Thursday, December 30, 2010

Vise for my bench.

for christmas I recieved a heavy columbia vice for my bench.

IMAG0022

when I say heavy I do mean heavy. More weight to add to my bench :)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

teeny shaker knobs

made these on my lathe for my wifes jewelry cabinet. getting closer to being finished with this project hopefully.

small shaker knobs

Thursday, December 23, 2010

article review

In the February 2011 issue of fine woodworking the article titled "Seven lessons for the aspiring furniture maker" written by Monica Raymond is a good primer for beginners. The author details her own personal experiences as a beginner. The same pitfalls and follies I experienced would have been served by this article. Even her last piece of advice was the best. Pick up this issue. This article might help beginners as well as experts in helping advise beginners.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Blog Review

Recently was pointed to a blog by a woodworker and author named Doug Stowe. His blog from the first time I read it inspired me and encouraged my creative spirit. His posts are little insights into his thoughts. they are little windows into his shop as well. He paints a wonderful picture on what it means to be a woodworker, creator, and thinker while he works. Its definitely a worthwhile read and he is quite prolific.

You can find his blog at
http://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/

wikileaks yeash someone is talking about this again!

I am sure people are tired of hearing about wikileaks. I have been listening to the stories and reading the news articles about this fiasco as its unfolding now. Thought I would make a couple of comments not like any of this hasn't already been stated. I feel the change to how we conduct ourselves is important. Its important that we grow as human beings and as time goes on learn to cooperate with one another. This may not be profitable at times but is important for our survival on a whole.

First and foremost what bothers me about wikileaks is that none of its leaks seem to involve any other country other than the United States. This is disconcerting because of the amount of injustice and misery through out the world. Where are the leaks telling the world where the state of the nuclear ambitions of Iran. Where are the leaks of the human rights abuses in North Korea and China. I think its the duty of wikileaks to not focus in on one nation and realize that it has a duty to alert the world to every injustice. Anything less sets doubts on Julian Assange's motives as to why wikileaks was founded and exists today.

It seemed to me as well that the recent round of leaks placed out there were no more than attempt at embarrassing the United States. The goals it seemed in the beginning was to make sure government kept in line and didn't abuse the power given to them by their citizens. These latest round however didn't not amount to that end. Instead the leaks were a presence of vanity by Julian to say I can leak anything anytime. The recent round of leaks didn't further what I thought was the goal of the site. But instead cause anger outrage and contemptuous behavior from countries around the globe.

Secondly if some who find displeasure in wikileaks being attacked from the powers that be I feel hacking back is an irresponsible use of your talents. Its fine to be angered at the US response to secret documents being released. Its entirely another to show the same discourse in kind. I feel that it helps no one and only furthers the agendas of those wishing to hide facts. A lot of activists I respect practiced civil disobedience. Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others proved that through perseverance change can be achieved. Hacking against the establishment is no more productive than active violence.

If I have learned anything from the leaks from wikileaks its not that the United States has secrets, I already knew that. I learned more importantly that no matter how much change has come we still as a nation conduct international relations as we did over forty years ago. That as a people we haven't grown much in that time. Frankly we probably haven't grown much in the last four hundred years or even maybe longer. Julian is another in a long line of petty vane people showing their power once they have it instead of using it responsibly. Remember what Spiderman learned that with great power comes great responsibility. Nothing more positive to say about the petty vane activities of the people we elect with their own agendas. Both sides of this have let this get out of hand. I fear that when the dust settles we will not have grown or learned anything but derived more bias and contempt for one or the other side's point of view. Is it too simple minded to say Cant we all just get along? I guess for the next few days I can't use paypal or mastercard if this so enraged anyone!