The Gristmill - talk about everything

What we need in genealogy software is data provenance tracking. I'm going to design such a system--actually a proposal for a standard and hopefully a reference implementation.

I'll call it "Hermes". As you know (or maybe don't know) Hermes was the "Messenger of the gods, god of commerce, thieves, travelers, sports, and border crossings."

Now that the Senate's version of the so-called health care bill has passed in the House of Representatives, we will see that what I wrote in my previous post will come to pass. Every year will involve a battle between the sides of the abortion issue to change or keep the abortion-related provisions in the law--at least, I sincerely hope those who claim to be against abortion will fight hard to have that changed!

Sometimes, when people envision potential undesirable trajectories of decisions of situations, they are accused of having an imagination. Having an imagination is not such a bad thing, though, if one considers the matter rightly. I often am exasperated by other people's own lack of imagination in various situations.

The parish I frequent in West Chester has been doing this for a while, but the irony only hit me this weekend at Mass:

For context, refer to my earlier post, Breaking Bread Annual Mass Books.

Well, the pastor at St. Maximilian Kolbe parish has explained to everyone that they can't afford the seasonal missalettes that some parishes have. Of course, if they dumped those slightly-augmented hymnals that the Breaking Bread books really are, maybe they could.

On my way into the St. Maximilian Kolbe Church this weekend, I saw a sign. It read "Prayer - First Response or Last Resort." I'm not sure whether the sign was trying to make a point or just invite thought, but something about it bothered me from the moment I saw it. By the end of Mass (OK, I dwell on things during Mass; it's a temptation I'm sure we all give into now and again) I had figure out what it was.

The sign fails to identify the most potent and proper engagement of prayer, which is prayer as a way of life.

It just occurred to me that the publisher of the Breaking Bread books that some Catholic parishes (OK, a lot of Catholic parishes) use must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Many places of work have policies in place regarding the complexity of their passwords. A typical policy is something like this: A password must have at least 8 characters, and must include at least one number and at least one non-alphanumeric symbol.

So how much extra security does one get with such a policy, versus, say just requiring 8 characters? In fact, let's use this particular policy as an example.

So goes the story that after Adam and Eve had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Lord banished them from the garden lest they should also eat of the Tree of Life and thereby gain eternal life unto themselves. But as I was reflecting on the crucifix during Mass, today, it occurred to me that it is so much in the nature of God to give life, that even having banished Adam and Eve from access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Paradise, He proceeded to plant a new Tree of Life for us, by which we reacquire the eternal life that was lost by Adam's sin.

My wife and I decided to try Sprint's wireless phone plan that includes everything unlimited. It was a no-risk move, since Sprint (supposedly) has a 30-day trial period, during which you can return everything and get all your money back.

My wife and I took our two sons to open houses at three different Catholic high schools in the Cincinnati Archdiocese this past weekend. They were Roger Bacon, Fenwick and Badin. All three were good high schools in their own right; all three of them were deliberately "Catholic," in the sense that high school level training in the Catholic faith is not just an isolated class, but part of the entire student experience, including required Christian service at all grade levels.