This month’s feature articles:

Regular monthly features:

"Kramer (1985) found that teachers were usually able to identify gifted boys, but were often surprised to learn that a girl was considered smart. The gifted girls in her study were very successful at hiding their intelligence and in silencing their voices. In another analysis of research about adult perceptions of girls' intelligence, Myra and David Sadker (1994) stated that "study after study has shown that adults, both teachers and parents, underestimate the intelligence of girls" (p. 95). Kissane (1986) found that teachers are less accurate in nominating girls who are likely to do well on the quantitative subtest of the SAT than they were in naming boys who were likely to achieve a high score. Research also indicates that teachers like smart girls less than other students. Similar findings emerged in a study by Cooley, Chauvin, and Karnes (1984). Both male and female teachers regarded smart boys as more competent than gifted girls in critical and logical thinking skills and in creative problem-solving abilities, while they thought smart girls were more competent in creative writing. Male teachers viewed female students in a more traditional manner than did female teachers, perceiving bright girls to be more emotional, more high strung, more gullible, less imaginative, less curious, less inventive, less individualistic, and less impulsive than males.
Teachers have been found to believe and reinforce one of the most prevalent sex stereotypes-that males have more innate ability, while females must work harder. Fennema (1990), commenting on the role of teacher beliefs on mathematics performance, reported that in a study she conducted with Peterson, Carpenter, and Lubinski, "teachers selected ability as the cause of their most capable males' success 58% of the time, and the cause of their best females' success only 33% of the time. They also concluded that even though teachers did not tend to engage in sex-role stereotyping in general, they did stereotype their best students in the area of mathematics, attributing characteristics such as volunteering answers, enjoyment of mathematics, and independence to males. Recent research has indicated that some teachers seem to expect less from females than they do from males, especially in regard to achievement in mathematics and science. Girls may internalize these lowered expectations very early in life. "

Start-of-Year Personal Life Evaluation
(by O.S.)

At the end of a fiscal year, businesses usually do an evaluation of their efforts. With a new year upon us, it might be valuable to do an honest, frank and personal evaluation of the state and quality of our own lives too. Here are some questions to ponder and reflect upon:

Self

• What have I added to my life this year – intellectually, physically, and spiritually? (meaningful reading, arts, music, exercise, motivation, healthy eating, getting to know the universe, what am I like as a person?)
• What did I do to show love for myself? What did I do to show love for others? (This is not a matter of selfishness. It is not what you don’t do. It is what you actually do demonstrably.)
• What shows that I love and am loved by others?
• What did I want this year and what did I really need? (vain and superficial vs. substance and depth.) Did I choose to not afford something? (did you say no to yourself?)

Others

• What do I do to show that I value the time of others? (return calls, thank people, be on time for meetings, etc.)
• What people have I injured or harmed in some way that I should reconcile with? (used harsh words, physically abused, ignored, rejected, neglected them, lied to them, hurt their feelings, thought the worst about them)
• What did I do to help others that were in need? (e.g. neighbours, in schools, leaders of all kinds, local community – giving of my time and/or expertise and/or physical effort. (NOTE: no matter how much you gave, donating money doesn’t count as an answer to this question)
• What people have I honoured and thanked in some way – or need to - because of what they did for me this past year? (not just close friends and relatives. How about those who perform in the public services that are taken for granted or criticized by us and the media)

Planet

• What am I doing to show that I am worthy of continuing to live on this planet? (Thomas Berry – "We are a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.")
• What did I do to show respect for ALL life around me? (think about plants, insects and animals in neighbourhoods and in lawns –things we usually spray, poison, kill, eradicate, ignore, hurt through carelessness, kill by pollution, destroy habitats)
• What efforts have I really made to reduce, reuse and recycle and be a helping partner of nature? How have I reduced my demands and the strain on nature and the resources of the world?

Jan 7 – Orthodox Xmas

Jan 10 – Islamic Eid al-Adha Celebration

Jan 11 – Sir John A. MacDonald’s birthday (first Canadian Prime Minister - 1867)

Jan 14 – Full Moon tonight

Jan 14 - Mahayana Buddhist New Year

Jan 25 – Robbie Burns Day (Scotland)

Jan 29 – Chinese New Year

Jan 31 - Hijra - New Year - Islam

Tidbits of Trivia
(thanks to one of our readers for these)

• Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
• Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
• Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
• There was nothing to stop things from falling into houses with thatched roofs. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
• The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor."
• The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."
• In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
• Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
• Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
• Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
• Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
• England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

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A robotic space probe called "Stardust" that flew by the comet "Wild 2" will be returning to Earth this month.

It has been in outer space for 7 years and has flown about 2.9 billion miles. While near the comet, it collected dust particles and will be bringing them back to Earth. In order to get to the comet, the spaceship went halfway to Jupiter.

The studies of the dust will give astronomers clues, perhaps, about how planets formed what is believed to be about 4.5 billion years ago.

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"Holistic veterinary work aims to make your pet as healthy as he or she can be and gradually build up their body to the best that it can be. We are working with the immune system and not against it and aiming not just for health, but also for resistance to disease. This can take time and some animals will never be totally free of adverse characteristics, but should live longer and healthier lives, with greater ability to fight off disease instead of being victim to whatever comes around. In practice this means an animal can have a so-called fatal illness but have an immune system that with the right homeopathic trigger can overcome the illness. … Drugs, poor nutrition, constant vaccinations, chemical treatments for fleas and ticks all undermine the immune system and should be avoided as much as possible. …Suppressive drugs such as antibiotics and cortisone leave it weaker than before, although may have to be used in certain life threatening situations. In practice a homeopathic remedy will be prescribed for your individual pet, and over a period of time, which depends upon how serious the condition is, there should be a gradual return to health and well-being. …But the results should be a much healthier animal who lives a long and healthy life as is possible.

Getting good at reading the animals, perfecting the timing and closeness to animals, knowing how animals buck and kick are all part of the job. There is also a lot of travel from one rodeo to another.

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Wrong Place, Wrong Time
(from an article from Associated Press in the Toronto Star)

On November 14^th, a poor sparrow had to be shot by an exterminator after it knocked over 23,000 dominoes during a world record attempt in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.

The bird flew into the exposition centre where employees of a television company had already spent weeks setting up more than 4 million dominoes. The record attempt for the official Guinness World Record for falling dominoes was held on Friday, November 18^th.

What prevented the total collapse as the bird flew into them, was a system of 750 built-in gaps that prevented the fall of all the dominoes. The previous record set last year, held by the same group, was 3,992,397 and this time there would be 4,321,000.

When the news got out, a Dutch radio station offered a reward to anyone who could topple all the dominoes before the record setting day. The contestants were even threatened on web sites that sprung up rapidly afterward to discuss the issue.

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Replacing Mistakes in Documents: Press "Control" and "F" key to find key words or locations in any documents, spreadsheets, internet pages, any writing on screen. Use "Replace" to change one or all words/wording in the document. Even spaces can be replaced with no spaces when using the two active lines. Use the space bar to enter a blank in the replacement line. Unwanted symbols, etc. can be easily erased from the whole document by replacing them with a blank. Even blanks can be replaced with a no blank.

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Some of the world’s biggest advertisers are in the process of getting consumers to advertise for them free of charge. How? Viral advertising.

The marketing strategy counts on internet users to spread the word by word-of-mouth methods to others. Most people are already involved without even knowing it. Jokes, pictures, interesting stories are mailed to friends and family who then send them on to others. Eventually millions of people are exposed to the email. If done correctly by companies, all those emails become advertising and will not be labeled as spam.

More companies want you to do the same for them – for free, of course. This is somewhat subversive and companies can get negative reactions but it is possible to hide themselves well and direct fans to what is for sale.

Here is an example: Microsoft launched a game "Halo 2" by directing fans to a beekeeper’s website that appeared to be hacked with secret related information about the game. Gamers discussed this on message boards, questioned and speculated. The word spread. Microsoft remained silent. The site then had a serialized radio drama about the story within the game. New chapters were revealed when fans answered clues delivered over public pay phones. Only participating players could reveal the whole story.

Did this work for Microsoft? The sales on the first day were higher than that of a feature movie.

Volvo automobile makers set up a website which told a story about some people who supposedly bought new Volvos. When the site was closed, a pop-under ad directed the visitor to a contrived documentary which debunked faux Volvo claims. Volvo broke all of its own previous sales records last year.

Burger King has a "Subservient Chicken" that generated nearly 500 million hits and won a top award at an ad festival. On the website, a man in a chicken suit appears to obey orders typed by users. Visitors just keep passing on this funny site, oblivious to the fact they are doing free advertising for the company.

(NOTE: Next time you email somebody and say "Check this out" or "Have a look at this" remind yourself of the possibility of being part of viral advertising. This is a very inexpensive, underhanded way of setting up people and taking advantage of them for profit. Expect more of it. You probably won’t even know you are being manipulated and pass on these kinds of sites anyway. At what point are you going to feel like a sucker that is being used?)

Here is an example: Call 1-888-353-7667 for a funny Xmas message wrapped around commercial advertising. Oops! What have I done??

"They’re great people, wrapped in old clothes with sad hearts. Don’t be afraid of them; be kind to them. If they’re cold, share your mitts. If they’re sad, give them a smile. If they’re hungry, give them a sandwich." – Hannah Taylor, 9, founder of the Ladybug Foundation, talks about homelessness to Canada’s top businessmen.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. - Marcus Aurelius

True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. - Helen Keller

You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation. - Bette Davis

Q: What do vampires sing on New Year's Eve?

A: Auld Fang Syne!

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The young couple invited their elderly pastor for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having.

"Goat," the little boy replied.

"Goat?" replied the startled man of the cloth. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yep," said the youngster. "I heard Dad say to Mom, 'Today is just as good as any to have the old goat for dinner.'"

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