Same sex marriage pioneer, Del Martin, passed away today. She was 87 years old. She broke her arm two weeks ago, which exacerbated her existing health problems.

Her wife, Phylis Leon, was by her side.

Del and Phylis were together for 55 years, and together co-founded the nation's first advocacy group for lesbians, in 1955. Truly admirable pioneers.

State Senator Carole Migden released the following statement in response to the death:

"Del Martin slipped away from us just moments ago but her spirit and legacy will never be extinguished within the LGBT community. Del and her loving, longtime partner, Phyllis Lyon, were harbingers for change and activism long before lesbian issues became au courant and socially acceptable. All people and movements in search of true liberation owe an immeasurable debt to Del Martin who, along with other early brave souls, was determined to speak out and change the world to better the plight and lives of those whose voices are not heard. "

May she rest in peace.

Last month, Parenting Magazine featured an article about the 7 biggest driving mistakes moms make. I'm wondering if you'll be able to recognize yourself in any of them...

1. Chatting on your cell phone.

In a recent University of Utah study, the group using cell phones in a simulated environment had three accidents, while those who were inebriated had none. Why? Talking on a phone slows your reaction time (drunk drivers tend to be more aggressive, but they're not impaired the way cell-phone users are).

2. Feeling overconfident.

Of course you want to be in charge while you drive, but cockiness can lead to accident-prone maneuvers, such as tailgating, blocking another car from your lane, and speeding.

3. Driving while drowsy.

If you're driving and feel sleepy, sing out loud or roll down the window for some fresh air, and get to a safe rest area right away. Then take a walk, stretch, or nap.

4. Speeding.

30 percent of all fatal crashes are due to speeding, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).  The faster you drive, the longer it takes to slow down if something unexpected arises.

5. Snacking while steering.

One NHTSA study found that eating is nearly as distracting as reading! If you really have to eat, keep food to the side and take bites only while you're waiting at a light.

6. Attending to your kids.

7. Slacking on car maintenance.

In 2005 there were 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries due to tires that were underinflated, overinflated, or that had worn treads — which can make cars harder to handle. To be safe, you need to take care of your car, which is actually easy.

Well...I see a little bit of myself in all seven; although I'm proud to admit that I don't see as much of myself as I did in the past. I no longer speed, as I hypermile, and I don't really have to tend to my kids anymore, as they now know how to entertain themselves. I still talk on the phone, and eat while driving, but the others...not so much. At least I'm not like one of my friends who has been known to change clothes while driving, as well as shave her legs!

What about you? Do you recognize yourself in any of the "seven mistakes" mentioned? Can you think of any others? What is the most dangerous thing you do while driving?

Ugh...as for me, I still put on my make-up.

Have you ever wondered what your last wish would be? Big funeral or big party? A day of remembrance or a day of celebration? Would you like to be buried or would you rather be cremated? Do you want to lay in a casket or would you rather stand at your wake?!?!?

A 24-year-old Puerto Rican man was granted his wish to remain standing...even in death. Wha???

Meet Angel Pantoja Medina. There he is, at his own funeral, standing upright for his three-day wake. He was dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, for his funeral, where he was propped upright in his mother's living room.

Am I the only one who thinks this is beyond creepy? Would you fulfill a loved ones wish no matter how bizarre it is?

My "after shower ritual" consists of the same thing; after drying up, I mosturize...from head to toe. So you can imagine my concern after reading about a new study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, which stated that some skin moisturizers may increase the chances of getting a type of skin cancer called squaumous cell carcimona. Scientist suspect mineral oil and sodium laurel sulphate, two common additives in moisturizers are the culprit. Ugh...guess it's time to start reading labels.

On the plus side, researchers from the Monell Center used a machine called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify the precise chemical composition of a common form of skin cancer. What that means is that basal cell carcinomas could be diagnosed, using this machine, by the distinctive chemical "scent" it gives off. Interesting!

Congratulations to Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi, who have made it legal! Ellen posted the following on her blog:

You may notice something different about the way I'm writing...it's fancy. This is the font I type in now that I'm MARRIED! I do a lot of things differently now ...I say, "I do" a lot. For example: Who wants to do pilates? I do. Would you like a Mountain Dew? I do. Do you know why I pulled you over? I do. And that was just this morning.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

In related news, a non-profit organization called Let Freedom Ring, released a new commercial that doesn't mention Proposition 8, at all. In fact, "it puts viewers in the shoes of so many gay and lesbian couples who want to marry the person they love." I dare you to watch the commercial and have dry eyes by the end of it.

On a side note, I would like to apologize if I've covered news that has already been covered. I've been away for a little bit and haven't caught up on my MT reading!

So, what have I missed? What's up with you?

A recent study found that all Americans will be fat in 2048. Also expected to balloon are healthcare costs directly related to excess pounds, which will double each decade, reaching $957 billion in 2030 — accounting for one of every six healthcare dollars spent in the U.S.

A team in the University of Warwick believe that eating broccoli could reverse the damage caused by diabetes to heart blood vessels. The key is said to be a compound found in the vegetable, called sulforaphane, which encourages production of enzymes which protect the blood vessels. So, we should definately add more broccoli to our diet, or as my daughter used to call it, little trees.

What makes men cry? Some of the ten reasons mentioned ranged from "making parents proud" to "tears? What tears? It's just dust in my eyes."

Wonder what your wedding dress says about you? Click on the link and see...then share! My dress wasn't mentioned. I wonder what off the rack and cost less than $40 says about me?

A study of Microsoft's instant messaging network supports the popular idea that everyone on the planet can be connected through fewer than seven links in a chain of contacts. What that means is that YOU TOO are only six (or actually 6.6) degrees away from Kevin Bacon!

I tested it myself and found that I am only four degrees away from Kevin Bacon himself. My good friend Aneela Zaman was in Big Shots with Norma Michaels, Norma Michaels was in Wedding Crashers with Kathryn Joosten, and Kathryn Joosten was in Rails and Ties with Kevin Bacon. How many degrees away are you?

What else is in the news? What's up with you?

I got Karina a cell phone for her 11th birthday. She was going to a new school that was closer to where her father lives, and I wanted to make sure that I could reach her (or she could reach me) in case of any emergency. Was 11 too young? Probably. But she has proven to be very responsible with her phone and her minutes. Of course, I had to get her unlimited text messaging. What is it with kids and text messaging anyway?

I have a cell phone because I'm a 38 year old single mother. I have to have one. But what about kids? Should they have cell phones? And what about the recent warning by the head of a prominent cancer research institute to his faculty and staff?

Limit cell phone use, he said, because of the possible cancer risk — especially when it comes to children.

The warning from Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, was based on early, unpublished data and came despite studies that have not found a link between increased tumors and cell phone use. But it's struck a nerve among parents.

Cell phone use has become so prevalent that it's not considered odd to see a child, as young as 5, with their own cell phone, typically something with a few buttons that can be programmed with the phone number of the parents. Some of these cell phones even offer chaperon service, such as the Verizon Migo.

Migo is made to use Verizon’s optional Chaperon service that lets parents track the phone in real time on their handset or PC. For an additional charge, parents can set up boundaries for where the child can go. If the phone leaves the designated area, a text message alert will be sent to the parent’s phone. (Only certain adult handsets are capable of using this service.)

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a study conducted in 2004 revealed that 21% of those ages 8 to 10, and 36% of those 11 to 14, had phones. I'm sure the number is higher, because this report didn't even reference those younger than 8.

That's a lot of cell phones. But are they really necessary? Does a 5 year old really need their own cell phone? How about a 10 year old?

How do you feel about the cell phone phenomenon? How many cell phones are in your family? What age do you consider appropriate for your child to have their own cell phone? And does the recent health warning change your opinion regarding cell phones and children?

When I was in high school, I did my fair share of ditching. Now that Karina is starting high school in the fall, the thought that she may ditch a class has crossed my mind, and boy is it scary.

The ditching parties I attended pretty much consisted of the same things. Music, television, talking, some drinking (mostly wine coolers), and plenty of boys to make-out with. Shudder. Nothing ever went terribly wrong, except for the occasional "getting caught" by a parent. So, is it a rite of passage, like learning how to drive? Perhaps. But what about when those ditching parties that go terribly wrong?

A 15-year-old boy was just sentenced to six months in a juvenile detention center after admitting he raped an unconscious classmate in a park near the campus earlier this year.

On May 15, dozens of kids played hooky at Mason Park while the high school, just a few blocks away, conducted statewide standardized testing. Some brought alcohol.

By 10:40 a.m., three girls had passed out, presumably from drunkenness, police said. That's when the 15-year-old dragged one of the girls into the men's restroom, locked the door and raped her, even as his friends pounded on the door and others at the park called police. The boy fled, leaving the half-dressed girl on the bathroom floor.

In a plea bargain, the boy pleaded guilty to ONE count each of rape by use of drugs and rape of an unconscious person. In the plea bargain, three other felony charges were dropped, including sodomy of an unconscious victim, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an unconscious person and sexual penetration by a foreign object of a drugged victim. Since there was no mention of whether or not he would have to register as a sex-offender, I can only hope.

So, I started to worry. I mean, we can't be with our children at every moment. We can't make the "right" decisions for them. We just have to arm them with information, teach them values, and hope for the best. I had Karina read the article, and then we talked about the victim. Did she ditch knowing what was going to happen to her? Doubtful. Did she think she was safe because she was with friends? Highly likely.

Scary, I know.

What about you? Did you ditch? Do you think it's a rite of passage? Have you talked with your children about ditching? How have you or how will you arm your child with information that can shelter and protect them, but at the same time let them make their own decisions and learn from them?

According to this article, if you're overweight and can't manage to lose weight, your friends may be to blame. A study of more than 12,000 people found that when a person becomes obese, their friends are 57% more likely to also put on weight. So I guess the secret is, wanna lose weight? Have skinny friends.

New York women dominated Vanity Fair's best-dressed list. Among those mentioned were Sarah Jessica Parker (the only actress listed) and Ivanka Trump. Also mentioned, although not from the big apple, was First Lady hopeful, Michelle Obama.

Want to find out if your friends are toxic? Take the quiz! I took it, and found that I could have it worse! At least they're fun to be around!

I know from previous posts that many Mothertalkers have tattoos. I have four. My first tattoo was something I picked off a book and got when I was in my late 20's. It's a tiny 2" sun in the center of my lower back. I have three others that are more personal, one is on my right shoulder blade, the other on the inside of my right wrist, and the last one on my right pelvic bone. But according to this article, women (more often than men) regret their tattoos.

"We saw that for women there is still some negative societal fallout to having tattoos", said study author Myrna L. Armstrong, a professor in the school of nursing at Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center, in Lubbock, Texas. "This isn't a problem for men. Society supports men, because tattoos are related to a macho image, so we don't question it. But for women, having a tattoo seems to be a transgression of gender boundaries."

Of the 196 patients who sought tattoo removal that were surveyed, more than half said they got their tattoos betweeen ages 16 and 23. 44% said they got their tattoos to feel unique, 33% said it made them feel independent, and 28% said it made their life experiences stand out.

As for the reasons why they wanted to remove their tattoos, the most popular answer with 57% was because it caused them embarrassment.

But regardless of motivation, perhaps the most striking statistic was the gender ratio of the patients seeking tattoo removal: 69 percent women versus 31 percent men. The observed gap was a big shift from the breakdown of an earlier study the research team had conducted in 1996, in which more men then women had been seeking tattoo removal.

I can understand the stigma associated with women and tattoos, which is why I thought really long and hard about the placement of my tattoos. If I wanted to show them off, I could...and if I wanted to hide them, I could do that too.

What about you? How many tattoos do you have? Are they strategically placed? Do you want more? Or do you regret the ones you have?

Please join me in wishing my niece, fellow MotherTalker and the little sister I never had, a very happy 33rd birthday.

Erika, I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and that all your hopes and wishes come true!!

Happy birthday!!

When I was growing up in the 70's, I had my share of dolls, which included the Baby Come Back doll. As you can see, this doll DOES NOT look Mexican. In fact, I don't think there were any dolls that were racially diverse then. My choice of dolls were either black or white, there was never anything in between. I never questioned it, and never realized how important it could be to have a doll that looked like me.

Since then, there has been a wave of racially diverse dolls, with the message being the importance of a doll resembling it's child owner. Hence the new and controversial Disability Dolls. The Down's syndrome doll comes with a horizontal crease in the palm of the hand, the ears set low on the head, a flattened bridge across the nose, and a slightly protruding tongue. The doll is designed with the aim of giving children with Down's a toy that reflects them, as they are. There are also dolls with prosthetic limbs, walking frames, hearing aids, "blind" dolls complete with guide dogs, and heart surgery doll, with a heart surgery scar.

Helga Parks, who manufactures Down Syndrome Dolls, stated that she noticed the difference in her late niece, Angela, who had Down's syndrome, when she was given one of these dolls. Angela pointed at the doll and said: "This is me."

"It was very touching," Parks says. "It made me realise how important toys like this are to help build self-esteem for kids with Down's."

Helga is now producing hairless dolls -

"Chemo Friends" - for children undergoing chemotherapy. The dolls come with a built-in port below the collarbone, which Parks says makes it easier to explain, for example, a catheter to a sick child. There is also an "Anatomical Teddy", which has an oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, liver, bladder, anus and rectum, so that medical procedures can be explained in a less frightening way to children undergoing surgery.

However, these dolls have their skeptics.

Some professionals have their reservations. Jenni Smith, a chartered educational psychologist in London, says: "I feel that children who have disabilities, including children with Down's syndrome, tend to see themselves as ‘like everyone else' and to offer a toy that ‘looks like them' may only emphasise the difference."

There was also a mother of a Down's syndrome girl who stated that dolls are a way of escape into a world of fantasy and make-believe, and finds these dolls "freakish" and "offensive".

I think these dolls are adorable and could be a vital asset in explaining some of the procedures, as well as having something the child can relate to. What do you think? Are these dolls useful? Or are they freakish and offensive? Would you consider purchasing a doll like this?

I made my first big camcorder purchase when the kids were little. I spent over $500 on a Canon Elura, that worked beautifully...for the first 1 1/2 years. After that, it just died. I went online to see if I could find a place that could fix the problem and discovered (after reading reviews) that everyone experienced the same error message I had. That was an expensive mistake.

Because my kids are still young, and I would love to preserve as much as I can, I am in the market for a new camcorder. I was happy to have the opportunity to review the Flip Mino Camcorder. I had heard so many good things about the Flip Camera, that when I realized that a new model made it's debut in June 2008, I was excited to review it. The camera retails for $145.54 at Amazon.com.

The original Flip Ultra, has become a popular little gadget and quickly became the No. 2 best-selling video camera (No. 1 belonging to the Sony DVD61010 Camera). The new version is 40% smaller, holds 2GB of on-board flash memory, which translates to 60-minutes of video, has rechargeable batteries that charge by plugging the camcorder's USB arm to a computer, and provides more than four hours of recording time on a single charge. It has touch-sensitive buttons to record, play, fast forward, rewing, pause and delete, and a 1.5-inch anti-glare LCD display.  The best part (for me anyway) was the easy to use, previously installed software that enables publishing to networking sites. The software is so easy to use, that you can email videos and video greeting cards, create custome movies with your own music, capture still photos from the videos, as well as save and organize videos on your computer.

The company that manufactures the Flip camera have prided themselves in making this camera as easy to use as possible, with no extra bells and whistles, which I can appreciate. My previous camera came with a couple of fat little books detailing the many features, that even after attempting to read them, could not fully understand. It was too confusing for me to follow. The Flip Mino is small, easy to use, convenient, but...it doesn't zoom. The video would be PERFECT, it it could only zoom.

I decided to wait until my son's Michael Jackson Mania dance recital to use the Flip Mino. We were sitting about eight rows back, and I zoomed as much as I could...but as you can tell, it wasn't quite close enough.

He's the only boy in the middle of all those girls:

Click here to see the video of Cristian

(Yes, that is me screaming!!)

What do you think? How do you preserve the memories of your kids growing up? Do you own a camcorder? Do you take a lot of video footage? Do you own a flip? What is your experience with it? Do you agree with me that the zoom feature should be an added Important feature?