Daley Ponderings

I was going to have Jonathan read this article about the status and progression of fiction, as he sometimes questions why we don't let him read or watch certain things, but then I decided the article itself was more than he needs to know right now.

I came across yet another version of a distributed social network, this one with hardware.  FreedomBox Foundation is working on figuring out how to make tons of tiny little web servers that take out the centralized model.  The New York Times has a decent article on explaining why Mark Zuckerburg having all of your information is a bad thing.

The introduction video on FreedomBox's site was a good non-technical description, and with graphics, for all of you who don't like to read that much...  :)

It mentions diaspora, friendica and buddycloud.  I'd heard of diaspora, and I have an account, but it doesn't interact with me very well.  I glanced through buddycloud this morning, and didn't see anything particularly interesting.  friendica emphasizes being able to interact with other current social networks, which is a good thing, since it is a hard thing to get people to switch.

I guess I should spend some time in figuring out how to install one of them and see if it is worth using.  I've not been clear on how much you can customize the installations, and how hard it is to add features, etc.  And how open the development really is, in terms of them wanting features from outside people, etc.

Mostly, I think the problem is that I want it just to work, and so I don't want to spend lots of my own time developing a system.  Maybe I could work on figuring out if I could add plugins into LifeType to make it do some interesting things with the new social networks.  LifeType 2.0 (if it ever comes out) started a couple years ago adding some social networking features, and so it might fit in well; I don' t know.

But, as facebook and google are increasingly unfriendly (Facebook announced they would no longer import notes, such as this one, starting in a couple weeks)  I suppose their theory is that people will manually double post, or move to facebook only, or something like that.  But, that is a pain, so I'll probably just stop posting to facebook.

A good quote from Linux Journal:

There are 100000000000 stars in the galaxy.  That used to be a huge number  But it's only a hundred billion.  It's less than the national deficit!  We used to call them astronomical number,  Now we should call them economical numbers.  -- Richard Feynman

And in case you think I'm getting too serious with all my political posts, here's another one for Wall Street.

And be careful in apple orchards...

(thanks Dawn for keeping me up-to-date with the important news)

Pretty eerie, how similar these situations are.  I understand that being a police officer in a high stress situation is hard, and I am happy that there are people that are willing to step up to that job.  I also know that in some cases, the videos being played are designed to start right after a guy throws something at an officer, but if you look around on youtube, you will find plenty of videos that are showing the entire thing, and in many cases, the officers are overreacting, in my opinion.

This video is somewhat out of date by now, but the "conspiracy theory" that Ron Paul is being ignored doesn't seem like too much of a conspiracy when you see these videos.

<youtube account was deleted, so can't see the video any more>

I recently discovered that due to changes by Facebook and Google, quickly sharing items is harder than it used to be.  There are a couple things I shared recently that I thought good enough to actually type up a post here.  (you may agree or disagree about my choices of "good enough")

Here is a video of a candidate, Herman Cain, who's political and business history looks interesting (though his personal history doesn't look quite as good, assuming the various allegations are true).

Recently, I read One Thousand Gifts, which was recommended by someone whose blog I read, but I can't remember who anymore.  It was a beautiful book and has inspired me to be thankful for the little things once again.  (Briefly, the hesitations I have in recommending it: she writes pretty stream-of-consciousness, and though I think she does it well, those who are sticklers for grammar might have a hard time.  Also, it is written for those who are already Christians.)

The premise is that being thankful opens the door to being joyful.  She writes her journey along the road of thankfulness, her progress through the ups and downs of real life.  It is a good reminder.

It takes me back to my first year at college, when everything was new, from living on my own, to snow, to daffodils.  It takes me back to childhood when everything was new.   This must be why Jesus said to become like a child.

People laughed at me in college, because I was no longer a child.  I kept telling them my "snow age" was five, since I had moved away from snow when I was four.  The cynics laughed at me for taking delight in daffodils ("That's what they're called, right?" I asked.)  Taking pictures of the very first light dusting of snow. Freezing my un-mittened hands at the first larger snow but I couldn't keep from playing in it.

I really was more joyful then, though my email signature still holds on.  Gradually, though, I got tired of being laughed at or watched strangely.  I supressed my outer delight and then the inner faded, too.  I want it back!  I will take delight in the little things.  I will slow down to look at bugs with my kids.  I will let myself be thankful and joyful in all these things, and I will not let anyone's laughing penetrate.  Neighbors may think I'm crazy, taking pictures of the first snow (that was today!) again, but I do not care.  Joy is worth it.

We took a snow day from school today.  I jumped around with my kids and took pictures and we dug out the new sizes of snowsuits and Jonathan made a snowman and Noah made slushies (from the railing snow).  It was great!  It was beautiful.

And I'm glad we seized the moment because in the afternoon the snow turned to rain and most of it is melted now.  Children know how to do this and adults are too busy with "matters of consequence".  May I always remember this!

Well, in the three weeks since I last posted, Joy has made major progress in mobility and the rest of the household is still working to adjust!

9/11 - Joy started crawling longer distances with a cross-pattern belly crawl.

9/13 - Every time we go into PIttsburgh, we cross the Allegheny River.  Faith always asks me what river we are going over.  This day, she said, "Mom, did that be the Alligator River?"  (Now, she says it correctly to the best of her speech ability and names it every time.  She has a little 'Allegheny River' song that she sings.  It sounds like "Ahwee-daynee widduh") (More)

8/21 - I can't remember when babies are "supposed" to get object permanence, but Joy definitely has it.  She was playing on her tummy on the kitchen floor with two toys.  When she lost them under herself, she looked all around trying to find them again.

8/24 - Jonathan called the part between your throat and your stomach the "sarcophagus".

8/26 - Joy started sitting up for several minutes before falling over.  Now she is an old pro at it and rarely falls over.  She can sometimes get to a crawling position from sitting. (More)

Hrm.  This guy's logic seems alright to me.  A friend recently said it is the time to go buy a really, really expensive house, since once inflation goes way up, the house loan will be the same as a loaf of bread at the new rates...  :)

6/14 - On our camping trip, Faith liked to play Ice Cream Shop.  Her flavors are unique: pineapple hot sauce, strawberry beet, water, to name a few.  After those, I requested just plain ice creams, though she really wanted to put hot sauce on most of them.  We finally settled on a good flavor that I thiink someone should really make: mint chocolate chip cookie dough.

6/15 - Noah,"I thought 'spores' were graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows."

7/5 - After some discussion about what colors make when mixed together, I suggested that Jonathan make a color wheel.  He started basic, with the three primary and three secondary colors.  When dividing his circle, at first he drew in radii, estimating how much space he needed to make sixths.  The next time he did it (when he accidentally colored two pieces red) he drew diameter lines.

7/5 - (I don't remember the context for this) Noah, "Faith, if you see a dead guy with an American flag on him, that means he's an American soldier."

7/6 - Noah can pump himself on the swings.

7/9 - We were talking about milk banks (oh, because I was thinking it might be time to use up the breastmilk I have in the freezer) and Noah, my punster, said, "So do they put milk in the penny rolls?"

7/9 - Jonathan, "I don't know why, but being generous makes me happy."

7/20 - Joy started pushing up on hands and knees.

7/29 - Faith, when meeting someone, "I is my baby sister's big girl."

Faith says this often, when I ask her what she said, "I is just talking to mine own self."

8/12 - Joy started making forward progress on hands and knees, mostly by drawing her knees up and then lunging.

8/13 - Noah, on the boat ride back from Star Island, "Star Island is a special island.  It always brings you back."

8/13 - Jonathan, also on the boat, as he watched the island recede from view, "Mom, I think you gave me some of your brains when I was born, because I recognize a lot of these things."

8/13 - Noah, discussing a word he and Jonathan were looking at, "I thought 'ON' had two 'F's"  A couple of days before, he had noticed "NO" on a cap on the floor and we discussed how "NO" and "ON" are upside down from each other.  "OFF" was also on that cap.  I suspect that he did not understand what we meant.  He knew "NO" and so the other word, "OFF" must be what we called "ON".

We are now home from our very long and mostly fun vacation.  Here's a quick summary.  We went to Madison, OH and stayed on the beach of Lake Erie.  Then Jonathan and Noah went camping with Grammy and Papa on an island in Lake Erie while Jon and the girls and I came home.  Jon picked up the boys on Tuesday.  Unpacking, washing, and repacking.  I sprayed poison ivy in the yard and poked a (not poison) stick into my cornea.  We left for NH the next day, me riding with a pillow over my face the whole time.  Jon and his mom went on a weekend canoe trip, while I stay in bed and the kids play Wii.  My eye, amazingly, is better by Sunday, as the eye doctor had predicted. (Except for some blurrines for which I am going to see him again today to check out.)  A few more days in NH, then to the Maggie P.  The Swiss contingent is there and it is so much fun to meet Joseph in person!  Big Weekend, 7 Wonders, beach bocce, swimming, crabs, etc. Jonathan caught a soft shell crab.  Day trip to Star Island turned into an overnight, then turned into a week.  Jon stayed on the island to help lead the youth conference for the next week.  The kids and I went back to CT to finish our visit with the family.  Driving by myself on a long trip with a young baby is not fun.  Please remind me not to do it again.  Last couple of days at the Mag were sgort and sweet.  We'll miss that little guy (and everyone else, too.)  Back to NH, back to the boat that couldn't seem to get us there, but finally we did.  Lots of fun and yes, even relaxation, on Star Island.  Then back to CT to pack up the sailboat and all the other things that we did not take to Star.  One night in the Flounder, then a long and rainy trip HOME!!!

If I'm not getting sleep because I have a sick baby, at least I can make a post!

I don't think it has been said here, other than in small mentions here and there, that I joined our volunteer fire company in Middlesex Township a couple of months ago.  I am not sure of the exact number of incidents that I've gone out on, but the number is probably around 8 or so, though most of them have been cancelled while enroute to the station, or after we got the truck out, etc.  It is often that case that people report a "fire" or "possible fire" when it actually isn't, and the county dispatch systems often are setup to dispatch two stations whenever there is a fire, and so we'll get paged for a neighboring township, and then once a township chief gets to the location, sees that it isn't a big deal, and is either not anything, or can be handled without help, etc.

 (More)

5/23 - Joy is chomping and chewing.  I suspect she is an early teether like Noah and Faith.

5/30 - Joy rolled front to back.

6/2 - Joy crawled in bed 18", with diaper

Joy is grabbing and exploring what she finds.  Likes fabric especially. Worked really hard on a
board book.

6/4 - Joy was diaper-free all day.  We only had five misses (sorry, Mom, I miscounted earlier) and they were only pee, and none got on the floor.  I held her most of the time because it's easier for me to tell when she needs to go that way.  When she fell asleep, I put her on a waterproof pad (with a diaper under the relevant part) on the bed.  Later, Faith told me Joy was crying.  When I got there, she had crawled three feet!  The only reason she stopped was because her head was smashed up against the pillow.  There was a wet spot on the diaper, and everything else was dry.  Three of the accidents were when she was sitting on my lap and those three times she gave no sign whatsoever.  Two of those times were when we were all playing a computer game, so maybe that's distracting enough even to a three month old.  The last one was when I put her in her seat in the basement while I did laundry.  She did fuss a bit, and sure enough, it was wet underneath when I was done with the laundry.  I am so happy with that day's success and so was she.  I put her in a diaper for bed because I knew I'd be checking all the time throughout the night if I didn't, and I needed to get my sleep for the second day Daddy was away at fireman school.

6/5 - We did a little diaper-free time but I had more things to do that needed two hands.  Many fewer catches this time, but you win some, you lose some.  It was the night that was a winner.  We got to sleep around 10:45, and then she started moving around at 2:15 - he diaper was dry!  So I put her on the potty and she went.  Then she nursed back to sleep.  4:30, same thing!  Then around 6 or 6:30, I was not awake enough to respond to the initial movements and she was wet by the time I got to her.  So neat!

Jon was with a bunch of people we don't see often last night, and one of the men mentioned that his wife was discouraged by all these homeschooling mother-of-many type blogs where everyone has all their lives together and nothing goes wrong.  So I thought I'd post how my life is not perfect, though it is very blessed.  I am not a perfect mother, but I'm the best one for my children.  I am not a perfect teacher, but I am the best one for my children.  I am not a perfect homemaker, but I'm the best one for my home.  I'm not a perfect wife, but I'm the best one for my husband. I hope this post is encouraging to other not-perfect moms. (More)