Frogs and Ravens

First Debate

All I gotta say is DAY-UM! Nice job, John!

*does little happy dance*

Astonished

I was at the doctor's yesterday; hence no blogging. It was nothing to get excited about, just a regular check-up too long deferred due to the past year's employment and insurance instability. Usually these things are unexciting in any case; one doctor I had once described me as "boring" (meaning nothing interesting was wrong with me) and another suggested that I would make a good "medical model" for med students, in that all my pieces down there were exactly where they should be and easy to detect. And now I've learned that I would also be a text-book perfect model for mitral valve prolapse.

Now, this was not that much of a surprise. Doctors have been muttering about my "heart murmur" for years now, a murmur that has until now been difficult to pin down. (I still remember one memorable occasion when the nurse practicioner, the clinic doctor, and the clinic cardiologist were all standing around me with their stethyscopes saying things like "Try placing it there by the mole; that's where I heard it.") But for some reason (perhaps because I was reclined, relaxed and bored) the tell-tale "click" of MVP came through loud and clear yesterday. And for the first time, I had a doctor who took the time to explain just what distinguished it from a generic "heart murmur" and to reassure me that it's nothing to worry about (though she did write me a prescription for prophylactic antibiotics for use prior to having dental work done).

So today I went surfing to find more information about MVP. And I discovered that it's not simply a matter of a clicky heart valve. It is associated with a whole suite of symptoms, including (wait for it) panic attacks, palpitations, anxiety, sensitivity to stimulants, depression, sensitivity to hormonal changes, sugar cravings... Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?! Here I'd been thinking of all these as periodic, relatively isolated issues, and now I learn that they are part of a known disorder cluster. Astonishing. I have an entirely new paradigm for my physical self!

That Blogging Thang

Oh, my. I'm listening to the start of today's 10:00am segment of These Days about blogging ("short for web. log. ...") and I think I may either crack up or get annoyed. (Oooh... those whacky bloggers! Now we have to take them seriously!) I haven't decided yet.

Update: Oh, it's an interview with the guy who wrote the annoying Times article and who thinks Wonkette is funny. Here's hoping a caller or two delivers a cluesticking.

Update 2: So far, what the guy has to say about (political) blogs is pretty interesting, like his observation that most "successful bloggers" have a family connection to academia or are themselves comfortable with research. The continual conflation of political blogging with blogging more generally is grating, however.

Update 3: The next interviewees are on: one of the folks from The Gadflyer and Indipundit. What'cha bet they continue the conflation?

Update 4: Well, now I feel a bit insulted. Apparently a well-designed site is a sign of one's seriousness, and runs counter to the idea that an "ordinary" blog would have a "rag-tag" appearance. Pfft. Yeah, I'm using a basic typepad template, but I have tweaked it and could tweak it more if I really wanted to. And the idea that one can only have a "professional quality" weblog if you have a paid site designer to make it look good... rrrgh. What self-congratulatory snobs.

Update 5: Oh, grump. So far the only people who have called in (or spoken, period!) have been male poli-bloggers (plus the male interviewer). *eyes narrow*

Update 6: Still no women (yeah, I know talk radio tends to favor male callers, but public radio is usually a bit more balanced) and still everyone's talking only about blogging as poli-blogging. And now they've continued the conflation by offering a snapshot of "typical bloggers" -- who are, as typical for that small subset, male, white, educated. Feh.

Update 7: I think I am going to have to write a scathing email to the host. Still nothing but men and poli-blogging.

Mosquitoes

I have to laugh whenever someone here comes on the news to warn us about the hazards of the West Nile virus and explains the actions needed to avoid being bitten by a mosquito. Hah. I've lived in the upper Midwest, and the comparison is laughable. There it was all mosquitoes, all the time, at dawn, at dusk, at freakin' NOON. (We're talking a state where they are so common that teenage sports teams talk about their absence with wonder when they play out of state.) How many mosquitoes have I seen since I moved back here? Two. Over the course of a year.

Californians? Y'all can simmer down now! (And, yes, I know that West Nile is a serious disease, not to be taken lightly. But in terms of relative risks, you'd be far better off not driving on the freeways than spraying yourself obsessively with DEET.)

Brit/SA Humour

Okay, this cracks me up. (For all my non-American readers out there.)

More Work, Yippee!

Today the Big Boss approached me to see if I'd be interested in helping him and the HR/admin people pursue some new accreditation possibilities, a task involving a lot of internet research and planning and reports. Would I be interested? Heck yeah!

"Blogs" in the Times

Lately there is a lot of hoo-ha out in the blogosphere (well, really, in a small weird part of it with delusions of importance) about how blogs are becoming professionalized, oh woe, alas, boo-hoo. This is apparently in reaction to an article in the NY Times (registration required). And I've posted a few cross retorts in a few comments threads here and there in response (basically on the theme of poli-blogs aren't the world), and was gearing up for a rant on the topic. But now I don't have to! Great minds think alike, and Jill has beaten me to the punch.

Full disclosure: I only got half-way through the Times article before stopping in disgust. I'm sorry, people, but Wonkette is not funny, nor witty, nor clever. She's sophmoric and crude and I strongly suspect that she's only popular because she photographs well and has corporate backing. And the glee of the writer at delving into the secret underlife of the poli-bloggers is irritating as well as strongly reminiscent of the way mainstream news covers things like sci-fi cons. Bleah.

Spinning

Lots of spinning this weekend, so much so that the spindle is starting to look like an acorn, fat with new yarn. My left arm is getting stronger as a result of lifting the spindle up so I can spin it or wind the yarn onto it. And I am beginning to wish for a new spindle that can hold more and which has a groove along the edge so the yarn doesn't slip due to the increasing weight.

Here's the procedure, for those of you not familiar with drop-spindling (one of these days I'll get some pictures up). The fiber has been fluffed and cleaned, and is in the shape of a batt about 1/2 inch thick, 6-8 inches wide, and very very long. I hold the end of the batt in my left hand; the rest drapes along my arm, over my shoulder, and onto the floor. (Not surprisingly, spinning with bare arms works best.) The spindle is a top-whorl spindle, with a small hook on the end, rather like a cup hook. The yarn has been attached to the spindle by first twisting a small thin piece into something yarn-like, which is then tied onto the hook. I grasp the stick end of the spindle (at the opposite end from the hook) and give it a twist (counter-clockwise in my case; I've heard that this is an atypical direction) with fingers and thumb.

As the spindle spins, I gently pull out about 2-3 inches of fiber from the mass in my left hand, using my right hand. I try to make sure that the individual fibers are more or less parallel to each other, and that the tuft thus being stretched is a little less than the width of half my pinkie finger. When I've pulled about 2-3 inches out (but not loose -- it still remains attached to the rest of the fiber mass) I then pinch my left fingers together around the tuft and slide my right hand fingers "up" the fibers back toward my left hand, allowing the twist (remember, the spindle's been spinning all this time!) to move up the tuft. I then pinch the fiber anew, just below my left-hand fingers, and repeat this stretching and moving motion. (This form of spinning is sometimes called "short draw" or "inchworm" spinning. It is slower but more precise than "long draw" spinning, and promotes a smooth, sleek yarn rather than a fuzzy soft one.)

Of course, as successive draws are made and fiber is transformed into yarn, the spindle (which is hanging from the yarn) gradually moves closer to the ground. It also slows down. The combined effect means that you need to periodically lift the spindle by the yarn using your left hand until it is high enough for the right to grasp it and give it a fresh twirl. Neatly, by the time it's about to hit the ground, the yarn is long enough that you can't lift it any higher to reach the end. So when it gets hard lifting it, you know that you need to "wind on." This involves holding the spindle in your right hand, stretched out to the side so the yarn doesn't twist up on itself, and tweaking it so that the yarn unhooks from the hook on the top, then turning the spindle so that the yarn winds up on the shaft. When there's about 6 inches left (it varies, depending on how much yarn has been wound on) you re-hook the yarn around the hook and resume spinning.

Obviously, this can be complicated in the beginning! But as you practice, eventually it becomes possible to turn it into a form of moving meditation. The movement of the fiber becomes intensely fascinating, you begin to sense when the spindle is slowing down, you can feel the yarn grow, and so on. If you're yoga-inclined, you can even accompany the activity by assuming Tadasana (Mountain Pose) while you spin (or even Vrksasana (Tree Pose) if your balance is good). This weekend I spun so much my legs grew tired and my left arm began to ache. Either that, or I need more exercise!

And spinning teaches patience. It shows you that small steps, taken repeatedly, squeezed in between chores, done quickly in the few minutes while the tea water boils, done in a leisurely fashion while the radio tells stories, can in the end produce something amazing: living yarn and a calmer, focused self.

And then you begin to knit, and the process, in a different form, starts all over again.

The whirling dervishes spun themselves to achieve transcendence; might I achieve the same thing by spinning my spindle, spinning my yarns?

See also: here, and here

Cool Idea

A man who is kayaking for peace and to promote awareness of environmental problems.

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