Friday, August 01, 2008

Maureen, The Evil Spammer


Just in case any of you are wondering, I am not an evil spammer.
I was locked out of my blog last night by Blogger because, well, here is what they said:

Hello,

Your blog at: http://maureenwittmann.blogspot.com/ has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at http://www.blogger.com/unlock-blog.g?lockedBlogID

Your blog will be deleted within 20 days if it isn't reviewed, and you'll be unable to publish posts during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. If this blog doesn't belong to you, you don't have to do anything, and any other blogs you may have won't be affected.

We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We
sincerely apologize for this error. By using this kind of system, however, we can dedicate more storage, bandwidth, and engineering resources to bloggers like you instead of to spammers. For more information, please see Blogger Help:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577

Thank you for your understanding and for your help with our spam-fighting efforts.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

I went to their Help section to see if I could figure out why my innocent little homeschool mom blog would be targeted as a spam blog:


What Are Spam Blogs?
As with many powerful tools, blogging services can be both used and abused. The ease of creating and updating webpages with Blogger has made it particularly prone to a form of behavior known as link spamming. Blogs engaged in this behavior are called spam blogs, and can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site.

Spam blogs cause various problems, beyond simply wasting a few seconds of your time when you happen to come across one. They can clog up search engines, making it difficult to find real content on the subjects that interest you. They may scrape content from other sites on the web, using other people's writing to make it look as though they have useful information of their own. And if an automated system is creating spam posts at an extremely high rate, it can impact the speed and quality of the service for other, legitimate users.

What We're Doing About Spam
Needless to say, we do not approve of spamming here at Blogger. Below are some of the things we've implemented to remove and reduce spam on our service. We will update this list as we continue our efforts.

Automated spam classifying algorithms keep spam blogs out of NextBlog and out of our "Recently Published" list on the dashboard. The same classifiers are used to require an extra word verification field on the posting form for potential spam blogs. This makes it harder for spammers to set up automated systems to do their posting, since a human needs to complete this step. The Flag as Objectionable button in the Navbar lets you notify us of problem blogs that you find, so we can review them and take appropriate action.

Click here to report spam.


". . can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site." Uh? I don't recall posting irrelevant, reptititive, or nonsensical text. And I certainly don't have a large number of links all pointing toward one site.

Ummm, could it be a conspiracy? Personally, I don't think it's a conspiracy by Google but instead more likely it's one kook (perhaps with a few friends) reporting Catholic blogs as spam to Blogger. I'm just glad I'm back up and running!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Ask Sr. Mary Martha


I've just got to add this blog to my blogroll -- Ask Sr. Mary Martha. If you haven't seen it yet, then head right on over now. I mean this very moment. She's hip and happening, and so Catholic. You'll see what I mean when you get there. Be prepared to laugh.

EBay Tips

I'm bidding on some Teaching Company titles over at ebay and so emailed my friend Tammy (the queen of ebay) for some tips:

-- don’t bid on something where the rating is less than 98%;
-- if it is lower than 100%, read the negative feedback;
-- if you can, bid at the last minute (literally – set a timer and bid when there is less than one minute left);
-- as far as Teaching Company items, you might want to check with Michele, Lorri, me (so we are not bidding against each other – hahahaha).

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Mary's Books

When you go to a lot of homeschooling conferences across the country like me, you get to know a lot of the vendors. You see them everywhere you go and soon you develop friendships. And they're all such interesting people -- making their living by serving fellow Catholic homeschoolers. There's Tom at Adoremus Books, Michele from Family-Centered Press, Fran of Illuminated Ink and Mary from Mary's Books (named for the Blessed Mother not the owner).

If you've been to a homeschool conference, you just may have met Mary. She's the one with tons and tons of used books. A virtual goldmine. A huge temptation for those of us with book-addiction issues.

Recently, Mary has taken on the task of bringing back to print books of old. She is currently working on a series of saint biographies -- In The Footsteps of Saints. Make sure to check them out. And if you see Mary at the homeschool conference tell her I say, "Hey."

Monday, July 28, 2008

Library Thing Campaign for LOL


For all of you taking advantage of Library Thing, make sure you've included For the Love of Literature and given it a rating.
If LOL gets at least ten ratings of 5 stars, it'll receive special status at Library Thing.
Cool.

Catholic Homeschooling Reviews

Have you been to the Love2Learn website lately? They completely revamped it to make it easier for you to find what you need. It's THE place to go for book and textbook reviews, whether you're a homeschooler or not. The reviewers always use their Catholic lens in writing their reviews. You'll also find all kinds of links and information on Catholic homeschooling. Go check it out:

Love2Learn: Favorite Resources for Catholic Homeschoolers and others who "love to learn"

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Not Just for Confession

Years ago I went searching online for an examination of conscience written just for teenagers. Never found one. So, I had my kid and a couple of his friends write one:

Urgent Prayer Request

Please offer up a prayer request for a special intention. I'm sorry I can't give you any details, but God knows the details. It's a desperate situation, so please ask St. Jude for his intercession. Thank you!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Baby Announcement!

Join me in congratulating Joan Stromberg and her family on their newest addition!

Party in Heaven

Super Boy saying his evening prayers:

"Dear God please help Grandma Wittmann have a really, really fun time in heaven."

I imagine she's having a blast!

Saying Goodbye

Teen Daughter One left at 5:30 this morning to travel to an international shooting sports competition in Pennsylvania. This is a biggie. The pressure is on. Not just for her, but for me. She'll be gone for eight days and I'm not with her. Don't worry though, I'm holding up okay. So far.

As for the kids:

TD1, "Bye Rose, I'll miss you!"

Princess Rose, hugging TD1 with all her might, "Oh Patty, I shall miss you horribly. I love you, I love you, I love! I miss you already. How will I get through the week! I love you with all my heart!

TD1, "Bye Sparky, I'll miss you!"

Sparky, as he walked away, "Yeah, whatever. See ya."

Friday, July 25, 2008

Cool Bread Making Videos

You'll also find more YouTube videos at The Thrifty Homeschooler. I've been blogging on bread making and plan to continue the series, with tips and recipes, for a couple more weeks. Head on over if you'd like to see a clip on easy bread making as well as a recipe or two.

And let me know if you're familiar with any other YouTube clips I should check out and share with readers.

Cool Science Videos

Still having fun with online videos. Go see at Unity of Truth.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Swimming with Otters


Last night, Rob and the kids were swimming in the pond and a river otter swam right past Princess Rose. You should have seen all the kids running up to the house to tell me. They were so excited.

They've actually seen an otter before -- in our creek at the old city house. But this was different. It wasn't a distant sighting, but a close encounter.
I uploaded the picture so you could see what the kids saw. However, I didn't take it and it's not our otter. I found it via Google Images. Here's the photo credit. Click on the picture to learn more about otters at Wikipedia.

As a side note, I still haven't found the cord to the camera. I've found 8,000 other cords, many of which I have no idea what they belong to, but not the one to charge my camera and upload pictures to the computer. So, I buckled and ordered a new one.

FYI, if you own a Kodak Share digital camera and go to four different stores you won't find a replacement cord. You'll be told it's only available directly from Kodak. Sigh. I did find it at amazon.com for $10 cheaper than kodak.com. It should be here any day and I can start sharing real life pictures from the Wittmann adventures.

Just Beyond the Backdoor

Speaking of MacBeth, she's working on a book, Just Beyond the Backdoor. It'll be about, yes you guessed it, nature studies. I can't wait until it comes out!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Regional Field Guides

I went to the MSU Extension office this week and picked up a bunch of Michigan field guides. If you're going to be doing nature studies, it's good to supply the kids with regional field guides. As my friend and naturalist MacBeth says, "That's really your best bet. This way, what you see is most likely to be easy to find in the guide."
When you go for walks take a field guide or two with you. Then when the kids spot a really neat butterfly or bird or frog, you can identify it. It makes the nature walk all the more exciting and it'll remind the kids to open their eyes and observe what is around them.

Where in the World is Matt

Okay, I know you've all probably already seen this video, but I just got high speed internet and can watch YouTube videos with ease for the first time and I'm having too much fun with it. Besides, I get the warm fuzzies everytime I watch this.



Now if I can just find where the world map is still packed so I can turn this into a school project!

H/T: MacBeth

How I'll be Furnishing My New House

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. -- Henry Ward Beecher, abolitionist (1813 - 1887)

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Environmental and Outdoor Education

Our new home is a Charlotte Mason enthusiast's dream. Our 2008/2009 school studies will be heavy on nature studies. This week I've begun laying out my plan for the year.

One place I turned for help was 4-H. They have a lot of resources available for education in the out of doors. For example, I found an 80-page guide titled The Walk: Taking Your Youth Outdoors for Environmental Stewardship and Learning. After clicking on the hyperlink, scroll down to find it. You can print it off on your home computer for free. You can three-hole punch the paper or get fancy and comb bind it. If you live in Michigan it's very possible your 4-H office offers the bound book for free, so it'd be worth a phone call to save on printing costs.

Also helpful were these study sheets to be used in wildlife identification. These I printed off on three-hole punch paper for the kids to put in their nature notebooks.
Tree Study Sheets
Wildflower Study Sheets
Rock and Mineral Study Sheets

I hope to share more with you as we move forward with this study.

ADDENDUM: The Walk is not available free from the extension office after all. It's a $14 book. So, it is cheaper to download and print.