The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
The $1 Movement
Vonate.org is another organization attempting to Harness the Power of the Internet (or something) in order to do some good. The mission is:
“To socially enable change in the world with one individual and one dollar at a time.”
Taking from the idea “if we all gave one dollar”, Vonate picks a couple of worthy organizations each month and member pick which to send $1. One becomes a member by registering online and paying the $15 fee ($1 per month for a year plus $3 to support Vonate’s expenses.)
So here I am thinking, “This is cool, but am I overextending? Shouldn’t I be focused on the places where I volunteer?” I was going to discuss it with my mother, but her response would be, “I don’t even want to talk to you about $15.”
So I signed up. Then I went to look at the two organizations for the month of April.
This is how they get you. How do you choose between The Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Walkabout Foundation?
Anne’s Answer:
You flip a coin. Then blog about both.
Look me up if you decide to join. My profile is here.
BTT – Cover
The Booking through Thursday question was:
Can you judge a book by its cover?
I recently read a thought by a writer – I want to say it was Salman Rushdie – that there is a way to judge a book by its cover.
If the author’s name is larger than the title of the book, then the book isn’t worth reading. The assumption seems to be that if the marketing people are trying to sell the book on the strength of the author’s popularity, something must be wrong.
If you think about the darlings on the Bestseller Lists, there is a lot of truth to that. However, as I look at my own TBR pile, I find it needs some qualifiers:
- If the name is larger because it has more letters than the title, it doesn’t count. Maybe there is a Font Size standard. On my copy of Salman Rushdie’s Fury, for example, his name stands out more than the title, but the font is the same size. This led to;
- If the book is in its upteenth printing, and the author’s name is in larger print, it gets a pass. How the marketers choose to sell a later edition is going to be different, particularly if a publisher has the rights to a whole bunch of one writer’s work. I am looking at my Ward Just novels, here.
- In fact, since most paperbacks are second printings, the rule might apply there, as well.
- There is absolutely no reason for an author’s name to be larger than the subject of a biography.
- Shakespeare doesn’t count. Even the “histories”.
USPS
We’ve all been hearing about the financial issues that the U.S. Postal service has been having. We’ve all been hearing that changes are inevitable. The Chicago Tribune reported on some of the local glitches as USPS makes adjustments:
“In Highland Park, residents complain they have received mail as late as 7 p.m. In Barrington, the village newsletters were delayed by up to a week, so the calendar listings were outdated by the time residents got them. Mail also is arriving later in Park Ridge.”
Interestingly, there was no discussion of the possibility that Saturday service will end. As I have chatted with people about that, I find many aren’t terribly bothered by the idea of not receiving snail mail on Saturday. But one of my techie colleagues said, “It is a problem for me. This is a 24/7 world and killing Saturday delivery is a step in the wrong direction.”
“Huh,” was my riveting response.
For the record, I can manage some patience as USPS retools its business model. I don’t particularly care what time of day the mail arrives. I can live without delivery Saturday service. The week late deliveries, though, are a problem.
I have also had late newsletters, periodicals, and promotions delivered. Last weekend, I received notice of an awesome sale. From two weeks before. First world problem, I realize. But I rather wanted to complain to someone.
I didn’t want to complain to USPS. It seemed like kicking them while they are down. The vendor, perhaps? Eh. They’ll just chew out the USPS for me.
This, Ladies and Gentlemen, are what blogs are for.
Blanket 14
Another from the fleece swap. These are monkeys. You can tell because there are bananas. In case you couldn’t tell. Is there such a thing as an albino monkey?
Used leftover yarn! Loops & Threads Impeccable in Aran.
Blanket 13
This was another piece from the fleece swap. My mother thought I should go back to the store and make one for Alex.
The yarn was Lion Brand Pound of Love in White.
Blanket 12
The first of the fleece blankets from the Project Linus Starbucks night. The deal with these blankets, I may have mentioned, is that they are prepared by cutting any edges off the material and then using a rotary cutter with a special skip stitch blade around the edges to create holes through which you crochet.
For two earlier blankets, I did this prep work and hated it. The measuring. And in a straight line, even. Bleh. So Penny of the YouTube video gets her peeps together to prepare the material. We bring her new material and swap it for the prepared stuff and start stitching.
I had mostly gone for the sports stuff, but I saw this little piece of fleece and took it:
Little fairies or whatever the size of a baby blanket. But you know what that yarn is? The leftover from the Ice Cream Blanket. I can’t believe I found a way to use the remnants of that yarn!
Basic stitch, two rows around. Loops & Thread Impeccable Yarn in Neapolitan.
The Keychain Dilemma
Christmas, 1992. My parents gave me a leather dual-sided key chain from Coach. And a car, but never mind that. We’re talking about the key chain. Eighteen years and it just died on me. The snap came out of the leather. So I went to look for a new one. Yes, I probably could have Krazy glued it. But the seams are also fraying and really. Eighteen years.
I liked the snap thing. It allowed me to easily disengage my car keys from the rest of the keys. I wanted just exactly this same thing, but new. So I looked around the usual places. No luck at the department stores. Very blingy things they have. And nothing with two sides. I went to the Michael Kors store. Nothing. I searched far and wide for a week, walking around with two sets of keys in my coat pocket.
I was desperate. I went to the Coach store.
There is nothing wrong with Coach. They have some quality stuff. I just have a problem carrying the same bag with the same logo as every other person at the airport. It demonstrates some lack of imagination. Unless..you know. The logo says “Chicago Bears”.
The Coach store staff was very impressed with my keychain. They had never seen anything like it. Meaning that it has not been manufactured in years. They did have a leather thing with a ring on one side and a clamp on the other. But the clamp seemed to be for attaching the keys to something so that one doesn’t lose them. Not for more keys. But they did have this:
Blanket 11
The Punky Brewster Blanket:
This was during the blowout sale of the house brand yarn at Michael’s. I was pulling some brighter colors when I realized they had the entire rainbow. I had never seen that. I planned to outline it in purple, then reconsidered. The corner:
I wonder if this wouldn’t have looked better with yellow in the middle. Loops & Threads Impeccable Yarn in Claret, Pumpkin, Butterscotch, Kelly Green and Royal.
Checking In
I have had a crazy, crazy week.
Stuff was happening at work from the second I got in Monday morning. Wednesday was my usual gig at the Rescue and after that, I went to a meet up at Starbucks for Project Linus where they sent me home with enough fleece that I have become one of those crafty people that have crafty stuff spilling out of the closet.
On top of that, I am exhausted from staying up for the playoffs. I was watching the Bulls gamecast from the Library last night, in between helping customers and pricing new donations and trying to knock out one of said fleece blankets. I got home in time to see the ‘hawks score the first goal.
In addition to setting up on Crowdrise.com, I have signed on to the Living Philanthropic Year Two Challenge:
“I pledge to donate at least $1, volunteer, or do a random act of kindness every day for as long as I decide to challenge myself. I know I can follow and join the LivingPhilanthropic team projects at Crowdrise: http://www.crowdrise.com/livingphilanthropic.“
The “every day” was a bit intimidating. But between fostering birds and making blankets, I probably have that covered.
So I realize that I have not been all that online, but I have at least three blog posts for the weekend!
Kindness
I was reading an article in USA Today about two young girls throwing an event – a sleepover party – where their friends produced pajamas for a shelter and holiday decorations for a hospital. I love these stories.
My fondest little dream is that my nephew might grow up to be one of those kids that writes, “In lieu of gifts…” on his birthday party invitations.
Then I saw a link on the page. It said Kindness. USA Today has an entire section featuring stories about volunteering and charitable giving. This newspaper, once known as the periodical for people that only read the headlines, (ok, it is still known as that) is also the place that has some good news.
I can get behind that.
The Next Dark Age 