https://archive.org/stream/penmanshandbookf00gask#page/178/mode/2up
Monday, September 7, 2015
double envelopes for weddings
here is a blurb about the use of double envelopes from an old book by Gaskell that you may view here
https://archive.org/stream/penmanshandbookf00gask#page/178/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/penmanshandbookf00gask#page/178/mode/2up
Friday, May 22, 2015
Thursday, May 15, 2014
chalkboard lettering - unfinished projects
14K macaroni necklace
Top 10 name books
Security thing book
Eggplant book
Fireplace screen - insert
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Friday, November 22, 2013
post office and letter writing blogs
here is a person who has visited over 5,000 post offices in 49 states
http://colossus-of-roads.blogspot.com/
this one appears to be for postal workers
http://yourpostalblog.wordpress.com/
and the Letter Writers Alliance has been around for a while
many links at their blog
http://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/
the missive maven, another letter writing fan who has been around for a while
http://www.missivemaven.com/2012/01/2011-year-in-mail.html
http://colossus-of-roads.blogspot.com/
this one appears to be for postal workers
http://yourpostalblog.wordpress.com/
and the Letter Writers Alliance has been around for a while
many links at their blog
http://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/
the missive maven, another letter writing fan who has been around for a while
http://www.missivemaven.com/2012/01/2011-year-in-mail.html
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
different styles of learning
By Martha Beck
If at first you don't succeed... ask yourself, Am I an otter? A squirrel? A mouse? The answer could spell the difference between things going swimmingly and squeaking to a halt. Find your own winning style.
It was a problem I'd never anticipated: My brainy daughter was having trouble in school. Katie began teaching herself to read at 15 months and tested at a "post–high school" level in almost every subject by fourth grade. Yet her middle-school grades were dropping like a lead balloon, and her morale along with them. I cared more about the morale than the grades. I knew Katie was quickly losing something educational psychologists call her sense of self-efficacy -- her belief that she could succeed at specific tasks and life in general. People who lack this trait tend to stop trying because they expect to fail. Then, of course, they do fail, feel even worse, shut down even more, and carry on to catastrophe.
I couldn't understand what put Katie on this slippery slope. True, some people seem genetically inclined to believe in themselves -- or not -- but experience powerfully influences our sense of self-efficacy. I knew Katie had been confident as a preschooler, but her current trouble at school was destroying her optimism. I tried to help in every way I could. I created homework-checking systems, communicated with teachers like bosom buddies, doled out penalties and rewards. Mostly, though, I just kept cheering Katie on. I was sure that if she would stop hesitating, believe in herself, and just throw herself into the task at hand, she'd get past the problem.
Boy, was I ever wrong.
It took years of confidence-battering struggle -- for both Katie and me -- before I finally got the information I needed. It came from a no-nonsense bundle of kindly energy named Kathy Kolbe, a specialist on the instinctive patterns that shape human action. Kathy's father pioneered many standardized intelligence tests, but Kathy was born with severe dyslexia, which meant that this obviously bright little girl didn't learn in a typical way. She grew up determined to understand and defend the different ways in which people go about solving problems.
The day Katie and I met her, Kathy was wearing a T-shirt that said "do nothing when nothing works," a motto that typifies her approach. On her desk were the results from the tests (the Kolbe A and Y Indexes) that my daughter and I had just taken to evaluate our personal "conative styles," or typical action patterns.
"Well," said Kathy, glancing at a bar graph, "I see you both listen better when you're drawing."
Katie and I stared at each other, astonished. Bull's-eye.
"And you've both had a zillion teachers tell you to stop drawing. They said you could do only one thing at a time, but that's not true for you two, is it? You have a hard time focusing if there's nothing to occupy your eyes and hands."
Unexpectedly, I found myself tearing up with gratitude. I'd never realized how frustrated I'd been by the very situation Kathy was describing. Katie sat up a little straighter in her chair.
"But," Kathy went on, "Martha, you go about problem-solving in a different way from Katie. There are four basic action modes, and you're what I call a Quick Start. When you want to learn, you just jump in and start messing around."
Another bull's-eye. I cannot count the times I've been defeated, humiliated, or physically injured immediately after saying the words, "Hey, how hard can it be?" But that never seems to stop me from saying them again.
"Now," Kathy went on, "Katie's not a Quick Start. She's a Fact Finder. Before she starts a task, she needs to know all about it. She needs to go through the instructions and analyze them for flaws, then get more information to fill in the gaps."
To my amazement, my daughter nodded vigorously. I've never understood why some people hesitate before diving into unfamiliar tasks or activities. I couldn't imagine wanting more instructions about anything.
"There are two other typical patterns," Kathy explained. "The people I call Implementors -- like Thomas Edison, for example -- need physical objects to work with. They figure out things by building models or doing concrete tasks. Then there are the Follow Thrus. They set up orderly systems, like the Dewey decimal system or a school curriculum.
"And that, Katie," she said, "is why you're having trouble. The school system was created mainly by people who are natural Follow Thrus. It works best for students with the same profile. Your teachers want you to fit into the system, but you have a hard time seeing how it works. If you question the instructions -- which you absolutely need to do -- they think you're being sassy."
Katie nodded so hard I feared for her cervical vertebrae. I was stunned. I'd spent years trying to understand my daughter, and a veritable stranger had just nailed the problem in ways I'd never even conceptualized. Katie wanted more instructions? You could have knocked me down with a feather.
Basic Instinct
I've told this story in detail because since meeting Kathy, studying her work, and seeing how dramatically it affects people and their productivity, I've become convinced that many of us feel like failures because we don't recognize (let alone accept) that our instinctive methods of acting are as varied as our eye color. Our modus operandi shapes the way we do everything: make breakfast, drive, learn math. Not recognizing natural differences in our conative styles -- assuming instead that we're idiots because we do things unconventionally -- can destroy that precious sense of self-efficacy.
Imagine a race between four animals: an otter, a mole, a squirrel, and a mouse. They're headed for a goal several feet away. Which animal will win? Well, it depends. If the goal is underground, my money's on the mole. If it's in a tree? Hello, Mr. Squirrel. Underwater, it's the otter. And if the goal is hidden in tall grass, the mouse will walk away with it. Now, all these animals can swim, dig, climb, and find things in the grass. It's just that each of them does one of these things better than the others. Putting all four animals in a swimming race, say, would lead to the conclusion that one was better than the others, when the truth is simply that their innate skills are different.
If we're in an environment (such as school, a job, or a family tradition) that asks us to act against our natural style, we feel uncomfortable at best, tormented at worst. Even if we manage to conform, we don't get a high sense of self-efficacy because although we've managed the efficacy part of the equation, we've lost the self. When we fail, we feel like losers; when we succeed, we feel like impostors.
Thanks to Kathy's work (and centuries of psychological work on conation), I've stopped asking others to match my instinctive style. I no longer expect squirrels to swim and otters to climb trees. As a result, I'm better able to support myself, my children, and everyone else I know. Here's a quick primer on how you can do the same:
Accept that you have an inborn, instinctive style of action
Just learning that there are four distinct patterns of action was a huge aha for me. When Katie and I accepted that we simply had different ways of doing things, our relationship and her confidence began to improve immediately. To identify your own action-mode profile, you can take a formal online test (the Kolbe Index at kolbe.com; there is a charge), or just observe your own approach to getting something done. To give you an example, people with different profiles might respond to a challenge -- let's say, learning to crochet -- in the following ways:
So I finally stopped pressuring Katie to act like her Follow Thru teachers or her Quick Start mother. Instead I helped her find detailed information and gave her time to absorb it. She recently devoured a 1,000-page book on Web site design that I would not read if the alternative were death on the rack. It took her a month to finish the book. The next day, she made a Web site. Spooky.
Play to your strengths
Once you know your instinctive style, brainstorm ways to make it work for you, not against you. For starters, choose fields of endeavor where you feel comfortable and competent. If you love systematic structure, don't become a freelancer. If you are crazy about physical models, don't force yourself to crunch financial statistics for a living.
To really boost your sense of self-efficacy, think of ways you could modify your usual tasks to suit your personal style. For example, Kathy suggested that Katie might ask for permission to do detailed research reports in place of other school assignments. I nearly threw up at the very thought, but to my astonishment Katie agreed enthusiastically.
Of course, you'll inevitably interact with people whose instinctive patterns are different from yours. Otter, Mole, Squirrel, and Mouse may all show up in the same family, workplace, or book club. Occasionally, it's fine to conform, using styles of action that don't come naturally -- but do it consciously and for a limited time, or your sense of self-efficacy will suffer. And finally...
Team up with unlike others
As long as Otter, Mole, Squirrel, and Mouse are forced to race in the same terrain, at least three of them will be out of their element, looking and feeling like failures. But think what they could do if they pooled their skills. They could access resources from the water, earth, trees, and fields, combining them in ways none of the animals could achieve alone. They could rule the world! (Or at least the backyard.)
This is the very best way to leverage an understanding of conative style -- to create useful, complementary strategies instead of disheartening, competitive ones. Many of us have spent a lifetime trying to be what we're not, feeling lousy about ourselves when we fail and sometimes even when we succeed. We hide our differences when, by accepting and celebrating them, we could collaborate to make every effort more exciting, productive, enjoyable, and powerful. Personally, I think we should start right now. I mean, hey, how hard can it be?
If at first you don't succeed... ask yourself, Am I an otter? A squirrel? A mouse? The answer could spell the difference between things going swimmingly and squeaking to a halt. Find your own winning style.
It was a problem I'd never anticipated: My brainy daughter was having trouble in school. Katie began teaching herself to read at 15 months and tested at a "post–high school" level in almost every subject by fourth grade. Yet her middle-school grades were dropping like a lead balloon, and her morale along with them. I cared more about the morale than the grades. I knew Katie was quickly losing something educational psychologists call her sense of self-efficacy -- her belief that she could succeed at specific tasks and life in general. People who lack this trait tend to stop trying because they expect to fail. Then, of course, they do fail, feel even worse, shut down even more, and carry on to catastrophe.
I couldn't understand what put Katie on this slippery slope. True, some people seem genetically inclined to believe in themselves -- or not -- but experience powerfully influences our sense of self-efficacy. I knew Katie had been confident as a preschooler, but her current trouble at school was destroying her optimism. I tried to help in every way I could. I created homework-checking systems, communicated with teachers like bosom buddies, doled out penalties and rewards. Mostly, though, I just kept cheering Katie on. I was sure that if she would stop hesitating, believe in herself, and just throw herself into the task at hand, she'd get past the problem.
Boy, was I ever wrong.
It took years of confidence-battering struggle -- for both Katie and me -- before I finally got the information I needed. It came from a no-nonsense bundle of kindly energy named Kathy Kolbe, a specialist on the instinctive patterns that shape human action. Kathy's father pioneered many standardized intelligence tests, but Kathy was born with severe dyslexia, which meant that this obviously bright little girl didn't learn in a typical way. She grew up determined to understand and defend the different ways in which people go about solving problems.
The day Katie and I met her, Kathy was wearing a T-shirt that said "do nothing when nothing works," a motto that typifies her approach. On her desk were the results from the tests (the Kolbe A and Y Indexes) that my daughter and I had just taken to evaluate our personal "conative styles," or typical action patterns.
"Well," said Kathy, glancing at a bar graph, "I see you both listen better when you're drawing."
Katie and I stared at each other, astonished. Bull's-eye.
"And you've both had a zillion teachers tell you to stop drawing. They said you could do only one thing at a time, but that's not true for you two, is it? You have a hard time focusing if there's nothing to occupy your eyes and hands."
Unexpectedly, I found myself tearing up with gratitude. I'd never realized how frustrated I'd been by the very situation Kathy was describing. Katie sat up a little straighter in her chair.
"But," Kathy went on, "Martha, you go about problem-solving in a different way from Katie. There are four basic action modes, and you're what I call a Quick Start. When you want to learn, you just jump in and start messing around."
Another bull's-eye. I cannot count the times I've been defeated, humiliated, or physically injured immediately after saying the words, "Hey, how hard can it be?" But that never seems to stop me from saying them again.
"Now," Kathy went on, "Katie's not a Quick Start. She's a Fact Finder. Before she starts a task, she needs to know all about it. She needs to go through the instructions and analyze them for flaws, then get more information to fill in the gaps."
To my amazement, my daughter nodded vigorously. I've never understood why some people hesitate before diving into unfamiliar tasks or activities. I couldn't imagine wanting more instructions about anything.
"There are two other typical patterns," Kathy explained. "The people I call Implementors -- like Thomas Edison, for example -- need physical objects to work with. They figure out things by building models or doing concrete tasks. Then there are the Follow Thrus. They set up orderly systems, like the Dewey decimal system or a school curriculum.
"And that, Katie," she said, "is why you're having trouble. The school system was created mainly by people who are natural Follow Thrus. It works best for students with the same profile. Your teachers want you to fit into the system, but you have a hard time seeing how it works. If you question the instructions -- which you absolutely need to do -- they think you're being sassy."
Katie nodded so hard I feared for her cervical vertebrae. I was stunned. I'd spent years trying to understand my daughter, and a veritable stranger had just nailed the problem in ways I'd never even conceptualized. Katie wanted more instructions? You could have knocked me down with a feather.
Basic Instinct
I've told this story in detail because since meeting Kathy, studying her work, and seeing how dramatically it affects people and their productivity, I've become convinced that many of us feel like failures because we don't recognize (let alone accept) that our instinctive methods of acting are as varied as our eye color. Our modus operandi shapes the way we do everything: make breakfast, drive, learn math. Not recognizing natural differences in our conative styles -- assuming instead that we're idiots because we do things unconventionally -- can destroy that precious sense of self-efficacy.
Imagine a race between four animals: an otter, a mole, a squirrel, and a mouse. They're headed for a goal several feet away. Which animal will win? Well, it depends. If the goal is underground, my money's on the mole. If it's in a tree? Hello, Mr. Squirrel. Underwater, it's the otter. And if the goal is hidden in tall grass, the mouse will walk away with it. Now, all these animals can swim, dig, climb, and find things in the grass. It's just that each of them does one of these things better than the others. Putting all four animals in a swimming race, say, would lead to the conclusion that one was better than the others, when the truth is simply that their innate skills are different.
If we're in an environment (such as school, a job, or a family tradition) that asks us to act against our natural style, we feel uncomfortable at best, tormented at worst. Even if we manage to conform, we don't get a high sense of self-efficacy because although we've managed the efficacy part of the equation, we've lost the self. When we fail, we feel like losers; when we succeed, we feel like impostors.
Thanks to Kathy's work (and centuries of psychological work on conation), I've stopped asking others to match my instinctive style. I no longer expect squirrels to swim and otters to climb trees. As a result, I'm better able to support myself, my children, and everyone else I know. Here's a quick primer on how you can do the same:
Accept that you have an inborn, instinctive style of action
Just learning that there are four distinct patterns of action was a huge aha for me. When Katie and I accepted that we simply had different ways of doing things, our relationship and her confidence began to improve immediately. To identify your own action-mode profile, you can take a formal online test (the Kolbe Index at kolbe.com; there is a charge), or just observe your own approach to getting something done. To give you an example, people with different profiles might respond to a challenge -- let's say, learning to crochet -- in the following ways:
- Quick Start: If you're a Quick Start who wants to crochet, you'll probably buy some yarn and a hook, get a few tips from an experienced crochetmeister, and jump right into trial and error.
- Fact Finder: You'll spend hours reading, watching, asking questions, and learning about crocheting before actually beginning to use the tools.
- Implementor: You pay less attention to words than to concrete objects, so you might draw a pattern of a crochet stitch or even create a large model using thick rope, before you go near a needle.
- Follow Thru: You'll likely schedule a lesson with a crochet teacher or buy a book that proceeds through a yarn curriculum, learning new stitches in order of difficulty.
So I finally stopped pressuring Katie to act like her Follow Thru teachers or her Quick Start mother. Instead I helped her find detailed information and gave her time to absorb it. She recently devoured a 1,000-page book on Web site design that I would not read if the alternative were death on the rack. It took her a month to finish the book. The next day, she made a Web site. Spooky.
Play to your strengths
Once you know your instinctive style, brainstorm ways to make it work for you, not against you. For starters, choose fields of endeavor where you feel comfortable and competent. If you love systematic structure, don't become a freelancer. If you are crazy about physical models, don't force yourself to crunch financial statistics for a living.
To really boost your sense of self-efficacy, think of ways you could modify your usual tasks to suit your personal style. For example, Kathy suggested that Katie might ask for permission to do detailed research reports in place of other school assignments. I nearly threw up at the very thought, but to my astonishment Katie agreed enthusiastically.
Of course, you'll inevitably interact with people whose instinctive patterns are different from yours. Otter, Mole, Squirrel, and Mouse may all show up in the same family, workplace, or book club. Occasionally, it's fine to conform, using styles of action that don't come naturally -- but do it consciously and for a limited time, or your sense of self-efficacy will suffer. And finally...
Team up with unlike others
As long as Otter, Mole, Squirrel, and Mouse are forced to race in the same terrain, at least three of them will be out of their element, looking and feeling like failures. But think what they could do if they pooled their skills. They could access resources from the water, earth, trees, and fields, combining them in ways none of the animals could achieve alone. They could rule the world! (Or at least the backyard.)
This is the very best way to leverage an understanding of conative style -- to create useful, complementary strategies instead of disheartening, competitive ones. Many of us have spent a lifetime trying to be what we're not, feeling lousy about ourselves when we fail and sometimes even when we succeed. We hide our differences when, by accepting and celebrating them, we could collaborate to make every effort more exciting, productive, enjoyable, and powerful. Personally, I think we should start right now. I mean, hey, how hard can it be?
Saturday, May 4, 2013
why my freezer is full of mail
13. If you have already sealed an envelope and realized you forgot to
put something in it, place the envelope in the freezer for a couple
hours. It will pop right open so you don't have to get another envelope.
http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2012/07/tips-tips-and-more-tips.html
http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2012/07/tips-tips-and-more-tips.html
Monday, January 7, 2013
story of the pencil
from
http://www.suziscribbles.com/search/label/informal%20styles
The Story Of The Pencil
Thursday, 5 January 2012
I came across an inspirational short story taken from Paulo Coelho’s book on short stories and reflections ‘Like the Flowing River’
I love working with pencil;
even without words, or perhaps, especially without words...
The Story of The Pencil....
A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked:
“Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?”
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
“I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the
words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when
you grow up.”
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
“But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!”
no... there's nothing 'normal' about the pencil as
textures & patterns emerge... flowing from it's tip...
“That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if
you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at
peace with the world.
"First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never
forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God,
and He always guides us according to His will.
“Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a
sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s
much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows,
because they will make you a better person.
a different challenge on black paper,
but see what depths can be reached...
“Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out
any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not
necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.
“Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden
exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is
happening inside you.
"Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: It always leaves a mark. In just
the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a
mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.”
and what results can be achieved...
if you keep sharp
& pay attention to the spaces as well as what is already there
& allow the marks you make to unfold...
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
postal history
A carrier poses on skis, with an 80–pound pack of mail on his back, while on the mail route from Rocky Bar, Idaho, to Atlanta, Idaho. This 16–mile route was one of the most dangerous in the country. Between 1892 and 1913, seven carriers lost their lives in snow slides.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
theory of design etc (50 books)
http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/04/04/a-theory-of-pure-design-harmony-balance-rhythm-1907/
a very thorough discussion of design, harmony, balance and rhythm - a book published in 1907
and 50 other scanned books on a variety of topics
a very thorough discussion of design, harmony, balance and rhythm - a book published in 1907
and 50 other scanned books on a variety of topics
Monday, July 30, 2012
when my blog or google is stuck on french
http://support.google.com/websearch/?hl=en&hlrm=en#topic=1224172&rd=1
http://support.google.com/websearch/?hl=en&hlrm=en#topic=1224172&rd=1
my google was stuck on french for a really long time
and i could not read the choices to change it back to english
finally i found this link
and i have to store it here...in case i ever get stuck in french again
this link doesn't work
try going to the little gear in the upper right corner
and try the third item in the column
http://support.google.com/websearch/?hl=en&hlrm=en#topic=1224172&rd=1
my google was stuck on french for a really long time
and i could not read the choices to change it back to english
finally i found this link
and i have to store it here...in case i ever get stuck in french again
this link doesn't work
try going to the little gear in the upper right corner
and try the third item in the column
Sunday, July 15, 2012
famous mail carriers & postal workers
i don't know how long they will leave the information up, so i reprinted it here.
Famous Mail Carriers & Postal Workers
We often see public figures appearing on television shows talking about what they did before they became an actor, singer, politician, etc. We thought it would be fun to explore who may have once been responsible for delivering the mail. You may find many of the names quite surprising…Stellar Mail Carriers…
Charles Bukowski, author and poet – who penned of the 1971 novel “Post Office”
Steve Carell, actor in films such as “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Evan Almighty,” and “The Forty Year Old Virgin”
Walt Disney was a substitute mail carrier in Chicago, IL
Ace Frehely, the original guitarist for the rock n’ roll band KISS
Rock Hudson worked as a letter carrier in Winnetka, IL
John Prine, Grammy winning folk singer
The Presidential Treatment…
Abraham Lincoln was the postmaster in New Salem, IL
William McKinley was an assistant postmaster in Poland, OH
Harry S. Truman was the postmaster in Grandview, MO
More Power Postmasters…
William Faulkner, famed novelist who served as postmaster in University, MS
Benjamin Franklin, our famed Founding Father was also our first Postmaster General.
Will Hays, President of the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America served as Postmaster General
Conrad Hilton, the businessman and hotel magnate was postmaster in San Antonio, NM
Harry Hooper, this baseball Hall-of-Famer played the position of postmaster in Capitola, CA after his ball playing career ended
Bill Nye, the distinguished journalist and humorist was the postmaster of Laramie, WY when he founded the newspaper the Laramie Boomerang in 1881
Adlai E. Stevenson, who was the Assistant Postmaster General during President Grover Cleveland’s first
administration and Vice President of the US during Cleveland’s second administration (1893-1897)
Celebrity Clerks & Others…
Bing Crosby, before “White Christmas,” he likely handled many holiday cards as a clerk in Spokane, WA
Samuel L. Gravely, the first African-American admiral was a railway mail clerk after returning from his first stint as an ensign with the Navy; he later returned to that branch of the armed forces for 31-year career as a highly decorated officer
Sherman Hemsley, prior to “movin’ on up,” the actor worked as a clerk in Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY
Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator winged it as contract airmail pilot
Knute Rockne, was a clerk in Chicago, IL before his legendary football coaching career
Noah Webster, the noted lexicographer was a special agent for the USPS
Foreign Service…
Olivier Besancenot, a candidate in the 2002 and 2007 French presidential elections has worked as a postal carrier since 1997 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris (taking a break in 1999 and 2002 to serve as a parliamentary attaché)
Alan Johnson, the former UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer worked at the post office in his youth
Bon Scott, the late lead singer of rock n’ roll’s AC/DC was once a “postie” in Australia
Allan Smethurst, the English singer who was known as “The Singing Postman,” who started out humming tunes on his daily postal rounds for 12 years
Famous though Fictional…
Cliff Clavin, mailman and bar patron (played by John Ratzenberger) on the TV sitcom, “Cheers”
Newman, mailman and Jerry’s nemesis (played by Wayne Knight) on the TV sitcom, “Seinfeld”
Pat Clifton, the main character of the stop-motion animated children’s TV series, Postman Pat
Mister McFeely, the postman on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, played by David Newell
Reba the Mail Lady, the children’s TV series Pee-Wee’s Playhouse played by S. Epatha Merkerson (perhaps best known for her work on TV’s Law and Order)
Next time you buy stamps at your local Post Office or see your mail carrier delivering letters and parcels along your route, you just may be having a brush with greatness. You never know!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
view from the eiffle tower - view of the universe
http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/paris.htm
wait for it to load
and you can scan 360-degrees
also
you can look at a very nice representation of our universe
http://langa.posterous.com/its-all-about-perspective
wait for it to load
and you can scan 360-degrees
also
you can look at a very nice representation of our universe
http://langa.posterous.com/its-all-about-perspective
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Michael Gartner's Column - No Left Turns
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2006-06-15-gartner_x.htm
A life without left turns
| Posted 6/15/2006 9:57 PM ET | E-mail | Print |
|
| ||||||||||
By Michael Gartner
My father never drove a car.
Well, that's not quite right.
I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit
driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove
was a 1926 Whippet.
"In those days," he told me when he was in his
90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things
with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk
through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."
At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in:
"Oh, bull——!" she said. "He hit a horse."
"Well," my father said, "there was that, too."
So my brother and I grew up in a household
without a car. The neighbors all had cars — the Kollingses next door had
a green 1941 Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936
Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford — but we had
none. My father, a newspaperman in Des Moines, would take the streetcar
to work and, often as not, walk the 3 miles home. If he took the
streetcar home, my mother and brother and I would walk the three blocks
to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.
Our 1950 Chevy
My brother, David, was born in 1935, and I was
born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the
neighbors had cars but we had none. "No one in the family drives," my
mother would explain, and that was that. But, sometimes, my father would
say, "But as soon as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one."
It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first.
But, sure enough, my brother turned 16 before I
did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend
who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown. It was a
four-door, white model, stick shift, fender skirts, loaded with
everything, and, since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became
my brother's car.
Having a car but not being able to drive didn't
bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother. So in 1952,
when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She
learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the
following year and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to
practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. "Who can
your mother hurt in the cemetery?" I remember him saying once.
For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my
mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any
sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps — though they seldom left
the city limits — and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.
The ritual walk to church
Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My
mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic,
an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their
75 years of marriage. (Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the
entire time.) He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for
the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St.
Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he
would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests
was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go
out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service
and walking her home. If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a
1-mile walk and then head back to the church.
He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."
After he retired, my father almost always
accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no
reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in
the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her
keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the
radio. (In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs
lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the
millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base
scored.") If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to
carry the bags out — and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream.
As I said, he was always the navigator, and once,
when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me, "Do you
want to know the secret of a long life?" "I guess so," I said, knowing
it probably would be something bizarre.
"No left turns," he said.
"What?" I asked.
"No left turns," he repeated. "Several years ago,
your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old
people are in happen when they turn left in front of oncoming traffic.
As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth
perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a
left turn."
"What?" I said again. "No left turns," he said.
"Think about it. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot
safer. So we always make three rights."
"You're kidding!" I said, and I turned to my
mother for support. "No," she said, "your father is right. We make three
rights. It works."
But then she added: "Except when your father loses count."
I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off
the road as I started laughing. "Loses count?" I asked. "Yes," my
father admitted, "that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You
just make seven rights, and you're okay again."
I couldn't resist. "Do you ever go for 11?" I asked.
"No," he said. "If we miss it at seven, we just
come home and call it a bad day. Besides, nothing in life is so
important it can't be put off another day or another week."
My mother was never in an accident, but one
evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit
driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90. She lived four more years,
until 2003. My father died the next year, at 102. They both died in the
bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for
$3,000. (Sixty years later, my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a
shower put in the tiny bathroom — the house had never had one. My father
would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three
times what he paid for the house.) He continued to walk daily — he had
me get him a treadmill when he was 101 because he was afraid he'd fall
on the icy sidewalks but wanted to keep exercising — and he was of sound
mind and sound body until the moment he died.
A happy life
One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son
went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was
clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the
usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things
in the news. A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, "You know, Mike,
the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred." At
one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, "You know, I'm probably
not going to live much longer." "You're probably right," I said. "Why
would you say that?" he countered, somewhat irritated. "Because you're
102 years old," I said. "Yes," he said, "you're right." He stayed in bed
all the next day. That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that
we sit up with him through the night. He appreciated it, he said, though
at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: "I would like
to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet."
An hour or so
later, he spoke his last words:
"I want you to know," he said, clearly and
lucidly, "that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as
happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have."
A short time later, he died.
I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot.
I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky
that he lived so long.
I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life.
Or because he quit taking left turns.
Michael Gartner has been editor of newspapers
large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer
Prize for editorial writing.
Friday, June 8, 2012
GOUACHE / Paint / Color Theory
http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color14.html
a long article, but explains things better than i can
http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Color/ColorMixing_Lee/index.html
http://schoolofcolour.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=86&Itemid=606&lang=en
Cool Primary Palette
Alizarin crimson
Taylor blue
Lemon Yellow
Warm Primary Palette
Ultramarine blue
Spectrum yellow
Spectrum red
******
Windsor Newton Permanent White - Gouache
Squeeze it out
Let it dry to remove sizing
then wet and apply
Zinc white for mixing - permanent white for highlights
********
dried up tubes
cut them open
put in a small jar with glycerin
let sit several days
mix with distilled water
*******
Peter recommends NW Jet Black Gouache - a drop of gum arabic and distilled water
a long article, but explains things better than i can
http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Color/ColorMixing_Lee/index.html
http://schoolofcolour.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=86&Itemid=606&lang=en
Cool Primary Palette
Alizarin crimson
Taylor blue
Lemon Yellow
Warm Primary Palette
Ultramarine blue
Spectrum yellow
Spectrum red
******
Windsor Newton Permanent White - Gouache
Squeeze it out
Let it dry to remove sizing
then wet and apply
Zinc white for mixing - permanent white for highlights
********
dried up tubes
cut them open
put in a small jar with glycerin
let sit several days
mix with distilled water
*******
Peter recommends NW Jet Black Gouache - a drop of gum arabic and distilled water
Monday, December 19, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
newsletter service & letters of note
https://tinyletter.com/
how cool is this? a service where someone else keeps track of your mailing list and you send out newsletters.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/
this is the site where i found the tiny letters
how cool is this? a service where someone else keeps track of your mailing list and you send out newsletters.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/
this is the site where i found the tiny letters
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Corinna's Hand Exercises
HAND EXERCISES
Exercises can go a long way towards
relieving stiffness, soreness, cramping and numbness temporarily and promote a
more relaxed grip on the pen, although they won’t cure arthritis or carpal
tunnel syndrome.
1. With arms out to the sides at shoulder
level, turn hands rapidly from palm up to palm down.
2. Clench fists lightly, then slowly open
the hands until they’re fully open, fingers spread, as stretched as possible.
3. With fingers as straight as possible,
touch your thumb to your index fingertip, then tap it 5-6 times working your
way down to the base of the finger. Repeat with each finger.
4. Tap each finger in turn from the tip to
the base of the thumb.
5. Rotate the thumb through its full range
of motion.
6. With the hand resting on a flat surface,
raise each finger in turn as high as possible.
7. Hold your hands with palms together in
front of you as if praying. Bend them from side to side at the wrist as far as
comfortable.
8. Same as above, but with the backs of
your hands together. Don’t push them beyond a comfortable stretch in the back
of the wrist.
Numbness
and tingling in the hands may originate in the neck. Relaxing and loosening the
neck muscles may help temporarily, although it won’t cure arthritis, disk or
other structural problems.
1. Without raising your shoulders, try to
touch your ear to your shoulder.
2. Without moving your shoulders, try to
touch your chin to your shoulder.
3. Clasp your hands behind your head and
push it forward as far as it will stretch comfortably.
4. Shrug your shoulders as high as you can,
then rotate them back as if trying to make your shoulder
blades
meet.
The sources of
these exercises include Yoga, Youth and
Reincarnation by Jess Stern, physical therapy following carpal tunnel surgery, Sit and Be Fit on PBS, bagpipe
exercises and the internet.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
various videos
cute videos of dancing pencils
****
Fun typography video
****
This one is wacko
plus you can click on his name and he has others
Dragon Baby is very good.
https://vimeo.com/76227718
****
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
funny flow chart, etc
Disturbed Christmas Carols
1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I
Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings
Disoriented Are
3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and... Trees and.....
3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and... Trees and.....
6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm
Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh
look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so
far away?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
old school lettering - SCANNED BOOKS
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/brbldl/oneITEM.asp?pid=1002843&iid=1244787&srchtype=ITEM
there are about 60 pages to view at this site. many of them are very contemporary looking, considering this book is from the 16th century. take time to go to the link -the one above the photo- and view the pages. it is labeled a *scribal pattern book* so it must have been a collection of ideas and patterns kept by a scribe. the old school version of a blog.
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/default.asp?vcgcollex=ALL
and then, you can go to the page with a listing of 80-90 books that are scanned so that you can spend more hours looking at and collecting images. if you find something worth saving, right click, copy and paste into a word doc and print it out.
/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1022988/manuscript/
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/default.asp?vcgcollex=ALL
and then, you can go to the page with a listing of 80-90 books that are scanned so that you can spend more hours looking at and collecting images. if you find something worth saving, right click, copy and paste into a word doc and print it out.
/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1022988/manuscript/
Monday, October 17, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)