Lol Marshall. This from The Times (London) is another example of benefits of govm't intervention. Perhaps the yuppie set will be required to install multiple solar panels for their multiple water heaters. November 09, 2004 Spain makes solar panels mandatory in new buildings By David Sharrock SPAIN wants to take advantage of its sunshine by making solar panels compulsory in new and renovated buildings  to save fuel costs and to improve the environment. Jose Montilla, the Industry Minister, has announced that from next year, anyone who intends to build a home will be obliged to include solar panels in their plans, with the aim of turning Spain from a straggler to a European leader in the use of renewable energy. With the price of oil rising above $50 a barrel (£27), solar energy could produce savings of at least Â80 (£50) a year on fuel to heat domestic water supplies per household, and reduce greenhouse gases, the Government said. But critics of the GovernmentÂs plans say that the installation of solar panels would increase construction costs by between Â1,100 and Â1,400 per dwelling. Property prices have doubled since 1999 as part of a housing boom in Spain which shows no signs of cooling. The new construction regulation will affect more than half a million new houses a year, if the current pace of construction is maintained. The Socialist Government, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Prime Minister, is seeking a tenfold increase in the area of solar panels in use in Spain by the year 2010, from the present total of 581,000 sq metres. Spain lags far behind Germany, EuropeÂs current solar energy leader, where 5.4 million sq metres of solar panels are currently in use. But in spite of its low domestic usage, Spain is one of the worldÂs biggest manufacturers of solar panels. According to official estimates, installation of solar panels in 3.5 million dwellings built in the past five years in Spain would have yielded a fuel cost saving of Â245 million. Señor Montilla promised subsidies to encourage further take\-up of solar panels and to ease the financial pain of the new measure, but he did not give further details. A single two\-metre solar panel on the roof of a home can cut its water\-heating bills by up to 70 per cent a year, according to government estimates. Three years ago Seville, the Andalusian capital, introduced the same measure which the Government now intends to adopt nationwide.

I just received one from Stonebridge Life Ins. Co. regarding "Epsilon's breach" in security. However, the email I received asks for no reply. Seems just to be a notification of the Epsilon problem. It reads as follows: "Epsilon Email Issue We were recently informed by Epsilon, a marketing vendor used by Stonebridge Life Insurance Company and its affiliates to send emails, that an unauthorized third party gained access to email files of a number of Epsilon�fs clients, including our email lists. For your security, you are receiving this notice from us because Stonebridge Life Insurance Company or its affiliates has sent you information via email in the past using Epsilon as our vendor. What information was accessed? Your email address and first name has been accessed. No other personal information regarding you was accessed. How does this impact you? In all likelihood, this will not impact you. However, we recommend that you continue to be cautious of unwanted emails, emails that contain links with potential viruses or emails prompting you to provide personal or financial information. We urge you to be cautious when opening links or attachments from unknown third parties. What is Epsilon doing about this? Epsilon has notified us that they have identified the cause of the breach and have taken the necessary steps to prevent additional data access. Epsilon has reported this incident to the appropriate authorities for investigation. We sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience this may have caused you. Your privacy and the security of your information is a top priority for us. Sincerely, Stonebridge Life Insurance Company and its Affiliates 2700 West Plano Parkway �� Plano, Texas 75075-8200" The above email from Stonebridge made it past my McAfee and personal IP spam filters. I assume it was able to do so as there was no real phishing contained therein? I really didn't think much about opening the email since I receive both personal and business emails through my email address. I think I have been lulled into a false sense of security, relying on McAfee and my IP spam filter to catch spam. Our IP spam filter is so diligent/effective that I have to review the daily reports with a fine tooth comb as emails that I do want to receive have gotten caught up in the IP spam filter. That said, I am fairly certain that I haven't communicated with Stonebridge Life Insurance for any reason, either through the business or personally. Thanks so much for posting this information!

"I didnt say she posted the positive side, I said she posted a biased view, and the entire article had some other points. For example, where the article said SM was a bit of a misnomer, and it might be better for a SM to forget the mother in the name, and be more like an aunt." It did have other points you are right, but what is wrong with putting the ones on there that will lift the group. Also, I completely disagree with the act as an aunt role idea. I do not pretend to be the BM of my son, but at my home I AM the mom and I refuse to go back and forth between roles. This is easier in my family since my SS was young and excepting of me when DH and I got together. The aunt role would work better (IMO) for someone coming in later in the child's life. IMO I am a parent to my SS regardless of step or bio and I will act as such. "I do regard my DD as a victim of divorce. I am not aware of any study that doesnt put children of divorce at a disadvantage to children in intact families. And she certainly didnt cause the divorce". I did not say they are not victims. However, it is not a good idea, IMO, to go around considering yourself or your kids as victims, at least not to them, or they will always pitty themselves instead of learning from the situation that they have been put in. I agree that it is not fair to them and is definitely not an ideal situation to be in. I did say that with the way you and others act about second marriages it is almost like you are disregarding the fact that other children are born out of these second marriages and that they could be put in this situation to. Do you not understand that by constantly telling everyone that statistically they are more likely to fail than succeed in a second marriage it comes off as you almost hope we do, our kids bedamned. Also, I completely agree that kids of divorce are at a disadvantage to kids in a intact family. Unless, that intact family is an unhappy one in which they are better of in a divorce situation. "I think the point about second marriages failing is taken out of context. Its more about Dad should have more a role, as child may end up with serial SMs." You are generalizing here. Dads are not the only ones who do this. In fact, in my own person experience my DH and I have been together for quite a while and I was the first and only serious relationship he had after his divorce. His ex wife has been involved in a serious relationship off and on since right after they seperated. Between her and her long-time bf's fall outs she has had many bfs who my son has had to stay with, be babysat by, and all sorts of other situations where there were serial SDs.

Great article. I've been an advocate for "dirty living" for years. I use water for most of my cleaning up of surfaces. I use dish soap for cleaning the sink and toilets. I NEVER use bleach unless an animal has had an accident on the floor. I don't let animals in the living area of the house though, gave that up years ago. We have livestock on our farm. The kids grew up in the mud and hay. They rolled around with the dogs, but outside :) I think lately I have trended toward "cleaner" in some regards, but less in others. I buy local organic vegetables during the growing season and really don't want to wash them too much, so that I can benefit from the local bacteria. But I do shower daily when I work and wash my hair daily for work. On my long weekend I am on a different shower schedule though, because I have always felt that "dirt" was good. My kids have been very healthy all their lives and we have never had allergies. So some of my thoughts on the subject. I remember years ago while at an airport I was waiting for the plane to arrive with my oldest son. I was sitting and watching 2 young school aged children play as they waited with their mother. They both were messing around with the webbed aisle barrier that was up. They both experimented with the webbing with their tongues. I watched and thought there was probably an evolutionary drive for children to lick things foreign. I just smiled. They were inoculating themselves.