Sunday, July 16, 2023

Web Log 7.14.23-7.15.23

So can I remember to post this some time in the morning if I don't schedule it right on the stroke of midnight? Apparently not. Night work may be affecting my memory...

Education 

Daniel J. Mitchell quantifies exactly how much more funding fails to produce better educational outcomes. 


History 

Ellen Hawley considers dysfunctional government nannyism, Tudor style: 


Local historian emeritus Vince Staten considers popular place names. Some bloggers reach a level of emeritus where the fact that they've posted something, even "It stopped raining. I walked to the post office," is log-worthy. Staten's been taking lighthearted looks at local history for so long that he is local history.


Knitting 

This, believe it or not, is made of knitted pieces sewn over a frame...


...and if you're wondering whether I could knit something like that, the answer is yes, if you're willing to pay and wait for the work. I could, if paid, and assuming I lived long enough, knit the whole scaly cast of The Dragon Riders of Pern. (With wings, you perceive--an even fancier project than the one shown.) The price would be $1000 to $2500 per dragon. The dragons of Pern varied greatly in size but all of them, except the little wild firelizards from which they'd been bred, were big enough to carry a man. Firelizards were small enough to perch on their humans' heads and shoulders. Prices for life-sized dragons, like the one in the picture, would depend on size...and if you wanted to incorporate a comfortable chair into a knitted dragon so that it would "carry' you, you'd need to supply the chair. In the interest of portability I would use wire and recycled styrofoam frames, but there's no reason why those could not be built around a chair. And good luck taking that to a science fiction convention.

If you want something simpler, you could commission a modest little lap blanket like the waves on the cover of the first edition of Dragon Song...Thriftbooks' copy seems to have faded a little differently from mine, but I've been wanting to knit a patchwork blanket or "mermaid tail" like this for years.


(I checked. Amazon has two other editions; the first edition is currently available at https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/dragonsong-by-anne-mccaffrey/258038/item/3708598/ .Though I'd guess that anyone who'd want the design already has the book.)

Poetry 

For those not familiar with dVerse, it's a blog link-up for poets. Every few days someone posts a prompt and people write poems in the form, on the topic, etc., suggested. I find some gems of modern poetry there and, this week, I even posted an acrostic poem. The price to be paid: not only read everyone else's poems--which is fun--but read them online and post comments. Waaaail! Posting comments on Wordpress blogs is SUCH A PAIN! Anyway, youall don't have to post comments, and this link-up is a particularly rich collection of short, informative poems about subtle, pretty pictures. Do not miss the Petoskey stones . Or the karst. 

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