This month’s feature articles:

Regular monthly features:

Exchange programs offer many experiences that are excellent especially for gifted children.

For over 200 years, batteries have virtually stayed the same. A breakthrough in the technology may be only a few short years away and life as we know it will never be the same.

A small company called EEStor Inc. in Austin, Texas seems to have developed a revolutionary new battery. How revolutionary? A cell phone battery will charge in seconds. Electric cars will charge in about 6 minutes and go as far as gasoline driven vehicles. The new batteries will be almost totally non-hazardous and last more than the extended lifetime of any electrical products.

The secret is ceramic ultracapacitors that aren’t batteries at all. They charge rapidly, can hold large amounts of energy, and are unaffected by temperature. No more throwaway batteries

If successful, this will be a milestone in history. Fossil fuel may become history. The dream of having a clean, efficient, non-polluting method of storing and releasing large quantities of useable energy will have come true!

April 2 – Daylight Saving Time begins (except in Saskatchewan)

April 7 – World Health Day

April 9 – Christian Palm Sunday

April 11 – Mawlid an-Nobi (Muhammad’s Birthday)

April 13 – Full Moon

April 13 – Baisakhi (Sikh)

April 13 – Jewish Passover

April 14 – Christian Good Friday

April 15 – Leonardo Da Vinci Birthday (start preparing for Creativity Day)

April 16 – Christian Easter

April 20 – International Noise Awareness Day

April 21 – Creativity Day (a new holiday that we want everybody to support)

April 21 - Administrative Professionals Day

April 22 - Earth Day

April 23 – World Book and Copyright Day

April 23 – Orthodox Easter

April is Earthquake Preparedness month.

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If you love being on rivers and/or knowing about them, then become a Riverlorian. Go on public speaking/guest speaking engagements, do appearances at schools or work on a riverboat entertaining guests with tales of the river.

Include tales of "river royalty" - people who are well known for their contributions to river history, development, and lore. The evolution of riverboats from canoes, steamships to the giant towboats can be discussed. Tell audiences of the words and phrases we use daily that originated from the rivers.

As you become an expert about one or more rivers, there will be opportunities to write books about them.

A career as a bounty hunter can be profitable. Only fugitives who have skipped bail can be hunted so payment is a percentage of the amount of the bail. This can often be hundreds of thousands of dollars for a busy agent.

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• A stack of individual $1000 bills that total $1 billion, would reach to the Observation Deck on the CN Tower
• According to Statistics Canada, 42% of Canadians can’t meet daily reading requirements.
• Canadians purchase about 14 pounds of chocolate per person per year.
• The average per-person meal budget at Gitmo (see Amazing Websites above) is $12.68. The average per-person meal budget in US prisons is $2.78.
• The record for the world’s longest marriage is 80 years. The man died in 2005 at age 105 and his wife is 100. They explained their longevity: they rarely went to bed angry and had a sip of sherry at lunch and whisky at night.
• The first old-age pension began in 1927 in Canada for people aged 70 and older. The average age of retirement in Canada is 61.

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(an article from the Los Angeles Times)

Living in a more ecologically sensitive environment does not have to cost a fortune. Most people can do these simple things:

• Change Lighting. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. They use a fraction of the energy.
• Check for Drafts. It has been determined that more than half of heat in the winter and summer heat gain is caused by air leaks. With a little caulking and gasketing materials, you can save a lot of energy.
• Save Water. Buy water-efficient, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators for bathrooms. There are also water-efficient toilets.
• Use Friendly Paints. Check for no volatile organic compounds (zero-VOC’s). Many paint manufacturers now offer relatively non-toxic paints.

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Speedy Cuts and Pastes: If you usually highlight a word, go to "Cut", move the cursor to a new location and then go to "Paste", here is a faster way of moving things around on a document.

1. With the mouse, highlight your word or words. (Remember a previous Top Tip to highlight backwards for greater accuracy.)
2. Place the cursor on the highlighted words.
3. Press and hold down the left-click mouse button. A small vertical dotted line will appear that will let you guide the cut to a location of your choice.
4. Drag the dotted line to the new location. Letting go of the left-click button will automatically drop the words.
5. If you don’t like the move, go to "Edit" and "Undo" it.
6. Always include the space(s) after a period so that when it is pasted, there will be proper spacing put in place.

Very fast and efficient, once you get used to it.

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(from Metro newspaper)

1. "Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn" in Gone with the Wind
2. "I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse" in The Godfather
3. "You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am" in On the Waterfront
4. "Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore" in The Wizard of Oz
5. "Here’s looking at you kid" in "Casablanca
6. "Go ahead, make my day" in Dirty Harry
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(from an article in Now Magazine)

Cemeteries are getting full. Land and mausoleums are at a premium to bury people. Many are turning to cremation. In Australia they bury some people in an upright position.

And now for something a little different. A Swedish biologist, Susanne Wiigh-Masak, has caught the attention of many in Europe. Liquid Nitrogen is used to first freeze the corpse. The body is then shaken inside an enclosed container where the water evaporates and the body becomes a hygienic and odorless organic powder.

The 30 kilograms of remains are placed in a biodegradable cornstarch coffin and placed in a shallow hole. Everything is completely composted within 6 to 12 months.

Her original idea to tear apart the bodies and spread them around for animals and rotting in the wild was not as well received.

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Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping by Judith Levine. She went almost "cold turkey" after being in debt all the time. Read about how her life changed as she turned from being a consumer into a citizen.

The Accidental by Ali Smith. Story of a 12 year-old girl who spends happy and sad times with family in Norfolk, England. (Whitbread Novel of the Year award)

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw. (a runner up to the above award)

The Ballad of Lee Cotton by Christopher Wilson. (also a contender)

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1. Complete the following sentence 12 times:

Don't censor your thoughts. Just write whatever comes to mind. You may have a few repetitions.

2. Identify one belief about yourself that comes from the above exercise that you think may be causing difficulty for you.

3. Explore this belief to determine if it might be faulty, inaccurate or unhealthy. If you can, ask 5 people who know you for feedback around any behaviour that might arise from this belief of yours.

4. Determine what healthy belief you would like to have to replace the unhealthy one.

5. Complete the following sentence 12 times:

Then, take the actions you need to make this new belief a part of you.

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Japanese public elementary and middle students eat lunches prepared by the school in classrooms every school day. This is called kyushoku (school lunch). Kyushoku-style meals, are popular in fast-food restaurants, taverns, and other eateries because the meals remind patrons of their school days.

A school lunch can cost anything from $3 -$8. Standards are high. Many schools employ nutritionists who discuss food with parents' committees.

Children often bring home a list of school meals each week. Meals are broken down into fat, protein, carbohydrate, vitamin and mineral content and an approximate calorific value. It is also suggested what the child should be given at evening meals to ensure nutritional balance.

German schools usually end early afternoon, so pupils go home for lunch. This system is changing so pupils who stay longer can eat a hot meal.

Menus are posted up to four weeks in advance on the City of Helsinki Education Department website. Most popular dishes are also listed: pasta-based casseroles, sausage soups, barley porridge and spinach pancakes.

New laws passed in 2000 brought in organic and quality products to school menus. Meals are about $1.50-$3.00 per child. In private schools, meals are trendier restaurant-style such as penne alla vodka.

Despite the efforts to counter the fast-food culture, according to the International Obesity Task Force, 36 per cent of Italian children are overweight, 22 per cent in Britain, and 19 per cent in France.

"The doors of wisdom are never shut." – Benjamin Franklin

"The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one." – Oscar Wilde

"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate." – George Burns

"An artist is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have but that he – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them." – Andy Warhol

"Being horrible in a big film is a quicker nosedive than doing an obscure film and making no money." – Renee Zellweger

"There is no condition that we cannot improve in terms of quality of life." – researcher at Bloorview Children’s Hospital for disabled children, Toronto, Canada

A police officer came upon a terrible wreck where the driver and passenger had been killed. As he looked upon the wreckage a little monkey came out of the brush and hopped around the crashed car. The officer looked down at the monkey and said, "I wish you could talk."
The monkey looked up at the officer and shook his head up and down. "You can understand what I'm saying?" asked the officer.
Again, the monkey shook his head up and down.
"Well, did you see this?"
"Yes," motioned the monkey.
"What happened?"
The monkey pretended to have a can in his hand and turned it up by his mouth.
"They were drinking?" asked the officer.
The monkey shakes his head "Yes."
"What else?"
The monkey pinched his fingers together and held them to his mouth.
"They were smoking marijuana?"
The monkey shakes his head "Yes."
"What else?"
The monkey motioned "kissing."
"They were kissing, too?" asked the astounded officer.
The monkey shakes his head "Yes."
"Now wait, you're saying your owners were drinking, smoking and kissing before they wrecked."
The monkey shakes his head "Yes."
"What were you doing during all this?"
"Driving" motioned the monkey.

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Q: What has four wheels and flies?

A: A garbage truck.

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