Reading too much about the evils of capitalism, I went looking for a defense, and found one I liked: "http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/onprin/v1n3/thompson.html" - On Principle, v1n3, October 1993, by: C. Bradley Thompson. Based on the words I like there:
"Capitalism is the only just system because the sole criterion that determines the value of thing exchanged is the free, voluntary, universal judgement of the consumer. Coercion and fraud are anathema to the free-market system."
I think of restaurants as, usually, capitalistic efforts - rewarding those who produce well. On the other hand, some of what involves lots of money is not truly capitalism because of the ways decisions are made and rewarded.
Seems like we live in a mixed economy of capitalism and socialism. Makes sense, but we could sometimes do better as to how we mix them together. Part of what I read here seems biased too much against socialism.
Dear Linda,
It all depends on what kind of beading you want to do. For bead weaving like
peyote stitch, brick, or square stitch all you need is beading needle, beading
thread and cylinder beads.
If you are doing stringing, you will probably need bead wire, weight depends on
how heavy your beads are crimp beads, jump rings and a clasp. If you use crimp
beads you will probably want to get a crimping pliers also.
If you are going to work with chain or wire you will need additional specialty
pliers.
If you have a local bead store, I would strongly recommend taking a basic class.
Joann's, Michael's and Hobby Lobby also do classes. It will save you buying a
lot of stuff before you really know what you need or what kind of beading you
want to do.
Chris in Extreme Northeast Texas
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by!
Douglas Adams
________________________________
From: LindaG <Linda0902@optonline.net>
To: Fun_with_Bead-Patterns@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 2:57:36 PM
Subject: [Fun_with_Bead-Patterns] Newbie
Hello!
I am extremely new to beading. I would appreciate it if I could get some
questions answered. First, what tools are absolutely necessary for a beginner?
As you can probably understand, I don't want to spend alot of money initially.
Just want to try it and see if I like it. Secondly, I'd like some
recommendations on how to get started. I saw a book on Amazon, "Beading for
Dummies". Another option seems to be to get a DVD (that's how I taught myself
how to knit). And third, can I please have some recommendations on where to buy
beading supplies?
Thanks
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Cancun Climate Change Meeting Likely Bust
November 30th, 2010 This is from Terraviva
CLIMATE CHANGE: Will Year of Extremes End with a Whimper?
By Stephen Leahy*
CANCÚN, Mexico, Nov 29, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) - This year will likely be the warmest ever recorded, with soaring ocean temperatures resulting in a near record die-off of tropical corals, extreme heat and drought in Russia and massive flooding in Pakistan - all signs that climate change has taken hold.
But despite the ever more compelling science regarding the urgency and risks of climate change and growing public support for action, representatives from nearly 200 countries meeting here in Cancún for the next two weeks are unlikely to produce a new binding agreement.
At best, matters such as forestry, climate finance and mitigation commitments will be further developed in the faint hope that the next big meeting in South Africa might produce some kind of deal.
"Carbon emissions continue to climb despite the economic recession and yet I have never seen such low expectations for a COP (Conference of the Parties)," said Richard Somerville, an eminent climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.
"The science is quite compelling regarding the need for urgent action. We don't have another five years to reach an agreement," Somerville told TerraViva.
In 2009, Somerville and others co-authored an update on the latest climate science called `The Copenhagen Diagnosis' which concluded that global carbon emissions had to peak and begin to decline before 2020 to have any hope of keeping global warming to less than 2.0 degrees C.
However, the negotiators in Cancún will mostly not be acting on the science but on their national interests as directed by their political leadership, who largely do not understand climate change, he said.
"Developed countries think they can adapt to warmer temperatures. I don't see how we can keep warming below 2.0 degrees C.," Somerville said.
Cancún is the 16th meeting of the Conference of Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international body formed after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to deal with the pressing global problem of climate change.
At that time, virtually all countries agreed that emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, had to decline. In Kyoto, Japan, industrialised countries promised to reduce their emissions by five percent from the 1990 base year.
However, global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were 40 percent higher than those in 1990 primarily because northern countries like the United States failed to make reductions while emissions by some developing countries like China increased dramatically.
At the last COP in Copenhagen, industrialised countries agreed to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2.0 C. However, even if countries live up to their vague emission reduction pledges in the Copenhagen Accord, humanity is headed for 2.6-5C of warming by 2100 by most analyses.
This range is what most scientists call dangerous or catastrophic climate change, including the loss of coral reefs and other important ecosystems. Moreover, the northern latitudes will heat up much more than the global average - perhaps seven to 14 degrees C in the polar regions - almost certainly guaranteeing the release of vast quantities of methane from the Arctic permafrost.
"Potential methane release from northern permafrost and wetlands under future climate change is of great concern," warned the World Meteorological Organisation in a bulletin last week. Methane is a greenhouse gas with 25 times more warming potential than carbon dioxide, and now has atmospheric levels 158 percent higher than pre-industrial times.
The Copenhagen Accord has so many loopholes countries can claim they've kept their promises while increasing their emissions, said Sivan Kartha, a climate scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, an independent international policy research institute.
"It should be exposed for the embarrassment that it is, the loopholes closed off and national reduction commitments increased," Kartha told IPS.
The strong sense of common purpose at the Rio Earth Summit to meet the dangers of climate change has been lost and negotiations reduced to what seems to be just another trade negotiation, he said.
"In Copenhagen the open, transparent and democratic process that had been key to earlier negotiations vanished. It may be the same in Cancún where small groups of countries do deals behind closed doors," he said.
Such deals nearly always tilt negotiations to just one perspective. What works for China and the U.S., for example, may be very bad for those countries most impacted by climate change, Kartha says. "The urgency we face should not justify a bad deal for some."
The exclusion of the interests of small countries and civil society in Copenhagen prompted 35,000 members of the public and global civil society to meet in Bolivia for a parallel `people's summit' last April. They signed the Cochabamba People's Accord calling for recognition of a `Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth' and the creation of an International Climate and Environmental Justice Tribunal.
However, those proposals from Cochabamba have been excluded from the formal negotiations here in Cancún, according to La Via Campesina, an international peasant movement with millions of members.
"During the last moments of discussion, the proposals of the People's Agreement signed in Cochabamba have been left aside," said Alberto Gomez from La Via Campesina international coordination.
The organisation is mobilising thousands of supporters to march on Cancún to pressure governments to adopt the measures in the Cochabamba People's Accord. A mass demonstration will be held Dec. 7 in Cancún and many other locations around the world. In Cancún, an estimated 6,000 heavily armed Mexican military and police are already on hand to meet them.
"We do not agree with false solutions such as the carbon market because, far from reducing greenhouse gases, it will sooner or later create a speculative system leading the world into another global financial crisis," Gomez said in a statement.
"La Via Campesina mobilises to denounce the irresponsibility of most of the governments who choose to support capital rather than the interest of their nation and of humanity as a whole," he said.
<snip the joy>
> 1074.99 + 601.00 = 1675.99, delivered. Sweet!
>
> Some assembly required but damn near plug and play. I already have a
> licensed copy of Mach3 and a computer to drive it.
>
> Oh yeah, it comes with a vise, collet set, and a couple of small end mills.
>
> I can't wait!
>
Good for you, Ron
My experience has been with a Sherline with 80 ounce
steppers. And, so the thing doesn't loose a step, it
needs to run so slow, it's impractical.
The 280 ounce steppers on your mill should speed thing
up for you.
Please keep us posted on your adventure.
Merry Christmas!
Rod
OK, what goodies is Santa going to bring you? You don't know? Well then
you'll just have to help the situation along and buy for yourself!
(Really the only sure way.)
I just ordered a new 2019CR-ER Taig CNC mill! It has the ER spindle
rated for 10,000 RPM.
I'll bet I have checked my email a hundred times since yesterday, hoping
for the tracking information.
I saw the offering on Deepgroove1.com for $1700, and $50 for the extra
stepper and cable plus $90 shipping. $1840.00 all told. Quite a discount
over Taig's web site price of $2495.00 and $90 shipping. Plus, it has
the newer 4 axis Gecko G-540 drive.
I got to poking around and decided to try to save a few bucks and still
get the same thing. I wound up ordering his controller, motors and
cables plus the 4th axis motor and cable for $601US delivered to Florida.
And I ordered the cnc ready mill from Nick Carter and took advantage of
his 10% discount and lower shipping charges. (I've dealt with Nick
before, great service!) I would have bought the electronics from Nick,
but he didn't offer the gecko driver. (I asked). So the total from Nick
was $1074.99 including shipping. (I added a drill chuck mount for about
10 bucks.)
1074.99 + 601.00 = 1675.99, delivered. Sweet!
Some assembly required but damn near plug and play. I already have a
licensed copy of Mach3 and a computer to drive it.
Oh yeah, it comes with a vise, collet set, and a couple of small end mills.
I can't wait!
--
Ron Thompson
On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA
Sometimes you just gotta do what makes you smile.<GRIN>
http://www.ourcadguy.com/
http://www.plansandprojects.com My hobby pages are here:
http://www.plansandprojects.com/My%20Machines/
Visit the castinghobby FAQ:
http://castinghobbyfaq.bareboogerhost.com/
Pretty. My friend in Florida sent this. Maybe she is planning an everglades rice farm!
RICE FIELDS OF JAPAN -- AMAZING
Looks ordinary enough...... but watch as the rice grows!!!!!!
Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan ,
but this is no alien creation.
The designs have been cleverly PLANTED!
Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye.
Instead, different color rice plants
have been precisely and strategically arranged
and grown in the paddy fields.
As summer progresses and the plants shoot up,
the detailed artwork begins to emerge.
A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of
thousands of rice plants.
The colors are created by using different varieties of rice plants,
whose leaves grow in certain colors.
This photo was taken in Inakadate , Japan .
Napoleon on horseback can be seen from the skies.
This was created by precision planting and months of planning by
villagers and farmers located in Inkadate , Japan .
Fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen,
whose lives are featured on the television series 'Tenchijin'
appear in fields in the town of Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture of Japan .
This year, various artwork has popped up in other rice-farming areas of Japan ,
including designs of deer dancers.
Smaller works of 'crop-art' can be seen in other rice-farming areas of Japan
such as this image of Doraemon and deer dancers
The farmers create the murals
by planting little purple and yellow-leafed Kodaimai rice
along with their local green-leafed Tsugaru, a Roman variety,
to create the colored patterns
in the time between planting and harvesting in September.
The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square meters of paddy fields.
From ground level, the designs are invisible, and viewers have to climb the mock
castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work.
Closer to the image, the careful placement of the thousands of rice plants in the
paddy fields can be seen.
Rice-paddy art was started there in 1993
as a local revitalization project,
an idea that grew from meetings of the village committees.
The different varieties of rice plants
grow alongside each other to create the masterpieces.
In the first nine years, the village office workers and local farmers
grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year.
But their ideas grew more complicated and attracted more attention.
In 2005, agreements between landowners allowed the creation of enormous rice paddy art.
A year later, organizers used computers to precisely plot the planting of four differently
colored rice varieties that bring the images to life!
TRULY A WORK OF ART!!
=
saj-
You can go to the search page of Fun with Bead Patterns and look for Sig Wynn Evans. Or using the search, look for santa bracelets.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fun_with_Bead-Patterns/
Char
Hi, LindaG--
The thriftiest way to start beading is to first look for free patterns
and free tutorials and pick out a project or two and only buy what you
need for those projects. Depending on where you want to get started, you
may need a few tools, or maybe just a beading needle and some beading
thread. BeadingDaily.com is one of many good sources for free directions
and patterns. If you are interested in seed bead work, you may want to
take a look at my website for projects and instructions; the spiral rope
bracelet is an easy first seed bead project there.
If you like learning from videos and have a high-speed internet
connection, check UTube.com before you buy DVDs. There seem to be a lot
of tutorials available there. Some of our other members may be able to
suggest favorites.
If you have a local bead store, they are a great source of information,
as well as materials. Large crafts stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or
JoAnn are also places where you will find a pretty good selection of
beads and tools. There are a gazillion places to buy stuff online. The
biggest ones are Fire Mountain Gems and Shipwreck Beads; either of those
will probably provide everything you need with one-stop shopping. I also
use a lot of smaller online vendors for seed beads and the relevant
supplies for them. Once you decide on a project or two, folks here can
probably help you find some good places to buy what you need.
Welcome to the world of beading! I hope you have fun.
Virginia Brubaker
http://www.seedbeadsmarts.com