This month’s feature articles:

Regular monthly features:

How to Select a Private School for Your Gifted Child
(by O.S.)

If needs of gifted children are not met in regular public schools, parents sometimes decide to send their child to a private school. Here are some things to look for:

To Kids of Parents Who Survived the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's & 70's !!
(in an email from a friend)

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have PlayStations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

CONGRATULATIONS! We might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while we are at it, forward it to your own kids so they will know how brave their parents and grandparents were.

Nov 4 – Islamic Eid al-Fitr

Nov 6 – International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict

Nov 11 – Remembrance Day

Nov 16 – Full Moon tonight

Nov 16 – International Day for Tolerance

Nov 20 – Africa Industrialization Day

Nov 20 – Universal Children’s Day

Nov 21 – World Television Day

Nov 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

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• about 21% of all workers in North America are available to employers 24/7.
• The top 10 air fresheners for cars are: Royal Pine, Bouquet, Spice, Vanilla, New Car Scent, Strawberry, Green Apple, Sunny Citrus, Rose Musk, Jasmine.
• Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs -Alexander, the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
• 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
• Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested? Obsession
• Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"? Answer: One thousand.
• Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common? Answer: All invented by women.
• Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil? Answer: Honey
• In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight."
• It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month...which we know today as the honeymoon.
• In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts.. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"
• Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

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Once you get a teaching certificate, schools are not the only places you can teach. How about getting a little more exotic by working with child stars at a movie studio?

Regulations stipulate that child stars must get an education despite the time they are working and the vast sums of money they earn. Studio teachers prepare and teach lessons to these children. It may be for a minimum of 20 minutes or, if lucky, a few hours. Creativity is a must as the lessons are not given in a normal classroom setting but at a studio instead. It will also be important to help ground these children in the realities of life so that if they don’t become adult stars they will still have something to fall back on.

Besides a lucrative salary, there are opportunities to get autographs before the young people become the stars of the future.

This is a new and very interesting field of study. As mankind goes further and deeper into outer space, there is a growing need for producing an environment that allows people to survive out there for long periods of time.

A Space Architect designs living quarters and dwellings for humans in outer space. There are many conditions that must be considered: zero gravity, radiation, fuel consumption, size of structures for transportation, human psychology affected by size of quarters and amenities, and mixed gender space travel in close confined quarters.

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Boom, Bust & Echo by David Foot. This book should be given as a gift to every graduating student. It details the consumer and aging trends that will govern what entrepreneurs should be providing for varying populations around the world in the future. It helps determine what goods will be in most demand, where to aim all forms of entertainment and what services will be most needed with aging poplulations.

The following are nominees for the Sunburst Festival’s Canadian fantastic literature award:

"The Last Light of the Sun" by Guy Gavriel Kaye.

"The Memory Artists" by Jeffrey Moore.

"The Logograph" by Thomas Wharton.

"Airborn" by Kenneth Oppel.

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Splitting Windows: This is a really useful tool when using spreadsheets and/or word processing documents that have headings top and/or bottom that need to be referred to repeatedly.

In accounting, for example, date, description, income, expense, balance may be the major headings across the top. Teachers may have a column with student names, and a row with the titles of tests, total and final marks at the top. Usually when you want to enter further down, the list in the row on top scrolls upward, and headings disappear. There is a lot of needless scrolling back and forth to make sure that entries are going into the right places.

Here is a faster way. Open an existing spreadsheet and/or word document. Click "Window" at the top click "Split". A dark line now appears and (in word processing, a ruler also appears) Note: there are now two copies of the document visible – top and bottom of the screen (but they will get saved as only one).

In spreadsheets, there is a vertical and horizontal split. To place split lines exactly where needed, hold the cursor over the line and you will see the movement symbol (double arrows) appear. Hold down the left mouse button and place the line where you want it on the sheet. To remove a line, drag it off screen left or right or up or down.

If you put the cursor in the top or bottom split section, only the text in that section will scroll up as words/sentences are entered. The other section will stay in place. The usual side scroll bars can be moved so that the top shows only one set of desired headings and the bottom part can then be filled with text. The bar can be raised or lowered by clicking and holding the left button so the cursor hovers over the line and dragging it to a new location. Uses: keep a set of headings in place at the top, comparing size and style of fonts and headings throughout a completed document, keeping a list of names in place in a left column, accounting headings

To remove the split when finished working, go to "Window" again and just click "Remove Split".

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(based on an article by Cameron Smith, Toronto Star)

Many people tend to live in a concrete world removed from anything natural. Jobs and activities relate to nothing outside of this artificial world. As a result, relationships to other things in the world diminish and/or disappear completely. Thoughts of cause and effect become almost non-existent and our society ends up with the great problems of pollution, environmental degradation and social restlessness.

Here is a simple way of connecting to the universe in a meaningful way each day.

Instructions:

1. Close your eyes and just focus on the present for a few moments.
2. Imagine being in the womb of your mother as a fetus. You are in the water and the water is in you. This is the way we begin. Appreciate the relationship for a few moments.
3. Imagine yourself in the present. You are in the air and the air is in you. Appreciate the relationship for a few moments.
4. Imagine the energy in your body. Every single cell has it. Every single atom has it. Every atom in the universe has it. You are in the energy of the universe and the energy of the universe is in you. Appreciate that for a few moments.

This is what we all have in common! We have been given the sacred mystery/gift of life and allowed to interact with all the air, water and energy of the universe on the same energy level. How are we showing honor to the giver of that life and energy and how do we show we value the gift? Perhaps by reflecting on these relationships, we can see we have a duty to perform in this world. We are not engaged in a beginning, middle and end. We are part of an ongoing story and we have a role in how that story is told. Be the best part you can be.

Here are a few ways of thinking that help us live more in context.

Nothing exists alone. Everything is a "whole" and a "part" at the same time. There is something below and something above everything. For example, a rock does not exist independently. There is a system of molecular minerals below and above it. The rock is also part of a support system for lichens and mosses that reduce it to soil for plants to grow.

Reality is more than what we can touch, smell, taste, hear, see. This reality of wholes and parts is existence and relationships. When you think about this, remember that if one part or whole is removed, the whole or part above it is eliminated! If a forest is cut down, birds are eliminated. If the ground is bulldozed clear for construction, all the worms, plants and other animals in the ground are destroyed. Ken Wilber suggests our monumental modern task is "the integration of the Big Three: person, culture and nature."

Get out of yourself. You are not alone or a separate entity in the universe. You belong to a community. Be part of it. Say "thank you" many times in the day to this community. Perhaps one day you will sense a "You’re welcome" in reply. Become aware of what you have and what you have been given by that community which consists of others and the forces of the planet and universe.

Be grateful for everything. The gift of life is being looked after by anything but you. We have power to do things but we don’t have ultimate control of anything.

We are all at the center of the universe, only if there is a universe around us. If we look at things from a personal point of view, everything in the universe moves around and in relation to us, like seeds in a rising loaf of bread. Let’s develop "planetary awareness" and do more to respect, protect, serve and appreciate and care for our community of "wholes" and "parts."

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(from an article by Reuters in Metro Newspaper)

In a poll by Variety magazine, the Beatles were considered to have been the most influential entertainers who made the biggest impact on the world in the past 100 years. This meant commercial, creative, political and social impact.

They beat out Louis Armstrong, Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Marilyn Munroe, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin, and Mickey Mouse who were the others that received votes.

"The answer to prayer is not always that we get what we want, but that we are able to handle what we receive in life." – Audrey Bonisteel.

"I believe that when you infuse the core essence of your very being with an optimistic approach, everything is possible."- Sherry Abbott

"Time is a river without banks." Marc Chagall

"If we do not have peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." – Mother Teresa

"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity." H.D. Thoreau

BOY : Since we met, I can't eat or drink...
GIRL : Why not ??
BOY : I'm broke.

BOY : May I hold your hand??
GIRL : No thanks, it isn't heavy.

GIRL : Who was that girl I saw you kissing last night??
BOY : What time was it??

GIRL : Say you love me! Say you love me!
BOY : You love me...

GIRL : If we become engaged will you give me a ring??
BOY : Sure, what's your phone number??

GIRL : Darling, I want to dance like this forever..
BOY : Don't you ever want to improve??

Jimmy : Mom, can I have two pieces of cake?
Mom : Certainly. Take this piece and cut it in two.

Sam : I hate to see a girl standing in a bus when I am comfortably seated.
Lily : So what do you do?
Sam : I close my eyes.

Teacher : Have you given the goldfish fresh water?
Pupil : No, Sir. They haven't finished the water I gave them last week.

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Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

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Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, "I’ve lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies, "Yes, I’m positive."

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