As you probably already know, Blue Ridge Community Technical College classes have been cancelled for Tuesday, February 9th. This will put us 5 hours in arrears for the semester – 5 hours for which we will have to work harder to make up.

Here is the short list of topics which I had planned to cover last week:

Privileges and User Accounts:
• The Root account
• ‘useradd’ command
• ‘userdel’ command
• ‘usermod’ command
• ‘newgrp’ command
• /etc/passwd file
• Environment variables

File manipulation (archiving):
• ‘tar’ command
• ‘zip’ and ‘unzip’  commands
• ‘gzip’ and ‘gunzip’ commands
• ‘bzip2′ and ‘bunzip2′ commands
• ‘compress’ and ‘uncompress commands

For those with the “Linux+” book, please read chapter 8 pages 343-352 (Working with the BASH Shell), chapter 11 pages 490-504 (Administering Users and Groups), and chapter 12 pages 521-534 (Compression, System Backup, and Software Installation). The “Hands on Guide” readers should cover section 7.2 (Your text environment) and section 9.1 (Introduction to fundamental backup techniques). Also, for your own benefit, do the exercises at the end of each chapter to reinforce the lessons. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to back track through the previous chapters we’ve covered in class and do those exercises as well.

Additionally, I had planned to cover the ‘vi’, ‘emacs’, and ‘nano’ editors this week. “Guide…” readers will find the information in chapter 6 and the “Linux+” folks will find the information in chapter 4 pages 149-162. There are also some great “cheat sheets” available for ‘vi‘, ‘emacs‘, and ‘nano‘ that you can print our to assist you with using the editors. There are also WYSIWYG (“What you see is what you get”) editors, such as ‘gedit’ available and very similar to Windows Notepad, but are not available when a graphical desktop isn’t running.

While the best brands of women’s running shoes can be expensive there are inexpensive options that can look and feel just as great. There are a few key elements that are important to keep in mind when choosing a useful pair of running shoes. If these factors are considered during any search for athletic shoes anyone can find the best pair of shoes to fit their feet, and these shoes are sure to be comfortable and affordably priced.

The first element important to consider on any quest for shoes is size. It is essential to women, men and children that the foot is sized properly before any shoe purchase. A foot size can be just a simple number size or it can be a number size plus the addition of narrow or wide. It is best to consult a shoe professional in a retail store that has had some experience with sizing. She will measure the foot and ensure that the appropriate size is found in a high quality pair of running shoes.

The next step is to determine a woman’s foot type. Foot type is especially important in the world of women’s athletic shoes. There are three main types of feet; these types are flat feet, neutral feet and high arched feet. Each foot type needs a specific type of running shoe.

Specific types of running shoes include motion control shoes, shoes with extra support and neutral shoes. Women who have flat feet usually need help with stability while running. The best shoes for these women are called motion control shoes. On the other hand, if a woman has high arched feet shoes with extra support are best for her. While a neutral footed women will run best in neutral shoes.

Regardless of the type of shoe that is appropriate for a certain women’s foot type, all women usually consider style and color before purchasing a pair of running shoes. Women’s running shoes are available in a rainbow of colors and a variety of styles. Popular styles are low and high topped shoes, laces, Velcro and slip on shoes.

The one thing that all styles and colors have in common is support. The right amount of support is essential for a runner. Running is hard on the lower extremities of any body. It is most often felt in the feet, the knees and the legs. These areas are also where the majority of running related injuries occur. However, shoes that have a great deal of support can help to prevent injuries.

Running shoe support does not last forever. In fact, most running shoes are only guaranteed for a certain amount of running. After a runner has run the amount of miles that are promised for support, the shoes usually begin to hurt the runner’s feet. That is when it is a great time to buy a new pair of running shoes. After all, every runner knows that shoes do not last forever.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for Web sites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background also includes running, yoga, and tattoos. For more of her useful information on running and running shoes, visit milanrunning.com.

Related : shoes for cheaps

Here is the next story I am working on with the kids.  I’ll put a Spanish version first and follow it with an English version for teachers of all other languages.   HF Structures are in bold, variables are underlined, alternate variables are in italics.

  Me duele la cabeza

Me duele = It hurts me

Necesito = I need

Tengo = I have

  Hola, me llamo _________.   Fui (corrí, salté, bailé) a Irmo Elementary (Disney World, Build a Bear) y  dije (grité) “Me duele la garganta.  (cabeza, estómago) Necesito agua.”   (aspirina, Tums, Hot Sauce)

Primero, fui a la Srta. Jones, (Donald Duck, el perro) y le dije, “Me duele la garganta.  Necesito agua.”  Pero me dijo, “No tengo agua, pero tengo papel y creyones.” (tijeras, lápices)  Le dije, “No, gracias.  Está bien.”

Luego, fui al Sr. Thompson, (Pluto, el gato) y le dije, “Me duele la garganta.  Necesito agua.”  Pero me dijo, “No tengo agua, pero tengo un fútbol.” (baloncesto, fútbol americano, béisbol) Le dije, “No, gracias.  Está bien.”

Finalmente, fui a la Sra. Smith (school nurse), (Mickey, Bearemy) y le dije, “Me duele la garganta.  Necesito agua.” La Sra. Smith me dijo, “Tengo agua y medicina. (Safari Nuggets, Build a Bear Birthday Cake)  Espero que te mejores, ____________.” Y le dije, “Gracias, Sra. Smith.  Ya no me duele la garganta.  Ya no me duele nada.  Ya no necesito nada.  Finalmente, ¡estoy bien!”  

El fin

English Version:

My head hurts

It hurts me

I need

I have

Hello, my name is _________.   I went (ran, jumped, danced) to Buckston Elementary (Disney World, Build a Bear) and I said (shouted) “My throat hurts (head, stomach) I need water.”   (aspirine, Tums, Hot Sauce)

First, I went to  Miss Jones, (Donald Duck, the dog) and I said, “My throat hurts.  I need water.” But she said, “I don’t have water, but I have paper and crayons.” (scissors, pencils)  I said, “No, thanks.  It is fine.”

Then, I went to  Mr. Thompson,(Pluto, el gato) and I said, “My throat hurts.  I need water.” But he said, “I don’t have water, but I have a soccer ball.” (basketball, football, baseball)  I said, “No, thanks.  It is fine.”

Finally, I went to Mrs. Smith (school nurse), (Mickey, Bearemy) and I said, “My throat hurts.  I need water.” Mrs. Smith said, “I have water and medicine. (Safari Nuggets, Build a Bear Birthday Cake)  I hope you feel better, ____________.”  And I said, “Thanks, Mrs. Smith.  My throat no longer  hurts.  Nothing hurts anymore.  I no longer need anything.  Finally, I am fine!”  

The end

Every Psych 101 student in college hears about a handful of rat studies. If that student goes on to get a graduate degree is Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, Counseling, Biology, etc., they will be inundated with studies on rats, monkeys, and people. These grad students will also learn that some of the conclusions they were taught as undergrads were not properly interpreted. Why? Because there is a different way to see things the higher up you go. The vantage point from the apex of the pyramid gives a wide view across the land. Likewise, if you go below ground level and into the darkness, you can find something hidden and forgotten under the rocks.

Although it has recently gained some nominal buzz on the internet, I have to admit I’ve never read the The Globalisation of Addiction by Bruce Alexander. It appears to be a college textbook on human addiction by a psychologist who also has experience working with rats. Likewise, my memory escapes me for the details of Alexander’s rat studies among the thousands of studies I had to mentally digest over the years. I must confess the memory has been left behind somewhere among the detritus of journal articles, theses and dissertations published and deposited each year in academic libraries across the nation.

What I did notice, though, in my quick search of Alexander’s book on Amazon (you can search an entire book online for specific words and see the page, you just can’t read it all) was no mention of “Calhoun”. That word as a name is important to me for reasons which will become clear later. I realize that Alexander’s book was not about rat studies in general, but it does appear his opinions on addiction were founded on his rat studies.

Let’s hit the condensed version of Rat Park from wikipedia:

Alexander’s hypothesis was that drugs do not cause addiction, and that the apparent addiction to opiate drugs commonly observed in laboratory rats exposed to it is attributable to their living conditions, and not to any addictive property of the drug itself. [1] He told the Canadian Senate in 2001 that prior experiments in which laboratory rats were kept isolated in cramped metal cages, tethered to a self-injection apparatus, show only that “severely distressed animals, like severely distressed people, will relieve their distress pharmacologically if they can.” [2]

To test his hypothesis, Alexander built Rat Park, a 8.8 m2 (95 sq ft) housing colony, 200 times the square footage of a standard laboratory cage. There were 16–20 rats of both sexes in residence, an abundance of food, balls and wheels for play, and enough space for mating and raising litters. [3] The results of the experiment appeared to support his hypothesis. Rats who had been forced to consume morphine hydrochloride for 57 consecutive days were brought to Rat Park and given a choice between plain tap water and water laced with morphine. For the most part, they chose the plain water. “Nothing that we tried,” Alexander wrote, “… produced anything that looked like addiction in rats that were housed in a reasonably normal environment.” [1] Control groups of rats isolated in small cages consumed much more morphine in this and several subsequent experiments.

For further reading, it looks like one of his original studies was only 5 1/2 pages long.

My main concern applying this study of rats to people is that this study didn’t consider subsequent generations of rats born into the Rat Park. Also, citing “environment as causation” to explain human ills has many political uses –and abuses. However, if we want to stretch this over to humans and still consider spiritual/cultural dislocation, any reasonable person will still ask why so many apparently comfortable and connected humans still give in to addiction? Why do so many people who seem to have everything going for them (including a good measure of faith in their lives) still go down in flames when it comes to addiction?

To begin to answer those questions you would need to have an experiment in which multiple generations of rats grew up in the relative comfort of Rat Park. The question to ask: Would some members of a later fat comfortable lazy bored generation of rats in Rat Park prefer the clear water or the morphine laced water? I’m betting some will want the morphine water. They will suck on that one and only that one. Anyone want to place a wager against me on that outcome? Didn’t think so.

Unlike the one generation model used by Alexander, John B. Calhoun used multiple generations. However, we can’t compare an addiction study to the Calhoun overpopulation study. At least that’s what you were told back in Experimental Methods 211. Or, can you? If you made it to the grad level, you were told you could bend the old rules if you were cautious –and got approval in advance. The higher up you went, the higher the approval and the larger the board or committee had to be to sign off –before it went into reverse at the top of pyramid and became smaller again back down to one. With that in mind now, let’s think outside of the usual rat maze box.

What differences will develop between the addicted rats and those who are not? (Both as individuals and groups).
How will the rats stratify themselves into groups over subsequent generations as a result of the addiction?
What happens to the offspring of rats from mixed groups?
How will one group be used by or against another?
How could addiction be used to control the population (both in behavior and number)?
How could addiction play a role (consciously or not) in the destruction of either a group or the entire population?

Those are just some of the questions off the top of my head in a new series of Alexander meets Calhoun rat experiments. However, before we start, we’ll need to give the Rat Park name a makeover. Let’s call it Murinae Subdivision. I think a grant of $1,000,000 will be enough to get my research started. You can contact me here to send it.

I always find flymake extremely useful when editing code in Emacs.

In this period, I’m working a bit with PHP and I’ve immediately thought that enabling flymake for Emacs was indeed a good idea.

Well, someone has apparently already thought about it, so everything you need to know about it is explained here.

I tried it on my machine and it worked like a charm. Combined with some PHP documentation integrated in Emacs, I’m now starting to have a complete and powerful development environment for PHP.

I’m now wondering if there’s any way to get this a step forward. First of all, I’m trying to identify errors different from the parsing ones. What I would really love, for example, is to have Emacs showing me all the unused variables in a PHP file. If you have any idea on how to achieve this, don’t be shy and share your thoughts with me, as a post comment or, if you prefer, as a private e-mail or through twitter.

VB.NET has certain ways of organizing and handling data. Let’s start with data types. Data types are nothing more than a set of values, when you define a data type you are also defining what kind of operations are to performed on that data. Examples of common data types are integers, strings, characters, booleans, and much more.

Let’s start with the Integer data type. An integer is a number, with numbers you are able to perform mathematical operations on them such as increasing the number’s value, decreasing, multiplying, dividing, etc.

The Character data type (char) is a single byte value that represents it’s graphical ascii symbol depending on its value. Characters include letters, numerical digits, punctuation marks, funny symbols, and even white space. For example, how many characters are in this sentence?: “Hello World!”, there are 13 characters, this includes all the letters, the exclamation mark, the space, and the NULL terminator character (charcode 00). In VB.NET when specifying characters, you do so by

chr(#)

where # is the character code number of the character. For example: chr(33) represents the ! character, chr(48) represents the character 0, and chr(65) means the letter A.

Strings are a sequence of characters, with strings you are able to perform certain operations such as search for a string or character within a string, add or remove characters or strings, get substrings, and maybe more. When specifying strings values in VB you surround the string with double quotation marks: “This is a string”.

Booleans are by far the simplest data type, as they can only represent one of two values, true or false. Booleans are mostly used as flags or bit imitation.

One important thing to remember is that you cannot treat data types like another different data type. You can have an integer value set to 2+3 but not “2″+”3″, because it doesn’t make since for the string literal values of “2″ and “3″ to yield a numerical value. Just keep in mind that 2, “2″, and chr(2), are different because of their data types.

When declaring variables in VB.NET, it is encouraged that you declare the data type of the variable. The syntax of declaring a variable in VB.NET is:

Dim NAME As TYPE

After that, you could optionally set a value for that variable.
So, this:

Dim msg As String = "hello world"

is the same as:

Dim msg As String
msg = "hello world"

Where we are setting the string value of the string data type variable ‘msg’ as “hello world”.

Here I will declare more variables in this example:

Dim name As String = "Yu-Gi-Oh! Structure Deck - Machina Mayhem"
Dim price As Integer
Dim TCG-Release As Boolean = False
price = 12

Now, with variables you can set the value of a variable equal to the value of another variable:

Dim filename As String = "C:\foo.txt"
Dim copy As String = filename

This is completely legal because the declared ‘copy’ variable is of type String, and since the variable ‘filename’ is of the string data type, it’s value can be or be part of the value of ‘copy’.

But obviously you cannot have two different datatypes have their values exchanged; this is not legal:

Dim i As Integer
Dim s As String = "asdf"
i = s

With logic, you can of course spot the error that “asdf” is not an integer value so it cannot be a value of i.

Now in VB.NET, when assigning values to variables, you can do more than just directly assign a new value. You can also append a value to the start or end of the original value of that variable or other things depending on the data type.

You may use the &= operator when assigning values instead of the = sign if you wish to append a new value to the end of the current value of the variable:

Dim a As String = "abc"
a &= "def"

‘var &= val’ is the same as ‘var = var & val’, so in this case the value of the variable ‘a’ now is “abcdef”. This &= assignment operation could be compared to this in batch:

aet a=abc
set a=%a%def

Now there are a number of assignment operators for numerical data types. Take a look at this:

+= Increment variable by given value
-= Decrement variable by given value
*= Multiply variable by given value
/= Divide variable by given value
^= Raise variable power by given value

So If a=2 then after a+=3, a would equal 5. Likewise if a=5, b=4, and c=3 then after a+=b+c, a would equal 12.

That’s all for now, next time I’ll talk about data structures.

El sábado 16 por fin toca The New Raemon en Bilbao, acompañado de su banda, en el Balcón de la Lola (calle Bailén 8), presentando La Dimensión Desconocida. Tocarán con MobyDick.  Todavía hay entradas en Power Records y www.kulturalive.com. 11€ entrada anticipada; 13€ en taquilla.

Apertura de puertas: 21h

I find it interesting how people act online as compared to offline. It’s like two different people for some. The most vocal, obnoxious and annoying people online can be the most shy, withdrawn and quiet people I have ever met. I just don’t understand how people can be so different in the two “worlds that collide” in peoples lives.

I’m pretty honest about who I am. I am a vocal, obnoxious (at times) and rudely truthful person (again, at times) online and offline. If I’m wrong, I’ll own my “shit” as the saying goes. If I’m right, I don’t rub it in either. I just find it fascinating the different personalities of people, the sociopathic psychology of it all (and “they” say we all have sociopathic tendencies, each and every one of us).

I think it becomes more fascinating as I continue on in my research for a book I’m writing called Rip Me to Pieces about a sociopathic serial murderer and rapist. How upbringing, society and personalities collide with each other to create the perfect sociopath. What factors apply, what variables – makes you wonder about the people around you with that kind of research one does. It has always been intriguing to me, psychology and psychiatry. Finding out what makes people tick, what makes people do the things they do just grabs my attention wholly and utterly.

I’m always trying to put two and two together with people, why one thing annoys one person but doesn’t for another. Why some have hot topic buttons that really boil their blood while others not so much. Even for myself, what makes me tick. Why do some things push my buttons and others don’t. It’s not only a journey in how others think, feel and act but how I, myself think, feel and act and why.

String variables are used for values that contains characters.

In this chapter we are going to look at the most common functions and operators used to manipulate strings in PHP.

After we create a string we can manipulate it. A string can be used directly in a function or it can be stored in a variable.

Below, the PHP script assigns the text “Hello World” to a string variable called $txt:

<?php
$txt=”Hello World”;
echo $txt;
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Hello World

Now, lets try to use some different functions and operators to manipulate the string.

The Concatenation Operator

There is only one string operator in PHP.

The concatenation operator (.)  is used to put two string values together.

To concatenate two string variables together, use the concatenation operator:

The output of the code above will be:

If we look at the code above you see that we used the concatenation operator two times. This is because we had to insert a third string (a space character), to separate the two strings.

The strlen() function

The strlen() function is used to return the length of a string.

Let’s find the length of a string:

The output of the code above will be:

The length of a string is often used in loops or other functions, when it is important to know when the string ends. (i.e. in a loop, we would want to stop the loop after the last character in the string).

The strpos() function

The strpos() function is used to search for character within a string.

If a match is found, this function will return the position of the first match. If no match is found, it will return FALSE.

Let’s see if we can find the string “world” in our string:

The output of the code above will be:

The position of the string “world” in our string is position 6. The reason that it is 6 (and not 7), is that the first position in the string is 0, and not 1.

Variables are used for storing a values, like text strings, numbers or arrays.

When a variable is declared, it can be used over and over again in your script.

All variables in PHP start with a $ sign symbol.

The correct way of declaring a variable in PHP:

New PHP programmers often forget the $ sign at the beginning of the variable. In that case it will not work.

Let’s try creating a variable containing a string, and a variable containing a number:

PHP is a Loosely Typed Language

In PHP, a variable does not need to be declared before adding a value to it.

In the example above, you see that you do not have to tell PHP which data type the variable is.

PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct data type, depending on its value.

In a strongly typed programming language, you have to declare (define) the type and name of the variable before using it.

In PHP, the variable is declared automatically when you use it.

Naming Rules for Variables

• A variable name must start with a letter or an underscore “_”
• A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ )
• A variable name should not contain spaces. If a variable name is more than one word, it should be separated with an underscore ($my_string), or with capitalization ($myString)

Perl uses punctuation such as $ and @ to specify what type the variable is – scalar, array, hash, etc. When one first learns Perl, you learn:

$a = 4;    # scalar
@a = ( 4, 5, 6 );    # array
%a = ( a => 4, b => 6 );    # hash

But then constructs like @$a (a valid construct: a reference to an array) can become confusing. If you think of these marks as operators instead, then it becomes clearer and simpler. Then $a becomes “treat a as a scalar” and @a becomes “treat a as an array”. Thus @$a is “treat $a (a is a scalar) as an array”.

The book Effective Perl Programming by Joseph Hall et al covers this and is an excellent resource for all Perl programmers. According to the book, there is a web site at http://www.effectiveperl.com but this seems to be in Russian – though it is indeed about Perl. The author, Joseph Hall, has a blog at http://effectiveperl.blogspot.com but it hasn’t been updated since 2007. At least, there’s a second edition of the book coming out soon. This book should be on every Perl programmer’s bookshelf.

http://www.orafaq.com/node/515

This week I’m going to show you how to do constants. This is a very simple subject to learn and its basically the same as variables but as the name suggests they stay constant. The difference from a variable is that constants save on memory usage where as variables can use up a lot. So lets jump right into things. You all should know if you’ve been keeping up with my lessons how to declare a variable. But what happens when you use something a lot more often and you want to use it in different functions and such. By the way the next lesson is on functions you don’t need to know it right now. So to declare a constant its as simple as this : #define thisnum 1337

That seems simple right? This type of constant is a define constant. It is written with the # symbol because it is read by the preprocessor just like the #include code. Lets use this in a simple program:

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

#define acid "This is a string from my define constant!"

int main{
cout << acid;
system(pause);
return 0;
}

In this example the word acid is declared in define as “This is a string from my define constant!”. So no matter where you use it in the program acid will always print the string and you won’t have to declare it in different sections. Remember that #define is not a variable but a preprocessor directive. And since it is constant it cannot be changed like a variable. Now with that in mind you can declare constants like variables with declared constants. To use a declared constant you use it in the same way as you would a variable. const int math = 4+4; so lets do an example program:


#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

int main{
const int a = 5;
const int b = 6;
int c;

c = a + b;
cout << a;
cout << b;
cout<<

system(pause);
return 0;
}

So there you go it shouldn’t be too hard to follow now you can use define and declared constants in your programs. Next lesson will be using some loops. As usual any comments or anything can be left in the comments section for this post.

Conservative plans to incentivize marriage with a £20 a week tax break for married couples are ridiculous.

Firstly, it seems bizarre for proponents of marriage to make what they see as a sacred union more of a callous financial choice. Second, it is totally crazy given the economic mess we’re in that an incentive that would cost upward of £3.2 billion (the figure £3.2 billion ruminated in the summer, although The Spectator now cites a House of Lords debate which suggests it’d cost £4.9 billion a year). Spending so much is all the more foolish when the rewards marriage supposedly reaps in the form of kids’ better educational performance and decreased likelihood of taking drugs are a) in the future, and b) very difficult to calculate anyway. This leads me to my final point that the proposal is founded on the idiotic assumption that a wedding band on a finger makes a relationship good, and that it is this that causes children of said relationship to not do drugs, do better in school, not become dependent on benefits and be an all-round stalwart citizen.

Peter Hoskin for The Spectator is sceptical of the effect of  “deploying fiscal incentives to force something which should largely be a private decision, based on sappier motives such as love.” He later asks, in response to an avid marriage incentiviser, how many people would consider marrying, or not divorce as readily, for £20 a week and suggests the costly plan may only have a very slight social effect. Yet I think it’d be wrong to dimiss the effects that financial considerations can have on the decision to marry.

“I married for money” reads the headline of Eleanor Mills’ column in The Sunday Times today. She makes a good point. People do marry for money; not necessarilly for financial gain, but for considerations like pension entitlements. They also do not marry for financial concerns;  today the cost of “buying a house or having a child is the priority, with marriage seen as an aspirational extra, a great excuse to throw a party, not a necessity.”

Indeed, a couple can live together now as if they were married, without being married. They can be committed to each other, have children and be mortgaged to the hilt. Eleanor Mills claims getting married eventually made her feel more secure and settled. I will not suggest marriage does not have this affect on people. Yet there is no way of proving the hypothetical of how she may have felt several years on with her partner had they not married, the quality of their relationship and the quality of their relationship with their children.  It’d be safe to say that apart from a few legal benefits, the state of being married does very little to change the relationship of a couple than when they were not married but living together.

Supporters of marriage incentives can look to statistics which suggest marriage makes people better, but I can assure you the cause of the social problems they highlight are more complicated than whether mummy and daddy were married. One particularly irksome set of stats brought up to lambast lone parents, is a piece of research by YouGov which found:

children brought up in lone parent families are:

75% more likely to fail at school
70% more likely to be a drug addict
50% more likely to have an alcohol problem
35% more likely to experience unemployment / welfare dependency

This is what is used as ammunition in the arguement against lone parents and for marriage incentives. But correlation is not causation! Lone parents do not cause their children to fail at school, it is far more likely to be the case that a majority of lone parents are relatively less educated themselves and live in areas where the quality of schooling is poor. It is these variables that bear more on educational performance. It is also likely that not performing well at school and leaving without qualifications have a significant impact on the likelihood of becoming a lone parent. As multiple TV documentaries on teenage pregnancy attest, lone parenthood can be a conscious, assertive decision that some girls make in the wake of very limited prospects elsewhere. See also the Joseph Rowntree report on ‘Planned’ Teenage Pregnancy.

What is also wrong is equating children with unmarried parents with lone parents. Stats on lone parents do not then make such a compelling argument for marriage. They may instead make a more solid case for couples to raise children. And indeed, the added emotional support a partner can have for a parent should not be underestimated. But there are also many types of “lone parent”, from fortysometing singletons with adopted kids and widows, not all are the feckless kind who inhabit the set of Jeremy Kyle and marriage incentivists’ imaginations. Look in the differences in these lone parents, take into consideration poverty and the quality of schooling and housing, and I think you’d have a better idea of the cause of negative child outcomes.

Taking this into consideration, it should become clear that marriage is not a panacea. Marriage per se is not what matters, but strong relationships and financially stability – and these are the very factors that tend to precede marriage.

Why don’t we encourage this? Make it easier for couples to set up home, earn a decent living, and for young people to leave school with a sense of selfworth and job prospects. We’d be better off all round. Much better than providing a tax break to a dastardly philanderer, as Harriet Harman put it, on his third marriage whilst wife number one and two bringing up his kids are left out of pocket.

After some more reading I find myself a bit lost and wishing to go back through some of the things I have read. So I put together this review of sorts summarizing the things I read which I am certain will serve as a great cheat sheet afterward.

//defining the structure of the class
#include "stuff"
@interface ClassName : SuperClassName
{
    variableTypes stateVariables;
}
//functions go here
@end

//building the structure of the class
#include "theInterface"
@implmentation Class
//functions implemented
@end

//running the main routine to execute logic
#include "stuff"
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
    NSLog(@"printing out to the console");
    return 0;
}

//variables used same way as in C/Java
int aVariable;

//objects are declared and initialized
NSObject anObject = [[NSObject alloc] init];
//they are freed by
[anObject dealloc];

//functions go this way
methodIdentifier (returnType)functionName:(parameterType)parameterName selector:(parameterType)parameterName
{
    return somethingOfReturnType;
}
//functions are called
[anObjectTakingMessages functionName:argument selector:argument];

That’s all I can think of being basic for now. I will update this posts if I think up some more things that should be considered basic.

Alice Donovan funeral | Mother missing no more – Local …
On the seventh anniversary of her abduction and murder, Alice Donovan was finally laid to rest in a ceremony that memorialized her as a loving mother, a lover of music and a strong woman.

Spokesman.com | Blogs | Eye On Boise | Missing no more…
When the remains of 13 veterans were interred at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery last Friday, with full military honors and a formal flag-folding ceremony, it was just the latest sign that the Missing In America Project is …

Writing on your Shinai – Kendo World Forums
Originally Posted by Missingno. View Post. So if its not too personal, would you mind sharing what you write on your shinai? … Originally Posted by Missingno. View Post. Woah, I thought I said if its not too personal. …

Missingno.
Missingno.

Missing no longer
A young woman from Saskatoon missing since Wednesday has been located in Regina. Police say she was unharmed.

Alice Donovan funeral | Mother missing no more
On the seventh anniversary of her abduction and murder, Alice Donovan was finally laid to rest in a ceremony that memorialized her as a loving mother, a lover of music and a strong woman. The funeral gave the Galivants Ferry womans …

Missing NO REWARD The Pedal Pusher
Missing NO REWARD. missing-bike-in-denver. Enjoy this article? Consider subscribing to our rss feed! Filed under: Awesomeness Comments Off. Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this post ) …

Alice Donovan funeral | Mother missing no more
… gave the Galivants Ferry womans family and friends closure after a years-long struggle to find her after she was taken from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Conway in 2002. View original here: Alice Donovan funeral | Mother missing no more.

missingno.gif
Sweet_Little_Jay posted a photo. missingno.gif.

How do I find Missingno on Pokemon Diamond?
I used the Action Replay and caught the missingno and not it is an empty slot in my party and i cannot click on it. The game also freezes if i try to open up my party sometimes. Is there anyway to get rid of it using the Action Replay? I read on another question that you can use pokesav? What is that? I would appreciate any help.

How can i get rid of Missingno?
I would like a shiney mew…Lvl 1 would be nice…a code for where u get it at the mining musem…no traded mew please i want the original trainer to be me if thats ok =3…heres a list of what iwould like it…i think…this list

Game: Pokemon Diamond action replay
Pokemon Name: Mew … no cap locks please
Pokemon Nickname: no nickname please…i find them annoying
OT: Me! cus i want it to be met at mining musem so my char will b its original trainer..excuse my bad spelling
ID : uh what id is mew…leave it at ??? cus of my pokedex lol
Secret ID: no secret id plz…dont wanna mess up pokedex… lol
Level: 20 cus of mining musem
Nature: Loving…wait is this their personality?
Ball Caught in: no ball…would like it to be recieved from mining musem…or just a regular poke ball..or maybe some kinda cool ball…but no master ball please =3
Ability: ???
Trainer Gender: ???why do u need to know this X.X…my trainer gender is male…
Pokemon Gender: FEMALE PLEASE =3…o wait mew has no gender =3
Item: something to help it use physic attacks with more damage =3
IVs: ???
EVs: ???
Attack 1: i got my own attacks…thank u very much
PP: what does this mean..seriously lol
Attack 2: i will choose the attacks thank u!
PP: i still dont know what this means lol…
Attack 3: i will choose the attacks mai mew needs
PP: leave it at lvl 20 stats
Attack 4: leave it at lvl 20 stats…
PP: uh…leave it at lvl 20 stats
Met at Level: 20…cus of mining musem rules =3
Where Met: mining musem please =3
Pokerus: i have no idea what this is
Cured: i have no idea what this is
Shiny: Yes pelase a nice shiny blue mew!
Friendship: No freindship lvl..I will earn its friendship naturally
Date Met at: I would like it to be met at the mining musem as a result as a fossile! Thx =3
Hatched at: I have an egg hatching code! i will hatch it myself =3
Ribbons: none please
Contest Ribbons: no ribbins please will earn them myself
Contest Stats: please dont max them out i would lvl my stats myself!
Comes as an Egg: Would be Ok but prefer mining musem!

If u make it an egg please tell me how i get the egg if i should push left or right…or R+Left etc etc…also…Thank you for ur time/patience…if u make this code i shares it with mai many friends who want to own a shiney mew with the origial trianer being them! Yeh…be sure to paste it in the right order too…like this

Etc etc so i dont have to do too much work…i know im picky but sorry…any other codes for shiney pokemon as well would be mostly appreciated! i would also like a shiney pikachu, gyrados…excus emy spelling…and a rapidash! thx alot much appreciated! i hope that information i gave helps a little…Idc if the code is short or long..but please be very descriptive on what i have to do to get it so i dont end up with a nasty missingno X.x i would like more shinies as well!…shinies make me happy…*Drooling* Shiniesssssssss thanks again! u people who make codes rock! i will b forever ur friend if u do this for me! i will also b sure to share ur code and make sure u get recognized…no pokemon modifier please…i hear that gets u a nasty missingno X.x…u know for wild pokemon meetings etc etc…X.X…if u cant do this…it will b ok…i will have to resort to the wild pokemon modiifer then…thx again…sorry i know long read but u code makers r used to it by now right =3?Never mind, Ill just use the modifier code and the wild shiney pokeomon code if youre all gunna be like that…meanies T.T i figured it out anyways i dunt need u… and i dont do emails due to all hte freak haxers out there tryingto steals mai aswome dell….thx anyways T.T

Code for shiny mew pokemon diamond action replay please?
ok there is that missingno pokemon in the games, and i was wondering why did the creators of the pokemon games put that in there, or is it a thing they forgot to take out, because the name missing in the name missingno makes it seem like it was intended, so yeah what was the motive for missingno?

Pokemon Gameboy/DS/Advance Question?
I always wanted to have a MissingNO. in Pokemon so can anyone show me how to get it. I heard it can mess up my game but Ill risk it.

Does any one Know how to get the MissingNO. in pokemon platinum?
I have been dieing to try it but I dont want to mess anything up. Do Missingno and M mess the game up too?

Will using the Mew Glitch mess up my Pokemon Yellow game?
I Know That MissingNo Appears In Pokemon Red (I Know Cuz I Own It) But Recently Ive Been On Youtube And See A Bunch Of FireRed Videos Of Hacks And Well My Question Is

1. Is MissingNo In FireRed?
2. Are There Any In-Game Glitches? (That Dont Require A Game Shark Or Whatever)

MissingNo In Pokemon FireRed?

Is the Missingno glitch real? I dont want to start over for nothing.?
What level is missingno when he hatches out of the bad egg?

In pokemon leafgreen what lvl is missingno when you get him?
is there any way to fix it

why is it when i use my pokemon modifier in platinum it shows this lvl 0 missingno pokemon?
In the old Red verson of Pokemon you could surf up and down the side of an island and find the missingno pokemon that was al pixelated. If you ran you got inifinite slot number six

Is this still in the fire red version? If so how do I get it?

MissingNo. (????, Ketsuban), or MissingNO, is a Pokemon species found in the video games Pokemon Red and Blue. Standing for “Missing Number”, MissingNo. Pokemon are used as error handlers by game developer Game Freak; they appear when the game attempts to access data for a nonexistent Pokemon species. Due to the programming of three in-game events, players can encounter MissingNo. via a glitch. The species was first documented by Nintendo in the May 1999 issue of Nintendo Power.

Encountering MissingNo. causes graphical errors and the mass replication of the sixth item in the player’s item menu; the latter effect resulted in the glitch’s coverage by strategy guides and game magazines. IGN has noted MissingNo.’s appearance in Pokemon Red and Blue as one of the most famous video game glitches. Fans of the series have attempted to rationalize MissingNo. as canon, which has sparked discussion in sociological studies about the impact of video games upon society.

Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the Pokemon series began in Japan in 1996. The player assumes the role of a Pokemon Trainer whose goal is to capture and train creatures called Pokemon. Players use the creatures’ special abilities to combat other Pokemon; certain abilities grant new ways to navigate the game’s world, such as instantaneous travel between two areas.

Nintendo first documented the events that cause MissingNo. to appear in the May 1999 issue of Nintendo Power, with a warning that “any contact with it [...] could easily erase your game file or corrupt your graphics”. The glitch is the result of a succession of events: first, players watch an old man demonstrate Pokemon capture. The player uses a Pokemon with the Fly ability to reach the game’s Cinnabar Island location, and then a Pokemon with the Surf ability to travel alongside the island until a MissingNo. appears.

Encountering a MissingNo. Pokemon is the result of three computing events. The first is the game’s random battle encounter system: each area assigns values to Pokemon in a data buffer, which the game accesses for the player’s encounters with wild Pokemon. However, no values are assigned to this buffer on the right side of the Cinnabar and Seafoam Island locationsthe information from the previously visited area is used instead. The second factor is the old man’s demonstration, which temporarily stores the player’s name in the data buffer. This causes the game to access the hexadecimal values of the player’s name for Pokemon encounters at Cinnabar and Seafoam Island. The third factor is the game’s error handling system; if the game selects a value from the data buffer that is not an existing Pokemon, a subroutine is triggered that causes the appearance of a Pokemon named MissingNo., short for “Missing Number”.

As with any wild Pokemon, players may flee from, fight or capture MissingNo. After an encounter with MissingNo., the quantity of the sixth item in the player’s item menu is increased to 128, and the game’s Hall of Fame Pokemon gallery becomes permanently glitched. Temporary graphical glitches may also occur, which can be removed by viewing the statistics page for another Pokemon or resetting the console. A captured MissingNo. is a fully functional Pokemon, and appears in the game’s Pokemon index as number 000. All MissingNo. possess consistent abilities, type, statistics and sounds. The Pokemon commonly appears as a scrambled “d”-shape, but certain encounter values cause it to appear as one of three sprites not used by other Pokemon.

While it appeared in only two games in the series, MissingNo. has had a significant impact. Calling it a “programming quirk”, Nintendo warned against encountering it and removed it in Pokemon Yellow, an enhanced re-release of Red and Blue. Despite Nintendo’s warning, information on how to encounter MissingNo. was printed in several magazines and player’s guides due to its perceived positive effect. Certain players attempted to sell “tips” on capturing MissingNo. for up to $200. In 2009, IGN included MissingNo. in its list of the top video game Easter eggs, citing its usefulness in replicating the game’s rarer items. IGN stated in a related article, “It really says something about Pokemon fans that they took what is a potentially game ruining glitch and used it as a shortcut to level up their Pokemon.”

Players’ reactions to MissingNo. have been the subject of sociological studies. Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge stated that Game Freak created “one of the most popular glitches ever in game history”, and cited its creative usage by players. The book Playing with Videogames contains an in-depth study of MissingNo., which details players’ curiosity when encountering the Pokemon. It describes their tendency to compare notes on its appearance, and to give assessment and critique to each others’ findings. The book states that, in their attempts to canonize MissingNo. through fan art and fiction, Pokemon communities celebrated the game’s imperfections and tried to imprint themselves on series’ canon. The author described these circumstances as unique to MissingNo., and called its popularity an unusual case.

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Today, I started learning something new, i.e PYTHON. Even though I heard a lot about python from seniors and my friends, I never made an attempt to learn it. Now only I understood that its much simple than what we expect. I just started it. Since python is already installed in Ubuntu in my virtual box. I didn’t had to take pain in installing it. Its even simpler than C or C++. We need not take any burden of writing #include and all those stuffs.

For writing the first and primary program i.e the HELLO WORLD program. Just a single line of code is needed. Everyone of us may be having the same doubt as where to write the code and how to save the program for further use. We can actually type our programs in IDLE (which stands for Indegrated Development Environment) which actually immediately compiles in what ever we type in. In Windows we can open it as follows :-
1. Go to Start menu.
2. Find Python.
3. Run the program labelled IDLE.

In case of ubuntu, its even more simple. Just type python in terminal, the terminal itself act as a IDLE. We must save python programs with an extension (.py).
We can write program in usual notepad (in windows) or using gedit (in ubuntu) and save it with an extension (.py). Then in terminal, first give open that directory by cd (path) command. Then type python .py. This will give the output on the screen.

First program Hello World program code is as follows :-
print “Hello, World !”

The output of this program is :-
Hello, World !

Now let us look at some mathematical operations in python. We just need to type the mathematical expression, it will automatically evaluate the value and display the output. For example :- When we simply type 5 + 5, we will get output as 10. Similar is the case with subtraction, multiplication, division and remainder. If we give 23 % 7, It will give output as 2. In python, exponent is expressed as (**). i.e result of 5**2 is 25.

Let us look at some examples for better understanding. Here the value after the equal to sign is the output obtained.

21 / 3 = 7
But 21.0 / 3 = 7.0
Also 21 / 3.0 = 7.0
Thus there is some issues related to type of variable which I hope could be very well understood by the example given above.

Comments in python are written with a hash symbol in front of the command.
” #This is python ” – is a comment.

#A simple program.
print “Mary had a little lamb,”
print “it’s fleece was white as snow;”
print “and everywhere that Mary went”,
print “her lamb was sure to go.”

This program gives output as this :-

Mary had a little lamb,
it’s fleece was white as snow;
and everywhere that Mary went her lamb was sure to go.

VARIABLES AND STRINGS

In python variables can be used to store data values, here we need not even specify the type of variable while declaring or initializing. Simply when we give x = 5.
It creates a variable named x which stores the value 5. We can do all the related mathematical operations on these variables. Similarly, when these variables are used to store a text, then it is called a string. For example :- x = “Good”, y = “Morning” , z = “to you too !”
Then the command ” print x, y ” prints Good Morning.
When we give :-

sentence = word1 + ” ” + word2 + ” ” +word3
print sentence

We will get output as :-
Good Morning to you too!

Loops And Conditionals

Now let us look at loops and conditionals. Loop
s as usual is used to loop through a code more than once. i.e if we want to execute same code more than once, we can use loops instead of writing the same code more than once.
While loop is used to loop through a particular code, here we must be little careful about our indentation used. Unlike the C or C++ here we are not using any curly braces for representing the start and terminal of while loop, instead we are using the indentation technique for that. Syntax of while loop is :-

while {condition that the loop continues}:
{what to do in the loop}
{have it indented, usually four spaces}
{the code here is not looped}
{because it isn’t indented}

Example for its usage is :-
a = 1
while a < 6:
print a
a = a + 1
print "The loop terminating after executing code for five time. "

This gives output as :-
1
2
3
4
5
The loop terminating after executing code for five time.
Thus here indentation plays a great role in identifying which codes are part of ' while ' loop.

Conditionals are used to execute certain set of code if a particular condition is satisfied. The major conditional in any programming language is ” if ” conditional. Syntax of if conditional is :-
if {conditions to be met}:
{do this}
{and this}
{and this}
{do this even if condition is not satisfied}
{because it isn’t indented}

Example of if conditional is :-
if a 5:
print “This shouldn’t happen.”
else:
print “This should happen.”

Here we will get output as :-
This should happen.
Since the variable value is equal to one and if condition is not satisfied. Similarly,

a = 10
if a > 5:
print “Big number!”
elif a % 2 != 0:
print “This is an odd number”
print “It isn’t greater than five, either”
else:
print “this number isn’t greater than 5″

Here firstly, it will check whether a > 5, if true, it will print Big number. Otherwise, it will check for a % 2 != 0. if it is true, it will print :-
“This is an odd number”
“It isn’t greater than five, either”
Only if both if and elif statements are false, then only it will execute the else statement.
FUNCTIONS
A code serves as a program only if there is some interactions between user and program, i.e only if can perform action according to a dynamic user input. We need functions to perform this action. Functions are little self-contained programs that perform a specific task, which you can incorporate into your own, larger programs. After you have created a function, you can use it at any time, in any place. In python, there are lots of pre-made functions. They can be used by simply calling the function. Syntax of calling a function is :-
function_name(parameters)
Here the function name depends on the function which you are using and the parameters accordingly. Let me illustrate the use of functions with an example. Function raw_input is a pre-made function which asks the user to type in something and converts it into a string of texts. Example :-

# this line makes ‘a’ equal to whatever you type in
a = raw_input(“Type in something, and it will be repeated on screen:”)
# this line prints what ‘a’ is now worth
print a

Here firstly, it will ask user for an input, Then it will print whatever we have given as input.

Image : http://www.flickr.com

It’s true that homemade wind generators are a good solution if you’re sick of paying too much for electricity. As long as you live in an area that allows homemade wind generators you should look into the potential power they can save you.

The average American home uses 750 kilowatt hours each month. The simple fact is you cannot generate that much electricity from one homemade wind generator. It’s not realistic and you shouldn’t get disappointed when you’re still paying the electric company each month. As I'm sure you know your results will be as good as your investment. A big company build wind generator can cut your power bill completely, just two cheap homemade wind turbines are the trick for me. Remember, you can more than one building and you should.

The government has some great programs they can offer depending on the state or province you live Keep logged in to the local, regional and federal level CallGovernment to find out all about offering tax breaks or subsidies that affect it. Then make sure to see themselves on the net metering restrictions in your country, how much electric company pay for your economic homemade wind generators. Talk to the government and they will be happy to help!

There is a simple set-list of what to do to bring homemade wind turbine up and running. What you need to know is:

1. How much the project willbe.

2. How difficult it will be the establishment of a specific wind generator.

The key for both is finding the right plans. You can plan for homemade wind generators online with ease, but the designs are not always reliable, and understandable by the average sales person. Make sure if you are a beginner you will receive step by step plan that will show how wind turbines, which can make in your household.

Friends Link : home DIY http://diygardens.blogspot.com/ http://diyhomedepot.sabuyblog.com/

2 days in a row, now! I’m back on track *again*! Anyway, I’ve completely revamped the Games page (previously titled “Freeware”), and I’ve added some definitions of the local variables. Here’s what the updated Games page now looks like:

I’ve removed unused games such as FBalling, Horde Demo, and Pizzle Demo. BUT, I’ve added the two Ball Wars games back and put up two new games - Ratio and Pixel. Download them from the Games page. I’m hoping to start work with Adobe Flash finally so you guys can play for this site instead of always having to download.

-Nathan Wood

Interested in the United States Supreme Court? Check out the Supreme Court Database, a broad-based collection of information not necessarily targeted at lawyers. Currently, the store holds over 200 pieces of information on all cases decided between the 1953 and 2008 terms. It is a work in progress and new information is being added all the time. The proponents come from a variety of universities and colleges and a range of backgrounds.

In a sense, the database seeks to impose a structure on the pertinent data within and surrounding each decision. There is an analysis tool that allows for searching across the database using concepts and keywords. Hit the link to the codebook to view the list of variables culled from the cases, searchable using the analysis tool – it really is quite impressive.

If such analysis can be applied to the Supreme Court’s decisions, why not the lower court cases and statutory law? Sure it might take a while, but this effort could open the door to a semantic treatment of legal resources. Maybe we could even push legal research out of the approximately 15-year slump in which it is been languishing. Are you listening, Google?

Having attended the launch of the Demos pamphlet “Building Character” a couple of weeks ago, it was quite interesting to see how the findings of the report were covered in the press. Mostly, it seems, it is a sidenote in a hoo ha about lesbian parents.

I remember taking note that there was a journalist from The Sunday Times behind me. Lo and behold in The Sunday Times that week: attention grabbing headline (albeit at the bottom of the page, somewhere in the middle of the paper), “Lesbian parents better at raising children“. Assemblage of bits on lesbian parents, gay adoption, a quote from Mary Cheney, that hadn’t found a home in the print of the Times yet, spun around a quote from Stephen Scott who was on the panel of the Building Character event.

Stephen Scott of the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, which joint-hosted the event with Demos, did refer in passing to research that suggested lesbian parents were “better” than a man and a woman. Hmm, and then strangely that little juicy snippet was what was most discussed from the whole thing in the papers. Discussed by The Daily Mail and Jeremy Clarkson…

Thing is, Jeremy Clarkson’s column in The Sunday Times the next week pointed quite well to how silly it was to say that, definitively, lesbians make better parents. And (worryingly?) Clarkson was funnier than I thought he was (although still nowhere near properly funny, he was starting from a very low estimation). Similarly, a piece on the blog of the think tank Civitas questions what this research was. Civitas is a think tank that I don’t hold in very high esteem either, and amusingly all the quotes from “newspaper reports” were from that original Sunday Times article, so maybe it wasn’t as “widely reported” as Civitas insinuates. (Shame on me too for only scouring the pages of The Sunday Times for references to something I attended. At least by attending I know that Scott’s mention of lesbian parents was not in a speech *ahem, Civitas*).

Anyhow, it’s come to Clarkson and Civitas (god forbid) to asking what-the-hell-is-this-research?!?!? Shame on you, Mr. most-popular Sunday broadsheet, for such a cobbled-together article.

What I found on the NAPP website was “Evaluating the evidence: are lesbians better parents?“. This, quite rightly, tentatively concludes that:

“Although children with lesbian mothers, on average, do slightly (but significantly) better on some measures than children raised by opposite sex parents, a positive relationship with one’s father is also strongly associated with positive child outcomes… Research consistently and clearly suggests that regardless of parent gender and family structure, children who report a close and positive relationship with their mother and father are more likely to feel good about themselves and do better in school and later adulthood.” [italics in original]

The point about good parent-child relationships was the very point of the whole Building Character event where this recent lesbian parent hoo ha began. It was the point being made when this, rather distracting point, was thrown in: quality relationships matter more than family structure.

The research on lesbian parents, from what I have seen, does seem rather dubious though. I took a look at Golombok et al “Children with Lesbian Parents: A Community Study“, the first cited research in the above menioned NAPP review. Here I’d be inclined to agree with Jeremy Clarkson; “You can’t possibly draw any conclusions after testing 20 lesbians.” The sample was tiny. Not quite as tiny as 20, but a grand total of 39 lesbian-mother families.

As I, and Civitas (hmm), suspected it also appeared that the lesbian-mother families on average were of a higher socioeconomic status that the straight-mother families. The qualities of better parenting were defined as less use of smacking, greater frequency of imaginative play, etc. which also correlate well with middle-class families in general. Findings from elsewhere that daughters of lesbians are more likely to aspire to be a doctor or lawyer or “professions that were traditionally considered male” and children brought up in an all-female household are “more confident in championing social justice” (see that first Sunday Times article), could also readily be attributed to these being more middle-class traits. It does not necessarilly follow that lesbian parents are a causal factor of this “better” parenting. A common sense answer would be that lesbian parents are more likely to be middle-class and these determinants of better parenting are generally reflective of middle-class parenting. Girls from your average middle-class home want to be doctors and lawyers and were most likely not smacked either.

Elsewhere in that Sunday Times (15 Nov- I am so slow in writing stuff. Have a decent memory though) were graphs of the number of women compared to men entering the professions across the last 3-4 decades – they all steadily climbed upward. Annoyingly the graphs aren’t on the web version, but I can tell you that last year 60% of new solicitors were women. But I digress…

Yes, so this study by Golombok et al did not account for socio-economic status bearing an infuence on the results. They got some stats on the socio-economic make up of the sample, but then dismissed its importance. I think it’s important. The covariates the study accounts for are instead just the child’s age and the number of children in the family. I’m not a social scientist (yet…) but I wouldn’t agree that “no group difference was found for social class”  when about 1/10 lesbian mothers had no qualifications compared to 1/4 straight mothers. Surely it may well be something like this that has the greater impact on parenting style and children’s aspirations?

Without good longitudinal studies of gay parenting, which also factors in variables of social class and education, and is done on a much larger scale than39, we shouldn’t be making any suggestions as to lesbians being “better parents.” And refraining from slipping a remark as Stephen Scott did at the Demos launch wouldn’t go a miss either…