DMC Safe

For the past week or so, the needlework world has been in a bit of a tizzy. Through partially translated newspaper reports and press releases, we learned that DMC Corp. in France was declaring bankruptcy. This, naturally, lead to much wailing and gnashing on teeth. If there is one thing needleworks are, it is loyal to a particular brand of thread. With DMC, arguably the most popular brand of floss, seemingly disappearing, panic set in as stitchers realized they would have to spent precious time converting charts into other floss types.

Well, today DMC USA finally addressed the situation, in English. It seems that only two divisions of DMC are filing for bankruptcy: the sportswear division, and the craft shop division. Our beloved floss is safe. You can read more here: PRESS RELEASE: DMC to continue selling the best quality and most recommended Embroidery Floss for another 262 years!

Now, I do have some advice for DMC. Firstly, when these rumours start due to press releases and news stories only being available in French, put out an English translation right away to stave off panic. Also, please, please, please concentrate on you core business. Fancy flosses and craft stores are nice, but we want you to keep making the plain, old cotton floss we love for at least another 262 years! Oh, and please ship to Canada from your U.S. online store. We aren't that far away, you know, and you are loosing out on business.

To add to the crafting theme of this entry, below is my lastest cross stitch finish: Cleopatra Embroidered Paper Doll by Lynne Nicoletti.

Tattoos and Death Clock

Some fun and interesting Pagan news - a woman with a blue crescent moon tattooed on her forehead finds it difficult to get a job. (The full story can be read inthe Elmira Star-Gazette.) Personally, I'm not surprised!

Now, putting aside the fact that facial tattoos just aren't a great idea (case in point a father and son in central Florida), I think it is an even worse idea to get a tattoo on your forehead, to represent your faith, that is inspired by a book that has no basis in reality. For those who are unaware, in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley the priestess have a blue crescent moon tattooed on their forehead. Apparently Camilla Nhamercedes of Millerton, New York decided to do just that. She says "It represents my connection to God, and the location also represents my connection to my Wiccan learnings." I say, it is a very silly idea. There are many other ways to connect oneself to one's god that don't take inspiration from a work of fiction.

I'm probably being a little hard on Ms. Nhamercedes. It does that a lot of courage to make such a bold statement. But I'm not sure how much forethought was put into the decision to place the tattoo on her forehead. Surely she could have placed the tattoo somewhere else, and still produce the same effect.

I think that this partly comes down to the desire that many of us have of wanting everyone to know everything about us. By this I mean we do things like wear t-shirt that express our political opinions, or jewelry that loudly proclaims our religion. We seem to need to, almost literally, wear our personalities on our sleeves. And rather then making us more individual, I think this is actually causing us to reconfigure ourselves to fit whatever messages we are able to buy. I'd rather someone get to know me and gradually find out about my likes and dislikes, rather then just read a list off the back of my shirt and divine my religion from my tattoos. I guess, though, I'm part of a shrinking minority.

In happier news, it looks like I will live until I'm 78. That just might be long enough to finish all the cross stitch I want to do, and learn to read with all the Tarot decks I have... if I stop buying things today.

Drinking in Cancer with His Milk

Health Canada has finally announced that they are going to ban baby bottles that contain bisphenol A. (Government of Canada Takes Action on Another Chemical of Concern: Bisphenol A) We have been using Avent bottles for Baby C, and, of course, they are some of the effected bottles. We do have a few glass bottles, and we will be getting more today.

It is a difficult thing, raising children. I suspect that in the future, maybe decades from now, we will find out that something else we are doing is linked to cancer or something equally as bad. All we can do is our best, weighing the risks based on the information we have.

So, this weekend will be spent scouring the cupboards for plastic containing bisphenol A--my favourite water bottle, Baby C's bottles (including the "novelty" ones), and goodness knows what else. Apparently soup cans are lined with a plastic that contains bisphenol A. sigh And so are the cans of liquid formula that I bought for emergencies.

If you are interested in clearing it out of your home, look for items with the 7 recycle symbol. You can read more here: Bisphenol A Fact Sheet.

Protesting the Olympics

Although I don't often talk about politics on my blog, I thought that I would share some of what I am feeling about the recent protests against China that have been plaguing the Olympic Torch relay.

During the ancient Olympics, it is believed that all wars and conflicts were halted during the games so that athletes and spectators could be assured of their safety. In modern times, conflicts actually take place during the games. Case in point, the Munich massacre that happened during the 1972 Summer Olympics.

This sorry tradition continues today, with protesters the world over doing their best to disrupt or even cancel the 2008 Olympics in China.

Yes, I am completely aware of China's human rights abuses. Yes, I am aware that they are occupying Tibet. Yes, I am aware that Chinese workers are exploited (often by American companies, but I digress). However, I feel strongly that the Olympics are a time when we should be focusing on the atheletes taking part. They have worked thier whole lives for a chance to compete in front of the world, and their dreams are soured by what is happening.

I'm not so sure that dowsing the Olympic Torch in France is the way to get China to change its internal policies. I don't think that hits close enough to home for the government. Economic sanctions, like a company-level (rather than personal-level) refusal to buy products manufactured in China is a good start. But, of course, since so many goods sold worldwide come from China (your iPod, for one, comes from China), that isn't likely to ever happen.

But, as a Canadian, I'm not sure I can really say too much about this. There is an exceptionally good chance that Canada, and much of North America, is going to witness some very severe protests by First Nations people as the 2010 Olympics approach. Sadly, I think that hijacking the Olympics to publicize conflicts with governments is going to be the new reality. Athletes will soon be taking a backseat to protesters.

Earth Hour and the End of the World

Earth Hour has come and gone, and it was a success... sort of. Here at the Pond, we enjoyed an hour of darkness sans TV and computers. (quanta cheated and surfed the Internet for a little while on his Blackberry. Really, a man can only be away from technology and information for so long.) Baby C enjoyed his first candlelight meal, and got his diaper changed in the dark twice. Fun for all involved.

Around Ontario, power usage fell by more than 5% (which is what was expected). In Toronto, power usage dropped by 8.7%. Sure, it is all hype. An hour of reduced power usage isn't going to change the world, but at least it (hopefully) got people thinking about just how much power they do use.

Blog TO review's Toronto's participation in Earth Hour: Earth Hour Toronto 2008: Pass or Fail. The videos on this page are worth watching just to see the huge (and ugly) sign at the corner of Younge and Dundas go out.

The Torontist (a great blog about TO), has a photo gallery of Toronto during Earth Hour here. Stunning!

In other news, the world may end this summer so there is no reason to conserve energy or worry about the environment. Yay! According to two men in Hawaii, Walter L. Wagner and Luis Sanchon, when the CERN Large Hadron Collider is powered up, it will create a black hole what will devour the Earth... or it may create stangelets that will lead to a change reaction changing all matter into stangelets... or it may create particles with only one magnetic pole, leading to a reaction where atoms are converted into other forms of matter. (Am I the only one imaging my desk turning into pudding?) I'm glad they've got their story straight.

You can read more about this here: CERN Experiment May Violate NEPA, Destroy Universe