So I was browsing the local Wal-Mart for an interesting plant to put in a new hanging pot... and I found a really neat looking fern. Unfortuneately, the only thing printed on the plastic pot was" "FERN 4" " So... fern. Pretty vague... by chance I caught some forum post about a "heart fern", and after some searching it is in fact Hemionitis arifolia. Unfortuneately, all I can find are pictures of the plant, I can't find a lick of information about proper care of the poor thing. I'm hoping it kicks back, but it's been losing a few leaves every day now. Though, I'm pretty sure the leaves that are shriveling were already pretty sickly looking... It does have one nice new leaf (frond?) growing, and none of the major leaves are giving up. I'm crossing my fingers, as it's really pretty.

CSS Support IE 7.0's Weakest Link - dilbertspace writes "Anyone who has ever developed a website knows that cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility is a nightmare, mainly due to Microsoft's willful non-compliance with the CSS2 standard. As this eWeek article points out, it seems Microsoft will continue their poor support for CSS2 even in the IE 7.0 release. This may have worked when IE was the only game in town, but now that Firefox is a serious player, it won't help them keep market share as they think it will." SlashDot.org

One partner said that Microsoft considers CSS2 to be a "flawed" standard and that the company is waiting for a later point release, such as CSS2.1 or CSS3, before throwing its complete support behind it. When asked about its plans for supporting CSS2 in IE 7.0, a Microsoft spokeswoman said, "Unfortunately we can't disclose anything about IE 7 right now, so we won't be able to comment on standards and CSS2."

Spectacular. Not surprising, but definitely disappointing. I really don't understand Microsoft's position on CSS support at all. So what if CSS 2.0 isn't exactly right? They would have a much more credible postion if they simply made IE compliant and provided support for new CSS standards. I mean, if CSS 2.0 is "flawed", why not take an active role in the development of new standards now, while you have comanding share of the browser market? They definitely aren't winning any friends in the web community. Stupid. So stupid.

The chuck from Tool America arrived on Thursday. I couldn't wait to try it out, so I cut a small flat square from an orphaned walnut board, and turned a shallow dish. It worked really well; so much so that I crafted five more bowl/plates the next day. These were a great warm-up for bowl turning. I haven't seriously turned in a few years, so it felt good to flex the lathe skills. Sushi Plate 1 Sushi Plate 2

Of course, my current goal is turing bowls, so I've been researching food-safe finishes and finishing techniques. I've found that the best bang for the buck is buffing & polishing combined with a wax finish- beeswax, carnuba, or a blend. The carnuba is harder and produces a glossy finish, while the beeswax is soft and satiny. I made a buffing wheel attachment for the chuck and tried out polishing; it worked out better than I expected. The rig performed flawlessly, and the plates are smooth and shiny. Buffing Wheel 1 Buffing Wheel 2

Salvaged lumber is my favorite woodworking material source. Dead trees, pruned limbs, demolition leftovers- all are free game. Perhaps 'free' is the key word. Admittedly, I am a firm believer in 'free is always the best price', but there is something more to it than the impact of a project's cost on my pocketbook. There is simply something deeply satisfying about turning trash into treasure. I am consistently amazed at the wonderfully useful stuff that people toss into dumpsters or onto junk piles.

For example, I pulled two logs from the neighbor's brush pile. Both are the remains of 'weed' trees culled to make room for a rather shoddy housing development in the next-door lot. One is walnut, 10cm in diameter and 2 meters long; the other is red mulberry, it's three trunks twisted together and slowly fusing. I estimate that from those trees I will be able to salvage a total of twenty useable blanks. As I am selling the resulting turnings (mainly weed pots ) for $10-$20 apiece, that 'worthless' brush is obviously quite the opposite. Here's a shot of the few I've turned so far. Mel and I are selling them on Ultra Art.

Weed Pots

Granted, I don't expect construction workers to be knowledgable in the finer aspects of woodworking, but it is still frustrating to know that my fellow Americans are so stupidly wasteful and inefficient. What happened to "Yankee ingenuity"? Does no one believe in the power of dumpster diving any more? This is Iowa! Where are our practical farmers? Are people so spoiled with overflowing abundance that simple frugality and keen observation have gone completely out the window? Shop class? As for myself, I refuse to accept the programming of our modern consumer society. new != good; lab notes: