Under the wire

I made a couple of resolutions for 2006. I wanted to end the year with fewer UFOs (unfinished objects) than at the start. I finished some projects like this Dragon Teeth scarf.

Here is a closeup that better shows the texture.

Other projects just weren't doing it for me. Rather than finish them, I simply unraveled them. Their potential will just have to reveal themselves to me another time. Yarnex and this lace scarf met the same fate.


2006 began with 4 UFOs at my house. One didn't get picked up at all. I finished Iris' modular poncho, a Golden Chai two-tone scarf, and a sweater that I started in 1997. It was an ill-conceived project; I finished it 10 months ago and haven't worn or photographed it yet.

WIPs (works in progress) include the Basalt Tank which will be picked up again in the Spring. Add the Icelandic circular yoke sweater, carry over the 2005 project and that leaves only 3 UFOs.

Big Sis left a comment gently suggesting that I am overthinking the circular yoke pattern. Look how cute her sweater, which she knitted by the seat of her pants, came out! I got fuddled up while charting color work and decreases, and then realized that the floats were going to be way too long for a beginning stranding project.

Did I get off my bum and begin knitting again? No, of course not. Knitting in the Old Way arrived in the mail. It was time to do more research! Reading another book is the best way to procrastinate.

My other resolution was to consume less healthcare than I did in 2005. I failed on that front. I won't even try to guess how much healthcare I will consume this year. I am going to set the bar lower. I just want to feel more like myself again and less like a patient.

It's all relative

This week has certainly been windy in our area. Mark and I were debating whether it was windier than "windsday" this past March?

First, I checked the jet stream and surface winds analyses at the California Regional Weather Server. Then I decided that was a misapplication of technology; I need only check the relative wind strengths at a few nearby weather stations.

From the pier in Santa Monica, a storm in January had stronger winds. In Manhattan Beach*, this week's peak speed of 28 mph was stronger than March's 25 mph. Redondo Beach sat on the fence--both storms had similar wind gust speeds of 30 mph.

Then I realized that I had fallen into another technology trap. Those wind gauges doesn't tell me the relative wind strengths at my house.

Because I don't have a wind gauge, I will have to use my eyes. Look at this tree across the street. It remained upright through the March 2006 storm only to list to the south this week after the storm. That's how the old meteorologists did it. They walked around with their eyes open and looked at the trees.

Read the entire Windsday series.

* There's a rumor in meteorology circles that the MB weather station is not installed at the regulation height, biasing their wind measurements relative to properly installed stations.  I have no first hand information about that.

Polar Bears and Existentialism

Polar bears are in the news (and Coca Cola advertisements) lately. How can something so cute be so politically polarizing?

I have been worried about them for years, ever since I read an article about the declining body fat of female polar bears. Like humans, they can't ovulate if their body fat crosses a threshold. When that happens, the species cannot reproduce and becomes essentially walking ghosts. If we continue on our current course, it is likely that polar bears will cross this threshold in a few years, not decades.

Read this CBC News background article about polar bears and scientists who track their declining health. It was written in 1999 and the problem has only worsened since then.

I find the thought of a future without polar bears deeply troubling, even though I am unlikely to ever see one firsthand in the wild. I don't want to see the earth become a habitat solely for humans and the things that humans eat. Who can put a price on seeing the look on a child's face when they learn about a new and wondrous animal? That does not appear on a balance sheet anywhere. However, a world without polar bears would make me feel poorer.

What does this have to do with existentialism?

Extinction always recalls to my mind, Graham Swift's short story, "Hoffmeier's Antelope". The unnamed storyteller's uncle, a zoo keeper, had been trying unsuccessfully for years to breed the last known pair of Hoffmeier's antelopes in the world. If the pair die without reproducing, the species will become extinct.

In an act of desperation, the uncle disappears with the pair of antelopes so that their fate will be unknown. As long as no one knows for sure if the remaining Hoffmeier's antelopes are alive or dead, they cannot be declared extinct.

Graham Swift's short story collection, Learning to Swim, has been republished in paperback and I highly recommend it.

Read critiques about time and existentialism and Hoffmeier's Antelope.

That's all folks.