The Mono

Does anyone know a good silversmith who does lost-wax casting? There's a pendant I want, but it looks like I'll have to have it custom-made. (Relatively) inexpensive would be a definite plus.

Edit: Looks like this one will have to get put on hold. Commissioning a pendant would run me at least $250. Crucible classes cost $350 or so. I can get precious metal clay (thanks unseelie23) for $25, but I have no way to fire it, as I doubt I can get a consistent temp of even 1300°F for 20-25 minutes (they say you can do it on home gas stoves or with torches, but how do you hold it in place, let alone make sure the temperature is correct?) so I'd need access to a kiln. Which I don't have. Sigh.

Everything costs too much.

Anybody familiar with patent law out there?

Never mind, I'm pretty well convinced that a patent isn't what I want. Carry on... :)

As some of you know, I'm writing a cookbook. Unfortunately, while I know a great deal about gluten-free bread, I know next to nothing about submitting a manuscript to publishers and evaluating potential offers. I think that if I'm at the point of putting "pen" to "paper" on this, it's time I start considering what format a publisher might want, and how to make it appealing to them.

So I ask my multi-talented friends list: Have any of you been involved in getting a how-to book (anything from how to do Europe on 3 euros a day to how to make your own siege engines to, well, a cookbook) from handwritten material to hold-it-in-your-hand book form?

I'm hoping that someone out there might be able to, if not offer some advice on the workings of the publishing industry, at least offer the name of a good book on the subject. :)

Thank you!

I am currently looking for a couple of things. Does anyone in the East Bay, who would be able to set up a fairly easy transfer, have:

- un-crushed two-liter bottles, with caps, or
- sheet styrofoam, enough to create an 9"x12"x1" layer (doubling up half-inch will do)?

I'm willing to wait for a bit, if you are in the process of collecting these things, or would need to fetch them from another location. :)

Thank you!

Perhaps I'm a little bitter, but I'll call this therapy (with a dash of sanity-saving humor thrown in).

Would anyone else like one of these shirts? I'm going to open a cafepress store, and I can order many as easily as one. Sold at-cost.

( The design... sometimes the old jokes still work. )

Edit: Ordered. If you still want one, let me know, but we won't be able to share the ($5.25) shipping. Shirts are $21.99 plus tax and shipping.

When you have a project which really needs doing, but you've just hit the wall -- writer's block, overwhelm, or simply total disgust every time you try to look at the thing -- how do you deal with it?

My usual method is strategic procrastination: go do something which rests my brain and makes me feel like I've indulged in something I want to do. Then, when I no longer mentally retch at the idea of working on the project, I go back and crank on it. So I'll go off and garden, or watch movies, or read, for a few hours or a day... I don't lose touch with what I'm supposed to do, I just take a brief vacation with the knowledge that I'll get back to it when I can.

It seems to work, but I'm curious whether anyone else has a different method (perhaps more efficient, or less likely to earn manager skepticism) for harnessing wayward brain cells to the task at hand.

I have an orange-fleshed (Garnet) sweet potato in a pot here, and it's going to produce many more slips than the ten I need. Is there anybody in the East Bay who wants rooted slips to plant sweet potatoes this year?

They're easy: plant at the same time as tomatoes, and lighten any particularly heavy clay with leaves or compost, then water until established. After the vines take off, they just want occasional water, enough to keep from wilting (drip works quite well)... dig them when we start getting the first really soaking rains in late October/early November, so that the tubers don't split. The hardest thing tends to be curing them after harvest -- if you want them to keep more than a month, you'll need to put them in 95% humidity at 95°F for 10-14 days (I wrap them in damp towels and put them in a bucket over a heating pad). Then the roots will keep for nine months to a year in a cupboard.

They need more potassium than nitrogen, really, and Bay Area soil is generally quite adequate by itself. Lighter soil or a raised bed makes them easier to dig (chiseling them out of clay is no fun, believe me.) The vines are also quite attractive, looking much like their morning glory relatives; the flowers for this variety are white edged with purple.

I'm way behind in reading my friends list... thought you should know.

Anyway, I'm in need of a dentist. I'm starting with a pretty blank slate here, so I will tell you what I'm looking for:

- East Bay, preferably central-ish.
- Offices more than a year old
- Friendly and accommodating office staff
- Dentist who is able to work without anesthetic if requested

My old dentist failed the last point dismally; he started squirming, which means I would squirm too, even when it didn't hurt. The guy he bought the practice from couldn't be shaken by a herd of elephants coming through.

One of my molars is becoming more sensitive, to the point I figure I should do something about it... if you have a dentist you think would fit most or all of these, please let me know.

When I ran across the article in the Seattle PI about the atheist display that was put up near the Nativity scene in the Washington State Capitol building, I posted it to lily's -culturewar discussion. I was a bit surprised when one of the more moderate (and less religious) people there started bitching about how it was offensive, and I must have a bias toward the atheists if I didn't think so. I insisted that there was no bias, I simply felt that all groups have a right to state their beliefs, so long as they do not target a group or individuals in the process.

The disagreement stemmed from the wording on the placard: "There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." I said that was a general statement about religion, not targeting any group in particular. He said it was offensive to anyone who believed in a religion.

I finally narrowed it down to his view that when someone makes a generalized, strong, negative statement about something, he feels that implies a criticism of the people who hold a different view. Thus, saying "religion is bad" means you are stating that anyone who believes in religion, any religion, is stupid or evil. I handed him the statement from the poll: "Cars are dangerous and destroy the environment", and he replied, "that to me would imply I was either dumb, uncaring, or evil to own a car."

I thought he was being too sensitive, and said as much. I was curious, however, whether I was being insufficiently so, and put up the poll. It seems most of you feel he was being too sensitive about reading between the lines, at least on the metaphorical statement. That's good to know.

I had a heated discussion with someone on lily today, and I thought it might be interesting to see what other people think about our point of contention. I'm not asking for treatises on the benefits/drawbacks of motor vehicles; take this as the metaphor it is.

Poll #1310855 Reading between the lines
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16

If someone said, "Cars are dangerous and destroy the environment", I would:

Do you consider yourself to be a "car owner"?

(Note: in the first option of the first question, that is a reflection, negative or positive, on you.)

I'll explain this in a future post.

Anyone got a basic PC setup hanging around? Nothing fancy, just capable of running Office, a browser, some light Java, that sort of thing. No need for peripherals.

One of the computers in the household decided that its mission in life was to kill all power supplies and release their magic smoke. Returning it to a happy docile system would cost more money than it's worth, and we don't have much. Dell's $300 new units are not within the budget.

Any leads are welcome.

I have an acquaintance (we used to be in pretty frequent electronic contact, but fell out of touch in the last year or so) who lost everything in the Summit fire in the Santa Cruz moutains. Someone has already taken him out shopping for basic clothes, etc., and he still has a car and his computers -- he works online -- but he has no place to live.

He has chemical sensitivities somewhat worse than mine, which means he can't tolerate smog, so he needs to be somewhere in the country or next to the ocean so that he has clean air. If you know of any place in the South Bay, the lower Peninsula, or the Monterey area that he could park until he can find a permanent solution, please let me know and I'll pass it on. He's a decent guy, a techie, and very intelligent; I can vouch for his character, even if he is a little odd. (Who isn't?)

I don't know his current financial situation, but he's never been rich and this is probably going to strain his resources. I suspect he could settle for a driveway to park in, a place to plug in the computers, and the use of a bathroom, but I haven't been in touch directly recently enough to say with certainty. Any options are better than none.

Edit: Word is that he's looking for something "semi-permanent"; he's staying near Half Moon Bay for the moment.

Sitting on my dining-room table are the following kitchen cooking utensils looking for a good home in the East Bay:

1 8" frying pan, teflon (anonymous)
3 10" frying pans, teflon (1 Farberware, 1 T-Fal, 1 anonymous)
1 6-quart stainless steel Revereware pot with lid
1 6-quart teflon T-Fal pot without lid

The teflon ones are a little scratched, a little worn, but not even close to dead yet; as for the stainless pot, Revereware wears like -- I was going to say iron, but, well. We have Revereware pots from the 70s that are still perfectly good despite steady use.

If you're interested, let me know; unless you're willing to come to the East Bay, I can't get it to you.

By the way: my PDA died (it's not sure it wants to turn the screen on when it wakes up anymore). I'm in the market for a used one that runs PalmOS 3.5 or later, preferably for less than $100. Anyone looking to upgrade?

I lost a filling. Now is not the best time for it -- I have most of the afternoons of Monday and Friday free, and about an hour on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, but I'm spending all the rest of my time up north. School doesn't have any way to plead for time off for a dentist appointment.

It's particularly inconvenient because I need time to find a new dentist. I guess I can call up my old one, but I haven't been in for several years... the main reason for that is that he and I just don't work well together. I don't want anesthetic, which makes him palpably anxious, and that's a bad quality to have in a dentist.

Does anyone know of a better-than-average dentist somewhere around central Contra Costa? I'll hit Berkeley if I have to, but I'd rather have one close to home. My requirements are a non-new office with non-toxic cleaning supplies (or at least enough flexibility to be willing to change what they use), and a dentist with steady nerves who can handle a patient who requests fillings with no anesthetic. Mine is just too empathetic (and I suspect he has a low pain tolerance himself). Skill is always good, too, though I'm not especially difficult.

I'm not a fan of holistic dentistry as a class; it's rather like chiropractic, in that there's a much greater percentage of quackery. If you have someone where you can swear that they're not going to try to use kinesiology to determine what filling materials are safe for me, I'm willing to give them a shot. At least they tend to clean their offices with safe substances.


I suppose I could ask around in Davis, as well, but I have no leads on where to start looking.

If the predicted frequency of gluten-intolerant individuals (given current data) is 1 in every 250 people... How is it that I know so many of them?

I swear, I know at least eight diagnosed celiacs off the top of my head, which means I missed a few (there's a massive number of undiagnosed ones out there). There's at least one and often more of the confirmed celiacs at most events I attend, and that's not even counting the wheat-sensitive people like me. What gives?

Anyone want to pitch in on an order to King Arthur Flour? All I need is cheese powder, and it's kind of silly to order just that. Especially when they keep offering free shipping or gifts for orders over $60 or so. They have really good pans and equipment, but I have everything they carry that I need... and I either can't use their mixes or have no need to. It's good stuff, though.

It isn't urgent, but I should get more cheese powder before the end of the year, if I keep indulging my cravings for mac&cheese as much as I have been. And holiday baking is upon us...

Edit: The yeast measure (2.25 tsp) for $4; the crumpet rings for $8; perhaps the rolling pin rings for $8; liquid measure for $5?

Edit: Gah! the orange cheese powder is no longer listed... I have to write them to ask whether they've discontinued it. (That would suck.)

LensCrafters wants $104 to fit me with contact lenses. I used to wear them all the time, and all I want is a fresh prescription for contacts (which means an exam). I don't need a technician to figure out the diameter I need (I have an old box that has that measurement on the label), or tell me how to care for them, or how to put them in. I could do all that in my sleep.

Anyone know where else I could go to get an exam and prescription for contacts, without going through the newbie dance? Is there some way I can get it for less than $100?

I don't think my current health insurance covers vision, even though I'd rather have that than dental. I'd probably have the place run my card and find out.



I hate the fact that I can't just go out and buy contacts off the shelf according to my current eyesight -- why can't they carry a notice saying that they should be used according to a doctor's direction and leave it at that? *sigh*

I'm looking for a tasteful parrot pin that isn't particularly expensive or antique (I want to put it on my bookbag). Preferably colored and somewhat durable, maybe enamel. Seen any for sale lately?

Does anyone know a way -- or ways -- that I might begin tracking down the name, if not current location, of a man who rented the house next door to ours around 1981? He lived there with another adult male, and moved out a year or two later. I don't know his name, or the name of the person who owned the house. The best ideas I have are vague and involve combing county records, starting with the address.

Please do pass this post around to anyone you know who might be able to help; I know that about half the people on my Friends list don't read me regularly, so even if they're listed as a friend on my account, they may not see this.

Yes, it is important to me. No, I'm not going to say why I need to know. But it is not trivial.