I enjoyed reading this article. It doesn't really matter what side of the argument your opinion lands on, you should appreciate the fact that these kids were so engaged. It was simply nice to see a classroom full of kids immersed in formulating their own ideas and perceptions as opposed to just being spoon-fed someone else's opinion.

LONGMONT - Humans don't cause global warming, a jury of sixth graders at Trail Ridge Middle School concluded Thursday after hearing opposing arguments from their peers.

"They're pretty young for this kind of thinking. They did great," paleontology teacher Ken Poppe said after the 40-minute "trial" in his classroom.

With Earth's warming accepted as a tenet, pre-teen "lawyers" and "scientists" debated whether humans have caused it.

Eleven jurors listened intently as prosecutors and defendants flashed contradictory graphs tracking global temperatures, carbon dioxide levels, polar ice cap statistics, volcanic activity and sea surface temperatures - all of which were found Wednesday in the school's computer lab.

Seven of 11 jurors decided humans are not to blame, but everyone agreed classroom debates make for fun learning.

"It was a hard decision, because both sides made good points," said student Samantha Roberts.

Read the article, it was nice to see the kids argue so enthusiastically.

My own opinion? Well, personally, I'm a bit disgusted with all the fear mongering and pseudo science I see in the media, but we can absolutely be and should be better stewards of our environment. I don't understand why we can't approach the issue from that direction.

This was an interesting article that talked about how the media has been flip-flopping over global cooling and global warming now for over a hundred years.

I've received some interesting mail over the past year (concerning the Cummins family name) that I let the family blog collect dust. This was a particularly interesting one, it concerns the origins of the Cumming family, Robert (de) Comines and the Campdevine family; I thought some you might enjoy reading it.

I'll make sure that I update the family page to reflect this, but for now, I thought I should save it here for posterity as well.

Thank you, George!

Dear Mr Cummins I noted with interest your site with interest concerning the Comyn-Cumming family.

May I point out one or two inaccuracies: Comines is not located in Normandy. The town of 18,000, devasted in World War I, is divided by the Franco-Belgian border. It is located at least on the Belgian side in Flanders. On the French side, it is in the suburbs of Lille. Nothing to do with Normandy. I have visited both towns.

The arms are in fact not wheat. They are barley. In reality, the arms which were used by Robert (de) Comines are those of the Campdevine (champ d'avoine) family who were at that time the Counts of St Pol, a large region which includes Comines. Robert was either either a member of the Campdevine (champ d'avoine = field of barley) or authorised by the Count of St Pol to represent him in the Conquest. The arms of the Campdevine are undifferentiated: simply one clump of barley. The three clumps - indeed the exact arms used by the head of the Cumming family were granted by the Count of St Pol to his representative in a small town in Picardy - about 50 miles from Comines.

You may be familiar with the books of Mrs Beryl Platts who deals with the Flemish - as opposed to Norman (Robert de Brus ) components of William the Conqueror's conquest of England notably by analysing their arms.

Best wishes

George Cumming

Genealogy

Well, I suppose that I've ignored the blog long enough. It was a lot of fun when I wrote actively, but I have a lot less free time these days, and what little time I do have seems to be spoken for.

Life has been, well, life. It has been good; certainly too much to condense into a few pithy observations. We've been happy and productive. Danny is in high school now (my how time flies), the businesses are still growing (hence my lack of time), my garden is growing (that in itself is fairly miraculous) and the dogs are as playful and loveable as ever.

I'll try to keep a better presence here more often, and bring some of the website sections up to speed. There's more to share, especially in the family trees.

Best wishes from our family to yours!