Kdmay28

I haven’t owned an umbrella since… wait — I don’t think I’ve EVER owned an umbrella. Umbrella ownership is pretty optional in Los Angeles. But it’s been raining on and off for the past couple of days. (Even thundering! Of course, I missed most of the opportunity to enjoy the rare thunder storm, as I assumed it was the noise of the landscapers’ wheelbarrows being pushed down a driveway. Was that the most LA thing I’ve ever said?)

What a coincidence that Think Geek just released the Magical Unicorn Umbrella! This could possibly be the first umbrella I ever own. Is it not a thing a beauty?

Of course, with my weather luck, the moment I purchase it Los Angeles will never see rain again in my life time. UNLESS… with a little magical unicorn power, maybe this umbrella could herald the rumored El Nino rains???

What do you think guys, should I buy this as an early birthday present to myself? Or will it just sit there, unused and be a reminder of how LA is drying up into a barren wasteland?

The post Could this unicorn umbrella be the answer to Los Angeles’ drought? appeared first on .

If you're familiar with 3D printing (you're reading Tested, chances are you're probably pretty familiar with the topic), it isn't too difficult to understand the basics of CNC milling. Instead of building up a form layer by layer, milling carves away from a block of stock material. Replace the plastic extruder of an FDM 3D printer with a high speed spindle turning a sharp cutting bit. CNC milling also requires CAD models of the desired form. And just like 3D printing, CNC mills have been moving from the workshop to the desktop. These machines have become affordable, small, and relatively easy to use.

Milling--subtractive fabrication--is often louder, messier, and let's be honest, not nearly as “magical” as additive 3D printing. The results don’t have the same wow factor as a Yoda bust you can make with a basic 3D printer. But this process creates more accurate and durable parts from a much wider selection of materials.

I’ve been testing several CNC mills for my work at NYU’s ITP program, and wanted to share some of my results. Some of these machines work right out of the box, some are kits (like the first home 3D printers). I’ll also discuss the difference between home mills and higher-end models designed for workshops, as well as my thoughts on the future of desktop milling. But this week, we’ll start off with a machine you may have seen on Tested before: the Othermill.

The Othermill

First up is the Othermill Version 1, made by the Other Machine Co. . Other Machine Co. designed this CNC mill with the belief "that regular people should be able to use professional tools". And I think they knocked it out of the park with this little guy.

The machine is ready to go right out of the box. It has easy to understand controls, just one button. The two wrenches, used to secure and remove the cutting end mills, can be secured to magnets on the front of the machine. This is such a simple little thing, but it is so handy. I'm now convinced every tool that requires a specialty wrench/chuck key/whatever should be held to the machine by a magnet. Seriously, this should be standard for all power tools.

The mill has a work area of 5.5" x 4.5" x 1.25", meaning it can work with blocks of material that size or smaller. Recommended materials--wood, metal, and plastic--are fixed to the aluminum bed using double sided tape, hot glue, or screwed down using any of the numerous tapped mounting holes.

Otherplan is the recommended free software. It is Mac only, which is practically unheard of in the CNC world, and is intuitive and easy to use, which is also pretty unheard of in the CNC world. You can be up and running in minutes--it took me longer to mount the material to the mill than to set everything up in Otherplan and begin cutting.

Otherplan has taken a lot of the things that are usually a drag about CNCing and made them easy. Determining mill feeds and speeds for a particular material is typically an educated guess/trial and error kind of process. Otherplan let’s you pick material from a drop down list with pre-set values. All of the pre-sets I’ve used have been right on the money. There is an advanced setting called "Bit Breaker" that allows you to adjust the settings. But I found out the hard way that Bit Breaker can be an apt name.

In my experience, setting the Z axis (the up and down direction) origin on CNC machines is usually a pain in the neck. The Othermill simples this too. The end mill is brought down to the aluminum bed and completes an electrical circuit on contact. The downward motion is stopped and zero is set. The only catch, you need to be fairly accurate in determining the thickness of your material. I wouldn't use this mill without a set of digital calipers close at hand.

If material is mounted to the bed by screws, you can select which threaded hole(s) you are using and Otherplan will steer clear. Fantastic.

Now I would never leave a running CNC unattended (and you shouldn't either), but the Othermill does have a "set it and forget it" kind of feel. For longer jobs, I’d have it running on my desk and keep an occasional eye on it while doing other work, so far so good.

CAD Not Required

I feel the Othermill really shines when making 2.5D parts. 2.5D parts are actually three dimensional objects created from two dimensional drawings. A 2D .svg file made in a vector graphics program (Adobe Illustrator, InkScape, etc) can be imported and Otherplan does all the heavy lifting. Shapes are set as either cutouts or engravings and multiple files can be layered on top of each other, allowing for a lot of control and experimentation. It felt a little like sketching, only I had actual physical parts when I was done.

It’s also possible to make true 3D parts with curvy surfaces (I'm envisioning a lot of self-portraits frozen in carbonite) by importing g-code, the programming language for CNC machines. But a third party CAM software will be necessary to create the code. Other Machine Co. recommends Autodesk CAM tools.

Noise and Mess

When cutting softer materials the noise and mess levels are pretty low. You could keep this guy running on your desk, still get work done, and not tick anyone off (for the most part). Cutting hardwood and aluminum is a different story. The machine can get loud, I had to take it all the way back into the workshop for the dirty looks to stop. But the mill only weighs 16.8 lbs. and has two convenient carrying handles, so it is very mobile. The mess is pretty contained, some dust might get on your work surface, but a decent shop vac is necessary to properly clean out the mill. I'm told the Othermill Version 2, the model they're shipping now, is more contained and noise and mess are even less of an issue.

Materials

I experimented cutting a wide variety of materials: wood, metal, PCB boards, plastic, even mushrooms (long story). The Othermill cuts hardwoods beautifully, I tested mostly with walnut and it produced really clean lines. I got a lot of tear out with plywood, but I chalk that up to the low grade ply I was experimenting with. In the beginning I cut a lot of aluminum, there is something incredibly empowering about making metal parts. The mill is not exactly a beast, and aluminum put a little wear and tear on the machine. The cuts were fine, but I wouldn't have this guy ripping through metal all day. But for the occasional metal part, it does the job.

The material I was happiest with is a plastic made by DuPont called Delrin. I know I'm late to the party here, but Delrin, where have you been all my life? It just wants to be machined. The milled surface finish looks incredible. Delrin is pretty much self lubricating and perfect for mechanical parts. Chocolate and peanut butter, Butch and Sundance, Othermill and Delrin.

A Good Place to Start

From my testing, the Othermill seems ideal both for first timers looking to get into CNCing and experienced makers who want to create fussy little parts. I loved how simple it is to get up and running and the price is right, compared to higher-end milling machines. Other Machine Co. has a good product here.

Photos by Ben Light. Find more of Ben's projects on his website.

I woke up this morning to see that about half of my Facebook friends list had fallen into near-religious reverie over a Kickstarter launched by Barbell Denim, a functional clothing line by and for athletes. From the Kickstarter page:

Designed for athletes, these jeans are made to fit comfortably over muscular legs by accommodating your quads and butt without forcing you to buy larger sizes for the small waist you work so hard for.

I was among those in ecstasy.  My quads and glutes are not quite so developed that I require special jeans to accommodate them, but my calves are another story.  I have to tug on my favorite skinny jeans to get them around my calves, and then once they are on, I spend most of the day feeling as though my calves are sausages in a denim casing.  When I bought them everything about them fit perfectly, but now…not so much.  They still look great and I wear them regularly, but it would just be nice if my calves didn’t feel like they were being swallowed by a denim boa constrictor every time I put them on.  I imagine this situation will only continue to intensify the bigger my quads get (which I hope they do).

So when I heard about the Kickstarter, my response was *throws money at computer screen*  Fortunately, it appears as though a lot of other people have also thrown their money at their computer screens, as the Kickstarter raised more than ten times the amount of money the company initially aimed for, which hopefully means these “anti-thigh gap” jeans will be a reality some day soon.

Barbell Denim is stepping in to fill in a gap (no pun intended) that a lot of others have written about.  Sam at Fit, Feminist and Almost Fifty has a post about trying to find clothes to fit her athletic build.  Mother Fitness asked a bunch of high-profile fit ladies for their favorite picks when it comes to jeans for women with dumps like a truck.  Fit and Feminist pal Jen Sinkler posed this question to the Thrive community and community members responded en masse. It’s pretty much well-understood among Iron Ladies that the world of apparel has not quite yet figured out what to do with the fabulousness of our lower halves.

Reading about the response to Barbell Denim made me think about a shoe-shopping trip I took this weekend. Shopping for shoes is about as difficult for me as shopping for clothes of any type. I am six feet tall (which poses its own set of issues whenever I go clothes shopping, as anyone whose body puts them on the tail end of humanity’s various bell curves can attest) and as a result I’ve got some pretty honkin’ feet, which narrows my selection down considerably.

Further compounding the situation is that I’m tired of spending my money on things that don’t fit right or make me feel uncomfortable or look weird on me, which means that I maybe buy about one out of every hundred or so things I try on.  It is a journey on par with the Odyssey.

With shoes, I’ve found that the more I run, the pickier I get about what goes on my feet. (Insert “Clueless” gif here.) Heels that are over an inch in height put weird pressure on my knees and make my arches hurt, which makes it difficult for me to run later in the day.  If the shoe doesn’t have any sort of arch support, I am probably not going to buy it.

I like wearing cute, stylish clothes, but I like being able to walk without suffering even more.  Unfortunately, most shoe makers seem to believe my desire to be pain-free and comfortable means I want to shuffle around in nurse shoes, perhaps with a lovely pair of chartreuse polyester slacks with an elastic waist band that I found in the coupon section of the weekly community newspaper.

Because so few companies provide reasonably stylish shoes that don’t put me on the express train to Foot Pain, pop. me, the companies that DO prioritize comfort without assuming I have the sensibilities of a 93-year-old ALF resident are basically welcome to help themselves to the contents of my bank account.  I am so grateful for the acknowledgement that form and function are not mutually exclusive concepts when it comes to dressing my body that I reward companies that understand this with my hard-earned money.  I understand why so many people were willing to go in on the Barbell Denim Kickstarter, because I do the same thing when it comes to shoe companies.

I think it’s worth noting that the enthusiasm for something like Barbell Denim represents a flipping of the script when it comes to women’s clothing and bodies.  I’ve become quite used to hearing women say they hated their bodies because they would try on an item of clothing and not like the way they looked or felt in it. I used to feel that way too, until I realized I was judging my body according to the standards put forth by a $20 schmatte that had been mass-produced in a sweatshop somewhere in southeast Asia. That makes about as much sense as hanging the Mona Lisa in a garbage-filled alleyway, then deciding the painting is utter shit as a result of its surroundings.

If a piece of clothing doesn’t look good on me – and the truth is that even though I am tall and thin, most clothing doesn’t look good on me at all, especially when it’s cheap fast-fashion – it’s not my body’s fault. Sure, it’s aggravating and inconvenient and sometimes I would like to be able to find a pair of jeans that doesn’t flood without having to try on half the damn store, but it’s not evidence that my body sucks.  It’s just that the clothing doesn’t work for me. I’m not about to stop lifting weights or let my muscles atrophy like that woman in that sad Harper’s Bazaar article just so I can make some clothing fit a little bit better, you know?  And if a pair of shoes makes my feet bleed and gives me hammer toes, I’m not going to have my feet surgically altered so I can wear the shoes.  I’m going to wear different shoes.

It seems like more and more women are understanding that the problem isn’t their bodies but rather with the clothes available for them to put on their bodies.  That’s is what I love about Barbell Denim, as well as all of the other clothing-specific crowdfunded projects I’ve seen lately (and there are a lot of them!) It’s a rejection of the idea that we have to change the body to fit the clothes instead of changing the clothes to fit the body.

The project is not without its issues.  Someone pointed out on the blog’s Facebook page that the leather patch on the back is not vegan-friendly and the size range is still quite limited, which means a lot of athletic women whose bodies do not fit straight sizes will not be able to buy themselves a tricked-out pair of super-stretchy skinny jeans.  But despite these drawbacks, I’m still excited about the project and can’t wait to see how the finished product comes out.

I don’t know if it’s the planets or the meds or the darkness of winter, but this week I’ve been a bit down in the hole and I suspect I’m not the only one.  Then I heard this song that I’ve loved and forgotten and it saved me a little bit.  Little things save me from myself all the time.  Sometimes it’s music, and sometimes it’s words from writers who’ve been dead for years, and sometimes it’s you.

If you’re sad or lonely or feeling like you’re one of the misfit toys, know that you are part of us.  And remember that those misfit toys always were always far more interesting than the normal ones.

Tell someone that you love them, or that they’re important.  And tell yourself.  Because it’s true.

PS. I wrote this last night but I was too mentally exhausted to publish it, and this morning I looked out and saw a mostly full moon and realized that’s probably partially to blame.  It sounds insane and vaguely werewolfy to blame the moon, but I know that weeks with full moons are worse for me.  My shrink says that full moons and increased mental illness has never been entirely proven yet, but that studies have shown an increased correlation between full moons and human sleep quality.  In particular, delta activity (deep sleep) decreased by 30%.  I already have sleep problems and when I did I sleep study last year they found that I had severe alpha-intrusion, which means that my mind is awake while my body is paralyzed and asleep, and that I get almost no delta sleep.  There’s no real cure, but my doctor told me that it’s commonly found with people who have intractable pain and depression.  No idea if one causes the other or vice-versa, but it was nice to have someone who knew nothing about me look at the scientific printouts and say “You probably have depression don’t you?  You’re in pain.  I bet you’re exhausted.”  Somehow it made it feel better to have someone nod and knowingly say, “It’s not all just in your head.”  Except that it is just in my head.  But it’s real.  And it’s something I fight against, and something I continue to win against every day I’m alive.  And if you’re reading this then you’re winning too, even if you don’t feel like it.  Am I rambling?  My guess is probably and I blame the moon and the fact that lack of sleep puts my ADD into overdrive and makes me question every single thing I do and say and write.  So today I up my drugs until things feel better, and I wait until it lifts and then suddenly I remember what it’s like to feel again.  Because I know it will come.  I know depression lies.  I know that mental illness is a small part of me that makes me who I am.  I tell myself that when this lifts I will feel again and that it will be amazing.  I don’t “know” it because my mental illness also causes illogical doubt, but I know that I’ve been in this hole hundreds of times before and that every time I come out with a few more tricks on how to deal, so mathematically the odds are in my favor.  And they’re in your favor too.  You just have to trust me on this one.

PPS. When I’m in the hole I find it difficult to help others because I’m so focused on fighting my own battle and that sucks.  I’m sorry.  But I’ll give you a few tricks I’ve learned and maybe you can share some of yours.  Or maybe you can include your twitter ID here in the comments if you want to offer support or need to find a buddy who deals with the same thing you’re dealing with so you can talk to them.  It’s amazing how much this can help.  Here are a few tricks I’ve learned that help (off and on):

• Sunlight.  Take vitamin D.  Sit near a window.  Buy a sunlight.  When things are very bad I go to a tanning salon for five minutes.  It’s not super healthy, but it helps me.
• Exercise to increase endorphins.  This is only good when you’re not at that uber-fatigued level of depression.
• Rest.  Watch funny shows and uplifting drivel.  Something you don’t have to think about or keep up with.  I recommend something like Little Britain or The Mitchell and Webb Show.
• Give yourself permission to be sick.  Mental illness is just as dangerous and real as any other disease.  If you need to take a day off to take care of yourself, do it without guilt.
• Read things that make you realize you’re not alone.  Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and Half is good for this.  Here’s her website if you can’t afford the book.  Boggle, the owl, is also quite nice.
• If you have self-harm issues, snap a rubber band across wherever you usually hurt yourself.  It’s just as painful and releases the same chemicals but less likely to give you an infection or scars.  Also clench ice in your fists until they hurt like hell and you want to cry.  You get the same pain-rush but without any long-term damage.  If you pull out your hair or scratch yourself, smear coconut oil all over your hair or wherever you normally hurt yourself.  It makes you more cognizant of when you’re doing it since many of us do it without thinking.
• Have someone you can tell so they can watch over you.  There’s something very freeing about sharing your struggle and having someone else be available to call when things are at their worse.  It feels bad to have to share the load with someone you love, but I guarantee you that they want to know so they can help.
• See a shrink.  Adjust your meds as needed.  Sometimes I need antipsychotics and sometimes I don’t.  My chemistry changes and I have to keep up with those changes.  Drugs sometimes work and then stop working and you have to manage them, which sucks when you have depression because you’re often too tired to fight for yourself, but you need those drugs just as much as someone with diabetes needs insulin.  There’s nothing to be ashamed about.  Ask a family member for help in making appointments and remembering to pick up refills if you can’t do it alone.  Remember that it’s hard as hell to get the help you need when you’re mentally ill but that’s not a sign that you’re not worth it or that you should give up.  I’ve had to switch doctors before and I’ve had to demand to be seen on numerous occasions.  Not every shrink works for every person.  It can take time to find the one who fits with you.  It’s not your fault if you don’t mesh well with your shrink.  Keep looking until you find someone you trust.  The right one is out there for you.
• Call the suicide hotline if you need to.  They’re there to help and they have fabulous tips and resources.  It’s free, you can’t call them too many times, and no one there will laugh at you.  You can stay anonymous and they’re happy to just listen to even the craziest things you have to say.  Many of them are volunteers because they too have called and been saved by someone on the other end of the phone.  I’ve called myself (even though I’m not suicidal) and some of these tips came from the amazing people on the other line.  They can also often help you find a good doctor for your specific needs.  Just google “suicide hotline” and your local one will pop up.  There are also sites like “To Write Love On Her Arms” and Mind Your Mind, which can help.
• Remember that 25-50% of all people will experience mental illness at some point, so you are not alone.  I’m a successful writer with a wonderful family, but I also have numerous personality disorders, some that even my closest friends don’t understand.  You can be mentally ill and still be a good person.  I have to remind myself of that sometimes, but it’s true.
• Do what feels right for you.  Dance in your room.  Meditate.  Read silly quotes.  Be unreasonably angry at strangers on the internet and scream at the computer screen from the safety of your home.  Make balloon animals, or knit, or project a paint-by-numbers picture on the wall and paint a giant mural, or adopt a bunch of cats and dress them up like little people.
• Laugh.  This one seems insane, but sometimes in the middle of one of my lowest points I’ll find something ridiculous and it’ll make me laugh and I’ll suddenly remember what that feels like to smile and it’s like a lifeline to remind me that I’m going to feel good things again soon.  Laughing isn’t proof that mental illness isn’t real.  It’s a sign that you’re stronger than your mental illness even when it has hold of you.  For instance, while I was writing this, I googled “how many people will experience mental illness” and google decided to “help” and instead suggested I look up these two things:

Who is googling this? Also, the second one is just awesome because when I first looked at it I thought it meant that people had turkey butlers who cooked food for them and I felt a little jealous.  Then I felt stupid.  Then I laughed.  Then I wrote “Get a turkey-butler” on my to-do list.

• And lastly, know that this struggle makes you special.  It might not be a struggle you’d have chosen for yourself, but it’s one that can make you stronger in the end, and more sensitive and compassionate and empathetic to others.  It’s one that will help you help others.  And there’s something unique about the people who see the world from the bottom of the hole.  We have different eyes when we come up and different ways to seize those moments of joy that we know are so important and rare.  And that’s a gift.  A terrible and wonderful one.  You aren’t alone.  You are wanted.  You are good.  And you will get through this.  I promise.  And when you doubt your worth, imagine your younger sister or your best friend or your child having these same doubts and realize that that same sense of angry disbelief that the world would ever be better without them is the exact same disbelief that your friends and family would feel if they lost you.  You are as special and irreplaceable as the people you love most.  Your differentness makes you unique.  I makes you who you are. It makes you part of our tribe.  It makes you flat on your back one day, and it makes you dress like a circus performer the next.  It makes you grab hold of life when it comes back around.  It makes you crazy.  But that’s not always bad.

(photo of me by Maile Wilson)

If you have tips, tricks, or want to share your twitter handle or email to offer an ear, or to ask for one, feel free to do it in the comments.  Or just listen and know that you’re  going to be okay.  There is an incredible community here built from people just like you.  We’re all in this together.

I took most of last month off to spend with my (almost) one-year old daughter. When she was born last January, my wife suggested I split my paternity leave into two chunks--a few weeks right after she was born, followed by a month or so toward the end of her first year. She thought it would be good for me to spend time with our daughter as she started developing a personality and learning new skills. My wife was right, it was a good idea.

I spent every day over the break with my daughter; going to the zoo, taking her on walks, or just going grocery shopping. I highly recommend doing the same for any new parents who are able to do so. The added benefit was that I spent a bunch of time with someone who doesn’t talk much, which left me with lots of time to reflect on the things that are important to me. And then, on the last day of my leave, I hopped on a plane to CES.

Needless to say, it was an abrupt transition.

The juxtaposition between things that are most important to me and the inconsequential trivialities CES has to offer has never been more clear. It goes beyond massive companies like Samsung and LG peddling nonsense like curved TVs and ovens you can turn on with your telephone. It’s more than the hundreds of companies selling crappy-sounding Bluetooth speakers, iPhone accessories you don't need, toy robots that don’t work at all, and other gizmos destined for your junk drawer.

...if you build them, they will sell...

It’s an endemic problem at this show--the vast majority of products being shown here are absolute garbage. I'm talking about products that no one in their right mind could want. Things like ridiculously oversized phone watches or electric scooters that cost more than a used car. These products exist solely because people will buy them. It’s like an awful perversion of Kevin Costner’s mantra from Field of Dreams, “If you build them, they will sell”.

It's easy to hate the bad products, but I think the real problem is worse. I think the problem lies in the name of the show. CES is the Consumer Electronics Show. I detest the word consumer. It’s dehumanizing. Talking about consumers makes it easy for us to forget that the nonsensical products and incremental upgrades that the press and enthusiasts are expected to take seriously are only designed to squeeze more money from people for stuff they probably don't need. Companies do this by getting people to buy into upsells they don’t need or to replace their old stuff before it needs replacing. After all, the picture at the edges of my 58-inch plasma TV is less distinct than on the new curved models, right? Wrong. That stuff doesn't matter.

(For the record, even if I didn’t already think the curved TV’s were nonsense, which I do, the products on display make no sense. According to Samsung, the sweet spot for viewing their 65-inch curved set is about 6 feet from the screen. No one is going to sit 6-feet away from a 65-inch TV.)

But while I digress, progress marches inevitably on. Next year’s products will be better/faster/stronger--as Blu-ray replaces DVD, UHD replaces HD and curved TVs replace flat screens. The good news is that because of lengthy product development cycles, the people pushing this year’s incremental upgrades already know what next year’s incremental upgrade will be. By the time you’re able to actually exchange your hard-earned money for this year’s crop of gear, next year’s “revolutionary” products are already well into the development pipeline.

It's enough to make someone cynical.

What’s the solution? Stop buying stuff you don’t need. Instead of living in a manufacturer's upgrade cycle, live in your own. When you need something, buy a thing that's good! Then keep using it until you can't repair it anymore or you actually need to replace it. As always, while we're here at CES, we’re trying hard to skip the things that are trivial and focus only on the things that are actually important, but it’s a real challenge.

And, as always there are high points at the show. It’s always wonderful to meet people who are building products that change the world for the better, whether it’s someone who has built a low-cost 3D printer for schools or a skull cap that tells athletes when they need to check their head for potential injury. And we’ve seen the usual crop of products that are real and work but feel like they’re from the future, quadrocopters, VR goggles, and 3D printers that are more accessible than ever before. And as always, there will be video on the site as soon as we’re able to get it edited and uploaded.

So anyway, that’s CES 2014. It’s mostly bullshit, but there's some good stuff out there.

Oh, I also saw a 3D printer that prints candy. On a related note, I ate some candy that a robot made for me.

This video perfectly explains why I love designing crochet.  I often explain to people how the mathematical aspect of the craft is what I find the most fun.  I’ve actually written formulas similar to what this video shows to express certain aspects of crochet.  Well said Eleanor!

The post The Argument for the Preservation of Knitting appeared first on Riot of Daisies.

Our annual family photo shoot. Wearing blue and feeling blue – I feel a theme for 2013! Being depressed gives you an excuse to wear your emotions on your sleeve…literally. But really who can stay sad when I’ve got that hilarious little photo-bomber right above me? 

My brain will always be broken. I know that. I gave up years ago trying to make myself be something I’m not. Depression runs deep in me – through my genes, through my history, through my heart. My family tree is a weeping willow. It is what it is. Sometimes its touch is so light I barely feel the shadow of it. But other times, like now, it pulls me under like a leaf on a river. Learning to accept the push and pull of my sadness is something I’m still working on. So believe me when I say I’m not trying to be glib or to minimize the very real pain and numbness that depression brings. But sometimes even I have to look up and realize how much good comes from bad.

Dead leaves provide so much life! See? Mother Nature’s onto this gig.

What I love about being depressed:

1. You learn how many other people are in the same boat. Ella Wilcox once wrote, “ Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone.” Perhaps that’s true if you’re hosting the Oscars or working as a perpetually jolly mall Santa but for myself I’ve found that’s not necessarily so. There are enough of us going through the same struggles that our arms reach far enough to hold all the hands that need holding. For me, knowing that others suffer doesn’t make my hurt less but it does make it more bearable. You got through some Hard Life Stuff and came out better for it on the other end? Then I can too.

2. You discover how much stuff really, truly is mandatory. And it isn’t as much as you think. Picking my kids up from school? Going to the bathroom? Eating food? All mandatory, yep. But showering? Cooking dinner? Answering the phone? Picking up 7200 Legos? All totally and gloriously optional! There’s something kind of magical about looking at 300 new e-mails in my inbox, saying nope, don’t wanna, and rolling back into bed. Obviously I can’t live that way forever but it’s rather reassuring to see that the world will not fall apart even if I am. (And I can now say with experience that after about a week sans bathing, things start to get pretty itchy in hard-t0-scratch places.)

3. You finally are excused from answering “fine” whenever people ask how you are. My default answer these days – and one I’ve given to everyone from close friends to gas station attendants – is “I’ve been better.” All I need is an Eeyore t-shirt and a little rendition of “I’m just a little black rain cloud…” to complete the picture. Or maybe a Robert Smith picture. I know – I need a t-shirt of Eeyore wearing a fanboy shirt of Robert and listening to The Smiths! (Christmas prezzie, nudge nudge!) Honestly it weirds some people out. But most people get it, they really do. And sometimes admitting I’m not okay gives other people permission to admit they’re not okay either. I had an absolutely amazing conversation with an acquaintance (I think before that point we’d said like 10 words to each other and none of them had gone beyond the weather) about why she was “not fine” that day. We were both better for it.

 This is my “destroyer of squids.” He makes me laugh every day. He also makes me ache – because of all my kids, he’s the one who’s inherited the most of my temperament. I’m trying now, early, to teach him how to deal with the darkness.

4. Laughing feels so amazing it almost comes right back around to hurting! But in a good way! Today Jelly Bean came running into my room sobbing. “Mom, my stuffed animals won’t stop calling me stupid!!” When I burst out laughing (I’m sorry, couldn’t help it) she cried even harder, “It’s not funny! They really hurt my feelings!!” (Four is a magical age.) But that spontaneous burst of laughter made me realize how long it has been since I genuinely belly laughed. It felt so good that it made me feel sad I didn’t do it more often. The poignancy of that moment cut right through me but it was good to remember what it feels like to bleed. Bleeding and laughing make us human.

This is her “football helmet”, in case you were curious.

5. It forces you to remember that no matter how independent and self-sufficient you are, we are all still deeply dependent on the kindness of others. Whether it was a stranger touching my face or a friend taking me for a walk or my husband making dinner or my Turbo crew from Minnesota including me in their “neon day” and making a video of everyone saying hi to me, I was so moved to see how many people helped me and often in ways I didn’t even realize I needed help until they gave it! For so long I’ve moved through my life thinking the only way things will get done right is if I do them. That I’m the only one carrying my burdens. Turns out that is beautifully untrue.

 This guy is amazing. 

6. Joy and pain are two sides of the same coin. It sounds so cliche but I’d forgotten what a wondrous thing it is to feel good until I felt bad for so long. Happiness, unfortunately, is something that’s easy to take for granted.

It amazes me we even got him to smile for the family pictures since the day before he was having an abscessed tooth extracted! Kids are so resilient.

7. It makes you a better listener. Normally I’m quite the talker. I love to tell stories. I love to laugh. I love to be in the midst of it all. Normally. But being depressed has made me really withdrawn. All of a sudden I can’t think of anything to say. Or talking just feels like too much effort. Or I’m afraid that the only thing that will come out of my mouth will be a big, dumb sad. And while it really stinks to not feel like myself, I’ve discovered a bright side to going silent. You know what happens when I stop talking? Other people start talking. And I get to listen to them. When they talk about not wanting to get out of bed or not being able to quiet the worry or even about the ignomy of public tears, I get it. I really do. Sometimes I forget what a gift other people’s stories are to me. Sometimes I forget what a gift a little empathy can be. This has reminded me.

8. It really is the little things that matter. As in my four little things. Laying still, slowing down, listening: I’ve got to see them in a whole new light. I’ve been too tired to obsessively check my phone and so instead I’ve sat and watched my two youngest play school for an hour. That was one of the best things I’ve ever done. When I’m so busy trying to be Wonder Woman, they often get lost in the shuffle. But when my energy is severely limited, somehow it’s easier to remember to save most of it for them. (Although I am desperately hoping that they will not grow up to remember me as “depressed mom” always.)

9. Doing something is better than nothing. I’m a massive perfectionist. So much so that I’ll often get paralyzed into inaction by my desire to get everything just right. For instance, I kept putting off getting some lighting for our house (why don’t houses come with overhead lights anymore?!) because I couldn’t decide on the absolute perfect kind that would match the decor that I hadn’t even envisoned yet as it turns out I kinda hate decorating and oh why is everything SO DARK? Then one day my husband just set up some lamps. “Those are ugly!” I moaned. But as he walked away, I realized that now I have light. And the same goes for the everyday stuff. Half-cleaned rooms are better than not-cleaned-at-all rooms! Turned-in work is better than missed deadlines! Pigeons aren’t as beautiful as eagles but they’re hilarious and when’s the last time an eagle ate bread out of your hand? Depression has really made me let go of a lot of that perfectionism.

When my husband goes out of town Luna makes sure to keep his spot warm. And she even lets me be the little spoon!

10. It’s a fight and I’m a fighter. One of my defining characteristics is how much I love a good battle, even if it’s with myself. No matter how far down the rabbit hole I go, there’s a part of me that still wants to prove everyone wrong and claw my way back out. I will not be made a victim. Especially not by my own hand. I’ll take my meds, I’ll do my cognitive behavioral therapy drills, I’ll get sun on my face and vitamins in my veins, I’ll read books and cut out sugar – I’ll do whatever it takes to not let this define me. I will always have depression in me. I will always keep fighting it.

In the end I’m still an optimist. As a depressive I’m not sure if this oxymoron means I’m delusional or possibly a mis-diagnosed bi-polar but regardless, no matter how sad I get, I can’t seem to lose the hope that things will get better. Just like my light is always tinged with my knowledge of the darkness, so my darkness is rendered incomplete by my memory of the light – The light streaming around us as I twirl my daughter through the fall air and listen to the echo of her laugh. Which may be the thing I love most about my depression.

Maybe I should be a mall store Santa after all.

Holidays are fast approaching! Here's a great DIY idea for our crafty gift-givers. Since DIY projects take more time, let's get started!

Most of our friends are all somewhat nerdy about one thing or another — and two in particular introduced me to the glories of Star Trek the Next Generation; another loves the Original Series; another introduced me to Doctor Who. Most of them are total Star Wars fanboys (they would all have movie nights and watch the Original Trilogy together).

SO we've decided to DIY screenprint a symbol for each person that refers to their specific nerdy thing onto scarves: Next Gen, Original Series, Dr. Who (Tardis), a symbol from the comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (which my best friend and I used to read together years ago), symbol for the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial symbol.

That's the story, now here's the DIY screenprinting tutorial:

You'll need:

• Embroidery hoop
• Screen printing ink (I got a kit of Jacquard's basic colors a while ago, but you could just get one jar if they'll all be the same color)
• Mod Podge
• Paint brush
• Old stockings/cheap stockings (these will be the screen)
• A pencil
• Some parchment paper or wax paper

STEP 1
Get your design: Print out your design. I found the symbols via Google, then put the images into a document in Microsoft Word and just scaled each one down to close to an inch, the size I wanted them.

STEP 2
Make the screen. Once you have your image, cut out a piece of the stocking and put it in the embroidery hoop–be sure to stretch it very tight. (The first one I tried, the symbol was big and I didn't stretch enough. The screen allowed the ink to smudge because it was a bit loose.)

STEP 3
Trace your design onto the screen with a pencil outline.

STEP 4
Next, fill in the negative space with Mod Podge, making sure no tiny holes appear in the Mod Podge by making it relatively thick. Be very careful at the edges of the design. The unpainted area will be your screenprinted design.

STEP 5
Let the screen dry.

STEP 6
Do a test run of your screen, following steps 7-9. I used a tea towel. It's a good thing I did, because the first few came out pretty poorly. (That smudgy blue is where I tried watering down the ink a bit, which I did not like at all; I ended up just using the thick ink straight from the jar.)

STEP 7
Put down parchment paper or wax paper underneath the fabric in case of bleed through, so you don't ruin your surface OR accidentally glue the project to the table. I tried newspaper, which became stuck to the bottom of the fabric. THEN I used wax paper, which worked well.

STEP 8
Carefully place the screen face down on the fabric and paint the ink onto the screen. Be sure to push the ink through the screen without accidentally moving the screen around to prevent smudges (this is why doing a test is such a good idea!). You can use a card to push the ink through the screen if it's pretty thick, or if your brush is stiff that might do the trick.

STEP 9
After the ink dries, iron the design on high heat for one minute from the back of the fabric.

STEP 10
When you're happy with the tests, follow steps 7-9 on your real fabric.

Here's how mine came out:

Recent Comments

• Krystal: I've done screen printing in the past, but it was always at a learning institution where I used someone else's … [Link]
• Cherie: I've been screenprinting for years, and I get that this is a budget DIY tute, but if you spend $10 … [Link]
• Foxie: I like freezer paper and fabric paint *nods* It probably doesn't produce quite as clean an image as screen printing, … [Link]
• Foxie: Most likely chiffon :-) or possibly organza. [Link]
• rach: I used the same material to make personalized tea towels for a bridal shower present and it worked great!!! [Link]

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Spies are trained to blend in with a crowd, disappear in a foreign country, pose as just another person on the street even as they surveil their surroundings. But sometimes they'd blow their cover, giving away their identities, by making the smallest mistake. They wore the wrong kinds of socks. Apparently male spies weren't very good at paying attention to shoes and socks, but female agents in the CIA were. That was just one observational skill that helped female CIA agents spot foreign agents that their male counterparts would often overlook.

Another skill, according to Mother Jones' Secret History of Women in the CIA, was spotting foreign agents who pretended to shop in stores while snooping around. Apparently, fake shopping sticks out like a sore thumb. The secret history comes from recent testimonials of four CIA veterans, who had to fight through a male-dominated culture to become field agents and obtain higher ranking positions.

Mother Jones writes: "An internal survey from 1953 dubbed 'The Petticoat Panel' shows that while women accounted for 40 percent of the agency's employees at the time—better than the overall US workforce then, which was 30 percent female—only one-fifth of those women were above the midlevel GS-7 on the government's salary grade, which went to GS-18. Meanwhile, 70 percent of men in the CIA were higher than G-7, and 10 percent topped GS-14, a grade no women had reached at the time."

Image credit: CIA Museum

Spotting out-of-place socks was hardly the only thing female CIA agents did better than male agents. They made up 60% of the Agency's statistical analysis department, and during World War II the government preferred women as codebreakers and mapmakers. Women were better at the jobs.

In the 1960s and well into the 1970s, women were mostly relegated to lower level CIA jobs, even though some female field operatives had been highly successful during and after World War II. Virginia Hall, for example, was considered the most dangerous Allied spy by the Nazis--despite the fact that she had an artificial leg below one knee, which would seem like a deadly giveaway.

"Despite being some of the CIA's best agents and statisticians, female employees still have challenges to overcome."

Within the Agency, it was considered generally more important for men to be employed than women, and some supervisors claimed that women would leave the Agency at a moment's notice to spend more time with their family. A committee on gender issues helped things begin to change in the agency. Mother Jones writes: "The resultant memo suggested language to use when convincing male senior officials to promote women in the ranks: 'What kind of careers do you want for [your daughters]? Do you want to see their opportunities limited to the GS-07 or GS-08 level where the majority of women in the Agency remain today?' Alternatively, it suggested invoking the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972: 'Women's lib is open to debate, the law of the land is not.'

The Agency is now 46 percent women, and the GS-13 to GS-15 pay grades are 44 percent women, more than 30 percent higher than it was in 1980. But things aren't equal: Only a fifth of the employees promoted to the senior level last year were women. Despite being some of the CIA's best agents and statisticians, female employees still have challenges to overcome. In 2012, "then-CIA director David Petraeus asked Madeleine Albright to head an advisory group aimed at upping the number of women in leadership roles," writes Mother Jones. "Albright's report recommends tamping down on harassment, pushing managers to help women subordinates climb the ranks, and promoting mentorship, among other findings."

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but because it happens to share the same span of 31 days as the much more high-profile Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the subject doesn’t get nearly as much attention.  Is it because it’s easier for people in our society to talk about women’s boobs than women’s black eyes?  Perhaps. (I do have to admit that this collection of tacky pinkwashed merchandise made me feel a little grateful for the fact that domestic violence awareness has escaped the grasp of of corporate America and thus escaped being Jingle Jug-ified.)

But I think that part of it might have to do with the fact that there is still a lot of shame surrounding domestic violence in our society.  At least, I feel that way.  I used to write more about it on this blog, but then the audience for the blog blew up and my coworkers and family members started reading it, and I suddenly felt less like writing about it.  The truth is that I still feel ashamed of the fact that I am a survivor of domestic violence.  I don’t think that’s an irrational reaction, either.  I mean, I read comments on the internet. I overhear conversations about domestic violence.  I hear the offhand comments people make.  I know that a lot of people think women who stay in violent relationships are stupid, weak, dumb, or that we probably did something to deserve it.  The consensus seems to be that there is something deeply flawed with any woman who stays with a partner who abuses her.

So it’s kind of a scary thing to admit to having been on the wrong side of things in a violent relationship, because it opens you up to all kinds of judgment about your value as a human being. I understand why a lot of women do not talk openly about their experiences (and I really understand why male survivors are even more reticent). I get it because I struggle with it, even though I also know that one of the most powerful ways to fight shame is to speak openly about the things that we are most ashamed of.

That’s not really why I’m writing about this on this blog, though.  I’m writing about it because this blog is a direct result of my experiences as a survivor of domestic violence. As a result, I feel as though I would be remiss to let the month pass without writing about this, especially because those experiences are central to the mission of this blog, which is to encourage women to embrace their strength and bravery, no matter what form that may take, and to resist the social mandates that say the proper way to be a woman is to be weak and vulnerable.

I tend to have a very visceral reaction when I encounter women who want to whittle themselves down to nothingness, and it’s not borne of some ivory-tower feminist theory I learned while sitting in a classroom.  It comes from the memory of my ex-husband, sitting on my chest, punching me over and over in the face and stopping only when he realized my lip was split and that my face was bruised. Later, both eyes would turn black with bruises. I remember trying to fight back, but no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to do so. I just was not strong enough.

It was one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced, that utter sense of powerlessness in the face of someone who was hellbent on hurting me.  That feeling haunted me in my sleep, where I’d have nightmares in which I spit out all of my teeth or I was unable to scream when confronted by assailants.  That feeling was carved into my brain, irrevocably altering my emotional landscape.

That feeling is what I think of when I hear misogynists talk about women’s “natural” state of weakness and physical inferiority.  It’s what I think of when I read a response to a quote of mine going around tumblr, in which a girl said, “What if I want to be weak?”  It’s what crosses my mind every time I read about 1,000-calorie diets and exercise plans meant to keep women from “bulking up” and assertions that women with muscular arms look “gross” and “like men.”  I thought about it again when I saw the ad campaign that contained the following Google autocompletes: “women need to be controlled,” “women need to be disciplined,” “women need to know their place.”

I think of my own once-tiny arms and how they could never protect me, not when I needed them the most, not when I wanted nothing more than to defend myself against a man who wanted to control me and wanted to make sure I knew my place.  I think of all these things and I get so frustrated.

I want to know why it seem as though we’ve implicitly decided to agree that the only ones in our society who get to be strong and who get to have muscle – real muscle, not just muscle meant to make your ass look good in a pair of jeans – are men. I want to know why this is even though some days it feels like the vast majority of women I know have been assaulted in some way.

But I didn’t make these connections right away.  In fact, it wasn’t until I’d spent quite a bit of time lifting weights and running that it slowly started to occur to me that our culture had basically fetishized feminine weakness, and that I no longer wanted any part of that paradigm. I wanted to feel strong and courageous, and I didn’t care if others thought this was proof that I was somehow damaged as a result of my history.  (I would like to submit this for you, that our culture is filled with narratives of young men who hit the weights so they could fight back against bullies, and that the only thing that separates me from those young men is that I happened to be married to my bully.) I needed to do these things for myself, so I could move on with my life and no longer dwell on those years of pain and fear. I needed to heal so I could really learn how to live, and not just survive.

Over time my motivations have become more intrinsic, more grounded in the actual joy of new experiences and physical movement, but in the beginning it was all about beating back the sense of powerlessness that had engulfed me for an embarrassingly large chunk of my life.  Picking up heavy weights, eating lots of food so I feel energetic and vibrant, training myself to run and cycle long distances so I can become mentally tough, seeing my body change as muscles showed up in my arms, my back, my legs – these have all done a tremendous amount to help me become whole again.

There’s another aspect to this as well, and that’s my ongoing battle against fear.  Fear is a complicated thing.  It ostensibly works to protect us from harm, but in my case, I was so afraid of what might happen if I tried to leave (would he try to hurt me even worse? would I be capable of surviving on my own? where would I get money?) that it paradoxically kept me in a situation where I was actually being harmed. So I promised myself that never again would I allow untrammeled fear to guide me into accepting a small, timid life. Every time you read about me trying to face my fears of open water swimming or cycling or whatever, you’re watching me as work through those issues.

(By the way, I am far from unusual in this regard. After Diana Nyad completed her swim across the Florida Straits, ABC News published an article in which they asked what makes someone like Nyad strive to achieve the seemingly impossible?  Psychologist Judy Kuriansky said “People who accomplish extreme athletic feats usually were either praised for their over-the-top accomplishments early on in life or they were ‘scaredy-cats’ as children and want to prove themselves as adults, she said.” Yep, I am far from unusual. I am no Diana Nyad, mind you, but I understand her mindset.)

This is why I fight so hard against the social constructs that say women and girls are weak and inferior, and why I refuse to accept a model of fitness that is adamant that women should want only to be as small as possible. (This is why I cannot abide Tracy Anderson!)  This is why I feel angry when I see fitness media that cares only about making sure women have sexy butts and sexy abs and sexy sexiness, and that seems to consider the desire to train for strength and size to be rather distasteful.  This is why I want to feminist hulksmash all of the so-called fitness gurus that care only about abs and tiny waists and ignore all of the other aspects that go into keeping one’s body and mind strong and healthy.

As you can see, the belief fitness is a feminist issue is one that is very personal to me, and not just in the sense that I can critique mainstream fitness until my fingers fall off, but because I know first-hand of the way that the pursuit of fitness can be a force for positive change in one’s life.  I’ve seen how it can be used to keep women anxious and weak and vulnerable, but I’ve also seen over and over again how it can accomplish the opposite, how it can help women learn to take up space and to be courageous and to believe wholeheartedly in their own personal power.  That, to me, is a much more positive way of looking fitness, and that is what I hope to help spread in the world, because I know the worst possible outcomes of the negative side and I want no one to ever have to experience that again.

Dear Charlottesville Journalists,

Your coverage of Commonwealth Attorney Denise Lunsford’s victimization by a vengeful ex? It’s…it’s not good. I’m being gentle here. As a refresher, prominent Missouri attorney and alcoholic David Cosgrove confessed in a court filing to posting nude photographs of Lunsford online after she broke up with him, and then had the gall to tell the court that he had every right to post those nude photographs, regardless of her wishes. So we have a powerful man publicly sexually humiliating and slut-shaming his victim. The only way that sexual humiliation works is if people know about it. That’s the point.

By writing about this matter in great detail—far more detail than was possibly necessary—you have helped to further Cosgrove’s victimization of Lunsford. When a woman files a restraining order against an abusive ex for the terrible information that he’s broadcasting about her, basically the worst thing that you can do is broadcast that information to way, way more people. And you did exactly that, apparently unquestioningly. You’re precisely the vector that he needed to humiliate her.

Perhaps the gold star for incompetence goes to the unsigned story broadcast by CBS-19. Not content to merely write about the main thrust of the story, y’all went on to write that Cosgrove was also accusing Lunsford of watching “movies” with convicted sexual batterer Chris Dumler, in her home, “with her child present.” This is an accusation made by a man who has engaged in unarguably awful, abusive behavior towards his victim, for the purpose of humiliating her. The most reasonable conclusion to draw is that he’s found precisely the right way to further humiliate her—to accuse her of endangering her child (risking that her child could be taken from her by Child Protective Services) and threaten her employment (for what could be seen as an inappropriate relationship with a criminal). In repeating this claim, CBS-19 let Cosgrove not just humiliate Lunsford sexually, but also make her fear for her child and her career. You folks showed terrible judgment here.

I talked to one reporter today who shared with me a series of late-night, semi-coherent e-mails that she received from Cosgrove last month, e-mails that included some of the photographs in question. (The reporter tells me that only one photograph was nude, and that Lunsford does not appear to know that the photograph is being taken.) The reporter had no idea of who Cosgrove was, but felt that the e-mails “suggest a very drunk, scorned man.” The claims that he made in the e-mails were bizarre, definitely libelous, and I won’t repeat any of them here. The reporter asks Cosgrove why he’s sending these strange e-mails, and he replies: “[t]o afraid f your public official to do do. There is a story or 3 if you do your job and dig.” The reporter replied, simply: “I think you need to put down the bottle of whatever you’re drinking and deal with whatever you’re upset about…” And that was the end of that. Because a responsible reporter knows that there is nothing to be pursued. As attorneys say, any claims that come from this man are fruit of a poisonous tree—nothing that he says can be believed, based on his confessed actions, so he’s best ignored.

Here’s the thing that you need to remember about private sexual matters: they’re private. Sometimes, court filings contain those private details, because they are necessary for the judge to make a decision, and those are inherently public records. But a good journalist knows where to draw the line on how much detail to provide his readers.

Apparently I must remind you that you, too, are public figures. Especially news anchors, who appear in the homes of thousands of local folks every night. I used to live in the building where NBC-29 maintained an apartment for their newest anchors to use, while they got settled. I saw a lot of literal dirty laundry, when I’d encounter these lonely, bleary eyed folks in the building’s laundromat at 1:00 AM. I respected their privacy, as fun as it might have been to post here a photo of their lingerie. Many years ago, I got an e-mail from a young local reporter, distraught after somebody had discovered a long-abandoned webpage where she had written anonymously about her embarrassing sexual fetish. Somebody had connected the dots, figured out who she was, and she needed advice, since she was terrified that she’d lose her job. I assured her I’d do what I could to keep anything about it from becoming public and, as best I know, she got through it OK. Again, private sexual matters are private.

But all isn’t lost! A form of penance is available. You have accidentally tapped into a very real, very serious, widespread problem: revenge porn. None of you bothered to do any actual research before writing your stories, because if you had, you’d have known that right now—this very week, the very day that you broke this story—revenge porn is a very hot topic. See Monday’s New York Times story, or Tuesday’s Slate story. Need the facts? Check out Mary Anne Franks’ FAQ about revenge porn. Copy this sample legislation, paste it into an e-mail, and ask Del. David Toscano, Del. Rob Bell, and Sen. Creigh Deeds if they’ll introduce that bill into January’s General Assembly session. Need some first-person stories? Check out Women Against Revenge Porn, or maybe ask on your Twitter feed whether anybody who has been victimized might want to be interviewed anonymously (anonymously).

There, I’ve almost written the story for you. Do this, say 20 “Hail Mary”s, and then ask Denise Lunsford for forgiveness. You can do it. I know you can.

Love,
Waldo

Photo by Megan Finley

Here's an example:

One recent morning I went to my local convenience store to get a cold beverage. The cashier rang me up and, as I was pulling my wallet out to pay, I could see her eyes flicking back and forth between my arms. She was staring — intently, with a glint of wonder — at the tattooed parts of my arms exposed between sleeve and elbow.

I didn't mind this. But then I saw a telling grin on her face. And before I could finish thinking, "Oh no, don't do it," she wordlessly reached over the counter and lifted up my shirtsleeve. You know, so she could get a better look at my inked flesh. As if she knew me. As if she wasn't a cashier brazenly manipulating the clothing of a customer without so much as a warning.

This anecdote is not anomalous, I assure you. It happens entirely too often. And I'm lucky enough to be a 20-something male, which means the violation I feel doesn't begin to compare to what others I've heard from have experienced.

Head over to Slate to read the rest of the article. For the non-tattooed amongst us, myself included, we might learn something new.

So let's talk about tattoo etiquette! Obviously touching anyone without permission isn't cool, but is it really just as shitty for strangers to even look at your tatts without asking? What are your rules for admiring ink and having your ink be admired?

Recent Comments

• Hare: Good grief! [Link]
• Hare: My tattoo's a reminder of getting through my mental breakdown, so I have to have another meaning on standby to … [Link]
• Jade: I have never had strangers touch my tattoos but I have a tattoo on my wrist that says "Perfectionism is … [Link]
• Anne: I was sitting in an outdoor theater, waiting for a shakespeare play to start, and a middle aged woman who … [Link]
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When I found these tees for $1 at one of my fave thrift stores, I was QUITE excited!

Stripey!

Charlieeeeeee!

Some of you know what this image is from.

Hmmmmm????

It’s Charlie the Unicorn!  His two wiley companions want him to join them on a trip to Candy Mountain!  If you haven’t seen the viral youtube video (one of my faves), you really should.  It’s okay.  I can wait.

Ah!  Don’t you feel better now?  And have you learned a valuable lesson about succumbing to peer pressure?  :)

Anywho…

I don’t really need any more T-shirts.  I have plenty.  BUT, I’ve wanted a few more T-shirt dresses lately, and that’s just what these two tees are about to become!

First, I laid the two tees inside-out with the Charlie tee on top, like so:

Oooookay.

This is about how long I’ll want my dress to be.  Then, I grabbed my favorite T-shirt dress and placed it on top of the two tees.

Lots o’ Layers!

I dug out my tailor’s chalk…

This little guy right here!

…and traced the dress on the two tees!  You can see I’m making my new dress longer than my original dress.

See?

I cut off the top of the black tee and along the chalk line.  Then, I pinned the black parts to the Charlie tee!

See where I’m going with this?

I stitched the black part onto the Charlie parts.

Double-stitched and secure! :)

Okay!  So now I’ve got the right length, but what about those sides?  They’re still wide open!

First, I pinned my newly-fitted sides together, then I stitched those up as well!

Pinned!

Since the bottom of the black shirt is now the bottom of the dress, I didn’t have to worry about a hem, as there was already one there!

I wore my comfy new dress over to my fella’s place where we struggled to find good lighting for an “after” pic.

This is what I had to settle for.  :/

Yes.  He has a chalkboard bathroom.

Let’s go to Candy Mountain, Charlie! :D

While Dan lovingly cooked us a tasty dinner, I sent a few final emails for my ReFashion Show (pics coming with next post!) and finished up a couple of articles for publications I write for (If you’re living hand to mouth, it helps to be ambidextrous!).

I work hard.

He’s pretty swell! :)

Cheers!

This past Tuesday, NASA officially introduced the 2013 class of Astronaut candidates, who now embark on a two-year training program at Johnson Space Center before possible assignment on missions to space. This class of eight, nicknamed the "8-Balls", is comprised of four men and four women--the highest percentage of female trainees of any astronaut class in NASA history. Their ranks include a US Marine Corps pilot, US Army flight surgeon, a physicist, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School--a very diverse vocational background that suits NASA's specific needs and criteria. They join NASA's existing corps of 47 active astronauts, all of whom are acutely aware of NASA's ambitions to return to the moon and send a crew to a near-Earth asteroid, all in preparation for an eventual trip to Mars. That means that one of these astronauts-in-training may eventually be one of the first humans to step foot on the Red Planet.

So how does one become a NASA astronaut? The selection process, as you may expect, is rigorous and time-consuming. NASA has only selected 21 groups of astronauts in its history, beginning with The Mercury 7 in 1959. Selection for Group 21 began at the end of 2011 when vacancy announcements were made on the US Federal Goverment's official jobs site. Over 6,300 applications were received, the second most submitted to NASA after the year leading up to the Space Shuttle program.

According to the NASA website, applicants can only qualify if they hold US citizenship, have at least 1,000 hours piloting an aircraft (or at least three years of professional work experience), and hold a degree in engineering, biological or physical science, or mathematics. The also have to meet specific physical requirements, including being taller than 5'2" and at most 6'3". Highly qualified applicants are brought in to Houston JSC for interviews, physical evaluation, and more tests. According to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Victor Glover of the 8-Balls class, those tests included lots of writing, even including asking finalists to compose a limerick, haiku, or tweet.

The ability to tweet well may be an important skill for this next generation of astronauts, given the renewed celebrity nature of space explorers. Cmdr. Chris Hadfield's success in social media and public relations redefined our expectations of the astronaut persona--the current crew of the International Space Station are following in his lead of producing educational videos from space. This is a new era of the astronaut-celebrity; astronauts are as much pop culture stars as they are scientists. In fact, NASA's Group 21 class photo can't help but remind me of those promotional photos for new television shows--a cast of personalities that we'll be seeing in years to come. I can't wait to follow along on their adventures in space.

(Check out photos from our visit to NASA Johnson Space Center here.)

We've explored if CSAs were right for you. Now let's talk about what to do once you've joined one.

By: thebittenword.com – CC BY 2.0

Thinking about joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share? I learned a lot about offbeat vegetables and how to prepare them. I learned how to roast beets without setting off the smoke detector (the key is to add a tablespoon of water to your foil packet.) I know I still don't like cabbage, after trying it three ways. And that's okay. I definitely got creative with how to fit even more veggies into my family's diet. And I got to use my favorite knife… a LOT.

Here's are all my tips from my experience as a first time CSA participant…

PROS:

• Organic produce that I can pick up right where I work (like a farmer's market for introverts).
• Pay a lump sum prior to the season, which you forget about, and then it's like free food every week!
• No temptations like the bakery at the farmer's market. (Wait, that's a con…)
• No decisions to make about what produce to buy.
• Higher quality produce at cheaper prices than the traditional grocery store.

CONS:

• You don't get to pick what you get each week. They send out an email each week with what you will probably get, but you don't know for sure until you pick it up.
• WTF is kohlrabi?
• What are those curly pointy things that smell like garlic?
• What if I get vegetables I don't like? (I'm looking at you, cabbage!)
• Fitting everything in your shitty fridge, aka proper storage to prolong freshness.

Supplies I found helpful and/or fun:

• Good knife: the larger and sharper the better, amiright? Hollow-ground depressions are good for vegetables not sticking to your knife. I found a 10 inch Wusthof knife and a knife sharpener at a discount store. It makes a huge difference in how easy it is to chop vegetables.
• Large cutting board: The bigger the better in my opinion so you have more room to maneuver your badass knife.
• Paper towels or very clean dish towels
• Plastic containers of all sizes.
• Source of music in the kitchen
• Salad spinner: Salad dressings stick to dry lettuce better and the drier it is the longer it lasts. I got the smaller one from Oxo.
• Pantry staples: olive oil, spices, rice or rice mixes, canned tomatoes, canned beans, pasta, variety of nuts, veggie broth

Storage: I picked up my loot — now what?

First, learn a bit about the vegetables. You can find this information from your CSA website or a quick Google search. Take beets, for example. You can eat both the root and the leaves, but you have to store them separately: tops in a sealed bag and bottoms in a sealed container. Same with kohlrabi.

The best way for me to store a head of lettuce was unwashed, the bottom stalk cut off, and in a plastic container so it doesn't get smooshed by other refrigerator inhabitants. I have an old refrigerator that gets really humid, so I put a paper towel to absorb any extra moisture. Storing it this way made the organic lettuce last a week or more!

Herbs can be stored in sealed bags or in a jar of water on the windowsill. Unless you're making pesto, it's unlikely you'll use a whole bunch of basil at once, so you can freeze portions in baggies or in ice cube trays with oil.

Tomatoes you want to store at room temperature to preserve their flavor. If you get a lot, you can freeze them or use them to make sauce (or both!).

Berries are best stored in a single layer on a paper towel in a plastic container, but I never had to worry about them lasting that long in my house!

If you can choose a pickup day, pick your least busy day so you have more time to store and chop your food.

Meal planning and how I turned the cons into pros:

Earlier in the week my CSA sends out an email with what they are expecting to distribute that week, so at this point I can think about what I might get. Utilize your CSA's website and social media connections for recipe ideas. If your CSA doesn't have a website, poach information from other CSA websites. Most of them have lists of what to do with various veggies. I use Pinterest or a binder to organize potential recipes.

Once you pick up your stash:

• Chose final recipes. Don't be too ambitious and plan several complex recipes — you won't make them all, unless you really like cooking. Pick 1-2 recipes, and then prepare the rest of the veggies in a simple way. Make a grocery shopping trip the day of or soon after to get the remaining ingredients for your recipe if you don't already have them in your pantry.
• This is a great time to have some fun and experiment. If you end up with a lot of one veggie, eat some raw, eat some sautéed, eat some grilled, eat some roasted for variety. For that pile of kale, you can make a massaged raw kale salad, sautéed kale with garlic, kale chips, etc.
• When in doubt, smother with cheese. Everything tastes good with cheese, right? Beets + goat cheese = heaven. Zucchini + parmesan = divine.
• Salads: I got a little tired of lettuce-based salads. But when the other veggies like peppers and snap peas started rolling in, I chopped those babies up, added more nuts and cheese, and salads became amazing.
• Freeze herbs to use in multiple dishes. A lot of other vegetables can be pickled or frozen.
• Cook at home instead of ordering take out. For my husband and me, this share was a lot of food. If people invited us to go out for dinner, we instead invited them to our house to cook for them. You don't have to choose between a home-made veggie-based meal and socializing!
• Clean out the fridge the night before your next pickup. For example, I sauté or roast pretty much everything I have left, add some protein, season, and you're good. Example: Swiss chard, kale, and garlic scapes sautéed topped with roasted beets, white beans, and parmesan cheese. Add a little rice or garlic bread for a complete meal.
• Change your perspective on what is at the center of your plate. (Hint, it's veggies. Meat can be a garnish.)

And if Offbeat Homies have more tips on how to store their CSA share, or recipes to use, please share! Or if you have questions, leave 'em in the comments.

Recent Comments

• justanothersciencenerd: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/visualguidecookinggreens Maybe this will help? I am so going to try your herbed roll idea! [Link]
• hannah1cestmoi: 1. 9 (not picky at all,will eat almost anything) I also learned that there probably is a recipe that I … [Link]
• justanothersciencenerd: Yes, this sounds similar to what I do too- saute everything and serve over a starch. I did find … [Link]
• Madeleine: Kohlrabi is also amazing cut up into fries, tossed in olive oil and chili powder, baked, then dunked in honey … [Link]
• Madeleine: 1.) Is 10 the most picky? Then…. 2. I will eat just about any veggies except Okra. After 2 weeks … [Link]

+ 29 more! Join the discussion

Editor's Note: Adam was the closing speaker at this past weekend's BoingBoing Ingenuity theatrical event. He gave a rousing speech about being a maker, and shared his ten rules for success in his work. For new Tested readers, these are themes we've touched on in many episodes of Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project.

Photo credit: Kent K. Barnes / www.kentkb.com

Adam's 10 rules for success are below. Which ones do subscribe to in your own work and maker experience?

1. Get good at something.

Really good. Get good at as many things as you can. Being good at one thing makes it easier to get good at other things.

2. Getting good at stuff takes practice.

Lots and lots of practice.

3. Get OBSESSED.

Everyone at the top of their field is obsessed with what they're doing.

4. Doing something well and thoroughly is its OWN reward.

5. Show and Tell.

If you do something well and you're happy with it, for FSM's sake, tell EVERYONE.

6. If you want something, ASK.

If something piques your interest, tell someone. If you want to learn something, ask someone, like your BOSS. As an employer, I can tell you, people who want to learn new skills are people I want to keep employed.

7. Have GOALS.

Make up goals. Set goals. Regularly assess where you are and where you want to be in terms of them. This is a kind of prayer that works, and works well. Allow for the fact that things will NEVER turn out like you think they will, and you must be prepared to end up miles from where you intended.

8. Be nice. To EVERYONE.

Life is way too short to be an asshole. If you are an asshole, apologize.

9. FAIL.

You will fail. It's one of our jobs in life. Keep failing. When you fail, admit it. When you don't, don't get cocky. 'Cause you're just about to fail again.

10. WORK YOUR ASS OFF.

Work like your life depends on it...

When swimsuit designer Jessica Rey’s video “The Evolution of the Swimsuit” went viral earlier this year, I didn’t pay it much mind, particularly when I learned she tried to make a connection between bikinis and the objectification of women. I would have happily gone on paying her no mind had I not found myself immersed in the Facebook comments of a Ms. Magazine article that critiqued Rey’s argument.  The discussion – if you can call what unfolded a discussion – really bothered me, to the point that five days later, after stewing on this for an embarrassing amount of time, I decided to write about it.

As longtime readers of this blog know, I live in a coastal community in Florida. At one point, I lived on a beach community, with the Gulf of Mexico just three blocks away from my home.  A large fraction of my time as a Floridian has been spent in a bikini. I have a drawer full of them, including a blue Nike sport one that I wear during open-water swims in the gulf.  I do have a one-piece, an obnoxiously patterned TYR one with crossed straps in the back, that I wear while swimming laps in the pool, but for the most part, I wear bikinis.

I will admit that it stung a little bit to read comments scoffing at the whole existence of the bikini, including one particularly well-liked comment that said, “I don’t see how being nearly naked at the beach fights the patriarchy.” I was wearing my blue sport bikini at the beach yesterday when I heard those words in my head, and I just felt very sad at the idea that a swimsuit – one that allows me to do something I love in a very comfortable way – could be a source of such derision and controversy, from my fellow feminists no less. But I also felt like the critics were missing something, which is that the issues with swimwear are not inherent to the swimwear itself, but with the context in which those swimsuits are worn.

For instance, let’s talk about the swimwear Rey designs.  The designs are cute and retro, with fabric that covers the wearer’s midriff and boyshort-style bottoms that cover butts and hips.  They are form-fitting but the ruched fabric gives the sense that you are not seeing every bump and curve of the wearer’s body.

The big selling point of Rey’s swimwear is that it is modest, and in fact she has made a career for herself as a speaker who talks about chastity, modesty and young womanhood. She’s been praised by a lot of religious bloggers for providing a stylish alternative to the two-piece swimsuits, which tend to occupy the most real estate in stores.  (And of course there are those who think she’s still promoting immodesty and that swimwear should cover as much as street clothes do.  I guess you can’t please everyone.)

I found it interesting to contrast Rey’s designs with my own readings, about the history of women’s swimming in the United States.  One legend, possibly apocryphal, has Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman being hauled into court for the crime of baring her legs during a swim at Revere Beach in Massachusetts in 1908.  What is not apocryphal is the fact that policemen did in fact used to patrol beaches, measuring tape in hand, to ensure women were not showing more than six inches of thigh (from knee to hem).  And in “The Great Swim,” about four women who attempted to swim the English Channel in 1926, Gavin Mortimer said newspapers latched onto the swimmer’s exploits because it gave them the opportunity to show scantily-clad women on their front pages without violating obscenity standards.

Just what did those scandalous swimsuits look like?

Gertrude Ederle in 1926

Surely I am not the only one who thinks its fascinating how you can take one swimsuit and put it on a woman in 1926 and it is basically considered free pornography, and then take a similar swimsuit and put it on a woman in 2013 and she is considered a paragon of feminine modesty.

That’s because it’s not about the swimsuit.

The shift in meaning may even occur within women who are contemporaries.  For instance, a lot of women have said that they like one-piece swimsuits because it frees them from feeling as though they’ve been coerced into adopting a specific kind of culturally-mandated sexiness. They don’t want to expose wide expanses of skin to the public, and they don’t want to feel like sex objects to be ogled by random people on the street.  They just want to wear a damn swimsuit without feeling like they have to play into the social script of sexiness, and a one-piece lets them do that.  They feel liberated from the sexiness mandate.

For me, the script goes the other way.  I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Utah, and proscriptions against immodest dress were a part of my daily life.  Immodest dress was defined as everything from bikinis to sleeveless tops and shorts that were shorter than your fingertips.  Certainly no one forced anyone to dress according to the church’s standards of modesty, but the social pressures were very powerful.  When we girls and women were taught to embrace modest dress, it was under the auspices of sharing our bodies only with our husbands and also of protecting non-husband-like men from being morally compromised by having sexual thoughts about women who were not their wives.

For me, wearing a bikini is a lot like drinking coffee and alcohol, watching R-rated movies, using cuss words and getting tattoos, in that all of these things had once been placed off-limits to me by a faceless religious bureaucracy. What’s more, when I did start indulging in them, I not only found them rather innocuous, but I also found that I really liked them. Dare I say it? I found a bit of liberation in my embrace of these things.

Fatkini designer and blogger Gabi Gregg

I’ve heard other stories of bikini-as-liberation by women whose bodies are not normally considered “bikini worthy.”  The fatkini became such a huge thing, after all, because women with larger bodies had been told, both implicitly and explicitly, that bikinis are not for them, that they are to keep their bodies under wraps at all costs and that they should only look at swimsuits that will disguise their bodies.  (That is, if they dare to wear swimsuits at all.)  In this context, a bikini on a fat woman is a socially trangressive act, because she is pushing against social constructs that say fat bodies should not be seen and they should most definitely never, ever be exposed.

One swimsuit, three different experiences of that swimsuit.  Who is right here?  I’d say we all are.  Why?  Because it’s not about the swimsuit.

My final point questions the very premise behind Rey’s swimwear itself.  The argument seems to be that women can increase their estimation in the eyes of men by covering up a little bit, which in turn will lead men to be less likely to objectify them and more likely to see them as women.  I don’t think that’s accurate at all, no matter what a single study says, mainly because I doubt that the kind of ethically deficient person who is likely to think less of a bikini’d woman is going to suddenly find themselves magically less sexist upon being confronted with an additional panel of fabric.  A sexist person is going  to be sexist, regardless of what the woman in front of them is wearing.

I have this guy who trolls one specific post of mine – a defense of skimpy running clothes I wrote last summer during the Olympics – and every time anyone comments, he tries to respond to let us wo-MEN know that we are all whores and sluts who are tempting men and who deserve whatever happens to us.  I blow the guy off because he’s obviously a sad little man, but I also know that he’s just bluntly stating what a lot of people think.  Do you really think that a guy like that is going to suddenly become respectful of women if we were to all wear knee-length shorts and t-shirts everywhere we go?  No, that guy is probably going to hate women until he dies.

You’ll have to forgive me if I am not all that enthused at the idea of changing my behavior in the dim hopes of winning guys like him over.  Not only do I not care what a guy like him thinks, but I think it would be a fruitless endeavor anyway. 

The story of Iranian swimmer Elham Asghari provides a pretty good example of why I think the idea that modest dress for women will lead to a world free of objectification is a deeply misguided one. Asghari recently swam 20 kilometers, or more than 12 miles, in the Caspian Sea while wearing a specially designed swimsuit that is a full hijab – and seriously, just think about that for a second, that she swam twelve miles in open water in hijab, before you continue reading – and yet she says Iranian sports officials refused to certify her achievement because, “They said the feminine features of my body were showing as I came out of water.”

How can this be?  She’s wearing way more fabric than any of Rey’s designs. Her swimwear certainly covers more than this, which is one of the most conservative styles of modest swimwear I’ve come across, and yet her country’s sports officials said she was still too provocative.

Once again, it’s not about the swimsuit.

The swimwear is not the consistent factor in these anecdotes – not my bikinis, not Asghari’s aquatic hijab, not all of the variants in between.  Instead, the one constant in all of these things is the underlying current of anxiety over women’s bodies, and by extension, women’s sexuality.  The Kite sisters at Beauty Redefined covered this last year:

Women’s bodies should never be compared to any object to be consumed. Women deserve more credit and so do men! When we teach women to cover up to protect and spare men from their “inappropriate,” “vulgar,” or “too-tempting” bodies, we are once again teaching them that their power is in their bodies and their displayed sexuality. We’re still reinforcing to men and women that women’s bodies – whether deemed “modest” or “immodest” – exist for the male view. And we’re also continuously teaching the myth that men are powerless to the sight of female bodies and can’t be held responsible for their own thoughts and actions.

To make the argument that a swimsuit is either inherently patriarchal or feminist is to miss the point, because the fact is that a swimsuit, no matter how much fabric was used in its creation, only derives any sort of wider meaning from the culture in which it is worn. A one-piece swimsuit does not automatically turn the wearer into a smasher of patriarchy, nor does it mean she is a defender of Christian virtue.  And a woman in a bikini is not necessarily colluding with the patriarchy, either, even if she’s wearing the bikini because she feels sexy in it.

Instead of continuing to allow the terms of the conversation about women’s swimwear be set by people who fear women and our bodies, I propose that instead we consider what it is we want out of swimwear.  What kind of swimwear are we most comfortable in?  What swimwear lets us do the things we want to do?  (And also consider the possibility that you may not want anything out of swimwear, and that you may not even like going near the water! This is also an acceptable option.)  If we care about feeling attractive and stylish, then what swimwear fits with our particular tastes and desires?

Let’s start centering this conversation on our own desires and our own needs instead of constantly trying to anticipate the wishes of anonymous hordes of people just waiting to issue judgment upon our heads.  Frankly, I’m tired of trying to please those anonymous hordes will never be pleased anyway.  At this point in my life, I really only dress to please myself.  What can possibly be more feminist than that?

First of all, these crisps are about the most delicious things you’ll ever eat.

Second, these crisps are about the easiest things you’ll ever make.

Third, when I was a little girl, I had a stuffed monkey named Womba. His hands Velcroed together and I think I might have worn him as an accessory for the first half of my fourth grade year. Sometimes he was around my shoulders like a cardigan. Sometimes he was around my waist like a belt. Sometimes he was criss-crossed over my shoulder like a purse. And if I was nervous, I’d stroke his soft, fuzzy head and would feel better instantly.

I always wondered why Brad Benz didn’t like me.

Back to my original point: These crisps are about the most delicious things you’ll ever eat. I made them using homemade tortillas to go with cinnamon ice cream (swoon) in my next cookbook…but I also made them last week for a Food Network episode we filmed here on the ranch, and the guys absolutely inhaled them. So yesterday, for a Sunday snack, I made ‘em again using storebought tortillas and served ‘em with storebought vanilla ice cream. And they were still utterly divine.

You won’t believe the simplicity. And you won’t believe how addictive they are!

 
This is what you need!

And you also need to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 
 
 
Add some sugar and ground cinnamon to a bowl.

 
 
 
Then grab a fork and use it to violently combine the two…

 
 
 
Until the two are now one!

Did you ever wear a stuffed monkey as an accessory when you were a child? I’m just asking.

(Note: If you’ve ever worn a stuffed monkey as an accessory when you were an adult, I’d rather not know. Thank you.)

 
 
 
Next, melt some butter.

 
 
 
Dip in a pastry brush…

 
 
 
And very, very generously brush the butter on one side of a flour tortilla.

 
 
 
Basically, you want to douse the sucker. Pretty much the only way you can mess up these things is if you don’t get enough butter on them at this stage.

 
 
 
Then do the same for a couple of other tortillas.

 
 
 
Right away, start sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar. You want it to totally cover the tortilla and mostly be absorbed by the butter. When most of it has been absorbed, sprinkle on a little more!

 
 
 
Repeat it with the other two tortillas, then flip them all over to the other side.

 
 
 
And repeat the process with the butter…

 
 
 
And the sugar. Next, just pop ‘em in the oven for about 15-17 minutes…

And brace yourself.

Just brace yourself.

 
 
 
This is what they should look like!

 
 
 
They’re crunchy. They’re crispy. They’re magical.

But you have to put them aside and let them cool completely.

Note: This will be extremely difficult.

So while we wait: Have you ever given your summer camp crush a hug goodbye when you were twelve, then turned around to leave and tripped over a rock and fell, scabbing your knee?

I’m just asking.

 
 
 
A minute or so after removing the pan from the oven, use a knife to loosen the crisps from the pan so they won’t stick until the end of eternity.

 
 
 
But really, there’s so much butter in these heavenly objects, they really don’t stick that badly.

 
 
 
After they’re totally cooled, break them into pieces. They should be totally crisp and hard, and should break apart pretty neatly.

 
 
 
You can’t know. You can’t know the deliciousness until you try them. And at this point, you could break them up into smaller pieces, bag them up, and use them as snacks.

 
 
 
But I have other plans for them.

 
 
 
I scream.

 
 
 
One…two…three…

 
 
 
TA-DA!

 
 
 
Wondrous. Just a wondrous, wonderful, fabulous combination.

 
 
 
You can also do smaller dishes of ice cream and have some fun sticking the crisps right in the scoop.

 
 
 
And use them as spoons!

Goodness gracious, my friends. Make ‘em this week. They’re too good not to. And they’re a complete cinch.

Here’s the handy dandy printable!

Recipe

Cinnamon Crisps

Prep Time:

5 Minutes

Cook Time:

15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

8

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter, Melted
• 3 whole Flour Tortillas (small Size)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

Brush butter on one side of the flour tortillas. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar. Flip tortillas to the other side, then sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until very crisp. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Break into pieces and eat as snacks...or serve with ice cream!

Posted by Ree on August 12 2013

Skin computer, what is the temperature today? Skin computer, when does my movie start? Skin computer, how long will it take me to get home in current traffic conditions?

Scientist John Rogers of the University of Illinois has worked on flexible electronics before, which we've covered on Tested. Now some researchers at the University of Tokyo are working on a similar project, inspired by his work--flexible circuitry that can conform to the skin. It makes us think of a virtual personal assistant like Siri, minus the smartphone doing all the processing and vocalizing.

Constructing electronics flexible is a challenge already, but making them thin enough to bend around an arm or other area of skin is a step beyond. The Tokyo researchers have made printable circuitry a mere 2 microns (.0002 millimeters) thick, which can bend or crinkle up to five microns. It's thinner than plastic wrap.

You could put transistors on the circuitry, attach it to the roof of someone's mouth, and suddenly give someone who can't speak a way to communicate.

One of their proposed uses of flesh circuitry really puts in perspective how useful this technology could be. Researcher Martin Kaltenbrunner told io9 that you could put transistors on the circuitry, attach it to the roof of someone's mouth, and suddenly give someone who can't speak (but still have control of their tongue) a way to communicate. Healthcare possibilities spring to mind--testing body temperature, monitoring skin healing.

It's not a stretch to think those same kinds of sensors could be used externally, to read the external temperature or humidity. Dreaming a little bigger, a wireless transmitter and the processing to function like a smartphone would add far too much bulk to the skin circuitry right now, but we'll give it a few years.

Watch the video below for more on the flexible circuitry.