This month’s feature articles:

Regular monthly features:

The following should be considered in order to heighten motivation and make learning most valuable for gifted children:

• The child takes an active part in formulating both the problem and the methods by which the problem will be attacked.
• There is no routine method of solution or recognized answer, although there may be appropriate investigative techniques upon which to draw and criteria by which a product can be judged.
• The area of investigation is of genuine interest to an individual or small group, rather than being a teacher-determined topic or activity.
• Students use raw data rather than the conclusions reached by others as their information in reaching conclusions and making generalizations.
• The student engages with a producer's rather than a consumer's attitude, and in so doing, takes the necessary steps to communicate results in a professionally appropriate manner.
• There should always be a tangible product that is presented to a real rather than contrived audience.

Here are some of the funniest things that you should not put into a Valentine’s card.

To a classmate: Every kid in our class thinks you are a moron and real loser but my mom demanded that I give a Valentine card to everybody.

To my valentine: Sorry this is getting to you so late in the day but I had to go to three gas stations before I found this card just for you.

To my special son-in-law: You may not be the person I would have chosen for my son to spend his life with but you seem like a nice guy.

Dear Valentine: I love you more and more each day. You better love me just as much or else.

To my special Valentine: I didn’t want to give you a card this year but my therapist made me do it. I really, really, really like you a lot.

Dear Valentine: I keep forgetting important dates such as our anniversary, your birthday, my birthday. But this time I remembered one! Pretty good, eh?

Feb 12 - Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Day

Feb 12 – Full Moon

Feb 14 – St. Valentine’s Day

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Love animals? Love racing? Combine the two and become a professional dog musher.

Dog mushers train dogs and control dog sleds in Iditerod races in the north – usually Alaska or the Yukon. These races can offer prizes in access of $50,000 each and racers can have sponsors pay for needs.

Funeral Services Education course

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Previewing Files: When searching for a particular document it is sometimes good to briefly see a mini version of the contents of a file instead of wasting the time opening it fully to find it was the wrong one.

What to do: Go to "File" and "Open." In MS Word, place the cursor over the top buttons on the right until you find "Preview" and click on it. Whenever you now search for a document, you will get a small window that shows you the contents first before you open it. You can scroll through the whole document without opening it up.

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• Video downloads will become legitimate on the internet. People will be able to download favourite TV shows for a few dollars.
• Improved availability of wireless access to computers. (note: must be encrypted to be safe)
• Investing in Cleantech companies will increase.
• Solar photovoltaic market will improve.
• Increased use of the computer for telephone calls i.e. voIP-ing.
• TV on cell phones.
• Improved safety online – reduced spam and phishing, safer emails through encryption that will generate revenues by exploiting people’s privacy fears.
• Increased security risk of people hit by identity thieves using ActiveX and Trojan horses to install keystroke logging programs into people’s computers. Virus writers are getting more creative.

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Most people are used to music coming from established companies that have signed artists who produce regularly by contract. Times have changed. One of the fastest growing and hip thing is Independent music (Indie)

Independent musicians are making a growing mark in the music industry. They shun traditionally slow-building careers often built and directed by a large music company. They write, produce, record and advertise their own music and do it totally in their own way. They don’t want to be managed by a major label company. If they do want to be on a label, many sign with two companies. They survive on tours, itune sales, and the sale of their promotional materials such as t-shirts, etc. at their concerts.

You are probably wondering how Indie bands get known in the vast sea of artists and bands. They get promoted on Indie radio stations on the internet, through tours and concerts in small or large venues, and many have their own web sites. Surprisingly, unlike the music industry companies, they love internet file sharing which gets them promoted by word of mouth from people who risk $0.99 on a single song that they may really like. File sharing also helps build an audience before a tour.

If you are tired of mainstream formulaic music, give the Indie scene a look.

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• The most popular places to sing O Canada are: 1. Sporting events 2. School Others: Canada Day celebrations, Royal Canadian Legion events, Girl Guide and Boy Scout meetings, Olympic ceremonies and the shower.
• 74% of brides receive a diamond engagement ring and about 60% of those are involved in picking out their ring.
• Toronto is the North American leader in bicycle parking posts. There are about 15,000. The city is also the North American capital of bicycle thefts with about 7,000 per year.
• Studies have been done on how and why people are able to survive at high altitude and low oxygen levels. Results show that Tibetans have 10% less hemoglobin than people at sea level. Andean people have 25% more hemoglobin. This suggests a genetic source of the ability.
• children laugh an average of 146 times a day; adults laugh an average of 4 times a day. Put more laughter in your day.
• Steve Yzerman is the longest serving team captain in NHL history. He has been with the Detroit Red Wings for 21 years. He started at age 21.
• Back in medieval times, no one trusted each other. Everyone was a potential enemy. When two people approached they would stick out their hands to each other to show the stranger they were not carrying a weapon. Both strangers were put at ease knowing that they were not about to be killed. This action of outstretched hands grew and evolved into the modern gesture we know as the handshake.

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Who Is Directing Your Movie?
(in an email from a friend)

Most of us would like to believe that we are the person best qualified to direct our life's movie. But when we attempt to run things solely from the perspective of the ego, we soon discover the limits of its power. Despite our best intentions, chaos and confusion abound on the set. Life lacks a quality of flow, joy, and peace.

"How can this be?" you may ask. "In order to run my life, I must be in charge. I must be in control. What other way is there?"

There is an alternative. Let the real director run the show. From now on, take your cues from that universal Intelligence which dwells within you. If you are told to appear in a scene where you don't think you belong, have faith. Watch as people and resources appear for you at the right time and place, and all unfolds in Divine order.

Make the choice to turn your life over to your higher director. Instead of trying to control everything, trust that the Universe will handle the details. Letting go may be scary at first. But if you follow this path, your life will work out more beautifully than you ever could have imagined. It also removes a great deal of stress that results from trying to be in charge all the time.

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An IBM supercomputer just topped the list of the world’s fastest and most powerful computers. "Blue Gene/L" can do 280.6 trillion calculations per second (teraflops). Top speed will be 360 teraflops. This is up from 136.8 teraflops that was on the list in November, 2004. IBM is noted as having the top 3 systems on the list.

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How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on defending yourself against the oncoming rebellion by Daniel H. Wilson. Our technological creations may become too sophisticated and turn against us. This is a non-fiction book.

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Beliefs can make the difference between being stressed and being comfortable. These are the new beliefs I have adopted to make my transition less stressful and doable:

- I believe that this is a good move for my son and myself, and my son is ready and willing.

- I believe that my work as a coach, speaker and author in emotional well-being will be warmly received.

- I believe I will make new good friends.

- I believe I will find a place to live that I like and can afford.

- I believe that I have the emotional stamina to tolerate the feelings of missing certain things.

- I believe that I will be creating a life full of new and wonderful experiences.

- I believe that if it doesn't work, I can always come back.

- I believe the universe is supporting us in our move.

Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords. - Samuel Johnson

"I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. This is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near." – Margaret Thatcher, former UK Prime Minister.

Happiness is man's greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness. - Epicurus

Success takes time. Thomas Edison had about 25,000 failures in trying to invent a storage battery. He said, "Those were not failures, I learned 24,999 ways not to make a battery."

"TV is important because it distracts people from the truth." – from the movie Invasion.

Great One-Liners

The best vitamin for making friends: B1.
I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.
On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
You're slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter.
There are two rules for ultimate success in life: (1) Never tell everything you know.
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
Someday we'll look back on all this and plow into a parked car.
There's no real need to do housework -- after four years it doesn't get any worse.
There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives.
You'll never be the man your mother was!
Don't hate yourself in the morning -- sleep till noon.
Good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance.
Don't cook tonight -- starve a rat today!
God did not create the world in 7 days; he messed around for 6 days and then pulled an all-nighter.
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