New Knitting Blog and Podcast

My friend Julie and I have created a podcast. Well, Julie has come up with the idea, outlined the segments, recorded it, added music, put it together and posted it and I just talked a little bit. Hopefully, I will be a better contributor going forward but she is WAY smarter than me and has grown children out of the house which gives her more free time to. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous.

I think the podcast came out pretty good and that it will be enjoyable for people to listen to, if they know me, even if they don't knit. We definitely had fun doing it and I am becoming a more motivated knitter, as a result. It's embarrassing to talk about scarves and washcloths all the time!

Have a visit and a listen and tell me what you think! (click below)

House Mountain Knits

I'm Back!!!

Hello, people of the Internetz!

It's been a long time! I have been up to no good and am re-entering the blogosphere after a long hiatus that had no rhyme or reason.

Who has missed me? HA! HA! I laugh because, if you did miss me, you need to get a life!

The world wide web has changed a lot since my old blogging days. Here are some of the places I've made my presence known:

• Ravelry - What a fun place for crafty fiber people. I've even met some who spend as much time there as others do on Facebook!
• Pinterest - Another up-and-coming place of a crafty nature - at least for me...
• Google+ - Kind of a sad little Facebook wannabe. I opened an account here when Facebook made me mad about some sort of privacy invasion which I now can't remember. : /

My friend Julie & I are starting a new blog to go along with our knitting podcast. I will be posting information on that soon and hope everyone (knitters and non-knitters) will check it out!

Until then, Happy Mardi Gras!

I'm still not tolerating intolerance

There is a big bru-ha-ha that started with Bill O'Reilly causing a ruckus at The View and sparked this exchange on The O'Reilly Factor which resulted in NPR's recent firing of Juan Williams. At first, I didn't know what to make of it but after mulling it around for a day, I have to say that I agree with their decision to terminate his contract.

You might not be able to control feeling fear when you see a Muslim dressed in traditional garb on your flight. I myself am guilty of having felt this way in the past. That being said, there is a lot you CAN do.

1. You CAN recognize that the fear is irrational based on ignorance and limited experience with the Muslim culture/world.
2. You CAN realize that giving voice to this fear begins to legitimize it in your mind and in others.
3. You CAN be aware that there is a significant group of radicalized Islamophobes who try to block the construction of new mosques, vandalize existing mosques, harass people who look as if they could be Muslim, organize Koran burnings, and believe all Muslims are terrorists.
   
4. Being aware of this group, you CAN realize that it is best to be careful and not use your position in the media to add fuel to their fire.

I am going to try extra hard to fight this irrational fear the next time the situation arises. I know that most Muslims are peaceful people and have more similarities with me than differences. I am going to remind myself that this discrimination is a struggle for any ethnicity added to our giant melting pot, and has gone back to way before the slaves came from Africa, the massive influx of Europeans, and the Mexicans that have been coming across our borders.

To fear any of these groups is not rational. It is based on ignorance pure and simple. I may not be the smartest person on this planet but I will do my best to rise above this mindset.

Fact? Fiction? Or a little of both???

I'm not sure what to make of this. It's pretty frightening but is it all true? Who made it and what is their agenda? Who is that guy that's narrating? What's with the rainbow boarder and the cheesy ending graphics? Near the end, there are some quotes that it asks you to Google so I did this one, "Your thoughts and beliefs are modeled after partisan interests to turn you into slaves." That sent me to Lisa Loves website where it looks like it's a message from aliens trying to warn us. I printed it out so I can read it on my beach vacation but it looks kind of hoakey. Whatever will help motivate us to stop using oil is what I want to encourage so, that's why I'm posting this before verifying. (Plus, I hope all of you on "the internetz" will help me with the verifying.) Watching a time lapse of our what our ocean will look like in one year, if we don't get the BP well capped and seeing the courts overrule the drilling moratorium has me feeling pretty hopeless at the moment....

The video is kinda cut off so, if you want you can just link to it here and watch it on YouTube.

What is fair?

Let's say you live on a world where there are two separate societies. Both societies consist of the same species but in one society, let's call it Ellitopia, they have a high quality of life. They have an established set of rules that allow all their citizens the potential to prosper and treat everyone equally, they have an abundance of natural resources and they recognize the value of an education, As a result, their society has amassed a great amount of wealth. In the other society, let's call it Palinbeckistan, things aren't as good. The have scarce natural resources, they have not yet discovered the value of an education, they have corrupt leaders who exploit their positions of power and oppress the majority of their population.

Now the people in Ellitopia realize how good they've got and and want to protect it. They don't want the Palinbeckistinians coming over and causing problems so they set up rules to keep the Palinbeckistanians out. The Palinbeckistinians, of course, look on the Ellitopians with longing and wish life could be better for them. They think the solution is not to fix their society but to become part of the other society.

Now here's my question. Are the Ellitopians within their rights to say, we don't want any Palinbeckistinians in our society? How did they get this right? Is it the random advantage of being born an Ellitopian that gives you access to the good life and gives Palinbekistinians the misfortune of living a life of misery? Is that really fair? I'm just curious.......

They take so much for granted.....

Conversation with my son:

D: I'm packing my lunch on the field trip tomorrow.

Me: OK, so you need to get up earlier than when I usually wake you up.

D: No, I'm packing so you have to make it.

Me: No, I paid for a cafeteria lunch for your field trip so I'm not packing you anything.

D: So I have to pack my own lunch?!

Me: Yes.

Let's see if he actually does......

The problem with standardized tests in our schools....

As critical adult thinkers, I want to see if you can come close to answering what my 3rd grade son is expected to parrot back in writing on his Virginia Standards of Learning exam. Remember, these are questions based on living in the United States. Good luck! Here we go.

1. These are things that people must or must not do.
2. Which decision making requires comparing both the opportunity cost and the monetary cost of choices with benefits?
3. What are rules that people live by?
4. All choice require giving up ____________. (opportunity cost)
5. What is the purpose of rules?
6. Name three natural resources.
7. Tell the three purposes of government.
8. What is a place where people can live, work and play?
9. Who protects the rights and property of individuals?
10. What is the choice of or decision among alternatives or possibilities?