JessaLu Knits (and Spins!)

ETA: This is what I get for not being able to figure out the <–more–> thingy with WP. The winner of the blogiversary contest is in this post…and I’m working on making my excerpts longer ;o)

There was more than one highlight to my weekend ;o)

On Saturday I traveled to Katy’s house to attend a spin-in for a few people who couldn’t make it to SPA. Katy, Cynthia, Kelly, Cate, two friends of Katy’s whose names I cannot remember for the life of me (I’m sorry! Bad with names…can’t seem to fix it…) and myself sat around Katy’s living room, spun and chatted a good portion of the day away. We were having such a good time that time escaped us and it was 8pm and time for Katy’s kids to go to bed before we knew it! Thanks again, Katy! I had a great time :o) (There are photos on her blog…my camera didn’t make it out of my bag all day…)

Now, for the announcement you have all been waiting for…I know I have you on the edge of your seats, right? ;o)

Following the very scientific process of writing down everyone’s names (two times for those who played along with the ’story’ game) cutting them into leeetle pieces, putting them into a bowl and letting the Man of the House (he likes it when I call him that…makes him feel like he’s in charge *wink wink*) pick a winner…

So without further ado…

…the winner is….

Miss Scarlett! Yay! :o) Congrats! Now let me know if you want yarn or fiber and your address so I can send it - you can email me at jessaluATgmailDOTcom :o) (the number after your name is the number of the comment you left - I had to keep everybody straight and this seemed like the most logical way to do it).

Up next…a knitting nightmare…stay tuned!

The highlight of my weekend was getting the mail on Saturday and finding a package from Carole:

I won a contest/quiz at her blog a while back and this was my prize - a skein of Cherry Tree Hill and two candy bars (*cough* yes, there seems to be only one in the picture…). Amazingly enough, Carole sent the one skein of yarn in existence that has brought RR to the point of actually voicing a wish for socks. I’m stunned. Almost speechless, even. Almost.

Thank you, Carole!!

Also, we were catching up on some Law & Order watching this evening - did anyone else notice that Cary Elwes (aka Wesley) was on L&O SVU a week or so ago? How cool is that?

…and I’d like to share the teen observation of the day:

When asked to start the El Camino: “uhmmm…how do I do that? I mean, it’s OLD!” (It’s a late 1970-something. RR started to tell her it was a hand crank but she wasn’t getting it…)

Now I try to keep to my knitting (as it were) however, Scout posted today about the horrible miscarriage of justice that is being perpetrated in Norwich, CT. and frankly, I’m pissed. Apparently, instead of prosecuting the real criminals who write the garbage that we all must deal with and try to keep off of our computer, the [in]justice system has decided that they will go after those of us who do not keep our spyware software up to date.

Yeah, that should fix it.

Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in the Norwich Public School system is facing a possible 40 year sentence because a site that was accessed by someone using the computer in her classroom (possibly even herself - unintentionally) caused pr0n popups to appear - and her class saw them. Then, the 12-year olds told their parents, who in turn started calling the principal. Which I would probably do myself if I were in that position however, I would also consider that unfortunately, a large number of 12-year olds know what pr0n looks like and have possibly seen it at some point in their lives. Not that I agree with that or consider it a good thing, but it is an unfortunate fact in our society that children are becoming sexually ‘knowledgeable’ at a younger age. Anyway, my point is that some of the children in her class were asked to testify in court regarding what they saw - and how it made them feel - and the court suppressed evidence that would have brought about an acquittal - which makes me think of what happened in Massachusetts in 1692.

Granted, maybe she should have hit the ‘off’ button on her monitor a bit faster, but the all-out screaming for blood that went on by the parents in the district smacks of the Salem Witch Trials - where the accusations of two children began a horrible chain of events that culminated in the deaths of 20 people. Now, Julie is not facing a death sentence - but being stripped of your teaching credentials and facing 40 years in prison because the IT department at the school didn’t keep their firewall active AND used outdated software is up there in the ‘nightmare’ category as far as I’m concerned.

I also find it incomprehensible that all these people in powerful positions who were involved in this case (the police, the prosecutor, and, at first even the DEFENSE LAWYER) knew nothing of malware or spyware and the ability of such garbage to take over a computer with no defenses. This is not 1995, people! Computers have been around for a LONG time - for the love of Bob, learn about the ‘bad’ stuff and learn how to protect your ‘puter from it. Ignoring it won’t make you impermeable to the threat. No, seriously, it won’t. (this is directed towards the um…professionals in this case, not you guys. We all know that every blogger has had to deal with pr0n spam, sometimes butt loads of it…er, no pun intended).

I’d also like to point out that you do NOT have to visit a pr0n site to have that kind of malware on your computer. ANY site can do it. Frightening, ain’t it?

At this point they are waiting for sentencing but there has been a Defense Fund put into place by Julie’s husband to help pay for an appeal. You can go here to read her blog and donate (I did). You can also read more about the story by looking at the articles that popped up when I did this search.