Heard This Week; and Some Thoughts

The kids were all around the table as we studied Vertebrates and Invertebrates in our Weaver science class. I asked the boys to name some common vertebrates. Luci (Luci! I didn't think she was listening) pipes up with, "Horses." Mom, directing her question to Luci: "Can you name an invertebrate? That's an animal without a backbone." Luci: "Butterflies! God made butterflies." Bryan: "What about spiders?" Luci: "Nope. God didn't make those." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is simply amazing how happy de-cluttered kitchen counters make me feel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John sleeps better when his daddy is doing well. Dad W. went home from the hospital today, with a brand new pacemaker. Thank you for your prayers for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AT&T DSL internet connection is wonderful! Much faster than the Hughesnet connection we've had for the last four years. And we've got it bundled with our telephone, so we are actually saving some money. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Parenting Is Your Highest Calling" and 8 Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt by Leslie Leyland Fields is a good book! Thanks, Amanda, for suggesting it to me.

I'm Gonna Blog All I Can Now, Because....

Father of the internet: 'web is running out of addresses'

Some details: First of all, Al Gore is not the "Father of the Internet"--it's this guy, Vint Cerf. Here's what he says:

The world is about to run out of the internet addresses that allow computers to identify each other and communicate, the man who invented the system has told The Times.

Vint Cerf, the “father of the internet” and one of the world’s leading computer scientists, said that businesses and consumers needed to act now to switch to the next generation of net addresses. Unless preparations were made now, he said, some computers might not be able to go online and the connectivity of the internet might be damaged. . . .

It is estimated that IPv4 addresses, each of which is a series of 32 binary digits, will run out in 2010 and possibly as early as next year.

A new system, called IPv6, has been ready for implementation for more than a decade.

Under IPv6, each address has 128 bits and so provides 340 trillion, trillion, trillion different addresses - that is 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is assumed that this will meet humanity’s needs for decades to come.