Knitting at a Linux Convention...

I'm off to Linuxfest!

1. Theatre Shawl knitting project, on a size 8 circular with a 60" cord. (Knitpicks Options are fairly good, by the way!)
   
2. Digital camera
   
3. Two sets of rechargable batteries, charger and USB cable
   
4. Chapstick
   
5. Larry Niven's Rainbow Mars
   
6. New eyeglasses - boy I look like a school marm now...
   
7. Steno notebook for taking SQL and Apache notes
   
8. Change in quarters
   
9. ID case on a belthook that goes in my pocket - nice.
   
10. belt-clip eyeglasses case, also nice.
    
11. Headphones
    
12. Case of sewing needles and thread
    
13. Crochet hook, 2 dpns and a weaving needle
    
14. folding scissors
    
15. tiny flashlight
    
16. Sharpie, rollerball and three other colours of permanent ink pens
    
17. USB flash drive
    
18. USB All-In card reader
    
19. Laptop computer with Windows/Linux partition(upgraded to a decent battery too)
    
20. Lots of pictures of Sally and Willow on said computer.
    

POV-Ray and python and whatever else

Fibbonacci spirals in POV-Ray and python.

A few interesting things here

a spiel about OpenGL and trigonometry

stellar parallax trigonometry of the stars, very cool.

Wakame

Article: Anti-obesity compund found in brown seaweed.

Oh No :o( My miso soup is going to get more expensive, isn't it? I like my miso!

seeking

lore - chipmunk and owl woman <--found this interesting.

It is strange - I started a new small weaving on my board, then I dreamt again of the chilkat weaving, and also of the owl woman work that I saw by Clarissa Hudson. There was a woman there I had seen before - I asked her, but she would not tell me her name. She said I knew it - so she didn't have to tell me. She was a small woman with long black hair - and she was wearing something white.

She had the red owl blanket in her lap - or something that looked like it. Instead of answering my questions she showed me hazy memories of things I've already forgotten again - and told me she was someone I had spoken with before, at the time of the first dream? She would not tell me when. In the dream I knew what she meant - but when I woke up, it dissipated. The memory was like a long forgotten taste - I could not place it, but knew it was something I had experienced long ago.

I wonder who she was, and what she was trying to show me. My grandmother died when I was four. She had long black hair, but that was before I knew her. Her hair was white as snow when I knew her - and she was a small dark-skinned woman with lively eyes and strong hands. I'm not sure -- maybe the dream woman was simply a personification of something I am supposed to look for. Maybe I will dream of it again. I want to dream there again.

Chilkat blankets, a Tlingit art form

I had a dream where one of these blankets changed colour as it was turned over. It was black with white symbols, and as it turned over, it was white with black symbols. It was odd, as I haven't seen one in many years, and then only in a college art course. I am a weaver, but of small, non-complicated things. So -- I thought I'd put up a few links to this and see what it inspires.

This site has a few pictures: Civlization Treasures. It describes them as being made of goat hair and cedar bark.

Clarissa Hudson is a modern artist who, among other things, has the knowledge of Chilkat weaving. I also greatly admired her owl woman robe in the Chilkat style, made for a friend.

A Chilkat weaving in progress, at the website of Anna Ehlers, another master Chilkat weaver.

Japanese royal family has new male heir

Article
The Chrysanthemum royal line of Japan, which is over 1,500 years old - has a new male heir, born to Prince Akishino (Fumihito) and Princess Kiko on Sep 6, 2006. This defuses a large amount of pressure on both Princess Kiko and Princess Masako (mother of Aiko). There had been a large debate over whether females would be allowed to inherit the throne, if a male heir was not born soon.


Also on Reuters: Scientists identify brain's concept control core Where the brain connects words with objects. The study was done with patients suffering from Semantic Dementia. This new insight may also help with several other neurological disorders, the causes of which was heretofore hazy or unknown.

More obese people in world than undernourished

Article Obesity pandemic engulfing world: experts say.

National Animal Identification System - say No!

Join the LibertyArk Coalition to fight NAIS!

The NAIS or National Animal Identification System is not what it seems.

It claims to be a 'voluntary' electronic identification system for all livestock that will help track and prevent disease from spreading.

What it really is - A costly, expensive system that the farmers will have to pay for themselves! It will drive many small farmers out of BUSINESS!

It will help the large corporations sell more animal products by labeling their products 'safe' for export - but it won't change the way they raise their animals, which is the root cause of many diseases and causes of tainting meat! These corporations can easily afford the tags, and don't care what it will do to smaller farms (their competitors).

Small farmers know their livestock much better than feedlots and corporations ever could - yet they will also be required to electronically tag their livestock with $300.00 (or more) 15 digit tags or face fines.

Not only will farmers have to pay for this system on their farms (even small, hobby farms), but they will have to report the movements, births and deaths of their livestock within 24 hours to a government agency. This will cause a legislative nightmare! Do you know how hard it is to hand-raise livestock, even without all that paperwork?

Not to mention, it is completly against the beliefs of the Amish and people who are trying to live simpler, low-tech lives in rural communities!

Find out more about this - eventually (2009) it will be mandatory, not voluntary! Farm Bureaus are supporting this system because they will get money for operating the databases, including the names, addresses and vital information of all the farmers. Fight the NAIS - it is unnecessary and not very well thought out! Vermont has already stood up to their legislature and made headway!

Visit LibertyArk Coalition to find out how to fight this in your state! There are state pages there that can hook you up with coordinators in your area.

Group forms to fight animal ID system <-- debut article for LibertyArk