Statistics are good.

I found the coolest thing on Ravelry today. Google has a trends lab search engine that allows you to figure out how many times people search for certain words. You can type in more than one word and the comparative statistics will be calculated for you almost instantly! One creative Raveler demonstrated by searching for knitting and poison.

This is what resulted:



The y-axis is number of times the word was used for a search.
The red line is poison.
The blue line is knitting.
The letters indicate important events that may have caused the spikes in the graph.

A. Poison Ricin Found in Sen. Frist's Office Albany Democrat Herald - Feb 3 2004
B. Dioxin expert says poison causes widespread damage KVOA.com - Dec 11 2004
C. Yushchenko's poison level extreme NorthJersey.com - Dec 16 2004
D. Photos show 'poison' toll on ex-spy in Huddersfield.co.uk - Nov 20 2006
E. MOSCOW Two American women are hospitalized in serious condition in Russia after ingesting the deadly poison thallium. WBAY - Mar 7 2007
F. Testing reveals melamine in recalled pet food, but not rat poison: FDA CJOB - Mar 30 2007

So, basically, when we're thinking about knitting we really don't have time to think about poisoning anyone. I suppose you could also swing this to say that knitting maintains civility and prevents us all from killing the people we know.

Also, these are the regions where the most knitting hits came from:

Regions
1. New Zealand
2. United States (note the US was the only region that had more poison hits than knitting)
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. United Kingdom
6. Ireland
7. India
8. Germany

Yay! New Zealand is in the lead, and even Australia is ahead of Canada. New Zealand has a much smaller population than Canada and Australia is most likely similar. I'm so glad to see where they turned up on the list because I plan on doing a whole lot of knitting in those countries later this year.

Happy 1 April.

I have no tricks for fools today. Over at Rav however, Casey, the programmer dude, is having a heyday. I looked at one of my friend's projects and a little bug was crawling around the screen. Also my avatar is wearing a petite top hat.



Also, I was thrilled today to see that one of my favourite blogs had mentioned a giveaway that included a free embroidery pattern for a muffin bunny! This is the second day in a row that tiny muffin baby bunnies have been in my life. I hope I get to see another one tomorrow.



I think that's all for now. Just wanted to get a roll on the April blog posts. I have an exciting story about a mystery I solved today, but I'm going to save it to post in the next little while. I still have some important information to collect.

Stay tuned, Cass

Here I go again.

I'm doing what I've done all too many times: abandoning a blog on the internet. I've been thinking about this place for awhile. I come up with interesting ideas for posts, plan them out, and then I don't post them.

This is ridiculous. When the mood strikes, I need to come here and type.

So, to get back on track, here's an easy-peasy post, with knitting and evolution.

Generally, I avoid conversations about evolution and associated topics unless there is some sort of scientific evidence or interesting historical information involved. However, from an historical perspective, this is a particularly exciting year to talk evolution. In a few short days, scientists around the world will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. On this particular 12 February, I will be heading to Ottawa for a bit of a roadtrip with my dear friend Emily. I'm sure that we will take a few moments to appreciate the work of naturalists that came before us. Perhaps Emily will bake another endangered hummingbird cake in honour of Darwin's own extravagant tastes.

Later this year, we will mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's most wellknown work. On the Origin of Species was released on 24 November 1859. This theory and collection of data has been one of the most formative works in shaping the way we understand evolution today. Most importantly to me, Darwin set an example for how to conduct good science in a time when the opinions of rich white religious men were really all that mattered.

This important year has started a lot of chatter around the web among many different groups of people. One of my favourite groups, Scientific Knitters, over on Ravelry have mentioned a bit of a knit-a-long (KAL) in honour of Darwin and his work. I really like this little guy: Evolving Punk by Anna Hrachovec.



So you might see my version in the near future....roadtrip knitting, perhaps?

Talk to you later, Cass