Poor Ralph
He tangled with the wrong lady today. Where has this woman been hiding all this time? Am I the only person on the planet who had never heard of Randi Rhodes before? I listened to nearly her entire show on Air America Radio this afternoon (she's 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, central time, in Chicago 950 AM dial) while completing the sweater, which normally would be the headline at this hour. She was wonderful, utterly riveting the entire time.

But, oh, my! Was it wonderful to hear her turn Ralph Nader to such jelly such that he hung up on her. He sounded so arrogant, and had obviously expected a typical media sweetie-pie sweetheart-type, and worse, he made no sense whatsoever. It was very, very creepy.

Keep the image of Nader from the 50s and 60s in your head, folks, where he was effective and true, then vote for Kerry.

I even tucked in all the stray ends on The Sweater while listening, but didn't get out to the store to buy buttons.

There's something haiku-like about that last statement. Hmmm....
- posted by Cynthia @ 8:46 PM | | | Link |

 
Frank 'n' Funny
Air America Radio

Listening to Al Franken now at 950 AM in Chicago -- good strong signal, too, though finding it (I'm not an AM radio listener) was hysterically funny as well, slinking thru the slime (it really is) exhorting against gay marriage, liberal, liberal, liberal, liberal.... sorry.

Glad I waited until this PM to sew together the sweater. Marching up the left (yes, The Left) side and sleeve now.

They have Ann Coulter locked in the Green Room right now and won't let her out. But first, Bob Kerrey is on, talking about terrorism. Let's go listen...

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:04 PM | | | Link |

 
For Everyone Who Hasn't Been Paying Attention Lately...
Yahoo! News - Iraqis Drag Four Corpses Through Streets

You must read the whole story, repeatedly, any time you're tempted to get distracted by the latest lies cooked up by the Rovian Empire (that things are much better over there, and people are happier, we have to lose jobs to grow jobs, gay marriage is bad, God thinks Bush is super, etc.). Read Baghdad Burning too, and Juan Cole and the others, following the links thru the world beyond ourselves.
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:41 AM | | | Link |

 
Must Have Had a Lot of Botox...
...to write this story with a straight face...

Study: Outsourcing Tech Jobs Helps Economy

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Outsourcing white-collar jobs to low-wage countries such as India and China has thrown some Americans out of work, but a new report predicts that the trend will ultimately lower inflation, create jobs and boost productivity in the United States. [ed: And provide a cure for the common cold, too?]

The Information Technology Association of America, in a survey set for release Tuesday, acknowledges that the migration of tech jobs to low-paid foreigners has eliminated 104,000 American jobs so far, nearly 3 percent of the positions in the U.S. tech industry.
...
Software engineers have been particularly hard hit [ed: ie, me, in my larval stage]. Researchers at Global Insight Inc., which prepared the report for the ITAA, predicted that demand for U.S. software engineers would shrink through 2008. [ed: ie, the next election, so they can blame it on Kerry?]
...
"The myth is that we've started this long decline into the midnight of the technology work force," ITAA president Harris Miller said. "This report shows that, assuming the recovery continues, the number of IT jobs will actually increase."

Indian programmers earn roughly one-sixth the $60,000 U.S. average, and Chinese engineers earn even less.[ed: Come on my brothers and sisters in India and China! Rise up and demand what's due you!! A good wage plus benefits!! A clean environment!]

Outsourcing dramatically reduces labor costs, allowing companies to sell goods ranging from software to tax-preparation services at lower costs or higher profit margins. Greater profits theoretically allow companies to buy new equipment, build laboratories and conduct scientific experiments -- even in expensive Silicon Valley and other U.S. tech hubs.

Savings from outsourcing allowed companies to create 90,000 new jobs [ed: at McDonald's?] in 2003, with more than one in 10 of them in Silicon Valley or elsewhere in California, researchers said. The report predicts that in 2008, outsourcing will create 317,000 jobs -- 34,000 in California [ed: CA is getting too "blue" for the Rovians, I guess, so they had to dump this propaganda on us].

Up is down, black is white, peace is war, etc., healthy forests, etc., no child left behind, etc. I truly don't blame people living elsewhere for leaping up to take these jobs, since there are tons of (probably more, in fact) talented programmers elsewhere in the world these days. Ditto for factory workers, telemarketers, and whatever. I just find it despicable that companies know they can save money by exploiting poverty. I realize that ten thousand a year in India may be wonderful -- but $60,000 a year is better.

BTW, I've never known an American who was asked to re-locate overseas who was given a cut to $10,000 as a salary. Maybe we should start exporting CEOs.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:58 PM | | | Link |

 
Digi Magic
While not exactly a painting, the following is a list from my notebook of the colors I saw at the lake on Sunday. The day today is getting chilly and graying up, though the forsythia have begun to bloom, which I must slip out and paint soon. May try a painting from this list:

TOP (ie, sky overhead)

Pure ultramarine
Whiteish
Grayish white
Gray
Black
Reddish gray
Yellowish gray
Pinkish gray
Purple
Dark aqua (prussian blue + cad yellow)
Yellow aqua
Dark aqua
Pink aqua
Violet
White on yellow aqua
Violet aqua
Raw sienna

BOTTOM (we have just hit the beach)

Below is "Sky Beach", my very first all-digital "painting" done from the above list, only fudged a little. Not all that good, since I'm as expert a photo-shopper (though this is something called Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8, which came as I suppose a dowry with my spouse) as I am a knitter. I reserve the right -- no, the duty to fix or slice this up any time I want.


- posted by Cynthia @ 2:24 PM | | | Link |

 
Stars of the Future -- TODAY
Gallery 2 Current Schedule

UNDERGRADUATE EXHIBITION

April 4 - April 16, 2004
847 West Jackson Boulevard, Floor 1, 2, & 3
Opening Reception
Saturday, April 3, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. (free to the public)

Go, go, go. This is the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) BFA show, always much more interesting and fun than the MFA show -- by the time they're MFAs, they've thoroughly absorbed the received knowledge of what's art (and what's marketable). The kids (in the past, at least) still had a kind of "screw-you" attitude -- though everyone has a web address and business cards and resumes etc. at their little spaces.

The MFA show schedule is:

May 9 - May 21, 2004
847 West Jackson Boulevard, Floors 2 & 3
Opening Reception
Friday, May 7, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. (free to the public)

I'm told they usually schedule this to coincide with Art Chicago at Navy Pier (Mother's Day weekend), which just goes to show you.



- posted by Cynthia @ 12:13 PM | | | Link |

 
Ventriloquist and Dummy in Private Performance
From Miami Herald: "I would also like to take this occasion to offer an accommodation on another issue on which we have not yet reached an agreement - commission access to the president and vice president. I am authorized to advise you that the president and vice president have agreed to one joint private session with all 10 commissioners, with one commission staff member present to take notes of the session."

This is an odd number. Isn't this a bi-partisan commission? And what about those modern, new-fangled inventions the kids are using these days like tape-recorders and moving-picture cameras? I thought all criminals got videotaped these days.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:49 AM | | | Link |

 
There Are Other Important Things Besides the News
13 days 2 hrs 2 mins 4 secs to Home Opener....

Chicago Cubs : The Official Site

Your count may very.

Yes, I'm a girly girl, but I like baseball, and I like the Cubs. There is no more thrilling sight than slowly walking up to the stands at Wrigley Field and seeing the playing field open out before you as you spill your beer and take your seat, especially if you're taking a "personal day" to see the game and eat overpriced nachos. The overhanging seats frame the scene, and the green ivy walls provide such a perfect backdrop that on a perfect spring day it can take your breath away.

If you sit in the bleachers, cancel the last statement.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:45 AM | | | Link |

 
"President Bush reversed himself this morning ..."
Think it's time to pull those flip-flop ads now?

Rice to Give Sworn Public Testimony (washingtonpost.com):

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales made the offer this morning in a two-page letter to Kean and Hamilton. 'The Commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice,' Gonzales wrote.
Gonzales also said the commission 'must agree in writing that Dr. Rice's testimony does not set any precedent for future commission requests.'

Surprised he didn't ask them to promise to brush their teeth and eat their veggies in writing either. Clearly the Rovians are upset.

This is probably a good thing. Rice always looks shifty and evasive under the easy questioning the Sunday news shows give her -- her voice always rises into this little-girl begging whine that is so unappealing. But I'm certain she will lie under testimony as cheerfully as anyone else in this administration if ordered to do so.
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:06 AM | | | Link |

 
The Sweater, She is Knit
And I am shaking with exhaustion. The shawl collar (all 260 odd stitches of it) was so wide I had to use 2 circular needles stopped with corks at the end, which had to support nearly 2 pounds of wool, flopping all over and stitches falling out, etc. Then had to do something called "short rows," for which there were only vague instructions and a blurry picture, to shape the collar.

Since I realized I turned the collar at the wrong marker about 2 1/2 rows (over 600 stitches done) into it, had to rip it back, then knit forward again, then started to bind off too soon, had to rip that out, then finally said **** it, this is what it's going to look like. And so it does. I still don't know whether I did the short rows right. Spent hours and hours and hours cruising the knitting sites online looking for similar sweater instructions, and finally did, buried in knitty.com, a wonderful site.

And realized what I was really looking for wasn't "short rows" but "short-rows-that-get-longer rows", unlike as described in the pile of books I'd taken out of the library. Added to the complication, was that I was trying to do it in knit-one, purl-one ribbing, and all the instructions assumed plain stockinette stitch. My brain got so twisted around, you can't believe. And since it was on the collar, right in front, it had to look right.

Still think it looks a little funky, but I think I can place a judicious button to hide a little of the mess.

And I wanted to blog about politics, and Rice, and gun control, and all sorts of other things, too!

Am now trying to get my second wind before I dive back in and sew the arms in, do the side seams, the weave all the junky yarn ends in somewhere.

And oh, yes, it's big. Either it has been growing in the night, crawling over the floor, feeding on crumbs and McDonalds crusts, or I've been shrinking. Yeah, right.


- posted by Cynthia @ 8:23 PM | | | Link |

 
Glory, Glory!
The buttonholes are in! Spent most of last night and much of this pm researching and practicing how to do it, and now I have 7 glorious, perfect buttonholes, all on the correct side (gulp... double checking...) yes, on the correct side. They are so perfectly done that it's a shame to cover them up with buttons...

I went out to the park and to the lagoons today too, since it was warm and windy, did some writing and drawing, will sort it all out later today or tomorrow, and post anything interesting. And I have links to add (especially more Chicago bloggers) -- such a big job, such little time, such negative quantities of money.

More later.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:23 PM | | | Link |

 
Like Looking at Myself in the Mirror
Click Here

The March 28 cartoon, if you're looking at this a different day. Not sure whether it's a permanent link. But I'm sure tomorrow's cartoon will be good too.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:28 PM | | | Link |

 
No Comment. Well, Maybe Just One...
Yahoo! News - Angry protests as coalition shuts down firebrand Iraqi cleric's newspaper

"The newspaper has been closed for 60 days because it has violated order 14 which prohibits newspapers from creating instability through inciting violence against the coalition forces," a spokesman told AFP.
...
But Bremer's order imposing the closure referred to two "inaccurate" reports published by the weekly in its February 26 edition, including one that compared the US overseer to Saddam and his oppressive [ed: like shutting down newspapers isn't oppressive?] regime.
...
"They tried to close down our paper but we still have our weapons: our noble pens," the weekly's deputy chief editor, Ali al-Yasser said as the protestors chanted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:01 PM | | | Link |

 
We Feel Honored
Thanks to AlFrankenWeb.com: A Fair and Balanced Fan Page.:

The O'Franken Factor

Website: http://airamericaradio.com/
Time: 12-3pm.
Current stations: WLIB (NYC, AM 1190am), WNTD (Chicago, AM 950), KBLA (LA, AM 1580). Will also be streamed online at http://airamericaradio.com/.

Somehow think this is the one show Condoleeza Rice won't be appearing on.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:49 AM | | | Link |

 
Final Madness of the Night
Head going crazy trying to figure out buttonholes and "short row" knitting. Am now on row 4 of the border, the row I'm supposed to put the buttonholes. This is not my strong point, since I hate to measure, and besides, have never been known to actually button a sweater anyway. Hence all my buttonless cardigans.

But I'm going to do this one right, which means not doing it tonight. Searching all around the internet for advice makes me feel weak, and stupid, since everyone else is much more experienced than I am, and they all knew about felting, and were probably laughing, laughing, laughing at my callowness, but I will show them, they can't laugh at me, no they can't.....

she shuffles off to bed, muttering and scratching her head.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:08 AM | | | Link |

 
Huh?
28 Companies Are Selected to Provide Drug Discounts

Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, said the cards, intended mainly for people who have no insurance for prescription costs, would cut retail prices by 10 percent to 25 percent. [ed: I'll take the 25% off card, thank you]
...
Sponsors can charge an "enrollment fee" of up to $30 for a card. But Timothy Trysla, a Medicare official, said that about one-fourth of the sponsors would not charge fees. [ed: I'll take one of those, please]
...
By contrast, many other sponsors have established lists of preferred drugs. Under federal rules, if a company uses such a list, it has to offer discounts on at least one drug in each of 209 categories of medicines commonly needed by Medicare beneficiaries. [ed: huh?]
...
Seventeen of the sponsors will be offering their cards nationwide. The other sponsors' cards will be available in specific states or regions. [ed: Are those the good cards? Red states or blue states?]

If anyone can explain to me how this is going to work to save both the taxpayer and the senior money, I will actually vote for Bush next time. Anyone? Anyone? If you're not now a senior, trying to figure this out will age you very fast.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:07 PM | | | Link |

 
What More Can You Ask?
Found this while searching for best way to do things like join the front to back and pick up stitches. This has to be one of the classiest knitting sites I've seen. And the sweaters are animated, so you can see all sides!

Sweaterscapes

Yes, landscape sweaters -- and socks! Art and knitting! Will go in my Knitting Links list when I get around to it.

Using the laughably simple technique described here, my fronts are now joined to my back, and I'm ready to pick up stitches. Will report back later....
- posted by Cynthia @ 1:17 PM | | | Link |

 
As in Fib?
White House Trying to Explain Rice Policy

"Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration has a good story to tell about fighting terrorism.... ."

However, pop that popcorn, kids:

Clarke's charges strike at the heart of Bush's re-election campaign, raising questions about credibility, trust and Bush's strongest issue in the polls, the war against terrorism.

``In many ways, having a guy like Clarke do this now is the White House's worst nightmare,'' said Norm Ornstein, political analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Clarke's charges stole the momentum from the Bush campaign's effort to put Democratic rival John Kerry on the defensive with ads suggesting he was weak on national security and the economy.

Respected on national security issues, Clarke held posts at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Trying to damage Clarke's credibility ``is risky, first of all, because I think he's tough to pull down,'' Ornstein said.

Rice will try to gain ground in the public relations struggle Sunday by appearing on CBS' ``60 Minutes,''....

Good to see this story is going to be kept alive for a few more cycles. Think they're going to regret this? Or do you think CBS's dark lords have ordered a gentle, respectful set of questions, submitted in advance, answers provided by Rove, all girly soft-focus in a living-room-like setting?
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:51 AM | | | Link |

 
For a Moment Thought Hell Had Gotten Nippy Again

Washington Fires Health Chief Over Handling of Lead in Water

Since it was on front screen of NYT, thought Washington meant Bush, and it was the first head to start rolling. And that possibly Bush had had an attack of leadership. But no... though it's good to see someone is looking out for the common good:

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, the water distributor, says Mr. Buford failed to respond to a request in December to help inform the public about the lead.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:32 AM | | | Link |

 
We Interrupt This Program
.... to bring you important breaking news....

THE SLEEVE IS DONE!!!

I would use a larger font and insert music if I knew how, but I'm sure you're glad I don't know these things. A friend has offered to document the sweater when it is finally assembled, including buttons (curiously missing from most of the things I knit), so I will upload a snap at that point. So if you don't see anything from me in about a week, please email me to voice your complaints and give a little electronic goose.

That's it for now. Bush could have done a dozen stupid things today but I wouldn't have noticed. Will start paying attention again as soon as I start in on the Shawl Collar. But have to sew the shoulders together first.

Since it seems to be All Basketball All the Time on tv tonight, have rented a mess of DVDs to see me through the collar. Must knit fast. It was close to (if not past) 70 degrees today, and steamy. Don't want to have to turn on the air conditioner so I can finish this thing.

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:03 PM | | | Link |

 
Go Obama!
CNN.com - Many first-time voters at Northwestern - Mar 26, 2004

In his race to become the Illinois Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, state Sen. Barack Obama worked to win support among university students, including voters at Northwestern.

More than 50 Northwestern students campaigned to help Obama clinch his party's nomination by forming a campus chapter of Students for Obama.

Northwestern is not known for the wild-eyed activism of its student body, unless it involves football or drinking. More than 260 students voted this year in the primaries. This is very good news -- for the Democrats, at least.

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:22 PM | | | Link |

 
So Tired
I can only burn hot with outrage for so long before I burn out, start thinking everything is hopeless, so why bother. Also, when your eyes have that mad gleam in them, no one wants to come near you, and probably because you smell, since you've been glued to the TV or google button or blogger icon.

If you google on Richard Clarke (no, I won't provide a link) this morning, you will find nothing about his actual testimony, but pages and pages of links to extreme right wing nonsense spouting the latest spin -- that the press is now proved to be liberal liberal liberal liberal (how many more times can I say this before the word has no meaning), even though favorable coverage of Clarke seems to have all but disappeared in favor of Rice's "gracious" attempt at distraction by saying, oh, she could lend herself for a few more hours of testimony. Behind closed doors, of course, and just to clarify a few points.

I am just so sick of it. And sick of Bush's shenanigans at some dinner, pretending to look under the table for WMDs, etc., which is really offensive. An alert reader sent me the clipping (which I'd seen elsewhere last night), and if you haven't, you can find it reported here. And they'll probably spin this into proving that liberals are so ivory tower and sensitive and can't take a joke and that we can't just have a good belly laugh about killing people. We all know that any time a Democrat has made a feeble attempt at humor, the conservatives (conservatives conservatives conservatives conservatives) are outraged.

But this is just politics, and it's to be expected. But it's also what turns people off politics, such that not even your family wants to talk to you for more than a minute on the phone.

Yikes! Such a beautiful spring morning it is, too (though gray and rainy). Doors and windows open, I will soon be stripping the plastic sheeting away (my house is old and drafty and I have no known traditional job) and maybe even washing them.

Didn't finish knitting the sleeve last night -- how is it that the last few rows always stretch into infinity? Will post this, and get to work, then maybe report back. Might try to paint in the back yard. Weather seems too iffy to devote to hauling all the crap to the field and then having to scramble.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:10 AM | | | Link |

 
The Day After
U.S. stocks storm ahead in broad-based rally

Interesting that none of the attempted explanations of the rally mentions the possibility that the market thinks the Clarke testimony just might put an end to Bush's failed economic policies and usher in a more Clintonian era of peace and prosperity.

Hey, I can spin it too.

And knit, as well. Only a few more rows to go now. With any luck will finish this thing while watching Ice Skating tonight. But must go put the second coat of gesso on my slab of luan now before it starts to rain.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:56 PM | | | Link |

 
Only 7 1/2 More Months To Go
Daschle Assails White House Tactics Against Clarke

Not overwhelmingly known for his outspoken criticism of this administration, Daschle has apparently found a spine lately. Perhaps an indication that the winds have permanently changed, and are blowing out of the blue states across the rest of the nation, casting a violet glow in their wake?

Mr. Daschle noted sarcastically that Ms. Rice had declined to appear publicly before the 9/11 commission, even though she "seems to have time to appear on every television show."

Ah, but then she'd have to testify under oath, not that a little thing like perjury would bother anyone in this administration in the least.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:13 PM | | | Link |

 
Bu...bu... but...
I thought we didn't start destroying the place until late March? I wonder how they knew Saddam wouldn't give up his WMD? Maybe because they knew he didn't have them? Hmmm... Check out this 68 page audit report for some fascinating items (this may be the report referred to in my blogling below, released and buried March 18, 2004). First, to refresh our rapidly-fading memories:

In October 2002 a senior interagency team was convened to assess the conditions in Iraq and to define sector-by-sector relief and reconstruction plans. The team included representatives from several agencies and Departments including the DoD, the National Security Council, and the Office of Management and Budget. The team developed plans for immediate relief operations and long-term reconstruction in 10 different areas: health, education, water and sanitation, electricity, shelter, transportation, governance, agriculture and rural development, telecommunications, and economic and
financial policy....
On January 20, 2003, President George W. Bush signed National Security Directive 24, that gave DoD responsibility for post-war control of Iraq and established the ORHA.

Conclusion?

Because of the inappropriate contracting actions identified there is a need to perform a detailed review of the contract files and actions and determine if any administrative action is warranted. We request that Commander, Defense Contracting Command-Washington, reconsider his position and provide additional comments to the final report by May 20, 2004.

Mark your calendars for the followup, kids.
Link to report here
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:37 PM | | | Link |

 
Political Dairy, er, Diary
Chicago Tribune | Some steamed by Oberweis chairman's ads:

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Oberweis' hard-line campaign rhetoric on illegal immigration lost Donna Stenitzer's vote--and her business.
...
Now out of the race after finishing second in the Republican primary, Oberweis and dairy executives are facing the emerging repercussions of his campaign pitches, which mixed his political identity with his family's dairy and ice cream-parlor business.
...
"Mr. Oberweis is not an employee here, nor does he play an active role in the operation of the dairy," said the letter from the dairy's chief executive, Bob Renaut.

"Mr. Oberweis and his campaign are not associated with the dairy," he said.

Stenitzer was not convinced by the argument.

'I thought that disingenuous at best,' she said. 'His campaign logo has an ice cream cone in it.'"

- posted by Cynthia @ 7:36 AM | | | Link |

 
Not, Apparently, School of Art Institute of Chicago
Report rips SAIC over Iraq contracts

We were all so focused on the 9/11 testimony, we might have missed this one:

For example, the report said SAIC's media program manager sought to purchase a Hummer H2 and a Ford C-350 pickup for his use on the contract and he chartered a DC-10 cargo jet to fly the vehicles to Iraq.

When a defense acquisition specialist refused to allow these items to be added to the contract, the manager "went around the authority of this acquisition specialist" to a high-level Pentagon office and gained approval, the report said.

Contracting officers were unable to pinpoint the exact cost of the airlifted vehicles, although one invoice titled "Office and Vehicle" totaled roughly $381,000.

Could have quoted the entire article, it's so juicy. Author (Bruce Bigelow) notes entire report can be found on the inspector general's web site here:
- posted by Cynthia @ 7:16 AM | | | Link |

 
Read All Over
Am about halfway thru Clarke's testimony transcript. It is riveting. I don't have cable tv so didn't catch it this afternoon, but here's a sample, and now I must turn the page and see what happens next....

Text: Public Testimony Before 9/11 Panel:

So let me say here as I am under oath, that I will not accept any position in the Kerry administration, should there be one -- on the record, under oath. Now, as to your accusation that there is a difference between what I said to this commission in 15 hours of testimony and what I am saying in my book and what media outlets are asking me to comment on, I think there's a very good reason for that. In the 15 hours of testimony, no one asked me what I thought about the president's invasion of Iraq. And the reason I am strident in my criticism of the president of the United States is because by invading Iraq -- something I was not asked about by the commission, it's something I chose write about a lot in the book -- by invading Iraq the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism.

And in the 20 pages or so I've read so far, there's been no mention of the word "Iraq" either.
- posted by Cynthia @ 7:05 PM | | | Link |

 
Altered States
Every time I try to write this entry I find that I start writing something I don't mean, and then I realize I don't know much about art, or about how to write about it, either.

The show, Altered States: Printmaking after Modern Technology, both intrigued and disappointed me. I don't know what I had expected -- perhaps more prints. Maybe it's this: much of it seemed as though it was a lot of work to go through to produce a result that could have been gotten at in a more straightforward manner. Granted, traditional printmaking is above all a heavy process-oriented art, yet with several of the pieces, the end result of the printing was so covered up by other stuff that except for the label, you would never have known that a print was involved -- though I guess that was the point ("altered states", after all).

For example, Lenore D. Thomas layered her images (inkjet, I think) inside and underneath heavy translucent layers of wax on (I think) small pieces of plywood in vaguely geometric designs, sometimes with paint on the top layer that echoed something underneath (or maybe had nothing to do with it, in at least one case). Deborah Maris Lader produced small Polaroid transfer images of faces (onto metal? couldn't tell) which she then painted pretty much realistically, obscuring the original image completely. These were also small, and a little reminiscent of craft-fair folk-art paintings, perhaps intentionally.

The least print-like thing there was a beautiful old wooden chest of drawers, well used and polished that I kept tripping over while backing up and looking at stuff, until I realized it (by Stacey Stern) was part of the show, and since it had a sign on it that said, "Please interact with", I figured they didn't mean I should talk to it, but open the drawers. Yeah, so? A little print, or a phrase, or something in each drawer. But the chest of drawers was beautiful! I suddenly felt very stupid, since the images in the drawers were just so-so.

Therese Zemlin produced objects that were interesting and practical too, since they were (I hope they were, at least) wall lamps that showed a heritage to Japanese lanterns, but the paper was toner dyed, and inkjet images printed on Mylar (or whatever) could have (if the lights had been better hung) projected images onto a wall of mysterious and beautiful places. I don't usually like this kind of thing, but these (they were grouped somewhat organically) were pretty neat.

I generally like Carrie Iverson's work a great deal, and these were ok -- images printed on cloth or on paper mounted on wood and arranged accordion-like on the wall -- but to me what looked good and focused on paper, matted and framed, seemed a little too much like the designs on Pier One furniture throws when printed on fabric. So sue me.

Finally, the most traditional images there were produced by John Schulz, traditional in the sense of being actual archival inkjet prints on archival Rives paper whose heritage was color lithography or old-fashioned engravings. They showed their digitalness not just by being inkjet prints, but by using similar motifs Photoshopped throughout the series, which had a weirdly comic/serious narrative, and that now, days later, continues to float thru my brain. While some of the other pieces in the show seemed to be more like, "Yeah, I get it. Printed pieces of paper that say 'I'm too...' attached to a dressmaker's dummy," I wish I had not succumbed to their gimmickry and looked at these longer.

But the show is up until April 13 at the Suburban Fine Arts Center in Highland Park, IL, so I can always go back. It is a nice show, and I'm just being a bitch.
- posted by Cynthia @ 3:44 PM | | | Link |

 
Screaming Headline
Not The Onion:

NEA's Chief Lobbyist a Goldwater Republican (CNSNews.com) - As the chief lobbyist for the National Education Association, Randall Moody says people are sometimes surprised to learn he's a lifelong Republican whose first political idol was conservative icon Barry Goldwater.

Yes, I'm continuing to slink around in the slime at the bottom of the pond, but laughing. Apparently this site is for real.

Only a few more rows to do on the sweater sleeve, then just the collar and sewing it all together. I have now guaranteed that we will have a very hot spring and summer, and possibly fall and winter, too, since this thing weighs nearly 2 pounds and will make me look like a big blue sheep.

But what will she knit next, they ask? Hmmm.....

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:41 AM | | | Link |

 
Hell Dips Briefly to Freezing Point
The Dixie Chicks have returned from their long exile. "Sin Wagon" was the last tune on "American Idol" last night on Fox.

And then there's this: George W. Who? Congressional Candidates Avoid Presidential Contenders

Waving President Bush’s name is also unlikely to boost some of the more moderate Republicans in states like Connecticut, New Jersey and California, election observers told Foxnews.com.

The rest of the article pretty much bashes the Democrats in the usual manner -- I didn't know it was possible to use the word "liberal" 10 times (I counted) in one article, sometimes twice in one paragraph -- and even when not bashing, manages to bash:

“There is no doubt that [Kerry] is more liberal than the average Southern Democrat, but there are many Democrats who want that White House back,” said Tony Center, a Democrat from Savannah, Ga., who is competing in the primary to challenge Republican Rep. Max Burns in the state's 12th Congressional District.

“George Bush has divided this country,” Center said. “I know in Georgia, the grassroots Democrats are running around like a kicked-over ant bed.”

You keep using a word often enough, it ceases to inflame. I mean, who the **** cares about most of the 4 letter words out there except Michael Powell?
- posted by Cynthia @ 7:48 AM | | | Link |

 
Flip Flop Flop
Diplomacy: A Day When the White House Reversed Stand on the Killing

In a startling sequence of events unusual even for the ups and downs of Middle East policy, the administration began the day by avoiding direct criticism of Israel after the killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City.

Instead, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, said in a morning television interview that Hamas was a terrorist organization, that Sheik Yassin had been involved in terrorist actions and that it was "very important that everyone step back and try now to be calm in the region."

Only later in the afternoon did the administration shift tone and criticize Israel's action as harmful to the cause of bringing peace to the region.

Think the RNC will pull the Kerry "flip-flop" ads now?
- posted by Cynthia @ 11:32 AM | | | Link |

 
Naked People
Thought I'd get your attention. Drawing below not naked, but I liked it, and may try to do a print of it later. Anyone who does any figure drawing knows that the best work is always done on the shittiest paper in non-archival materials. This is a quick-pose in craypas (the kids version, 2.99 on sale) on newsprint, so may last in non-digital form for about another 3 months before disintegrating. If you check back later I may tuck some naked people away under a link at the side that you must be 18 or older to click or else John Ashcroft and I will spank you. And Michael Powell will fine you $500,000, to be paid to the RNC immediately.

Have been prowling the internet in a sort of victory march this am, since it seems like there's nothing but bad news wherever Bush might turn, not that he'd ever read a newspaper or anything. In particular have been searching in the Southern binary universe for attempts at defending the administration and have come up with nothing yet, just the same feeble attacks they've been spewing since Sunday, but will keep looking. Perhaps they haven't yet been ordered what to say.

Did find one interesting tendency, which is for a lot of small-town/city papers to use the same newspaper software, so that it's nearly impossible to get a flavor of what the town is like, other than it must be very bland. Traffic accidents and mayors honoring people seems to be about it, except for the classified section, oh yes, this is where the money is. ("PowerOne Media serves over 1,600 newspapers, representing nearly 50% of the daily and weekly U.S. circulation.")

This seems to me to be yet another form of media consolidation, though perhaps not governed in any way by FCC regulations, since these newspapers seem to have different owners (haven't thoroughly searched yet). Will check the campaign contribution lists to see if there are any interesting trends.

Now that no one in the world believes what the US might say about any matter whatsoever, the Rovians are reaping well-deserved disdain for not speaking out against Israel's policies against the Palestinians which resulted in the assassination of the Hamas leader this weekend, regardless of whether they knew about it in advance, or even shared military info with the planners. This is a truly horrific event, and these tactics must not be allowed to stand. I cannot believe that this action was supported by the majority of Israeli people. But they, too, are a democracy, and must let the election booth speak for them too.

Will post this, since I know you are all getting antsy. It has been suggested that I should remind everyone that everything I post on this site belongs to me, is copyright by me, and I know several good lawyers who can explain it all a lot better. So I better not see any of this stuff up on eBay, or else.
- posted by Cynthia @ 11:12 AM | | | Link |

 
WMD Found
Chicago Tribune | Hazardous stockpile puts Army to the test

Although the U.S. has destroyed VX with incinerators, no one has attempted to destroy a large stockpile using the chemical neutralization process proposed for the VX from Newport. The base is a high-security storage depot for 1,269 tons of VX--more than twice as much as what the U.S. government alleged Iraq possessed under Saddam Hussein.

DuPont has outlined five potential shipping routes to get the VX wastewater to the company's huge treatment plant in Deepwater, N.J. About 1.2 million people live within a half-mile of the route that would pass through Illinois, the study found.

For any of the routes, it would take 758 shipments to get all the wastewater to New Jersey, DuPont estimates

Perhaps the route could pass thru Crawford, Texas instead.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:25 AM | | | Link |

 
Felt Like Rolling Over and Smoking a Cigarette
Wasn't it grand? Clarke's book is going fly off the shelves, and I hope he's scheduled for talk shows for the next 6 months. Steven Hadley looked so uncomfortable and trapped, it was just yummy. Again, pity they couldn't have grilled the government a year ago... and regularly ever since Bush took office.

If anyone is unclear what I'm talking about, it's the interview with Richard Clarke, former security chief, who was interviewed on 60 Minutes tonight and took some pretty tough swings at Bush and the rest of the Rovians. Reuters tells some, though I couldn't find the detailed rebuttal advertised:

White House Rebuts Former Official's 9/11 Criticism

It will be interesting to see what his testimony is this week. Oh, please, let it be live!

For those of you tracking progress in your logbooks, I've been knitting away this evening, and am just about at the last of the increases on the arm, then a few more inches, then start decreases. Think the sleeve is going to be a little puffy, but it will be big enough to wear over something, which is what a cardigan should do.

And for the Obama fans: have you noticed that no one seems to have taken down their signs yet? Drove up along Sheridan Road, north to Highland Park (aiming for Suburban Fine Arts Center and digital printmaking show -- more later), and saw tons of Obama signs even along Republican Row. Only one Jack Ryan sign, though I know I'd seen a fair number on my last sweep. This is a good omen, I think. Also, my yard sign is still up, and never got kicked down even once this election -- someone usually steals my signs or tramples them to death. Also good!
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:44 PM | | | Link |

 
From Yesterday
At the park now, on battery. No WiFi around to distract. A lot of glare on the screen, so hard to see what I'm typing. Perhaps if I took my sunglasses off it would help. Perhaps.

People everywhere, many of them speaking Polish or Russian, and teen girls walking with arms linked, wearing little shorty jackets, and whispering in confidence, as though we were in Europe. And people in the sun pretending to read, Conde Nast Traveller on lap, eyes looking into the distance. Perhaps if spring comes it won't be necessary to go to Bali this year.

First outing with the computer to a non-backyard site. Found a bench with back to wind, which is coming from the north. Feel like a wuss for writing. Should be painting, but is very windy and little that's paintable at the moment. Words continue to intrigue, and my new mate still satisfies me. Laptop acting as a real laptop should -- keeping me warm.

Remember that last year right after war started, I set up to paint near the Coast Guard station, with NO IRAQ WAR buttons pinned to my goofy painting hat. A big ole SUV came by and stopped suddenly, then got on the cell phone. I think they thought I was setting up a bazooka and was going to take out the harbormaster, but it was just my inoffensive Jullian easel. A patrol car came by a short time later. Luckily it was clear that I was merely painting something non-classified, like geese on the ice, else I'd be enjoying Cuba now.

And now I'm doing my "sitting in the sun" thing, laptop on my lap, eyes gazing past, out at the whitecaps on the lake. Hard wind coming from the north, pushing the water along. Hadn't thought about things like sand and leaves blowing into this thing. Will have to rethink the whole bringing it to the beach idea.

If I painted something, possibly would be cars. Like the way they appear to be nursing at the edge of the beach, diagonals against the horizontal of water and sky, and verticals of bare tree trunks. Boring grayish, tannish parking-lot colored beasts.

Will try to draw. And here it is, first of season:




Perhaps the resolution could be a little sharper, but then the download time would be longer. If you can't read it, it says "pinkish shadows" near the top, because that's what I saw. It's a drawing in pen of a tree with lots of knots and rough bark and twisted branches. If I get complaints, will upload a slightly larger, clearer image.
- posted by Cynthia @ 3:39 PM | | | Link |

 
Later (Actually, Not Much)
Just had to dive back in: I find it so utterly crass and disgusting that Bush chose today, of all days, to do his "official" campaign kickoff in, of all states, Florida, just to rub it in. If the DNC lets him get away with this one, they're a bunch of sorry puppies. In utter gall it's just like when he decided to use images of 9/11 in his campaign ads. Will he be showing images of bloody and innocent Iraqi citizens in the new "beloved war president" ads? This really bothers me. I may just have to start writing some letters and digging up some dollars.

Of course, when I say "he" I don't mean Bush, exactly, but the entire Rovian Empire, since "he" is not actually a person but an image projected on a fleshy backdrop.

That's all. I'll go away for awhile.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:38 PM | | | Link |

 
Huge Worldwide Protests Demand Iraq Troop Pullout
Would have been nice if the press had covered it this thoroughly a year ago. Check out 3 pages of the Reuters article here and even in Chicago here. Excerpt:

In Chicago, police in full riot gear lined the streets as the crowd carried signs that said: "bring our troops home" and "we still say no to war."

Kathy and Scott Liggett traveled to Chicago from Southbend, Ind., to participate in the march because their 20-year-old son, Wes, came home from serving in the war with horror stories from the front lines. He returned to Iraq about a month ago for his second tour of duty with the Marine Corps.

"We just had to be here," Kathy Liggett said. "We couldn't sit at home."

And what was Bush doing? (except possibly watching basketball). What do you think he was doing?
Lying, of course... and getting rid of protesters:

There were a few voices both inside and outside the convention center to counter the support Bush received. A half-dozen anti-Bush college students were escorted from the hall before the president arrived despite holding tickets for the event and three more people were forced out after chanting "No more Bush" as the president made his way across the stage. About 80 protesters demonstrated outside, many gripping red balloons pointing out the expanding national debt under Bush's watch.

Me, I spent a self-indulgent a-political day in the park, and then went and looked at a little art. No knitting, I'm afraid. More later.


- posted by Cynthia @ 5:04 PM | | | Link |

 
Red State Alert
Alabama Democrats optimistic about Kerry's chances

Posted on Sat, Mar. 20, 2004
BOB JOHNSON
Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - It's been almost 30 years since a Democratic presidential candidate won in Alabama - and that was fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter.

But Alabama Democrats say they believe dissatisfaction with President Bush and John Kerry's record as a decorated Vietnam War veteran may return the state to the Democratic ranks in the Nov. 2 general election.

When I woke up this morning one of the rotating Blog*Spot ads at the top of the screen was from the RNC -- like they need 10 bucks from anyone who might show up on this blog. But has rotated off again, thankfully, so I don't have to tell you to contribute to Kerry, Obama, or the DNC instead (links at the side). But the New York Times was reporting this about their ninety-day campaign to let the slimy things have their way with the media, so was glad to see this. If you read down, you'll see that possibly Alabama will be allowed to make up its own mind, since neither of the candidates are planning a visit any time soon.

Is beautiful day out. I've started the sleeve, and may go out and paint or knit at the lake and then tell you what I did later.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:01 PM | | | Link |

 
Things I Missed While Blogging (Part One)
Chicago Tribune | Eric Zorn's Notebook

DAMAGE CONTROL

Tribune associate managing editor Geoff Brown neglected to follow standard procedure this week when an embarrassing blunder occurred on his watch.

As the Trib has admitted, the letter that led Monday's Dear Abby column was a hoax, with the details swiped almost directly from an episode of TV's "The Simpsons." AbbyScam was widely publicized last week, but the letter appeared in our pages nevertheless.

One of Brown's duties is to oversee the Abby column, and when asked about the mistake by Chicago Reader media critic Michael Miner, Brown took a most unconventional tack.

He said he'd messed up--that he simply didn't follow through when he should have. And though others also didn't take the proper corrective actions, Brown told Miner, "I'm taking the blame."

Brown has clearly not been following the news very carefully and does not know how to keep an embarassing story alive.

The rest is really funny, and if you hadn't caught it, go read. NOW to bed.





- posted by Cynthia @ 11:05 PM | | | Link |

 
Done
Just finished the Right Front of the sweater and had to tell everyone. Also, in case you didn't notice, added a whole bunch of links to Chicago galleries (though one, Street Level, is north, in Highwood, but is really a Chicago gallery misplaced in the suburbs). From what I can tell, Ingrid Fassbender (late of Fassbender Stevens) is no longer operating at a gallery location but has a link to herself as a private dealer. If anyone knows the story, please let me know.

They're not in any particular order except River North-ish and West Loop Gate-ish grouped, with favorites towards the top. Printworks, gescheidle, Peter Miller, and Bodybuilder & Sportsman are consistently ones I like.

I couldn't find web sites for a few, notably Sonia Zaks, who in the past has had interesting work. I'm not a photography person, so Flatfile is the only one listed (they have other stuff too), nor am I an object/sculpture/glass person, or into Outsider Art, overly much.

I do enjoy a good installation, however, so I'll add to this list with some of the less commercial galleries, apartment shows, and exhibition spaces as I emerge from my winter cocoon and start prowling. I hadn't actually looked at a lengthy Reader listing in any detail in awhile, and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of names I didn't recognize. Something to look forward to! As well as a trip up to Milwaukee soon.

And we're moving into MFA and BFA show season, too. Exhausting! I hope undergrads have gotten over doing stuff with Barbie dolls this year... I'm pretty sick of it.

Then there's Navy Pier on Mother's Day (unless they moved the date and location, and if they did I frankly don't care). Was pretty useless last year, timid and boring and repetitive. Don't think I even took notes, and may not go this year unless someone drags me.

To bed. Supposed to be nice tomorrow, then cold again. Will start the final sleeve and bore you all with my progress, as usual.
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:15 PM | | | Link |

 
No Cats
I was in the middle of typing a moving entry about what happened exactly a year ago when a friend and I were planning to go do the Friday gallery scene for Michael Paxton's opening at Byron Roche, when I turned on the TV and fell to the floor with, yes, Shock and Awe, as I watched a city and populace be blown to pieces.

And then I started in with, You don't hear that phrase much since it was last heard on like Jimmy Kimmel Live (if I ever saw the show at all), and it would have been about 7 months ago.

So I started talking about what I did do, which was oddly enough, go to church. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've done so, including weddings and funerals, but so I did. A chapel near me was open, so I went in, then tried to figure out what to do now that I was there. Just sitting silently, trying not to hate or feel despair, try to think of other people for a change, etc., when someone else came in and sat in the back silently too.

But just as I went to save the entry my network gave out -- WiFi is wonderful, but somewhat unreliable from where I am sitting at the moment.

So is gone now. I was deep in the memory of the past and don't know that I can recreate it. I know it started out with Friday Cat Blogging at Calpundit, yes, and Kevin Drum's move to a new web log here, and apparently not being able to bring the cats with him. And then something about promising to finish the Right Front of the sweater last night, and now you'll never believe me ever again, because I didn't get it done.

Trust me, it was really well-written too.

Back to a year ago, I must finish: still not really sure what I was doing there, I turned to leave the church, and saw that the person sitting in the back row was a woman, wearing a hijab, and was rocking and silently crying. And I felt like such a shit, not only for myself, but for my country, too.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:32 PM | | | Link |

 
Not All Politics, All The Time
Honestly, it won't be. I've started the decreases at underarm and neckline on the sweater front (the right front, remember?) And I've been working on a painting. But it seems like the Rovian Empire has suddenly started playing super hard ball in this Happy Anniversary week, trying to make us forget that democracy can bring down a government faster than bullets. 76 Percent of Spaniards decided to kick their Bush-Equivalents out of office, and our own equivalents are terrified. And now Poland is beginning to become restive.

This is such supreme bad news to the Rovians that the things that crawl around at the bottom of the cage are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for it, calling Spain appeasers, and terrorists, and cowards. Whiners, all of them, and I can hardly wait for November to kick their sorry asses out of office.

We had such a high moment with Barack Obama's huge victory in the Illinois Senatorial Primary this week that it's hard to remember that people in the red states are made to believe that however they may vote, their votes will be meaningless, so why bother -- that the power of the powers that be is just too overwhelming. In Illinois, just about every columnist and pundit was wrong, or off by a large margin, or blamed it on black people or liberals or Latinos or Chinese or women, like we're not actually real and it's all our fault and if you just "factored us out" x would happen. I won't even link to the column that was spewing this, it made me so mad.

Well, I'll never sit mute again (as you can plainly see). I guess there's something to be said about getting older, that you really don't give a flying f*** about that kind of cr** again. Though I'm too much of a lady to actually swear...

And people in the red states shouldn't sit mute, either. They can always blog and vote, and eventually we'll get there.

I will try to finish knitting this section tonight, and report back later. Only one sleeve to go.
- posted by Cynthia @ 6:16 PM | | | Link |

 
Hey, Don't I Pay Her Salary?
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Murdoch brings in Bush adviser

The US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice is to address the News Corporation thinktank involving Rupert Murdoch's most senior newspaper executives from the UK, US and Australia.
Ms Rice joins Tory leader Michael Howard and Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communcations - both of whom are flying to Cancun, Mexico for the four day event, which starts tonight.

The identity of the special guests has not been publicised and News International in London refused to comment, but a spokeswoman for Ms Rice confirmed she would be speaking at 12pm, US Eastern Standard Time tomorrow.

She will will deliver her speech by satellite at the invitation of Mr Murdoch's Fox operation, which includes Fox News which has been hugely supportive of George Bush and achieved notoriety in the UK during the Iraq war for its ultra-patriotic reporting.

Although she is not there in person, the presence of Ms Rice underlines the importance of Rupert Murdoch's news operations to the Bush administration, which may [ed: not if these guys have anything to say about it] face growing criticism that it led the country into war on false pretences ahead of November's presidential election.

The NYT and Post should be jumping all over this one. Didn't they used to at least wait until they left office before they started the shilling thing?
- posted by Cynthia @ 6:14 PM | | | Link |

 
Back to the Arts
prwatch.org does it again

"It allows people to exercise a kind of hour of hate, or whatever George Orwell called it," said the drama critic for Egypt's largest newspaper, explaining the popularity of "a harshly anti-American show" called "Messing with the Mind." The writer, director and star, Khaled al-Sawy, said: "Most plays just weep about our general situation... I felt people wanted a play that talks about resisting."

Other tidbits(via NYT):

It is startling, to say the least, to be quietly sitting in a Cairo cafe when the door flies open and a troop of armed American soldiers barges in shouting, "Turn off your goddamn mobiles!"

They are actors, though, and their abrupt entrance into the lobby coffee shop of the Hanagir Theater is intended to mimic the jolt felt across the Arab world when the United States Army stormed into Iraq.

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:50 PM | | | Link |

 
But What Does Bush Say?
Bush advisers say outsourcing curbs hurt U.S.

The outsourcing curbs also would "burden taxpayers with higher taxes and consumers with higher costs, and render many businesses less competitive in the global marketplace -- thereby hurting prosperity and discouraging the very job growth we all seek," the group said.

... so those jobs can in turn be outsourced, and those jobs, and so on, and so on....

I suppose the curbs on outsourcing will make you gay, too, and aid terrorism. In fact, you should all quit your jobs right now, you ungrateful money-wasters. And you seniors, just die already!

- posted by Cynthia @ 12:32 PM | | | Link |

 
Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been Spanish?
Chicago Tribune | Plan aimed at frequent air travelers

Associated Press
Published March 18, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration wants to begin testing in June a program that would allow certain airline travelers not considered terrorist threats to avoid extra security inspections at airports, a federal official said Wednesday.

Under the "registered traveler program," passengers would pay a fee and submit to government background checks. If they are not found to be potential threats, they would avoid being randomly selected for the follow-up screening that some travelers face at checkpoints where carry-on bags pass through metal detectors.

David Stone, acting chief of the Transportation Security Administration, said the goal is to move law-abiding travelers more quickly to their planes and permit screeners to focus more on people about whom the government knows less.

Schoolteachers and other terrorists need not apply.


- posted by Cynthia @ 8:49 AM | | | Link |

 
Spin of the Day
From prwatch.org:

Saturday, March 13, 2004
The Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has selected British PR firm Bell Pottinger Communications to promote the establishment of democracy, according to PR trade publication the Holmes Report. The large-scale $5.8 million PR campaign will precede the transition of government to Iraqis in June. The firm is headed by Lord Bell, a Conservative who masterminded Margaret Thatcher's rise to power in 1979. Lord Bell told the UK's Independent that the message would be that democracy was "the route to peace and prosperity," adding, "There's no Arab word for democracy. That's one of the difficulties. If you say, 'Isn't democracy wonderful?' and they don't have a word for it, then it is not surprising that they do not have the same view."

I don't even know where to start with this. At least the contract didn't go to Halliburton?

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:20 PM | | | Link |

 
Mission Accomplished
Oh, God...

Yahoo! News - Bomb Destroys Baghdad Hotel, Kills Dozens

The Bush administration offered prayers for the victims but said such attacks would not change U.S. policy.

No, you can't turn your back on the news for even a minute.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:46 PM | | | Link |

 
Proudly Standing on Dais, Just One Step Down...
Yes, Fresh Paint came in second place, though Eric Zorn seems to think he's tied with me (hey, a point better is a point better. Just ask President Gore).

If I had believed in Obama even more strongly I would have pulled out ahead, and if I had not given the Republicans so much credit for wanting a nice, easy-going guy in office, I would have been unbeatable. The days of when it was only your parents and grandparents who voted for nice "I like Ike" types is way over, and I keep forgetting it. Memo to self.

You can find the rest of the horses at the Tribune link to the right (yes, it is to the right, isn't it?)

But even though I was wrong in the actual numbers, I got the feel of the turnout right. It was historically high in the city and suburbs for a primary, and strong downstate too.

So it's back to the knitting, painting, and printmaking for awhile, I guess, until the next political atrocity, which is surely just around the corner.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:10 PM | | | Link |

 
Who Cares Who the Republican Candidate Is, Anyway?
At the top of the news hour, the only thing they're talking about is Jack Ryan and his victory speech, as though it matters. With possibly 55 or more percent -- and numbers looking strong from often-conservative downstate precincts, Barack Obama is the winner.

And he will win in November as well, so we don't even have to worry about who he's running against.

But now, let's all listen to Obama's victory speech, and then go to bed. What a day!
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:03 PM | | | Link |

 
Kids, Voter Registration Opens Again Tomorrow
Vietnam memories, anyone?

NBC5.com - News - U.S. Takes First Step Toward Targeted Draft
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:08 PM | | | Link |

 
Turnout Predictions
This is about all I could find online by googling -- will keep hunting...

The News-Gazette Online

"It will certainly be the lowest of my four general primary elections," he said.
However, one southeast Urbana precinct – Cunningham 14 – saw "above average" turnout this morning, with 117 voters by 9:30 a.m., said election judge Rupert Evans.
"Quite often we only have about 200 in a primary," Evans said, working at Clark-Lindsey Village, 101 W. Windsor Road, U. "It's been a fairly steady stream. We didn't expect it because of the snow."

Any comments from where any of you voted? And if you haven't yet, go do it and avoid the rush. Polls close at 7:00 pm, in time to get home for American Idol -- unless there's a line.

Where I voted this morning, they said that turnout had been steady. I'd been a pollwatcher in the last election, and the good news is that the precinct has added a good 200 or more registrations since 2 years ago.

Later...
- posted by Cynthia @ 4:53 PM | | | Link |

 
Gulp
When I woke up this am, intending to write a rousing GOTV post, I looked out the window, wept a little, then went back to sleep. It's snowing here in Illinois on Primary Day, usually not a good thing. So, people, don't decide to sit this one out. Get out there and prove my predictions weren't goofy. I have been included in Eric Zorn's Blog-off, one of a field of only nine blogsters, coming in with (I think) the highest, possibly most naive prediction of voter turnout in history (46 percent -- was picking up the good vibe from the Spanish election, where the turnout was 76 percent).

So, if you haven't yet, get out there and vote, and in particular please Vote for Barack Obama, a very good man.

Links to the rest of the predictions can be found here.
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:04 AM | | | Link |

 
Illinois Senate Race Predictions
As promised, here they are, plus reasons: My turnout prediction is 46 pct total statewide, 64 pct in Chicago and suburbs:

Democrats:
Barack Obama: (44 pct) Will be picking up undecideds and people who are glad for a candidate with substance for a change
Dan Hynes: (22) Pickup people leaving Hull, also some undecideds second guessing
Blair Hull: (15) Dropping -- is the "velcro" candidate -- bad news has been sticking
Maria Pappas: (10) Rising -- seen as a strong woman, which many want, been in dem politics awhile
Gery Chico: (6) Rise a little, seen as a clean but unknown candidate, esp. outside the city
Joyce Washington: (2) Rise -- another longtime Chicago pol
Nancy Skinner: (1) Don't know her -- possibly no one else does either

Republicans
Jack Ryan: (34 pct) Dropping -- has Hull-like scandals. Seems smarmy, arrogant to me
Andy McKenna: (22) Will pick up a lot because of nice-guy image
Jim Oberweis: (17) Will pick up some because of well-known business name
Steve Rauschenberger: (16) Will pick up a lot because of recent endorsements, though still very unknown
John Borling: (4) No idea who he is, nor does anyone else, so keeping him right there
Chirinjeev Kathuria: (4) Will pick up because of IVI/IPO endorsement, and a few others, plus a few indys
Jonathan Wright: (3) No idea who he is, nor does anyone else
Norm Hill: (0) No idea who he is, nor does anyone else

So, Eric, is there an awards ceremony? Should I start planning what to wear? oh dear, oh dear....

- posted by Cynthia @ 7:10 PM | | | Link |

 
The Latest on Obama
Chicago Tribune | Eric Zorn's Notebook:

The Copley News yesterday released the results of what is likely to be the last pre-election poll.

The news chain's survey of 400 likely Democratic primary voters and 400 likely Republican primary voters showed pretty much what every other poll has been showing -- big leads for Democratic state Sen. Barack Obama and Republican investor/teacher Jack Ryan:

Democrats

Barack Obama, 37%
Dan Hynes, 18%
Blair Hull, 16%
Maria Pappas, 8%
Gery Chico, 5%
Nancy Skinner, 1%
Joyce Washington, 1%
(undecided, 14%)

[don't care about the Republicans]

Eric is also doing a prediction contest on the final figures. His column is a treat to read. Plus he's a great contra/square dance caller (I have danced to his calling many times here. If I can get my s*hit together by 9:00, will post my predictions and enter his contest. If not, not.

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:03 PM | | | Link |

 
The Culcher Preznit

This has probably made it around the internet a hundred times already and been rejected from everyone's emails even more, but it was a first for me, thanks to an alert reader. I think it's a lovely poem.

I chased down the source page (from Portside Moderator, references verified at Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Make the Pie Higher!). So, in the spirit of Spam Poetry, I bring you...

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
by George W. Bush

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope, where our wings
take dream.

Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:23 AM | | | Link |

 
I'm Not the President -- I Just Play One on TV

Chicago Tribune | Videos with fake journalists lauding Medicare law under scrutiny

The materials were produced by the Health and Human Services Department, but the source is not identified. Two videos end with the voice of a woman who says, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."

But the production company, Home Front Communications, said it had hired Ryan to read a script written by the government.

Another video, intended for Latino audiences, shows a Bush administration official being interviewed in Spanish by a man who identifies himself as a reporter named Alberto Garcia.
...
Federal law prohibits the use of federal money for "publicity or propaganda purposes" not authorized by Congress.

Well the benefit is fake, so...

- posted by Cynthia @ 7:39 AM | | | Link |

 
Ah, That Was Refreshing...

Fresh from a nap, go trolling for sweater patterns and what do I find:

Fuzzy Galore - Free patterns

which contains links for sweaters based on polynomials, fibonacci series, and probability (roll of dice chooses which cable pattern to use). Truly, Geek magic! To which I am now adding my own possibilities:

"John Kerry" in braille is:

.. .x x. x. xx .. .. x. x. x. x. xx

.. xx .x xx .x .. .. .. .x xx xx .x

.x .. x. .. x. .. .x x. .. x. x. xx




knit, knit     knit, purl     purl, knit    etc, 

pattern would repeat over 3 rows

"John Kerry for President" in Morse code is:

.--- --- .... -. / -.- . .-. .-. -.-- / ..-. --- .-. / .--. .-. . ... .. -.. . -. -

Dots are "knit" and dashes are "purl". You can separate letters or words with a fancy drop stitch or separate the words with a bobble. I should change the title of this blogging to "Free Patterns".

You can encode the phrase of your choice here:

Morse Code and Phonetic Alphabets

In homage to Madame Defarge, an enemies list: (the site also decodes)

--. . --- .-. --. . / -... ..- ... .... / -.. .. -.-. -.- / -.-. .... . -. . -.-- / -.- .- .-. .-.. / .-. --- ...- . / .--- --- .... -. / .- ... .... -.-. .-. --- ..-. - / .-. .. -.-. .... .- .-. -.. / .--. . .-. .-.. .

Add your own. It would make a lovely scarf.

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:16 PM | | | Link |

 
A Year Ago
I was sorting through old messages today and found some from a year ago, back when we were so innocent that we thought we really could stop the march to war. Here's from a message from Moveon.org on March 14th about candlelight vigils scheduled for Sunday, the 16th:

Beginning in New Zealand, these locally organized candlelight vigils will circle around the globe. They'll be beautiful, powerful, and inspiring. They'll send an eloquent and clear message that the world wants peace. And they'll be supported by many religious leaders -- including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner -- who will help to articulate the moral case against war.

Never before have so many coordinated vigils taken place around the globe. We have the opportunity on Sunday to show just how the world feels about the war on Iraq...

Does anyone remember? I do. And the vigil was beautiful, and it was moving. I read this message and the following one and cried, thinking of all we know now of the lies and manipulations of the Bush administration:

(from Tuesday, March 18, another message from Eli and friends:)

Dear MoveOn supporter,

It now appears that a war may be very close. The Bush
administration has abandoned the diplomatic process at the
United Nations. The United Nations has begun pulling its
inspectors out of Iraq. President Bush has given Saddam
Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war. This is a very
sad day.

We must remember in this dark moment that we have come a long
way. By working for peace around the globe, millions of
people have successfully challenged the justness of this war
on a world stage. We have persuaded governments to heed their
peoples' call to peace, and helped the United Nations maintain
its integrity. We all have been part of a historic
mobilization of the citizens of the globe. It will change
everything. And in the end, we will win.

We will continue waging peace, even if war comes. We have
joined together to articulate a vision of how the world should
be -- of how nations should treat each other, of how we can
collectively deal with threats to our security.

One simple way to show your continued commitment to this
vision is to put a light in your window. It could be a
Christmas string or candle, a light bulb, or a lantern. It's
an easy way to keep the light of reason and hope burning, to
let others know that they are not alone, and to show the way
home to the young men and women who are on their way to Iraq.

I think it's time to light another candle.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:21 AM | | | Link |

 
Back to Knitting

I did actually learn something new the other day when I actually left the house to enjoy the sun. I did not take my laptop for a walk to hunt Wi-Fi (though I did the other day), since I have scheduled surgery for a port to be installed directly in the middle of my forehead. Apparently my imaginary health insurance covers it.

I learned about felting, which means to knit something in real wool and then shrink it on purpose. Basically, you knit it huge, wash it in hot water with your other stuff, then pull it out and "plunge it into ice-water," as Cathy Montoya at Montoya Fiber Studio tells me. You should see some of the stuff she does. Wonderful. Different wools felt differently, and you can tease it a little to emphasize smoothness or hairiness. Purses and bowls and hats. Go visit.

A word on my nom-de-blog:

When I first set this thing up in Blogger, I didn't know what I was doing and so wasn't sure what name to use, so I just typed in "fp", thinking I'd have to type it repeatedly whenever I posted. Too, I had a vague idea that I might want to set up different blogs for each aspect of my multiple personality disorder (painting, politics, printmaking, sweaters, Jazzercize, whatever). Clearly, this one blog and my feeble attempt at a few web pages, consumes every ounce of strength and nanosecond of time I have available, so that's unlikely to happen. But since I've been chatting away for the past year all over the web as "Cynical" (though in the political realm I've become more Hopeful over time now that Bush has been dropping in the polls), I am now removing the mask and Revealing Some.

Which gets me back to printmaking, in a way, since the last big (for me) series I did was "Escapes and Reunions," in which I played with self-portraits and figure studies and the artist's relationship to her model, escaping from self, covering self, revealing self -- you know, the usual. When I get a better website (i.e., leave the now-loathsome Compuserve and figure out Dreamweaver), I'll Reveal More and get a better gallery going, with my resume, Artist's Statement, and the rest all in one place.

I have started the Right Front (of my sweater, not a political movement, folks).

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:08 AM | | | Link |

 
We Were Just Blogging About This The Other Day...

John Kerry for President - Kerry Launches New "D-Bunker" Web Site

Kerry Launches New “D-Bunker” Web Site to Help Supporters Beat Back Misleading Bush Attacks

March 11, 2004

For Immediate Release
Washington, DC –

Today John Kerry said he stands by his comments yesterday about the right-wing smear machine. He saw what they did to John McCain in South Carolina, and Max Cleland in Georgia. Now, they’re coming after him, and he’s not going to take it.

In keeping with that, the Kerry campaign is launching a new rapid-response website to help supporters beat back the right-wing smear machine. The “D-Bunker” website, linked to www.johnkerry.com, is our new rapid response center on the web. It will serve to debunk lies and distortions both on and off-line.

Hesiod at Counterspin was talking about the need for this just the other day, and posted a link to a less official site in a parallel universe here.

And they say no one listens to us...


- posted by Cynthia @ 10:08 AM | | | Link |

 
Well, Duh (part 2)
Consumer Sentiment Slips Unexpectedly:

The University of Michigan's preliminary reading of consumer sentiment slipped to 94.1 in March from a final reading of 94.4 in February, said market sources who saw the subscriber-only report.
Economists had forecast a slight improvement to 95.0, after a dramatic decline in the index in February.
'These confidence surveys are reflecting what people are reading -- that the economy is not creating jobs,' said Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC World Markets.

I continue to be amazed by these startled and naive folks who keep believing that the tooth fairy will leave a dime under the pillow, as Bush seems to keep promising.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:42 AM | | | Link |

 
Good Morning Everyone

Check out some of my paintings here or at the link at the side. I'm so excited, I managed to get something going in time for Art Friday. Still mostly under construction, and you may run into some funky characters from unicoding (still not sure about all the switches and possibilities in all the software I've been digesting lately) -- head will explode very soon now -- is 4 am, and I'm not even drunk except on blog. More later. We're to bed.


UPDATE: I think I've fixed all the bugs -- what remains are "features" (ha, ha). If anyone sees anything wacky, please email me.

- posted by Cynthia @ 3:53 AM | | | Link |

 
Like Bubble Wrap for Giants
...what is the new packaging material from Amazon like?

Discovered that the best place in my house for signal strength for the Wi-Fi card is in my bedroom. More specifically, with me lying on my stomach typing away. Just a second ago the rarely sighted, extremely shy "green bars" have been appearing on the connection thingy in the tool bar, and it has been a steady 5.5 Mbps for the last hour.

Now, if only I could bring the new scanner/printer to bed with me too, I would never have to leave the covers. Have been scanning slides much of the night and fiddling with them endlessly. Little thumbnails look like jewels. Will start to upload some of them to a web page over the next few days so you can get a better idea what my artwork really looks like, other than the "Fresh Paint Logo" up at the right (which wasn't intended as such, just a linking test, but looks good, so it's staying).

You may have guessed that my final shipment arrived recently, a combo printer/scanner/copier/faxer/blackhole where time drains more quickly and uselessly than elsewhere in the universe. I used to get my obsessive tweaking kicks by playing with the screen properties page and going from Desert to Lilac to Spruce to Marine and all the compulsive variations on backgrounds, scrollbars, etc.

Am now in Spruce, since staring at a glaring white screen has been giving me a headache (because I've been looking at it about 29 hours a day during this honeymoon period -- and now we're in bed together). I was so afraid when I switched to XP that I'd have to enter and stay in the bright balloon world with goofy popups yammering away and dogs fetching help in Office, and butterflies, and so was happy to see that I didn't have to be cheerful, or learn anything new, not really (I used to be with NT Workstation).

Update, days later:

Scanned a whole bunch of slides and just couldn't keep my mitts off tweaking even unto the pixel level. Then decided to print them. Oh, mama! Since I had been tweaking away in the dark under the covers, or while watching TV, or with screen turned down because of headache, what looked beautiful and jewel-like, but subtle on the screen turned out like something you might buy in the Bad Art department of a Hobby Lobby. Which brings up the next topic of discussion:

Ambient Light, or What Is Reality?

A discussion for another day, since I'm beat.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:08 PM | | | Link |

 
Speaking of Diaries and Sweaters....

The New Yorker: Shouts and Murmurs

So I go to see Mary, Jesus’ mom, and she said that Jesus doesn’t need gifts, that he just wants all of us to love God and be better people, but I asked, what about a sweater? and she said medium.

More tasteless links to come...
- posted by Cynthia @ 1:23 PM | | | Link |

 
The Rovian Empire

washingtonpost.com: Inside The Real West Wing
(registration required, unfortuately, but you only live once)

Directions:
1. Place cheeze and pretzels in cube of your choice
2. Release rat

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:34 AM | | | Link |

 
Chicago Tribune | Kerry hits Chicago
Chicago Tribune | Kerry hits Chicago


Go, go, go! Can't believe I missed this event, and it was just down the street! Clearly this blogging is getting out of control!

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:14 AM | | | Link |

 
Is this "all" as in "all Texas National Guard records"?

Bush Agrees to Answer All of 9/11 Panel's Questions

The good news:

"He's going to answer all the questions they want to raise," said the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, whose remarks indicated that the White House was softening its negotiating stance toward the bipartisan commission. "Nobody's watching the clock." [ed: except Bush -- can't be late for a fundraiser, you know]
...

Mr. McClellan said the White House still hoped to abide by the one-hour limit, calling it "a reasonable period of time to set aside for a sitting president of the United States."

"Believe me, you can answer a lot of questions in one hour," he said. "Many of the questions have already been asked and answered at this point in their investigation, in the commission's work."

The real news:

Mr. McClellan also said the White House continued to want to restrict the interview to the commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, and its vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. The White House has rejected a request from the commission that all 10 members of the panel be allowed to join in the questioning, which is expected to take place in the next several weeks.

Why, yes... I do believe they can talk about baseball for about an hour with nobody else watching.



- posted by Cynthia @ 8:41 AM | | | Link |

 
Mishmash From My Head
I've kept a diary since I was 12, the first 20 or 30 years of which seems to be mostly about boys, and whether this one likes me or whether I like that one better, and why I hate myself. There are rants about Nixon followed by musings about the cute guys I saw at Earth Day. There are rants about Reagan followed by musings about cute guys I saw at Comdex. Also about Bush Pere and cute guys in the Bean Pit at CBOT, but by the time Clinton came around, I think I ran out of steam, or cute guys. These things are not interesting to read in any case.

I wonder now whether my current obsession with knitting sweaters falls into this "not interesting" category, even though I am compelled to tell you that I finished the Left Front last night at about 1:00 am.

Or rather, finished it again, since I had finished it the previous night until I held it up to the light and discovered a glaring mistake -- an extra row of knitting inserted -- just at the bust line, shockingly noticable, assuming anyone might look at my bust, and so had to rip it out. So now have the Right Front and An Arm to do, and then The Collar. You must bear with me.

My aim is to finish it while there is still winter enough to wear it, which seems likely, since it is snowing as I speak and the squirrels are looking in, reminding me it was garbage day today and I neglected to put any out for them.

On the art front: I am working up something about the Milwaukee Museum of Art, which will happen later, and you'll be happy with it.

Painting, printmaking: Winter is hard on me, I admit, though I often enjoy the coziness. Rather, in other years I enjoyed it. After I got my first heating bill this year, I promptly turned down the thermostat to just above 60 degrees and started knitting sweaters. The sweaters must remain this year's paintings, I'm afraid, since nothing seemed paintable this year, and my studio at the back of the house is unheated, i.e. not at all cozy. I have used the steaming tea-kettle method of heat in other years, but this year nothing seemed worth it (despair).

Printmaking seems too public right now. I've drypointed and proofed several plates, but can't get the ooomf to run a series unless I know I have a show coming up. Crass of me.

The poetry, writing part: well, you're looking at it. I used to go to poetry readings (and even give them, and organize them, back in prehistoric days), largely because of the cute guys, if my diaries are any evidence. I can get all landscapey and breathless on a good-color day. I can spit invective and hatred at the Roves and Bushes.

But today, my new spouse (sitting on my lap at the moment, as a good laptop should) and I are content enough to watch the stock market and blog in peace. Ah, the sun has just come out.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:08 AM | | | Link |

 
Today is International Women's Day
Yes, it's a little known fact that March 8th is International Women's Day. Take the time to contribute to Amnesty International, a group working to protect the rights of women (and men too) all around the world.

And ponder this story (one of few I could find actually about women on this day):

For More Afghan Women, Immolation Is Escape

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Waiflike, draped in a pale blue veil, Madina, 20, sits on her hospital bed, bandages covering the terrible, raw burns on her neck and chest. Her hands tremble. She picks nervously at the soles of her feet and confesses that three months earlier she set herself on fire with kerosene.

It goes on.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:07 PM | | | Link |

 
More on the Illinois Races
Via Eric Zorn's Notebook, check this out from POLIS ~a Chicago blog

-Southtown Poll-

THE DEMOCRATS:
Barack Obama: 28 percent
M. Blair Hull: 23 percent
Dan Hynes: 22 percent
Maria Pappas: 10 percent
Gery Chico: 3 percent
Joyce Washington: 3 percent
Nancy Skinner: 1 percent
Not sure: 11 percent

Good stuff here and in Zorn's column, and more links, too.

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:50 PM | | | Link |

 
A Revelation
As I mentioned before, have been spending much time over the past few days downloading mp3s, sweater patterns, interesting art and other neat stuff, since I have this fast Wi-Fi connection (I still don't know where it's coming from -- possibly the school nearby? -- but I thank them every minute -- and more on the concept of the virtual Wi-Fi booth later...).

Then realized, why should I be paying for storage, since all these places can just be easily accessed with a click? Do I really need to hoard all these knitting patterns when it takes me months to knit one? Won't they still be there (many of the sites (I've found haven't been updated since cro-Magnon times)) (remembered to close my parentheses correctly, as an ex-nerd should) (though should space it out on the page better -- 5 off for style points)? Anyway, here's a great starting point for offline-storage knitting links:

Free Pattern Sites (handknitting) - Knitting at BellaOnline
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:29 PM | | | Link |

 
Illinois Senate Race Attracts 7 Candidates in Millionaire Range
Link Here

I'm not one of them, unfortunately, but this is a pretty good article nonetheless. Regardless of what you think about Blair Hull, he's done a service to the Democratic Party as a whole for basically buying time to put forth an agenda of jobs and healthcare issues that could be found nowhere else in the early days when Bush was the "popular wartime president" and it seemed illegal to say boo about him. And at no cost to the Democratic Party or to other candidates, either. But if you do happen to be a millionaire, you might think about Barack Obama:

Win or lose, Mr. Hull has shaken up the race in significant ways. His free spending, for example, has triggered an election-law provision known as the "millionaire's amendment," which allows his opponents to collect as much as $12,000 from each contributor, six times the normal limit.

More bloggings later...


- posted by Cynthia @ 10:57 AM | | | Link |

 
How To Be Your Own Robot
Microsoft Gadget Keeps Record of Your Life:

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) -- SenseCam, touted as a visual diary of sorts by Microsoft Corp., is designed to be worn around the neck and take up to 2,000 images a 12-hour day automatically.

...

As Lyndsay Williams trudged along snow-covered paths and passed by shop windows one recent day in Cambridge, England, so too did her SenseCam -- automatically snapping hundreds of photos along the way. Later that day, Williams could have used those pictures to figure out where she'd left her car keys, or to show a friend the sweater she saw in a window.

No, she couldn't. She would have been spending all her time sorting through the 2000 pictures, while taking 2000 more....
- posted by Cynthia @ 4:01 PM | | | Link |

 
Today's Art Review
I don't know which is weirder, that the latest challenge for the job candidates on The Apprentice was to sell the work of unknown artists or that I was watching it. Art was actually not too bad, and the artists seemed as serious as me. But who are these artists and how did they get Donald Trump to publicize them on national TV? Not that I'm jealous or anything, but... listening to these too-good-looking types talk about art vs business and who gives a rats ass about any of it, talking about risk vs safety in art, each team's approach to selecting an artist and then maximizing profit is interesting to say the least, since they seem to be concepts discussed here and no place else on TV as far as I know, including Public Television:

Big art vs. little, public vs. private.

Freaky (one guy puts his DNA in his paintings -- not that freaky, though, since I understand that "artist" Thomas Kincaid does this too) vs. accessible.

Cheap vs (relatively) pricey.

One woman created sort of Julie Heffernan-like digital-images. One of the works was described as "Virgin outside the bedroom, whore inside." Also image of a cat that may have been dead or stuffed. Another woman had smallish paintings described as snapshots of her life. Kind of nice.

Another guy had large, abstract landscape-like works, somewhat like what I was working on a few years ago.

These extremely telegenic job seekers are people who have no idea what art is about, but a sense that the art world isn't about art anyway, but about selling art. So on to the opening.

An aside: is odd that one of the Queer Eye transformations had them transforming an artist and following him through the opening at his gallery. So what is it with art lately? Is it suddenly cool and trendy? And again, why do I know all about this stuff on TV anyway?

The abstract landscapes seemed to do well. We see a shot of a woman buying a painting for $2000, or maybe $4000, if it really happened at all, while over at the more cutting edge gallery they keep showing shots of a decimated eats table, which I'm not sure bodes well. Possibly a lot of people came for the feedbag but not to buy, a problem gallery-owners are quite, quite familiar with.

So... waiting now to see who does better. Talent or salesmanship? Love or cynicism? High vs. low risk?

The team that sold like $869.50 of the digital artist's work didn't like her work to start. The team that liked the artist's work sold over $13,000 worth. Donald Trump is ecstatic, because, like Chaucer, he now has a clear moral for us:

You'll never be successful if you try to sell something you don't love.

If my Middle-English were stronger, I would try to tell this tale in verse.

Anyway, here's the link to the artists:

NBC.com > The Apprentice > Artist Information
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:22 PM | | | Link |

 
Well, Duh
Yahoo! News - February Job Growth Surprisingly Weak

No surprise to me. Guess the administration hasn't figured out how to lie about this one yet...

Wait... the last report showed 1000 workers added. So this is a "stunning surge of 2000 percent as employers raced to add workers."

Brief post for now. In my ardor to try out new things on this new computer (dual monitor mode is incredible, for those who don't have enough real estate already -- the mouse just glides from one screen to another and you can drag stuff to the other screen) -- I managed to sit on my glasses.

So must get new frames to avoid the wad of masking tape making me look like the geek I really, secretly am.


- posted by Cynthia @ 9:31 AM | | | Link |

 
Why I Am Up This Late
I have just married a new laptop computer. The romance is deep and abiding. It has more memory than I do, and many more features too, even though I am 2 pounds heavier than it is. The most amazing thing it has is Wi-Fi, and I apparently live near enough to a fast and free connection that I don't have to wander around with a tether any longer. This is the way life should be lived.

I spent much of the day trying to transfer the settings from my current ISP on the old desktop (which is about 8 years old, but still pretty spry for an oldster), to the new by way of their call center in India, which I couldn't make understand that I had the old version of the software, but needed new settings, plus I had forgotten my password. They were very nice people and seemed as upset as me that they didn't have the knowledge in their knowledge base to help me, but, still... I wanted to hear a nice, nerdy, tech voice.

So decided to try this Wi-Fi thing just for fun and it started immediately and flawlessly, though the signal isn't too strong. I just about flung away the manuals and help-screens and scrawled notes from various attempts at trying stuff from the wired ISP out the window.

So now I can join the rest of the world that downloads quantities of free music and porn in mere seconds (true -- check out my new link to the Midnight Special site -- tons of great websites for folk music, independent artists, etc.).

Speaking of which, I hadn't listened to the program in maybe 5 years until the other night, and they were playing a goodly number of anti-Bush and other subversive material. High point was wonderful parody by Russ Thomas -- I'm the President (and I'm OK) (Monty Python/Russ Thomas) Free Lunch FL-7503. No link, but he has an email. Go to the site and find it. Hope this show gets rebroadcast at some point.

That's it. Not even I can make love all night long, so my new spouse and I will be going to bed.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:03 AM | | | Link |