Deter, Detect, Defend

On Monday, all of the news agencies, inclucing Fox News reported that 26.5 million veterans’ social security numbers and dates of birth were stolen. While I haven’t received a letter, yet, my records are in the range of those stolen.

The VA says they’ve “set up a call center at 1-800-FED-INFO and Web site, http://firstgov.gov, if veterans believe their information has been misused.” Well, the first piece of advice they give you there in their “Deter, Detect, Defend” tactic is, “Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information.”

Well, dah, what are we supposed to do when the federal government can’t even protect our information?

Multi Tasking Generation

The Time cover story from March 27, features an article on how media saturated and incessantly multi-tasking most of today’s teenagers have become. Researchers studied 32 families in LA for four years looking at how today’s families interact. One of their findings shows that electronic media consume considerable amounts of a family’s time, greatly affecting regular interactions in ways unheard of 20 years ago. In addition, children, especially teens are fitting more media into the same amount of time as their predecessors of a decade ago. Watching TV, talking on a cell phone, and chatting online simultaneously, they cram 8.5 hours of media use into 6.5 hours of real time. Researchers point to studies that show that output and depth of thought deteriorate as a person attempts to attend to multiple tasks. Teachers and professors also believe students are becoming dependent on their media stimuli, with many unable to walk from one class to the next without pulling out their phones or iPods to absorb the 4 minute passing time. While the current generation has become very good at manipulating information, using visual and audio clips in multi-media presentations in class, many college professors feel writing and critical thinking skills are suffering in the media saturation.
(Time.com March 27, 2006)

Quoted from The Ivy Jungle Network Campus Ministry Update May 2006.

Unbalanced Cohabitation

Apparently commitment isn’t all a man is avoiding by living with a girlfriend outside of marriage. Among cohabitating pairs, women contribute more than 70% of the couple’s income. Both formal and informal surveys indicate that in such situations, most women expect the relationship to lead to marriage, while most men do not. (Touchstone April 2006 p. 48)

Quoted from The Ivy Jungle Network Campus Ministry Update May 2006.

Emily Faith Graves



Graves Family

Charlene and I were privileged to visit the Graves Family in Grand Prairie, TX, last week for the birth of their new, precious daughter, Emily Faith. At 9 lbs. 2 oz., she was ready to be born, and Kathy was ready to have her.

We’re happy to report that mother, baby, and family are all doing well. We were also surprised that Kathy’s mom, Linda Hurt, was able to be there as well. She was able to hitch a ride with Uncle George at the last minute. He was moving to Arizona and was happy to drop her by. She’s a fun lady.

What a wonderful visit we had. We love Scott and Kathy to death, and their kids are a joy to be around. They are well behaved, smart, and enjoy talking and “playing” with us. We had an engaging and satisfying visit.