Johanna

This was written by the Admin of http://wilderssecurity.com Mike, aka "LowWaterMark" for his tech support forum. He gave me permission to post this here for our members to read. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to offend someone else online? Sometimes you are posting along having a great day and suddenly, out of no where, you get a reply to a post that tells you quite bluntly that you've just insulted another person. A short time later the thread has gone off-track and people are flaming each other, and then in steps a Moderator who ends up closing the thread and everyone is angry - mostly at you. Or, perhaps you've been on the other side on this situation. There you are trying to be helpful, posting your heart out when suddenly, for no apparent reason, someone makes a reply that appears to be down right rude and offensive, and it is aimed directly at you. If you haven't seen this or been involved in at least one of these situations yourself, then you probably haven't been posting very long, or perhaps you aren't posting in any controversial topics or places. I'm bringing this up for a couple reasons... First, to remind everyone that it is very easy to misunderstand what someone intends to say in a written post. It is much harder to be clearly and consistently understood in just a few written sentences then it is when you are speaking with someone face to face. Second, we all need to remember that the Internet spans around the world, and International Forums such as Leatherworker.net have quite a diverse group of participants. Leatherworker is an English lanuguage forum, but many of our members here do not have English as their primary language. Think about that and its implications. Try to imagine just how much translating is being done here and how people of different languages, cultures and backgrounds can so easily misunderstand what is written in a post. Imagine times when even a simple joke, which would be funny to people with similar backgrounds, causes insult to someone who has a completely different frame of reference. We all need to be mindful of this and try to use extra care in writing our posts, while also giving the benefit of the doubt to others, when reading what has been posted. It's best not to assume an insult and react to it when what was intended could be totally innocent. Of course, there really are people who simply intend to insult others and disrupt a forum. Their only purpose being to cause trouble and attempt to insight flame wars. Sometimes they post inflammatory remarks against individuals, or certain vendors or products, just so they can get other people to post flaming comments back at them. (We usually refer to these people as Trolls. Hence the expression "Please don't feed the trolls." ) Remember, there really is no good reason, nor any benefit to you or your overall well being, to take offense from things that are written online. If we all use a little care in choosing how we word our posts, and if we are generous in how we interpret what others post, then we'll all have a lot more fun (and a lot less stress) online. Please vote here to steer LW in the right direction concerning the heated topics that have come up lately. Thank you! Johanna

It has been suggested that we set up a special section for people to rant and rave about any subject they choose, excluding personal attacks. Some of you want to discuss world events and controversial subjects, and this would be the place to do it. Those of you who hate those conversations could ignore the section entirely. Please vote. Comments welcome. Johanna

If Pete or anyone else wants to discuss making something out of leather for the Queen of England, please start a new thread. If anyone has more political views they would like to express, perhaps another forum would be better as LW isn't the place to do that. No fistfights in the hallways either, please. Now, more than ever, we need to pull together. No matter if you eat meat or not, or what color/religion/orientation/ethnic group/kind of horse you ride/political party you belong to/ etc. et al you are, of course, welcome at LW. If you like leatherwork, you're in the right place. Thank you for your understanding. Johanna

I'm not gonna whack you, Pete. My husband just came home and let me know he got a 6.5% pay cut today. I think it's a neat idea to give the Queen something. How many people in the news have NO scandal associated with them? She's a gracious lady, and it would be a kind gesture to make a gift for her, with respect, from the USA. Johanna

This would have been a hard entry to beat even if there would have been any other entries! Randahl, it's gorgeous, I will treasure it forever, and thank you! Please PM me with your mailing address so I can send you the gift card. I know you wrote it on the back, but I don't want to make a mistake. You are doing awesome work, and I appreciate you taking the time to do this for LW! Johanna

Well, that is Artisan's OLD site, and I don't have anything to do with that. The manual you want is here , present and correct on their NEW site. Johanna

Compass or wing dividers work well. For circles, I have used glasses, plates, candle holders- whatever is handy. ~J

Hmmmm maybe I could remove the delete button. Then mail could be deleted from the inbox as desired instead of instantly. Let me think on that a bit. Johanna

Whenever possible, cut or punch shapes out at the same time. If something has to match, fold it if you can. If you are going to make a lot of something, and you want to have a good template to work from, invest the time in making one out of plastic, metal, wood or even heavy cardboard. Templates save time and help you get more consistent results. Johanna

I got a sweet piece of leather from Randahl. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow. Anybody wanna whip together some business cards tonight before deadline? Johanna

Yes. Unplug the external when not in use just to be safe. You can still get XP, but why??? It's going to be obsolete soon, and the support is not there from either MS or the software developers. I've been using Vista now for awhile, and I like it (ducks at the rocks thrown at me!) Seriously, I notice the differences when I use my laptop (old faithful XP Pro) and I like Vista better. I hear Windows 7 is even better. Yes. You can even buy a transfer cable for about $40 and use the files and settings transfer wizard in Vista to make your new computer pretty much what your old one was. I did that for my mom, and was amazed that her programs still worked, her file system remained intact and it didn't forget to move her address book, favorites, stored email, etc. It was easy, and it worked perfectly. If you decide to do this, you need to keep the old comp running until you have the new one out of the box. Probably not. If you have a downloads file with those programs, just make sure you transfer it and reinstall the programs. You may need to reenter keys, and if you don't remember them you can usually request them to be resent- those things are tied to email addresses, not the specific computer.Unsolicited advice: If you can, buy a computer that has a real cd/dvd of the OS (operating system) not a little recovery partition. If you have to repair the computer (or replace the hard drive) it's handy to have the disk. When people ask me for help picking out a computer, I go to www.tigerdirect.com . I have probably purchased 50 systems there in the past year, and only had one or two incidents where something needed returned. The customer service is outstanding, and the whole process was painless. I've never had a problem collecting a rebate from them either. If you buy a Vista computer, get enough memory (at least 2 gigs). You can always upgrade hard drive space and optical reader/writers in the future (cd/dvd drives). XP liked memory, Vista NEEDS it. HTH Johanna

Someone commented that this thread was like throwing a bleeding baby in a shark tank. I made a mental note to remember that line. I hope you got some good ideas, NoahL, and I hope you don't judge us all by a few. The time has come to close this topic now. Johanna

Vegetable tanned leather and chrome tanned leather will react to chemicals differently because of the chemicals that were used to produce the two different kinds of leathers. This isn't a very scientific experiment. Johanna

ColumbineApril09.pdf (posted here with permission!) Johanna ColumbineApril09.pdf

I could go on for hours with stories of PETA and vegans and hate mail, but that's beside the point. I think it's neat to see a man trying to respect his girlfriend's beliefs, even if he and most everybody think her beliefs are a little extreme or impractical. At least she is making a conscious effort to put her money and her time into doing what she thinks is right, even if we think she's nuts. And vice versa. Maybe she'll be okay with you using "scrap" leather, leather that is destined to be wasted (thrown in a landfill). I'm sure you can find some sources of scrap just by asking around. I think you deserve a pat on the back for trying to be thoughtful. Johanna

I would like to know if anyone did get the $1650 price for the 3000 Toro. You can PM me if you don't want to post it here. If you didn't get it, and you tried, I would like to know that, too. Thank you, Johanna

Animals are not killed for their hides. Leather is a byproduct of the meat industry. There is no incentive for ranchers to wait until a cow drops dead, then skin it and sell the hide, so I don't know if her request is practical. Maybe if she had some more education about how the chain works, she'd be more understanding. Will one of you ranchers jump in here and explain the process? Johanna

I had to remove it because of a conflict between Hidecrafters (who produced the video) and Artisan. Contact Artisan directly to see if they can get you a copy. Johanna

Paul Zalesak (pabloz) and his Leather Wranglers company (makers of the special swivel knives that come in pretty colors!) sponsored a contest at Wickenburg this year. Hidepounder got the prizes, but all of the entries were pretty special. Take a look: http://www.leatherwranglers.com/contest.html Congratualtions to everyone who entered- and wow, just wow, HP! I enjoy looking at your work! The second place bird is my favorite. Johanna

Some of you have asked about t shirts and coffee cups- check out our new store: http://www.cafepress.com/lwnetstore Proceeds from any sales will help LW with expenses, and your support is deeply appreciated. Johanna

When I think gameboards, I think of CitizenKate because hers are just fantastic. I have no idea how busy she is at the moment, but you can always ask, right? If nothing else, she may know someone who can help you. Johanna

Happy birthday, Kathy! May you celebrate lots and lots more 29ths! Remember, we're not getting older, it's everyone else. Johanna

Dually- you made my day with your poem. We started LW in order to let leatherworkers learn, laugh and have fun, and I guess we must be doing something right, 'cause you folks are here, learning and laughing. God bless all you fine people who hang out here! Johanna

Click the "Options" button at the top right and select "standard view" in display modes. That should put it back like it was for you. Holler if you have any problems! Johanna

JohnD- if anyone deserved the good karma today, you did. I'm glad you got your wallet back, and I think it's cool that the guy admired yours so much he wants one too. Tuck a few of your business cards in there for when he gets compliments. It's good to know that there are people who will do the right thing, just because it is the right thing. I'm glad you met one of those good people today. But then, you would have done the same for him, so what goes around comes around. Johanna