Started spinning teal yarn

A few weeks ago, I dyed this:



Tonight I started spinning them and another teal hank into this:



It's spinning up kind of slubby, but fuzzy and fluffy. I think it's quite nice.

Yarn and batts of the day

I've been working on developing my spinning and dyeing skills. Here's a few of my projects from the week:

• "Black". This is what I get if I dye a small rovingbatt with black food coloring. It comes out this odd maroon-chocolate with blue spots where the red didn't fully penetrate.
  


• Odd brown stuff. This was my first go at grey. It's sort of... not very grey. I have no idea what to do with it now. Handspun, for what it's worth.
  
  


• Teal green. This was my first attempt at a dark green---and you can see how well that worked out... but it's a lovely teal. There isn't that much of it.

  This is also my own handspun; it's a larger yarn than I normally spin, although I'm hoping to develop my skills once my wheel comes.
  



• Forest green. This was the second go at a dark green. Some parts of it are quite a lovely forest green; others verge more on brown. This was when I discovered just how much faster the less-spun bits take the red dye than the tighter-spun bits.
  
  
  


• Teal sparkleyarn! I wanted to try spinning sparkly stuff into the yarn, so I cut some bits off this spool of sparkly... stuff... I have and tried drafting them in. It didn't work so well; the sparklestuff kept clumping and separating from the wool.
  

  It was totally fugly when it was undyed. Then I had left-over green and blue dye in the dyebath from the forest green experiment, so I tossed this in to see what would happen. It is shockingly beautiful. I'm going to have to try to repeat this deliberately, maybe with plying the sparklestuff in instead of trying to draft it in.
  
  
  



• Other random rovingbatts. Mostly dyesoppers from previous experiments. No idea what I'll end up doing with them....
  

I do not like them in the car!

[6/17/10 8:17:03 AM] Teresa: grr.
[6/17/10 8:17:10 AM] Patricia Scanlan: grr?
[6/17/10 8:17:27 AM] Teresa: At mornings.
[6/17/10 8:17:33 AM] Teresa: I does not like 'em.
[6/17/10 8:17:38 AM] Patricia Scanlan: Oh.
[6/17/10 8:17:39 AM] Teresa: I do not like them in the house
[6/17/10 8:17:44 AM] Teresa: I do not like them with a mouse
[6/17/10 8:17:48 AM] Teresa: (really not with a mouse)
[6/17/10 8:18:01 AM] Patricia Scanlan: I do not like them with a cat
[6/17/10 8:18:11 AM] Patricia Scanlan: (especially one that wants breakfast)
[6/17/10 8:18:16 AM] Patricia Scanlan: I do not like them with a bat
[6/17/10 8:18:20 AM] Patricia Scanlan: (not at all!)
[6/17/10 8:18:37 AM] Teresa: I do not like them in the car (grr, traffic)
[6/17/10 8:19:23 AM] Patricia Scanlan: Yes
[6/17/10 8:19:36 AM] Teresa: I do not like them in Myanmar
[6/17/10 8:19:41 AM] Teresa: (actually, that might be OK)
[6/17/10 8:19:58 AM] Patricia Scanlan: I do not like my breakfast bar
[6/17/10 8:20:04 AM] Patricia Scanlan: (not buying that kind again)
[6/17/10 8:20:07 AM] Teresa: I do not like to drive very far!
[6/17/10 8:20:23 AM] Teresa: I do not like the roads bizarre, I do not like the smell of tar
[6/17/10 8:21:22 AM] Patricia Scanlan: I do not like them any way.
[6/17/10 8:21:27 AM] Patricia Scanlan: I wish that they would go away.
[6/17/10 8:21:34 AM] Patricia Scanlan: (Well, not really)
[6/17/10 8:22:27 AM] Teresa: I do not like them any how, I'd rather be in bed right now!
[6/17/10 8:22:47 AM] Patricia Scanlan: That's a better ending!

The dreams I have....

12:11:21 kalany: katzypotter: So, the dream started with you and me and a bunch of PS people chatting in PS
12:11:36 kalany: katzypotter: and this guy shows up and starts chatting with us, and we sort him into Slytherin, and he's pretty cool
12:12:03 kalany: katzypotter: So then I start talking about my Twilight rewrite and the usual thing happens where he totally disses it until he reads it and then is like "whoa, this is way better than the original"
12:12:29 kalany: katzypotter: So we get to talking to him, and he starts claiming to be RPattz. And we're just like "...nowai. *stare* laiz!"
12:12:58 kalany: katzypotter: and he's like "yarly! i r rpattz!"
12:13:08 kalany: katzypotter: and we're sort of playing along while skyping going "this guy is batshit crazy"
12:13:28 kalany: katzypotter: so then his friend logs on, and turns out to be a really cool guy, and you two start falling for each other online
12:13:49 kalany: katzypotter: ...and then he turns out to be Draco Malfoy. AKA Tom Felton. But sort of your-crack-Draco, only with extra Draco-In-Leather-Pants
12:13:58 katzypotter: sweeeeeeet
12:14:07 kalany: katzypotter: and so you two hook up while I sit over in the corner and tutor RPattz in linear algebra
12:14:18 kalany: (don't ask me wtf he needs to know linear algebra for, but hey, that's what I do)
12:14:51 kalany: katzypotter: So then we skip forwards in time, and Rpattz turns out to actually be kind of cool, and you and Draco are shagging regularly, but you're convinced you're just a good shag
12:14:59 kalany: katzypotter: and he's like "NO I LUV U"
12:15:08 kalany: katzypotter: and you're like "yeah, right. you're bloody DRACO MALFOY"
12:15:11 katzypotter: *laughsnort*
12:15:19 kalany: katzypotter: and he's like "LET ME PROVE MY LOVE TO YOU. WHAT CAN I DO?"
12:15:42 kalany: katzypotter: so then you decide that what you REALLY REALLY WANT is a roman bath slash sweathouse slash temple to Jareth the Goblin King
12:15:57 kalany: katzypotter: And even in the dream I was like "zomfg sarah WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING"
12:16:06 kalany: katzypotter: but he's all like "I SHALL BUILD IT FOR YOU! :dummy:"
12:16:19 kalany: katzypotter: and me and RPattz are sitting off in the corner with our linear algebra going "oh, my god."
12:16:49 kalany: katzypotter: so in this dream you really want this thing to be built by the side of a particular highway, which I pass regularly, so I'm watching him construct this thing and just being like "ohgod".
12:17:03 kalany: katzypotter: and apparently St Louis is like a 20 minute drive from me in the dream
12:17:27 katzypotter: that is waaaaay fucked up
12:17:33 kalany: katzypotter: and anyway, he finishes it, and you invite all of us to a naked bath/sweatthingie in your temple to Jareth
12:17:43 kalany: katzypotter: like all of PS including RPattz
12:17:50 kalany: katzypotter: who says he's going to come, but we're all like "yeah right"
12:17:54 katzypotter: ohgod rpattz naked
12:18:10 kalany: katzypotter: so then I go to teach section and this chick comes up to me after class and she's like "So are you that one with the Twilight rewrite?"
12:18:14 kalany: and I'm like "uh... yeah?"
12:18:33 kalany: katzypotter: and she's like "Oh! Well, I'm RPattz' girlfriend, and he says it's totally awesome and you're one of the coolest chicks he's ever met"
12:18:55 kalany: katzypotter: so I'm just a little jealous, 'cause he turned out to be way cooler than I expected and YOU'RE BLOODY SHAGGING DRACO MALFOY OH MY GOD WHY CAN'T I GET ANY
12:19:05 katzypotter: XD
12:19:12 katzypotter: Oh you poor thing
12:19:15 kalany: katzypotter: so then she tells me that he was recently injured on the set and he named his scar after me 'cause I'm so awesome
12:19:20 kalany: katzypotter: And I'm just like "...wait, what?"
12:19:33 kalany: katzypotter: And she tells me it's this thing he does, where he names his scars after people he loves
12:19:41 kalany: katzypotter: and I'm just like "okay, that's a little odd...."
12:20:07 kalany: katzypotter: and then she tells me "So, anyway, the reason I know about your writing is that he sent the link to it around the entire cast and crew and everybody read it and it's so awesome I can't believe I have you as a TA"
12:20:22 kalany: katzypotter: and I'm jsut going "oh my god I'm going to get sued for SO MUCH MONEY I DON"T HAVE"
12:20:26 kalany: katzypotter: AND I"M NOT EVEN GETTING ANY
12:21:14 kalany: katzypotter: and then she tells me "So, yeah, even though the doctors think he should be staying off that leg he injured, he's coming tonight" (to the party/naked bath/thing) "and he's bringing the whole cast, and (this guy who isn't actually in the movie but who was really hot in the dream) totally wants to meet you"
12:21:18 kalany: katzypotter: AND THEN I WOKE UP.
12:21:24 kalany: katzypotter: and was like ZOMFG DAMMIT
12:21:34 katzypotter: ZOMFG

Why children don't learn what we want them to learn

People depress me.

19:37:14 <zephyrtronium> Economic analyses of climatic legislation tend to demonstrate a negative impact on economic growth and costs, despite practical evidence to the contrary. This discrepancy may result from certain assumptions by economists, especially that people act rationally from an economic stand. Specific fallacies of climate economics include our already "economically optimal world," the impossibility of "win-win situations," and that "no one ever learns."
19:37:26 * zephyrtronium used biiiiiig words! :la:
19:39:59 <kalany> zephyrtronium: You might try adding something like "certain erroneous assumptions", to underscore the point that the incorrect conclusions are drawn from incorrect premises rather than incorrect models.
19:41:34 <zephyrtronium> kalany: too late, i wrote in pen :(
19:41:39 <zephyrtronium> thanks for the advice though
19:41:39 <kalany> zephyrtronium: Also, usually in the world of logic I move in, a fallacy is an error in reasoning rather than an error in... oh well.
19:42:02 <zephyrtronium> and "fallacies" was the word the article i was summarizing used
19:42:34 <kalany> zephyrtronium: Now I'm curious. What article are you summarizing?
19:42:49 <zephyrtronium> kalany: [link]
19:43:23 <zephyrtronium> "What was your reaction to the article? Is this beneficial or detrimental to you?" "The article made me laugh in places because it included funny things. This is beneficial to me because laughing has been shown to be healthy."
19:43:41 <zephyrtronium> somehow my response to the second question feels lacking after the first
19:43:55 <zephyrtronium> well, my response to the first question after the summary
19:49:03 <kalany> zephyrtronium: Interesting article.
19:49:37 <kalany> zephyrtronium: I think the problem can really be boiled down to something fairly simple, which is that "complex systems are difficult to explain to laypeople".
19:49:51 <zephyrtronium> kalany: most of it went over my head, which is why im using fancy language xD
19:50:03 <kalany> zephyrtronium: Oh. You want help with that part?
19:50:15 * kalany has a degree in this stuff. :paranoid:
19:50:47 <zephyrtronium> kalany: i should be good; i just need to give an estimate of how this issue could impact the national economy
19:51:06 <zephyrtronium> which is easy to make up since were not really expected to know it! :D

What's really depressing about this? This is a kid deliberately avoiding an opportunity to learn. It's a case of some teacher doing their best to assign work that'll make the kids actually think and learn, and the student turning it into useless makework.

It depresses me so much.

Posted in response to http://lesterhhunt.blogspot.com/2008/04/where-did-all-westerns-go.html

I think science fiction/fantasy picked up where westerns left off, and to some extent the reality TV show.

Today the west has been tamed. There are still shows out there like "survivalist" and "deadliest catch", but for the most part, I think we're to the point where the setting has disappeared from the collective consciousness of the youth. I think if you were to do a word association test with people my age, "final" would pop up as being far more associated with "frontier" than "west" (space, the final frontier...).

Now consider shows like Firefly, Buffy, and Battlestar Galactica. I would say that each of these contains themes that were, a generation ago, found mostly in Westerns. And then there's the 800-pound-gorilla of science fiction across the pond, Doctor Who---which has a lone hero (with sidekicks) in his TARDIS who vworps in, cleans up the situation, and vworps out again. How much more canonically Western can you get?

I also think shows are driven to some extent by the fears of the generation. We are not so worried today about fascism and communism---it's perfectly OK for a government employee to come in and clean up the situation. It doesn't necessarily have to be a lone hero. We're much more afraid of the bad guys who look like us, and we find it desirable that the person who should come in and sort things out would be the government. We are uncomfortable with the Lone Ranger mentality (note how it's become negative!) and we want justice to have procedure to it.

Probably in another few generations we'll see the renaissance of the Western, although probably with a different setting. Outer Mongolia, perhaps.

Sometimes, google makes me rofl

I was trying to find a truly stochastic Emo Title Generator. So I googled "emo title". One of the top page of hits was
Wright City High School who apparently has a very good high school golf team:

Golf Team's 1st EMO Title

April 30 was a big day for the WCHS Golf Team as they took their first EMO title at Innsbrook and achieved a record team score. It ends a four year streak for Bowling Green. Despite lots of rain, the scores this year were closer and higher than last year. This is the closest EMO Championship in the last 8 years at least with the gap from first to fourth this year being less than the split from first to second in recent years. Our score this year is 61 strokes lower than last year.

Team scores
Wright City – 342
Silex – 343
Bowling Green – 345
Van-Far – 354
Winfield – 366
Orchard Farm – 376
Mont. Co. – 385
Elsberry – 424
Community R-6 – 424

EMO All-Conference
Kevin Mudd – 81 – Silex
JJ Pluchinski – WCHS – 83
6 others tied at 84 -

WCHS Individual scores
JJ Pluchinski – 83
Brad Hoke – 86
Kyle Jefferson – 85
Mike Trembley – 88
Jake Tiesing – 97

Another google hit was "EMO title page". I think people need to learn about useful titling.