Monthly Archives: November 2009

Bing, Google and the battle for attention

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The Economist recently reported on discussions between Microsoft and NewsCorp that would block Google from indexing News Corp content, and making it exclusively available through Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing. They quoted blog mogul Jason Calacanis, who recently argued for this as a simple solution to solve the problems facing both Microsoft and media companies–the media companies get the cash that comes from being exclusively searchable on Bing, and Bing gets the traffic.

From a business perspective, this makes sense. And it speaks a language that traditional media is fluent in–a language of exclusive content, where clinging to your story and having a unique piece of information that sets you apart from the crowd.

As a user? It sucks. Big time.

Here’s the thing–there’s a reason that I get my news from the internet rather than newspapers or TV. There’s a lot of reasons, actually, but let’s toss out the practical concerns (no time to sit down with a real paper, the news is on while I’m still at work or commuting) and focus on the ones that are based soley on preference: namely, I want to be able to decide how I consume information.

I read my news online because I want to be able to find the news I want easily, read it in the order I want, and feel free to ignore the things that I don’t care for. In my world, sports news doesn’t even exist most of the time, and I’m perfectly happy for it to remain that way. I get my news online precisely because it allows me to define what I want to see, and how–I get blogs on my iGoogle page, sorted by category, which I read in the morning or at night, since they’re largely personal interests (My folders, for the curious, include subjects like knitting, paganism, and domestic inspiration. No, Martha Stewart does not make the cut.) but I get my news from a combination of news alerts, visits to The New York Times, Slate, and other sites, and links from the news-savvy folks I follow on Twitter. And of course Current. Where I consume news largely depends on what I’m looking for–straight up reporting will lead me one place, an overview of what’s going on for the day another, breaking news to yet another source, and lively discussion somewhere else entirely. The point is, it’s up to me–and so is how I find it.

I admit it–I’m  a creature of habit. I have my routines, and I like them. And that includes my internet time. I prefer Firefox to Safari or Internet Explorer, a Mac to a PC for useability (though my bank account prefers the PC), and I prefer Google to any other search engine. And you know what? That’s not going to change. Traditional media seems to be clinging somewhat desperately to the idea that they can still get a stranglehold on your attention–that you will tune in when they say, where they say, and that cutting off other access is going to change your behavior.

But you know what? It won’t. It will, however, make me resentful and unlikely to give any of my attention to you at all. If News Corp wants to move to Bing exclusively, they can do that–but I certainly won’t be searching them out. Instead, I’ll be giving my views to organizations that trust me to come back to their content no matter where I find the link. I’m sure that I’m not alone in this, and the more that media organizations try to lock me into playing by their rules, be it by blocking Google results, refusing to offer programming online, or whatever other tactics they come up with, the more resentful I’ll be. And the more likely I’ll be to seek out alternative sources of entertainment and information.*

*Okay, so I admit that I’m a bit of a hypocrite here, because I’m only keeping my satellite service to watch Criminal Minds because it’s not available anywhere else. But it has Thomas Gibson, Shemar Moore, and Paget Brewster acting bad ass and carrying guns, and damn it, I can’t resist that. But everyone else, totally on watch.

A slight Coriolis effect

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As I mentioned previously, I had Cat Bordhi’s book on my shelves for some time before I finally geared up the courage to tackle it. For once, I decided to actually be a good knitter, and follow all the steps. I swatched. I measured. I even knit a little practice sock

Coriolis Ornament

None of it did any good of course, because I promptly decided my measurements were off and did a bunch of ripping back and other stupid things, but that’s the subject for another post. I did, however, wind up with an adorable mini Coriolis sock for a Yule ornament. Had I thought ahead and knit it in worsted weight, I could have had a little baby sock but I didn’t, so now it’s an ornament.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to move my sofa so I can set up my tree…

In which Cat Bordhi makes my head explode

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I’ve had my copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One on my shelf for over a year now, but aside from flipping through it and oohing over the designs, I haven’t done much more than send it sidelong glances. Oh, I’ve thought about it for sure–but I’ve always been pressed for time, or needed a sock I could whip through quickly, with spare moments and little concentration.

This book? This is not a little concentration book. I’ve got some Noro Silk Garden sock in shades of white/beige/ivory that I’ve been swatching and starting socks with on and off. It’s great yarn, but a little thicker than most paterns call for, and I’ve had several false starts on socks that wound up being too stiff, and way too tight on the needles to knit comfortably. What I needed, clearly, was something more challenging than a plain vanilla sock, but that could be knit by plugging in my gauge.

Enter Cat Bordhi.

I love a lot of the socks in this book, but I decided to start with the Coreolis pathway. It’s very spiral-y, and I’m a big fan. In a rare fit of responsibility and good sense, I actually listened to the book and cast on for the practice sock. I think it’s meant to become a baby sock, which would actually be quite useful given the baby boom going on amongst my friends, but I cast on with tiny sock yarn and needles so mine is going to wind up as a Yule tree ornament instead. Oh well. And am I ever glad I did! This sock has been totally blowing my mind. I mean, logically, I can kind of see what she’s doing, but I can’t anticipate or pick it up the way I would a normal sock.

Once I get the hang of it, though–I expect I’ll be using this book quite a bit.

Nearly FO: Ishbel

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Before I head down the rabbit-hole of getting a late start on my holiday knitting, I have an almost finished object to share!

Unblocked Ishbel

I caved and knittted Ishbel–I can absolutely see why this is such a popular pattern! I already want to make more! It’s unblocked, due to the fact that I lent my blocking mats to a friend, but once I get them back I’ll be able to block this out and see how great it really looks!

Stash enhancement: yarn from Hel

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Despite my supposed yarn diet, I got another yummy package in the mail. It was a sort-of surprise–the Samhain installment of Gaia’s Colours Sacred Sabbat Yarn Club! (I’d decided to be fiscally responsible and not buy the yarn, but it’s possible I may have mentioned to my mother how incredibly awesome it was and how nice of a mother she would be if she felt moved to buy it for me….)

Sacred Sabbats Yarn Club, Samhain--Hel

It’s sock yarn, and the colourway is Hel. I love it. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but there are some lovely purple tones in with the black. It’s deliciously dark, and I love it.

Also, it’s possible I may have decided at the last minute that I might want to do holiday crafting after all. Even though it’s already November….that’s not crazy…righ?

Values of community

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Yeah, I realize I’m talking about this idea of a dream community a lot, but it feels really important to me right now. As many of you know, I spend most of my day online because of my job, which means I see a lot of commentary. It’s amazing what people will say when they think they are anonymous. Some dismiss it as being just posturing but I wonder if it isn’t people feeling free to give in to the darker parts of themself.

There’s a lot of talk about freedom online, freedom to say whatever people want, freedom from the perceived restriction of polite society. But as far as I can tall, most of the time that means freedom to be the biggest asshole and bully they can be. The argument is that everyone is a grownup, and can take–but that’s not entirely true. I can rationally take the mudslinging and personal attacks that go around forums, but that isn’t how I chose to spend my time. Who signs up for emotional abuse? So the rational, sane, moderate folks eventually wander away from an unmoderated forum, to go do better things, leaving the bullies to their playground.

I’m afraid the same thing is happening in this country. Look at the reactions to the Ft. Hood shooting, or the health care bill. I’ve seen calls to set up internment camps for all Muslims, to deport them, to kick American Muslims or Arab-Americans (frequently with very little understanding that the two are not the same thing in many cases) out of the military. I’ve seen people outraged, apoplectic over the idea that someone who can’t afford health care might be able to purchase it because of a public plan, people disgusted that they might have to contribute some of their good fortune–and that’s what it is, fortune, because while hard work plays a role in this economy especially stability and security are half luck–to take care of the less fortunate. A complete lack of understanding that there are plenty of hard-working, employed Americans with no health care due to the greed of corporations who care more about giving CEOs multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses than providing health insurance for their employees who make minimum wage. I’ve seen things like “get a job” and “get over it” thrown around more than I can count.

It makes me sad. It makes me worried. It makes me afraid. Is this where our country is going? Are the bullies going to shout down logic and compassion, until we end up a nation where it’s every man for himself and screw everyone else? Rather than stew in this fear, wondering how much worse it’s going to get before we start realizing that compassion, tolerance, and caring are not signs of weakness but of strength, I started to think again about my dream community.

In an intentional community, there would need to be some statement of values. Things that people would all come together and agree on, as  a part of living there.  What would those be?

Compassion Compassion is not weak. In fact, it’s far more difficult than being callous. This is not the type of place where you shrug your shoulders when someone is having a tough time and say suck it up. It’s not the kind of place where you walk past an accident or ignore problems because they don’t affect you.

Respect Everyone has opinions and worldviews. They may not align. That’s okay. Debate is okay. It’s welcome. But there are lines. Resepct the opinions of others, and respect their choices so long as they aren’t harming others. By the same token, ask yourself if what you’re doing is going to harmor cause distress for those around you.

Community If you’re part of an intentional community, you’re there because you want to be. A group of people who happen to live in one area doesn’t make a community any more than a pile of beans and an onion sitting next to each other in a pot make soup.  Of course, everyone needs time alone, and some may need more than others. That’s cool. But there’s still an element of taking part in and contributing to the community that’s essential.

Sustainability The Earth is something we should care for, not rape and pillage. Even if everyone practices sustainability in their own way there should be an effort to live lightly, and to create something that can last.

Tolerance Even if this starts with a relatively small group, it will grow. Growth means diversity, and that should be not just tolerated but welcomed. Religion, race, gender, sexuality, age, history–it doesn’t matter what someone looks like, what they believe, or even what they may have believed in the past. They should be accepted and welcomed, as long as they’re interested in being a part of something like this, and these values. We’re all people.

That seems like a pretty good start, but I’m sure I’m leaving some things out. Now I can just dream of living somewhere with values like this…or what it would look like if the whole country started living like this. Hey, I can dream big, okay?

An update on the epic project of doom

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So, a while back I started what I like to think of as the never ending project, aka the epic project of doom, aka my patchwork sock blanket.

It’s based on the infamous Sock Blankie by the Heathen Housewife with a few modifcations. Namely, I’m not buying any dedicated yarn for this or asking for scraps from anyone. Instead, I’m commiting to only using yarn that is leftover from socks I’ve knit. Which means this blanket is going to take a very, very long time. (It also means I need to knit more socks.) The trade-off, of course, is that by the end, I’ll have a blanket full of memories, the knitter’s equivelent of a patchwork quilt made of sewing scraps.

When I first showed you the blanket, it had a mere three squares. Now, it’s grown quite a bit!

Sock Blanket Progress Nov 7, 2009

From left to right, the yarn is as follows;

Bottom row: yarn from socks I knit for a class I taught at Michaels in Virginia, yarn from one of my commuter socks, a combo square of yarn from one of my aunt’s Christmas 2008 socks and my Cool Blue Ocean Waves socks, yarn from the other pair of my aunt’s Christmas 2008 socks, yarn from my purple monkeys, yarn from my Mom’s birthday 2008 Jaywalkers

Second row: yarn from my Noro commuter socks, yarn from my Imbolc 2009 socks, yarn from my Fawkes socks, yarn from my Socks for Seeley socks, yarn from my Dad’s really late Christmas socks from…er…let’s not discuss the year.

Third row: yarn from Kismet’s socks, yarn from my mock cable socks

So far, I really like this, but I’m not sure about the size. I’m thinking I might want to add another square to each side, width-wise. I like blankets you can really wrap up in. On the the other hand…that means it will take that much longer to finish. But, hey, what’s another two or three years on what’s probably at least a fifteen year project, right?

FO Friday: Tempting

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Look! I knit something! I actually finished this one a while ago, but managed to flake on blogging about it.

Tempting

Apologies for the Myspace-esque photo. The cats kept knocking over the camera when I tried to use the time, so eventually I just threw my hands up and went with this.

The pattern is Knitty’s Tempting, the yarn is KnitPicks Andean Treasure (color was I think Lettuce? But it’s discontinued, looks like). My gauage was slightly smaller, so I made the 36″ sizes rather than the 32″.

I really like this one. The Andean Treasure is soft enough for me to tolerate next to my skin, and it’s cute and comfy. I was worried the bow was going to be too fussy, and I did fiddle with it a bit when I first wore it, but ultimately I think it’s cute. Success!

A framework for my dream community

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Since my previous post about intentional community, I’ve been thinking a lot about what my dream community would look like. This blog seems like as good a place as any to get these thoughts out there. Who knows, maybe there are more of you who share my dream! I figured I’d start with a broad framework of what I would see as ideal, and then I could dig deeper into some of these in future posts.

So, here’s an overview of what my Dream Town  of Sustainable Awesomeness would look like. Obviously, some of these would be longer term goals to work towards, but I think laying the path out would help. Also, even with crazy ass dreams, I’m just a planner.

Location There are a lot of largely subjective factors here. For me, the key would be somewhere with seasons (and snow! I miss snow!), somewhere with mountains (because I don’t trust places that are entirely flat) and somewhere not too far from a city. There are some conveniences that come from urban areas, and having something within a reasonable drive would be great. Plus, it would make it more easily accessible for visitors, which will become important later in this list. I’m leaning towards Colorado right now, but that’s just me.

An actual town In my ideal, this would take the form of an actual, incorporated municipality. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, it allows for growth. Ideally, this sort of model would be the sort that can expand and grow as more people become interested in this type of living rather than something that only works on a micro level. Second, it allows for more control. Unincorporated areas can’t make their own laws, which runs the risk of, say, a county deciding that the lot next to your sustainable farm is the perfect place for a sewage treatment plant or a new condo development. As a municipality, you get to set your own zoning laws, amongst other things. You also avoid being absorbed by a larger city as it grows, and being subject to their laws, taxes and other things. There are some downsides–you have to meet certain requirements to incorporate, and you have to pay municipal taxes to receive county services, while an unicorporated area does not–but I think they’re outweighed by the plus-es.

Self-sufficient This kind of goes along with the above. Being a town and all, the idea would be to form a self-sufficient community that included the essentials for life–like a fire/EMS department, police department, town government, schools, a doctor, and other services. Now, I’m sure some people are having a very visceral reaction to some of those, but it all goes back to scalability. You don’t need all of those things in a very small community, but if you want something that can grow, you do. Fire/EMS and doctors, well, that’s pretty self-explanatory. Things burn, people get hurt, it’s bad.  As for police, I’m sure many of you are saying but we won’t need them. Well, you might. As hard as you might try, you can’t guarantee everyone who wants to be part of the community in is going to be honest and upfront. Not to mention visitors.  Plus, this provides an interesting opportunity to explore the idea of what a different type of police force might look like. Maybe police officers also function as mediators in conflicts. How would that look? I think it’s worth exploring. Also–government. Decision by consensus is, again, one of those things that can reach a stopping point with large groups. But there are forms of government that rely heavily on consensus–a town meeting style government with elected selectmen, perhaps, or a town council style one with term limits or other restrictions that ensure people are rotated through on a regular basis.

Non-judgmentally sustainable Sutainability is one of those concepts that is rather nebulous, and may mean different things to different people. Ideally, this would be a place where all people are working towards a more sustainable life–on their own terms. Not everyone is cut out to live in cobb houses with composting toilets. I’m not. I like my indoor plumbing and running (hot!) water, and love the idea of restoring and updating an old house. Other people need steady electricity for medical reasons, and would at least need backup connection to a power source, even if the main portion of power was sourced from solar or wind. Some people are vegans, others might want to run a ranch and raise their own ethically produced meat. Compromise is not failure.

Open Yes, I’d love very much to drag all or most of my friends to said Dream Town of Sustainable Awesomeness. But the idea of a diverse community means accepting new people. Seniors, young people, families, couples, singles. Every individual or group is going to have their own baggage and own approach to similar ideals. Being a part of such a community shouldn’t require lock-step adherence to any ideology or method.

Connected Technology is here, and it’s not likely to go anywhere. And while there are a lot of drawbacks, there’s also a lot of good to come of it. A connected community would enable a lot more people to be a part of it, via telecommuting, and to serve the community by connecting to the rest of the world.

Honors Individuals Community is great, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of individuality. Want a communal house? Awesome, start one! But if you want your own space, that should be cool too. People should be free to build their own homes, start their own businesses or other ventures.

Prosperous Money is not, as some would suggest, the root of all evil. It’s essential. A community that can’t draw income can’t sustain itself. As much food as you can grow, as much livestock as you can raise, as many DIY skills as you may have, there are always going to be things you need to import. And being part of a community like this shouldn’t require taking actions that will negatively affect your financial future should you decide you want to move (like not being able to save, or have a decent income). Tourism would seem to be a logical choice here; I could imagine a community like this being somewhat of an oasis for people to come visit.

Scalability Here’s a fact. What we’re doing right now in this country, the life style we live? It’s not working. If you think it is, you’re probably in a very small group of people who have the luxury of not having the same concerns as the rest of us. And as much as small intentional communites are awesome, small groups of 5-50, even 100 like-minded people aren’t really a scalable model for the future. If I were able to form my dream community, it would be on a structure that’s scalable. Not only for it’s own sake–at some point, of course, growth reaches a point where you become the city you built it to get away from, though perhaps it would be an entirely different sort of city–but to serve as a model for others.

Atmosphere Okay, I’ve spent this entire blog post boring you with really practical, serious stuff. But that’s not all this is about! It should be fun! Maybe I’ve just watched too many episodes of Gilmore Girls and Everwood, but who doesn’t want to live somewhere with lots of quirky festivals? Being pagan, and envisioning a community centered around earth-centric values, I could imagine a town where each turn of the wheel is celebrated with a festvial. Maypoles at Beltane! Bonfires at Midsummer! Games and competition at Lughnasad! We live in a world where it is generally considered Very Bad Form for adults to act silly, and that’s ridiculous. Everyone needs to be silly sometimes!

So–that’s my take on this. So blog readers, what do you think? If you’ve ever dreamed of your ideal community, how does this compare? Think I’m totally nuts, or onto something? Leave a comment and let me know.

Living Intentional Community

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I’ve been having one of those weeks where I’m feeling very frustrated about modern, urban life. Don’t get me wrong–most of the time, I love living in a city. I love that I can get just about anything I want or need. I like that I have convenient and relatively reliable public transit. I like the number of museums, theaters, and other events available. I like that the sheer number of people increases the odds of finding those with similar interests. I also like technolgy. I like that I can talk to people across the country or even the world just as easily as someone across the street.

But sometimes I wonder if we aren’t really screwing it all up.

On the one hand, I have a great community in CAYA. On the other, I feel disconnected from most of the people around me. I barely know my neighbors in my building, much less the ones in the next building over, or down the street. On Saturday, I was baking cupcakes for our Samhain ritual, and realized I was out of cocoa powder. I didn’t need much, just a 1/2 cup, but could I do the neighborly thing and knock on people’s doors to see if I could borrow some? No. It’s not done. Instead, I had to get in my car and drive to the nearest grocery store and pick some up, while my batter sat forlornly un-chocolated on the counter. On the one hand, we can reach out and find others with similar interests, no matter how obscure, on the internet. On the other, it’s awfully lonely to sit in front of a computer all the time.

Then, I began thinking about this article from Cracked. (Warning: Cracked is minorly NSFW and also not for the easily offended.) It talks about 7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable. A couple of things jumped out at me. First, the idea that technology allows us to shield ourselves from people we don’t like–and I don’t mean the guy who bites the heads of chickens and terrorizes children and small animals, because you totally should avoid that guy, I mean the dude that annoys you because he has this weird nasal voice or the girl whose difficult to get along with because she always ha to be right even when she’s painfully wrong, those kind of people–so that we build up absolutely no tolerance to that. Think about it–we’re able to surround ourselves with people exactly. like. us. I don’ t mean similar life philosophies, I mean exactly the same. Same age group. Same exact ideology. Same education. And I can’t help but thinking–aren’t we missing out on something?

It’s about that time I start dreaming about living in a small town. But not with some of the negative aspects of small towns. There’s a risk, in a small community, of judgment, particularly for those of us who are somewhat left-of-center. (Hint: that’s why so many of us move to cities as soon as we can.)

But what if there was a different way? What if there were a way to create intentional communities that were based on some broadly similar goals–in my ideal, I’d say sustainability, respect for the Earth, religious and social tolerance–that still embodied some of the things that technology has allowed us to strip away? The kind of place where you know your neighbors and you have everyone from older folks to families to single people. Where you might have that annoying guy that everyone puts up with because he really does mean well, or that one person who knows everyones business. Where you care because that’s where you live. That’s your community. Not some strangers on a screen, but the people where you live.

I know it’s crazy. I know there are lots of realistic, practical reasons why this wouldn’t work. To begin with–finding a town, the little issue of money and jobs, the fact that most people aren’t exactly up to picking up their lives and doing something crazy on a whim. But..isn’t it a nice dream?