My problem with Facebook and Instagram

Have you read Dave Carroll's Facebook's Privacy Problem with Parents?

Apparently, I am one of the first people on Earth to carefully inspect the latest Facebook data policy because I found several broken links, blank page dead-ends, and the most astonishing form I have ever come across as a parent. I promptly tweeted it. It immediately went viral in collective disbelief and general outrage.
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It’s both chilling and telling that the company forces a parent or guardian to hire a lawyer to draft a notorized statement to “establish guardianship rights” in order to opt their child out of ad settings on Facebook which include using their name to endorse unknown products and services to other users, should they experience any trouble finding, understanding, and using this screen in their child’s account settings.

I'm not going to paraphrase it here, because Prof. Carroll does a very able and thorough job explaining why this is so dangerous and alarming. Read it!

I left the Facebook platform because I was unhappy with the way they used private medical data gleaned, not from public posts, but from private messages between FB users*. Anyway, now I wonder if I should leave Instagram.

What do you think?

* It's difficult to find the news stories that criticize FB practices.  FB likely pays a lot of money to make sure those search results appear far, far down--or disappear altogether.

Snow Dyeing Experiment

First, you need to harvest some snow.  The NWS predicted rain Friday night turning overnight to snow.

When I woke up Saturday morning, the snow was still melting immediately when it reached the warm ground. When the snow began to stick, I set my IKEA Torkis baskets outside to harvest some snow.  I put them on a bench, so they would equilibrate to the air temperature instead of the ground temperature.

Then I went back inside to mix a cup of soda ash with 5 gallons of hot water. I soaked the four items I wanted to dye in the soda ash solution.

Meanwhile, outside, the air temperature remained stubbornly right above freezing.  My snow yield was disappointingly low compared to the dead leaf yield.  I moved the Torkis to a more open area on the grass.

Back inside, I put the scrunched up the damp clothing in plastic bins, mixed some Procion fiber-reactive dyes with water, and splashed the dye in.

For the snow dye experiment, I decided to supplement with ice from the ice-maker in the kitchen.  (Isn't it ironic that we run ice-makers in the winter?)

Note that I did not put the shirt on a rack to suspend it above the dye as it drips through.  I wanted a more solid look.

My total snow harvest was pretty pathetic. I consolidated all four baskets of slush and barely had enough to cover the shirt.

I sprinkled one teaspoon each of midnight blue and strong navy Procion dye powder on the slush/ice/shirt tostada.

Waiting inside, catching up with my mending pile.

Waiting on the other side of the condo, enjoying the quiet beauty of a snowstorm.

Silence in the heart of the city.

Sunday morning, I rinsed out the clothes until the water ran clear.  In LA, I use the spin cycle of my washer to extract the moisture (with the excess dye).  That cuts the time and water required for rinsing by a huge amount.

In Boulder, I use a Nina Soft Spin Dryer, which is a centrifuge for fabric/clothing.

Wow.

I am a total snow dye convert now.

The NWS nailed the forecast.  We got an astonishing amount of snow for April.  But, most of it fell Saturday night/Sunday morning--too late for my snow dye experiment.

I think I will have to learn how to make artificial snow with ice in my blender...and see what happens when I suspend the fabric on a cookie rack.

Links to stuff I used*

• Ice Dye instructions
• Nina Soft Spin Dryer
• Soda Ash dye fixer
• Procion fiber-reactive dyes (for cellulosic fibers)

* I have no financial relationship with Dharma Trading except that I've been buying from them for nearly 30 years and have *never* had an unsatisfactory experience with them.

A tale of two saves 2

Remember this Dye Magic shirt?  I bought it at a thrift store for a song because of a pen ink stain on the front.  After a date with Imperial Purple Procion MX dye, you don't notice it.

Because the snow/ice storm cancelled my original plans for this weekend, I tried snow dyeing at home instead.  I'll show the in-progress photos later.  Let's now just admire the end result.

I sprinkled a teaspoon each of Midnight Blue and Strong Navy dye powder on the soda ash-soaked shirt, ice, and snow layer cake.  One or both of the colors separated into their component colors.

I also see flashes of fuchsia dye that did not thoroughly dissolve.

I see more snow/ice dyeing in my future.  I just have to display enough discipline to use one color at a time until I understand how the colors behave with this method.