Knitting Block by Block Review

Knitting Block by Block
Author: Nicky Epstein
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

This book is all about knitting one block at a time. Knitting a swatch (one block) is usually something only for beginners. In this book, however, Epstein teaches us how to knit 150 original patterns and either work with one or mix and match to create truly unique pieces. The projects include anything from scarves and bags to afghans and sweaters.
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My thoughts:

I thought this book was pretty neat. I never thought of still knitting swatches after the beginner level of knitting. However, Epstein gives us 150 awesome patterns made of just one block, or a swatch. Knitting swatches are so easy and once you've learned one, you can knit a whole project with that one or mix and match a bunch of them.

I greatly enjoyed reading through this book and trying out a few of the swatches. It was quite easy to knit the swatches, though there are definitely some difficult and complex patterns. I liked that I could quickly knit a swatch and determine if I liked the pattern or if I wanted to try a new one. Sometimes I hate knitting the same row over and over for months, so mixing and matching swatches is cool way to keep your projects fresh and exciting.
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Would I recommend Knitting Block by Block?

If you want to try some very different ways of knitting, this is a fun book to try out. Swatches are quick, so if you don't like the pattern, you can move on and try the other 149. I would recommend this for fast learning and for finding fun new patterns.
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Resources:

To learn more about Nicky Epstein, click here.

For more information about the books, click here.
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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

A Letter to My Cat Review

A Letter to My Cat
Author: Lisa Erspamer
My rating: 5/5 stars

Summary:

A Letter to My Cat is a wonderful book for cat lovers. After writing A Letter to My Dog, Erspamer decided to write this book for all of the cat owners and lovers out there. The book is a collection of letters to cats from cat lovers with beautiful pictures of each cat.
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My thoughts:

If you love cats at least a bit, the words in these letters are worthy of a read. I loved reading A Letter to My Cat so much as I am a huge cat lover. The pictures of all sorts of beautiful cats as well as beautiful words from the cat owners makes for an emotional and lovely read. It makes me want to write a letter to my own cat and snuggle with her on the couch. The book is a great reminder of why we choose cats as our best friends.
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Would I recommend A Letter to My Cat?

Yes, I would recommend this book to cat lovers, but also animal lovers. If you don't like cats (which I can't understand), then this book probably isn't for you.
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Resources:

There are social media links for this book on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on the author, click here.

To learn more about the book, click here.
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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Knockout Knits Review

Knockout Knits
Author: Laura Nelkin
My rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:

Knockout Knits features a collection of fun ideas for knitting projects. Nelkin has a passion for pushing the limits and she offers new "innovative knitting techniques" for anyone that either wants to learn new skills or develop old ones. There are three chapters, each chapter beginning with easy projects and progressing to more difficult ones. You can even learn how to knit with beads in the stitchings! Keep these cool projects for yourself or make gifts for the upcoming holiday season!
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My thoughts:

This book is very, very neat. I am a beginner in regards to knitting. I got this book so that I could expand my knitting skills and make cool things. Full of small projects, this book is a great one for people who want to learn new techniques and practice on smaller things like socks or hats. Though I've had a busy semester at school and haven't been able to knit anything, this book looks very promising. As soon as winter break comes, I will be trying some of these projects out. They all have detailed directions and pictures to help guide you. The layout and overall design of the book is appealing to the eye as well.
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Would I recommend Knockout Knits?

Yes, I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you're looking to try new knits and advance your skills. It's an easily-understandable knitting book with resources for help and an index as well. It's a comprehensive, yet short book with fun projects inside.
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Resources:

More info on the book can be found here.

Please check out the author bio for further details on Laura Nelkin.
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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

An Encomium to the Harry Potter Series

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good: An Encomium to the Harry Potter Series (by J.K. Rowling)

Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Seven books in all, each a Horcrux of mine. How can these books, made of pages, made of paragraphs, made of words strung together so exquisitely, engulf my life? Because those books, made of pages, made of paragraphs, made of words strung together so exquisitely are just as magical as the story itself. As the books grow wider and wider, my passion grows deeper and deeper. Each year, I devote my summer to rereading the series to strengthen my bond with the books.

Harry Potter is the champion of children’s literature. Before its publication, television reigned supreme and children’s literature wasn’t selling because it wasn’t cool. A couple hundred copies ran, those copies exchanged hands, and all of a sudden, the idolization for the boy who lived began. It became more than a children’s series. Before bed, parents read the magical stories to their children who were suddenly not so tired anymore. Reading the stories aloud, parents fell just as far down into the trenches of love as their children. Did Rowling put a spell on the world? Not intentionally. Harry’s struggles could be our struggles. Behind the curtain of magical fantasy is a world that’s not unlike our own.

Our world is as dark as Harry’s at times. But, Harry Potter has brought happiness to his world and our own. In Harry’s name, the Harry Potter Alliance is a charity whose mission is to fight against the Dark Arts of the real world. They’re committed to social justice causes and have helped heal the world as Harry does in the books. Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the films, recovered from anorexia after writing to Rowling that the books gave her hope. Others have faced cancer and lost the battle, but acknowledged that Harry was by their side, helping them enjoy their short lives and even come to terms with death, just as Harry does.

Potterheads are better people. No, that’s not pretentious. Recent studies have shown that fans of Harry Potter are more accepting of stigmatized groups and of people with differences. We are tolerant, loving, empathetic. Rowling’s books are full of prejudices and injustice. From “mudblood” to S.PE.W. to Ministry of Magic corruption, the books preach perseverance through difficult times. Magical mischief lets us escape the Muggle world, but it gives us the inspiration to change our world too.

No matter how oxymoronic it sounds, it’s cool to be a nerd. Harry Potter helped us nerds break out of our shell and embrace our nerdiness. The day after the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, my school invited Harry Potter fans to come to school dressed up and take a picture for the yearbook. We gathered, in our nerdiness and tiredness. We had the best excuse to miss first period in the world. We ran the halls spewing out spells. We didn’t care what others thought because we were united by a love for the series that shaped our childhood. It continues to shape my life. As weird as it may sound, I think about Harry Potter everyday.

To grow up with these books is a blessing. The series grew up with its audience, each book maturing in character, language, and often, size. It helped me discover my passion for reading. It taught me virtues and not only how, but why I should be a good person. Harry Potter has given so much to the world and I’m thankful for how much it has given me.

Mischief Managed!

Corinne Demyanovich

11/6/14

REVISED: Net neutrality: the good versus the bad

Hello! This is my revised version of my second assignment on net neutrality. It covers why net neutrality is so good and why it's super awesome. Thanks for reading!

Remember net neutrality? It’s the principle that the Internet should remain open and free without prioritization. It’s the idea that we should keep the Internet as it is instead of changing it to please ISPs who solely want to exploit it as a business opportunity. The Internet is not simply a business opportunity. It is an innovative, educational, and plain old fun experience that can offer us all great things. Let’s discuss why net neutrality is good and why we must fight in order to achieve Internet freedom.

Net neutrality is an issue of Internet freedom: we use the Internet for gaming, streaming, reading the news, and also for research and homework. It has become the main medium for not only watching content, but also learning what’s going on in the world. According to the Pew Research Center, “50% of the public now cites the Internet as a main source for national and international news.” We’d rather check a #hashtag on Twitter than watch the TV nowadays. And if this is so, we need to preserve net neutrality, which would allow us to continue to use the Internet in these diverse ways.

However, the freedom of the Internet includes not only the ability to access all of it, but also for it to be a fast and reliable tool. According to freepress.org, “Computer scientists at Microsoft have shown that people will visit a website less often if it’s slower than a rival site by more than 250 milliseconds.” This is Internet culture. We want instant access and if we can’t get that, we move on. Net neutrality ensures that all websites funded by big corporations AND the one-man business are treated equally in reliability and speed. It would preserve Internet freedom by allowing every website to be easily accessible to any user.

Freedom is important to the Internet because it allows us to do anything and create anything. But without net neutrality, freedom will not be part of the Internet due to paid prioritization and the two-tiered “fast lane” and “slow lane” Internet. Having net neutrality ensures that we can be creative in any way we want or that we can use the Internet for education -- for school or for becoming an educated member of society. The ISPs say that net neutrality cannot be part of the Internet because it doesn’t solve the bandwidth issue -- bandwidth-heavy websites take up much more data than other websites -- but that does not mean that we have to get rid of net neutrality, our freedom.

There is another solution: fiber optic. Fiber uses light energy instead of electricity to transmit data. Netflix CEO and net neutrality supporter writes, "a single fiber-optic strand the diameter of a human hair can carry 101.7 terabits of data per second, enough to support nearly every Netflix subscriber watching content in HD at the same time," in Wired Magazine. This is the beauty of technology: it's amazing and it's constantly changing. Since it’s incredibly fast, it has the ability to resolve the bandwidth issue. So, the ISPs can’t use bandwidth as an excuse to get rid of net neutrality rules.

Forget the ISPs and let’s focus on why net neutrality is so good. Net neutrality gives us the power of creativity and innovation. It gives us our voice. The open Internet allows the everyday person to pursue their innovative ideas, and share it to the masses with a click of a button. I want this kind of creativity to be accessible for everyone on an equal level. English author Sir Ken Robinson said, “Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it's produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.” We, the Internet people, are fighting for that kind of creativity that changes and rocks the world.

From Save the Internet

I hope I have done my job in convincing you why net neutrality is worth fighting for. If so, please check out Save the Internet. This website is dedicated to the net neutrality cause. There are many ways to show your support, a handful of those ways being Internet-based thanks to our freedom of speech on the Internet. If you believe as I do that net neutrality is a free speech issue and an important part of the Internet, then please help spread the word.

UPDATE: On November 10, President Obama released a statement supporting net neutrality. It is everything the public has wanted to hear from our President, and it will hopefully cause the FCC to think even more seriously about supporting every aspect of net neutrality. It is refreshing to see our President owning up to his promise to save net neutrality when he originally took office. It’s a good day for net neutrality! Read more here.

Net neutrality: the good versus the bad

Hello! This is my next assignment on net neutrality. It covers the good and bad players in the net neutrality debate. Thanks for reading!

Remember net neutrality? It’s the principle that the Internet should remain open and free without prioritization. Remember the ISPs? They want to impose restrictions on the Internet, creating an unfair Internet. Good, because now I will delve into why net neutrality is good and why I think the ISPs are the “bad guys” that we must fight in order to achieve Internet freedom.

Net neutrality is an issue of Internet freedom: we use the Internet for gaming, streaming, reading the news, and also for research and homework. It has become the main medium for not only watching content, but also learning what’s going on in the world. According to the Pew Research Center, “50% of the public now cites the Internet as a main source for national and international news.” We’d rather check a #hashtag on Twitter than watch the TV nowadays.

However, the freedom of the Internet includes not only the ability to access all of it, but also for it to be a fast and reliable tool. According to freepress.org, “Computer scientists at Microsoft have shown that people will visit a website less often if it’s slower than a rival site by more than 250 milliseconds.” This is Internet culture. We want instant access and if we can’t get that, we move on. Net neutrality ensures that all websites funded by big corporations AND the one-man business are treated equally. It would preserve Internet freedom by allowing every website to be easily accessible to any user.

The “bad guys” are against net neutrality because of the issue of bandwidth use. Users who watch Netflix all day take up much more bandwidth than people who check their email once a day. The Netflix users clog the bandwidth and make everything run slower. Creating a two-tiered Internet as mentioned in my previous blog would help unclog the “freeway” of the Internet, but at the expense of the “slow lane” users.

But, there's a better solution: fiber. Fiber uses light energy instead of electricity to transmit data. Netflix CEO and net neutrality supporter writes, "a single fiber-optic strand the diameter of a human hair can carry 101.7 terabits of data per second, enough to support nearly every Netflix subscriber watching content in HD at the same time," in Wired Magazine. This is the beauty of technology: it's amazing and it's constantly changing. Since it’s incredibly fast, it has the ability to resolve the bandwidth issue.

So, why are the “bad guys” extra bad? This whole net neutrality debate is about money. Carmel Lobello of The Week writes that the Internet is a “very lucrative business.” However, the ISPs’ “profits will start leveling off” because the “internet subscriber growth rate is finally starting to peak” since most people have Internet services already. Translation: they’re making boatloads of money and they want more. Tisk, tisk.

Forget the “bad guys” and let’s focus on why net neutrality is so good. Net neutrality gives us the power of creativity and innovation. It gives us our voice. The open Internet allows the everyday person to pursue their innovative ideas, and share it to the masses with a click of a button. I want this kind of creativity to be accessible for everyone on an equal level. English author Sir Ken Robinson said, “Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it's produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.” We, the Internet people, are fighting for that kind of creativity that changes and rocks the world.

From Save the Internet

I hope I have done my job in convincing you why net neutrality is good and why the ISPs are bad. If so, please check out Save the Internet. This website is dedicated to the net neutrality cause. There are many ways to show your support, a handful of those ways being Internet-based thanks to our freedom of speech on the Internet. If you believe as I do that net neutrality is a free speech issue and an important part of the Internet, then please help spread the word.

REVISED: The issue that no one is talking about, but affects us all

Hello, all! This is a revised aka better version of my assignment on net neutrality! Enjoy!
(Note:  I don't know why the pictures are squished....sorry.)

No more Netflix. No more YouTube. Slow Internet. How would that make you feel? This is our future if big companies get what they want. I’m talking about net neutrality, the idea that every Internet user should have unrestricted, free access to all of the Internet.

So what exactly is net neutrality? It is a concept coined in 2003 by law professor Tim Wu. His paper explains net neutrality and it’s relation to broadband discrimination, which is what we’re dealing with in present net neutrality issues. Wu explains in his paper that “proponents of open access see it as a structural remedy to guard against an erosion of the ‘neutrality’ of the network as between competing content and applications.” So, even back in 2003, Wu made it clear that net neutrality is about making the Internet a neutral place for all people to use and create things.

Tim Wu, coined "net neutrality"

There is so much talk about net neutrality lately -- mostly in the tech world -- because the big companies, also known as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), plan to restrict our access on the Internet. They could control what you do and where you go on the Internet. This goes against what Wu initially defined for net neutrality, which in simpleton terms “argues that no bit of information should be prioritized over another” according to the Open Computing Facility at Berkeley. It’s annoying that the initial principles of the Internet called for neutrality without any legal intervention, but now everything on the Internet seems to be regulated by the legal system.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the federal organization that will soon decide net neutrality’s fate. But, why are they getting involved? Well, what’s at issue with net neutrality is bandwidth. I will admit, on the behalf of all of us with an Internet addiction, that we use a lot of bandwidth. We watch things on Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube constantly, and the ISPs want to charge us more to access these bandwidth-heavy websites. And the people who don’t pay the extra fee either can’t access the website, or, if they can, they will be in the “slow lane” instead of the “fast lane.” This creates a two-tiered and unfair internet, according to Michael Weinberg of Public Knowledge. So, while net neutrality initially meant that the Internet was solely governed by the user, it is now being controlled by the government....joy.

If you haven’t figure this out already, net neutrality is good! It will keep innovation on the Internet. Big companies -- including Google, Kickstarter, and Netflix -- and Internet users fight for net neutrality because they believe that creating a “closed internet” would stamp out innovation. Startups like Google and Facebook dominate the Internet today. However, if these regulations were put in place back then, they wouldn’t have made it because they wouldn’t have been able to afford to beat out the competition by paying for priority access in the “fast lane.” Can you imagine a world without the ease and magic Google? The Internet is an awesome place for creativity and innovation and net neutrality helps keep that safe. This is why we, as Internet lovers, need to educate ourselves about net neutrality and fight for it.