I wrote a couple of days ago about a court decision in Canada that came down against a birth father's rights, and today the Vancouver Sun takes the story further.

Taking no issue with the Supreme Court Judge, suggesting that any other ruling would have, "rendered superfluous the specific sections of the act that detail when a birth father must be notified," the article instead points out serious flaws in the adoption act and calls for changes.

Further afield, I love the story of Jimmy Carter's shouting match in Sudan, where the 83-year-old was having none of it when some national security guy stopped him from going into a town and talking to people.

Shall I mention that once again the same old numbers ... 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven out of their homes ... have been trotted out, causing me to wonder all over again why they stopped counting so long ago.

My daughter sent me an interesting story about her boss that deserves a mention. He's trying to get science and technology into American schools in a way more appropriate for today's students, and what he has to say makes a lot of sense.

Jim Goodnight is co-founder and CEO of SAS, a huge software company, and remembers well how the Russian launch of Sputnik mobilized the US toward emphasis on science that has everything to do with the technology we take for granted today.

Lacking a clear and present danger, the American education system is not mobilizing to support science, technology, engineering and math. Today’s generation of kids is the most technology savvy group that this country has ever produced. They are born with an iPod in one hand and a cell phone in another. They’re text messaging, e-mailing, instant messaging. They’re on MySpace, YouTube & Google. They’ve got Nintendo Wiis, Game Boys, Play Stations.

Their world is one of total interactivity. They’re in constant communication with each other, but when they go to school, they are told to leave those “toys” at home. They’re not to be used in school. Instead, the system continues teaching as if these kids belong to the last century, by standing in front of a blackboard.

Actually, many things haven't changed since the century before the last century and the wave of the future may be a backwards, over-the-shoulder one on its way by.

While I'm using family connections for news, I'll mention that my brilliant 8-year-old niece who has read her local library dry and is always on the lookout for new mental material to keep her interested has recommended ... in the gazette she publishes online and sends out to family members and friends ... a series called "The Ranger's Apprentice books. If you have a voracious reader in your house, you might well take a look at this collection. There is, of course, an adoption theme, since there almost always seems to be these days.

And if your kids tend to be glued to the TV rather than nose-down in books, you might find some comfort in this feature from the BBC ... yes, a television organization, I know ... about a Johns Hopkins study that says toddlers who watch too much TV may suffer behavioral issues, but the damage can be undone if viewing is cut back by the time the kids are five.