The hat tip for this video goes to Power Line where Scott Johnson sums it up perfectly:

…..The selected highlights in the video above make for a remarkably powerful 13 minutes.

They sure do.

This hymn has special significance to me.

When my grandmother lay dying, in a semi-coma, we somehow were the only ones in the house. I sat next to her bed and held her hand and told her “They tell me you’re going to leave me in a few days. I want you to know how much I love you and will miss you, but we’ll see each other again.”

I then thought of the following song, but I couldn’t remember the words to the main part of the song; only the chorus (where the men join in).

As I hummed the hymn I then picked up on the chorus: In the sweet bye and bye, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet bye and bye we shall meet on that beautiful shore.”

I then had one of the most precious experiences of my life as my beloved grandmother squeezed my hand as I sang those words. Even though she was in a semi-coma she was telling me she knew what I was saying and was agreeing with it.

It’s a memory I’ll take to my grave.

I hope you like the song.

Not having children who are of school age but grandchildren who are rapidly approaching that exciting time in their lives, I found this piece on homework very informative.

American students continue to fall behind much of the rest of the world in math and science and recent surveys of their literacy and knowledge of history, civics and geography hover between embarrassing and “Oh my God.”

But one of the hottest issues in American education today is the crusade to cut down on “excessive” homework; and the war is being waged not by educrats, but by parents.

Two Letters to the Editor have been received and each has a very different perspective on the above article:

I am fine with a reasonable amount of homework, but I have read that 10 minutes per night per grade level was ideal. That would be nice. By 5th grade, the teachers no longer follow this standard here. They pile it on and act as if our family life should revolve around school. (And by the way, my kids don’t watch TV on school nights and don’t do any sports. We limit after school activities because we believe kids should have some unstructured time in their days.)

or:

Each night we sit with her at our kitchen table to complete assignments. It is such a lovely way to spend one on one time with our child. I can’t imagine why a parent would not want to be involved in such a process. Not only are you spending time with your child but you are contributing to the childs knowledge and growth of the world. Why would this be so stressful?……

Drawing from my long past experiences, homework was to my children an accepted part of attending school. Even though it is quite a while ago, I remember nights that assignments seemed never ending. Has it really changed that much or is it just that now parents and children are so busy with other obligations that it seems that way?

I would love to hear what parents of children in school today feel on this issue. I find anything which affects the education of our youth extremely important and if homework has become oppresive then is there anything to be done to correct the situation?

I’m one of those lucky people who gets a cold every five or ten years. It’s about time for me to get a cold. If you’re sick with one more than the usual sneezing time maybe you should go to your doctor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new and virulent strain of adenovirus, which frequently causes the common cold, has spread in parts of the United States, killing 10 people and putting dozens into hospitals, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report detailed cases of people ill since May 2006 with a strain of the virus called adenovirus 14 in New York, Oregon, Washington state and Texas.

“Whether you’re a healthy young adult, an infant or an elderly person, this virus can cause severe respiratory disease at any age,” said John Su, who investigates infectious diseases for the CDC and contributed to the report.

Two of the 10 people who have died from the new strain were infants, Su said. The CDC report said about 140 people have been sickened by the virus and more than 50 hospitalized, including 24 admitted to intensive care units.

Adenoviruses frequently cause acute upper respiratory tract infections like the common cold, but also can cause other illnesses including inflammation of the stomach and intestines, pink eye, bladder infection and rashes.

Colds caused by adenoviruses can be very severe in the very young and the very old as well as in certain other people, like those with compromised immune systems.

“For most everybody else, it causes a mild illnesses, you get over it, life goes on,” Su said in a telephone interview.

“What makes this particular adenovirus a little different is that it has the capability of making healthy young adults severely ill. And that’s unusual for an adenovirus, and that’s why it’s got our attention,” Su added.

It is possible people outside these four states have been sickened by the new strain of the virus, Su said.

Read the rest here.

I found this site via Instapundit.

This is a terrific resource for childrens literature. You can access information via the right sidebar at the site or this link will direct you to the homepage.

Every once in a while there is a story which defines love perfectly. This is one of those times:

Sandra Day O’Connor’s husband struck up a romance with a fellow Alzheimer’s patient after moving into an assisted living center, and under the circumstances, the retired Supreme Court justice is just glad that he is comfortable, her son told a TV station.

Sometimes you see the word protest in a headline and either pass it by or read and wonder its purpose. I was glad this was one time I chose to read on:

Hiding from the Nazis in a cramped Amsterdam apartment, Anne Frank often gazed at a majestic chestnut tree visible through an attic skylight—her only window to the outside world—and dreamed of freedom.

Now a group of conservationists and local activists are fighting to prevent the badly diseased tree from being cut down, saying it is a living link to the memory of the teenage diarist, who died in a Nazi concentration camp at 15.

My grandchildren are fascinated by dinosaurs. There have been many books read, computer pages studied and crafts completed on the topic so imagine our delight when this turned up at National Geographic:

A weird-looking dinosaur with a muzzle resembling a vacuum cleaner suggests long-necked plant-eaters such as the well-known Diplodocus didn’t always have their heads in the trees.

The findings are based on fossil analyses of a 110-million-year-old dinosaur found in the Sahara region of Africa by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago, and his colleagues. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

We truly do never stop learning!

Once again we see the result of one individual putting a stop to a kind, worthwhile endeavor. This time, the Boy Scouts (and the troops) paid the price.

Some people have no shame.

Have a great weekend and try not to shop till you drop getting ready for the holiday.