Miriam Felton

Sorry for the non-blogging lately… I’m knitting like a fiend on the really boring portion of the secret lace and work has been sucking the life out of me.

Only 7 days until my vacation!!! That’s what got me pulling through.

That and Arctic Monkeys on repeat… VERY LOUD in my headphones.

M

I took this pic a few months back, but never uploaded it. I also got this cool one too. Click for bigger!

When I read Wil Wheaton‘s Geek in Review column this week about how he began his love of science and space, it reminded me of my first experience with a Moon Illusion.

I was probably about 13, living in a small town in Eastern Utah. My parents were away and my older brother Andrew was in charge when some friends of his were adamant that they have a party at our house. No matter how much Drew tried to persuade them not to, they insisted they were coming over. So Drew packed me and the 2 younger boys up into the car and drove around town for a while, I guess so that if his friends DID show up, they would go away when they found the house locked and no one home.

I was sort of scared. I’ve always felt that home was safe and sacred, so the idea of having to leave home to be safe left me shaken. And then we turned a corner and the moon was HUGE on the horizon. Huge, orange-red and shaped like a potato. I remember gasping and totally forgetting that I was scared of leaving home in the night. Now I was scared that the world was ending. I guess it should tell you something about me that my first thought on seeing this amazing scientific phenomenon was that it must be a sign the world was going to explode. I was a very frightened child and I didn’t like anything unpredictable.

In my recollection, the moon seemed to cover half the sky, but I’m sure it wasn’t really that big. But even now, when I think back on it, I gasp a little and I get just a bit scared. A tiny rush of adrenaline that echoes what I felt that night I thought the world would end.

M

OK, a bit ranty here….

There have been a lot of posts around blogland recently about people saying mean things on blogs and whether or not it’s appropriate or acceptable and who has RIGHTS to say what…. etc…

*edited to add* What really triggered this post is that people are all picking sides and making camp on one or the other extreme of this issue and Cara’s is the only rational voice I’ve heard so far.

Yes, people have the RIGHT to free speech. People can write whatever the hell they want to and get away with it. Just look at Ann Coulter! Is it nice? Usually not, nor does it always HAVE to be nice. Legitimate criticism is what keeps this world progressing and moving toward a better place.

That said, I think it’s important to keep in mind that what you say could seriously damage someone’s reputation. In that case it’s called libel. If someone wrote I was a child molester, and it was unfounded, then it could seriously damage my business and my standing in the community.

Last time I checked, free speech was only tempered by libel and slander laws. Libel is defined as:

1. Law.
a. defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.
b. the act or crime of publishing it.
c. a formal written declaration or statement, as one containing the allegations of a plaintiff or the grounds of a charge.
2. anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or damagingly misrepresents.
–verb (used with object)
3. to publish a libel against.
4. to misrepresent damagingly.
5. to institute suit against by a libel, as in an admiralty court.

My understanding is that for something someone writes to be illegal, it would need to be misrepresenting, untrue AND damaging. You can’t win a libel lawsuit without proving that something someone printed or published had a negative impact on your business or repuation. No one can revoke your right to say something MEAN as long as it isn’t damaging.

I agree with the Yarn Harlot in that I think people don’t quite understand that what they publish in thier blogs could be damaging or hurtful or even if it is, that EVERYONE can see it, I’ve received more e-mails than I care to count with people telling me (in the nicest way possible and “meaning no offense”) that my photographs suck, or my patterns would be better if I did them this other way, or that using treasury stitch patterns is a cop-out for lazy designers. It’s rude, but it is within their rights.

The internet has bred a world where people aren’t thinking before they click. But it’s a small world and it would be ideal if everyone would state their opinions supported by facts, and in a rational way. It doesn’t mean you CAN’T have opinions, just that maybe you should think about whether they’re rational and supported or not BEFORE you post them.

Having been on both ends of this spectrum and having learned my lesson, I try to say nothing critical without legitimate facts to back it up. Being the morbid, dark and cynical person that I am, I am the LAST one in the WORLD to say that everyone should be shiny happy people all of the time (or even MOST of the time). In fact, I generally DESPISE those people. I realized yesterday that the reason I really knee-jerk disliked someone that I know was because she’s always got this smile plastered on her face and it drives me batshit crazy! But is it irrational to ask that you give it some thought before you say or post it? Please be rational and respectful. Is that too much to ask?

M

I’m alive and well. Although the shooting in Salt Lake City this morning took place just down the street from me and word was passed down to lock all the doors, I’m fine. A convict white supremacist guy shot the corrections officer who was guarding him while he had an MRI at the Orthopedic Center. My bus was probably going right by the center when the convict got a hold of the gun and shot the officer in the head. My boss was just coming in to the Orthopedic Center with his wife when the escaped convict was leaving.

A bit of a rush for a Monday, eh?

A real update hopefully tomorrow. I just have been too busy to take pictures.

M