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Thank you for all your lovely comments on my baby tulip sweater. Sadly, they've all been wiped from my site (but luckily I have them in my archives) because I've switched to Haloscan which enables me to respond directly to your comments (which blogger doesn't allow for some inexplicable reason).
Anywhoo, this is just a quick note to tell you that I'm headed for the ocean. That's right, it's time for a little coco r&r and boy do I need it! I'll be hitting the road with my darling for a 2-week camping trip around the Gaspésie, New-Brunswick and Maine coasts. The car is packed with lots of treats (Goodies and Ringolos, yum!), tons of tunes (Martha Wainwright, Charlotte Gainsbourg and the new Wilco are current faves) and a pile of vacation knitting. Cross your fingers for lots of sun, ok?
(A glimpse of what I'll be working on)
Ciao! See you in 2 weeks...
Friday, July 20, 2007
The sea, the sea...
Thank you for all your lovely comments on my baby tulip sweater. Sadly, they've all been wiped from my site (but luckily I have them in my archives) because I've switched to Haloscan which enables me to respond directly to your comments (which blogger doesn't allow for some inexplicable reason).
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Friday, July 13, 2007
If you look up the word cute in the dictionnary...
you'll find a picture of this adorable sweater.
I'm so happy to finally be able to show you this. I knit it last weekend for a friend and co-worker who's expecting her first child. She reads this blog, so I had to keep the in-progress details to myself. Today we threw her a knitting baby shower where she received many lovely knitted gifts from all the ladies at our work knitting club. Lucky baby, we can't wait to meet you!
As you no doubt know, I first came across this pattern on the queen of all knitterly things' blog. Having now knit one of these, I totally understand why Stephanie ran over to Lettuce Knit and bought every kit in sight. This is such a pleasant knit! The soft, squishy yarn, the top-down construction (no sewing up, yay!), the positively cheery palette. I don't often want to knit the same thing twice, but I'd revisit this darling thing in a heartbeat.
Pattern: Tulip Baby Cardigan, designed by Lindsay Pekny (mail-ordered it as a kit from Lettuce Knit)
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy Worsted Superwash Merino in Cool Fire, Giant Peach, Strange Harvest, Spring Tickle, Happy Forest, Blue Lagoon, Summer sky and Visual Purple (don't you just love the colour names?)
Given the thickness of the yarn (a heavy aran weight), this knit up really quickly. It was my first time trying applied I-cord and although I was intimidated at first, I'm tickled at how simple and neat this edging is. Expect to see I-cord finishing popping up on all my new knits :) Another charming detail is the K1, P1 row where the colour changes. It just adds that little pop that really makes the sweater come alive. A great, easy-to-follow pattern.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Catching up
Its been a while, hasn't it? I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. Just chalk it up to plain old hot-weather laziness.
My time away has not been a complete write-off, as I have done quite a bit of knitting in the last little while. So lets just get right to the goods, shall we?
Fresh off the needles:
Pattern: Swank by Kim Hargreaves
Rowan Knitting Magazine, Number 29
Yarn: Summer Tweed in Ghost
Needles: 4.5mm
I'm very happy with the final product. A big, comfy "walking on the beach on a cool day" belted wrap. The yarn is not the most pleasant to work with (stiff cotton & slippery silk) but it washes up to a soft fabric with a beautiful hand.
I was trying my best to have that nonchalant cool "Rowan model" look in these pictures, but my husband saw right through me and did his best to make me laugh and lose my composure.
Here I am trying to keep it together...
... getting the giggles...
... doubled-over with laughter...
... and finally giving it all up to the goof gods.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Unexpected Combos: DrinKlip- 10.11.11
This series of Unexpected Combos posts is sponsored by P&G Downy.
Our London-based editor Justine Aw catches up with the latest action from the London Design Festival! For this latest in unexpected combinations, we love the idea of an object that can be used to hold just about anything your mind can dream up ~ while functioning like a giant clothespin! Another discovery from this year's 100% Design, Been Kim's DrinKlip. Sometimes you just can't find a cupholder when you need one. How convenient would it be if you could add your own to any surface? That's exactly what DrinKlip sets out to do. The piece clips onto desks, shelves, or even the arm of your chair using a classic clothespin design and gives you a cup that can carry up to 1kg. These clips come in a range of fun colors and can hold all sorts of things (love the idea of using them for plants!). Each sale also supports efforts to develop wells and water filtration for areas in need. More photos on the next page!
And here are some official images of the DrinKlip in action.


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on orders over $50
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One Nation Under God Ribbon Christian Car Magnet
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One Nation Under God
Ribbon Car Magnet 4" x 8" ribbon magnet is manufactured and printed in the United States of America. We print on premium quality, super-thick (.030) magnetic material with top quality, UV protected inks. Be sure to remove, clean and reposition your magnet weekly.
4 inches wide by 8.0 inches tall
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Display on your car, SUV, van, truck or any metalic surface except aluminum. Also works great on a metal whiteboard at work, or the fridge at home.
Get creative! The best part about a magnet is that you can put it on, take it off, and move it around.
Simple instructions: Stick on. Pull off.
If outdoors, do remove and clean under your magnet once in a while (weekly is best, but less often is OK too unless you live in a desert where everything gets baked on). Also remember that direct sun will eventually cause color fading on your magnet if you car stays outdoors all day long.
Car wash high pressure sprayers and brushes are known to occasionally keep car magnets as souvenirs. Best to remove before sending your car to the shower, or, just be sure to check before you leave the car wash.
(If ever your magnet gets an attitude and is stubborn about coming off, warm it up a little, or even pour a little water with dishwashing liquid on it and you should win the battle, leaving the surface underneath just fine. We've sold over a million magnets and only heard of this happening a handful of times but we thought we'd mention it anyway).
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April 7th, 2014
Camrin and Simon back from a few days in the Farasan Banks, Saudi Arabian Red Sea. We took a break from tagging mantas and whale sharks to dive on reefs that were made famous by Jacques Cousteau 50 years ago. The reefs are still in good shape, although the lack of reef sharks is in stark contrast to Cousteaus's original underwater footage from this area. More soon on a whale shark aggregation that we have discovered here in the southern Red Sea and why it is potentially significant to whale shark populations throughout the global ocean.


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Look, there's a lot about the 1992 Opening Ceremonies in Barcelona that is just a little too '90s for most folks. The short shorts. The glow sticks. The high socks. However, every single time I watch the ending, I get chills, my brain unable to wrap itself around the fact that HE SHOT A FUCKING ARROW FROM 181 FEET AWAY AT A SEVEN-STORY-HIGH TARGET. (Fact: Antonio Rebollo, a Paralympic archer who was stricken with polio when he was eight months old, was selected from over 200 archers for the event. His arrow actually landed in a sandbox set up outside the stadium.)
Four years later, Rebollo recounted the moment as such:
There were no fears. I was practically a robot. I focused on my positioning and reaching the target. My feelings were taken from the people who described to me how they saw it. What they felt, their emotions, their cries. This is what made me realize what the moment actually meant.
Why we don't have someone do this at every single Opening Ceremonies, I'll never know.


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Aug 18, 2022
$72,000 - $120,000 yearly
The Applied Electronics Division of Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) in Cypress, CA is seeking a full-time ISSM / LAN Administrator. They will be joining our growing office with lots of opportunities for growth. A successful candidate will be familiar with the 32 CFR Part 117, DAAPM, NIST RMF, DoDM 5205.07, and/or JSIG IS requirements. They will have strong written and oral communication skills to maintain a relationship with our ISSP and other mission partners. ARA is searching for a candidate who takes the initiative and creates decisive paths to complete tasks. This person will need to work well in a team environment with a commitment to ensure security awareness and techniques are communicated effectively across the infrastructure. As I nformation Systems Security Manager ( ISSM) , the right candidate must be able to: · Develop RMF accreditation packages and assist in maintaining Authorization to Operate (ATO) certifications for networked systems and...
Applied Research Associates, Inc. Cypress, CA, USA Full-Time


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Religion, religiosity and spirituality are not the same. Many people use the three words as synonyms and see no difference between them. Religiosity has to do with the quality of being 'religiose' or being extremely, obtrusively, pious, sanctimoniously or even sentimentally religious, but in its broadest sense it also used to indicate the sort of activity a person is willing to take on for that what he believes. It is about the numerous aspects of religious activity a person is willing to undertake, his dedication for that belief or religious doctrine. Another term that would work equally well, though less often used, is religiousness for the person's belief in a god, the God of gods or in gods and their observance of associated activities.
With the choice of a religion comes the preparedness to follow certain teachings of that religion and to follow a sociocultural program for developing spiritually and for bringing spiritual realizations into everyday life according to the teachings or doctrines of that religion. In that movement about certain teachings concerning the individual and his environment the person shall want to become part of that religion and as such would want to take certain attitudes and do certain exercises in that faith. doing those readings, meditations and exercises for the mind, the person shall use ''spirituality'' to refer to his or her inner experiences that arise from trying to put such programs into practice.
Through the ages lots of people tried to find ways to come to a higher ecstasy or to get into raptures. Their actions in their faith should bring them "Spirituality" bringing them in exaltation a sense of transcendence, sacrality, and ultimacy, making them ready to bring praise, tribute, worship, acclaim, glory, blessing, homage, reverence, magnification, apotheosis, glorification, acclamation, panegyric, idolization, extolment, lionization, laudation, in elation, delight, joy, excitement, inspiration, ecstasy, stimulation, with exhilaration, jubilation, exultation, joyousness. Their religious actions want to trigger the 'becoming more' going beyond or exceeding the Self. To do this, encoded signs and symbols may be the means by which experiences not only are generated but are described, even recognized and labelled, as religious. The many religions, the world is rich, have always relied upon several symbolic forms for breaking outside of the profane world. In most religions the believers try to come into an other stadium of life and of feeling. They even try to come in an other or alternative reality known only through its ecstatic qualities and interpretive frames.
Even within contemporary, more secular social settings, research suggests that those persons most involved in their religious traditions are more likely to report having strong religious experiences (Yamane and Polzer 1994, pp. 1–25).
To come to full or real spirituality the person has to give himself or herself to the faith which she want to follow and take on its traditions, demanding not only the will to come to an interior life or religious discipline but also to undertake social action, making ethical choices, family commitments, friendship, to live and work according that faith and to make choices for the way to live and in politics.
Some people may be very religious but not exactly spiritual, not interested to dig deep in themselves. Some religious people are not so much interested in doing the things themselves, but just want to follow set regulations and handlings done in the religious community. They for example just want to sit down in church and be passive, looking and hearing what is going on, with sometimes even having the mind strolling of to somewhere else. Whilst the religion may be brought on by their parents or their environment where they grew up to get spiritual they have to undertake themselves the action to be willing to enter the spirituality which stems from their inner soul, and not from the hierarchy of their religion, their pastors or priests, but is dependent on their will to search in themselves, to look for the very essence of their own being. The spirited approach or spirituality like the religion may come form influences of different sources, where the parents, in first instance or the most important one, and from driving forces in the life of the person, like a God Almighty.
The religion may become a stumbling block in a family whilst the spirituality may have the family grow, because it can be independent from the religion. In a family religion can really become a hot mess of opinions, beliefs and arguments. Whereas, spirituality is life affirming. Even atheist can be a spiritual human being. Spirituality is a way of life. It is the only way to conquer ignorance. the spirituality is looking to get out of spiritual blindness which may cause enough foolishness, benightedness, unenlightenment. Spirituality may take the person beyond his first thought limits and bring him or her out of mental darkness. It is understanding that we all are part of a whole. The realm of spirituality is mystical and mysterious. When we look at the world with an attitude of wonder and awe, we become aware that the world is filled with spiritual life. Part of spirituality is being willing to admit that something is beyond our comprehension. With our materialistic attitude and ego-tripping of today, many having a high quality ore it is difficult for them to come to the science in understanding the world, trying to find answers they may never find. When we look at the universe and into our own hearts and see that which we don't understand, we know that we have touched that which is unknowable and holy. To come to the acceptance of nullity is the most difficult part of spirituality. Only by willing to see the futility of our self, accepting that insignificance we shall be able to become really spiritual. though we may be religious it can well be that we are not at all spiritual.
Preceding article: Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
Next: Being Religious and Spiritual 3 Philosophers, Avicennism and the spiritual
Read also:
- Faith
- Living in faith
- Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
- Religion and spirituality
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #6 Prayer #4 Attitude
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
- Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
- Theology without spirituality sterile academic exercise
- How should we react against the world
- Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
- Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
- A philosophical error which rejects the body as part of the human person
- Childish or reasonable ways
- Words to push and pull
- To mean, to think, outing your opinion, conviction, belief – Menen, mening, overtuiging, opinie, geloof
- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
- If we, in our prosperity, neglect religious instruction and authority
- Can we not do what Jesus did?
- Making church
- Church sent into the world
- Your life the sum total of all your choices
- A Living Faith #2 State of your faith
- True riches
- If you have integrity
- Happiness is like manna
- Happiness an inner state
- Poetry of Peace
Additional reading:
Related articles
- The Rise of Religion Might Be All About Sex (alternet.org)
A study suggests religion might have arisen to protect certain reproductive strategies, like long-term partnership.
- Is There Still a Place for Religion? (virtuoussociety.com)
Sociologists juxtapose the low religiosity of countries in Northern Europe with their low rates of crime and poverty. Unbelievers in America remark that religious people are over-represented in US prisons—and under-represented among its scientists and thinkers. In the opinion of many researchers, the statistical landscape of religion is bleak.
the US states with the lowest incarceration rates have the lowest levels of religiosity. But when controlling for race, income and other social factors by way of regression methods, Stark finds that religion is actually negatively correlated with violent crime.
To the extent that social scientists have neglected rigorous analysis in favor of more agreeable correlations, they must re-evaluate their assumptions, and paint their portrait of religious society in finer strokes, and from a wider palette. They will likely find that faith does not cast a shadow on modernity, but rather lights its way.
- Texas A&M professor blends neuroscience, religion in new course (believervsnonbelievers.wordpress.com)
In the apparent conflict between science and religion, many are turning to the field of neuroscience to weigh in on debates like whether the Book of Revelation was based on an inspired dream, like Paul said it was, or a simple neurological process.
With more than 50 years of research and teaching experience across the entire spectrum of neuroscience, Klemm admits that his emphasis is on neuroscience, because, as he says it, "I'm not a preacher," but he wants the students to take their own religious beliefs and try to make the connection with what he teaches them about neuroscience.
Religionists hold that humans have free will and are accountable for their beliefs and choices, while scientific experiments have led scientists to believe that free will is an illusion.
- Supplementary Materials on Spirituality and Religion (chermercado.wordpress.com)
For those who want to expand their understanding of the topic and Spirituality and Religion, you may refer to the following links below. I've provided some points of reflection that should help you re-think things though you may not necessarily agree with them.
Some Thoughts about the Integration of Spirituality and Religion
The tendency of people who claim to be Spiritual but not religious is to treat faith as if it were a buffet: cherry-picking only the good parts and leaving the rest behind (as explained by the meme above). It's convenient and satisfying but it doesn't capture the essence of real faith.
Faith is a matter of reciprocity because it is a two-way street.
In summary, if your aim is to develop a personal but life-giving spirituality, it needs a check-in balance system to make sure it does just that. This check-in balance is easily provided by organized religion.
The Value of Community in Christian Spirituality
To relate with the Church, then, is to concretely relate with Jesus, who is God afterall. If you find yourself having a difficult time dealing with the Church's imperfection, that's insight in itself into how it might be like for God to be dealing with each and everyone of us. To relate with others (the Church), then, is to get to know more how God relates with us and how He has to deal with our petty problems and imperfections.
- Religion Vs. Spiritual (etsuwmst.wordpress.com)
Many people religious background comes from what their parents instill in them but once they reach a certain age is where they find their true calling as to what they think and feel is right. Realistically most people just conform into whatever is most common to them.
Religion is organized; it's more of a physical thing. Like something imaginable as far as seeing or feeling. Religion is instituted by man. In a religion there are many gods, although they are serving the same purpose. Just like there are many beliefs in religion. Where a spiritual person does not have an organized way about being spiritual, it is all within yourself. It's more of being spiritual than something being physical.
- Religiosity Raises Risk Among Sex Offenders, Clergy More Dangerous Than Other Groups (atheistrev.com)
Male clergy accused of sex crimes were found to be more dangerous in some important ways than matched non-clergy offenders (Langevin, Curnoe, & Bain, 2000). And religiosity was positively associated with the number of convictions for sex crimes and the number of victims among convicted male sex offenders (Eshuys & Smallbone, 2006). It was also inversely related to the age of the victims (i.e., more religious offenders tended to victimize younger children).Parents place clergy on pedestals due to their presumed connection to some sort of "god," and they teach their children to do the same. They lower their guard because the pastor wouldn't possibly do things like that. Clergy are often viewed as morally superior to the rest of us, and the same goes for highly religious non-clergy. They are given the benefit of the doubt again and again. We couldn't possibly question behavior that would never be tolerated in other contexts. And this continues despite evidence that clergy and highly religious persons may actually be more dangerous to our children.
- Who is religious? (suryanarayanarajumd.wordpress.com)
Common man understands religion by belonging to certain religion or belief system, he follows the pattern followed by crowd, mob by going to temple on certain dates, enjoys the entertainment involved in it.But religiosity is an inner science, "doing" is relevent to outer but "non-doing" is the key to inner exploration which does not mean laziness but it demands heightened awareness. With heightened awareness you touch a point from which you witness the seemingly opposite things are complimentary both in the outer and the inner.
First prepare the mind for self-inquiry
First when you are not doing bodily or mentally which include thinking, concentration, contemplation, when all activity caeses "you simply are", "just be".
develop the skill of watching self activity which is nothing but self-inquiry.As you go on watching self activity from your center of being, thought process slows down, there is radical change in self-activity and one fine day self stops functioning when it is not required. Mind is not enemy but because of lack of awareness in functining of daily activities at present it is dictating our way of life. Mind means past plus future. But life is in the present.
Why meditation is essential?
The whole education makes the human mind conditioned to trust only in objects which he can dissect their basic constituents.
The problem arises when when one tries to analyze the subject in the same way. An average mans thinks of Self in an objective way.
But the nature of subjectivity is that it cannot be observed. That which is observable is not your subject.
Meditation, watchfulness is the key to explore the inner. With watchfulness a distance is created between the watcher and the mind.
As watchfulness crystallizes the distance becomes longer and longer. Soon the mind is so far away you can hardly feel that it exists.
- Spirituality is the world around us (realmof13.wordpress.com)
God and spirituality are pretty controversial subjects in this day and age. I myself have run the full circle of beliefs, not really wandering, but falling into the next one based of experiences and changes of perception. I have never been the biggest fan of organized religion, but I have recognized the good it does for those who participate with good intention in their hearts.
- Religious vs. Spiritual (reginayflorence.wordpress.com)
Many people study different types of religions. It says " the fact that many of the negative things which people attribute to religions are features of some forms of some religions(usually Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), but not of other religions (like Taoism or Buddhism)." We are stating that being spiritual is expressing our religion. By worshiping our spirit it shows that our religion is more than that. It is a way of getting deeper with him(God). It bring a deeper meaning to us when we believe.
- Relying on Religion (creativesolblog.wordpress.com)
Many conversations concerning the topic of religion get quite personal, emotional and out of hand fairly fast. This is the case so often that common etiquette generally recommends that one avoids the subject all together (especially at the dinner table).


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Equal Opportunity Corporate Learning
This post written by Susan Fry and David Grebow
"Push" learning has gone the way of the cassette tape, tube television and electric typewriter.
Leading educators and trainers now regard push learning as inefficient, suboptimal and outdated. Even many schools, often the slowest institutions to change, are rapidly making the transition away from that model.
Yet, despite the fact that "push learning" is clearly not suited for today's "economy of ideas," corporations have been surprisingly reluctant to make the necessary change.
The reason may well lie in the fact that a "pull" learning culture is truly democratic. It's a culture that encourages and supports everyone to explore and demonstrate their initiative and abilities, allowing the best to rise to the top based on merit.
That sounds like a great benefit to any organization. But when put into practice, the concept can prove to be quite revolutionary.
Throughout history, providing access to knowledge has been a way to control who gained power, wealth and status.
Learning and training are often hoarded and carefully doled out to people upon whom top management wish to confer success. Often, they are golden keys to elite private club that are given to friends' children, colleagues, and clients, alumni from the same university, people of the same culture, class or color.
There can be no doubt that in the last 50 years, countries with the world's leading economies have worked to erode discrimination and provide greater employment opportunities to people regardless of their race or gender.
It's time organizations make another much-needed cultural shift, and "tear down the wall" by replacing the old, "push" learning culture with a "pull" culture that ensures equal opportunity learning.
KnowledgeStar is a corporation that consults with large and small organizations to transform themselves into learning cultures. Contact us at David(at)KnowledgeStar.(com)


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Plaster Amphora Imprint (Cast)
|Showing 1 of 1
Plaster Amphora Imprint (Cast)
1.299 x 0.236 x 1.89 in. (3.3 x 0.6 x 4.8 cm)
Bryn Mawr College
Accession Number: 2017.10.58
Other Number(s): N81 B-8 (Excavation No.)
Geography: Africa, Egypt
Classification: Documents and Documentary Artifacts; Other Documents; Plaster Imprints
Collection: Naukratis Project 1977-1983
Findspot: Kom Geif-Naukratis, Egypt. 30° 53' 49.7" N, 30° 35' 27.1"E. Context: B-8 Date: 1981
Keywords Click a term to view the records with the same keywordThis object has the following keywords:
- amphorae - Ancient Greek and Roman storage vessels of many variations usually having a large oval body with a narrow neck and two or more handles extending from the mouth or neck to the shoulders on the body.
- casting - The act or process of making casts or of shaping in a mold; usually refers to pouring liquid material into a mold, as distinguished from pressing a material into a mold, for which prefer "molding."
- casting plaster - Type of plaster of Paris especially prepared to have the properties most desirable for casting and carving; it is very fine-grained, absorbent, brilliantly white, slow setting, and capable of taking fine detail.
- casts - Sculptural works or reproductions made by casting. In industrial and building trade contexts, prefer "castings."
- imprints - Statements in books concerning the publication or printing of a book, usually printed on the title page, the back of the title page, or at the end of the text. Imprints may include the name of publisher, distributor, and manufacturer, and the place and date of publication.
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text:
Keck's Exclusives: Barbara Hershey Heads to Wonderland
Here's one reason to celebrate ABC's decision to stick with its struggling Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. The spin-off has just closed a deal with Barbara Hershey to reprise her popular Once Upon a Time role as Cora, The Queen of Hearts.
Even though Cora met her demise on Once, where she made life hell for everyone including her daughter Regina, executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz stated over the summer their intentions to introduce the character into Alice's Wonder world.
For now, Hershey is scheduled to appear in just one March episode - the series' 11th hour. Besides tangling with Alice, I'm just hoping for a face-off between Cora and Jafar, played by Hershey's real-life former beau, Naveen Andrews.
Let the games begin!
Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!
View original Keck's Exclusives: Barbara Hershey Heads to Wonderland at TVGuide.com
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text:
Hardback copies now available. Send me an email (see 'Contact')'
Now available on Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and on Kindle
Smashwords coupon code YU78H for a 33% price reduction until 21 May.
U.S. President Tyrone Bentley Trout has a problem. His exclusive Irish golf course is falling victim to climate change and rising sea levels. He wants the Irish to build a wall, and he wants Ireland to pay for it. This is a tale of Russian interference, a tenacious Special Prosecutor, three ex-wives, a frustrated assassin, Ireland's first female Taoiseach and a climactic golf match.
Here's a slightly longer preview. Strictly between ourselves. Don't tell anyone.
A future, of sorts, in a barely tangential universe…
The spaniel heard the limo approach and stopped licking his testicles. Fleetingly it occurred to him not to bother giving chase. After all only vassals pursued cars, and he was a feudal Lord. A High King. But the limo was sleek, interminable and enigmatic. Despite the intense cold, and his aristocratic lethargy, the chance to assert his mastery over a chrome and steel Titan was irresistible.
Agamemnon had a rigid modus operandi when it came to chasing cars. Some dogs bark and never leave the kerb. But where was the fun in that? Aggie had an appetite for physical and moral hazard. He really should have been shorting the euro on Wall Street, with his dealer on speed dial.
Agamemnon—his human was a history professor— had inherited his technique from his mother, Athena. Her style was an homage to her own mater, Aphrodite. Both had long since made the journey across the Styx, aged, obese and diabetic, but unmarked by a single car track. So why try and reinvent the hubcap?
As the limo swept past, its black windows impenetrable, splashing brackish water onto the hedgerows of his County Meath domain, Agamemnon sprang into action. He was the Hound of the Baskervilles. He was Cujo. He was Vishnu's familiar, Death, destroyer of tyres. At least he would be if he ever caught one.
He set off after the vehicle with a surprising turn of speed for an animal who, with a certain physiological inevitability, was tending towards the avoirdupois of his ancestors. His neglected skills quickly reasserted themselves and his enthusiasm for the chase mounted. As the limo approached a pair of imposing gates it slowed down and, to his astonishment, he began to gain ground. Then it stopped altogether. He now held the monstrous beast in thrall. For Agamemnon, the prospect of imminent victory posed a dilemma. He had no idea what to do next. What do you do with an overpowered Leviathan whose body parts were composed entirely of aluminium, rubber, glass, tungsten and PVC?
As Agamemnon pondered his next move, the door opened on the front passenger's side. A man with a crew cut and designer sunglasses emerged. He began talking aggressively to his sleeve.
'Hey, dumbass. Why isn't the gate open? Godammit, POTUS is a sitting duck here.'
Agamemnon became excited at the mention of ducks. Then a rasping voice came from the driver's seat.
'Stop with the POTUS, Schmidt. We're not even supposed to be here.'
'Sorry sir,' said the sleeve-talker. He resumed the tête-a-tête with his clothing. 'Repeat. Golden Eagle is a sitting duck here.'
Agamemnon was puzzled. How could an eagle be a duck, he wondered? He knew he was only a dog, but still, the proposition sounded absurd. Sleevetalker, who clearly had an interest in birds, now approached the entrance and began to press the buttons of a silver pad on the gate's pillar. After punching the same four keys half a dozen times he reached into an inside pocket, took something out, and pointed it at the pad. He spread his feet a shoulder length apart, extended his arms, and secured his right wrist with his left hand. Then he had second thoughts. He abandoned his awkward stance, reached his left hand into another inside pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He studied it for a moment, then tried some more buttons. There was an immediate response. A bored voice issued from the metallic grille underneath the buttons.
'Welcome to Beltra Country Club, how can I help you?'
'You can open these goddamn gates and get POT … Golden Eagle out of harm's way, numbnuts.'
Just then the rear window of the limo opened a few inches and a new voice, strident and high-pitched, intervened. To the superstitious dog, it sounded like the whine of the Banshee. An anxious Agamemnon began to whimper and look around for an escape route. 'What the merry fuck is going on here?' rat-tat-tatted the Banshee. 'Is this a negotiation?'
'Did you hear that, asshole?' Sleevetalker shouted at the pillar. There was a smooth whirring noise and the gates began to open. The engine of the car started up again. As it did so, Agamemnon feared that his quarry was about to elude him. Before Golden Eagle had time to disappear the black spaniel cocked his leg and urinated on the gleaming hubcap of the limo's rear wheel. Then the vehicle sped off down what looked to Aggie like an interesting driveway, one with lots of rabbit holes to either side and no obvious badger setts—badgers were trouble. Contented with his lot the little dog strutted back down the country road. He was returning home for another session with a copy of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. It belonged to his history professor and, so far, hadn't been missed. He had already chewed his way through a superior chapter on the gruesome reign of the guillotine and the depredations of Robespierre.
'Cast thy bread upon the waters …'
Ecclesiastes 11:1
That smug patrician, Adrian Breakspear, had plenty to smirk about, thought President Trout. His face must be permanently fixed in one of his lop-sided leers. It was as if he had conjured the waters himself, like some tweedy Anglo-Irish Sea God. This thought, however fanciful, served to increase Trout's agitation. He imagined Breakspear, a flop-haired Neptune, directing the acquiescent waves of the Irish sea, across the sands of Beltra beach, towards the fescue grass of the 'White House' green.
'There must be some sort of blacklist I can put the bastard on?' the President mused, staring vacantly out the window of the Oval Office at the bare branches of the crabapple trees in the Rose Garden. They were being pruned by a small army of well-muffled gardeners.
While he doodled on yet another unread daily CIA briefing, Trout couldn't help feeling that, in spite of everything, Breakspear might ultimately have triumphed. The thought exasperated him. All the more so because the Breakspears, in all their horsey decrepitude, had oozed buttery condescension. They liked to remind everybody that they were descended from the only English Pope. They had seized the Beltra lands by force majeure after their saintly ancestor sent his fellow countrymen to invade Ireland in 1169. In the circumstances, it was hardly surprising that the natives hadn't taken kindly to the Breakspears. The disdain was entirely mutual and the twain rarely met. An inevitable consequence was centuries of spectacular in-breeding, exemplified by the ubiquity of the famous Breakspear unibrow. While their neighbours were impervious to the Breakspear pheromones, they had a stimulating effect within the extended family. Such a rate of consanguinity meant it was inevitable that a genetic glitch—someone like Adrian— would eventually lose the plot. In fact, he had managed to squander all four thousand acres of it.
Only someone as hapless as a Breakspear, however, Trout pondered with quiet satisfaction, could have fallen foul of pirates in the 21stcentury. Adrian had wagered the entire County Meath estate on a precarious Lloyds syndicate, being spectacularly mismanaged by some of his chinless old Etonian schoolmates. In 2010 the consortium took one punt too many on the insurance of cargo ships sailing off the Horn of Africa. The Breakspears, who had survived the Black Death, Cromwell, the Land League, a plethora of IRAs, and a substantial shareholding in Anglo Irish Bank, finally succumbed to Somali buccaneers with speedy motor boats, garish headbands, and a persuasive arsenal.
Then, from the west, a white knight had galloped to the rescue. Tyrone Trout was a humble New York billionaire hedge fund manager. He had amassed his wealth by failing to lose the entire fortune bequeathed him by his father, and by avoiding tax like most avoid stepping in dog shit. The Fall of the House of Breakspear had coincided with an epidemic of status anxiety on Wall Street. Clifton Cathcart III had begun the stampede of bankers and traders anxious to avoid the social stigma associated with the failure to acquire some heavily encumbered Irish real estate. Warren Buffet's tide had gone out, and Ireland's bankers had been caught swimming in the altogether. Wall Street's Finest were snapping up Irish properties like crocodiles. If the degenerate Cathcart was buying Irish, then so was Tyrone Bentley Trout. The acquisition of the Beltra demesne ('fabulous sea views, ripe for development' – Real Estate Alliance) became a sacred mission.
Trout successfully gazumped an attempted purchase by the Irish state, when he offered the Breakspears twice what the Office of Public Works couldn't afford anyway. This minor coup had added the all-important hint of lemon juice to his mayonnaise. The word 'public' offended him, and he had promised his billionaire father on the latter's death bed that he would never flinch in the fight against briefcase socialism. What clinched his triumph was the 'sweetheart' deal he dangled before the Breakspears. The family could remain in situ in Beltra House, while their knight errant doffed his armour and constructed two championship golf courses in the demesne land around them.
Breakspear and Trout had sealed the transaction with a gentlemanly handshake. Unhappily for Breakspear, however, he neglected to count his fingers after pressing the flesh. Had Trout been a man of his word he would have been a mere hedge fund millionaire.
The official photographer who recorded the happy event had difficulty framing his shot. The Anglo-Norman Breakspear was tall and slender, yet to manifest the famous family stoop. The cross-bred Trout was squat. His father and mother had been squat, his younger brother was squatter still. Trout was also a sixty-something, cantankerous, florid alpha male who liked to tell photographers—and most other service providers—how to do their jobs. Trout's priority was a favourable camera angle, this was essential to avoid drawing unnecessary public attention to the jaw-dropping wig whose very existence he consistently denied.
At first, the deal had worked unexpectedly well for the Breakspears. The discovery of a thriving colony of protected whorl snails on their former estate delayed the start of course construction. After a congenial visit to New York, however, the incumbent Taoiseach, Austin Purcell, had come to see things from the billionaire's point of view. His considered judgment was that having a 'signature' Trout leisure development in Ireland was well worth the inconvenience of flouting the European Union Habitats Directive—at a cost to the state of €20,000 a day. There were unpalatable, and unprovable rumours that Purcell had been well recompensed for his own inconvenience.
Having now accounted for the wildlife, Trout had built his two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses—Beltra (Links) and Beltra (Park)—while the Breakspears slumbered. But as soon as the designer's helicopter had taken to the air at the end of the exhibition match marking the opening of the two courses, the Breakspears had been unceremoniously shunted out. A couple of ostentatious suits of armour were imported for the lobby and their Beltra mansion became a 'Blue Book' country house hotel, specialising in upmarket weddings.
After their humiliating eviction, there was one final, despairing throw of the dice from the Breakspears. A shadowy organisation calling itself the New Irish Land League emerged from the snooker room of the Merrion Street Club to fight the eviction. In response, Trout International hired half a dozen sinewy members of the Drogheda Mixed Martial Arts club to act as their champions. Facing a dialogue with six 'wannabe' Conor McGregors, the New Irish Land League had discretely 'called stumps' and had never been heard of again.
Then, just a few weeks after the disaster of the Presidential victory, came more bad news from Ireland. Nature had chosen to demonstrate its abhorrence of a vacuum, and its support for climate change science, by sending a tempest against his property. The 'signature' seventeenth hole of Beltra (Links) had been in the eye of the storm. This was Nicklaus's personal favourite. He had named it the 'White House' in honour of Trout's maverick run for the Presidency. After an impressive winter storm, all that remained of his verdant 'White House' was a partially submerged flagstick. Even this had quickly been claimed by an enterprising souvenir hunter in a kayak. Defying the wishes of the Secret Service, Trout, in the midst of the presidential transition, had gone to have a look for himself. What he saw on his clandestine mission dismayed him. Having started life as a classic dogleg left—with three fairway bunkers in the shape of a shamrock—the 'White House' was now an expensive water hazard.
Trout recalled to mind a lesson that his father had once taught him after 'Junior' had crashed one of 'Senior's' Mercs. Someone would pay for the damage, and it was not going to be Daddy.
Edward Rothko, United States Commerce Secretary, was a trim, elegant, vigorous looking athlete of early middle age. The former merchant banker was a grizzled, non-smoking, Marlboro' Man, squeezed into the sharpest of Armani suits. In his previous life, for which he was beginning to yearn already, he had haunted the gym of the New York Athletic Club. His daily 6.00 a.m. workout—always accompanied by two competing personal trainers—was the chisel that had chipped out the angles and shallow recesses of his attenuated face. He liked to think of his body as a temple, though, in truth, it was little more than a modest synagogue. He encouraged both Angelo and Jalen to call him 'The Beast of the Bourse' hoping that the nickname would reach the executive washrooms of Wall Street. So far, it hadn't caught on, and now that he had relocated to DC he would have to start from scratch.
The Presidential Transition Team had plucked him from Price Waterhouse Cooper and deposited him in a swimming pool-sized office on 1401 Constitution Avenue, a few blocks from the White House. Rothko had sat beside a Stanford academic at Trout's inauguration. She chatted about the charms of eugenics, the elegance of the Bell curve, and her loathing for John Maynard Keynes ('I'm told he was a compulsive onanist!'), while Rothko shivered in the dry freezing air and wondered what an onanist was. So far he had spent the first three days of his tenure doing little more than conducting job interviews with beetle-browed economists far to the right of the late Milton Friedman while nursing his attendant migraine, and sneaking a nostalgic look at the Hang Seng Index on Bloomberg TV. His tightening hamstrings reminded him of how much he missed Angelo and Jalen.
Today he had been peremptorily summoned to the White House. He had been greeted on his arrival at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the carnivorous Buchanan. Trout's sentinel handed him a (temporary) laminated White House pass.
'The first of many, I'm sure,' said the Chief of Staff jovially, in the manner of one of Pavlov's dogs who has heard a bell ring. The man made Rothko nervous, and it wasn't just the infamous black eye patch either. The cadaverous Buchanan always looked as if he hadn't eaten for weeks, and was sizing you up as a potential snack. He had, thought Rothko, the balls of Satan, and the charms of a funnel web spider.
'Any idea what this is about?' Rothko inquired, trying not to sound too diffident. He was, after all, tenth in line of succession to the Oval office. He'd looked it up on Wikipedia before agreeing to take the job.
'It must be about you, I suppose. Just be yourself,' replied Buchanan unhelpfully. 'And an occasional display of fawning deference wouldn't go amiss.'
The laconic Chief of Staff had then ushered Rothko into the Oval office without offering any further enlightenment. As he entered the room the Commerce Secretary detected a musky but vaguely familiar odour. Trout was finishing off what looked like a helping of chicken nuggets. Rothko hadn't seen a chicken nugget face to face since finishing a teenage internship in a Brooklyn McDonald's at the insistence of his autocratic father. He immediately understood why the White House Chef had already handed in his notice.
Rothko was motioned by the Falstaffian Trout, his mouth brimming with capon, towards the opposite side of the huge Oval Office Resolute desk. The proffered seat looked extraordinarily like an electric chair with truncated legs. When the Secretary sat, his head barely appeared above the top of the oaken writing table. He was looking almost directly into a carving of a bald eagle with an E Pluribus Unum scroll billowing from its beak.
Without swallowing the remnants of his lunch the President had dived right in, berating his Secretary of Commerce for obscure sins of omission. Rothko did his best to be sycophantic but lacked any bearings. Worse still he became fatally distracted by a sliver of white chicken lodged between the President's yellowing upper incisors. He studied it attentively as the rant continued, wondering when it would dislodge. Should he say something? What if the President's next meeting involved lots of hand-holding and congenial grins? Deflected from the message by the medium, he missed the thrust of the President's diatribe. He gathered that vital American commercial interests in Ireland were at stake, but then became confused by militaristic references to 'flags' and 'bunkers'. His bewilderment had accumulated just enough octane to fuel an interruption when the President curtailed his tirade to swallow a mouthful of something dark and bubbly from a red aluminium can. It had no effect on the sliver of chicken, which still clung to greatness.
'I'm sorry Mr. President but I wasn't aware that we had bases in the Republic of Ireland,' the Secretary ventured. His speech was so rapid that he feared his sudden lack of diffidence might be construed as insubordination. His dental preoccupation also meant that he had no inkling what a military crisis in the North Atlantic had to do with the Commerce Department.
Trout grunted, opened a drawer and produced a toothpick. A tsunami of relief washed over the Commerce Secretary. He was off the orthodontic hook.
'Who said anything about military bases?' hissed Trout ' We're discussing an endangered American facility on Irish soil – soil, I might add, which is eroding at an alarming rate and is rearranging the boundaries of a US overseas dependency.'
'Eh … overseas dependency Mr. President?'
'Yeh! Like Guam … or Hawaii. US sovereign territory is shrinking by the day and the Commerce Department is doing nothing about it.'
Just then Rothko felt a sharp pain in the meaty part of his right thigh. He jerked upwards. He'd been correct about the chair, he thought. There must be a button under the desk. How many more volts did Trout have at his disposal? The first jolt had only been a warning. Then, looking down, he spied what appeared to be a matted blob of orange marmalade perched on his lap. It had flamboyant whiskers and two malevolent walleyes.
'Aww,' murmured Trout affectionately, 'I see you've made friends with Supreme Court.'
'The Supreme Court, sir?' Rothko was, by now, so far out to sea that he might have been a minor character in a Patrick O'Brian novel.
'Not THE Supreme Court, you moron. MY Supreme Court. The cat sitting in your lap. A magnificent specimen, don't you think?' purred Trout.
Rothko couldn't have agreed less, barring the probability that Supreme Court's magnificence could be measured in litres of pure evil. While Rothko eyed the cat warily, and surreptitiously rubbed his smarting thigh, the President had returned to the matter in hand.
'You're my Commerce Secretary, right? Rubenstein … or something like that.'
'Rothko, sir.'
The President looked at him with sudden interest.
'Rothko … didn't my wife—not this one … Number Two … the one with the weird accent—buy some piece of crap painting from you, for my kitchen?'
'I think you're mistaken Mr Pres—'
'You're right. Maybe it's the one in the john. Lots of straight lines and boxes.'
'I think you'll find …'
'Doesn't matter. Moved on already. So you ARE my Commerce secretary …?'
'Absolutely, sir. However, might I suggest, Mr President, that this may not be within my bailiwick?' He considered making a joke about waging a trade war but thought better of it. He had already heard rumours about how policy was being made in the Oval Office.
Trout speared a post-it note on his desk with the toothpick. He began to twirl it between thumb and index finger as if it was a square yellow cocktail umbrella.
'Your … bailiwick?' he inquired, menacingly. Too late, Rothko remembered that Trout had no grasp of multisyllabic English. He spoke what he called 'American', and carved short cuts through language like a Deliveroo cyclist. Rothko took a deep breath and tried again. 'My province.' And again. 'My sphere of responsibility.' A slight upward movement of Trout's jowls indicated that he had finally understood. Rothko wondered whether it was the 'province' or the 'sphere' that had captured the heights.
'So, who do I need to talk to that can put the shits up the Irish?' asked the President, stabbing the air with the toothpick, which, to the Secretary's dismay, had yet to be applied to the purpose for which it was designed.
'Probably the Secretary of State, Mr President.'
'State? That scrawny motherfucker. Maybe I should just go straight to the Joint Chiefs of Staff?'
'That might be a shade provocative, don't you think, Mr President? I don't believe Ireland has much of a standing army worth talking about.'
Trout laid the toothpick on the table and opened a second drawer. From this to Rothko's surprise, he produced a packet of cigarettes and proceeded to light one. Instinctively the Commerce Secretary's eyes sought out the nearest smoke alarm. Trout intercepted the glance and smirked.
'They're all gone. Sprinklers too. Obama got rid of them. Sly bastard.'
Rothko smiled wanly. That explained the strange but oddly familiar aroma, he thought.
'OK, we're done here,' barked Trout. 'You can go now. Put down Supreme Court and send in Buchanan. Chop chop!'
As Rothko gingerly extracted himself from underneath the ginger tom and beat a welcome retreat, the President suddenly changed his mind and called him back. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Rothko returned to the huge oaken desk, by now denuded of everything other than a phone, a hideously mutilated post-it note, and a leaf of discarded iceberg lettuce from the President's chicken nuggets that had been pressed into service as an ashtray.
Rothko knew instinctively that he was about to be fired. Angelo and Jalen beckoned. He wondered what the previous record was for the shortest tenure as Commerce Secretary.
'I remember now', said Trout. In his head, Rothko was already composing his resignation letter. Abrupt or apologia? Terse and enigmatic, he decided. Mostly verbs.
'It was the john,' said Trout, thoroughly pleased with himself.
'Eh … what was, sir?'
'Where I hung that painting of yours. The reason I remember is that bar a couple of random lines of beige, it was the colour of shit.'
With a flourish, he extracted the sliver of chicken with the nail of his index finger, studied it for a moment, returned it to his mouth, and swallowed it.
As the last shard of Presidential nugget slipped down the Commander in Chief's throat he turned his attention, once again, to the man he took to be an abstract expressionist.
'Do you play golf?' he asked.


text:
Tagged: Cincinnati East Poetry Meetup
Cincinnati East Poetry Meetup
I wanted to share that I started a Meetup.com group for poetry, Cincinnati East Poetry Meetup, where we workshop each other's poetry.We listen and offer constructive feedback after the poet has read her or his work. And if we have time, we write together.
The prompt for our next meetup (from Kelli Russell Agodon – www.agodon.com – PDF): "Grab the closest book. Go to page 29. Write down 10 words that catch your eye. Use 7 of words in a poem. For extra credit, have 4 of them appear at the end of a line.We are a new group that shares our own poetry in an inclusive and supportive environment. At the end of each meetup, we will decide a prompt for the next meeting, for those who need it."
We've held two workshops so far, which went great. We meet on the last Wednesdays of the month. Sign up to get workshop info and join our community (it's FREE)!


text:
For the last couple of years I've been searching for the perfect zig-zag sewing machine that can be treadled. I haven't found one that meets all of my requirements, but I've found several that come close. My Singer 328K is all metal, it makes most of the stitches I need, and it is easy to treadle, but it skips stitches on stretchy knit fabrics. My Janome 712T does well on knit fabrics but is hard to treadle and has plastic parts that I worry about breaking when I sew thick fabric. I found a Fleetwood F-5000 free-arm machine that I was able to convert to treadle. It is all-metal, handles knits well, and is easy to treadle, but only does straight stitch and zig-zag. Also I prefer to sew on a flat bed machine most of the time.
In the back of my mind I kept wanting a Singer 411G. I knew it wouldn't be quite what I wanted, since it doesn't do a 3-step zig-zag (it's multi zig-zag stitch is 4-step), and it is almost impossible to find one with a treadle balance wheel. However, I know some people have managed to treadle the electric version by shimming out the balance wheel, using a string or spinning wheel drive band instead of a leather belt, or cutting a groove in the balance wheel, so I figured that with some effort I should be able to treadle the electric version. And as for the 3-step zig-zag, I think I can design a new cam and have it 3D printed [which I did].
I finally decided to just stop buying fabric for a while so I could save up for a 411G. They are fairly rare, especially in the US where they were never sold, so I had to buy one on ebay, which I hate doing. It survived being shipped, but some idiot (probably the seller, who claims to be an expert at servicing sewing machines) had squirted massive amounts of grease in most of the places that should be lubricated with sewing machine oil. That took a while to clean up.
I kept getting irritated because the "nearly perfect condition" machine I paid too much for was a greasy mess, the tension assembly needed fixing, it was missing a screw, one spool pin was broken off, the other spool pin was stuck in place with epoxy, and the motor needed servicing. Then I would remind myself that those were the reasons I swore off buying sewing machines on ebay. Right, right.
At least the only shipping damage was the broken off spool pin. Although I can't really count that as shipping damage, since the plastic pin was superglued in place and would have broken the first time I used it anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a 411G locally, so ebay was my only option.
My 411G is the electric only version:
There is a version of the 411G that was made to convert between treadle and electric. Maybe one day I'll find one. There is a groove for a regular leather treadle belt on the balance wheel. It has a belt cover on the front and a different type of clutch knob on the handwheel [Note that part of the clutch knob is missing on the handwheel below—see the image in the comments section for what a complete one looks like]:
I tested out my machine on some cotton/spandex fabric that my Singer 328K, Singer 401A, and other vintage sewing machines had a hard time with. The 411G did great on this fabric. Yay! It seems to work better on tricky knits with Singer size 90/14 ball point needles, though. I also tried Schmetz stretch needles and Organ ball point needles, but I got a few skipped stitches. I can live with having to buy Singer ball point needles for this machine. Organ universal needles work fine in this machine for sewing woven fabrics, which is good, since they are cheap and I have a lot of them.
Another reason I wanted a 411G is that it chain stitches (if you have the chain stitch needle plate, part #503599). I have a Singer 604E that I got for chain stitching, but it doesn't produce a very consistent stitch. The 411G's chain stitch is a bit better, but I'm still getting the occasional giant thread loop or broken thread. Maybe I can get it to work more consistently if I play with the tension and stitch length.
I decided to clean and lubricate the motor, just to see if I might be OK using it as an electric sewing machine (directions for cleaning a Singer slant needle motor can be found on this page). I also cleaned the motor commutator with a pencil eraser. I put the motor back in, and it sounded better and might have had a little more power. For a vintage machine, it's pretty nice. It was a top of the line machine in it's day. I still couldn't handle sewing on an electric machine, though. It's too loud, it's too hard to control the speed, it's hard to push the button on the foot controller, and it makes that annoying electrical humming noise when it gets stuck on a thick seam. So I promptly took the motor back out.
It took some work to get this machine into a typical Singer treadle base. Maybe this machine will fit in the newer (1950's and 1960's) Singer treadle cabinets, but the older one I have needed some modifications.
First I had to take out the metal plate on the right side of the opening for the sewing machine. It is attached to a giant spring, which also had to come out. With a mirror and a light, I was able to see the screws I needed to remove.
I'm not sure I would be able to put that spring back in. It was under a lot of tension, and I'm not sure how it all fits together. Here are the parts I took out:
I tried putting my 411G in place, but the ledge on the front sticks out too far and hits the machine:
I sawed off 4 mm from the edge of the front piece of wood.
Now the machine fit into the opening, but I discovered I couldn't lower it completely to shut the cabinet!
I couldn't fix that, so I just put a plastic cover over the sewing machine and tip up the left side of the table against it when I'm not using it. I can't leave the cabinet open all the way since it sticks out into the middle of the room and gets in the way.
The Amazon product links in this post are affiliate links. If you click on these links and purchase something, I will earn a small commission.
Now I had to figure out how I was going to treadle my 411G. First I thought I'd try using size 2/0 candle wick in the little notch on the left side of the balance wheel. I ordered some, but then the next day (after it was too late to cancel my order) I decided I'd rather try using a flat urethane belt over the flat part of the balance wheel. I got 1/2″ wide, 0.062″ thick belting. I don't think anything thicker would fit over the balance wheel without scraping against the body of the machine.
I had several options lined up to try – candle wick, my spare urethane spinning wheel belt, and flat urethane belting. There is a piece of 3/16″ leather treadle belt in the picture below for reference. I decided to try the flat belt first, and it worked so well I didn't try the other options.
I cut the belt lengthwise into 7 mm and 6 mm wide strips. I used the 7 mm wide strip. I joined the belt by melting the ends near a candle flame then pressing them together. After it cooled I cut off the bead at the join with a razor knife. After practicing a couple of times, it's not hard to do.
Here's the join:
The flat belt works pretty well. It doesn't slip at all, even when I sew over thick seams. Most of the time it rides at an angle on the drive wheel:
Sometimes the belt works its way part way over the edge of the drive wheel, and it looks like it is going to pop off, although it hasn't actually come off yet. I shortened the belt a little to see if more tension would help, but it didn't make any difference. [Edit: Actually, shortening the belt did help. The belt has been staying on the drive wheel.] It sews fine, though, and if I notice the belt working its way over the edge, I just give it a little nudge to get it back in place.
I really like that the urethane belt never slips, even on the thickest fabrics, so even though I have to nudge it sometimes, I'm happy with the flat belt. Cutting the belt narrower, maybe 5 mm wide, would probably help keep it on the drive wheel, but I was worried a narrower belt would stretch out too much or get wedged into the notch on left side of the balance wheel. I do have that other piece of belting I could try cutting narrower if the belt does ever start coming completely off the drive wheel.
I don't like that the spool pins are on top of the upper cover. You have to open the cover to see the stitch pattern chart, which is hard to do without knocking off the spool of thread. Since the one remaining spool pin is too short anyway, I decided to use a separate thread stand.
This Superior Threads stand is pretty cute, but considering how much I just spent on this machine, I decided I'd better just make my own thread stand for now. I made one from an old yardstick, a skewer, an old plastic food container, half of an old knitting needle, a bag of sand, a pair of nuts and bolts, and some tape. Not very pretty, but effective.
I was having problems with the spool spinning too fast causing the thread to wind around the knitting needle, but wrapping the thread twice around the thread guide seems to have solved that problem.
I like the mismatched drawer pulls on my treadle cabinet. Kind of shabby chic, or in my case, just shabby. Maybe I'll replace those when I get around to refinishing the cabinet.
I'm really hoping I can manage to stop buying sewing machines now. My fleet of sewing machines is feeling pretty complete. I have six treadle machines, which are the machines that I actually use (The electric machines sit on a shelf. Or on the floor. Or up in the storage loft). My Singer 201-3 is my most frequently used straight stitch machine. I have my Singer 15-88 set up for jeans topstitching thread. I probably won't use my Singer 328K much now that I have the 411G, but my kids use it sometimes. I have a Fleetwood F-5000 free arm machine that I mostly use for hemming jeans. My Janome 712T only gets used for sewing bras and underwear, but if I can get the 3-step zig-zag special stitch disc made for the 411G, I probably won't use the Janome much.
In addition to the treadle machines, I have a Juki MO-654DE serger, which I really like, and a Brother 2340CV coverstitch machine. I also have a portable electric walking foot machine that will sew material up to 3/8″ thick. So I'm all set to sew just about anything from lightweight silk to a teepee. I can stop now. I don't need any more sewing machines. This time I really mean it. Seriously. Well, except maybe if I find a treadle version of the 411G . . .


text:
Everyone is a at least a little competitive, and when it comes to international relations, there could be no higher incentive for trying to do better than your neighbours than a bit of nationalism (just think of the Olympics).
We rank the world's countries for pretty much everything, relative wealth, health, governance quality and even happiness. There are also many, many different types of 'environmental' indices ranking countries. Some attempt to get at that nebulous concept of 'sustainability', some incorporate human health indices, and other are just plain black box (see Böhringer et al. 2007 for a review).
With that in mind, we have just published a robust (i.e., to missing data, choices for thresholds, etc.), readily quantifiable (data available for most countries) and objective (no arbitrary weighting systems) index of a country's relative environmental impact that focuses ONLY on environment (i.e., not human health or economic indicators) – something no other metric does. We also looked at indices relative to opportunity – that is, looking at how much each country has degraded relative to what it had to start with.
We used the following metrics to create a combined environmental impact rank: natural forest loss, habitat conversion, fisheries and other marine captures, fertiliser use, water pollution, carbon emissions from land-use change and threatened species.
The paper, entitled Evaluating the relative environmental impact of countries was just published in the open-access journal PLoS One with my colleagues Navjot Sodhi of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Xingli Giam, formerly of NUS but now at Princeton University in the USA.
So who were the worst? Relative to resource availability (i.e,. how much forest area, coastline, water, arable land, species, etc. each country has), the proportional environmental impact ranked (from worst) the following ten countries:
- Singapore
- Korea
- Qatar
- Kuwait
- Japan
- Thailand
- Bahrain
- Malaysia
- Philippines
- Netherlands
When considering just the absolute impact (i.e., not controlling for resource availability), the worst ten were:
- Brazil
- China
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Mexico
- India
- Russia
- Australia
- Peru
Interestingly (and quite unexpectedly), the authors' home countries (Singapore, Australia, USA) were in either the worst ten proportional or absolute ranks. Embarrassing, really (for a full list of all countries, see supporting information).
Of particular note was that many Asian countries (e.g., China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines) had both poor proportional and absolute environmental records, suggesting that the pace and magnitude of environmental degradation in these countries is particularly acute.
Now, I appreciate that some readers might thinking that rankings are a bit dry; however, our analysis extended beyond a mere ranking (even though the ranking itself is, in our opinion, the most robust metric out there; we also tested everything for sensitivity, and the metrics prove to be pretty robust). We attempted to tease apart the likely mechanisms driving degradation (at least, indirectly). We have shown quite convincingly that wealth (as measured by purchasing-power parity-adjusted Gross National Income – an admittedly blunt instrument to measure relative wealth) is the key driver of environmental degradation, not population size per se.
There was no evidence to support the popular idea that environmental degradation plateaus or declines past a certain threshold of per capital wealth (known as the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis). It's quite striking really – the richer you are, the more damage you do (relatively and absolutely).
The University of Adelaide press release follows below:
A new study led by the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute has ranked most of the world's countries for their environmental impact.
The research uses seven indicators of environmental degradation to form two rankings – a proportional environmental impact index, where impact is measured against total resource availability, and an absolute environmental impact index measuring total environmental degradation at a global scale.
Led by the Environment Institute's Director of Ecological Modelling Professor Corey Bradshaw, the study has been published in the on-line, peer-reviewed science journal PLoS ONE.
The world's 10 worst environmental performers according to the proportional environmental impact index (relative to resource availability) are: Singapore, Korea, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines and Netherlands.
In absolute global terms, the 10 countries with the worst environmental impact are (in order, worst first): Brazil, USA, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia and Peru.
The indicators used were natural forest loss, habitat conversion, fisheries and other marine captures, fertiliser use, water pollution, carbon emissions from land use and species threat.
"The environmental crises currently gripping the planet are the corollary of excessive human consumption of natural resources," said Professor Bradshaw. "There is considerable and mounting evidence that elevated degradation and loss of habitats and species are compromising ecosystems that sustain the quality of life for billions of people worldwide."
Professor Bradshaw said these indices were robust and comprehensive and, unlike existing rankings, deliberately avoided including human health and economic data – measuring environmental impact only.
The study, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore and Princeton University, found that the total wealth of a country (measured by gross national income) was the most important driver of environmental impact.
"We correlated rankings against three socio-economic variables (human population size, gross national income and governance quality) and found that total wealth was the most important explanatory variable – the richer a country, the greater its average environmental impact," Professor Bradshaw said.
There was no evidence to support the popular idea that environmental degradation plateaus or declines past a certain threshold of per capital wealth (known as the Kuznets curve hypothesis).
"There is a theory that as wealth increases, nations have more access to clean technology and become more environmentally aware so that the environmental impact starts to decline. This wasn't supported," he said.
Bradshaw, C.J.A., Giam, X., & Sodhi, N.S. (2010). Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries PLoS ONE, 5 (5) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010440


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Part 2 of Ximen and Xiaoyou's love story and this was better than the previous episode for me. There were dashes of F4 and Ah Si-Shancai cuteness too so let's all relive them in this recap!
Ximen re-imagined how different his love story with Xiaogeng would be if he hugged her tightly and apologized for ditching her.
Xiaoyou asked for Shancai's help to find Ximen. F3 + the girls stayed in the cafe to wait for Ximen. Xiaoyou told everyone that she must really see him tonight and she can already let go of everything after.
This was funny because Xiaoyou used reverse psychology on everyone and told them that they could just all leave while she waits for Ximen. No one else but Meizuo stood up and he was ready to leave. He felt awkward and embarrassed that he was the only one, I expected this kind of action from Hua Ze Lei actually haha!
Shancai assured Xiaoyou that she will wait with her since it was still early anyway. Loved how Dao Ming Si was looking at Shancai in this scene. I felt bad for him at the same time because he was only concerned about how Shancai wasn't really concerned about their relationship as much as she's invested in other people's problems.
[in a SpongeBob narrator's voice]: 10 years later… All the boys just ended up playing in their phones.
Shancai grabbed Dao Ming Si's phone to snap him out of his game so he could contact Ximen.
So he had no choice but to follow his girlfriend and even went extra by fake crying on the phone… Best boyfriend ever! HAHA.
Apparently, Ximen was in a training with his tea master so he never got to check his phone. As you might have easily guessed, that voice message came from none other than Lei. Isn't he just the greatest friend ever? LOL.
And all this time I thought he was just being a jerk again by not replying to everyone especially to Xiaoyou on purpose.
Sleeping beauty #1
Sleeping beauty #2
We have never seen any other Dao Ming Si/Domyouji in all the versions being this soft and clingy and this was just the cutest thing ever.
His head just never left her shoulder… UGH soooo adorable!
Just when everyone has already decided to go home, Ximen came right on time!
Shancai pulled Dao Ming Si away from Ximen so Xiaoyou could talk to him. This girl searched everywhere in Shanghai just to figure out what Xiaogeng wanted to show Ximen.
As much as you want to focus on Ximen and Xiaoyou's moments, you just can't help but laugh at Hua Ze Lei sleeping when all of these are happening. He's my spirit animal.
It even became more epic when he just instantly woke up right when Ximen and Xiaoyou left the shop. He felt more at peace and ready to go home to continue his beauty sleep. Haha!
After 123456 floors of climbing up the stairs, Xiaoyou successfully got to show Ximen what Xiaogeng wanted to show her at 5AM. For a few minutes, the cold waves cover the other letters of the building's name which just only show those words above.
Ximen became emotional once he found out that it was the only reason why Xiaogeng wanted to see him at this hour.
Dao Ming Si finally got to tell her what he has been thinking ever since they started accompanying Xiaoyou. Poor baby 😦
He got them tickets to London! Dao Ming Si is tired of sneaking around anymore. He's ready to fight with his mom for the sake of their future. *Swoons*.
To be honest, I kind of forgot what his mom already did to her that I could only remember that it was Shancai who really offended his mom haha!
New look, new life for Xiaoyou! I actually thought that she did this because she wanted to look like Xiaogeng… This calls for a creepy psycho obsessed kind of love story then haha!
Kidding aside, I guess she was really sincere in wanting to start fresh. Shancai's right too, haircut = start of moving on from a heartbreak.
Shancai got inspired because of Xiaoyou. She was willing to fight for her love for Ximen even if it seemed to be hopeless. As for Shancai, she is only beginning to realize that she has to do the same and believe in Dao Ming Si.
After 37 episodes, these two have finally intertwined their fingers with each other!!! AAAHHH LOVE.
They looked so happy and cute strolling in the mall. Can't they just be happy forever? All you have to do is to lightly tap it and the other wearer will know that you're thinking of them.
In a nutshell,
- I loved how everyone came to help Xiaoyou find Ximen even though they really had no idea why she was looking for him in the first place. Instead of Meizuo staying in the bar, Lei sleeping at home, Dao Ming Si and Shancai bickering and going on a date, they all stayed to be with Xiaoyou.
- I actually don't have much to say about this episode which probably explains why it took me long to finish this post. However, I will repeat what I said in my previous episode's recap. I fell in love with Ximen and Xiaoyou's story line and it did not bore me at all.
- So we're already going to London in the next episodes. Nooo, I don't want to go with the main OTP there there because I know what's already going to happen… Okay but putting my fears aside, I love how Dao Ming Si has always been serious about his relationship with Shancai. He has been persistent in taking her to London so they could already make things clear with his mom.
- I can already sense that the high-tech bracelets that they bought are going to have a major significance in the upcoming episodes. I will actually be disappointed if it doesn't because it is really perfect to add more drama and tears to the upcoming arc. If you have seen "Autumn's Concerto", they also made use of a bracelet to add more drama and it was even part of the climax of the story. Don't fail me, drama!
What did you think of this episode? Thoughts?