Jonah's chain maille coif

Pretty dog-gone freakin' cool, eh? Jonah made this hat with chain maille. Chain maille (or chainmaille, chainmail) consists of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It's a very old 'art' and was used for armour, reaching its apex in Europe, in terms of coverage, during the 13th century when mail covered the whole body. Sounds incredibly heavy!

Jonah's been into chain maille for a little while now and has some cool ideas for other articles. I'll post them here as he finishes them.

I'll be featuring an Etsy artist this week in the EtsyConnction newsletter that makes all kinds of things from chain maille. She has some very cool stuff. If you would like to sign up to receive the EtsyConnection you can check out my other blog at http://etsyconnection.blogspot.com and click on one of the links there.

EtsyConnection newsletter

No excuses other than way too busy now that I'm working full-time. I miss blogging.

Most of you already know that I'm into something new - a newsletter that centers around Etsy.com called the EtsyConnection. I feature three Etsy artists along with highlighting interesting articles that are relevant to arts and crafts. If you haven't checked out Etsy yet I encourage you to do so. It's a website where people sell their hand-made wares; it's like going to an art fair. There are some really cool people doing some really cool things and I hope to introduce them to you.

You can check out some of the issues here but if you would like to receive the newsletter every week subscribe here. Make sure to choose EtsyConnection when it gives you a choice as to which newsletter you want to subscribe to as I publish another IT security newsletter also.

I would like to get the EtsyConnection readership numbers up and with your help I can accomplish that. Pass it on to friends and family. It's a fun newsletter to produce and I hope a fun one to read. My secret wish is that Heather Armstrong of dooce.com mentions me on her wildly famous blog (she often mentions Etsy artists on her blog). She would get a kick out of knowing that she is someone's secret wish. (I love you, Heather, but it's a purely platonic thing.) If you haven't heard of her, she became famous a while back (at the forefront of blogging) when she expressed her opinions of her co-workers on her blog and then got fired for doing so. So much for freedom of speech. She blogs about all sorts of things normal with an abnormal, hilarious twist. Check her out.

I'm open to feedback on the newsletter. Let me know what you like and don't like. Give suggestions as to what you would like to see me include.

TTFN - coming soon: feather bowling 2009. It was a blast and I thank all who participated and wish that all those who couldn't make it were there to revel in the fun. I'll be posting a video or two here in a few days. Check back often!

Great quote from my bro

My brother stumbled across a sagacious quote by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers. If this is the same Adrian Rogers that I find on Wikipedia I can see that I probably wouldn't agree with much of what Mr. Rogers might have said and preached while he was alive but I do find this quote to make a hell of a lot of sense. Here it is:

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."