Mellowbeing

What I’m Listening to: Podcasts

Jen — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:19:15 +0000

I listen to quite a few podcasts which span tech, music and some nerdy topics. I was requested to post my OPML file and since maybe more than one person is interested, I’m posting it here. I’m curious who else listens to these and if these are new to you and are of interest.

iTunes Subscribed Feeds
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:15:20 GMT
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:15:20 GMT

Shop Addition: Pin Button Machine

Jen — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:26:11 +0000

Guess who has a new pin making machine? Yep! The Mellowbeing Shop is now fully equipped to make all sorts of greatness (through pins).

Thanks to Kickstarter and those who supported me by pledging in this little project of mine. I appreciate it a lot! :)

Be prepared to see some great new pin designs!

Rethinking: Free Software for All

Jen — Thu, 19 May 2011 13:23:49 +0000

The following is from a previous entry dated Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Last night, I attended a lecture at the Law School here at NYU held by a patent lawyer. And not just any patent lawyer. He’s one of leading proponents of the Creative Commons (GPL) and is currently defending against Microsoft at the Supreme Court level. I was pleasantly surprised to learn this.

“The Empire & the iPhone: ‘Technology Platforms,’ the Commons, and the Way We Live Now.”
Eben Moglen
Professor, Columbia Law School and Director, Software Freedom Law Center
Monday, March 19, 8 PM

Some notes I took:
the pursuit of “prosumer culture” – production & use of products by the same person

- Paypal decentralizes the traditional bank structure
- Youtube, myspace, etc. decentralize the music culture

Hours that Microsoft actually spends, as a whole, producing software in a week: 3.8 million
This is what he called “a microsoft”
- a few years ago, there were 468,000 programmers on sourceforge.net
- 10/hrs approx. per person per week
- about 1.4 “microsofts” on sourceforge
- about 1.6 “microsofts” in GPL entirely

so, who’s producing more software? and who is spending more of their resources on advertising, middle management and twiddling of thumbs?

Commons is motivated by politics; to fight against the incumbents after all the power.

Free software is a “cultural outlook” – universal knowledge is possible through sharing of resources – our own expertise.

So share. Learn about GPL and the Creative Commons. It’s really up to us to figure out a way to not have everything patented.

“You forgot to ask, who’s making more money?”

It’s given me something to think about considering a few posts I’ve read recently about not giving away your work for free.

Give away some blog content and then get a book deal? Etc etc. Some food for thought on this rainy Thursday afternoon.

Fun at Work

Jen — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:51:04 +0000

There’s never a dull moment at my office. Like the day that this flier showed up on the kitchen’s refrigerator:

Someone decided it could be improved upon:

Then, we were challenged to create our own emoticons (1st row, 2nd col is mine):

And this one made us all go “awww”:

We really do have some creative people. Which makes sense being an advertising agency and all :)

Thing-a-Day: #1 & #2

Jen — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:50:49 +0000

I may be a bit late to the posting bit of this… I’ve been working on projects since the February 1st but have managed terribly to document this!

For Days 1 & 2, I decided to work on 3 smaller projects (of varying time effort):
- sewing on a missing button
- crochet last couple of rows on pocket scarf
- knit crown on red hat

Mapping NYC

Jen — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:02:27 +0000

The NYTimes created this information graphic based on NYC’s education, income, race and household information. It’s quite fascinating to read into. It looks as if Midtown Manhattan is pretty well educated and wealthy – not too surprised.

Take a look

Pattern: Legwarmers

Jen — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:26:41 +0000

This pattern is from my original post on Feb 22, 2010 for Thing-A-Day #22.

Over a year ago, I saw a simple legwarmer pattern in a book at Purl Soho. The pattern was this:

Cast on 56 stitches. K2, P2 all around and bind off when happy with length. This would make something I’d seen in stores already. But I didn’t want something I’d seen. A mass produced item would’ve been more expensive (this project was about 1 skein worth, $7.50) but it would’ve taken a lot less time to obtain :)

What I wanted was something that would flare out at the bottom so it can go over my boots as well as be long enough to cover most of my shins. I’d keep seeing one or the other. Long legwarmers that abruptly stop at the ankle or short ones that go well over booties. Just needed to mix the two up and make it in a color to match my existing hat.

The Mellow Legwarmers pattern

Materials
1 skein of Cascade 220 wool yarn
4 DPNs size 8

Pattern
CO 56 stitches
(CO number needs to be divisible by 4; adjust to size accordingly)
Rows 1-60: (K2, P2) til end of row
Row 61: (K1, M1, P2) til end of row
Row 62-71: K3, P2
Row 72: Bind off. Wear. Do “Maniac” dance.*

* optional

Addendum

These legwarmers are meant for moderately sized calves and were a little loose on me. If you have smaller calves like mine, I’d suggest going down 8 stitches or knit with size 7 needles for a tighter gauge. I also think weaving ribbon through the top would work to keep them from slipping.

Enoy :)

Animation: Nothing to Fear

Jen — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:19:33 +0000

Watched Nothing To Fear from Simon Russell – it’s a haunting animation. Makes me want to sketch more.

Community Generated Art

Jen — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:50:24 +0000

Long ago, I came across SwarmSketch. As better described on their About page:

SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of distributed design by the masses. Each week it randomly chooses a popular search term which becomes the sketch subject for the week. In this way, the collective is sketching what the collective thought was important each week.

It’s pretty neat. Sometimes, it really comes together and at others, it’s difficult to tell what the week’s theme is.

Do you know of any projects with a similar community generated concept?

2011: Looking Forward

Jen — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:48:32 +0000

Goals for 2011 in 3 Major Categories

Geek:
- Redesign mellowbeing.com & stick with the design
- Complete portfolio site
- Complete graduate thesis project (still in alpha)

Craft:
- Make second sweater (Rusted Root)
- Complete blanket (about 1/3 done)
- Rethink Etsy shop inventory
- Paint one large oil painting
- Make felt stuffies

Personal:
- Learn to let go:
let go of things (declutter!),
and let go of people (reconsider certain ‘friendships’)

There are many more on my ultimate list but these are the basics I’d like to get through.

What are you looking forward to getting done this year?