My Daily Domestic Clips 02/01/2011 (a.m.)

• Tea May Cut Ovarian Cancer Risk

  tags: ovariancancer

  • In the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers compared tea consumption and the risk of ovarian cancer in more than 60,000 women aged 40 to 76 in Sweden.

    The women filled out questionnaires on food and beverages they consumed regularly; the participants were followed for about 15 years. About two-thirds of the women said they drank tea at least once a month.

    During the follow-up period, 301 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and researchers found tea drinking was associated with lowered ovarian cancer risk.

    Women who drank at least 2 cups of tea per day were half as likely to develop ovarian cancer as nondrinkers; those who drank at least 1 cup of tea a day had a 24% lower risk.

• Judge rules healthcare reform unconstitutional | Reuters

  tags: currentevents

  • A judge in Florida on Monday became the second judge to declare President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law unconstitutional, in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Feast of St. John Bosco

When I talk to my kids about the saints, I try to put them into historical perspective. St. John Bosco lived from 1815 to 1888 in Italy. He was alive during the American Civil war and in fact lived 21 years after the death of President Lincoln. My grandfather was born fourteen years after St. John Bosco's death. John Bosco was canonized in 1934, a mere 46 years after his death. My mother, their grandmother, was only 5 years old at the time. We also have photographs of this saint so to my mind, as saints go, Saint John Bosco is practically contemporary!

What I love about Saint John Bosco is that he was able to find such balance in his life. He loved to learn and was a very good student, but he also made it a priority to have fun with his friends, go out of his way for other people, and to learn practical skills too! I love that he taught himself to walk a tight rope and to juggle! Those are two skills I can see my boys trying for themselves too (in fact Sam HAS taught himself to juggle and I have the bruised fruit to prove it)! I also remember reading somewhere that John Bosco had the opportunity to learn how to make and mend shoes and he became quite good at it. It turned out to be a skill that was quite useful to him throughout his life of service to boys and young men, who undoubtedly were very hard on their footwear. Mr. Pete shares that philosophy and always takes the time to learn a new skill, which is why he now can do almost any household or auto repair he sets his mind to! One of the important lessons Saint John Bosco's life teaches us is that it never hurts to be open to learning something new or different - you never know when it could be useful.

There is lots of information about Saint John Bosco! My favorite resource, and the one that I read to my children today was once again from 57 saints.

On line resources include:
St. John Bosco - Catholic Online

CIN - The Secret of Saint John Bosco by Henri Gheon


St. John Bosco - Saint of the Day - American Catholic

Catholic Culture : Liturgical Year

St. Michael's Center

The4reallearning board also had some good info on St. John Bosco:
Online writings
Recipes
John Bosco and rebellious teens

See how other Catholic families are commemorating the day here
and here.

Since I am a mom of four boys I was particularly interested in St. John's mother, Venerable Margaret Bosco. Since she was so successful in raising a saint (and in becoming one herself) I think it is important to see how she did it. I thought this piece was illuminating.

Catholic Culture : Library : Don Bosco, Seeker of Souls: "When he consulted his mother, always his wise adviser, she demurred and said, 'The only thing I want of you is the salvation of your soul. Follow God's will.' After praying over the matter John resolved to enter the Franciscans. At this point he was advised to consult Don Cafasso, a saintly young priest who had the gift of guiding souls. His adviser did not hesitate: John should enter the secular priesthood. 'Go on studying,' he said, 'then to the seminary, and there hold yourself in readiness to follow the guidance of God's grace.' John made his final decision in response to this advice of a holy man who was to have a great part in the career of the young seminarian. Donning his cassock, he at once took up his studies. His biographer says that he was the most popular boy in the college, first in his class, athlete, musician, everybody's friend, always ready to do a good turn to anyone, a potent influence for good.

In parting, Margaret Bosco put her hands upon the shoulders of her boy as she said to him, 'To see you with the cassock fills my heart with joy. But remember that the habit is not what gives honor to the state, but the practice of virtue. If at any time you should come to doubt of your vocation, I beseech you to lay it aside at once; I would rather have a poor peasant for my son than a negligent priest. When you came into the world I consecrated you to our Lady; when you began to study, I bade you honor her and have recourse to her in all your difficulties; now I beg you to take her for your Queen." The two clung together, deeply moved. "Mother," said John after a long silence, "before I leave you to take up this new life, let me thank you for all you have done for me. Your teaching will live always in my soul, a treasure that has made me rich forever."

Perhaps as a parent, the most important advice I can take from Saint John on his Feast Day is this:

In his rules he wrote: "Frequent Confession, frequent Communion, daily Mass: these are the pillars which should sustain the whole edifice of education." Don Bosco was an indefatigable confessor, devoting days to the work among his children. He recognized that gentleness and persuasion alone were not enough to bring to the task of education. He thoroughly believed in play as a means of arousing childish curiosity -- more than this, he places it among his first recommendations, and for the rest he adopted St. Philip Neri's : "Do as you wish, I do not care so long as you do not sin."

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Simple Woman

Outside my window...



Ohio winter

Originally uploaded by DonaSite
Winter in Ohio.  This Flickr photographer managed to get this great picture of our Ohio state bird!

I am thinking...
how easy it is to fall from grief and sadness into bitterness and anger.  Yesterday the Beatitudes were the gospel reading at mass, and Father mentioned in his homily that when we aren't grateful, we are sad. I think that's true.  I feel so sad sometimes over the loss of mama, but when I think about the many good times we had and my wonderful memories I don't feel as bad.  Yesterday I played another concert and one of the pieces the choir sings is this song that I think I think is a very good reminder.

http://www.alfred-music.com/player/AlfredChurchChoral2006/24242/player.html?osCsid=ee58077f70b99f29022f4a4e561f1583

I am thankful ...
that Mr. Pete came back from his business trip safe and sound!
From the learning rooms...

Gabe and Noah are hitting Rosetta Stone Latin consistently, as well as General Science.
Sam is working on his next CLEP test in Science.  He is also working on Spanish II, pre-Calc and literature.  I have decided to have him graduate with the state-wide homeschool group at the convention in the spring and he will have to write an essay for that.
Izzy is working in language arts, spelling (Spelling Power) reading and is up to lesson 101 in Saxon math!
Noah is in lesson 101  as well.
Gabe is in lesson 37 with pre-Algebra (sigh)
Noah and Gabe are done with  Lord of the Flies and I am trying to figure out which book to try out next!

From the kitchen...
Ham and potatoes in white sauce for tonight!

I am wearing...
Gray hoodie, black shirt, black workout pants with pink piping.

I am remembering:
Mama - always and remembering to smile!
I am creating...
Videos from Christmas Eve and the kid's gig over Christmas - still on my camcorder.  Still!! I've got to get this done this week!

I am going...

to try the FIRM Bootcamp this week, but not looking forward to it!

I am also going to be giving a speech this week to a group of 8th grade girls getting ready for confirmation.  I AM looking forward to that!

I am reading...



















I am hoping...
to gt my girl's speech out and go over it a few times before I give it on Saturday. Mr. Pete and I also have to review and go over our Pre-Cana speech for the following weekend!

I am hearing...
silence. Kids getting up slowly

Around the house...
We watched REDlast night with Bruce Willis

A picture I am sharing:  



Mr. Pete standing in front of the OMEA booth with the award he and his partner won last week.  He is standing next to the trumpet/fountain he made for the show and that he hopes to start selling out of his shop.





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7-Quick Takes

  Join Jen and the other Quicktakers over at the Conversion Diary.


1. I have a lipoma on my arm. I first noticed it about 7 years ago and thought it was a bruise. Later I thought it was a varicose vein in my arm and just chalked it up to getting older. In fact I remember when the technician was trying to draw blood during one of my prenatal exams, I suggested that she might want to try this vein that was just popping out, but she declined. It wasn't until maybe a year or so after that incident that it dawned on me that this wasn't a vein, but a little tumor. I did some research and figured it was probably a lipoma. It hs been growing very slowly since then. One day I was typing away and thinking about it and all of the sudden it started to hurt. After that I noticed that it started to go up and down in size and thought it probably had a cystic componant to it. It definitely hurt more during my time of the month when I was retaining water, and now during peri-menopause when it hurts it REALLY hurts. I had a doctor look at it after mom died and she confirmed my suspicion that it was a lipoma, but she said I had to find a general surgeon to remove it. And then SLO got sick. What's a little lipoma compared to breast cancer! So I didn't find a surgeon and I still have my little buddy, and during Christmas I was ready to get a knife and take it off myself! Then it stopped hurting. So I finally found a surgeon, made an appointment and now have a surgical date. I can't wait!

2. Interestingly, the surgeon told me he was going to give me a little anesthetic to take the edge off. He said it would be like three martinis! While that sounded good at the time, in retrospect it occurred to me that I don't want to be loopy and awake! I want to be asleep or I want to be awake! I would also like to watch this thing come out out of curiosity and having watched tons of them being removed on Youtube! That's when the doctor told me he thought it was too big to come out under just a local, but he would compromise with a 1-martini anesthetic and if I needed it, he would up the dose! So I guess we'll see.

3. Interestingly, none of my family wants to come and watch it. Even Mr. Pete, who had a conversation about my anatomy with my OB during Rosie's surgical delivery, doesn't want to watch a little walnut sized lipoma come out! He said if we get to name it and bring it home, he'd watch. Other than that he'd rather not.

4. I played my flute at a huge funeral yesterday. The church was packed, the police were there, the streets were clogged. I had debated about whether or not to go since it meant missing a school day with the kids and they had already had a lot of down time this week because I went with SLO when she had some reconstruction done on Monday and then I saw my own surgeon on Tuesday. But I got them some educational movies and went anyway.

5. The kids watched A Lion in Winter
which they found very boring until the last 45 minutes or so! I hope to get to see the whole thing with Mr. Pete tonight.

6. The lady who died was very young at 56. She had fought triple negative breast cancer for five years. Her priest said that she had asked NOT to die at home because she didn't want to leave any bad memories for her children. She also told him to tell the people at her funeral that she didn't want anyone to feel bad about things they ahd did or didn't do because she knew they loved her and she loved them too! They also talked about how wonderful she was at doing the laundry and how everything she washed, dried and put away seemed so fresh weeks afterwards. When she was on her death bed in deep sleep, they were talking about that, and she started to speak in a soft voice, "It's not secret; I use Tide." They told other wonderful stories too but it touched my heart that a simple ordinary task like laundry was something her family will lovingly remember about her. I found that very encouraging.


7. I had a wedding rehearsal last night and a wedding today. After being with the elderly in a hospice on Wednesday and playing for the funeral yesterday it was a nice change to see young people starting out. Last week was quite a ride!






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My Daily Domestic Clips 01/29/2011 (a.m.)

• Like Mother, Like Daughter: The Seven Sundays of St. Joseph...

  tags: Catholic saints prayer st.joseph

• Glencoe Literature: Literature Library

  tags: homeschooling books literature reading

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Feast of Thomas Aquinas

From Medieval Saints on Yahoo.

Thomas, son of the count of Aquino, (b. 1225-d. 1274) was first

trained at the Benedictine abbey of Montecassino, and here, even in

childhood, his great mind was wrestling with theological questions,

"Master, tell me--what is God?" In order to better to train the boy's

mind, his father sent him at an early age to the University of Naples.

There he studied under Peter of Ireland and, undisturbed by the noise

and wickedness of the great university city, proceeded rapidly on his

quest for God.



Meeting the Dominicans, he was strongly attracted by their apostolic

life and petitioned to be received as one of them. While recognizing

the gifts of the young student, the friars refused him admittance to

the Order until he was eighteen. Acting deliberately, without a

backward glance at the power and wealth he was leaving, Thomas, at

eighteen, joyfully put on the habit of the new Order.



Like many gifted young men, Thomas was bitterly opposed by his family

when he attempted to become a religious. When both threats and

persuasion failed, he was kidnaped by his brothers and locked in a

tower for more than a year. His sisters were sent to influence him,

and he proceeded to convert them to his own way of thinking. A woman

was sent to tempt him; but he drove her from the room with a burning

brand from the fire; afterwards, angels came to gird him with the

cincture of perpetual chastity. When captivity failed to break his

determination, his brothers relaxed their guard, and Thomas, with the

help of his sisters, escaped from the tower and hurried back to his

convent.



Thomas was given the finest education available in his day. He studied

first at Cologne and later at Paris, under the Master, Albert the

Great. This outstanding Dominican teacher and saint became his

lifelong friend and loyal defender. They taught at Cologne and became

a mutual influence for good in one of the most beautiful friendships

in Dominican history.



For the rest of his life, Thomas was to teach and preach with scarcely

a day of rest. What makes the amount of writing he did remarkable, was

the great deal of traveling that he undertook. Death found him in a

familiar place, on the road, where he was bound for the Council of

Lyons in obedience to the pope's command. He died at the Cistercian

Abbey of Fossanova, in a borrowed bed, obscurity hardly fitting the

intellectual light of the Order, but perfectly suited to the humble

friar that Thomas had always been.



Overheard in a colloquy with the Master he served so well with heart

and mind and pen, Thomas was heard to ask as his reward from the Lord,

"Thyself, 0 Lord, none but thyself!"



St. Thomas Aquinas is a Doctor of the Church and is honored as the

patron of Catholic Schools. He is celebrated in the Church Calendar on

January 28th.











St. Thomas Aquinas was walking outside and two nuns rushed up to him with a great big bound tablet. They asked St. Thomas if he would be so kind, in his spare time, to write out all that was necessary for the nuns to do so that they could make it into heaven.



St. Thomas graciously agreed and took the volume from the sisters. They were very grateful and left with high hopes that perhaps he could finish this big task within a decade or so.



To their great surprise, St. Thomas showed up the next day, with the tablet, and told them that he had finished the work! The nuns were stunned, but they thanked the saint and took the volume, rushing back to the convent to see all of the words that he had written.



They opend the first page and this was all that was written:



How to Get to Heaven - Will It!!!







In other words (quite a few more "other words!") we all have the ability to make it to heaven, but we have to want to do so, and we have to will ourselves above and out of our own way to get there!








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What's Going On In My Domestic Church

Last night, my entire church music group, went to visit one of our long-time members, MA, in her nursing home/hospice center. It was very nice and I think she was pleased to see us. They brought in about 10 or so of the residents to hear us perform, and our MA sat with us and sang along, just like old times. It was really great.

It's hard sometimes to perform under circumstances like that. With the flute you literally need to keep a stiff upper lift and solid breath control, which is hard for me to maintain when I see the sadness in the faces of family and friends around the room.  I'm sure each of us was probably  thinking this might be the last time we ever see MA this way again. For her part, MA was pretty much just like always. She joked and teased, and sang with much gusto. She truly was a good hostess to all of us.

After the concert, one of the residents came up to talk to me. Her name was Barbara. She is 104 years old and she graduated from high school in 1926! She told me that she had been the oldest of 13 children, 5 sisters and 7 brothers and that when she was in high school she practiced the classics, Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart for hours and hours a day! At that point I motioned for all of my kids to come over so that they could here Barbara talk about what it was like to do chores, homework and music when she was a teenager.  Barbara told me that before she graduated she played a 10 minute piece by Mozart on the piano from memory.  The kids were quite impressed. 

For being 104 years old I thought Barbara was very clear minded and a great conversationalist.  Oh, she did tell me the story of losing her dentures twice, but I tell stories a couple of times myself.  The difference I suppose is that I have a vague feeling that I've told the story before but Barbara didn't seem to have that.  Maybe in 50 years neither will I! or I can pretend I don't so that I can retell my favorite stories as much as I want!

But Barbara felt bad about her dentures.  Apparently one of the aids accidentally knocked them in the waste basket and then through the garbage out and that was the end of her teeth! And Barbara was upset because she would like to have another set but the dentist told her he won't make another set because her mouth has changed so much.  I think he just doesn't want to put a lot of time into a dental piece that won't be used for very long. But still I was impressed by how much Barbara still wanted to live. She would like her teeth, she wants the aids to help her walk more, and she wants people to talk to.  That's pretty much all she wants to be happy.  Oh, and she told me she prays a lot.  She can't get to mass and they don't have mass there so she prays on her own, all the time.



I have two more playing gigs this week. Tomorrow I am playing for the funeral of a lady who died from triple-negative breast cancer. I didn't know her personally, but the choral group I play with was asked to take part and so I was invited.  Although this woman was only 56, she was well known for being very friendly and kind and a wonderful volunteer, even while fighting for her health.  So they are expecting a lot of people tomorrow.  I was told between 600 and 1000, which I didn't believe until I read that her calling hours are going to be at a local hotel instead of the funeral home, probably to accommodate a larger group of people. 

So I'm a little nervous about that.  It's a big crowd, an important and gracious lady  - I want to do a good job.

I have some educational movies in store for the kids tomorrow morning while I'm away. I was able to find Beckett, and A Lion In Winter at the library.  That and math assignments should keep them busy.

I also have a concert on Sunday, but I'm not too worried about that as I'm sure I won't be playing as much as I did at Christmas time.

We'll probably do this one though.








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My Daily Domestic Clips 01/27/2011 (p.m.)

• triple negative breast cancer

  tags: cancer breastcancer

  • A triple negative breast cancer diagnosis means that the offending tumor is estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-negative.

    Nancy felt the lump herself but a mammogram and ultrasound could find nothing.

    "The hardest part about it was trying to get anybody to take me very seriously, cause I knew something was wrong and I probably spent a good year and a half trying to convince anybody else that something was wrong," Nancy says.

    She eventually demanded her doctors remove the lump and that's when they found the cancer.

    "You have to know yourself and be your own advocate because nobody else will do it for you," Nancy says.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Works for Me Wednesday- guitar birthday cake

My artistic daughter, Izzy, wanted to make Sam's birthday cake this year. That girl watches all the cake shows on t.v. and is begging me to let her take a cake decorating class.  So when she wanted to take on this project, I thought it would be good for her to see if this is something she would enjoy  (I had a sheet cake on standby- just in case!)

She made a paper template from one of Sam's numerous guitar magazines. She baked a regular chocolate cake and after taking it out of the pan she used the template to cut her cake into the shape of a guitar. The pieces she cut away helped to make the neck of the guitar. Mr. Pete, the musical instrument technician by day, suggested using Graham crackers to support the cake neck. Licorice was used as the strings and skittles provided the pegs and other guitar detail. It was fun and Sam loved his guitar cake to celebrate his 18th birthday!







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My Daily Domestic Clips 01/25/2011 (p.m.)

• Jack LaLanne: Founding Father Of Fitness : NPR

  Jack LaLanne- rest in peace!

  tags: fitness

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

CLEP and the College Plus Adventure

About ten years ago, the homeschoolers I knew were excited about the prospect of getting college credit for their students while they were still in high school. In Ohio,that's called post-secondary education. The way it works - a student attending an accredited high school could enroll in a college and get high school and college credit for the courses they completed. For homeschool families with one bread winner and more limited resources (and usually with larger families) this sounded like a good deal!

The downside was of course that home schools weren't considered to be accredited high schools. To get around that, many homeschoolers went to great lengths to join other "08-schools" or formed their own 08 schools so that they could take advantage of the post-secondary education option.

Eventually, there were enough students from 08 and parochial schools dipping into the money set aside for post-secondary education that eventually the well went dry. The state started clamping down on 08 schools and families that were able to gain 08 status found that their students were only able to obtain a few classes.

Some of my friends paid for their own college tuitions. Their kids went to community college and got the credits, but to my mind, paying for it out of pocket sort of defeated the purpose! Other friends dropped their homeschooling so that their kids could enter public school or public online schools and then get accepted to the post-secondary programs. That's fine, but to me homeschool is as much a lifestyle and a philosophy as it was a means of education and I wasn't that willing to give it up for undergrad credit (especially since we had gone the public school/online route before and I wasn't overly thrilled with it.)

There were other concerns too. Having a high school student commute to the local colleges meant increased costs including gas and parking (if indeed parking could be found!) It also meant exposing them to older students as peers and to educators that I might find problematic for molding the young minds I had been carefully tending for years!

So when I discovered the CLEP program I was very intrigued. With CLEP, my kids could study a subject in depth and for around $100 take a CLEP test and get genuine, transferrable college credit! What a great concept and one that I found most of my friends had never heard of before.

CLEP tests aren't for everyone. But for a student who has the ability to learn on his own and the discipline to study regularly, it's a great option.

With that in mind I started getting my second son ready to take the CLEP exam in American History I. We watched movies, read books, and lectures and I constantly drilled him with note cards. But I felt it was mostly my project and my goal - Sam didn't own it! My mom also became gravely ill during this period. Because of these factors our study dragged on for months. My goal was to have him take the test in January. He finally took it in the spring and not surprisingly, didn't pass. But he did get within 8 points. And although we were both disappointed, I think Sam was encouraged by how close he got and if he could just focus a little better, he probably could pass the next time.

Last summer, I learned about College Plus and it occurred to me that this program might just give Sam the edge he needed to pass the next CLEP test. He learned about making life goals, and improving his reading speed and study skills. Armed with this new information, he started studying for what has been billed as one of the easier CLEP tests, Analyzing Literature. Since I had always had Sam reading a lot of books (From The Scarlet Letter, to To Kill a Mockingbird and even Huck Finn) I thought this would be a good course for him too. But although Sam is a good reader, he's not really passionate about non-fiction and especially poetry. So he took the test and again he didn't pass but he was only short 6 points.

With the guidance of his College Plus advisor, Sam zeroed in on his interestes and decided to try the CLEP in College Mathematics. Last week he took the test and passed easily! He finally had 6 college credits banked! With that success, he and I both realize what he has to do to be able to get through with the CLEP exams.

First, we know that at least to start with, we need to pick tests that Sam feels pretty good about and has some passion for. When he gets more proficient in taking CLEP tests, we can aim for the ones that are more out of his comfort zone. Secondly, when Sam took the passing exam, he knew that he knew his stuff. He went in confident and assured. He didn't feel that way the other two times. That's the feeling we want to aim for before he takes another CLEP. Lastly, Sam was nailing the practice exams, not by just a few points, but by significant margins. That's what he has to do before he sits down for the real thing.

There is a boy on Sam's soccer team who is also in College Plus. He has almost two year's of college credits banked. The last two times Sam has been to the testing center, this boy has been in there taking tests. His tenacity and success has been very inspiring for Sam and I see a new intensity lit in him. This has become his goal and his desire - it's not just mine for him any more.

From my vantage point though, I can see that the costs of books, materials and even the money on the three tests Sam took would not add up to as much as one 6 credit class at over $300/credit hour. I know that when my son graduates (which is up to him and his time time table)he will have a degree that is just as valuable as one earned in a brick and mortar school and he will have no debt! Maybe that's one of the best things I am giving him from this entire journey.







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My Daily Domestic Clips 01/24/2011 (p.m.)

• The older Dugger children are enrolled with College Plus

  "Jim Bob also revealed that the older kids are about to start college-level studies as part of the path to their career goals, telling us, "Most of our older children have just signed up for the CollegePlus! program, which is a really neat way to get a college education, and you can do it from anywhere in the world. You do it over the Internet or a lot of it through CLEP exams, so they are getting ready to start this and a lot of the people that do this do a four-year degree in about 18 months. They still haven't solidified what their majors would be—some of the girls have an interest in maybe nursing, I think all of them have an interest in film production and that type of stuff. And Josh, even though he has his car business, I think he still has in the back of his mind that he would like to get a law degree.""

  tags: Dugger homeschool highschool Collegeplus CLEP

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Daily Domestic Clips 01/23/2011 (a.m.)

• Why Does My Computer Run Chkdsk at Startup? | eHow.com

  tags: computer

• Iconography of Saint Sebastian, Iconografia di San Sebastiano, Iconographie de Saint-Sébastien

  tags: st.sebastian

• PressTV - Obama wants to impose new universal internet ID

  Just remember, your social security number was never supposed to be used as an ID number either... ha ha ha haha!! And won't it be a hacker's delight to be able to access everything about you with one ID number!?

  tags: obama currentevents areyousorryyet?

  • The Obama administration is developing a "universal Internet ID" program that would watch, track, monitor and potentially control your activity on the Internet. These "trusted identities" are being touted as a way to increase safety and security on the Internet and as a way to eliminate the need for dozens of different usernames and passwords. But is a universal Internet ID that is issued and controlled by the U.S. government really a good idea?  Right now, Obama administration officials are trying to make it seem as non-threatening as possible. They are insisting that it will not be mandatory. They are insisting that it would be impossible for hackers to steal the universal Internet identities. They are insisting that none of our personal information will be gathered or used by federal agencies. But in light of how regularly the government has abused our liberties and freedoms in recent years in the name of "security", should we really believe what they are saying about this new universal Internet ID?

     

    Perhaps to assuage concerns about "Big Brother", the Obama administration is proposing that the U.S. Commerce Department be the one to oversee these new universal Internet identities.

     

    But how long do you think it would take for the Department of Homeland Security (along with several dozen other government agencies) to get involved in "administering" these "trusted identities"?

• Obama's government wants to track us all online.

  tags: obama currentevents areyousorryyet?

  • After Sept. 11, 2001, when different government agencies and representatives began floating the idea of a national identification card, privacy advocates were immediately uneasy. And now, nearly a decade later, when word spread that the Obama Administration is working on a system of trusted Internet identities for Americans, the privacy sector is up in arms again.

     

    Earlier this month, Switched reported the "trusted identity" project is part of the broader National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. White House Cyber Security Coordinator Howard Schmidt says the plan is to create an "identity ecosystem." But it won't be a mandatory system, and users will still be able to maintain their anonymity online because there are no plans for a "centralized database of user information."

     

    Schmidt was also quick to point out that the Internet identity credential will not serve as a national ID card. And to further assuage the concerns of privacy advocates, he notes that the program will not be overseen by any of the intelligence agencies. Instead, the Department of Commerce will have that responsibility.

     

    I don't know about you, but those revelations don't do much to alleviate my concerns. First, the fact that there will be no "centralized database" of user information doesn't mean there can't be logs of what users do online and when. So the information may not be centralized, and it may not even be linked to a user's personally identifiable information. But we've seen before that "anonymized" data is not as anonymous as many would like to hope. Remember the AOL fiasco?

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Today he is an adult - Sam's 18th birthday

18 years ago today, I gave birth to my second son Sam, in a very nice birthing center. He was my first natural childbirth after a horrendous birth experience ending in a Cesarean a few years before.

I can't believe it is 18 years. It really did go by so very quickly. Having now gotten two to legal adulthood, I have a working theory that you can tell a lot about what kind of an adult you will end up with just by how they are during infancy. While Calvin was always fearless, aggressive and strong willed (all qualities he has learned to use for good), Sam was always quieter, gentler and more on the prayerful/ thinking side. Even in the womb, I got the sense that Sam was quietly listening and trying to figure out the world around him. Which turned out to be a lucky thing too, because as it turns out, Sam had a true knot in his umbilical cord.



The luck of the Irish from his McGurk Grandmother I guess.

Sam was named for my great Uncle Sam, the brother of my grandfather. Uncle Sam had a quick wit and mischievious twinkle in his eye with lips that perpetually turned upwards and a hearty sincere laugh always on the ready. Known for joking around and friendly merry making, I loved Uncle Sam very much. And so my Sam was named for him.

His middle name was in honor of my former brother-in-law, Thomas. It was my way of honoring my sister, letting my BIL know that we truly thought of him as part of the family, and of showing lots of continuity and affection on the family tree. Since the divorce, I wonder if my BIL even remembers that, or if it had more meaning for me and Mr. Pete than it ever did for him.

Nonetheless sharing biblical names with Samuel, the great prophet and Thomas the doubting apostle has given Sam a lot of time to reflect on the lessons of these two men. Samuel the servant of God who says, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening," in contrast to Thomas who has to see to believe. At this point in his life I still see more of the former than the latter in Sam. I hope that he can always keep that. I hope that we have given him enough example and education in his Catholic faith that he can always have that to guide and sustain him.

What I love about my Sam is his nurturing spirit and his creativity. He was always the older brother that comforted his younger siblings. The day Gabe was born in my living room, Sam came down from his nap and was so excited to find a new baby there. His first question was, "Whose baby?" followed by, "Can we keep him?" Keep him we did. And I love the fact that Sam and Gabe are close friends, going just about everywhere together and even performing together in their rock band.

When Izzy was born 15 months after Noah, I recall hearing Sam tell Noah, "Don't worry Noah, you are still a baby too and I will take care of you." And he does. Sam has been great with the girls too and Rosie adores him.






New challenges await.  Sam has a driver's license now, but he doesn't abuse the privilege and has even been very helpful going to the store and helping me to drive his siblings around.  I am very grateful for that.  He is working out his last year of high school and has even managed to get 6 college credits banked from CLEP testing via College Plus! He wants to do a senior recital with piano and guitar, possibly organ, with a reception afterwards. And while I am a little anxious for him, I think the future looks very bright..






Hapy 18th birthday Sam.  I love you.




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My Daily Domestic Clips 01/22/2011 (a.m.)

• St. Agnes - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

  tags: Catholic saints st.agnes

• Catholic Cuisine: The Lamb, Symbol of Saint Agnes

  tags: Catholic saints st.agnes

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

St. Agnes

It has become the custom in our family to read St. Agnes's story from the book,57 Stories of Saints. It does a nice job of presenting young Agnes and her humility, holiness and faith. It also makes her gruesome death easier to read to children.


I love this tradition on her feast day!

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Certain things -- such as a bath and getting dressed up -- are universal before a personal meeting with the pope, and the rule holds even for lambs.

As he does every year, Pope Benedict XVI blessed two little lambs Jan. 21, the feast of St. Agnes.

Raised by Trappist monks on the outskirts of Rome, the lambs spent the night before their papal audience in the center of Rome on the rooftop terrace of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, interviewed Holy Family Sister Hanna Pomnianowska about her convent's role in the ancient tradition which makes a connection between the name of St. Agnes, an early Christian martyr, and "agnus," the Latin word for lamb.

The wool of the lambs blessed on the feast day is woven by a different community of nuns and becomes the fabric for the "pallium," a circular stole, which the pope gives each June to new archbishops from around the world.

Sister Pomnianowska said her order got involved in 1884 when a group of elderly sisters living nearby could no longer handle the task of preparing the lambs to attend a Mass and then be blessed by the pope.

She said that as soon as the Trappists arrive with the lambs, "we take them to the top floor of our house, where we have a large terrace and laundry room. As you can imagine, they are the joy of the entire community, especially of the younger sisters."

"The first thing we do is wash them. We put them in a tub with baby soap to delicately wash the dirt away. Then we dry them. We used to use towels, but now we use a blowdryer. We are careful not to leave their skin damp because they are young and could get sick," she said.

The baby lambs spend the night in the laundry room, in a covered pen filled with straw to keep them warm.

The morning of their big blessing day, she said, a decorative blanket is placed on each lamb. One blanket is red to recall St. Agnes' martyrdom; the other is white to recall her virginity.

"Then we weave two crowns of flowers -- one red and one white -- and place them on their heads. And we tie bows around their ears," she said.

After they are adorned, the lambs are placed in baskets, the sister said. "We are forced to bind them to prevent them from running away; once, in fact, I saw a lamb jump up and run from the altar."

Once they are prepared, the lambs are taken to Rome's Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls, where they are placed on the altar over the martyr's tomb and are blessed. Then Vatican workers arrive to take the lambs to the pope, she said.

The lambs are blessed again by the pope, usually in the Chapel of Pope Urban VIII in the apostolic palace, she said. The ceremony is attended by two of the Holy Family Sisters -- usually two who are celebrating a significant anniversary of religious profession, she said.

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