SENIOR NET NEWSLETTER 3/12/00

Well this will conclude the Irish stuff for this year.  I was getting tired of the green, even though it is my favorite color; that is for most things except hair and steak.  I hope you enjoyed the content of the last three newsletters.  My intent was to educate the "UnIrish" and to inform and entertain the readership.                                                             There was no intent to embarrass or offend.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE:
Tuesday 3/14/00 @9:00 AM
Tuesday Newbies (first session of six sessions)
This class is full.  The next Tuesday Newbie class for beginners is scheduled to begin 5/25/00.   The next Wednesday class starts April 5. There will be a $12.00 per course charges for these classes.  Class size is limited.   Interested participants should pre register.  This is a very basic course in computer techniques for the internet.   Skills taught in the beginner classes include mouse techniques like drag and drop, plus very beginner basics for email and browsing the Web.  Mike Foust will provide the leadership for this class.
It is not necessary for attendees to have their own computers but it sure helps with the learning curve.

Wednesday 3/15/00 @9:00 AM
Wednesday group of Senior Net Learners:  We are soon to put a wrap on the Home Page development.  We will do a quick refresh on Backgrounds, Pics, Hard Lines, Targets, Hot Links, midi files and tables.  The new challenges will be Finding and Saving art to the hard drive and to floppies and we will learn how to place an email link on the home page.  The techniques used to do Home Pages require the very basic understanding of Window techniques like saving files, creating folders, copy, paste, etc. in addition to the challenge of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).   Please suggest ideas for future sessions.   Topics suggested include ZIP and MS Dos sessions.  New participants are always welcome.  It is not necessary for attendees to have their own computers but it sure helps with the learning curve.  Mike Foust will provide the leadership for this session.
Intermediate computer knowledge and Intermediate computer skills are necessary.

Wednesday 3/15/00 @ 1:00 PM
Wednesday Newbies (fourth session of six sessions)
This class full.  Interested participants should pre register for the Tuesday group beginning April 25 or the next Wednesday Newbies scheduled for April 5. There will be a $12.00 per course charge for this class. Class size is limited so interested participants should pre register. This is a very basic course in computer techniques for the internet.   Skills taught in the beginner classes include mouse techniques like drag and drop, plus very beginner basics for email and browsing the Web. Bianca Barbaro will provide the leadership for this class.  It is not necessary for attendees to have their own computers but it sure helps with the learning curve.

BET YA DIDN'T KNOW THIS:
St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints.  Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone's Irish. There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.
Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.
As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.
During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote  "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same."  "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."
Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.
He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."  He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.
 Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick
converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.
Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached  and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message.
Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).   Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love
for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died   March 17, 461.
He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.
Why a shamrock?
Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.
In His Footsteps:  Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.

SPECIAL IRISH RECIPES:
Irish Stew -- Ingredients: 1 lb lamb (or beef,can be substituted), 3 lbs potatoes, 1/2 lb carrots, 1/2 lb parsnips,  2 or 3 onions, Oil for sauteeing, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 cups liquid (stock from the bones if you have time to make it:
or a combination of meat stock, wine and water, whatever flavourful liquid you have to hand).   Salt, pepper, 5 bay
leaves, 1 tsp basil [Optional] 1/2 cup barley and an extra cup of liquid. (Note: this makes a vegetable-rich stew. For the more traditional meat-rich stew, increase the proportion of meat to vegetables. You can also add turnips if you like them).
Method: Cut meat into 1-inch cubes. Brown the onions and the meat with a bit of oil. Slice up the carrots and parsnips . Saute them for a few minutes and then add just a little bit of brown sugar to glaze them. Meanwhile, be peeling and slicing the potatoes. Slice small potatoes in four, big ones in 6 or 8 pieces. Stick them in a casserole dish with the meat and onions, and add the liquid. If desired, add some barley, but only a small amount (a handful), as it swells up a lot, and add the extra liquid. Add salt and pepper, a few bay leaves, some basil and other herbs if you want. Cover the dish and bake the potatoes and meat in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes, then add the carrots and parsnips. (If you just want to leave it cooking, you can add everything at the same time). It needs to cook for about 1 or 1.5 hours, it's ready when the potatoes are tender. Mash some of the potatoes in the liquid when you're eating it, very delicious!

Pearce Ward's Mother's Brown Bread -- INGREDIENTS: 4cups wholewheat, flour, 2 cups white flour
1 T baking soda (sift and blend).    1 tsp white vinegar, 1 egg, 1 Litre buttermilk  Mix together.
Method:  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients while mixing until the dough just holds together (not too wet).
Turn out onto floured board. Shape into round loaf (don't knead it too much).  Bake at 350F for around 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  Wrap in Irish linen tea towel and let cool (until just warm enough to melt butter).   Slather with said butter and big whacks of cheese.

Brown Soda Bread  -- INGREDIENTS:  1 3/4 cups white flour, 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour,  3 Tbsp wheat
germ, 3 Tbsp wheat bran, 2 Tbsp oats, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp chilled butter,
cut up, 2 cups buttermilk.
Method:  Heat oven to 425 F. Butter loaf pan. Combine all dry ingredients, mix well. Rub butter in with fingertips until texture of fine meal. Stir in buttermilk. Put dough into pan. Bake about 40 minutes, until dark brown and tester inserted in center comes out clean. Turn bread out and cool.

Roast Carrots -- Ingredients: 2 lbs carrots, Butter, 2 Tbsp chicken stock, if desired Mint (fresh if available, dried if not), Salt and pepper, Fresh parsley
Method:  Scrub the carrots. Chop them in two or three pieces lengthwise, then chop each piece in half or in quarters through the centre of the carrot.  Put carrots in a baking dish, add butter (plenty of butter for optimal taste, or a small amount of butter and some chicken stock for a healthier dish). Add the mint and salt and pepper.
Add the mint and salt and pepper. Bake, covered, in a medium oven (350) for about 50 minutes, stirring once or twice. Serve with chopped parsley.  Good with roast meat.

Potato Pancakes: -- INGREDIENTS:  3 Boiled potatoes, 2 tsp flour, 2 Tbsp milk, Butter, salt and pepper.
Method:  Peel and cook the potatoes, or use leftover boiled potatoes. Mash potatoes well, and add the flour and milk until mixture is moistened but not wet. Mash in the butter, salt and pepper. Shape into disks about 4 inches wide, and fry in a saucepan with butter over medium heat until browned and heated through. Serious comfort food.

Convalescent Lemon and Honey Drink: This is the drink that your mother gives you at night when you have a cold or flu. Great for sore throat, congestion, general achiness, and to help you sleep. Ingredients:  1/4 cup of lemon juice (fresh-squeezed or concentrate), 1 tsp honey (or more to taste), About 7 whole cloves, Irish whiskey (to taste), 3/4 cup boiling water, Mix all the ingredients together, and drink at bedtime. Works wonders!

MOVIE DATABASE:
Did you ever find yourself in a conversation saying, "that actor who looks like the guy who starred in the movie about the snakes"? Here's a site that can help you with movie info of all types, past and present. There's a database with a search engine for titles, actors, characters, quotes, bios, and plots.  Find out what's opening this week and what's hot at the box office. Get a recommendation from the robot, and read about the goofs they never caught in your favorite films. Answer a poll, watch a trailer, read some news about the stars. All this, and a lot more, coming to a monitor near you.
 The Database

MOTHER OF SEARCH ENGINES:
Billing itself as the "mother of all search engines", Mamma.com is a meta-search engine. That is, it sends your search words out to other search engines at the same time, receives the results, eliminates redundancies, and then lists them for you.  The advanced search engine lets you choose which engines--including Yahoo, Northern Light and HotBot. You  can also choose how long to wait for results. A shorter wait will cut off any engines that don't report in time.
 The Search Engine

A CUTE ONE:
You will want to borrow these graphics.  Freddie the frog is very talented.  Actually anything that exercises like Freddie is talented.
 Exercise with Freddie:
 
 

SOME CUTE ONES: Of course they will be Irish.  No offense intended please.
McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the Irishman started to leave. "S'cuse me," said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done. "What was that all about?"  "Nothing," said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives."

Two Irishmen were digging a ditch directly across from a brothel. Suddenly, they saw a rabbi walk up to the front door, glance around and duck inside.
"Ah, will you look at that?" One ditch digger said. "What's our world comin' to when men of th' cloth are visitin'
such places?"
A short time later, a Protestant minister walked up to the door and quietly slipped inside.
"Do you believe that?" The workman exclaimed. "Why, 'tis no wonder th' young people today are so confused, what with the
example clergymen set for them."
After an hour went by, the men watched as a Catholic priest quickly entered the house.
"Ah, what a pity," the digger said, leaning on his shovel. "One of th' poor lasses must be ill."

When Jock visited London for his holidays, he stayed at a big hotel. However, he didn't feel that the natives were very friendly. "At threeo'clock every morning," he told a friend, "they hammered on my bed-room door, on the walls, even on the floor and ceiling. Sometimes they hammered so loudly I couldna hear myself play the bagpipes."

Q. What does an Irishman get after eating Italian food?
A. Gaelic breath.