I don't want truly needy people to fall through the cracks either. But can something be done without forcing people using the power of the government to pay for or participate in a system they disagree with? I would be more than happy to contribute to merit-based "health scholarships". Are there such things? If there are, let me know! A friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer right after learning she was pregnant. Consequently, her care required far more specialists than "normal" cancer care, and therefore far more specialist-sized co-pays that were becoming very hard to swallow. Friends got together and raised money to help her. (BTW, she and her baby boy are doing well.) I think this is the best way to do things--voluntarily as a community (free market with private assistance). I think this kind of support would increase a sense of generosity and gratitude versus resentment and entitlement. Maybe my head's in the clouds that such a thing could work...:001_smile:

"One key to physical attractiveness is symmetry; humans, like other species, show a strong preference for individuals whose right and left sides are well matched. Denzel Washington’s face, on the left, is almost completely symmetrical. Lyle Lovett’s, on the right, is not — as revealed by a computerized image made up of his left side repeated on the right." Newsweek, June 3, 1996 v127 n23 p60(7). Excerpt from The biology of beauty, (Cover Story) Geoffrey Cowley. http://www.symonics.com/sci_balancing.html I think that society dictates what is beautiful, though, too--certain fashions, certain make-up, certain body-type and weight, etc. Gosh, I'm out! ;) Short in height instead of tall, very long brown hair I keep in a bun versus whatever "do" is in right now, medium-build body instead of slender, I abhor make-up in general, and I'm not particularly fashionable (though I do try to be presentable). Oh well. :)

Glad you're more up-to-date on the news! :) I'm still bothered by the idea that he has "distanced" himself rather than fully recanted. "Dr. Holdren is not and never has been an advocate for policies of forced sterilization." --except when he allowed his name to be connected to the assertions in Ecoscience. I hope he has recanted and that the journalists have just done a shoddy job of conveying that information.

I think my 2nd cousin's family has done things with this. She has had nothing but good things to say about it. I can relay your questions to her.

"Oh, no. That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe has that." Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy :)

Quote: Originally Posted by Perry Nobody's going to be forced to do abortions. From WSJ: You know, you say this NOW and I agree...for now. It is not what Obama is going to do now...this second. It is what he is going to do over his 4, possibly 8 years in office. Did you know that, in Minnesota, they are regulating the number of DOGS people are allowed to own. No more than 2. Freedom is going out the window...today dogs...tomorrow what? Children? China does it. Do we really think it could never happen to the US? Perry--While I agree with you--I, too, doubt anybody is going to be forced to do abortions--I am appalled that the President would choose a man as his Science "czar" who once once advocated it in a book he co-authored. John Holdren did such a thing: "Internet reports are now circulating that Obama's Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, penned a 1977 book that approved of and recommended compulsory sterilization and even abortion in some cases, as part of a government population control regime. Given the general unreliability of Internet quotations, I wanted to go straight to this now-rare text and make sure the reports were both accurate and kept Holdren's writings in context. Generally speaking, they are, and they do." http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obamas-science-czar-suggested-compulsory-abortion-sterilization-50783612.html Here is a direct quote (there are plenty of others cited on the page) from Ecoscience, the book Holdren co-authored: "Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society." http://zombietime.com/john_holdren/ Definitely an unnerving passage. It may be a 30-year-old book that did not get many reprintings, but unless he recants, that writing still stands as a testament to his beliefs. Very sad.

I haven't read all the responses yet--this is a very interesting discussion so I'll do my best (in addition to trying to plow through the actual bill). :) The posts brought to mind the issue of taxing health care benefits, first proposed by John McCain prior to the election. The door has been left open by President Obama to also do this. Some articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/politics/15health.html http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=7731736 What are your thoughts on the taxing of some health care benefits? What do you think will be the end result of both of these ideas coming to fruition?

To echo this with an example from a perspective on music education: Shinichi Suzuki based his method on the idea that we learn to speak pretty well before we read. Children are immersed in music and learn to play by ear long before they ever learn to read music. I am also uneasy with the whole-to-part focus. Just my two cents... :001_smile:

Well, I can't help you with the pesto--I've never made it. I prefer to use basil fresh, though I do dry it, too, when I have enough. I pick a bunch of basil above a growing point (several lower leaves). I try not to pick parts with thicker stems--mostly just nip the leaves off by snipping their little stem with kitchen shears or my fingers. If it's starting to get too bushy I take a larger bit and discard the stems. Then I rinse the leaves and chop them up and cook with them. If I dry them I hang them by the stems in a brown paper bag.

I know you found your answer, too, but wanted to put some info on this out there anyway. :) You can tell an egg's age (and whether or not it's still good) based on how it responds to being submerged in a bowl of water. If it sinks all the way it's still good (even if it's just the tip still touching), if it floats it's bad. By doing this test prior to cracking them, I've found my eggs last far longer than the date stamp declares (the date stamp is just the sell by date anyway).

That was excellent! Thanks for sharing! I sent this on to a friend who is considering doing Suzuki with her daughter; this may convince her. :)

Five is not too young. My dd4 is currently taking Suzuki lessons and has been for over a year. You can find a teacher through the Suzuki Association of the Americas: http://suzukiassociation.org/parents/teacherloc/ I got my dd's violins off eBay. Look at reputable violin sites to see what you should look for in a decent quality violin. I tried to find violins being sold by down-sizing music programs, though I did get one from an eBay store that also had a brick and mortar presense. You can also look into rental programs--many will let you put part of the rental fee into a future purchase of an instrument. Also be sure to have your daughter measured so she gets the right size violin. I also recommend reading Shinichi Suzuki's Ability Development From Age Zero. He has several other books which discuss his method and viewpoints, but I think this one is the best. It is a slim book, but an excellent read. In fact, I think any parent should read it since it could easily double as a good parenting book!

:iagree: If you want her to see things that might inspire her, though, Highlights magazine has a section that shows pictures kids of different ages have created and sent to the magazine to be published. My dd4 loves looking at these pictures. Even though she enjoys looking at them, her drawings look kind of like the cave drawing by Sid the Sloth in the movie Ice Age. :lol: Ah well, they'll continue to develop as she does.

I'll have to read that book. Perhaps she was not supposed to have read King Lear, but perhaps we were (at some point in our relationship with Anne). She may have been ignorant to the reference, but maybe the author hoped we, the readers, weren't. What does your book say about the literary reference for Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald? Am I reading into things that aren't there (or will I have to satisfy my curiosity by reading the book you cited--which sounds like a good read anyway)? ;)

Well, yes. Anne even comments on how short and plain she thinks her name is (even wants it spelled with an 'e' so it's at least written with a vowel). But why did the author pick Cordelia and not Victoria or Estella or Isabelle--all these fit that criteria? Perhaps there is something apt about the name Cordelia. Why did Anne like the name? Yes, it is all those things to Anne, but might it be more? Did she feel a kinship, in a way, to the character Cordelia and thus chose that name as a substitute for her own? Just speculating... :)

Have you had a baby in the last year? I had low thyroid (borderline hypothyroid) from about 4 months after my second child was born (I'm sure I was hyper-thyroid up until about then) until he was about a year old. Apparently post-partum hypothyroidism can take 12-18 months to resolve on its own.

I have not yet read King Lear. But, based on the CM poem I first cited, the poem seemed to indicate that Cordelia was an "unlov'd, unpitied daughter"--a character, if I'm right in understanding, Anne would have felt some resonance with, since she, too, until being adopted was an unlov'd, unpitied child. Cordelia is not a name that struck me as a "romantic" name as it did Anne. It's nearly up there with Mildred in my book (solid name though it be). I can think of no other reason why a name like Cordelia would be Anne's pick for a lovely name. But, like I said, I have not yet read King Lear, so I may be inaccurately seeing an allusion (one stemming from a poem I read in my CM in book) where there isn't one. Good question! I like these sorts of discussions. :) P.S. I'd never heard of the name Cordelia beyond Anne saying she liked it, until I saw the poem about the character from King Lear.

I really like Great Expectations, too. A Christmas Carol is also a pretty good read.

A Cicero compilation that contains "On Duties" and "On Friendship". I wish I'd read "On Friendship" in middle school! Even in college you need to know who real friends are.

One of my favorite quotes, too! I have to agree. It is not a sign of a packrat but the sign of a bibliophile. I'm one, too! A packrat saves a child's backpack from third grade for the memories. A packrat saves ALL plastic storage containers, just in case. Books don't count (unless they have been severely water-damaged and mildewed and you're saving them 'just in case' you might be able to save them). ;)

I have not read the response--thanks for noting it! I'll go read it. Reminds me of the time my 8th grade students and I read the Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum "Old Father William" poem in class. One of my students asked if I'd ever heard of the original: "The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them" by Robert Southey. I hadn't, so he enriched the class' experience by reading it in class the next day. :) That was one of my favorite things about teaching--learning from my students. A few more poems I'd add to the list: 'O Captain, My Captain' by Walt Whitman and various Emily Dickinson poems (like 'Nobody').

Thank you, and others, for helping me see the cup half full. :) I guess I was bemoaning the nearly missed allusion because I felt like I should have caught it (and did miss it until I read CM). One of my favorite literary devices is the allusion, so whenever I think I've missed one (or nearly missed one) I start wondering what else I'm missing. And while it's great to go read and learn something new, allusions in novels don't have citations for me to go discover their origin! Agh! ;) That aspect of my education being a sieve is what's bothersome, I guess, not it being a sieve per se. I'd best get to know King Lear in case there are other allusions waiting to be discovered in Anne of Green Gables. :) Hooray! Another adventure!

My kids and I have just started listening to Anne of Green Gables. We listened to the part where she beseeches Murilla to call her 'Cordelia' instead of Anne. Until TODAY I thought her pick of Cordelia as a lovely and romantic name a bit odd. I am a sadly ignorant English major. :( This evening I picked up Charlotte Mason's 6th book, A Philosophy of Education. Here is what I read (p. 242): Sometimes they are asked to write verses about a personage or an event; the result is not remarkable by way of poetry, but sums up a good deal of thoughtful reading in a delightful way; for example,--the reading of King Lear is gathered in twelve lines on 'Cordelia,'-- 'Cordelia' Nobliest lady, doomed to slaughter, An unlov'd, unpitied daughter, Though Cordelia thous may'st be, "Love's" the fittest name for thee; [just an excerpt] What a reference I missed until today! Anne of Green Gables is ever so slightly richer by my reading this small poem in a CM book. I have never read King Lear. I graduated with a degree in English Education. How in the world did I graduate without reading this? Or so many other books for that matter?! Yet again I am reminded my education could be a sieve it is so full of holes. Has anyone else experienced this (over and over and over again)? There are so many books and topics on my 'why didn't I read/learn this' list. What are some of yours?

Ok, so my munchkins are a little young to start memorizing advanced poetry (we're learning nursery rhymes now). But, on my list of poems to know, if not memorize: The Village Blacksmith by Longfellow The Lady of Shallott by Tennyson When You Are Old by Yeats The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Marlowe some of Shakespeare's sonnets, perhaps bits of T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" or bits of his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

How to Heal a Bee Sting Using Natural Treatments http://www.grannymed.com/meds/bee-sting.aspx 1. Apply honey immediately after being stung by a bee 2. Cut a tomato in half; apply the inner side on the sting for a few minutes 3. Put vinegar on the sting 4. Mix 3 teaspoons of baking soda to some water until it gets creamy. Then smear on the sting until pain is gone. 5. Put ice on the sting. 6. Apply Aloe Vera on the sting, can also add some lavender. 7. Apply mud on the sting. Smear egg yolk on the sting to relief the pain and make the sting disappear. 8. Apply backing soda on the sting.