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There's a cool blurb in the latest issue of Body+Soul about taking second hand clothing and making new items from the rejects. You can read the article here. Basically Urban Outfitters has an Urban Renewal line, and Goodwill has a William Good line. Aside from repurposing the clothes (or material at this point), Goodwill also provides work opportunities to those with "barriers to employment".
Another call to action, but this time, it's not just from me and a fabulous organizations auto-emailer. It's from my cousin. She's the quiet one. Quite possibly the only quiet one in the entire family. And she's not all that quiet really, she's just not as loud as the rest of us, which is a form of individualism I respect. She's also gay. That is not a unique feature on our family tree. Much less unique than being quiet.
So when she sent me this email, I took notice, even though I'd already signed the petition and already forwarded it to a few friends I knew would sign but might not be on the auto-mailer.
I'm normally a live and let live kind of girl, but I feel very strongly about this. Would you help me and the rest of the Human Rights Campaign attain their signature goal and let our elected representatives know that the majority of this country stands for equality?She's quiet, see. So she's got that opposite of boy who cries wolf thing going for her. Here's the Human Rights Campaign call to action:
Here's HRC's canned letter, which states the facts much more eloquently than I ever could...
Do you want to live in a country that legalizes discrimination? Despite the recent California Supreme Court decision that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is unconstitutional, efforts are underway throughout the country to take away rights from same-sex couples.So go sign the petition. It's the right thing to do. And my cousin's girlfriend is super cute.
I joined thousands of others in showing my support for marriage equality for all. But recently, proponents of bigotry and hate collected even more signatures in an attempt to invalidate the California Supreme Court decision. And they won't stop with California—extremists are even trying to add a same-sex marriage ban to the U.S. Constitution.
We are at a turning point in our nation's history and I'm hoping you'll join me in standing up against discrimination. Please sign the Million for Marriage petition and get us one name closer to showing that Americans overwhelmingly support marriage equality!
http://www.MillionForMarriage.org
Every committed couple deserves to enjoy the privileges and responsibilities conferred by marriage. Add your name to the petition and be a part of the movement to fight for marriage equality for all.
Thank you!
So, I'm stepping through a Flash-driven online course on computer security that I'm required to take so that I can learn how to be a HUMAN FIREWALL (always capitalized, apparently), and I learn that "RISK = Vulnerability x Threat x Asset Value". Of course, those terms on the right hand side are carefully defined for me.
Only one of them is actually a NUMBER.
For your weekly veggie fix, I offer you the following selection:
We have baby squash, beets, spinach, broccoli, carrots, peas, zucchini, cabbage and breakfast radishes. Not a bad haul. We had the spinach tonight (with some mushrooms in an alfredo sauce) and I saute the squash and zucchini with one of the garlic bulbs from last week. Tomorrow is cabbage and broccoli and tofu in a sweet and sour Trader Joe's sauce. I haven't tried that one before and I haven't wanted to make since I brought it home. But, I am motivated to clear out the pantry before we move and it's my last jar of sauce.
The blog is bringing me down, man. All you crafty people need to get on this:
I love these guys.
So I thought when Mom's a Fed life can be tough on new bambini. Want to hear how tough it is when Mom's a jarhead, (or any member of the armed services, not just Marines, or ones that rhyme with "Fed")? NPR did a great segment this morning called, "Military Moms Face Tough Choices."
I know this isn't as fun as magical realist review of an overpriced skin care product, but I was moved to blog the wonders of Method's Hand Wash Refill when my dear husband, the least contributory contributor to our fair blog, said, "That Method Hand Wash Refill is awesome! The opening is actually the correct size to fit into the opening of what I'm trying to refill, which you would think would be no big deal, but it's the only hand wash refill that does. I couldn't figure out if the package is recyclable, but it squishes down so flat that even if it's not, it doesn't take up much room in the landfill." Seriously, completely unprompted by me and, as far as I know, he gets no kickback from Method for this sort of outburst. Method states that the package uses 83% less plastic than a rigid PET bottle and it takes less energy to produce.
But packaging aside, the blogosphere is awash with speculation that Method is just well-packaged greenwashing. A quick glance at Method Hand Wash Fresh Water (the only scent available in refills in our area) entry in the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database confirms that fear and makes my hands feel dirty. Method Hand Wash in Sweet Water scent scores a five out of ten meaning there is a moderate hazard. 52% of liquid hand soaps rated have lower concerns.
According to the Cosmetic Safety Database the following liquid hand soaps score a zero, which means they have the lowest hazard:
. . . at first sniff I thought, “Fresh, zingy.” At second sniff I thought, “Instructions or no, I am not getting this noxious material near my eyes, mouth, or nostrils.” Which was quickly followed by, “Do I have Poison Control on speed dial?”was spot on as Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm scored a 7, 96% of anti-aging treatments have lower concerns and 95% of facial moisturizer/treatments have lower concerns.
The New York Times reported today:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominating contest on Friday by pointing out that her husband had not wrapped up the nomination until June 1992, adding, “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”In a related report the New York Times captured the signs of potentially homicidal stalkers:
“I got to smell him, and it was awesome,” raved Kate Homrich, caught between Mr. Obama and a woman trying to hug him in Grand Rapids.Conspiracy theorists, you are go for take off.
This picture is from Dover's Weekly Sampler which arrived in my inbox today. Same day I caught up on the goings on at the 1/10 acre sustainable homestead farm in Pasadena, California, and came across this inspiring post about home gardening and food security which quoted this very poster. Thought it was a sign that I needed to share both.
From the Organic Consumers Association e-newsletter's Sustainability Fact of the Week:
OK, maybe "pride" isn't the right word. But certainly the DOJ OIG report revealing the bottom up assertion that torture by the CIA and Defense Department is both widespread and (quick shocked inhale) wrong, is the kind of whistle blowing memo one can stand behind.
I have no interest in standing behind John Yoo's torture memos. Standing aghast at, maybe, but not standing behind.
Tuesdays are good days. It's when I collect my choice of vegetables from the CSA that we belong to - Victory Farms - in Hanover, VA. The veggies are so fresh that the cut end of the broccoli was totally moist - not all dried out like it normally is in the store. This week, I got the collection of vegetables that you see in the pictures:
Included in the haul is (from left to right): broccoli rabe (with it's cute yellow flowers), wet garlic (a little milder than dried, but basically the same) kohlrabi, asian salad greens, carrots, easter egg radishes, broccoli, baby squash and zucchini (one with a blossom attached) and cucumbers.
We are eating the broccoli and the kohlrabi tonight in a Thai curry simmer sauce (a la Trader Joes) with chicken. Yum.
Dear Rebecca, those were not dumb questions even if you knew lots about color theory. In fact, it's taken me all day to research the answers for you.
Q: Why is the completed color chart left with empty spaces? It seems like you could certainly have colors that continue on all the rows (except maybe the bottom, which looks pretty much like black).
A: I totally thought the same thing when I first saw the color charts! That was the big question that I focused on when I started reading the text. Luckily, the text addresses this issue in the first chapter. (Then I moved on to trying to understand why Munsell insists that chroma and saturation are not the same thing, which is a question for another day.)
First, the Munsell color system is based on the color gamut (all the possible variations in hue, value, and chroma that can be achieved in a medium) of opaque paint. So the number of possible chips is limited to the 1,300 or so colors which can be made with pigments available in opaque paint today.
The completed color chart has empty spaces because hue families do not contain the same number of colors. Hues have varying numbers of values. For example, yellow is a light color with a large number of uniform steps between it and gray. So the yellow chart has more chips in the top rows and fewer chips in the bottom rows. Conversely, purple is a dark color. So the purple chart has more chips in the bottom rows and fewer chips in the top rows. Hues also have different numbers of steps of chroma. For example, more steps of chroma are possible for reds than for blue-greens. Reds reach a chroma of /16. This means there are 16 perceptually equal steps between a gray paint and the most intense red paint. A blue-green, however, reaches a chroma of only /10. In other words there are only ten equal steps between the purest blue-green that can be made with paints and a gray. Therefore, although reds and blue-greens reach their highest chroma at the same value level, they do not bulge out the same amount from the gray scale.
So your observation about the lowest row on the red chart is spot on: it pretty much looks like black. At the darkest value of red which is perceptually discernable from black there are no more variations in chroma possible. That’s as red as red-black can get. And that’s as black as red-black can get. Imagine you were mixing paint. If you added red to that color it would increase the value and push it up to the next row. If you added black to that color it would be black.
Finally, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) provides only a representative sample of the ten basic hue families. The large Munsell Book of Color includes all of the 1,300 or so colors available in the color gamut of opaque matte paint. For example, The Munsell Book of Color includes all 16 steps of chroma on its red chart and all 10 steps of chroma on its blue-green chart, while The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) reaches only /14 on the red chart and /8 on the blue-green chart.
Q: Do those colors (from the blank spaces on the hue chart) show up on another chart?
A: No, not really. Imagine you were that red-black on the bottom row of the red chart. As we discussed above, if you were redder, you’d be one of the colors on the row above. If you were blacker, you’d be black. If you had another color added to you, for simplicity’s sake let’s say blue, then you’d be on the purple chart. But no matter what happens to you, you won't land in one of those blank spots on the red chart. So there’s nothing that goes in those blank spaces, at least within the current color gamut of opaque matte paint.
Q: Do the charts fit together?
A: Yes. The far left column on each chart is the value scale from black to white. If you stood the charts up and arranged them in a circle around the color wheel with their gray scales toward the center, you would have a rough approximation of the Munsell Color Solid. In fact, you can buy just such a thing: The Munsell Color Tree, pictured at left. 
As each color has three dimensions, hue, value, and chroma, all of the colors can be arranged into a three dimensional form. Due to the variations in the numbers of values and chromas among the hues, the shape of the Munsell Color Solid is likened to a wonky citrus fruit.
Back to the Color Theory Index.
You think you know sheep? Try covering up the right side of your screen and go to Gentle Reader's sheeptastic review of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Can you name the sheep breed just by looking at the picture? Find out with Gentle Reader's 28-sheep breed quiz. And, if you can survive the woolly cuteness to the very end you get rewarded with pictures of angora bunnies!
Edited to Add 5/21/2008:
More sheep, llamas, and alpacas! And a shout out to our very own Rebecca!
If you are interested in color theory and enjoy jigsaw puzzles where all the shapes are the same, you might like The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.).1 Robin Edmundson first introduced me to the wonders of The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) at a Bloomington Quilters Guild meeting where she lectured on color in the textile arts.2 To put it on the spectrum of books on color theory, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is more accessible than Josef Albers' Interaction of Color (though it is fun and I would definitely recommend it for advanced students of color or once you've got this Munsell (R) thing down pat). The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is more technical than Deb Menz's Color Works: The Crafter's Guide to Color, another great resource recommended by Robin Edmundson.3 If you're not ready to dive in with two feet, if the sticker shock on the Munsell (R) is a bit much, or you want to keep your focus on fabric arts and not be distracted by references to painting or other studio arts, Deb Menz's Color Works might be the way to go. But if you think "color tetrads, duh," then maybe you need to move on to the Munsell (R) or the Albers.
The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is one tool to help you understand color. Now, there's a certain approach to color that would look at this and scoff, "There are so many colors in the rainbow. Use every one!" Well, yes, but what if you use every one and still think it looks like poo? OR what if you're trying to play with color in a different way, perhaps pushing yourself beyond, "this looks pretty with that"? Not that "this looks pretty with that" isn't a perfectly viable approach to color. It certainly is. But if you're looking for a means of expanding your color vocabulary or you seek a more systematic approach to color, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) might just be for you.
One of the most fun aspects of The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is the charts. At the end of the first chapter one of the exercises is to apply the color chips to the color charts. Yes, your book comes incomplete. You get to fill in the blanks. Handily they provide little packets labeled by hue (see the first picture at the top of this post). Inside a packet is a tiny book of color chips in that hue (see picture at left). Now, The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) is designed for undergraduate art students, so the instructions are for the most part extremely detailed and need no supplement.
However, for those of us playing along at home, without a professor or classmates to double check our work or to suggest work-arounds, I thought I might provide a little more detail about the process I used to complete my color charts. The book recommends some pretty impressive adhesive options which are not readily available, so I tested an alternative: Scotch Restickable Glue Stick. I found it at Staples or some Staples analog. If you apply one coat, let that dry a little (maybe 30 seconds), then apply a second coat, let that dry a little (maybe 30 seconds), it basically turns anything paper into a Post-It Note. The restickability is important in this application because in later exercises you move the chips around, which would be hard if they were permanently stuck to a chart. But before you go transforming all of your color chips into Post-It chips, read on.
As instructed, I first completed my Hue Value/Chroma chart, which appears at left. This chart is handy on a number of levels, not the least of which is using the red row, which illustrates chroma, as a starting point when arranging the 5R (a.k.a. red) chart. Additionally, its handy color wheel helps you pick out which of the chips in any packet is the highest chroma hue. Finally, you can line your lowest chroma chips up along the value chips on the Hue Value/Chroma chart to figure out your first column, as shown on the left side of the third picture from the top.
To double check that your colors are in the correct order on your hue chart you can use the front and back pages, which are medium gray, to isolate each row and each column. By isolating a column you can check the value progression within that chroma and any chip from a different chroma would stand out. By isolating a row you can check the chroma progression within that value and any chip from a different value would stand out. And using the medium gray paper helps you to see the value of each chip compared to the adjacent chip rather than compared to a pure white background.
Before getting all glue crazy, label the back of your chips with the chart they belong to and whatever other information you have that might help you get it back where it belongs when it inevitably becomes misplaced. For example, in the picture to the left you can see the backs of all the chips from the 5R chart. Know how I can tell? In the bottom right corner I wrote "5R" on each and every one with a black ball point pen. The closest chip in the picture belongs in the sixth row in the second column of the 5R chart. Know how I can tell? In the top left corner I wrote "6/2" which in Munsell (R) notation means it has a value of six and a chroma of two. Once you've labeled all your chips for one chart, go ahead and apply your restickable adhesive of choice and apply them to the chart.
This is my completed 5R (a.k.a. red) chart. The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) doesn't specify the order in which you should complete the hue charts, but please allow me to make two suggestions. First, as I stated above, the Hue Value/Chroma chart is handy because its row illustrating chroma is the 4/ row of the Hue 5R chart. So if you do the 5R chart second after the Hue Value/Chroma chart you can just match your chips to that row and you've got one row in order and you know exactly which row it belongs in. This seems like no big deal, but it really is like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are all the same size when you tip out 30 of these chips. So if you've got seven of those chips pinned down, the rest fall into place more easily. Second, I would recommend completing the hue charts in order around the color wheel. I found that, particularly in the lowest chroma column, the chips for the adjacent hues, like from red to red-purple, almost matched exactly, which reinforces the importance of labeling your chips, but also makes arranging the chips easier than if you hopped around the color wheel, say from red to blue-green.
Back to the Color Theory Index.
1. I linked to Amazon solely because they have lots of information and reviews about the book. Presently The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set (2nd ed.) appears to be out of stock. Moreover, I received my copy from Amazon and the 3-ring binder was broken. They were quite prompt with a replacement, but that binder was also broken in exactly the same way, so I suspect either Amazon is storing them poorly or Fairchild is manufacturing them poorly. This would be no big deal if it weren't for the fact that the size of the pages and the spacing of the holes for the binder rings appears to be unique to The New Munsell (R) Student Color Set, or at least very rare. I have resorted to placing each page into an 81/2x11" page protector and placing them in a standard 3-ring binder. This actually seems like a perfectly good plan for the sheets to which I have affixed color chips, so the chips won't wander far if they become unaffixed. But for the 73 pieces of paper which comprise the 138 pages of text and 4 pages of color plates, it seems to be a bit much.(back)
2. Robin Edmundson was a very good instructor and I highly recommend taking a class with her. She teaches in Bloomington at Yarns Unlimited and at the Waldron Arts Center. I actually signed up for her class at the Waldron last fall, but apparently I was the only one. That class was scheduled to meet for six sessions. Here's the class description:
Using color effectively in your art can be one of the most satisfying or frustrating parts of the creative process. Here is a chance to learn the basics of color theory and color harmonies and then apply it to projects right away. We will discuss color descriptors, simultaneous contrast, metamerism, primary colors, color mixing, proportion, and many ways to combine colors harmoniously. Participants will learn to use several different types of color tools and put together their own Color Notebook illustrating many color harmonies. Participants are encouraged to do a project of their own each week illustrating a color harmony of their choice. Materials: Color tools such as: color wheel, Itten's Color Star, Pantone, etc. 3 ring binder, plastic sheet protectors, paper, tape/glue stick, scissors. Old magazines and catalogs to cut up. Recommended text: The New Munsell Student Color Set (available from Fairchild Publications - 1.800.932.4724.Her specialties are dying, spinning, and weaving, but she did great with a quilting audience, so if you're looking for a quilt guild program, you should definitely invite her.(back)
This morning I was talking trash at the breakfast table about Senator Clinton oughtta just drop out of this race and so forth. Then on my daily errands Creedence Clearwater Revival's version of Proud Mary came on the radio at the same time I saw the following bumper sticker:
It's a sign that I should not begrudge Senator Clinton her continued campaign. Proud Hillary Keep on Burnin'.
During my daily perusal of Re-Nest, the blog formerly known as Apartment Therapy - Green, I discovered that Country Home has released a list of the Best Green Cities in America.
Some cities near and dear to us made the list. Here they are with their rankings.
Madison, Wisconsin: 17
Bloomington, Indiana: 101
Athens-Clarke County, Georgia: 144
Rockingham County-Strafford County, New Hampshire (home of a certain prep school): 177
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia: 210
Raleigh-Cary: 235
Richmond: 250
Another call to action, this time from MomsRising.org, a group that I believe started as an off-shoot of MoveOn.org when after the 2004 election MoveOn did a survey of members to find what issues they were passionate about and found a group of members interested in bringing important motherhood and family issues to the forefront of the country's awareness and working to create both cultural and legislative change.
The U.S. government employs over 2.7 million people, but it's not a family-friendly employer. Did you know that the U.S. government doesn't offer their employees any paid parental leave days after the birth or adoption of a new child? Not one day.
Federal employees are essentially employed by each of us--after all, our taxes pay those salaries and we elect the “bosses.” That means that you have the power, with your vote, to be the type of employer who supports families and a family friendly country -- and you can start working to make that happen right now:
Tell your Congressperson today to support the Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act:
http://www.momsrising.org/Federal_FamilyLeave
Then pass this message along to friends so they can tell their Congressperson too.
The Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act (H.R. 5781)[1] would give all federal employees 4 weeks of paid parental leave. When we pass HR 5781, over 2.7 million workers in the United States will have the right to paid parental leave, and we will be setting a standard for the rest of the nation to follow. It is expected to be up for a full House vote soon, so contact your Congressperson now!
The federal government should be setting the national standard for creating truly family-friendly workplaces. Instead, it is forcing its own workers, the very civil servants we rely on, to choose between family and a paycheck.
Tell your Congressperson today to support the Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act:
http://www.momsrising.org/Federal_FamilyLeave
Thank you!
--Kristin, Joan, Katie, and the MomsRising.org Team
Thank you to the National Partnership for Women and Families, as well as the bill's sponsors listed below, for their work on this issue.
1. Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act (H.R. 5781) was introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) to provide all federal employees 4 weeks of paid parental leave. The bill just passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee with the support of Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL). It is expected to be up for a full House vote in the next couple of weeks.
For more information see : http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_issues&task=view_issue&issue=263&parent=21&Itemid=35.
Just heard on NPR (pronounced "nipper") that the next broadcast of Fresh Air will be a rebroadcast of Terry Gross's 2006 interview with Reverend John Hagee, one of John McCain's favorite supporters, in which he states that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for a planned Gay Pride Parade in New Orleans.
The high road would be to condemn the media's attention to the connection between Hagee and McCain just like one condemned the media's attention to the connection between Wright and Obama. Just letting you know, in case you wanted to take the high road.
Spay and Neuter Your Pets
(and your weird friends and family members)
p.s. This is our 101st post!
