Making me laugh.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mark Frauenfelder
www.colbertnation.com
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So I was catching up on my Colbert Report viewing on the DVR yesterday. I watched an episode that aired last week with an interview of Mark Frauenfelder, the editor of Make magazine. Make is a brother to Craft magazine which I've read before and has a lot of great crafty ideas. Make is a more masculine magazine for manly projects like making a remote control lawnmower or building a chicken coup in your backyard.

The interview is about his newly released book called Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World. I found the exchange very informative and Stephen's reactions to the gadgets he brought was amusing. For those of you who don't watch the Colbert Report you should know that Stephen Colbert is a persona that is everything I hate about the far right, but he does it in a hilarious way.

Mark tells him why he loves making things with his hands that he can share with his friends since it is like sharing a part of himself. Stephen said that is exactly why he prefers buying mass produced crap since he doesn't have to worry about throwing it away and breaking that connection. You can watch the entire exchange from their website by clicking on the box above.

I've got the book in my cart on Amazon and I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to read it.

Change of Luck

One of my mother's saying goes, "If he didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all." It is usually directed at my brother. Well, I feel like this year has started off under a very unlucky cloud around here. First there was my fall, and just when I'm ready to get back to work this week we get a snow storm. We only have around 3-4 inches but it has me scared to venture out since that is what got me into trouble in the first place. I might attempt to go in tomorrow with the help of a colleague who lives close to me. She doesn't leave until around 10:00 a.m. so I'll call ahead to make sure that the sidewalks are cleared on campus.

On top of this another very close friend is having surgery this week and is facing a life changing illness. And because they are self employed they happen to be without insurance, so who knows how that will affect their future. And in the bigger picture with the loss of the super majority, which I still don't fully understand the significance of, there is a real chance that the health care reform the country is in dire need of is about to be lost once again. It breaks my heart to think about how many people are without insurance and are just one serious illness away from bankruptcy.

So many people who are following their dreams must make the chose to go without insurance because of the extreme costs to get private health insurance in this country. The fact that in order to live life on their terms means giving up the security of health insurance is just wrong. Too many creative people make this difficult choice now because there are so few options. I pray that it won't mean bankruptcy for my friend and that our government can get their act together so that people will have more options in the future.

I made the above treasury using Made by Hand a site I had seen around before but never really explored until today. It allows you to search, make wish lists, and create what they call spotlights like the above, incorporating items from all of the major handmade sites. If you click on the item it will take you directly to the listing for sale.