03.31.09
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 12:08 am by Administrator
Well, it’s that time again when I update what’s on or been on my needles. I finished off the donation yarn and have shipped those off. I’ve decided that I’m gonna give charity knitting a rest for now and make some stuff for my boys. I also want to work on using up some of my yarn stash and learn some new techniques while I’m at it. There have been some techniques that I’ve wanted to learn, but as of yet, have not gotten around to them. For instance, I still haven’t gotten around to learning entrelac or raglan sweaters top down. Nor have I gotten to other projects I’ve wanted to work on such as the Babette Blanket. BUT, I was able to learn a couple new techniques that I thought would be nice to pass on to any of you yarnies out there. The first technique is called Judy’s Magic Cast On. So far, this is the BEST cast on I’ve learned for toe-up socks. If you haven’t seen this cast on yet and would like to learn a good one, you MUST check this instructional YouTube video out. As soon as I learned how to do it, that’s the only cast on I’ve used for socks now, and I’ve already knit seven pairs using that technique.
The second technique that I learned recently is Priscilla Wild’s No Wrap technique for short row heels. Again, the technique is shown on a YouTube video which can be viewed here.
Brian put in a request recently and even drew out a little example on an index card of what he wanted me to knit for him. He wanted a hat with a little design around the brim of his hat. From his drawing I graphed out the pattern on graph paper.
The pattern came out covering 16 stitches for each repeat. I worked the hat from the top down starting by casting on 6 stitches using Judy’s Magic Cast On technique. BTW, I was only going to do one row of the design which I did in blue on the graph, but when Aaron saw the pattern, he said that it could be indefinitely repeated, so he colored in the red portion just for fun. Anyway, after casting on 6 stitches, I increased at every other row until I had 96 stitches at which point I stopped increasing and did about 4 rounds straight. After that, I started the pattern, which covered about 7 rows. After the pattern was complete, I continued with a 1×1 rib because Brian said that he wanted to be able to fold the brim up or roll it down to cover his ears in case it got cold. I used Paton’s Classic wool in black and brown on US 7 circular needles. Here is Brian’s hat finished with him modeling it for me.
He’s been wearing it almost every day since I made it a couple weeks ago, so that’s nice and encourages me to make him another one. I suppose next time I can try to put the design right on the edge of the brim, but then I don’t know if that will give him much room to roll it up and down, hmmm. But first, I wanted to try using variegated yarn to make a multi-directional baby blanket to see how it would come out. Here it is almost finished.
I decided to try a corded edging, which I think is aka crab stitch. It’s basically just reverse single crochets. Here’s the completed blanket with border.
Now that that’s completed, I’ve started working on another gansey for Andrew, this time. I actually want to try making another multi-directional baby blanket with varigated yarn, but in a bull’s eye pattern just to see the effect. But I figured I should make Andrew’s sweater first. Brian wants one as well, as does Aaron, so I’ve got some projects lined up for a while. Right now I’ve got Andrew’s sweater on the needles, but I’m on the mindless part right now, so can easily watch videos and read while I’m doing the round and round part, heheh. Will try to post the completed project when it’s done.
Marlakins
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03.30.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:29 am by Administrator
I imagine that it would be difficult for anyone who has regular internet access to escape the barrage of news regarding our ailing economy. I say “our” ailing economy because evidently, the economic crises has gone global, and it’s not just us here in the U.S. suffering massive job losses and failing banks and businesses, but also those in Europe are feeling the pinch. Just yesterday there was news of the thousands of people in both Europe and in the U.S. who have rallied in protest of the bailout plans and the G20 summit, which is supposedly designed to meet to discuss and find some sort of solution to the current financial crisis. The main slogan of those rallying in protest was that we (the people) do not want to have to pay for your (big business) poor financial decisions and investments. Certainly that makes total sense to me!
But then just to think how we all got into this mess is unbelievable. Especially considering I’ve been reading and hearing things like there isn’t even enough printed money to pay for the current trillions of dollars of deficit, let alone there isn’t even that much gold to back any of it up even if we were back on the gold standard. And it makes me think of how so much of this is has been contrived. That is, dollars and cents on a piece of paper (i.e. our bank statements) are just numbers on a piece of paper or a computer screen and have no gold backing. The wealth of our nation appears to be only an illusion. The other day I watched Madonna’s movie, “I Am Because We Are.” I have mixed feelings on that movie , however, one thing that was pointed out in her movie was that a great deal of the population of Malawi lives on less than $1 a day. Now I find that statement a bit misleading in that the value of $1 is relative. If a peasant had his own farm and lots of crops, so what if he lived off of less than a $1? His belly would be full. Course, that’s doesn’t appear to be the case for the people of Malawi, but the “idea” of the relativity of money is what I’m thinking of here. I recall reading once that during the Great Depression of the 30’s here in the U.S. that there were some extremely poor people who didn’t even realize that there was a depression. They always had it hard. The ones who really suffered from the devaluation of money are those who lived by it. I mean, if a person didn’t invest in the stock market, for that person, what difference would it make if the stock market crashed? I’d say, not much. Same with the person with no retirement accounts. For that person, who cared if the banks failed? As far as I see, it’s the individual productivity of the land that is more important. If we are able to have a place to stay and land to grow our food, how dependent would we really be on money? It would be nice if more people would consider the benefits of bartering.
And this brings me back to what I noticed in the Philippines. The Philippines is considered a third world country, yet it has a lot of goods and food. Granted the salaries in comparison to ours are relatively low–i.e. an average employee might earn about 2,000 to 3,000P a month, which would be equivalent to about $42 or $63 U.S. dollars. And I’m talking about a white collar job held by a college graduate such an accountant. Employees of other jobs like retail stores and fast food vendors would naturally bring in a lot less. Yet the malls and dining outlets are frequently full of customers. While it’s true that if a person wanted to eat at luxury restaurants there (of which they have “many”), it would cost about the same as a nice restaurant here in the U.S. That would “seem” to be prohibitive for many of the local Filipinos, but somehow they seem to manage and even have some wealthy people such as those who live in Forbes Park. However, if you ate like the average locals, which are aka to some as the bakya crowd, it is a lot cheaper but still plenty of food available. At least from what I could see. The vendors are all around.
So it remains a mystery to me how the people get around the monetary issue while at the same time it seems more apparent to me that the value of money is relative. I have often despaired at the thought of some people being so extremely filthy rich while their fellow man struggles in extreme poverty. Yet money only holds its value because we give it value. That value is really subjective and pretty much pulled out of thin air. Yet we, for the most part, play that game and thus enslave ourselves. I think, for instance, of the blood diamonds. People work in unsafe conditions to mine for diamonds and other minerals for what? So the rich can wear them? While it would seem to me that the equal amount of work on their own farm or family garden would likely produce much more satisfaction in terms of safety and a full tummy for oneself and his family. The extremely rich use the labor of the poor and even set the value of their work. It seems that the problem lies with the greed of not only the rich, but also the poor who strive to be like the rich. The Bible tells us not to be respecters of persons. That is, don’t treat one person better because he’s richer than another. I’ve seen this commonly done. James 2:6 tells us, “But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?”
For me, it’s hard not to contemplate the financial crisis from time to time since every time I turn on my computer there is news splashed about regarding the recession and government bailouts. The problem is, I feel like it goes round and round, and that things will not change because they have remained the same throughout the centuries. That is, people just tend to be selfish, and for some reason, the poor (relatively speaking) always seem to look up to the rich for deliverance. I’m thinking again here of the thousands of people who rallied yesterday against the government bailouts. Not only did the people claim they didn’t want to pay for the mistakes of the large businesses, but the people were also asking for jobs and benefits for themselves. So again, who are they asking? The rich government? Who in turn will tax them for those services? It seems round and round to me. People don’t want taxes, but then they want the government to care for them. And do the rich care that their fellow man is down-trodden or poor? I don’t think so. Just consider the bonuses the AIG executives tried to pass out as soon as they received the bailout money. Another example is an article I read while having breakfast in the Philippines. The article was highlighting the 10th year anniversary of the first Bulgari store in Ayala Mall in Manila. The Bulgari executive of that branch told reporters that, “He had yet to come across [a client], who says that ‘I’m not buying anymore because of the recession.’” Gee, I suppose knowing that millions of people are losing their jobs and homes doesn’t deter the wealthy from buying their diamonds. And these are the types of people we admire and strive to become? Are these the types of people (CEOs and other executives) we look up to for deliverance?
I don’t know the solutions, and apparently the media is not showing us people who have the solutions. Maybe the media is blowing this more out of proportion than it really is and are just creating a panic like some say is happening regarding global warming? Similar to George Orwell’s 1984 where one day the news would claim they were at war with one place, then the next day their news would tell them that they were at war with another place and peace with the previous place they were supposed to be at war with just the day before. Some claim that this financial crisis is contrived and necessary to take things to the next step, which is a one world currency.
In the midst of all this recession, at least there is still plenty of food available. Although we do need to be careful because planned famines have been perpetrated in the past. Consider the planned famine in the Ukraine during 1932-33 where 10 million were said to have perished. Some claim that the some of the starvation issues in parts of Africa also are a result of government planned famines. And right here in the U.S. we have a bill, HR 875, being presented to regulate farming practices. Some are afraid that HR 875 is the framework that will be used to make private gardening and self sustainability illegal. Argh! I’d better stop there before I get myself all worked up. . . For now I count my blessings that we do have food, clothing, and shelter. And perhaps if we live simply, like the average person in the Philippines or the poor during the Depression of the 1930s, we’ll come through okay and hardly even be affected by the recession. Our markets, though the prices of foods have increased significantly, are still stocked very well. People are still out shopping and driving around as far as I can see. In the Philippines, it was the same. The morning I read the article about the Bulgari anniversary, I was having breakfast with many others. There was no lack of food, and if the media were not shoving the news down our throats that we are in the midst of a recession, I would really never know. My breakfast was just as abundant and yummy as ever. No hint of recession there. This breakfast was westernized and Filipino mixed–rice, mushroom and cheese omelete, and longanisa (Filipino sausage).
Those tiny sausages are one variety of Filipino sausage called “vigan” longanisa. They are very yummy! I know it may sound funny, but these sausages don’t taste like the usual American sausages in that these are customarily dipped in a vinegar sauce. I would say they have a more sweet and sour taste to them.
In addition to breakfast, the ambiance of the restaurant (Mary Grace) also allowed for one to be totally oblivious to any recession there might be. Each table had little containers of water and flowers and different sayings of encouragement such as this.
I guess it all boils down to prioritizing and realizing what’s really important and trying not to let the media blow things out of proportion (relatively speaking). Sure we need to prepare for the future, but also we should be anxious for nothing. I’m also thinking along the lines of 1 Timothy 6:8-10,
“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Depending upon how one looks at it, a recession or even a depression may not be the worst thing that could happen here. Could it be that looking to the government and insisting that government give us jobs is a snare and not much different than bailing out failing banks and businesses? If the government wouldn’t give the big businesses so many perks and breaks in the first place, but give the average man a bit more freedom to do what he will on his land, perhaps the little guy could stand a chance to become self sufficient. But even then, that would not keep the greedy men down, and therefore there will always be class struggle. What was it again that King Solomon said? “Vanities of vanity, all is vanity and striving after the wind.” I think it’s best not to let all this negative news get us down, but rather, as Paul wrote to Timothy, if we have food and clothing, we should be content.
Marlakins
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03.26.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:26 pm by Administrator
Last weekend I attended the wake and then the funeral service of one of my uncles. Actually he wasn’t really a blood relative, but close enough to the family that we called him uncle. He was the father of two of my regular blood donors during my transfusion dependent days. His passing has left me contemplative. He had three sons and one daughter. I found it interesting to see how differently each child handled their father’s passing. They all loved him, but they all managed their emotions somewhat differently.
I hadn’t originally wanted to write about funerals or the passing of friends and relatives. But for some reason, even though I have quite a bit of things I think are bloggable, I keep returning to the passing of my uncle. And then also the fairly recent news of the passing of another person I had become acquainted with online has made me reflect more on life and the lives of others. He actually passed away the same weekend my uncle did. I’m not really sure “what” I want to say, but somehow I keep coming back to this. So I thought perhaps I should just get it off of my shoulders, and maybe I’ll feel back to normal about normal blogging things.
My uncle and this other friend of mine appeared quite opposite in respect to religion. My uncle and his family (minus one of his children) seemed to be very Catholic and that was really reflected during his wake and his funeral service. They held a rosary service during the wake which consisted of many, many repeats of various prayers and prayers to all sorts of saints that I haven’t even heard of. Then on the other hand my other friend was a professed atheist. Well, “maybe” he was really an agnostic, but for the most part he was not interested in any sort of religion or anyone trying to “convert” him even though he knew there was a real chance that he didn’t have long to live due to his lung cancer.
Both of these men were somewhat the same age. One was in his 50s and the other in his 60s. Both men were born and reared on islands. One in a warm island, the Philippines, while the other on a very cold island, the Isle of Man. I think of all the people who have come and gone before us. I think of how all our lives interconnect. We seem to drift in and out of each others’ lives. How different, yet the same we all live. There are those who have lived long lives and those who have only briefly lived in this world. And how time flies! It seems not long ago I was just a kid, now I have kids of my own and my once robust parents are aging and frail. My kids are also coming of age that they soon can be parents of their own. What determines our fates? Where are those who have passed now? And will we meet again?
During our recent trip to the Philippines I was able to visit both of our family plots (one from my father’s side of the family, and the one on my mother’s side of the family). And for the first time I was able to see the grave stone of my oldest sister, Marinella, who died shortly after her birth. I believe in life after death. And I believe that one day I will be able to see my sister herself for the first time, too. As Eric Clapton sang to his son, and my uncle’s children sang to their father at his funeral who had suffered about 12 years of Alzheimer’s, I wonder, “Will you know my name, if I saw you in heaven?”
Marlakins
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03.20.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:41 am by Administrator
I had made plans a few weeks ago to take the boys to visit the Gamble House. I had taken a tour of the house when I was in high school, but my boys have not. The plan was to get to the last tour of the day, which started at 3PM. We gave ourselves about 1/2 and hour to get there, which would have been enough time had there not been “unusual” traffic at that time–i.e. Obama visiting LA and thus various streets blocked for security, grrrr. Sooooo, the boys and I didn’t get to the tour on time and could not take the tour. I guess we’ll have to try again another day, but give ourselves more time, just in case. So rather than just go empty handed, I took a picture of the Gamble House from outside.
If we ever make their tour, I’ll try to post more details about this house then.
Sooo, what to do? Well, why not visit Heritage Square while we were out in this direction? So back to the bat mobile and off we went. When we arrived, we found that it was “closed.” Aacck! So again, rather then leave empty handed, I took some pictures from outside the gates.
So what to do next? Well, on they way there we saw some signs advertising the Southwest Museum. . . Hmmm. . . maybe we could hit that place instead? Sooo, back to the bat mobile. . . When we arrived at the Southwest Museum, this is what we found. . .
Aaaaccckk! Open Saturdays and Sundays, but we were there on Thursday. So, you guessed it. It was CLOSED. What’s the saying? Strike three and you’re out? Ha ha! Well, luckily they had a tiny little botanical garden that we could stroll through, so that’s what we ended up doing. There were lots of lizards there for some reason, and they ended up being our main entertainment for the day as we were able to watch two lizards in action. What were they doing? Fighting? OR. . . Hard to know since I’m no lizard expert, but this certainly was the most action I’ve ever witnessed up close and personal with two lizards. Here’s how it began. First they ran across the pavement, and then one caught up with the other.
They seemed to eyeball one another when finally lizard #1 made it’s move by actually biting onto lizard #2’s tail.
Then, with lightening speed, they ended up like this.
By this time, the boys and I were placing bets, ha! Then for a moment it appeared that the death grip was broken and one was getting away. However, the assailant was not done yet, and before the entanglement was over, he grabbed the other lizard by the tail again.
Despite being caught by the tail, the lizard on-the-run tried to pull again, but El Jaws there hanging on it’s tail would not let go. So he got dragged about a bit. I was wondering if it’s tail were going to come off.
But, no, the tail didn’t come off. And again flipping in the air while wriggling and writhing with lightening speed they ended up in this position.
Okay, do you notice anything? Well, at this moment, I did. I noticed that I was getting mighty CLOSE. Being that reptiles have always fascinated me, every time we went to a zoo, I would make sure to visit the reptile section. BUT while I love to LOOK at them, I am a big chicken and am afraid to TOUCH them. The beauty of looking at reptiles in the zoo is that you can look pretty close, but they are behind thick glass. This time there was no glass barrier. And I started to get the hibby geebies that with them flipping and flopping all over the place, they might “flop” on me if I keep getting too close. And quickly, very quickly, my skin started crawling, and I had to stop taking pictures! Ha ha! So that’s the end of our picture show. . .
So after we browsed through their garden we headed back up to our car. Along the way we saw this totem pole. And Matty asked, “Why is his ‘nose’ there?” We all stopped dead in our tracks to look at the totem pole. Brian broke the silence and said, “I don’t think that’s his ‘nose’.” LOLOLOL
We all got a good laugh, so despite striking out three times yesterday, we still managed to enjoy ourselves. And the neat thing is that this morning I found that this Sunday the Heritage Square is supposed to be “free.” So we’ll see if we can make our way back there this Sunday.
Marlakins
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03.19.09
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 10:24 am by Administrator
Before I forget, I wanted to finish off my post on what’s in the Gene Autry Museum by sharing a few more pics of the things that caught my interest. I’m a fan of looking at things “then and now,” so here’s a pic of an old Steinway piano. Bet not many people have one like this at home.
And here’s an old “juke box.” This was actually quite tall. Off to the left was an upright piano that can be slightly seen to help give an idea of the height of this juke box.
I was remiss at taking better pictures of the descriptions and dates, and alas, I can’t remember now off the top of my head what years these were made. But I really like the craftsmanship of the older days (while this juke box has a bit of a bizarre look, it’s still kinda neat), and wish people would once again return to handmade items for the beauty’s sake. I suppose there are still some alive, but sometimes I feel that too much modernization is ugly (must be an interesting statement regarding society today). I think remembering the past has it’s good points.
Another item that caught my attention was this yarn swift. Today yarn swifts are collapsible and costs around $60. Seeing this simple design makes me think that I should just make my own at a much lower price.
One thing they didn’t have much of in the Gene Autry Museum was women’s crafts like clothing and quilts. I think that would have been a really nice addition to the museum, but there were a few, such as this one that showed a woman’s dress and a quilt hung up against the wall behind.
And this “hoop” that was of the type that those women wore underneath these dresses.
My the things ladies will do for fashion. This can’t be too comfortable.
There were a few items regarding the kitchen such as this biscuit pan. I had no idea they used to look like this.
The description below stated that these items were common to many kitchens. Eh, I suppose I do have my own rolling pin or two, but I hardly use them. I wonder how common rolling pins are in the modern kitchen in light of the fact that it seems that many people have abandon much home cooking in favor of TV dinners, ready cooked breads, instant pastry mixes, and restaurants? Course there are a lot of cookbooks out there, including cooking programs, so perhaps the rolling pin still is very common in the kitchen today. Perhaps it’s all this low carb movement today that is partly responsible for my little rolling pin suffering near disuse.
And back to the weapons division, heheheh, here’s a powder horn. I found this interesting because when we were in London last May we visited the Tower of London and their Armoury House. In that house along with all the weapons on display were gun powder cases made out of wood and shaped into a bunch of little vials strung on a belt. I’m sure we all remember how Rambo looked with his extra amo crisscrossed against his chest. Well, I guess the men of older wars had horns and belts of wooden vials dangling from their bodies for spare amo. This horn is dated around 1860 and made of buffalo horn.
And finally, something that surprised me because I had never even thought about it was the “chuck wagon.” All I ever remember about a chuck wagon was the old dog commercial that played over and over again when I was a kid. This commercial had a miniature chuck wagon speeding through the house and a dog chasing after it until it reached it’s doggie bowl. I don’t know why, but it had never occured to me that a chuck wagon had food on it! What a dope I am, but I’m sure there’s plenty more that I’m dopey about, too, yikes! So here’s the chuck wagon with the drawers behind the wagon and the men mixing their grub. I guess it was kind of like today’s lunch trucks, huh?
Okay, well that’s it. There was plenty more to see like all sorts of cowboy paraphenalia–saddles, whips, clothing, bridles, firearms, even some info on the early Chinese in the west, etc. There was a section on “outlaws” and other caballeros. There would have been just too much to take pictures of and besides, I think the Gene Autry would appreciate people going there for live visits. However for those who can’t go, I think it’s great that the Gene Autry allows unlimited photography. For those who like the American West history and cowboys, I do recommend visiting the Gene Autry Museum, at least once.
Marlakins
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03.15.09
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 1:11 am by Administrator
Yesterday Patti sent me some information regarding possible danger to our current organic farming practices. Evidently there are two bills being presented and fast tracked, HR 875 aka Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, and S 425 aka Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act. On the surface they seem reasonable enough, however, my concern is that it may also endanger organic farming practices by forcing them to use chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other dangerous chemicals to remain in compliance to these bills. I also am very against the idea that farmers have to implant chips into their livestock for monitoring/tracking. These types of practices will also drive the costs up for the small local farmers and push them out of business. My family and I currently rely heavily on organic foods, so this has me quite concerned and hope to keep a close eye on the progress of this. We have been supporting organic farming and husbandry practices for about 10 years now, and we don’t want to see organic farming go away. We have been paying extra just to keep chemicals out of our diets, and certainly don’t want to end up not even having a choice about it. So I do feel that it’s important to raise awareness that these bills are currently being presented. Please make you voice heard that we want chemical-free and non-genetically modified foods. Our health and the health of our loved ones depend on it.
For those who may not understand some of the perils we face from genetically modified foods, here’s a video you might like to watch. What we do here in the U.S. not only affects us here, but the rest of the world as well because imports and exports continues to spread products all over the world.
Another video which explains the dangers of chemicals and genetic engineering of our foods can be viewed from a video called, The Future of Foods. I wrote about this last year and embedded the video on my post, which can be viewed here.
Luckily, here in Los Angeles, there is an awareness for the need for clean, quality foods. I pray that many more people will also become aware and make their voices heard that we demand the right to choose natural, unadulterated foods.
Marlakins
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03.13.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:09 pm by Administrator
Yes, evidently 2009 marks the 150th year since the publication of Charles Darwin’s book, Origins of Species, and the 200th anniversary of his birth. The University of Cambridge is even advertising a festival July 5-10 in honor of Charles Darwin. Oh my! Perhaps it’s a normal thing, but for some reason it strikes me kinda funny. I mean I wonder if they also have festivals in honor of Einstein or Newton? I’ve not heard of them, but maybe they have them, too? Having a festival in honor of Darwin sure makes it seem like they worship the guy. . . While Darwin did popularize the theory of evolution by writing his ideas of how species appeared to have evolved from one another, technically, the idea of evolution without God had preceded him by people such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarck believed in the idea of soft inheritance, and his ideas were known as Lamarckism. Darwin’s ideas brought the idea of evolution out from the philosophic circles to the scientific circles. As I understand it, there were people who wanted to explain our existence apart from the existence of God, and so thought up ways that life might have arisen apart from God. Some believed that the world always existed, that there was no original creation and thus no God to create it. From that line of reasoning, I had read that when the “big bang” theory was presented (years after Origins of Species was published), many objected because a big bang alluded to the idea that there was an original creation. My have things changed, tho!
With such a shindig planned for Darwin’s anniversary, one would think that an overwhelming majority agreed with his theories on evolution. However, there have been interesting polls recently which showed otherwise. One example is a poll that was conducted by ComRes, which suggested that 51% of the U.K. public had, at the very least, doubts about evolution. This is what they found:
“Last week, a new poll came to light, commissioned by the liberal theological think-tank Theos. The headline in the Daily Telegraph suggests that “Four Out of Five Britons do not believe in Creationism. The impression is given that this is in opposition to the previous poll. It is not. Even at face value, the new poll suggests that 20% of Britons actually believe in creation!
“There are, however, some other interesting factors involved in the new research. For example, more than half of those questioned did not know that On the Origin of Species was written by Charles Darwin. Indeed, 3% of respondents thought that the book had been written by Richard Dawkins!”
The rest of the article can be read here.
And then there’s this other strange poll which showed that More Americans Believed in the Devil, Hell and Angels More Than They Believed in the Theory of Evolution.
At any rate, Darwin’s Origin of Species certainly has caused much debate long after his death. The debates continue to rage today and will likely continue until the end of time. So in honor of Darwin Year, I’d like to present a little something to the ongoing debate. This video is a clear explanation of Robert Gentry’s work on radio halos found in granite. Gentry is a distinguished scientist who has had several papers published in several respected scientific journals. One particular subject he has presented is already about 25 years old, and is a challenge to anyone to reproduce granite complete with the radio halos that hundreds of his sample have contained. It is his contention that all granite was created in the beginning as the Bible says in one day, not millions of years. Or even less than one day as the polonium isotopes are still caught within the rocks. Twenty-five years later, there has not been one person who has been able to disprove Gentry’s theory on radio halos and instead have only referred to it as “tiny mysteries.”
Gentry offers a free video which can be viewed immediately online, which explains his observations on his website entitled Fingerprints of Creation. Absolutely brilliant man!
And finally, what difference does all this hullabaloo of evolution vs creationism make? Some evolutionists claim that scientists who believe in creation are not scientists! Does the belief in evolution make a better scientist? Well, here’s a recent article regarding that called, The Dangers of Overselling Evolution, Focusing on Darwin and his theory doesn’t further scientific progress,
Marlakins
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03.12.09
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 1:36 am by Administrator
Yesterday my boys and I visited the Gene Autry Museum. I had been wanting to see what was inside this museum for a long time, but never got around to it until yesterday.
I honestly didn’t know what was going to be inside, but I found it to be pretty interesting. Basically, the museum is dedicated to the old American West so there was a lot of cowboy stuff. And since Gene Autry was in the Hollywood business, the museum starts off with cowboys or the wild west in Hollywood. Unlike the museums in the Philippines, this one allowed unlimited pictures! Woo hoo! So let’s see how many I can fit in one post, heheh.
They had literature, posters, costumes, saddles, and bridles, and the like used in Hollywood on display.
Then they also had artwork which depicted the old west including the first known Frederic Remington bronze cast, The Bronco Buster, 1895.
They had a costume of a 22nd Infantry soldier of the 1870s. He’s wearing buffalo hide.
And right next to him was a buffalo hunter. Hmm. Somehow this is not what I pictured buffalo hunters would look like especially with those sunglasses. But according to the placard, those sunglasses were the glasses from the 1870s. Oh. . .
There were many more costumes there of which I took pictures, but only have limited space here, so I’ll just post one more, a bear coat.
It was behind glass, so it was hard not to get a glare when taking this picture. I think this is the very first real bear coat I’ve ever seen.
They also had lots of guns and rifles, but for some reason I noticed they had mostly Colts. I wanted to see a Smith and Wesson as the .357 magnum revolver is my favorite, but I saw none. My dad used to take us kiddies to the shooting range many, many moons ago. And prior to my AA diagnosis we used to go to the shooting range, but for some reason after AA, I haven’t had any desire to go. But anyway, the reason I favored the .357 revolver is because I felt they were more reliable than guns with magazines. Revolvers just don’t jam like magazines do occasionally. And a .357 can also accommodate .38s. Well, anyway back on topic, amongst the firearms on display was this gatling gun.
When I saw it, I immediately remembered once while at the shooting range they had firearm vendors at the range, and they brought all sorts of firearms that we could try. That was a cool treat because we didn’t know they would be there. Amongst all the firearms was a gatling gun that they were letting people try for a small fee. I was too chicken to try, so never got the feel of it. But it was kinda interesting to watch it in action.
Then moving right along there were mining equipment and other inventions of the time. Now before I share any of the other inventions on display, I had to take a picture of this one. Eh, I’m guessing this chair was designed by a “man.” At least I “hope” it was. I mean this chair is one of the most ugliest chairs that I’ve ever seen. So I guess that makes it one of the more interesting pieces to have, ha ha!
Okay, it’s really late, and I’m tired and want to hit the hay. So, I’ll leave it for here and continue later. They had a lot of fun stuff to share at the Gene Autry Museum that I can’t just stop here, heheh.
Night, night,
Marlakins
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03.10.09
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 12:29 am by Administrator
We visited several museums while in the Philippines, but I will say that I was disappointed that some of the museums did not allow photography inside. One such museum was Casa Manila. Casa Manila is located within Intramuros and is a replica of a mid-19th century Filipino house of the aristocracy. Just to describe the inside without pictures does it no justice. Certainly it’s not like the dwellings of royalty in Europe, but it had it’s own charm. This is what the entrance looked like from the street.
This is the old Spanish section within Intramuros, which managed to survive WWII. There is a wall that encloses the whole area. Along this section there are still calesas, aka horse drawn carriages such as this one.
As you enter the building, this is what it looks like before you reach the courtyard.
Uh, yeah, that’s us there. I’m standing in the center holding my bag of goodies. My dad is sitting off to the left side while my son, Aaron, shows him what he just bought. Mom is obscured by Aaron. Matty, is bending over filming what he’s showing grandpa, ha! I’m always amused at the things Matty films because it helps me to see the things he’s interested in. I will say that he has filmed stuff that I would not have thought of on our trips, such as “bugs.” Yikes! But it’s his camera, so. . .
And what exactly caught Aaron’s eye that he had to buy it? Well. . . it was this little guy.
Of all the things in the shops, this was what Aaron wanted to take home. Funny that when we went to Mexico back in 2003, he got another very similar toy. Instead of a turtle, it was a gray armadillo.
The only photography allowed at Casa Manila was in the courtyard, and so that’s where our primary pictures were taken. My mom took this picture of us. Eh, I think she was holding the camera crooked?
Then just across the street was St. Augustin’s Church. Again, picture taking was prohibited in many of the rooms, however there were certain areas where pictures were okay, but it was really too dark to get good shots. Here’s one just inside St. Augustin, but it seems to have come out quite darker in the picture than in real life.
I wanted to stand by this door because it was quite large! It’s hard to see it in this picture, but there’s a “track” on the floor where the wheels of the door travels as the door swings open. That large door is closed, and the little one is open. One might wonder why they had such a large door, but from looking at the things they have inside this building, it’s no wonder they needed large doors to get things in.
This shot is along the cloister of St. Augustin’s Church. Along this side were lined with carts used for parades. The Philippines has a lot of parades during which many religious figures are exhibited. Being that I’m not a Catholic, it was mind-boggling to see all the religious figures that they had. So many saints and other religious artifacts filled this church and other museums we visited. How did they ever keep up with all those saints? Yikes!
And here’s a picture of Brian and me in the courtyard of St. Augustin Church.
There were little fish and turtles in the fountain.
I did take a lot more pictures in the areas that allowed pictures, however, many of them are quite dark, anyway. This church had two levels filled with artifacts which included pottery (supposedly the wealth of a person was partly determined by how many pots he owned), paintings, sculptures, old pictures of priests, robes and other clothing, music paraphanalia, even a sort of masoleum with stone markers lining almost the entire room, etc.
While I wasn’t able to take pictures inside Casa Manila, at least I was able to get a shot of the windows from a balcony at St. Augustin Church. These windows are typical of the traditional Philippine style capis windows. I believe capis is made from a type of shell and is commonly made into chandeliers.
I rather liked the traditional furnishings and wish that they allowed photography inside. Such a shame not to share it.
Now from my understanding, there was another museum that we missed called Casa Real. Supposedly that museum was a house of the more common people of the Philippiines. I wish I could have visited that one. Perhaps another time.
Marlakins
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03.09.09
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 1:33 am by Administrator
Despite getting up a little grumpy on Daylight Savings day, I managed to finish the blue gansey I was working on for Warm Woolies. This is the yarn that has been donated to Warm Woolies. I still have about 6 more skeins of yarn from them in pinks and white, so may make socks out of those. Here’s what it looked like while it was in progress.
I was able to coax Aaron to model the sweater for me. It’s supposed to fit a young boy, so I’m glad to see that it fit him. I’m also extra glad that he tried it on for me as his arms are longer than mine and had he not tried it on earlier, I would have made the sleeves shorter. Here it is completed. I used two colors because there wasn’t enough of one color in the donation box to complete the sweater, so I had to mix two colors into the design. The yarn is Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran. It took about 12 skeins using both US 7 needles and US 5 needles for the collar.
Here’s a closeup of the cabling work.
I was also able to finish Brian’s blue socks that I had started while in the Philippines. Brian modeled them for me here.
While I was downloading my pictures, I saw the pictures I had taken of Matty’s bookmarkers. He made these markers as little gifts for my cousins since they like to watch anime like we do, heheh. And especially when he learned that one of my cousins really likes dragons like he does. Here’s a pic of those.
While I am a biased fan of my son, Matty’s, drawings, my favorite marker in this group is this one:
I just loved this one when I first saw it. The clouds are smiling, the trees look like they are in awe of this little bear with a top hat on or whatever it is singing on stilts, ha! Below are two little ladybugs also seemingly audience to his singing. What is he singing? I have an idea, but that’s a family secret, ha ha ha! I don’t know where Matty gets his ideas, but I just loved this one.
Okay, I’m hoping to take Aaron out on a field trip today, so better hit the hay. Yeah, it’s a bit late, but that’s how DST messes with my schedule! Grrrr.
Good night!
Marlakins
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