walnut, edge

New item for sale (and word that first packages sent to UK and Ireland have arrived safe and all is well): 16-1/2" by 14-1/4" by 1"

You might buy this from me now before someone on Etsy grabs it.

The world is already

...listening to Obama. I agree it's a noteworthy concept.

(Nor is he broadcasting these efforts, as Hillary/McCain surely would. Of course there remains a lot to be desired (it goes without saying, but see Roger Bybee's article on the failure of "mandate" healthcare plans, just for example) – but at least that work may finally have a chance to begin.) Willingness to talk about a "failed ideology" and misplaced "fear of aggressive diplomacy" seems nothing small, in this world.

nb. a nice article on the bigotry, soft and hard, of William Buckley and reviews of obituaries there in Extra!, too.

Engrish interlude

• I almost never post, let alone read email forwards but after a stressful week had to trace this one down (however likely dated), so: here's to comic interlude (professional translators may find especially amusing). Many more at Engrish.com. Some of my personal favorites:






• And Fafblog interviews Hillary: brilliant.

In Memoriam Dutch ??/??/?? - 5/16/08

This American Life

...summarizes the credit crisis with enough clarity to make any person with a pulse hate capitalism. (Or at least, you know, begin to sense the real predatory violence of the ruling transnational fundamentalist speculative oligarchy.)

cherry mantel

Or more precisely, mantelshelf (the dictionary approves mantelpiece as well to refer to just a shelf). This 4" thick cherry slab really tied the room together. Four rebar in studs and generous 5-minute epoxy mean a child or a dwarf could probably sleep on it, after a late night...counting sheep...


Some of the scraps became coasters: