker in the space this ch-2 makes.
1st sleeve section: 2 hdc in 1st hdc, 1 hdc in next 15 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (19 sts)
1, You are working with 17 hdc from Round 1 and increasing them to 19 sts.
2. Using the 1st color markers across the row for this, put a marker in the 1st hdc of the previous round.
3. Count out 17 sts (hdc) and put a 1st color marker in the 17th hdc.
4. Work 2 hdc in the first marked stitch. Work 1 hdc in the next 15 sts. Then work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch.

5. Put a 2nd color marker after this increase. (This marker will separate the double increases you do on Row 4 throughout the yoke. I think this is more important if you use the pattern's marking system rather than mine, but be safe and use it.)
5. You have completed one sleeve section with increases to 19 sts.
Back section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next in 29 hdc, 2 hdc in next hdc, PM (33 sts)

1. Put a 1st color marker in the next st in the round.

2. You will be working with 31 sts and increases into 33 sts.

3. Count out 31 sts and put a 1st color marker in that st.

4. Work 2 hdc in the first marked stitch. Work 1 hdc in the next 29 sts. Then work 2 hdc in the last marked stitch.

5.  Put a 2nd color marker after this increase.

6. You have completed the back section  with an increase to 33 sts.
2nd sleeve section:  Work as the 1st Sleeve section.
Front section: 2 hdc in next hdc, 1 hdc next 30 hdc including the joining sl st of previous rnd, sl st into first hdc to join.

1. This section is slightly tricky. In this section, after your beginning increase you seem to work straight on 30 sts. I only get 32 stitches for this section that way. 2 inc + 30 = 32

2. Here's what I did. Put a 1st color marker in the first st of the section, as usual.

3. Count across 31 sts and mark this last st with a 1st color marker (as usual.) You may find that the slip stitch you marked at the beginning is the 31th st.
4. Work across as the Back section making the beginning and end increases as usual.

5. Join your round with a slip stitch in the Ch2-sp which is always the 1st hdc (remember you marked this also before and be sure to mark it throughout the yoke.)

At the end of the round you have, in my size: 104 hdc; 19 sts each sleeve; 33sts each front and back.

The most important thing is that these sections are symmetrical with all the increases in the same place. That's why you're using all these markers throughout the yoke section. Believe me, Round 2 is the toughest round. After R2, you will be alternating increase rounds. In Round 3, you will increase 2 sts only in the front and back sections. In Round 4, you will increase two sts in all four sections. For my size, I only had to repeat these two round once before I was ready for the armholes.

I worked up my own marking system as you can see from the above. I made sure I always had markers in:

1. The Chain-2 space.

2. The slip stitch joining the round.

3. Every first and last stitch of the section, whether I had to increase in that stitch or not. 

4. Between two "2 hdc in 1 hdc" which were next to each other in the increases in Round 4.

After that, I made a chart of the stitches for each section at the end of each row. For example: At the end of Row 2, I've increased all the sections and the sleeve sections are increased to 19 sts. However in Round 3, I only make increases in the front and back sections. So, for Round 3, after I marked my Ch-2 sp at the beginning, I marked the 1st stitch in the sleeve section and the 19th stitch. Then I just worked even across. At the end of Row 2, I had 33 stitches in the back/front sections so I marked the 1st st and the 33th st of the back/front sections and increased in those two stitches.

Here's a quick summary of the increases after Row 2 which I think I worked out in the middle of night last night.

To work increases after Round 2:
Start at the first sleeve section and look back at the final count for that section in the previous row. Mark the first and last st of this count on your present row. If there are no increases just work one hdc in each hdc across. If it is an increase section, make two hdcs in the first and last marked sts. Rep this for each section

It was definitely a lot of marking and counting but I think this pattern is worth it. Plus after your first top, it will become so much easier.

I'm doing my first top in junk yarn for practice. I'm sorry I did and I think you should be able to work in good yarn from the start.

Once you get to the armhole, you will cast on stitches for one underarm (cast on loosely), work even across the back, cast on again, and then work even across the front. Just be sure your stitch count stays the same. The pattern says to ditch the markers in this section but I still marked the 1st and last stitches in the front and back sections.

OK, that's it. I'm zonked! See you next Friday.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

And sometimes, sometimes very rarely, all the schlepping of kids here and there and here again for all their activities since schools have cut extracurricular bus service because the idea of so many more "mom cars" in use for pollution transportation appealed to them, pays off.

 

The girl had a very short command performance of the marching band for all the school system's teachers who were gathered at the high school yesterday. The HS is by the library so the boy and I decided to go there and wait. Now if no one knows this, I own a zillion books because I never seem to leave all those book sales I've visited without an arm breaking load. So it was natural that I took a look at the library's used book sale ($1 per, unless otherwise marked.) I wasn't the first that morning as I followed a man who was perusing the sale most carefully. However, not careful enough since he walked past 6 brand new volumes of Spielvogel's Western Civilization, 7th edition (the student and the instructor edition.)

 

So I gathered them all up and  went to a nearby carrel to check and see if I was going to buy all of them. With that, the girl arrives (I told you it was a very short show) and says: It's only $5, why don't you buy them all? Up to the counter I go where three women were very, very busy but one finally agreed to acknowledge me and I showed her that the books were not "otherwise marked", handed her my $5 and left.

 

I got home and started googling Spielvogel. He's PhD-ed from Ohio State University with a specialty in Reformation history. (Aside: Amazon shows the these books sell for about $125 each. But, adding to the Gone With The Wind advice: Never sell the land, I never sell books.)

 

Spielvogel has written  top-notch texts on western civilization. You couldn't ask for a more understandable, more readable, more interesting (primary source selections. charts, maps, etc.) source of world history. The girl starts Advanced World History tomorrow and it was so serendipitous for these books to appear just now. With the dearth of knowledge about any history among most US students, I would love to see these texts as required reading in high schools.

Now, I'm not going to link you to Amazon to purchase these texts but here's a link for you:

http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0534646026&discipline_number=21

 

This will take you to a a chapter by chapter review for the 6th edition of Western Civilization. You get interactive quizzes and tests (while you can't submit your answers - well, you can but I doubt you'll get a response - you can use the questions as a guide), flashcards, interactive maps, interactive time lines, etc. It's free to use and it's another example of why the internet is so great.  

OK, sorry for all the enthusiasm but I am loving reading these books!

 

Let's start with something edgy and interesting:

 

http://chicquero.com/ 

 

It's pictures and text. It's edgy and makes you think. Be sure to click on the Categories link on the right and under Culture you get to see what Barbie and Ken are up to. 

Their About says: Chic [French] meaning stylish or smart, as an element of art, fashion and design. Quero [Portuguese] verb. like, want; will, desire; love; list. An  i n s p i r a t i o n a l  place, created to vulgarize trends, expand beauty and share fashion thoughts!

 

It's not for everybody; definitely not for kids. For some reason, it reminds me of Altman's message in Prêt-à-Porter. Expand your mind and take a look.

 

http://angrytorro.com/post/4200 

 

Be sure to scroll through Angy Torro (love that name) but I'm really posting it for Einstein's Riddle which is a classic logic problem and is currently on Torro's first page. If it's not, be sure to find it, solve it and then please place a comment here. I love to work this type of logic problem and except for the multi-complicated ones of "If neither Jane nor Bob ate ice cream nor pickles but one of them liked onions......." where, if I had Alexander's sword, I would just slice through rather than solve as he apparently did when presented with the puzzle of the Gordian Knot. However, I think that Einstein's Riddle is missing a clue. I don't think it's solvable as written. Or if it is, you must make an assumption which only someone with Einstein's brain would see.

After you solve ER, take a longer look through AT and don't miss the section on "If child's drawings were made into toys." Its a hoot.

 

OK, I could go on because I have 100 nutrition tips also. But I've been discussing my diet on Knitting Friday so I think I'll post that site then.

 

My Western Civilization book is right in front of me and I'm going grab a few minutes with it before things get hectic around here. See you Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Long before I ever understood the last line in Candide:  “All that is very well,” answered Candide, “but let us cultivate our garden.” I was speaking with a friend who had a priest as a good friend. She was saying how she and he had a conversation recently where he spent the evening explaining theology. And I said, I'm sure rather glibly: I'm afraid he's just sifting sands. And she said: That's what we're all doing. And talk about one of those epiphany moments; the times when a thought you never could have imagined would hit you does and another piece of that philosophical puzzle you grapple with all your life falls in place.

The coda for The House of Sand (2005) is another such moment and, as all such epiphanies should be, it was not expected.

The House of Sand is a visually beautiful, visually desolate movie with a surreal minimum of main cast since mother and daughter at different ages are played by the same real life mother/daughter actresses and it works. 

Two woman, mother and pregnant daughter are taken by the daughter's fanatical husband from their comfortable life in the city to live in the Brazilian desert and when he dies and they are robbed of their possessions, the movie then takes you on their odyssey of surviving in this wilderness. 

Nothing really happens except watching the women develop the survival skills necessary to live in a hostile land where their ability to interact with the local runaway slave population proves vital. A baby girl is born, time passes and when she is still a child we see her mother trekking across the desert and discovering a group of scientists. Hope springs that deliverance from the desert is near but nature intervenes. It is not until the end of the movie that the deux ex machina does finally arrive for real.

In the hands of a less capable director and cast, all of the above which may sound like the tears of boredom could be played that way. But it's not. This is a small movie, an "art" movie, but it grabs and holds you. No CGI here just unbelievable natural scenery with enough developments in the plot to prevent you from fidgeting your way through to the end.

And then at the end. After you thought you were watching a very well-made melodrama about three generation of women surviving, the director shows you that this movie has had a greater meaning. With just a simple conversation between the middle-aged daughter (the one who wasn't born as the movie started) and her aged mom (the pregnant daughter), you realize that you've been watching a movie which runs much deeper than its surface plot.

The House of Sand  is  a well-constructed, well-acted "small" foreign film and it's got a nice, quietly powerful philosophical punch which moves it to the front of the line in this category of film. Don't miss it if you can.
 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I see this as a learning week. I learned that I can knit a garment in lace weight but I won't be doing this any time soon, perhaps not in this lifetime.

The once & perhaps future lace top

I promised you a picture of my lace weight knitting and here it is on the right. I loved knitting with lace and what you see on the right only took me three froggings to arrive at.

Here are some things I learned about lace weight knitting:

1. Knit Picks 16" needles are OK for the neckband but with lace weight you really need the extra sharpness of ChiaGoo.

2. Wild West knitting (no swatching) is not a good idea with lace weight. Through trial and error, I finally cast on 90 stitches on US 7 with a knitted CO and worked the first row as *YO, K2tog*. This got me an opening which fit over my head.

3. You must pay total attention with such knitting. I was often capturing two strands with my K2tog and then knitting two stitches instead of one on the next row.

4. If you give yourself over to lace weight knitting it becomes Zen knitting quickly. If you work this knitting as casually as you do with other weights, it becomes Cursing knitting quickly.

5. I can knit with lace weight, I like knitting with lace weight, but I don't want to expend the time and concentration needed to do it right at this stage of my life.

So take a last look at the beginning of the red lace top above because it's gone and I am now, not happily, crocheting this yarn into a fall/winter scarf/shawl. The final frogging of this wool (Knit Picks Shadow lace) was a bear because after three times in the frog pond it sort of felts on its own.

L = KP; R = Chiagoo

I had to start the lace top project with Knit Pick needles because that's all I have in 16" and my ChiaGoos are all 32". Even after I finished the neckband and doubled my stitches I had to stay with KP 24" until I'd knitted quite a few more rows. It wasn't agony like working with Bates or Boyle and lace weight but you can see in the left picture that while the KP has a sharp point, the ChiaGoo has a sharp tip and a longer taper. That taper really helps.

I'm thinking about buying some needles (Short aside: I really do like the new Boye Needlemaster. The joins stay screwed and the tip ends are nicely sharp. But the cables are still stiff and the tips must be 5" so that using them with a 24" cable does not make for comfortable knitting. ) 

HiYa HiYa sells an interchangeable Sharp set in US 2 to US 8 which has a 16" cable (it's really not 16" but with the tips added it's 16") and that would solve all my neckband COs since I don't think I'd ever go larger than US 8 for a neckband. However, I do use larger 16" needles for knitting sleeves in the round. That means I would have to buy 2 sets and get US 2 to US 15.

I don't really get good vibes about purchasing HiYa HiYa since they have so many options: Sharp stainless, regular stainless, 4" tips, 5" tips.... I get tired just reading the specs.

Which brings me to ChiaGoo which will be bringing out their interchangeables this month with a complete set for $150 or a small or large set for $85. I'm waiting for the first reviews on Ravelry before I decide anything.

A new model

 OK, I promised to post the white shawl I was blocking last week. It's huge: 36" wide and 81" long. I'm going to modify the shawl pattern I posted last week because if you don't want the large hole mesh look on the horse (new model; the beast wants $20 per shoot!) change the *chain 5, double crochet in loop" to *chain 5, single crochet in loop.* Everything else remains the same but the loops are smaller with a sc. I'm doing that with the red lace because it's for colder wear.

Cable needle shawl pin

At left, is the same shawl the horse is wearing with the KP cable needle I use as a shawl pin. I love these cables; just wear them and you don't worry at all about the shawl shifting off your shoulders.

And finally, a crocheted scarf pattern which Queen Victoria made. I didn't know the old girl could crochet but there are pictures.

http://goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/queen-victoria-crochet-scarf-pattern.html

The above link will take you to a modern day pattern of Vicky's scarf. It's a one row repeat of:

Row 2: ch 3, *work 3 dc under next space between the 3-double crochet cluster* end with 3 dc in ch 3.

I'm posting this row because the pattern ends at the second * and the part in red is mine. In order to keep the same number of 3-DC clusters on every row, you really have to add this last cluster.

This is a fast working, nice looking scarf. I started it in DK yarn with an N hook and was able to achieve a light, open look; very unlike the tight stiffness of the old girl's work. But then it was done in the Victorian age.

That's it for me today. Next week: I finished the non-worn cardi which, after frogging, I made into an openwork 3/4 sleeve top and I'll post a picture. Happy knitting.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

Headlines tout Neil Armstrong as an American hero but then the bar for heroism is pretty low in this country. Armstrong had a job in an innovative field of work. He took risks as many job holders do but he had multimillion technology, a huge support team, a salary, health care and pension behind him. He was an American explorer who did good.

 

A hero is one who believes in a cause, sometimes a very lonely cause, and is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend that cause.

 

A hero is one who may have to endure the disapprobation of much the world to stay true to that cause.

 

A hero is one who often holds the mirror of inequality to an uncaring world to defend those much of the world has forgotten.

 

Not always victory defines the hero and sometimes they must slip quietly into history.

 

Quixotic may often define them but their presence tells us that there is some good worth fighting for, worth dying for. They give us hope.

 

Rachel Corrie was such a hero. 

 

I found another photo website to share:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/37775831@N02/sets/72157620345353756/show/

 

It's a black and white scroll show from the past. Most people live their lives outside of the headlines and this selection shows all sorts of them captured in a moment from their "average" lives. There's a Previous/Next button on top which is good because some shots, so full of the life at the moment, scroll past too quickly.

 

My husband found this site:

 

http://www.shockwave.com/content/shuffle/sis/shuffle.swf 

 

It's a game called Shuffle. Pretty simple really; you get a take a shot, your opponent gets to take a shot and last man standing wins. You'll see early if ROUND LOST is going to appear in extremely large font but with a little practice, you'll see that skill more than luck is needed to win. Be sure to have the sound off if you play this at work.  Oh, and as you progress, you get fewer and fewer "weapons" to use but your opponent doesn't. Talk about "Not fair!"

 

OK, I'm done. I have to go prepare some math "cheat sheets". No, there's not test cheat sheets but reference pages explaining different math procedures. Today, I think I'll work on two: regrouping and fraction division. The boy might need some review in both areas before school starts. Thank goodness he's still sleeping and doesn't know the educational joy he's facing today. See you next week.

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday

 

I'd like to talk about a book today and the movie which followed it, but mainly about a book. A book which is the summer reading assignment for the boy and a book which is a microcosm of the problem with how literature is taught to YA (young adults) and VYA (very young adults.)

 

First, in the interest of truth, my "prejudice": I am extremely in favor of the anthology approach to teaching literature and extremely opposed to the pot-shot approach of handling out of various YA paperback novels to read during the year. I am so much in favor of the anthology approach that I collect literature anthologies; newer ones in the Barnes and Noble sales annex (they are still used at the college level) and older ones at garage sales.

 

There's a wide spectrum of good world literature available and so much of it teaches us how to examine our world and ourselves. (For part of her summer reading assignment for honors English, the girl is examining Plato's allegory of the cave with study questions. Of course this is not as part of an anthology but as a copied hand-out.) In fact, there's just too much good world literature available out there so that the selections available in anthology form is the best way to present the widest cross section. 

 

In case some of you may not be as familiar with anthologies as I choose to be, a short definition: literature anthologies present parts of or all of literary selections. For example, one may contain a selection of the complete Hamlet or just the soliloquies. Some anthologies are all drama, poetry, etc., or chronologically separated: Book I, American Literature, 1600-1800. In the high school anthologies, selections are usually preceded by an introduction and followed by questions. Here's an example of a random question for Hedda Gabler, Act I from a 1963 anthology I collected: 1. Miss Tesman's character is not very complex. She is the spokesman for one human value only. What is this value, and how is it established? Does Miss Tesman's character help us understand Hedda Gabler when she enters? In college anthologies, you usually get introductions, seldom questions, and 2,000 plus pages of lit on very thin but heavy-weight paper which makes for a difficult book to prop up for bed reading and an accurate missile for a fast-moving spider.

 

If you were to trace the demise of middle school/high school anthology, you would probably find that they fell out of favor sometime in the latter half of the last century, probably when publishers realized anthologies = 1 book per  semester/year while paperbacks = many $$$$$$$$ all during the year.

 

Three years ago, the girl and I agonized through the slim book, So Be It during the school year and I fully got to realize the educational travesty in this type lit presentation. Now, I'm repeating the process with the boy with Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief which is his summer reading assignment. 

 

With So Be It, the girl had an excellent English teacher who was sending home very insightful essay questions for the book. But the book was lit-light. OK, probably it would have been fine on a very superficial level but no way could you gleam pearls of insight from this novelette. I could tell the teacher was trying; hell knows, we were trying ourselves to tears.

 

What I find equally disturbing is the fact that teachers, etc. spend so much time/are forced to spend so much time "elevating" banal works. They are really trying to get gems from stone but the dark side of this is that the subliminal message to kids is: Hey, this tripe has meaning. Who needs to read great lit? 

 

Case in point is Rick Riordan's (author of the Percy Jackson series) site for The Lightning Thief. It's an excellent site and the complete teacher's guide found there is one of the best I've seen. The boy and I are plowing through it. It's got all types of cognitive learning exercises plus a multitude of short essay questions. (Note: I found the guide for this book; the school never assigned one.)

I think The Lightning Thief is great summer reading; the boy really enjoyed it. I like the fact that the school is using a book with a male hero as the primary protagonist. and Percy's ADHD is a identifying factor for boy readers aged 11 and 12. . Plus as I just said, I'm impressed with Riordan's site for this book; whoever prepared it put a lot of thought into it.

PJ: TLT, is a fun summer read not a school assignment summer read. (And I'm not "picking" on Riordan; he's just the case in point.) But aside from the fact that I think it should only be summer/light reading, if you're using this book as a school summer assignment without a study guide, you're presenting a fantasy quest with the panoply of Greek gods cold turkey. If you think modern religious myths are tough to plod through, take a look at the Greek gods fairy tales. There's Zeus who banished his dad, Kronos, who castrated his dad, Uranus. And that's just for starters. (Plus, no way is the Annabeth from the novel the daughter of Athena; you may want to make Annabeth the brainy one but mythical Athena was virginal.) So there's a lot of interesting stuff in this book which the typical kid is skipping as he reads on his own.

 

I think you get my POV about the dearth of study-worthy YA lit being presented to kids today but you may be thinking: You can grouse but can you present an alternative? I think I can. Granted we will probably never get lit anthologies back for grades before college, how about this?

 

1. A book such as one from the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter series, etc., as light summer reading. 

2. A handout of the first few chapters of Tom Sawyer including the famous white-washing the fence episode. This should be cheap since Tom Sawyer is in public domain. (I'm thinking boys here but there are other classic works to use.)

3.  A handout of various poems for younger readers. There are a lot of good ones out there and for many kids this would be an excellent intro to poetry.

 

Let me finish with a mini-review of The Lightning Thief movie. Once again, it's another movie which would never have grossed more than its budget on domestic sales. (Box Office MoJo: $95M+ budget; $130,000M+ gross; 60% of gross from non-US sources.) It's a movie you can sit through, not that it doesn't have its cringe-worthy moments. (Brosnan as Chiron?) By eliminating a lot of the mythical characters found in the book, I think kids understand the Olympian gods better. But in the over-the-top CGI movie world kids love to inhabit and which is fast becoming the only type of move available to adults, this movie didn't "shine." Apparently on this point, a lot of US movie goers agreed with me. (The End of the Independent Filmmaker of Non-CGI Films? might make an interesting topic for a Movie Monday.)

OK, stick a fork in me, I'm done. I'd love to hear from any of you who could recommend some anthology-type lit for the VYA crowd.