ack, june

05 Jun 2006 in journal

hey there ~ i cannot believe 2006 is almost halfway over already. lots to report, but for now the smaller catch-ups and links i’ve been collection, thinking about, occupied with for the last week or so..

~ lots of nice new patterns in the online knitting world: prosperous plum tank, ms. marigold, and licorice whip [via kris, rose, and someone else i can’t remember, sorry!]

~ somewhat an old story by now, but did you hear this: “GM plans to cap petrol prices at $1.99 a gallon for buyers of certain 2006 and 2007 SUV and mid-size cars.” which ones? “the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and the Hummer H2 and H3.” unbelievable. a giant fuck you to the world, don’t you think? – more here

~ for fantasy and sci-fi geeks like me, this is exciting and also worrisome: “Anne McCaffrey’s best-selling and long-running SF book series The Dragonriders of Pern will be adapted for the big screen”

~ bike metro is a handy web site that will find and calculate the distance, time, and, get this, incline of a bike route between two destinations in southern california. no bike yet, but this makes it tempting. [via janice]

~ watch mr. rogers defend pbs in 1969 to a initially skeptical senator who then does a comple 180 and declares mr. rogers just saved pbs funding. it’s a really earnest and heartfelt little clip – check it out.

~ francesca has been posting some gorgeous pics of fair isle (like here and here), so of course the fair isle bug is starting to bite again. before knitting, i would never have worn something like this, but now i think it’s lovely. sigh?

~ what else.. i’ve been watching a bunch of movies and doing even more pleasure reading. my fav of the bunch is mimus by lilli thal – what an excellent book. also, for the librarians out there, my second-to-last school project evah: “Serving the Needs of Blind and Print-Challenged Library Users.”

~ two articles on farmer’s markets. the first is a history of farmer’s markets in southern california, with the first set up in gardena, a bit of a surprise. the second article, entitled ‘farmer’s markets go beyond green’ tells about a new farmer’s market in new york that will allow things to be sold that are not grown by the farmers selling at the market – a key principle, duh, in farmer’s markets. the director of this new market says, “I think the farmers’ market movement has failed consumers in not making it possible to buy everything they need for Saturday night dinner. It’s time to be more inclusive.” um, excuse me? she’s missing the entire point of a farmer’s market, in my opinion. ugh. [via megnut]

~ also, i haven’t read it yet, but check out time‘s coverage of eating locally, the lure of the 100-mile diet. there’s also a michael pollan essay and a bunch of other food-related stories (… that same issue’s cover story is about haditha )

i think i’ll be doing some seaming this weekend – yup, a 100% wool cardigan just in time for the 90+ degree weather we’re seeing here in l.a., lovely.

p.s. pics – the first is obvious to those in the know – or who can read the print in the photo -, but really i haven’t done a thing past that first part. more on all that later, for sure. the second pic is of a delicious vegan sloppy joe – perfect for a mid-day snack. gotta love finger food.