victorian lace socks. such as they are. . .
HeatherViaPhone

How Cool Is This?!

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Dropped off the planet, or something?

Yes.
I've been busy writing. And--in fact--I'm going to go take a break for my hands and wrists because I've spent the morning working (to make up for writing during the week days) and I'm SORE!

There will be more soon, though, I promise. I've been WEAVING now too--I warped the loom ALL BY MYSELF.

Can you tell I'm proud?!


Off to shower (You'll be happier, promise)...

Just lovely...

Rescued!

I found my book!


Teaching Writing: Craft, Art, Genre by Fran Claggett with Joan Brown, Nancy Patterson, and Louann Reid

An Interview with Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, writers of Pirates of the Caribbean

And a little more...

An Interview with Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, writers of Pirates of the Caribbean

Close-Up: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio on 'Dead Man's Chest'

Close-Up: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio on 'Dead Man's Chest'

Well, anyone who bitches about the film should read this and shut up.

Nice to see them get a chance to tell it like it is.

Clapotis Begins. . .
HeatherViaPhone

Who killed the honeybees? | Salon News

I still think it's WiFi...
Who killed the honeybees? | Salon News

How I spent my Saturday Morning

In trying to avoid the slow pace of the Blogger picture upload, I tried to use the iWeb feature of iPhoto and screwed myself in the process. Now you have to go here to see what I did.

My personal vision of hell
HeatherViaPhone

Hogwarts Friday Share-a-thon

From the Hogwarts SockSwap Blog:

1. SHOW and TELL FRIDAY is to be posted on your blog, not the Hogwarts Sock Swap blog.
2. If you don't have a blog you will not be able to participate. Sorry. I think this only affects one or two of you.
3. 5 House points will be awarded to each participant.
4. SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY will not be every Friday. We will have one more but I have not determined when.
5. On your post you should give us a peek at your Hogwart socks-in-progress and tell us about the pattern you are using, the yarn etc. And, please link to the Hogwarts site to pique some interest for round TWO (sign-ups begin July 14).

In that vein, I will repost my pics plus some new things:

I got a nice skein of Tofutsies sock yarn for my pal and some (gorgeous!) Lantern Moon needles with a little carrying case! LOVE that!

And here's an attempt at a close-up of those freakin' gorgeous needles!

I'm working on the box, then I think I'll be sending the whole kaboodle off to my Hufflepuff buddy.In the meantime, here are my fave Hogwarts Buttons:

YAY!

And some extra fun

I Done Been Tagged--Twice!!!

SpiderKnit (my Aussie buddy) and Knitting2Relax both came through for me.

The rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven other people and list their names on your blog. Then you leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Those I'm Tagging:

• My Husband
• My Sister
• My buddie Kate
• Mrs. Pilkington
• SockBug
• CheekyRedHead
• Rosemary

My Seven Random Facts:
1) I always wanted to be mysertious and tortured. Instead I can be read like unto cheap fiction. And, you know...I'm pretty happy.

2) I knew I wanted to marry Andrew when I met him. I had to grow up a bit before that was possible. And this fall it will be 20 years since we met, 19 since we first dated.

3) I am uncannily good at reading Tarot.

4) I would LOVE to be enough of a free spirit to be able to live on nothing, travel on a shoestring, and just pursue the arts/crafts that I love with my kids and family. If it weren't for those damn bills...

5) I'm a fifth generation Californian living in Tucson, Arizona who's directly related to the Declaration-of-Independence-Livingstons from New York (go figure).

6) I long for the days before tehnology (which is ridiculous, I'm sure, to those who know how much time I spend "wired").

7) I wish I could write (good) fiction.

Allrighty the rest of yous guys, hop to it!
Heather

My new york birthday. proof it happened.
HeatherViaPhone

HeatherViaPhone

My DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Begging (you to stop) the Questions

There are a couple of things that really irk me...usually it's the English teacher in me (though I'm no Grammar Nazi)--things like "irregardless", stuff like that.

But there's a new one that's becoming more and more prevalent and it's really quite upsetting because this one falls into the realm of logic, not grammar and usage.

My feeling: the world is already too freakin' illogical as it is. We don't need to compound the problem with sloppy language.

The problem: "begging the question"; "that begs the question..."

Here's how I just heard this used on NPR (for goodness sake!):

Interviewee: ...and his leaving the World Bank has made a lot of folks happy.
Interviewer: Well, that begs the question, of course...why did it take so long?

Um. No.
See it, "leads to the quesiton," it "raises the question," but it does not BEG the question. That's a term of logic--a material or informal fallacy in fact.

Here's what the (sometimes dubious but in this case correct) Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

In logic, begging the question has traditionally described a type of logical fallacy, petitio principii, in which the proposition to be proved is assumed implicitly or explicitly in one of the premises ([1] [2] [3] [4] ). Begging the question is related to the fallacy known as circular argument, circulus in probando, vicious circle or circular reasoning. As a concept in logic the first known definition in the West is by the Greek philosopher Aristotle around 350 B.C., in his book Prior Analytics.

The phrase is sometimes used to simply mean "poses the question" [5]. This recasting of the term more directly describes a related fallacy, known as the Fallacy of many questions, that occurs when the evidence given for a proposition is as much in need of proof as the proposition itself

And for those who like Logic (again, from the Wiki site):

The following structure of an argument in which the question is begged is common:

* p implies q
* q implies r
* r implies p
* suppose p
* therefore, q
* therefore, r
* therefore, p.

Which, when simplified, shows itself as obviously flawed:

* p implies p
* suppose p
* therefore, p.

Okay, so the end of that is pretty darn clear, you can't use something to prove itself.

That food is awful because it's disgusting.
He's a jerk--you can tell becuase he's so unpleasant.
You can't trust that politician--I mean, come on! He's a politician.

See the difference between that and the NPR example above?

Normally I'm not such a stickler. But when someone like Aristotle put pen to paper a couple thousand years ago and preserved this idea--an idea which has been used correctly for a couple thousand years--well... I'm just a little uncomfortable having we lazy Americans just...you know...change it. 'Cuz it's easier that way.

I generally distrust "easy."

My two cents.

Hitchens on Falwell

I'm impressed that he's as outspoken as he is, Pharyngula: Hitchens on Falwell, but he'll likely sell more books this way. Either way, I think he's brave. And right.

I also thought this, was a calmer--but still accurate--description.

All in all, my feelings are--good riddance.

Genius

This man, he's a genius.

Thing One, breaking a board in karate. No. REALLY?
HeatherViaPhone