Comments on: In the Archives: Paper Pennies of Ypsi’s Past

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:41:11 +0000

Whoopsie, misspoke, there; the teasel-tool would not be a “predecessor” of the carding comb since the c.c. would be used to straighten out fibers prior to spinning and the teasel-tool was, it says, used to “raise the nap” on fabric and make it fluffier.

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:29:18 +0000

Ms. Armentrout: Wow, that is really interesting! You can really see how this simple tool was the predecessor or modern carding combs.

I was also fascinated to read the comment about the woman who recalled “teasing” hair into big puffs–I never realized that that expression came (as it seems to) from weaving. Very neat!

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:12:34 +0000

I've run into discussions of the weaver's teasel before and found this neat website showing how it could be employed: [Link]

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:11:13 +0000

King: “Roosevelt granted not enough money to address unemployment after 1932! There were 8 more years of misery without their local currency lifeboat and an extra 7 million people died!”

Hmm, not sure who “their” is, or the citation that Roosevelt granted “not enough money after 1932″; FERA along pumped over 3 billion dollars–1930s dollars–into states for welfare and work programs, and that’s not even considering all the other “alphabet soup programs,” as Henry Ford sneeringly called Roosevelt’s programs.

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:05:42 +0000

Mr. F.: Oh, that is interesting, to learn that teasels were used for flax as well; neato.

Yep, I’ve read over the Dex-Mil page and my favorite part is the very sensible sharing of tools.

I have often wondered why, on my own street of 30 tiny houses with 30 tiny yards, there are 29 gas mowers (we have a manual push mower, so there) and a slew of gigantic snowblowers. Seems very silly to me.

By: KingofthePaupers

KingofthePaupers — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:24:20 +0000

Vivienne Armentrout: “not that honest labor doesn’t have a monetary value in absolute terms, but that there may be no buyer for it with standard currency. To use your example, what if you had no money to pay either an arborist or your neighbor, but you were willing to do laundry and mending. But your neighbor didn’t need any laundry done. However, he needed some carpentry from someone who did need laundry and mending. By creating a system to monetize your labor that would otherwise have no easily exchangeable value, you would all three benefit. That’s what I meant by regularizing barter.”
Jct: That’s what the time-based LETS Local Employment-Trading System currency software was designed to do. With the United Nations International & Local Employment-Trading System on the agenda, In 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights in Europe with a timebank IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours and you can too.

I’m not at all an economist, but it seems to me that value is created by a willing and able buyer. If no buyer (with cash) exists, no monetary value exists. On a very local level, one can create value by exchanging goods and services, but it is difficult to “price” them. How many cabbages must I grow to get my house painted?

By: KingofthePaupers

KingofthePaupers — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:18:43 +0000

Laura Bien: “A year and a half later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Federal Emergency Relief Act which granted money to the poor. FERA was followed by other New Deal programs that addressed unemployment. Ypsilanti scrip was phased out.”
Jct: Roosevelt granted not enough money to address unemployment after 1932! There were 8 more years of misery without their local currency lifeboat and an extra 7 million people died! PS: These days your local currencies are good all around the world if you link to the Time Standard of Money (EG: Ithaca Hours, LETS Timebanks). In 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights in Europe with a timebank IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours. So get your timebank lifeboat online as fast as you can and this time, there’s no shutting them down.

By: Al Feldt

Al Feldt — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:05:59 +0000

Teasel. That is what I should have written when I wrote ‘thistle.’ Yes, they used teasels to curry the tangled linen threads before spinning. The display I saw had four teasels fastened to a board with a leather strap so they could be held in one hand while drawing them through the bundle of linen threads.

I neglected to mention that we have been using scrip in the Dexter-Miller community for over two years to pay for and encourage the exchange of simple neighborly services like rides, minor repairs, mending, tool borrowing etc. For more info see our website at DEXMIL.com

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:16:16 +0000

Al: If I recall right, the teasel was also used for currying, though Wikipedia says they were for use with wool. You can see their bristly heads all throughout Gallup Park. [Link]

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:13:16 +0000

Dave: Well, those points are *very* sharp; it’s a pretty fearsome artifact, really; I imagine it might just rip up any sort of hide, really (and even damage wood).