SANEWSEMYS Redux

Here is much of the last e-mail, asking for a response for peoples' pot-luckish requests (we need 2 each of appetizer, salad, main course and dessert) for attendees at the SANEWSEMYS (see below), coming up. All of one person has replied (so we're down to just 1 appetizer), and one person has asked what to bring, and the rest of you must have been busy elsewhere. Please respond to me with an option or 2 you'd like to do (app, sal, MC or dess.) so we can start to slaver in anticipation of the event. The previous e-mail is included below for your elucidnation and edifisedimentation. Don't need to say "lobster thermidor stuffed with crab croquettes and a finnan haddie with a fried egg on top and spam," can just reply "main course," if that makes it any easier. Tho it would be unfortunate to have two lobster thermidor dishes as our main courses, and replying just "mc" wouldn't help prevent it. Hmm. Whatever.

Don't forget to cruise the job lot and distressed merch stores for your valuable Yankle Swap items, too.

[dupe of previous e-mail not included because it's right below here!. D'Oh!]

SANE Winter Solstice Evening Meal and Yankee Swap

Ho, ho, ho, Happy Holidays, said the jolly old person of indiscriminate religious persuasion! Not that Thanksgiving is even over, either, but everywhere I look I see reminders of holiday sales, holiday decorations, holiday depressions, paint holidays (okay, it needs a second coat!), and even Deathly Hallowdays. Makes me want to clench my wallet ever so strongly...

But on a positive note, the details for the SANE Winter Solstice Evening Meal and Yankee Swap (SANEWSEMYS, for short) have been felt out by the hammers at the last meeting. Um, make that "hammered out by the felters." Plans are, in no particular order:

Place: Pam A's Dining Room and Environs
Date: Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Time: 7ish to wheneverish (tho 'tis a school night)
Evening Meal: A potluck event, where we aim to have 2 each of appetizer, salad, main course and dessert. Please send to me a preference (or perhaps two, in case your first pref has two confirmed volunteers) and we'll try to sort this out in time to plan, maybe freeze twice something from T-day to unfrost one of on SANEWSEMYS-day. No one need ever know.
Social Event: A Yankee Swap - continuing the ever-changing tradition, each attendee [who wishes to join the "gift"-sharing] shall bring a wrapped gift costing under $10. Multiple attendees (attendees who arrive in groups of two or more, NOT attendees with multiple identities) shall divide their giftitude into two types, desireable and un-, so as to offer more incentive for tradeage.

The 16 November meeting was remarkably productive for such short notice and people were remarkably productive. I think Betsey should get a lot of credit for some fast research and backpedalling from that unfortunate description out of Drizzle's Compendium of Crafty Afts, but since I wasn't actually at the meeting, having been detained (well, sat upon) by a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but I've heard certain things and seen certain photos that I will not post here if I get a "consideration," and right quick.

Okay, get back to me about attendance, proposed category of pot-luck contribution, and to just say hey!

Fwd: SANE Meeting Tues 16 Nowonder

Little Liza B asks: What's all this, then, about "felting"?
Great question, Visla, here is a bit is from Deezle's dictionary of Arts and Craps

Felt isn't so much a material as it is a conglomeration of threads held together by compression and prayer. Felting is the art of cutting bits of felt to create a design, then using long, skinny, pointy, dissection needles to repeatedly pierce through the flesh of the adjacent felts so that their essences bleed into each other, and commingle their already loosely aligned layers of threads into one single but thicker loosely aligned layer of threads, albeit of different surface colors. No sewing required (unless, say, to construct a 3-D object out of felted pieces), the process is simple: cut felt, arrange the pieces on a single piece of felt and/or each other, then stab the hell out of it until it cries for mercy or it's all one seriously wounded but single-layer piece.

Where would we be without Deezle's? On a hopeful note, I hope to see my shrink before Tuesday's meeting.

SANE Meeting Tues 16 Nowonder

Get your magic thinking caps on and come up with a project, and/or it will be a free-for-all, do-it-yourself, no-bars-holed kind of event...

The date is Tuesday, the time is 16 November, the place is 7:00 and the day is Pam A.'s humble abode.

Is it a Thanksgibbons theme? Prepare your own turkey and/or stuffing? Build your own Puritan? Let's teach Squanto Esperanto!

Lemme (lemus) know if you have a good idea...

Nov/Dec SANE meeting info

Whilst I was gadding about I also neglected to record info about Nov and Dec meetings. The Nov meeting is slated for Tues 16 Nov, and the famous Winter Solstice Dinner is penciled in for Tues 14 Dec, unless we decide it need not be on a Tues. That's all the info I got.

SANE Hallowe'en Brunch

I've been out of town and out of time and out of sorts and so have neglected to be reminderful about the SANE Hallowe'en brunch, still scheduled for Sunday, 31 October 2010, from 11:00am to like um 2:00pm or so, until the witches' fingers run out, or the blood all curdles, and suchlike, somewheres in the early afternoon. We have to get all beautiful again to wait for darkness and the kids who never come trick or treatin', the li'l bastids.

This is a costume event - and that said, I have had no time to put into a costume so I'm likely to jump in blue dye and be an Avatar (has anyone seen my loincloth?). But some attempt at costumage will be required (inasmuch as I can compel anyone in this group to do anything). Don't make me come up with a no-costume penalty! I shudder to think what it might involve!!! You may run the risk of being banned from some Amish community or extradicted to Florida, or something equally grim. 

But breakfast and lunch and sweetlike objects are projected, nay, even planned, with a good likelihood of being actually made in time! This event is also billed as a pot-luckish event, and under separate cover I will send out requests/suggestions (so nobody can look at the entire list and figure out they're all ingredients for a giant nukular bombe). Of course, you may bring what you wish and devil take the consequences... hmm, if I come as the devil, I can take all the consequences back home with me!

So we hopes to see youse all on Sunday!

-- The evil horribly disfigured ancient winged nasty brute with bright blue and red things and other dangly bits of something else equally disgusting, or the equivalent.

SANE prep prob for night meet

Bats-E has a few pole-ish masks and I have about five plastic Lone Ranger masks, and that's about it for raw materials! My otherwise glorious faux-old cardboard masks are deep within attic strata (between Pre-Cantabrigian and Housepaintian layers, and I will not be able to excavate them in time for the meeting. This means, among other things, bring posterboard and/or sticks to create your own maskage superstructure, or enough for two if you can. That's in addition to the other supplies you were already planning to bring to decorate said masks. And, of course, scissors/knives, glueage, tapelings and other assembly familiars.

This turned into rather a Stone Soup project. You may wish to bring vegetables for the soup. I, myself will pick up a rock from outside Pam's and ask her for a soup-pot, and perhaps some water. Sorry.

Ratatouille

SANE Meeting 7pm Tue 28 Sep 2010 AD PDQ ASAP

Yup, the new season of SANE meetings is upon us, and our very September meeting is less than a week away. In facet, it is:

7:00 pm, Tuesday 28 September 2010

Pam A has once again volunteered to do the hostin', for which we are infernally graceful.

This month's project is making costumey masks for the up-and-coming SANE Hallowe'en Brunch - let me digress for a li'l second. We're hoping SANEsters and Significant Otters (including younger folks) would come to Richard's abode for a pot-luck costumey brunch on Hallowe'en Week-end. Our target date/time is Sunday 31 Oct, 11-2ish, but could be moved in time or even to Saturday, should circumstances warrant. We want to check with the collected famblies to hear about conflicts, scheduling issues, etc. We want to be as inclusive as possible, and don't want to supplant other longstanding H'ween traditions, so if you or yours have something else important going on, lemme know when it is. And we all need to get home in time to open the doors for any little ghoulies and ghosties and short-legged beasties whose parents are brave enough to let them make the rounds on Sunday eve. The SANE event will require costumage, and this meeting is an attempt to help out in that regard. Back to the meetin':

Bats-E and I (courtesy of Bats' leftover H'ween donation program) have several posterboard masks (a few mounted on sticks and several upper-face masks with nose notches and eyeholes) that use an elastic or tie around the head to secure same. They are all delightfully old-school graphics, but are begging for decoration, with feathers, construction paper, lead pipes, 2x4s or cinder blocks. No, wait, I'm conflating two very different craft shows from the DIY network. Or you could craft your own mask out of plastic bottles, posterboard, foam-core, papier-mache, leather, erector sets, cloth, velcro, elastic bands, roofing tar and construction adhesive. Damn, it happened again.

I was so bold as to make a list of different ways you might affix a mask to a face, but didn't have time to appropriately illustrate same. Imagine, if you will, vague and tacky pencil-scratched illustrations to enhance this otherwise bland list:

Ways to Affix One Mask to One Face:

Attached to eyeglasses
Glommed onto a headband
Hooked to a scrunchie/hairband (must have hair)
Fastened to a pigtail/ponytail (must have pig/pony)
On a hat/cap/yarmulke
On a swim cap
Attached to a rubber/plastic bald-head appliance.
Using a catcher's facemask or goalie's helmet
Mounted on a bicycle/army/construction helmet
Using the ears as base of a suspension truss
An upside-down plastic plant pot
Supported by your Frankenstein neck- or temple-bolts
Using a medical halo collar (for broken necks, etc.)
Attached to a soft medical neck-brace
Staples/thumbtacks to the forehead
Supported by a back-pack/shoulder straps
Anchored to a brassiere
Spirit gum to the nose/cheeks/forehead/temples
Held up via nose- or ear-piercings
Wired to eyehooks screwed into the cranium

Obviously, not all of these are going to be appropriate for your particular costume idea. A brassiere-mounted mask will, in all probability, will move with the torso, not with the face (think of a strapless face-mask). Eyeglasses aren't strong enough to support, say, a giant metal piggy-bank head. And eyehooks will eventually rust or fester.

But some methods lend themselves well to particular costumes. A simple veil and headscarf are ideal for potential belly dancers, and come with their own support systems. Gigantic papier-mache heads call out for shoulder- or backpack-mounted supports, and a plant-pot makes a dapper toothpaste tube cap, for example. Some costumes may not require masks, as they are more amenable to make-up and/or hats (I'm thinking a green face & witch hat, or white skeleton face). If you're headed in this direction, bring another costume part to work on.

What to bring? Depends upon the costume/mask. I've seen nifty masks made entirely out of feathers, mounted on the Lone Ranger-style plastic eye-cover, using elastics or stick for support. You could be a dandy owl, say.

Other factors to consider:

You will want to eat, so having to remove a significant costume part in order to bring food or drink near your face can be a drag.
- You may wish to sit down, and a costume riddled with knives and axe blades may make sitting or resting uncomfortable.
- If you want to be a human brillo pad, it's probably best to make the costume out of soft material that looks like steel wool, rather than glue real steel-wool to your body.
- You may wish to use the bathroom while in costume, and a full-body suit without zippers or easy exit might be unhealthy or downright dangerous.
- Think of stairs and doorways before donning 8 inner tubes as the Michelin Man.
- You gotta be able to see -- remove restrictive masks while driving or on stairs. Just sayin'.

Okay, I'm done with the advice. Now you're on your own. Send Richard
comments about H'ween party scheduling issues. See you on Tuesday!

- The Groom of Frankenstein's Bride's Brother-in-Law's Lawyer's Cousin Twice Interred

SANE Meeting Proposal

Well, as the TV ads are saying, it's back-to-SANE time. Time to stock up on stamp pads, paper, punches, scissors, tasty white paste and gluesticks. What say we get together and hold a meeting?

Since the first weeks in Sept are typically taken up by school and kids and cursing the college students on the roadways and preparing the "guest" chamber in the basement for the "freshmen," how about the end of the month, specifically Tues, 28 Sept 2010? It's a Tuesday, after all, and, well, it's late in the month, and by gum, I like it!

Since Dy and I have been talking about hosting a Halloween event for SANEsters and SANEgnificant Others (along the lines of a week-end costume brunch), one suggestion for the September meeting was to make masks or costume-related Halloweeniana (hmm, say that 30 times fast)... Having just put all this down on (virtual) paper, it does seem a tad Richiocentric, so I'll toss it out thar as a possible, and will haply entertain other soggy jestions for Sept activities. I'm not seeing the Oct brunch thing as a meeting replacement, either, necessarily, kinda, but feel free to wade in on that front, too.

Hope all are tanned and happy after an exhausting summer, and ready to get all white and pasty and blase again. Ah, Fall!

Gloc Lobstah 31 Jul Timeline

SANEsters,

Thank you all for your responses to all the significant questions. We will have the fullest complement of SANEsters in recent years, and after dinner this nearly full complement will be overly full of seafood & stuff, and will no doubt continue to be complementary.

Program Note: We have some people who might have to leave early from the Glockster Clam Lob, so although Ms. Bitsy was loathe to alter the timeline, we're all encouraged to not be overly late-ish, even possibly on-time-ish, for the first time, like, well, ever.

Here is a schedule from 2008 and 2009 (with [bracked phrases] added to suit 2010):

Noon - people are invited to arrive anytime from Noon on. [For those concerned about appearing too eager, Noon is defined to be both "when to arrive" as well as "fashionably late."] Early birds get not only the option for first worms, but also a chance to swim in the quarry before lunch and first dibs on the available appetizers. [Note: no appetizers are currently slated to contai worms.] Really, noon is okay. Remember how much traffic there is of a Satday morning [It always takes me 45 minutes longer than my wildest imaginings], what with vacationers and beach-goers and crazy people and all, and take advantage of this Bets-given opportunity.

2:00 pm - Luncheon is served. [We're trying to hit this time on the nose, this time. On the right nostril, just above the philtrum], the goal this time is to have tables all set up by 2:00, clamps shortly thereafter, and Lobs-and-all-the-rest by 2:30.

After lunch - an after-lunch swim in quarry/ocean, or birdwatch, or lie back and hope the pressure in your stomach decreases.

After after-lunch - dessertage.

After dessertage: Lounging and commingling [not as naughty as it sounds!], along with some socialization and fat-chewing.

That's all I know. Stay safe from the tornadoes. Gee, Toto, this doesn't look like Ashburnham any more! Oh look, under the house, are those Derek Jeter's legs?

Gloc Lobstah 31 Jul - Year 12

Batsey reports that the tables are ordered, and plans for the 12th annual LobsterFesque are afoot. I'm guessing the water level in the quarry is not so much a problem now, with the recent flooding. Or if not yet, after this moist week, we'll be up to our eyebrows in wet. Health inspectors are making me install flotation rings in my basement. Non sequitur? I don't think! So?

Thanks to them what answered the list of questions from the last e-mail. Your answers have been tabulated and are on Funk & Wagnall's porch, hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar, if memory serves. But now's the time to hear from the rest of the crowd, so if you haven't already, please send along answers to at least 1-5, below.

Questions what require answers:

1) Am I coming to this year's SANE Gloc Lobstah Fesque & Clam Gobble
on Sat 31 July 2010?
2) How many in my party?
3) How many lobsters will my party consume?
4) How many my group will wanna glom clams?
5) What delectable dish/item would I like to bring along with me/us?

Extra Credit Questions:

6) Did Ike ever get a hole-in-one in one of his many "cabinet
meetings" on the links?
7) Was the lost episode of Last better than the 25th episode of 24?
8) Why did the porridgebird's brain turn to mush?

Lemme know soonly,

Gloc Lobstah 31 Jul - Year 12

Guess what's coming for dinner on Saturday, 31 July 2010?

It's hard to think about eating these little arthropods when they look so durn cute!
Put on your thinking antenna and decide several things:

1) Am I coming to this year's SANE Gloc Lobstah Fesque & Clam Gobble on Sat 31 July 2010?
2) How many in my party?
3) How many lobsters will my party consume?
4) How many my group will wanna glom clams?
5) What delectable dish/item would I like to bring along with me/us?
6) Was LBJ right to "practice escalatio" on the Vietnamese?
7) Did the last episode of Lost really make it worth it watching for all them damn seasons?
8) Is Richard really visible wincing convincingly in the front row of the stands when the "young Chris Rock" character gets beaned by a basketball in Grown Ups? Is that him flailing away at the Hustle on the far right of the gymnasium, in what is most likely a behind-the-credits scene or DVD extra? (Even he doesn't yet know the answer to these last questions, but he might find out in a day or so.)

It's gettin' on time to be commencin' to be thinkin' about decidin' about these here things.
Granpa McCoy

Chin-dog-gone

SANEsters,

Chindogu went well - tho we all admitted to a mass of last-minitude, the results were still impressive. But first, a general announcement:

GlobsterFesque 2010, the famed fete, is scheduled for sunny Saturday 31 July -- keep posted for further denouncements.

Chindogi - reading about them is a poor substitute for seeing them and hearing the pitches. But for the record:

Flip: A Photic Sneezer Hat - after long explanation of Nordic light-induced sneezing behavior as an inherited survival trait (ask him about Cro Magnon kids licking cave rocks, for a start), the hat-mounted mirror will keep a window in your world dedicated to checking if your own nose is leaking. As a side note, it can detect stuff caught in your teeth.

Molly: A ruler, complete with snazzy case, measuring units in increments of US Route 40 from Flagstaff to Albuquerque. The ruler was three "Querqs" long, and was also subdivided into subunits Winslows, noting (of course) that there were 5 1/8 Winslows per Querq.

Richard: Mood-O-Matic Facial Mood Modules to help return the expression to heavily Botoxed or Plastic-Surgery-tightened faces. Special Dive-Mask Modules too, for underwater communications.

Betsey: Unable to complete her dream Chindogu of a bowl for disposing pistachio shells, made out of pistachio shells (note: no glue sticks to them!), she created the No. 1 Travel Accessory, plastic bags with snappy ties to wrap around your feet if you walk around an airline cabin, encase hands to use in "bacteria=laden bathrooms," inflate as a neck rest or cushion between your and your neighbor's thighs, use as (see through!) airsick bags, trash bags and to wrap over your head as air reservoir/splash guard in the event of water crash landing.

Mary: Air Poppers, Clean Air in a Bubble: Individual doses of clean air in small plastic pockets, wrapped up in plastic bags. Volcanic ash, Canadian smoke or plain ol' pollution a problem? Just pop an Air Popper in your mouth and bite: "they burst in your mouth, allowing clean air to enter your lungs." A string of bubbles for rapid-fire relief, or bigger sizes (Grand Bubble and Mega Bubble) with tube and strap for hands-free operation.

Leslie: Emergency Wet-Floor Walker: Every time you wash the kitchen floor, somebody in the house will have an immediate need to walk across it. No problem, with the peanut-shaped sponges you tie to your feet, you actually help dry off the floor rather than leave footprints! Serena-tested, Mother-approved!

--- These definitely needed to be seen/experienced for maximum effectiveness, a brief description merely tantalizes. Inventors are invited to defend their projects by sending me a different explanation I can post.

May your dogs have many chins.

SANE Parking

A quick word about parking in Somerville. If you do not have the requisite current parking sticker and you turn off your car's engine whilst it is parked in a street anywhere in Somerville (not at a meter, not counting Sundays), you will be whisked away and your car firebombed and your income taxes audited.

How, pray tell, can I prevent this catastrophe from happening on SANE night? I hear you ask. Well, you could not come, but that would just be giving in, wouldn't it? No, you should come, you must come! You could carpool, but that would require preplanning and organization. No, you must pull up the driveway (the one leading to the garage that matches the house), two abreast (he tittered) near the garage door, careful not to mash the plantoids, then in single file down the drive. If we do not all fit, perhaps Joan & Milly will lend us their driveway, one mere house away (on the downhill side) to use for the event. We will monitor all arrivals closely to prevent auto carnage.

Do not let this dissuade you, merely alter your habitage of parkation in the 'hood.

Hope to see your Chindog and U tonight!

Chindog Me

SANE Chin Chin a Me

It's oafish-ull, the May SANE meeting (to be held on 1 June 2010) will be at the newly-painted Casa Ricardo in Uptown Somerville at 7:00-ish. The back porch, weather permitting, may even be a mass of nearly wet paint, so keep an eye peeled (ouch!) for Moist Paint signs with directions to come in via the Frontish Door. I'm confident most of you will be able to figure this out, I'm just sayin'.

Be sure to bring your brand spankly new Chindogi, where they will all be revealed in glorious technicolor and 3-D. I may alert the media and lay out a red carpet, as long as it doesn't clash with the red trim house color.

Be there or be rectilinear.

Squarebob Spongepants (new spokesperson for Depends)

Chin Dog - U?

To quote a famous man, and all around Nice Guy:

[Tues 1 June 2010]: The hairs on my chinny-chin- Chindogu

In a bid to keep the creative energies flowing, it was decided to bring back the idea of preparing "homework" for a meeting as long as it was for something as entertaining as Chindogu - the last Chindogu event was so popular, the result seemed to make the idea of homework worth it. A separate mailing with a reminder (or inspirational guide) about Chindogu will arrive in your emailbox right after this one. Scheduling this more than two months in advance was an attempt to spread the homework out over a longer time period, but we all know we're going to be working all night on 31 May, anyway.

Points will be deducted if you injure yourself in the manufacture of your unuseless project (fingers WILL be counted).

So that means time has snuck up on me and I will be chopping off all my fingers in the early of the am, Crom willing.

We don't have a place to meet just yet, I'll attempt to keep posted peoples.

Keep your chin... up.
R

Where meeting at to for so?

Meeting at Pam A's, to morrow, for us. So there.

Bring short idle time group amusements and song lyrics to startle and
amaze.

Wa de doo dah

Census Feller

SANE Meeting Schedule

SANEsters,

FYI: This is a direct rip from the previous SANEmail, 'cause the
times they are a coming:

[Tues 4 May 2010]: Game Night, with Song Lyric Recitation
(BTW: The April meeting was cast aside like a thing that was tossed over there). We will have gaming and entertainment: between rounds of some parlor game or another [Pictionary, Balderdash, Find-my-Foot, etc. - of shortish duration], members will recite (talk, NOT sing) lyrics to popular songs, a la Steve Allen (he was on TV in the 1890s) or, more recently, Christopher Walken in some YouTube thingus. There will be no wagering. On the game, either. More details as we all root through our game shelves and/or record collections (or www.lyrics.com and the like).

[Tues 1 June 2010]: The hairs on my chinny-chin-Chindogu
In a bid to keep the creative energies flowing, it was decided to bring back the idea of preparing "homework" for a meeting as long as it was for something as entertaining as Chindogu - the last Chindogu event was so popular, the result seemed to make the idea of homework worth it. A separate mailing with a reminder (or inspirational guide) about Chindogu will arrive in your emailbox right after this one. Schedulig this more than two months in advance was an attempt to spread the homework out over a longer time period, but we all know we're going to be working all night on 31 May, anyway. Points will be deducted if you injure yourself in the manufacture of your unuseless project (fingers WILL be counted).
Remember: think about ways to keep our resident carver in the loop, and get back to me, pls.

In the intersqueening time we have heard more info from Flip about
Chindogu, but no real suggestions about games to play in betweenst
recitations for 4 May, nor has anyone bright offered an bright
suggestions vis-a-vis P the P, so take a brief second and ponder
these things in your harts and get back to me if a light dawns.

Don't know where we meeting yet (either meeting) but will advise
soonest.

Toodles,
Lassie, who attended Long-Chin-Dog U. Okay, s/he had a long muzzle,
but we're not doing Muzzledogu.

The Unuselessness of Chindogu

Flip kindly forwarded this explanation of Chindogu, and a few links for inspiration/further clarification:

the 10 tenets of chindogu---

1. a chindogu cannot be for real use.

it is fundamental to the spirit of chindogu that inventions claiming chindogu status must be, from a practical point of view, (almost) completely useless. if you invent something which turns out to be so handy that you use it all the time, then you have failed to make a chindogu. try the patent office.

2. a chindogu must exist.

you are not allowed to use a chindogu, but it must be made. you have to be able to hold it in your hand and think: 'I can actually imagine someone using this. almost.' in order to be useless, it must first be.

3. inherent in every chindogu is the spirit of anarchy.

chindogu are man-made objects that have broken free from the chains of usefulness. they represent freedom of thought and action: the freedom to challenge the suffocating historical dominance of conservative utility; the freedom to be (almost) useless.

4. chindogu are tools for every day life.

chindogu are a form of nonverbal communication understandable to everyone, everywhere. specialized or technical inventions, like a three-handled sprocket loosener for drainpipes centered between two under-the sink cabinet door (the uselessness of which will only be appreciated by plumbers), do not count.

5. chindogu are not for sale.

chindogu are not tradable commodities. if you accept money for one you surrender your purity. they must not even be sold as a joke.

6. humor must not be the sole reason for creating a chindogu.

the creation of chindogu is fundamentally a problem-solving activity. humor is simply the by-product of finding an elaborate or unconventional solution to a problem that may not have been that pressing to begin with.

7. chindogu is not propaganda.

chindogu are innocent. they are made to be used, even though they cannot be used. they should not be created as a perverse or ironic comment on the sorry state of mankind.

8. chindogu are never taboo.

the international chindogu society has established certain standards of social decency. cheap sexual innuendo, humor of a vulgar nature, and sick or cruel jokes that debase the sanctity of living things are not allowed.

9. chindogu cannot be patented.

chindogu are offerings to the rest of the world, they are not therefore ideas to be copyrighted, patented, collected and owned. as they say in spain, 'mi chindogu es tu chindogu'.

10. chindogu are without prejudice.

chindogu must never favor one race or religion over another. young and old, male and female, rich and poor, all should have a free and equal chance to enjoy each and every chindogu.

http://www.designboom.com/history/useless.html

http://home.bawue.de/~jtesch/chindogu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chindogu

http://chindogu.com/chindogu/

http://www.pitt.edu/~ctnst3/chindogu.html  - rb notes: I'm not authorized to view this page, so screw him, really

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393317439/104-1349668-0488721?v=glance

Also try searching Chindogu videos on google and you'll come up with a couple of fun pieces.

I Got Yer Ahtist Cahds Right Here

Tuesday's project got everybody going, that's fer dang sure. I got home before I could actually pay attention to the cards folk were passing around (yes, I did pore through a stack of everyone's work and select one to trade for my pitiful scribbling - a few more uneven trades like that, and I'll be rich! bwah-hah!) but once I got home and actually looked at them, I was sorely amazed and truly abashed. Mary took scanned photos she wasn't happy with (I'd have been thrilled, akshully) and chopped em up in to card-size bites, so she had plenty of time left over to help me figure out what to write on the backs of mine. Betsey glued gew-gaws and strung a few with a coated thread, Leslie stamped and collaged in a Wiz of Oz theme, Flip modified some Topps baseball cahds (a Flip-Topps production?), Pam A ahtfully stamped cahds smartly preprinted on their backsides, and Pam P, under great time pressure, carved a bunny and three eggs for some mystical religous holiday theme. An impressive production, more energetic than most of our meetings, to be sure. Good idea, thanks to Bitsy.

But one reason why my brane wazn't engaged in the end-of-meeting tradation process was Pam P's potential depahture from the group, as she moves back to the homestead enmired in healthcare and home repair issues, likely too busy & far away to make a special trip up and back for our frippery! We need to put our stamping caps on (the idea of a thinking cap, for me, seemed futile) and consider alternative meeting plans (reserve a room at the BC library?, meet earlier in the day?, all meet remotely on www.blackboard.com?, etc.) to make it possible to keep contact with Ms.P. Them with ideas should lemme know, and I'll filter them through some mystical decision-making process.

As far as future meetings, until/unless we come up with a useful compromise, the next meetings are:

[Tues 4 May 2010]: Game Night, with Song Lyric Recitation
(BTW: The April meeting was cast aside like a thing that was tossed over there). We will have gaming and entertainment: between rounds of some parlor game or another [Pictionary, Balderdash, Find-my-Foot, etc. - of shortish duration), members will recite (talk, NOT sing) lyrics to popular songs, a la Steve Allen (he was on TV in the 1890s) or, more recently, Christopher Walken in some YouTube thingus. There will be no wagering. On the game, either. More details as we all root through our game shelves and/or record collections (or www.lyrics.com and the like).

[Tues 1 June 2010]: The hairs on my chinny-chin- Chindogu
In a bid to keep the creative energies flowing, it was decided to bring back the idea of preparing "homework" for a meeting as long as it was for something as entertaining as Chindogu - the last Chindogu event was so popular, the result seemed to make the idea of homework worth it. A separate mailing with a reminder (or inspirational guide) about Chindogu will arrive in your emailbox right after this one. Schedulig this more than two months in advance was an attempt to spread the homework out over a longer time period, but we all know we're going to be working all night on 31 May, anyway. Points will be deducted if you injure yourself in the manufacture of your unuseless project (fingers WILL be counted).

Remember: think about ways to keep our resident carver in the loop, and get back to me, pls.

Meetin' Place

I never got the word out where the meeting was gwine be held at for to, so I hope it's not too late for y'all to plan. Pam A has agreed to be the hostest with the mostess yet again, so I'll see y'all there at 7ish Tuesday 3/23/2010. As recent emails have esplained, we be doin' artist tradin' cahds, so bring yo cards, and bring yo artists, and we'll try to get 'em togedda.

Ahtist Trading Cahds (ATCs)

In my copulous free time, I've gotten good and intimidated about making ATCs.
Some sites to look at when you think of your artistical trading cards for the next SANE meeting (23 March 2010):
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/ - this is kinda a clearinghouse of info, links. One active, one inactive swap (send 20, get back 15 different)
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/links.html - many links to many sites w/ ATC
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27062918329 - facebook site with lots of pictures (don't need to be a facebooker)
http://www.linesandcolors.com/2006/08/17/artist-trading-cards/ - Charley Parker gives a short history and "rules" about ATCs. I steal from him:

The general rules for Artist Trading Cards (ATC) are:
The card must be the size of a standard trading card: 2.5 x 3.5 inches (64 x 89 millimeters)
A card can be ether an original work or a very small edition
The back of the card should have a signature, the date and the number (if the card is part of an edition) and ideally an address for the benefit of contacting the artist for additional trading.
Techniques and materials can be almost anything: paintings, drawings, collages, photographs, rubberstamp works, mixed media, found images, assemblages, beadwork, woven, string, doctored existing trading cards, etc. The only real rule here is that the card should fit into the standard plastic album sleeves for trading cards, which leaves out anything too dramatically thick or three-dimensional.
The cards are not to be sold, only traded or given away. (This is a noble attempt to keep the practice non-commercial, but as with comic book artist convention sketches, that trust is sometimes betrayed; artist trading cards can be found on eBay.)
The cards should ideally be original, but reproductions or "editions" are permissible. There is some controversy about this, mostly centering around the failure of someone to be up front about the nature of the work when swapping.
There is also controversy about suspending judgment when swapping to avoid assigning value to the cards (the "quality" and amount of effort put into the cards varies wildly). Stirnemann himself has struggled with the issues of copies vs. originals and the suspension of critical judgment.
Look through the links on Stirnemann's site and do a Google search for "Artist Trading Cards". There are numerous forums and community sites devoted to the subject. There is a large Flickr group devoted to the subject with over 400 members and more than 2,000 images.
Community, and sharing art with others, seems to play a large part in the appeal of the practice. At the very least, it's a fascinating concept.

I'm confident that I can make cards 2.5 x 3.5 inches, but that's about it, so there.

All wired up

Well, a good time was had by the few who dared the raging blizzard that dumped a phenomenal 0.02 inches of warm rain on moist Belmont on Tues, 23 Feb 2010.

[Dangmn, I just typed 2-0-0-backspace-1-0 for the umptieth time - from now on, if I type 2-0-0 I'm just going to plow ahead and type 20010 for the year, and let everyone just figure it out. Otherwise, I'm going to break my backspace key.]

So Ms. Pam had a whole really project all lined up, so there, you people who missed it, so there! Wooden blocks and a dremel to drill a hole in 'em, many gauges and colors of sturdy wire, magic beans, weird wire-handling tools & round cores to make coils around, and pliers with non-scratchy plastic toofs, beads, roach clips, suchlike and other stuff. Wait a minute, I hear you ask, back up to the "magic beans." What's with the magic beans? Well, says I, you weren't at the meeting so you don't get any, so there. Next summer, at the height of the season, I'm gonna have some really, really tall plants in the back yard. That's what you get for not showing up. Neener neener, etc.

The project was to connect block to wire to roach clip (also known as alligator clips - who knew?) to make cute li'l message-holders. It was left to the builder to take the assemblages home and decorate the wooden bases as we saw fit. Well-planned, well-executed, a good time was had by all, and as a bonus, we got to hear a lot about the Belmont school system and why we should be happy we're not dropping kids off and picking 'em up there, by gum!

So the next meeting is on Tuesday, 23 March 20010 at [place TBD], where Ms. Betsey will lead us through the wonders and marvels of Ahtist Trading Cahds, which are 2.5" x 3.5" cards all decorated to show you're an ahtist, and you make 'em and exchange 'em with other ahtists what have made theirs, and once you get 52, you're playing with a full deck. Which is as believeable as my being an ahtist, frankly. But what the hey, I can always hope!

More info as Betsey makes it up,

SANE Meeting Tues 23 Feb

We're set to meet at Pam A's this very Tues, 23 Feb 2010. Our hostess and program coordinator for the meeting filed this report:

I'm all set for hosting on Tuesday. Thought we'd do a wire project. I should have everything but people could bring some needle nose pliers and/or wire cutters. Otherwise, I think we can create from what I toss out there.

She also adds (rather cruelly, I thought, despite the winky face):

I'm sure we'll be more productive than the last meeting - like that's a hard task! ;)

Easy for her to say! I haven't been productive for months, and I'm not sure I can crawl outa this slump!
So tune in on Tuesday to see a) what the wires are for, 2) who brought pliers and cutters, and Z) whether I can be cajoled into producing something. Could be more exciting than Limpic speed mogul cross cat relay.

See youse Tues,

2010 Starts Slowly

All five of us who showed up at the 26 Jan 2010 meeting (including our hostess) had a great time watching one of us (who shall remain faceless) work and snacking on a frankly delightful array of goodies, starring a crockpot of chili/bean/cheese dip and corny chips, but including a tasty array of other stuffs to stuff our faces with. We did a great job watching the artist at work, and I'd recommend a repeat of that for any meeting.

Squeaking of which, we've decided to meet on Tuesday the 23rd from now on - or at least for a couple of months.

On Tuesday 23 Feb 2010, we'll meet (probably at Pam A's?) to do an as-yet-unspeechified project under Pam's watchful guidance. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's building our own unmanned stealth "surveillance" drones (aka bombers). More info as the time gets closer, but if you see 8-ft wings on special at Michael's, I'd suggest snapping up a pair (don't get two left wings! That would be silly).

After that, we'll meet on Tuesday the 23rd of March, when Betsey (still faceless after all these years) shall walk us through the deep moral quandary that is "Ahtist Trading Cahds" - 2.5" by 3.5" cards of various papers (watercolor, bond, gold leaf, pewter plate, etc.) that are decorated all over and offered up to other like-minded ahtists for trade and/or profit. This is a growing movement, and Ahtist Trading Posts are springing up all along the Post Road, up and down the Missy Mightissippi, and along the north side of route 66. And halfway along the east side of route 33. And every fourth mile along route 16.5. I can't divide beyond a single decimal, and that bit's used up already, so I'm stopping there. More ATC info as it comes to me, or as I make it up.

So, with the announcement of new projects and dates so far in advance, I hope that evabuddy will be mo able to attend and watch somebody work while we eat! I will no doubt be busy with the several hundred jobs I will get as a result of Barrack's new overemployment initiative, and yet I will still be there!

Fwd: Make a business cahd?

Young M*lio van O*rt poses the delicate question:

Are we supposed to be designing cards, or making them, and for whom? Ourselves? SANE?

As always, a great question, M*lio. The answers would be, IMJO (in my jumbled opinion):

Yes, maybe, you or others, maybe, and I don't see why not.

I just thought of making business cards that would inspire some as-yet-unknown Joe (or Joette) to take one look and say, "Dang, I'm going to jes hand that feller a passel of money if'n he kin do that kinda sh*t fer me!" And I didn't really have time to plan much before Tuesday, so was going to spend the time at the meeting, when I wasn't stuffing my face, noodling and doodling, and probably not doing much but prototyping. If anyone has a better plan or is more prepared, I'd gladly gawk appreciatively and applaud noisily (he wrote floraly) whilst I make my middlin' progress.

SANE cards would be fine, too - pick your own title (we need a Princess, Chromosomal Mechanic, Petrochemical Engineer, Etruscan Oenoculturist, Farfergnuger and Oberammerguy, at the very least. There may be other job postings at the SANE HR department that I'm unaware of.

Make a business cahd?

I follow Mike's tweets (Betsey' sweety tweets completely and upbeatly), and he sent this out - props to Mike, he's so trendy. But anyway, Inc.com has 11 business card ideas which were pretty neat (tho largely impractical in quantity) (http://www.inc.com/ss/10-most-creative-business-cards), but one thing to consider for a SANE project would be to design our own business cards... I rubber-stamped cards a while ago (was it part of a SANE project? maybe), but the supply is dwindling (slowly, because I got nobody to hand 'em to). Plus, what dam' business am I in?

We could stamp 'em, Gocco 'em (just when Leslie can't make it!), have a sheet of 'em printed at a printer's and cut, or carve 'em outa half-inch slabs of marble. Anybody?

Voting Kerfuffle

Due to a mixup in the SANE's Voting Registration Department, there was some confusion about the date to vote and the date of the meeting.

You should vote and have all appropriate angst about the results on Tuesday 19 Jan 2010.

You should attend the SANE meeting on Tuesday 26 Jan 2010. Angst will be optional and/or inappropriate.

SANE To Meet Without Leslie: Much Wailing and Gnashing of Toofs

The votes are in, and everyone voted to meet without Leslie, on the 26th. Wait. Perhaps that is misleading. What I meant to type was that SANEsters worldwide voted overwhelmingly to meet on the one date Leslie was unable to attend. No, that wasn't really any better. I'm going to have to fire my fingers.

Again.

SANE is now oafishally set, bound and deeterminded to meet on Tuesday, 26 January 2010, at Pamela A's abodement. The loverly Leslie will be unable to attend, unless something magical happens (I added the last part, because I believe in happens. Somewhere, the breath of life winkled back into a near-stanced happen, and audiences everywhere pressed rewind to read that back again in search of greater claritude, or worse.).

What shall we do, then? Valentines have been proposed, as have "felting, cut tin, Valentine's cards or gossip about the election (don't forget to vote!)." Until SANE becomes its own votering district, you will have to vote on your own before coming to the meeting *, and whilst we cut tin or carve hearts, peel and poke felt, we shall all listen breathlessly around the corner to confirm that the 4pm exit-polling results weren't wrong, wrong, horribly wrong.

Unless guidance becomes considerably less unenlightened, we're on our own to snip or felt or bleed bloody love by ourselves in independent play without anyone showing us the way. Unless you too believe in happen!

See you all (that is, unless all your are am Leslie) on the 26th at Pa'am's. Thank you, Pa'am. Next time, Leslie!

* Note: see next post - we don't vote on 26th!

Let's Put On A Show!

Roll out the curtain and lower the stage, and plug in the lights, and hang 'em on a big pipe and hook 'em up to a big switchy thing, and - hey!- watch out for falling weights! We'll put on a show to ring in the new year! I can juggle, and I know Betsey can sing (Mike can tweet!), and Molly can tell a tall tale or two, all we need is another few hours or spritely entertainment and a venue and a lot of relatives to extort tickets from and we're halfway there... How about a cello solo, or a high-stepping tap routine? Busby Berkeley or June Taylor dancers, anyone?

Or... we could have a meeting. Upon sober reflection, perhaps the meeting idea is the best, really. But first, some more sober reflection upon the past year...

Having enjoyed a loverly Winter Solstice dinner (Rubberh*ids' cub reporter supposed to cover this event failed to phone in a review, so I'll just try to phone it in myself):

Dateline: Boston
Placeline: 7ish
Timeline: MerryMac House
Nightlite: Leg Lamp

A little snow and/or cold couldn't dampen/chill our enthusiasm as SANEsters wended our ways to a street - no, to A street (remember to fix that in post) for a festive, action-packed, fun-filled Winter Solstice feast and grab. Gift-grab, that is - whoa, please keep your packages to yourself! Mary and Phil outdid theyselves as hostess and host, and a luxurious, filling, entertaining time was had by all. So multiple kudos to M&P for a lovely setting and gigantic table and tender chicken and ample seating and good vibes. And thanks to all the co-conspirators who ensured that the leg-lamp night-lite was dangled in front of, then snatched away from, you-know-who. Good grab gifts, overall, and even some klunkers, but still not much in the way of tradeage (note for next year - Require a trade from everybody - a Gypsy Swap?). I am learning to play the Harmonica (a C, by the way), so maybe if Leslie plays the guitar, Pam P plays bass (guitar or fiddle) and Pam A pounds the drums we can add a little R&R or R&B or R&Father to the aforementioned show. No, on third thought, let's go with the meeting idea.

Squeaking of which, two Januberry options present themselves. I'm ruling out tomorrow (1/12) as too soon given that it's less than 30 hours away, so that leaves Tuesday 1/19 and Tuesday 1/26. Other days might present themselves, if these two are difficult. Lemme Know?

You wanna host? Lemme Know.
You gotta project idea? Lemme Know. Elsewise it's gonna be same-old, same-old...

Welcome to the Tens. Much more promise than the Uh-ohs, except for the crushing economy and the single digit weather.