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To save people time, I will give a one minute summary followed by details with verifiable online pointers to facts.
Note that this is just a theory about a motive, and will be shocking to everyone.
- Adam Lanza was raped by a known, convicted Catholic pedophile priest named Fr John J Castaldo when Adam Lanza was 6 years old, when his family moved to Newtown, CT, in 1998
- He never stopped thinking about the traumatic moment of being raped by "Christ on earth", which is what priests call themselves. He spent every moment of his life trying to rationalize it. He never developed normally.
- Then he went to that specific classroom because there were mostly 6 year old Catholic children in that room
- No one protected Adam, Adam would show the Catholics that their children couldn't be protected
- The Lanzas moved to Newtown in 1998. See last paragraph at http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/for-lanza-family-son-adams-difficulties-dominated/2012/12/17/3c0e8eb0-4890-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html
- A known, convicted, serial pedophile priest named Fr John J Castaldo resided there from 1998 until 2001
- Fr Castaldo's arrest for pedophilia by law enforcement in a sting operation http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2001_05_25_Fitzgerald_ConnecticutPriest_John_Castaldo_4.htm
- He got one week in jail. Search for Castaldo in the article at http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/A-decade-of-strange-plot-twists-306249.php
- Castaldo was accused of attacking a boy under "extreme threat and intimidation", had been was expelled from his seminary for "remarkable bizarre behavior" http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Diocese-loses-lawsuit-in-priest-sex-abuse-case-823058.php
- Article in the Harford Courant gives more details. He was an especially frightening pedophile. http://articles.courant.com/2010-03-04/community/hc-priest-case-0304.artmar03_1_sexual-abuse-diocese-drug-abuse
- One of many lawsuits against Castaldo http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/crime/ct-man-sues-church-on-alleged-abuse#.UNFfPW80V8E
- Castaldo has been accused of the sexual abuse of at least four boys, ages 10-14.
- Castaldo had two disturbing psychological assessments that noted he "was fearful of his own aggressive drives," had "difficulty accepting his own sexual urges and desires as normal," and was preoccupied with his "unresolved sexual urges." See NBC 30 article at http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2005_01_06/2005_01_19_NBC30_SettlementReached.htm
- Fr Castaldo admitted under oath that he "suffered from a sexual sickness" http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2005_01_13_Tepfer_PriestAdmits_John_Castaldo_2.htm
- More with pointers at http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Castaldo_John_J.htm
- The Lanza's were Catholic, and went to Fr Castaldo's church http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/he_prayed_preyed_lTNjJcwqMzWxFztFpWNEkN
- Fr Castaldo's arrest for pedophilia by law enforcement in a sting operation http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2001_05_25_Fitzgerald_ConnecticutPriest_John_Castaldo_4.htm
- Now the speculation:
- Adam is a quiet 6 year old who moves to Newtown in 1998. Fr Castaldo was a serial child rapist, and pedophile priests have as much sex as they can get away with. Most victims never came forward (like Adam) because they knew they wouldn't be believed.
- Castaldo probably had many victims, most of which never came forward
- Adam may or may not have had autism, making him easy prey. Adam would never tell anyone, and could be manipulated easily.
- Castaldo has sex with Adam, and the Catholic church hides and reassigns Castaldo, as they have done thousands of times in the United States
- Psychological trauma:
- It is tough for anyone to grasp the psychological trauma that a child experiences when they are raped by a Catholic priest.
- <trigger alert>
- They think they are being anally stabbed to death by "Christ on earth", because that is what Catholic priests call themselves. The pain is excruciating. They think Christ is trying to kill them, and God won't help. They feel grunting, and groaning, and violent movement.
- Then the pedophile priest typically tells them it is their fault, and that they will get in trouble if they tell anyone, and that no one would believe them. They believe they are going to hell, and don't know why.
- They have more psychological pressure than anyone could endure, let alone an undeveloped 7 year old.
- The pedophile priest goes to Catholic confession, is forgiven, and forgets about it.
- Adam thinks about that moment every moment of every day. For years, he thinks he is the only child in the world raped by Christ on earth. He has nightmares that never stop.
- His first goal is to make sure that no one ever knows what happened to him. His biggest fear is that he is caught, and will be eternally bullied for being punished/raped/stabbed by "Christ on earth".
- Catholic child rape, and pedophile priest protection, is the ultimate psychological bullying.
- He can't even talk to other children. He never develops socially.
- As he grows older, he sees the world differently than everyone else. He has no help or guidance. Everyone calls him "odd", affirming his belief that there is something wrong with him. He knows. He may think he was raped by Christ because he was bad, at age 6, or he was odd. He can't figure out what he did wrong. The psycological games would destroy any human mind. Especially a 6, 7, 8 year old. And it gets worse every year. And he can't talk to anyone about it, so he doesn't talk to anyone at all. He lives life in a complete bubble. Even Mom and the psycologists don't have any idea.
- He has nightmares every single night, and can't stop them.
- When he matures, and finds out that the Catholic church knows about his, and no one cares, and Castaldo and other priests get no penalty, he sees a world of evil.
- Many victims of Catholic pedophile priest rape commit suicide. In Australia, 40 suicides have been traced back to just 5 pedophile priests who abused priests between 1960 and the late 1980s, and Catholics STILL don't care enough to do anything about it http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/churchs-suicide-victims-20120412-1wwox.html
- Adam Lanza would know, through his internet research, that the Catholic church paid $11 million in Philadelphia to protect Msgr Lynn, who admitted to shredding evidence about 35 known pedophile priests in 1994. Msgr Lynn shredded this information at the request of Cardinal Bevilacqua and with the knowledge of 2 bishops, Cullen & Cistone.
- Mostly, in Adam Lanza's bubble, he knows that the Catholic church fights to protect known child rapists and fights to humiliate the victims. There is no good in this world that Adam sees. In a world where Catholics say this is God's best church, Adam sees nothing but evil. He did something wrong when he was 6, and doesn't know what it is. He has always thought he was going to hell.
- He will commit suicide, but before he does, he will take revenge against the 6 year olds, most of which were Catholic. Catholics never protected or helped Adam at any point since he was 6, and he would show that their children couldn't be protected.
- I could go on for hours, but you get the idea. An evil brain has been created, and has been cooking for 14 years.
- New (2/1/13) In 5th grade, Adam Lanza threw up while watching a sex education video. This would make sense for a child rape victim of a Catholic priest, who is now 11 years old and just learning about sex, reliving what happened to him when he was 6 years old http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/12/18/adam-lanza-sandy-hook-student/1777525/
- Like most Catholic priest rape victims, Adam never tells anyone.
- Adam exhibited many of the traits of children of Catholic priest child rape, which are unique, because they think they were raped by "Christ on earth", which is what priests call themselves. Adam:
- Had no real friends
- Couldn't relate to people
- Never told anyone what happened to him
- Could never be touched or hugged, according to his mother in http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mother_devoted_her_life_to_him_then_PADqWsNSMfrx3KnO6JnlrI
- This is very common among Catholic priest rape victims
- Also, the barber said he never talked, and his mom did all his talking (because being touched was so traumatic). Worse yet, the barber shop was right across the street from the Catholic church, which may be where Adam was raped http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-shooting-adam-lanza-barber/index.html
- Adam exhibited many of the traits of children of Catholic priest child rape, which are unique, because they think they were raped by "Christ on earth", which is what priests call themselves. Adam:
- Adam goes to the school with a plan:
- Kill the psychologist that didn't help him when he was young
- Kill anyone who gets in his way
- Kill the 6 year old children, most of which were Catholics. If Catholics didn't protect him, he would see that those 6 year olds weren't protected, and take revenge against the parents of those 6 year olds, who didn't care what happened to him when he was 6 years old
- In his world (his isolationist bubble), he can now control whether 6 year old children are protected
- The viciousness has been developed for years, and the hatred is unlimited
- An insane mind has been created
- He shoots himself as soon as the police showed up. He can never be touched.
- After the massacre, the local Catholic church, St Rose, was threatened, probably by another of Castaldo's victims who never came forward
- http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/16/worshippers-flee-newtown-church-over-bomb-threat/
- The other victim sees that Catholic support their priests regardless of their rampant child rape, going to the church to listen to them
- According to Yahoo news, an unidentified male called the rectory, threatening to "kill everyone." "My friend didn't finish the job," the caller said, according to the church official. It would make sense that this is another one of Fr Castaldo's child rape victims.
- See http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/newtown-church-evacuated-due-unspecified-threat-during-noon-182416799.html
There's the theory, and is a more complete explanation than anything else I've seen. If they investigate with this in mind, they will find internet sites he visited about Catholics protecting pedophile priests. Even if his computer was destroyed, his internet provider will have a log of all the sites he visited.
Lastly, why did his brain snap that day? My guess is that it was the anniversary of the date he was raped, a date he fears every year, when the weather, daylight, and pre-Christmas celebration by everyone remind him in ways he can't forget.
Alternatively, it could have been because his mother said she was going to put him in an institution. However, the bigger issue for him would have been that he couldn't handle being touched.
This is a complete motive with an explanation for everything. Let's see what other evidence comes up.
UPDATES, thanks to a commenter below.
- Another known (and admitted) pedophile priest named Fr Charles Stubbs, who admitted molesting a boy in 1997, was also at St Rose of Lima Parish around that time, as proven in the Reuters article pedophile priest Fr Charles Stubbs at St Rose of Lima Church when Adam Lanza was there. However, he may have left after 1997, and Adam Lanza arrived in 1998. The article doesn't make it clear whether Stubbs continued to live in Newtown in 1998.
- Stubbs had been protected and moved by multiple priests including Bishop Egan, who put him in Newtown in 1997.
- I could not find proof that Fr Donovan was at St Rose of Lima during that time period
- Regardless, with AT LEAST 2 known pedophile priests in the Newtown parish at that time, there certainly was a culture of accepted pedophilia


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Given the high prevalence of sleep problems in early childhood and the significant impact of parenting on children's sleep, the current study aimed to determine the factor structure and psychometric properties of a new measure for assessing sleep-related parenting behaviors and interactions among preschool-aged children—The Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale (PSIS).
Data was collected among parents of 209 preschool-aged children in two diverse metropolitan areas. All parents completed demographic questionnaires, the Parent-Child Sleep Interaction Scale (PSIS), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). A subset of parents completed structured interviews using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA). Following data reduction procedures, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal axis extraction and oblique rotation was conducted, and internal consistency was assessed. Associations between PSIS scores and sleep problems based on the CBCL and PAPA as well as child sleep problems during infancy were examined. Differences based on demographic variables including race/ethnicity were also investigated.
EFA revealed a three-factor solution explaining 60% of the variance in total PSIS scores. Individual factors based on 12 items were labeled Sleep Reinforcement, Sleep Conflict, and Sleep Dependence. Internal consistency for all subscales and total PSIS scores was acceptable. PSIS subscales were positively correlated with both CBCL and PAPA Sleep Problems. Sleep problems during the first year of life were associated with Sleep Conflict and total PSIS scores. Significant differences in PSIS scores based on race/ ethnicity were found.
The PSIS shows promise as a valid measure of sleep-related parent/child behaviors and interactions among preschoolers.
Alfano CA; Smith VC; Reynolds KC; Reddy R; Dougherty LR. The Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale (PSIS) for preschoolers: factor structure and initial psychometric properties. J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(11):1153-1160.
Adequate sleep is an important aspect of healthy development. Evidence for this conclusion comes from a large body of research documenting associations between inadequate or disrupted sleep and decrements in cognitive functioning, school adjustment, emotional regulation, and behaviors during the preschool and school-age years.1–6 Persistent early sleep disturbances also forecast the later development of psychopathology and substance use.7–9 Understanding of factors that promote and/or contribute to inadequate or disrupted sleep patterns early in life therefore has implications for both research and clinical practice.
Current Knowledge/Study Rationale: Parenting behaviors are theorized to influence child sleep patterns, but validated instruments are lacking. The current study aimed to develop and test a brief measure for assessing sleep-related parenting behaviors and interactions among preschool-aged children, The Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale (PSIS).
Study Impact: The PSIS demonstrated good internal consistency and showed strong associations with independent measures of child sleep and behavior problems. The PSIS shows promise as a brief and valid measure of sleep-related parenting practices and interactions among preschool-aged children.
Bedtime resistance, nighttime fears, and middle of the night awakenings are common in preschoolers, affecting up to 35% of typically developing children.10–12 Although a range of child-level variables including neurodevelopmental and temperamental factors contribute to sleep-based individual differences, research has similarly established the influence of parenting behaviors as significant determinants of children's sleep patterns and behaviors.13–15 For example, one particularly important aspect of parenting is the establishment of and adherence to a consistent and appropriate bedtime. A regular bedtime, which helps facilitate transition from wakefulness to sleep, is independently associated with better sleep and adjustment in children.2,16–17 In preschool-aged children, later and irregular bedtimes are associated with longer periods required to initiate sleep, less overall sleep, and poorer sleep quality.18 Conversely, consistent bedtime routines have been linked with better sleep and daytime behaviors including fewer tantrums.19
Along with regular bedtimes and presleep routines, a range of other parenting practices and parent-child interactions likely serve to encourage or interfere with a child's capacity for sleep regulation. Surprisingly little research has focused on these relationships during the preschool years (i.e., 3-5 years). This empirical gap is particularly remarkable in light of normative developmental changes that occur during this period. As children transition from a crib to a bed, give up daytime naps, and learn to dress and care for themselves, parental involvement in sleep routines declines. Consistent with these changes, negative relationships between certain nighttime parenting behaviors and the quality and duration of child sleep have been reported. For instance, parental presence at sleep onset or after a nighttime awakening is associated with greater sleep-related problems in young children.10,14 The preschool years may therefore be a critical period for understanding the influence of specific parenting behaviors on children's sleep.
Importantly, the decisions that parents make with regard to their children's sleep reflect not only individual differences but also ethnically/culturally based beliefs and traditions. For example, whereas White preschool-aged children in the U.S. most commonly sleep in their own beds, a majority of Black and Hispanic children sleep with their parents.15 Black children also give up daytime naps at later ages than do White children.20 Such differences are similarly evident with regard to sleep schedules and routines. Among a large U.S. sample, Hale and colleagues13 found that Black and Hispanic families were significantly less likely to provide young children with regular bedtimes and bedtime routines even after accounting for a range of other relevant factors. Milan and colleagues15 also found significant racial/ethnic differences in specific presleep activities (e.g., White parents commonly read to their children at bedtime, while Black parents more often include bathing in bedtime routines). Although the precise nature of these differences is not well understood, there is a clear need to consider the role of culture as part of scale development related to children's sleep.
Several brief validated questionnaires for assessing children's sleep-wake patterns have emerged in recent years.21 Most measures screen for a range of potential sleep problems and disorders (e.g., insomnia, sleep disordered breathing, parasomnias) by assessing the occurrence/frequency of these problems. Measures for evaluating parenting behaviors and interactions surrounding sleep are comparatively lacking. Such assessment differs from sleep-wake assessment but is no less important to the construct of sleep since it provides necessary understanding of factors that may give rise to and/or exacerbate sleep problems.21 Indeed, the effectiveness of behavioral interventions may hinge upon such information. At least one validated questionnaire designed to assess parenting behaviors in relation to infants' sleep is available (e.g., the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behavior Scale),22 but no such measure exists for use in preschool-aged children.
The primary goals of the present study were to determine the factor structure of a new instrument for assessing sleep-related parent behaviors and interactions among preschool-aged children—the Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale (PSIS)— and to determine the instrument's psychometric properties. Thus, using exploratory factor analysis, we examined relationships between PSIS scores and child sleep problems based on a parent-report measure and a structured clinical interview. Associations between PSIS scores and parent-reported sleep problems during the first year of life also were explored. In addition, based on established relationships between nighttime sleep and daytime behavior problems,1–4 associations with internalizing and externalizing behaviors were investigated. Finally, we examined differences in PSIS scores based on race/ethnicity.
The parents of 209 preschool-aged children (ages 3 to 5 years; M = 3.79 years, SD = 0.78; 47.4% female) comprised the current sample. Families were recruited from the local community in 2 diverse metropolitan areas: Washington, DC, and Houston, TX. Families from the Washington, DC, area (n = 155; M = 3.75 years, SD = 0.76; 51.6% female) were recruited for a study on neuroendocrine function and risk for depression. Potential families were identified using advertisements/flyers sent to local schools, daycares, and health care providers. A proportion of flyers specifically targeted parents with a history of depression. Families with a child between 3 and 5 years of age who lived with an English-speaking biological parent, and who did not have significant medical conditions or developmental disabilities were eligible for the study. Participation included 2 laboratory visits that included observational assessments of child emotionality and behavior and parent-child interactions, and child and parent clinical assessments. The mean ages of mothers and fathers were 34.87 years (SD = 6.31) and 37.19 years (SD = 6.84), respectively. Participating families were White (41.9%), Black (31.0%), Hispanic (12.3%), Asian (1.9%), multiracial (9.0%), or other race/ethnicity (12.3%). Most children lived with 2 parents (72.9%) and had at least one parent with a 4-year college degree (69.7%).
Families in the Houston, TX, area (n = 54; M = 3.94 years, SD = 0.83; 35.2% female) were recruited for a study examining daytime and nighttime behavior in preschool-aged children using community flyers and advertisements. Families with a child between 3 and 5 years of age were invited to complete an online anonymous survey. None of the children had significant medical conditions or developmental disabilities. The mean ages of mothers and fathers were 34.10 years (SD = 5.71) and 36.48 years (SD = 6.36), respectively. Participating families were White (68.5%), Black (7.4%), Hispanic (14.8%), Asian (1.9%), multiracial (5.6%), or other race/ethnicity (1.9%). Like the Washington, DC, sample, most children lived with both biological parents (74.1%) and had at least one parent with a 4-year college degree (82.4%). Comparisons between the 2 subsamples did not reveal any significant site differences in child age, child gender, maternal age, paternal age, race/ ethnicity, parental marital status, and parental education (all p > 0.07). Similarly, the samples did not significantly differ in terms of any sleep or behavior measure. Therefore, data from both sites were combined in subsequent analyses. Demographic characteristics of the study sample are presented in Table 1. Both studies were approved by the institutional review boards at the University of Maryland and University of Houston.
Demographic characteristics of the study sample by site (N = 209)
(more ...)
All parents completed a questionnaire pertaining to the demographic characteristics of the family (race/ethnicity, marital status, and parental education, etc.) as well as the child's medical and developmental history. The questionnaire included a dichotomously scored item assessing whether the child had problems sleeping during the first year of life.
Parents completed the Parent-Child Sleep Interaction Scale (PSIS), a parent report measure developed to measure a wide range of bedtime behaviors and interactions among parents and their preschool-aged child. Thus, rather than specific bedtimes or other quantitative sleep indices, the PSIS was developed to assess sleep-related behaviors and parent-child interactions related to sleep that may give rise to and/or maintain problematic sleep patterns/disorders in young children, such as parental involvement in sleep routines, non-independent sleep patterns, and reinforcement of good sleep behaviors.
The PSIS was constructed based upon recommended procedures outlined by Spruyt and Gozal,23 including: (1) initial generation of items based on clinical and empirical evidence; (2) solicitation of input from experts; (3) administration of the questionnaire to a community sample; (4) item reduction procedures; (5) exploratory factor analysis (EFA); and (6) examination of internal consistency and convergent validity. Specifically, an initial list of items was generated by the first author and sent to 3 pediatric sleep experts (including a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a developmental pediatrician) for review based on the items' relevance in assessing child sleep/bedtime routines. Expert feedback and recommendation resulted in an initial 35-item version of the measure. A Likert-type response format was created requiring parents to indicate how frequently each behavior/interaction occurred during the past month: 0 = never; 1 = rarely; 2 = sometimes; 3 = frequently; 4 = always/almost always.
All parents completed the CBCL, a 113-item parent-report scale assessing a broad range of behavioral problems, and social and academic functioning. The CBCL is one of the most extensively tested rating scales available and possesses excellent psychometrics.24 The measure yields a Total Problem Behavior score, 2 broad-band Internalizing and Externalizing scores, and 8 subscale scores. For the purpose of this study, the Internalizing, Externalizing and Sleep Problems Subscales were examined. The Sleep Problems Scale is composed of 7 items including: doesn't want to sleep alone, has trouble getting to sleep, nightmares, resists going to bed at night, sleeps less than most kids during day and/or night, talks or cries out in sleep, and wakes up often at night. As with other items on the CBCL, parents were asked to describe their child now or within the past 6 months (0 = not true, 1 = somewhat or sometimes true, and 2 = very true or often true). Internal consistency (Cronbach's α) for the Sleep Problems scale in the current study was 0.77.
Parents of preschoolers from the Washington, DC, sample (n = 155) were interviewed in person using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA), which uses a structured-format and interviewer-based approach to assess psychopathology in preschool-aged children, 2 to 6 years.25 Interviews were conducted by advanced graduate students in clinical psychology supervised by a Ph.D. level, licensed psychologist with extensive experience and training in the PAPA.
Fourteen dichotomously scored items from the PAPA assessing sleep problems were examined. Given the range of item content, an EFA was conducted using principle axis extraction and oblique rotation to identify an underlying factor structure. Items were removed if they failed to load onto any primary factor (i.e., loading < 0.40). Based on the eigenvalue > 1.0 rule and inspection of the scree plot, 3 factors were extracted consisting of a total of 9 items. Items from each factor were summed to yield 3 sleep scales: Inadequate Sleep (restless sleep, inadequately rested by sleep, morning irritability), Sleep Assistance (sleeps with family members, reluctance to sleep alone, night waking, rises to check on family members), and Daytime Sleepiness (seems sleepy during day, easily tired). In addition, all 9 items were summed to create a Total PAPA Sleep Problems scale. Interrater ICCs were acceptable for all scales: Inadequate Sleep (1.00); Sleep Assistance (0.98); Daytime Sleepiness (1.00), and PAPA Total Sleep Problems (0.99).
Initial item reduction procedures were based on examination of item endorsement, content, and item-total correlations. An EFA using principal axis extraction and oblique rotation (oblimin) was used, as associations between sleep behaviors and interactions tend to be interrelated. Since little work has been conducted on presleep behaviors and parent-child interaction among preschoolers, we did not attempt to group the initial list of items within conceptually based factors. The critical eigenvalue was set at 1.0. Items were removed if they failed to load on any factor (loading < 0.50) or had high secondary loadings (> 0.30), and the analysis was re-run with the remaining items. The EFA continued in this manner until all remaining items had a primary factor loading > 0.50 and secondary loadings < 0.30. The psychometric properties of the fully scale and subscales were then assessed. Internal consistency was assessed by calculating Cronbach's α for PSIS total and all subscale scores.
Differences in PSIS scores based on demographic characteristics (e.g., child sex, parental education, and household income) were examined using t-tests, univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and Pearson correlation coefficients. In order to assess convergent validity, correlations were calculated to determine associations between PSIS total and subscale scores, CBCL Sleep Problems Scores, and Sleep Problems reported during the PAPA. Correlations between PSIS scores, CBCL Internalizing and Externalizing subscales, and parent-endorsed sleep problems during the first year of life were also examined.
To increase statistical power for analyses, racial/ethnic groups were collapsed into 4 categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and Other. The "Other" group (n = 28) included children identified as multiracial, Asian, or other. Analyses using these 4 categories as compared to 6 racial/ethnic groups (i.e., White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, multiracial, and other) revealed similar results. All subsequent analyses therefore used the more parsimonious solution of 4 groups. To examine differences in PSIS scores across racial/ethnic groups, a series of univariate ANOVAs were conducted with race/ethnicity as the between-subject factor. Significant main effects were followed with post-hoc comparisons using Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) tests.
We first examined response distributions for the 35 PSIS items to identify items with low variability (i.e., low sensitivity to individual differences). Six of the 35 items evidenced significantly unbalanced distributions (all skew and kurtosis p's < 0.01) and were therefore removed from the item pool. Next, using the criterion of 0.30 as an acceptable item-total correlation value,29 we examined item–total correlations among the remaining PSIS items. Eleven of the remaining 29 items failed to meet this criterion and were removed. One additional item was removed based on redundancy with another item (i.e., "My child sleeps in my bed all night" versus "My child sleeps in my room all night"). This resulted in a final list of 17 items used for factor analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer Olkin (KMO) statistic (0.784) and Bartlett's test of sphericity (χ2 = 1151.65) were both significant (p < 0.001) indicating suitability of these items for factor analysis.
An EFA using principal axis extraction and oblimin rotation was conducted to identify the structure of the PSIS. Two of the 17 items did not load onto any individual factor and were removed from the dataset. The scree plot of eigenvalues for the remaining 15 items indicated that a 4-factor solution could be interpreted. The fourth factor (eigenvalue = 1.10) accounted for 7.3% of the variance in PSIS scores. However, the three items comprising this factor showed limited content/conceptual overlap and similarly low internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.53). These items were therefore removed and the EFA was re-run revealing a 3-factor solution (Table 2). Items loading on the first factor indicated this to be a measure of parental reassurance/reinforcement of child sleep behaviors. This factor was named Sleep Reinforcement and accounted for 33.1% of the variance in PSIS scores. The second factor, which accounted for 14.5% of the total variance, was named Sleep Conflict based on item loadings related to conflict and child noncompliance surrounding sleep. Item loadings on the third factor were indicative of problems with independent sleep. The third factor was named Sleep Dependence and accounted for 12.6% of the variance in PSIS scores. The 12-item PSIS scale showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.82). Means, standard deviations, and internal consistency for the PSIS subscales also were acceptable and are presented in Table 3.
Rotated factor loadings from an exploratory factor analysis of items from the Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale
Means, standard deviations, and internal reliability coefficients for the PSIS scales
Table 4 summarizes the extent to which the PSIS scales were significantly associated with demographic variables. Child age was significantly negatively associated with Sleep Conflict scores; marital status was significantly associated with PSIS Total, Sleep Reinforcement, and Sleep Dependence scores, whereby married parents reported lower scores than children of parents who were divorced, separated, widowed, and/or never married; and parental education was significantly negatively associated with PSIS Total and Sleep Dependence scores. No significant associations were observed for maternal age or child gender.
Means and standard deviations by demographic variables on PSIS Scales
As shown in Table 5, PSIS Total scores as well as all 3 subscale scores were significantly positively correlated with CBCL Sleep Problems.
Convergent validity of the Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale with Child Behavior Checklist Sleep Problems, and Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment Sleep Problems
CBCL Externalizing scores correlated significantly with PSIS Total scores (r = 0.30, p < 0.01), Sleep Conflict (r = 0.37, p < 0.01), and Sleep Dependence (r = 0.25, p < 0.01) scores. CBCL Internalizing scores were significantly correlated with PSIS Total (r = 0.24, p < 0.01) and Sleep Conflict (r = 0.31, p < 0.01) scores.
Correlation coefficients for the PSIS scales and PAPA Sleep scales are presented in Table 5.
PSIS Total scores, Sleep Reinforcement, and Sleep Conflict scores were significantly positively associated with PAPA Inadequate Sleep scores. Sleep Dependence was positively associated with PAPA Inadequate Sleep at a trend-level of significance.
PSIS Total scores, Sleep Reinforcement, Sleep Conflict and Sleep Dependence scores were significantly positively associated with PAPA Sleep Assistance.
No significant associations were observed between any of the PSIS scales and the PAPA Daytime Sleepiness scale.
PSIS Total scores, Sleep Reinforcement, Sleep Conflict, and Sleep Dependence scales were significantly positively associated with PAPA Total Sleep Problems.
Child sleep problems during the first year of life were modestly but significantly associated with PSIS Sleep Conflict scores (r = 0.15, p < 0.05) as well as PSIS Total scores (r = 0.19, p < 0.01).
Univariate analysis of PSIS Total scores revealed a significant main effect for race/ethnicity, F3, 191 = 9.23, p < 0.001. Post hoc tests revealed that Black (M = 20.66, SD = 9.26), Hispanic (M = 23.20, SD = 9.20), and children of other race/ethnicities (M = 25.93, SD = 9.20) had significantly higher PSIS Total scores than White children (M = 16.29, SD = 9.59), p < 0.05, p = 0.01, and p < 0.001, respectively.
A significant main effect of race/ethnicity was found for Sleep Reinforcement scores, F3, 203 = 6.20, p < 0.001. Post hoc tests indicated that Hispanic participants had significantly higher scores (M = 9.26, SD = 4.49) than White children (M = 5.69, SD = 4.09), p = 0.001.
Analysis of Sleep Conflict scores revealed a significant main effect for race/ethnicity, F3, 205 = 3.48, p = 0.02. Tukey HSD post hoc tests revealed children in the Other race/ethnicity group to have significantly higher Sleep Conflict scores (M = 5.32, SD = 3.07) than White children (M = 3.57, SD = 3.05), p = 0.04.
A significant main effect for race/ethnicity also emerged based on Sleep Dependence scores, F3, 197 = 12.09, p < 0.001. Post hoc tests revealed Black children to have significantly higher scores (M = 5.79, SD = 3.78) compared to White children (M = 3.18, SD = 3.64), p < 0.001. Children in the Other race/ethnicity group demonstrated significantly higher Sleep Dependence scores (M = 7.39, SD = 4.30) than White children (M = 3.18, SD = 3.64) and Hispanic children (M = 4.31, SD = 2.59), p < 0.001, and p < 0.01, respectively.
Results based on racial/ethnic group differences were similar when other demographic variables significantly associated with PSIS scores (i.e., child age, paternal age, parental marital status, parental education) were included in analyses.
Parent-child interactions are theorized to serve a regulating function on child sleep patterns since they act as external regulators of biological rhythms and capacity for self-regulation.26,27 As compared to measures that screen for specific sleep problems and disorders,28 validated instruments for assessing parent behaviors and parent-child interactions related to sleep are lacking. The factor structure and initial psychometric properties of the Parent-Child Sleep Interactions Scale (PSIS) were therefore evaluated in a large sample of preschool-aged children. Three discrete factors with substantial face validity emerged including Sleep Reinforcement, Sleep Conflict, and Sleep Dependence. These subscales explained 60% of the variance in Total PSIS scores. Internal consistency (i.e., reliability) for all subscales in addition to the total scale was good.
Associations between PSIS total and subscale scores and independent measures of child sleep problems (CBCL and PAPA sleep scales) provide evidence of satisfactory convergent validity. As would be expected, associations between the PSIS and sleep problems scales were positive and in the moderate range, with the exception of the PAPA Daytime Sleepiness scale for which nonsignificant associations were found. The latter result is somewhat surprising in light of significant relationships between PSIS scores and inadequate sleep scores on the PAPA but may relate to how sleepiness is exhibited during this developmental period (i.e., young children who are overly tired often become hyperactive). Significant associations also were identified between PSIS scores and CBCL Internalizing and Externalizing scores, corroborating findings from a wealth of research documenting associations between children's sleep at night and their emotional/behavioral functioning during the day.1–4
PSIS total and subscale scores also demonstrated expected associations with demographic variables. Consistent with normative declines in parental involvement related to sleep, we found a negative relationship between Sleep Conflict and child age. Children of married parents had lower Sleep Reinforcement and Sleep Dependence scores than children of parents who were divorced, separated, widowed, and/or never married. Also, lower levels of parental education were associated with higher PSIS total and Sleep Dependence scores. Overall, these findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating lower SES to be associated with more problematic sleep in children.30–32
Findings with regard to racial/ethnic differences are somewhat consistent with results from previous research13,15,20 and underscore the role of cultural differences in understanding child sleep habits and parent-child sleep interactions. White children in our sample had significantly lower PSIS total scores than all other racial/ethnic groups. Based on examinations of specific subscales, Black children had higher Sleep Dependence scores than White children, a finding consistent with those reported by Milan and colleagues.15 Children in the "Other" race/ethnicity category also scored higher on Sleep Dependence than both White and Hispanic children and had higher Sleep Conflict scores than White children. Finally, Hispanic children scored higher on Sleep Reinforcement than Caucasian children. To some extent, these results corroborate findings from previous studies13,15 indicating Black and Hispanic children are less likely to have consistent bedtimes and bedtime routines than White children.
Although we were able to examine potential differences among Black, Hispanic, and White children, the diverse composition of the "Other" racial/ethnic group renders these findings difficult to interpret. Indeed, this catch-all category necessarily included children of Asian, mixed, and other races/ ethnicities due to the overall small number of children falling into these groups. Larger multiracial samples are therefore an important direction for future research.33,34 It is similarly necessary to emphasize the importance of not assuming that ethnoracial differences in child sleep behaviors/patterns translate to child sleep problems or impairment. As an example, Milan and colleagues15 found that despite differences in bedtime routines and sleeping arrangements, no differences in sleep onset or daytime tiredness were found among Black, Hispanic, and White children. Overall, the growing diversity of families in the U.S. creates need for research focused on understanding relationships between culturally based sleep practices and children's sleep.
A number of other limitations are noteworthy. Due to the cross-sectional design of our study it is not possible to determine the directionality of identified relationships. For example, although some research suggests that greater parental involvement in bedtime and sleep routines interferes with a child's ability to regulate their sleep independently, it is equally possible that young children who experience problems sleeping require greater parental attention/interaction at night to help them settle to sleep. Follow-up studies based on prospective rather than retrospective reports are needed to clarify these relationships. Our study did not include an independent, validated measure of sleep problems in this age group but instead relied on two other validated but broad instruments for assessing behavior problems in young children. In conjunction with validated sleep instruments, future research including clinical populations (e.g., children with behavioral or sleep disorders) is needed to determine whether the PSIS can discriminate among subgroups of preschoolers. Finally, the fact that parents completed measures concerning sleep interactions/behaviors as well as child sleep problems creates the possibility of shared reporter variance. Convergent validity of the PSIS based on other types of sleep assessments (e.g., actigraphy, video of bedtime routines) remains to be established.
In summary, the PSIS is a brief, easy to administer measure of parent-child interactions and behaviors related to sleep in preschool-aged children. We envision the PSIS to have both clinical and empirical utility in identifying behaviors/interactions that may lead to and/or maintain sleep-related problems in young children. The PSIS may also have utility as a measure of effectiveness of behavioral sleep interventions. For example, an elevated Sleep Dependence score might signal a need for graduated extinction procedures in helping children to learn to sleep independently, whereas an elevated Sleep Conflict score might inform a focus on positive bedtime routines as part of treatment. In research settings, the PSIS may assist in delineating specific environmental mechanisms of early childhood insomnia. The PSIS items and scoring are included in Table 2 and we invite further use of this measure among clinicians and researchers.
This was not an industry supported study. This research was supported in part by the University of Maryland (UMD) College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Dean's Research Initiative Award (LRD) and the UMD Research and Scholars Award (LRD) awarded to the last author. The authors have indicated no financial conflicts of interest.
The authors thank the families who participated in this study.
Anders T, Iosif A, Schwichtenberg AJ, Tang K, Goodlin-Jones B, authors. Sleep and daytime functioning: a short-term longitudinal study of three preschool-age comparison groups. Am J Intellect Dev Disabil. 2012;117:275–90. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Bates JE, Viken RJ, Alexander DB, Beyers J, Stockton L, authors. Sleep and adjustment in preschool children: sleep diary reports by mothers relate to behavior reports by teachers. Child Dev. 2002;73:62–75. [PubMed]
DeVincent C, Gadow K, Delosh D, Geller L, authors. Sleep disturbance and its relation to DSM-IV psychiatric symptoms in preschool-age children with pervasive developmental disorder and community controls. J Child Neurol. 2007;22:161–9. [PubMed]
Lavigne J, Arend R, Rosenbaum D, et al., authors. Sleep and behavior problems among preschoolers. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 1999;20:164–9. [PubMed]
Sadeh A, Gruber R, Raviv A, authors. Sleep, neurobehavioral functioning, and behavior problems in school-age children. Child Dev. 2002;73:405–417. [PubMed]
Sadeh A, Gruber R, Raviv A, authors. The effects of sleep restriction and extension on school-age children: what a difference an hour makes. Child Dev. 2003;74:444–55. [PubMed]
Gregory A, Caspi A, Eley T, Moffitt T, O'Connor T, Poulton R, authors. Prospective longitudinal associations between persistent sleep problems in childhood and anxiety and depression disorders in adulthood. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2005;33:157–63. [PubMed]
Roberts R, Roberts C, Chen I, authors. Impact of insomnia on future functioning of adolescents. J Psychosom Res. 2002;53:561–9. [PubMed]
Wong M, Brower K, Zucker R, authors. Childhood sleep problems, early onset of substance use and behavioral problems in adolescence. Sleep Med. 2009;10:787–96. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Johnson N, McMahon C, authors. Preschoolers' sleep behaviour: Associations with parental hardiness, sleep-related cognitions and bedtime interactions. J. Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2008;49:765–73. [PubMed]
McGreavey J, Donnan P, Pagliari H, Sullivan F, authors. The Tayside children's sleep questionnaire: a simple tool to evaluate sleep problems in young children. Child Care Health Dev. 2005;31:539–44. [PubMed]
Tikotzky L, Sadeh A, authors. Sleep patterns and sleep disruptions in kindergarten children. J Clin Child Psychol. 2001;30:581–91. [PubMed]
Hale L, Berger L, LeBourgeois M, Brooks-Gunn J, authors. Social and demographic predictors of preschoolers' bedtime routines. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2009;30:394–402. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Hayes M, Parker K, Sallinen B, Davare A, authors. Bedsharing, temperament, and sleep disturbance in early childhood. Sleep. 2001;24:657–62. [PubMed]
Milan S, Snow S, Belay S, authors. The context of preschool children's sleep: racial/ ethnic differences in sleep locations, routines, and concerns. J Fam Psychol. 2007;21:20–8. [PubMed]
Mindell JA, Telofski LS, Wiegand B, Kurtz ES, authors. A nightly bedtime routine: impact on sleep in young children and maternal mood. Sleep. 2009;32:599–606. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Short M, Gradisar M, Wright H, Lack LC, Dohnt H, Carskadon MA, authors. Time for bed: parent-set bedtimes associated with improved sleep and daytime functioning in adolescents. Sleep. 2011;34:797–800. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Iwata S, Iwata O, Iemura A, Iwasaki M, Matsuishi T, authors. Sleep architecture in healthy 5-year-old preschool children: associations between sleep schedule and quality variables. Acta Paediatr. 2012;101:e110–4. [PubMed]
Adams LA, Rickert VI, authors. Reducing bedtime tantrums: comparison between positive routines and Graduated Extinction. Pediatrics. 1989;84:756–61. [PubMed]
Crosby B, LeBourgeois MK, Harsh JR, authors. Racial differences in reported napping and nocturnal sleep in 2- to 8-year-old children. Pediatrics. 2005;115:225–32. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Spruyt K, Gozal D, authors. Pediatric sleep questionnaires as diagnostic or epidemiological tools: a review of currently available instruments. Sleep Med Rev. 2011;15:19–32. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Morrell J, Cortina-Borja M, authors. The developmental change in strategies parents employ to settle young children to sleep, and their relationship to infant sleeping problems, as assessed by a new questionnaire: the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behavior Scale. Infant Child Dev. 2002;11:17–41.
Spruyt K, Gozal D, authors. Development of pediatric sleep questionnaires as diagnostic or epidemiological tools: a brief review of dos and don'ts. Sleep Med Rev. 2011;15:7–17. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Achenbach TM, author. Manual for the child behavior checklist/4-18 and profile. 1991. Burlington, Vermont: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Egger HL, Ascher BH, Angold A, authors. The Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment: Version 1.1. 1999. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Developmental Epidemiology.
Anders TF, author. Infant sleep, nighttime relationships, and attachment. Psychiatry. 1994;57:11–21. [PubMed]
Erath SA, Tu KM, authors; El-Sheikh M, editor. The parenting context of children's sleep. Sleep and development: Familial and socio-cultural considerations. 2011. New York: Oxford University Press; p. 29–49.
Gregory AM, O'Connor TG, authors. Sleep problems in childhood: a longitudinal study of developmental change and association with behavioral problems. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2002;41:964–71. [PubMed]
Nunnally JC, Bernstein IH, authors. Psychometric theory. 1994. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kelly RJ, El-Sheikh M, authors. Marital conflict and children's sleep: reciprocal relations and socioeconomic effects. J Fam Psychol. 2011;25:412–22. [PubMed]
Acebo C, Sadeh A, Seifer R, Tzischinsky O, Hafer A, Carskadon MA, authors. Sleep/ wake patterns derived from activity monitoring and maternal report for healthy 1- to 5-year-old children. Sleep. 2005;28:1568–77. [PubMed]
Stein MA, Mendelsohn J, Obermeyer WH, Amromin J, Benca R, authors. Sleep and behavior problems in school-aged children. Pediatrics. 2001;107:e60. [PubMed]
Iwata S, Iwata O, Matsuishi T, authors. Sleep patterns of Japanese preschool children and their parents: implications for co-sleeping. Acta Paediatr. 2013;102:e257–62. [PubMed]
Jenni OG, O'Connor BB, authors. Children's sleep: an interplay between culture and biology. Pediatrics. 2005;115:204–16. [PubMed]


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How to Use
1. Locate the Rocky Mountains on this map. How many roads can you identify that cross the mountains? Why do you think there were so few?
2. Find the Santa Fe Trail. This trading route connected Santa Fe with Independence, Missouri. The trail begins in Santa Fe and runs east through S. Miguel and Las Vegas. Where did the trail divide? What can you tell from the map about why two different routes might have been used? Based on the map, what advantages might each route have had? What disadvantages?
3. Find the Raton Mountains and Raton Pass. The road through the pass was the most direct route from the eastward-flowing Arkansas River to Santa Fe. Why do you think traders would have used this route even though Raton Pass was very steep and difficult to cross?
4. Glorieta Pass is located on the trail just east of Santa Fe, right below the word "Pecos." Why do you suppose both parts of the trail come together to go through the pass?
* The map on this screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a larger version of Map 3, but be aware that the file may take as much as 60 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.


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Top Items:
Frank Taylor / Google Earth Blog:
New Imagery for Google Earth - June 2nd! — [UPDATED several times] — Google has just released new imagery for Google Earth (exit GE and re-load it if you had it turned on over night). Most of the UK is now in high resolution. It appears there are many new strips …
Discussion: Mashable!, parislemon, Vecosys and Ogle Earth
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Google Earth Releases Updated Imagery & Resolution
MG Siegler / parislemon: Pictures Continue to Get Clearer for Google Earth
Sam Sethi / Vecosys: Google Earth updates European imagery
RevDanCatt / geobloggers:
Flickr, KML, and a stroll down memory lane. — It was just under 2 years ago that I first got my hands on Google Earth, which at the time was called Keyhole. I'd been running geobloggers.com as a site to add geotags to Flickr photos and then plotting them on Google Maps for a few months.
Discussion: Ogle Earth
Rafat Ali / mocoNews.net:
Amp'd Bankruptcy Filing: Verizon Wireless Largest Creditor With $33 Million — Amp'd Mobile's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware has a wealth of info on the company's creditors, and a list of shareholders of the company (we broke the story first here).
Discussion: Engadget Mobile, HipMojo.com, GigaOM, TechCrunch, Phone Scoop, Mark Evans and paidContent.org
Ryan Block / Engadget Mobile: Amp'd Files for chapter 11 bankruptcy
Om Malik / GigaOM: Amp'd, another MVNO bites the dust
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
Kevin Rose: Digg Expanding to Images, Restaurant and Product Reviews — Update: Now with video! — See also: 7 Ways to Stick it to the RIAA — On Friday, Kevin Rose spoke via video link at TheNextWeb conference in Amsterdam, outlining Digg's plans for expansion.
Discussion: Pronet Advertising, franticindustries, parislemon, The Internet Entrepreneur, rexduffdixon.com and Somewhat Frank
Muhammad Saleem / Pronet Advertising: Digg to Make Everything Diggable
Stan Schroeder / franticindustries: The consequences of Digg's upcoming changes
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten / The Internet …: Digg Frontpage: twice in one week...
Frank Gruber / Somewhat Frank: KEVIN ROSE VIDEO EXPLAINS FUTURE OF DIGG
David Lenehan / Read/WriteWeb:
The Next Web Conference happened today in Amsterdam. It was a one day event hosted by Scott Rafer of MyBlogLog fame and was a mix of presentations from startups and keynotes from various people in the industry. Marc Canter from Broadband Mechanics and Jeff Clavier a VC from the valley assumed the role of …
Discussion: TechCrunch, TheNextWeb.org, Threadwatch.org and Smart Mobs
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch: Digg Will Do Product and Services Reviews in 6-12 Months
Boris / TheNextWeb.org: Next Web News
Seobook / Threadwatch.org: Digg.com Caters to Spammers
Gerrit Visser / Smart Mobs: The Next Web — David Lenehan reports on Read/Write Web …
Roy Mark / internetnews.com:
Court Rules VoIP Providers Must Pay USF Fees — Internet telephone companies like Vonage must contribute to the Universal Service Fund (USF), a federal appeals court ruled Friday afternoon. If VoIP providers follow the lead of local, long-distance and wireless services that already pay into the USF …
Discussion: VoIP Blog
Bhagaban / VoIP Blog: Appeals Court Remains Firm on VoIP USF
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
For Pornographers, Internet's Virtues Turn to Vices — The Internet was supposed to be a tremendous boon for the pornography industry, creating a global market of images and videos accessible from the privacy of a home computer. For a time it worked, with wider distribution and social acceptance driving a steady increase in sales.
Discussion: rexduffdixon.com, The Webpreneur, Guardian Unlimited and digg
Nick ONeill / The Webpreneur: TOUGH TIMES FOR PORNOGRAPHERS
Jack Schofield / Guardian Unlimited: Is the net killing the video porn industry?
G. Pascal Zachary / New York Times:
Genius and Misfit Aren't Synonyms, or Are They? — THE story of the college dropout who became the world's richest man still has the power to inspire us. It affirms our deeply engrained view that rejecting the received wisdom (do my own thing!) is a path to creativity and wealth.
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
Inside the Black Box — THESE days, Google seems to be doing everything, everywhere. It takes pictures of your house from outer space, copies rare Sanskrit books in India, charms its way onto Madison Avenue, picks fights with Hollywood and tries to undercut Microsoft's software dominance.
Paul McDougall / InformationWeek:
TiVo Warns Investors New Open Source License Could Hurt Business — Under Linux's GPLv3, expected this summer, TiVo would no longer be able to implement measures it says are essential to protecting copyrighted material. — Novell isn't the only company that could be hurt by new license terms likely …
Discussion: TiVo Lovers, Bink.nu and Slashdot
Associated Press:
The Google 'ick' factor … SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — Google Inc. bills the latest twist on its online maps as "Street View," but it looks a bit like "Candid Camera" as you cruise through the panorama of pictures that captured fleeting moments in neighborhoods scattered across the country.
Discussion: Digital Markets, ITWire and Threadwatch.org
Alex Zaharov-Reutt / ITWire: Google Maps becomes "Go Ogle Maps"
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
Essay: Usenet, the Original Piracy Hotbed — So you think piracy is primarily taking place on BitTorrent, eMule and Gnutella? Think again. There is a whole parallel universe out there with people trading huge amounts of DVDs, TV shows, warez and porn. Three terabytes of new content every single day, to be precise.
Discussion: GigaOM
Om Malik / GigaOM: What's on GigaNET: Weekend Edition
Tom Evslin / Fractals of Change:
Time to Write the FCC — Within the next month the Federal Communications Commission is very likely to issue final regulations governing the auction of valuable 700MHz spectrum, which, by law, must start at the beginning of 2008. Now's the last chance to have a voice in this process and it's worth taking a minute to respond.
Nilay Patel / Engadget:
Hasbro unveils Real Gear Transformers based on real life gadgets — Those of you not able to bust out your cardboard box Optimus Prime costume and make a scene at your local theaters next month when the new Transformers movie hits can at least comfort yourselves with the most amazing onslaught …
Discussion: TechEBlog, Joystiq, IntoMobile and technabob
Will Greenwald / CNET News.com: More than meets the eye: New, gadgety Transformers
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!:
My Soul, and 10 Other Things that Google Owns — The headlines just don't stop for Google. But with the now complete acquisition of Feedburner, are there any parts of our online lives that don't reside somewhere within the Googleplex? Through acquisitions and a few thousands …
Discussion: Digital Markets, Voidstar: blog, The Technology Chronicles and PhotoshopNews


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It may only be a comic book, but it seems 'Archie' is imitating life these days.
After 75 years of existence, the perpetually youthful Archie Andrews has met his end at the hands of a gunman.
He died taking a bullet for his gay friend, Kevin Keller, who was targeted by a stalker.
The plot is a far cry from the days when Archie was equated with his carefree adventures at Riverdale High with his friends Betty, Veronica, and Jughead and his nemesis, Reggie and the even more light-hearted Saturday morning musical cartoon spinoff, 'Josie & The Pussycats.'
Somewhere along the line, Archie, despite his Dorian Gray-like appearance, grew-up and got serious.
Archie Comics Publisher and CEO Jon Goldwater said the aim was to be topical and he has, indeed, managed to address many issues of the day in recent years.
Four years ago, Keller was introduced, undoubtedly one of the first openly-gay characters in the comic book world. Not only is he gay, he is a military veteran, married and a newly-elected senator who supports gun control.
His existence coincides with the 2011 lifting of the federal government's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy for gays in the military and the ongoing extinction of states' bans on same-sex marriage, one of the most recent being here in Pennsylvania where, on May 19 , U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III tossed that law 'into the ash heap of history.'
Sadly, the comic is also timely in terms of shooting deaths and the gun control debate.
One of the most analogous scenarios is the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, while she was conducting 'Congress On Your Corner' outside a Tucson supermarket. She was badly injured along with 12 others. Six people died including her director of community outreach Gabriel Zimmerman who could easily have served as a model for Archie's fate.
As a result of that and subsequent mass shootings including the 2012 massacre of 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, established Americans for Responsible Solutions. Like many gun owners, they support, among other common sense measures, universal background checks for gun purchases.
Nearly 90 percent of Pennsylvanians supported the bill requiring background checks for all gun purchases, proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. It also had the support of Pennsylvania's other U.S. senator, Democrat Bob Casey. All three formerly had earned high 'grades' from the National Rifle Association. In April 2013, the proposed law failed to achieve the super-majority needed to pass the Senate, thanks to the influence of the powerful gun lobby on polticians.
They were apparently unmoved by the massacres in Tucson and in Connecticut, or the ones that pre-dated them including the worst mass shooting in U.S. history in 2008, when 32 students and teachers were executed by one shooter at Virginia Tech, or the massacre of 12 students and a teacher by two teenagers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Col. in 1999.
And the carnage has continued.On Aug. 5, 2012, six people were fatally shot as they prayed at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. On July 20, 2012, 12 people were shot to death and 58 were injured in an Aurora, Col., movie theater. On Sept. 9, 2013, 12 people were killed at a Naval office building in Washington, D.C. by a lone gunman.
On April 2, three people were killed and 16 were injured by a soldier who fired off at least 35 rounds before taking his own life at Fort Hood, Texas, the same place where, on Nov. 5, 2009 a U.S. Army psychiatrist utilizing a high-tech pistol killed 13 and injured more than 30.
In having Archie gunned down while protecting a proponent of gun control, Goldwater says he wanted to 'do something that was impactful that would really resonate with the world …'
If the death of a beloved comic book hero can help bring this country closer to understanding the need for sensible gun control, then Goldwater has indeed made a valuable impact on the world.


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You Can Overcome Dental Anxiety Using Sedation Dentistry
We offer sedation dentistry so that all of our patients can feel comfortable and relax during their dental treatments. It is extremely common for adults to have fears about visiting the dentist. In fact, according to research conducted by the University of Washington's Dental Fears Clinic, five to eight percent of adults won't visit the dentist due to dental phobia. Another twenty percent avoid it unless absolutely necessary. If you fall into this category, know that modern dentistry has improved to the point that you can receive the treatment you need without fear or concern.
When visiting our dental office, let us know if you have mild to severe dental phobia so that we can create a treatment plan to address the issue. It is first important to understand why you are concerned about visiting the dentist.
Here are some common issues that we see:
Fear of dental work. This is extremely common, but it is important to know that most dental procedures do not hurt. Unfortunately, the myth of dental pain has been spread to such a degree that even people that have never experienced it are afraid of it. We understand that sometimes the fear of something is significantly more powerful than the reality. With this in mind, we offer sedation dentistry to help patients relax ahead of the procedure. For example, valium may be prescribed, and it can be taken in advance to help calm fears and anxiety.
Concern that pain medication won't work. We provide a variety of solutions, and they all work extremely well. We can ensure that patients do not feel any discomfort during their treatment and give additional medication as necessary.
Fear of the unknown. Many people become worried because they don't know what to expect. During your dental exam, we will discuss any suggested procedures in detail and let you ask as many questions as you need to. This way you can become comfortable with what is going to happen and start to feel more relaxed.
Once we understand what is causing your dental phobia, we can make a plan to address it. For many people, they don't need actual pain medication because the procedures aren't painful. Instead, they simply need to relax with a valium or nitrous oxide. Typically, this can eliminate any anxiety and therefore prevent feelings of pain.
If a more major procedure is being completed like getting dental veneers or dental implants, we can use a stronger form of sedation dentistry. This may require an IV so that we can give you continuous medication and increase the dosage as needed. Other times we can administer the medication with a shot to the area that is being worked on (this is more common with cavities). If your anxiety is severe or if you are getting oral surgery for dental implants, we will typically put you to sleep with deep sedation. This way we can do our work while you sleep and don't remember a thing. This may be used with children as well so that they can hold still while work is being performed.
Regardless of why you don't like visiting the dentist, we can help so call and schedule your consultation today.


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Cheat Sheet
Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Social media is a crucial component of the modern job search. To perform a successful job search using social-media tools, however, you need to know more than how to accept a friend or connection request or post a status update. You also need to know how to get your online profiles noticed by hiring managers, build a job-attracting LinkedIn profile, maintain your online reputation, and much more.
3 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Advance Your Career Change
LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools to help you redefine yourself and move your career in a new direction. Taking your career in a new direction is a bold move that requires framing your proven skills for a whole new purpose. Identify your transferable skills, and then consider the following three ideas for using LinkedIn to advance your career change.
Use the profile headline to reveal what you do
When setting up a LinkedIn profile, many people wonder what to put in their headline and job title if they're looking to make a career change. The good news is that you are who you say you are online. You don't need a company to tell you that you are now an accountant and no longer a program manager. If you say it, it's true.
Use your LinkedIn Headline to tell the world, in present tense, what you would like to do. So if you want to be an accountant, say "I'm an accountant." Sure, it may feel incongruent at first. But if you indeed have the appropriate skills and you love the work, then you, and no one else, can define who you are.
Use the location where you want to work
If you're willing to move to where the jobs are, then update your LinkedIn profile to the address or zip code of the place you want to be. Economists say that most of today's unemployment would go away if people weren't tied down to where they live. Sure, it's underwater mortgages, but it's also an unwillingness to go where the jobs are. If you can cut the rope, your chances of getting hired to do what you love increase quite a bit.
Think about how you use a job board. You enter two pieces of data: job title and location. Recruiters do the same thing. So if you want an accounting job in San Francisco, your profile is more likely to show up on a search-results page if your location matches that of the recruiter.
Add recruiters to your network
Recruiters want you in their network because they may want to pitch you for a position. So when you add recruiters whom you've never even met before, they're very likely to accept your connection invite.
Furthermore, external recruiters work with companies in contracts. So when you add a recruiter as a primary contact, you're very likely going to pick up a collection of people working at the companies you are targeting in your second degree network.
Therefore, the more recruiters you have in your network, the greater your chance of 1) showing up in targeted search results and 2) having an effective second-degree network
How to Find Local Job Recruiters on Twitter
Twitter is a great tool for finding job openings in your local area. You'll find job recruiters and hiring managers tweeting about jobs they're trying to fill. Here's how you can find them on Twitter:
Head to Twitter Advanced Search.
In the field named This exact phrase, enter the name of your town or city.
In Hashtags, enter Jobs.
Press Search.
Scroll through the list of recent tweets and click the pictures.
Doing so reveals if they're local businesses recruiting for a job or independent recruiters filling a contract.
Follow the recruiters you like and send them a tweet saying Hi!
How to Use Google AdWords to Target Specific Hiring Managers
Use Google AdWords, the search engine's pay-per-click advertising tool, to attract the attention of specific hiring managers and decision makers. Adwords enables you to take up an ad on the search results page of any keywords you choose. You can use a similar technique on the ad networks of Bing, Yahoo!, Facebook, and even Twitter.
Go to Google Adwords and sign in with your Google ID.
If you don't already have a Google ID, create a new one.
Click Create a New Campaign for the Search Only Network.
This tells Google to only display your ad on Google search results.
Follow Google's wizard on picking a keyword and writing an ad.
For keywords, choose the name of the person you are trying to attract. Because people's names aren't very popular advertising terms, try bidding just 10 to 20 cents per click.
When you're done with the wizard, pay Google so that your ad gets displayed.
Click on Billing and drop $50 into your campaign, sit back, relax, and wait for your phone to ring!
In your ad, include a link to a landing page just for the person you're targeting. If they just go to your LinkedIn profile, they won't know what you want.


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New Top-Level Domains, not Facebook, the future for online brands by Adrian Kinderis
Posted in: Domain Names at 03/10/2011 18:21
Adrian Kinderis, CEO of AusRegistry International, explains why brand owners should 'dislike' the idea of a heavy Facebook presence and instead should consider creating their own new Top-Level Domain for their brand.
It was with great shock, horror and a little amusement that I read a recent news report about Facebook's ambitious plan to eliminate the need for standalone company websites and instead have companies adopt dedicated microsites within Facebook as their primary online presence.
Stephen Haines, commercial director of Facebook's UK operation, told a technology and marketing conference in London that the power of Facebook may see major companies no longer bother with their own websites.
According to CNET, Mr Haines said many more Facebook users click a company's "like" button than have visited the company's website. For example, he said Starbucks received 21.1 million likes compared to only 1.8 million site visits per month.
These are impressive figures for Facebook. However, it's important to remember that success in the online space is determined by a combination of high volume exposure and a deep brand or product engagement that can only be delivered within the walls of a corporate website.
Why Facebook websites may be a bad sell
Facebook is a ground breaking application that has revolutionised society. However, it's just an application and should be used as such. There are many opportunities for brands to leverage Facebook as part of their online presence, but this should not mean the centralisation of all digital activities within the Facebook site.
A Facebook-only approach would:
- Dilute the brand's identity with Facebook's identity
- Place the brand at the mercy of facebook.com's performance. There are no Service Level Agreements nor repercussions should the facebook.com website go down - which it has done on a number of occasions
- Reduce the target audience to only Facebook users (there are more than two billion Internet users worldwide, and only 700 million Facebook users). You can't get the full Facebook experience unless you are a Facebook member
- Limit the scope of digital campaigns to the restrictions of the Facebook platform
- Pose potential risks due to Facebook's policies (Facebook's privacy policies are under increasing scrutiny from a number of national governments)
- Place your customers or clients at risk to potential online security threats that are out of your control (such as the recent Facebook privacy data risk identified by Symantec)
- Marry the brand with Facebook (for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health)
Why have facebook.com/brand when you can have product.brand
A revolution taking place within the domain name industry will revolutionise the way end users navigate the Internet, providing global brands with the foundation they need to build the digital strategy of the future.
ICANN's new Top-Level Domain (TLD) program will allow for new Internet extensions to be introduced and we'll see brands such as Apple and Toyota move from their current .com addresses to .apple and .toyota. It won't be long until we see advertisements directing consumers to ipad2.apple or prius.toyota for an engaging experience built solely on targeted, specific content.
With applications opening on 12 January 2012, we'll start to see .brand domains in operation from early 2013.
So what does this mean for you? Building a digital strategy around a .brand Top-Level Domain will ensure all online traffic is directed to a content environment that delivers a deeper and more influential experience to those customers who recall your message. What's more, it's done so in an environment that you control.
Benefits will include:
- Increased global brand visibility
- Intuitive Internet navigation (product.brand, service.brand, campaign.brand)
- Better brand and domain name protection (customers can trust that your .brand represents your company)
- Deeper customer engagement and increased long-term brand loyalty
- Search Engine Marketing/Optimization cost reductions (there is a whole blog post on the implications for search).
At one end of the spectrum, we have the "walled garden" of Facebook. Their website, their control their audience. At the other a new innovative way of having complete and utter control of your web presence by owning and operating your own slice of Internet real-estate. Facebook and other social network platforms provide powerful features that should make them important components of any digital strategy. No major brand however, should be considering the loss of control that is inherent in any strategy that places Facebook as the foundation of their online presence. The new Top-Level Domain program provides a unique opportunity for major brands to reinvent themselves in the online space, enabling them to leverage all of the benefits of the web, including but by no means limited to those offered on the Facebook platform.
By Adrian Kinderis, new Top-Level Domain name expert and Internet industry thought leader
The original article can be read here on iStrategy and was sourced from the AusRegistry International blog here.


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A legislative bill initiated by the Dudley Board of Selectmen to cap annual increases in public school funding at 2-1/2 percent was filed by state Rep. Peter J. Durant, R-Spencer, Friday.
If enacted as written, the legislation, titled �Sustainable Education Funding Act,� would force school systems and regional school districts statewide to operate within the same budget constraints as the municipalities they serve.
Mr. Durant reviewed the proposed bill, which seeks to amend the state's law governing school funding, during a joint meeting of the Dudley finance committee and Board of Selectmen on Thursday.
�It would put schools and school systems on the same level footing that municipalities have to go through with Proposition 2-1/2. If schools should increase their expenses more than the 2-1/2 percent, they would have to go for an override,� Mr. Durant said.
Dudley Selectman Jonathan Ruda proposed the act to thwart education spending that outpaces a town's ability to raise new revenue under the limits imposed by Proposition 2-1/2.
�Anyone who believes this is an anti-education amendment is missing the point entirely and is furthering the rhetoric that has served as an excuse for our elected state officials to ignore this serious problem for decades. This amendment is not anti-education, it's anti-Chapter 70, and it impacts every city and town in Massachusetts,� Mr. Ruda said in an interview.
School funding is determined by the state Chapter 70 formula, which, in part, considers a town's property value and its residents' aggregate income to set a target amount towns and cities are to contribute to education.
Dudley is among 110 municipalities in the state that contribute less than its target. Therefore, the state has assessed a �catch-up� amount the past few years to narrow the gap.
According to the assessor's office, Dudley is able to raise an additional $194,273 in tax revenue during fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. With new growth Dudley will see a revenue increase of $224,273 in fiscal 2014.
Yet, as the regional school budgets stand today, Dudley's obligation to its schools will exceed its projected revenue gain by $319,016.
�Simply put, a law that requires any town to spend more tax money than it has the legal capacity to raise is mathematically unsustainable. The intent of this amendment is to remedy that,� Mr. Ruda said.
Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School's fiscal 2014 increase to Dudley of $119,736, or 25.1 percent, comprises the minimum contribution permitted by Chapter 70, plus the catch-up amount.
Dudley-Charlton Regional School District officials have pledged to pursue budget cuts in the weeks ahead that would reduce their present fiscal 2014 increase of $423,553, or 7.3 percent.
With the Chapter 70 amendment proposal, those increases would trigger an override election for both school districts.
Mr. Durant said a regional school district would need approval from a majority of its member towns to approve the override, while a tie would defeat the measure. Therefore, both Dudley and Charlton would have to pass an override triggered by the Dudley-Charlton school district. For Bay Path, approval by six of its 10 member towns would be needed.
Mr. Durant informed selectmen that an education increase of less than 2-1/2 percent could still outpace the town's gains in revenue each year.
�It's still better than what we have, by a lot,� finance committee Chairman Allan Marble said.
State Senate President pro tempore Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, and Mr. Durant met with Dudley selectmen several months ago to discuss Mr. Ruda's concept and its potential for draft legislation. Word from Mr. Moore's office Friday was that he supports the concept and plans to co-sponsor the bill if it aligns with the state's plan for all municipalities to pay their targeted share for education.
Mr. Durant encouraged the Dudley officials to rally other towns for support by pressing their state legislators to co-sponsor the bill within the next 10 days.


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So libgdx seams to be a nice gaming framework, but what does it provide? I'll highlight its main features:
- An API for OpenGL ES (texture, shaders, vertex arrays and so on)
- An API for 2D graphics (bitmap fonts, sprites, UI widgets, animations and so on)
- An API for 3D graphics (OBJ and MD5 loaders, camera manipulation and so on)
- An API for I/O (audio, files, graphics, key/touch/click events and so on)
- An API for physics (box2d) and math
- Many utilities (JSON, bitmap font generator, texture packer and so on)
OpenGL ES is a royalty-free, cross-platform API for full-function 2D and 3D graphics on embedded systems - including consoles, phones, appliances and vehicles. It consists of well-defined subsets of desktop OpenGL, creating a flexible and powerful low-level interface between software and graphics acceleration. OpenGL ES includes profiles for floating-point and fixed-point systems and the EGL specification for portably binding to native windowing systems. OpenGL ES 1.X is for fixed function hardware and offers acceleration, image quality and performance. OpenGL ES 2.X enables full programmable 3D graphics.
The OpenGL ES 1.0 and 1.1 API specifications have been supported since Android 1.0. Beginning with Android 2.2 (API Level 8), the framework supports the OpenGL ES 2.0 API specification.
Installing libgdxI'm considering you've already installed Java, Eclipse and the Android SDK, and everything is working perfectly. Now is the time to download libgdx. I'm using the latest version available for now: 0.9.2. Now, instead of going through all the installation steps involved, I want you to watch this video on YouTube. The guy on the video is Mario Zechner, writer of the Beginning Android Games book and the main programmer of libgdx. He'll guide you through the basic steps to setup some projects on Eclipse that use the libgdx framework.
Setting up the projects for our gameWe'll implement a game together like Tyrian. I used to play this game a lot when I was a kid, so I'm really looling forward to what we'll achieve. Of course that our final result will be much simpler than the actual game, but that will do to learn how a game is created using libgdx. The game will improve as I write new posts for the tutorial. I'll put all the source code on Google Code, so you can easily check it out using a Subversion client, or just browse it with your browser.
Okay, so let's start off creating our projects. I followed Zechner's instructions on the video and came up with the following project structure on Eclipse:
Where to put resource files?Eventually we'll need to add audio and image files to our game. These resources should be accessible by both our projects. Instead of duplicating the resources, there is a cool trick we can do in Eclipse. Note that our Android project has an "assets" folder. By the time we have some resources, we should put them in this folder. In order to share these resources with the game project, we create a "linked" source folder. Open the game project's settings and click the "Link Source..." button as follows:
The game's main classAt the simplest form, a game's main class is an instace of com.badlogic.gdx.ApplicationListener in libgdx. You should get used to read the Javadocs of libgdx's classes, because many details won't be covered here. Tip: the source code for the libgdx's JARs can be attached to our projects.
Your game's main class is responsible for handling specific application events, like "create", "render", "dispose" and so on. The events fired on the desktop don't have exactly the same behaviour when the game is executed on Android, but they're quite similar. The following list shows the application lifecycle events that can be fired, and when it happens:
- create - Fired once when the application is created.
- resize - Fired every time the game screen is re-sized and the game is not in the paused state. It is also fired once just after the create event.
- render - Fired by the game loop from the application every time the rendering happens. The game update should take place before the actual rendering.
- pause - Fired just before the application is destroyed. On Android it happens when the home button is pressed or an incoming call is happening. On desktop it's fired just before disposal when exiting the application. This a good time to save the game state on Android as it is not guaranteed to be resumed.
- resume - Fired ONLY on Android, when the application receives the focus.
- dispose - Fired when the application is being destroyed. It is preceded by the pause event.
In order to capture and handle these events, you implement the methods of the com.badlogic.gdx.ApplicationListener interface. You should also know that when libgdx creates our game, a separate thread called Main loop thread is created and an OpenGL context is attached to it. All event processing executes within this separate thread, and not within the UI thread.
Enough reading. Let's create our game's main class. Please have a look at the following code and read the inline comments.
package com.blogspot.steigert.tyrian; import com.badlogic.gdx.ApplicationListener; import com.badlogic.gdx.Gdx; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.FPSLogger; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.GL20; /** * The game's main class, called as application events are fired. */ public class Tyrian implements ApplicationListener { // constant useful for logging public static final String LOG = Tyrian.class.getSimpleName(); // a libgdx helper class that logs the current FPS each second private FPSLogger fpsLogger; @Override public void create() { Gdx.app.log( Tyrian.LOG, "Creating game" ); fpsLogger = new FPSLogger(); } @Override public void resize( int width, int height ) { Gdx.app.log( Tyrian.LOG, "Resizing game to: " + width + " x " + height ); } @Override public void render() { // the following code clears the screen with the given RGB color (green) Gdx.gl.glClearColor( 0f, 1f, 0f, 1f ); Gdx.gl.glClear( GL20.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT ); // output the current FPS fpsLogger.log(); } @Override public void pause() { Gdx.app.log( Tyrian.LOG, "Pausing game" ); } @Override public void resume() { Gdx.app.log( Tyrian.LOG, "Resuming game" ); } @Override public void dispose() { Gdx.app.log( Tyrian.LOG, "Disposing game" ); } }Notes on the above code:
- As stated previously, our game's main class is just an instance of com.badlogic.gdx.ApplicationListener.
- With the FPSLogger class it gets easy to output the current FPS each second, so we have a feel about our game's performance.
- The Gdx class holds singleton instances of many modules: graphics, audio, files and so on.
- By calling the Gdx.app.log() method you can log messages in a cross-platform manner.
- The render() method just clears the screen with the color green.
Running our gameIf we're able to run our game on different platforms, we need one specific launcher for each one. Let's start with the desktop launcher. Please have a look at the following code and read the inline comments.
package com.blogspot.steigert.tyrian; import com.badlogic.gdx.ApplicationListener; import com.badlogic.gdx.backends.lwjgl.LwjglApplication; /** * This class simply creates a desktop LWJGL application. */ public class TyrianDesktopLauncher { public static void main( String[] args ) { // create the listener that will receive the application events ApplicationListener listener = new Tyrian(); // define the window's title String title = "Tyrian"; // define the window's size int width = 800, height = 480; // whether to use OpenGL ES 2.0 boolean useOpenGLES2 = false; // create the game new LwjglApplication( listener, title, width, height, useOpenGLES2 ); } }That's all. If you run this class, you should be able to see the following result:
And for the Android devices, you can create an activity like this:
package com.blogsport.steigert.tyrian; import android.os.Bundle; import com.badlogic.gdx.backends.android.AndroidApplication; import com.blogspot.steigert.tyrian.Tyrian; /** * This class simply defines an Android activity for our game. */ public class TyrianAndroidLauncher extends AndroidApplication { @Override public void onCreate( Bundle savedInstanceState ) { super.onCreate( savedInstanceState ); // whether to use OpenGL ES 2.0 boolean useOpenGLES2 = false; // create the game initialize( new Tyrian(), useOpenGLES2 ); } }And when you execute it on an Android device you'll get:


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Cleo Ruth Proctor was born Mar. 15, 1905 in Seattle at 4221 Ferdinand St in Seattle. It was the first house my dad Daniel Hewitt Proctor built after coming out here from a farm near Sidney, Iowa where he had lived with his mother, brothers Charles, William, George and one sister Sallie. He was sixteen at the time. They had lived in Equality, Ill. before that time where his dad had owned and operated a livery stable.
My first and only memory of the home place was when I was three years old. Ray, Everett and I were playing across the street at the Myers with their little boy who was my age. Ray had put up two saw horses with a heavy plank across them and one plank going up to the saw horse and one going down. We ran up across and down this until our mother called us for dinner. I remember saying as we left we'll be back tomorrow and Ray, no we won't we're moving tomorrow.
Brother Roy was born and the two bedroom house had become too small. We moved to an old ranch west of Rainer [sic] Avenue where we stayed until I was five. Three things stand out in my memory there. The house was large, cold and drafty and one morning I came to the top of the stairs with my eyes stuck shut with pus from a cold. Mom as we called our mother [Millie Travis Proctor] was getting Ray and Everett ready for school. I can picture them so well in their little wool suits with the knicker pants of dark blue surge even though I couldn't see. Mom told me to sit down right there till she could get to me. There were no railings on the staircase.
Another memory was when my 19 year old cousin Kate Travis came to visit from Iowa. I was so jealous of her. One time I was in the out house when Mom and Kate came out to go. They called me to hurry several times but I just sat there burned to a crisp. Of course Mom was interested in catching up on the news of her dad, brothers and sisters in Iowa. That with the new baby Charles was leaving me out in the cold.
I remember the day Charles was born and seeing him wrapped up and lying in a big rocking chair. Aunt Sallie Proctor was helping out. Mom had had such a difficult time with his birth. She got a rupture in the navel and had to wear a trust until I was fifteen at which time she had it operated on.
From there we moved to a nice home on Ferdinand St. west of Raineer [sic] Avenue. It was across from the Lees. They became my folks good friends which we kept until my folks died. I and Margarite Lee Smythe were good friends until she died a few years ago. At this time only 3 of the eight children are living. I don't know them as well as the older ones.
From here we moved to a one room shack my dad had built on a lot he had bought. There were two tents joining the shack. We stayed here for a year. It was there I started the first grade but due to measles, tonsilitis [sic], bad colds and what not and with slow recovery I missed most of the first grade so was only given credit for one half year. Seattle schools had half grades at that time. Next we rented a nice home back of the shack. The bedrooms were all upstairs. From seven until eight years of age Roy and I shared a large double bed in my folks room. The room was large and Chick had a cot in the room too. At eight years old my folks moved me to the head of the stairs to a room meant for a bath room. The plumbing was roughed in. It was large enough for a cot and a night stand. I think Everett was jealous of me because I had my own room, because he said robbers would get to my room first if they came but I reminded him the doors were locked but then he reminded me they would come through the bathroom window which opened out on the roof of the one story kitchen so every night for four years I went to sleep watching the window for robbers.
When I was nine years old we moved to Star Lake to a house that was part log. The large kitchen and three bedrooms were added on to the large log living room.The south end of the log part was covered by a beautiful wisteria vine. My bedroom, which was in the middle, had a beautiful honeysuckle bush out my window. We owned ten acres. It was mostly in the apple trees. My folks made considerable money from the apples. I had my favorite tree in the back yard with a good seat among the branches and where I hid to dread such books as Uncle Toms Cabin, Rex Beaches books on Alaska and all of Zane Grey's books. My favorite was John Halifax Gentleman by whom I do not remember. Also there were magazines I got from my Uncle Fargo who worked at Fort Lewis and brought them home. My folks weren't hap[y about the magazines. True Story was one and I think there was the Red Book too.
We walked about a mile and a half to a one room school which is still standing at 272 and Military Road. All five of us kids attended the first year we lived at the ranch. Ray in the eighth grade and Chick in the first. That first year was cold with lots of snow. Pop as we called our dad made a sort of sled using two small longs crossing them with boards. Our two good horses Topsie and Bird pulled us to the school. I think Ray and Everett walked. That year the stock well froze over after it had flooded out of its bank. It was here I had my first of four severe falls on my back. We ran down the slope and shot out over the ice which was frozen very thick. I slipped and landed on my back. It really shook me up, especially my back. The next two falls were when I was fourteen and jumping my horse over a log to head off cows I was trying to bring home for milking. This time I broke my arm. I was knocked unconscious from the fall. When I came to, Kate, my horse had come back over the log or come around it and had her head down in my face nuzzling me. The strap on the saddle had broken. I and the saddle was on one side of the log and Kate on the other.
The next fall was from a high rope swing in the school yard. I had pumped up so high standing up that the swing instead of going back in its ark [sic] dropped straight down causing the rope to break. I landed on my back and as usual was knocked out. When I came to Roy was leaning over me yelling, "Are you dead Cleo, are you dead." I had hit my head on a rock and cut a place on the back of my head. The blood ran down the back of my dress. I didn't even tell the teacher. I was either tough or dumb I guess. It's been only in about the last twenty years I guess that a piece of the scalp wasn't raised.
The last fall was when I was sixty two. I was sailing down between the two rows of 35 kids in my first grade room when I hit some spilled milk from the thermos of one of the kids. I fell flat on my back so fast. It's no wonder after these falls my back is severely degenerated.
We had to take state eighth grade exams to enter high school at this time. I passed with flying colors.
At this time we sold the ranch- trading it for a house in Ballard in Seattle and one thousand dollars in cash. We moved into the house which still stands at 2820 W 71st. I attended Ballard high school which at that time was the largest high school in the city. We stayed here for a year and we all enjoyed our first full bathroom. We then moved to Swan Lake on the Seattle pipeline. The first year my dad drove Chick, Roy and I three miles in our seven passenger Buick to meet the school bus to Maple Valley school. There were only forty high school students the rest were grade school children. We picked up a couple of other kids on the way.
Next year Ray and Everett were driving to Seattle to work so we rode to Renton to school with them. We sure got to school early. Only the janitors were there. The next year Ray and Everett got work with the city of Seattle's water department and my dad got the Kent school bus to come within a mile or so of our place so I graduated in 1924 from Kent High School.
|The Proctors- Sallie, Cleo, Millie, Roy, a friend, Chick, Dan


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Holiday commandments: A get-real guide to surviving
I. When thou bakest the holiday goodies, treat thyself to some of the goodly ones and not just to the slightly burnt ones that ye would be too embarrassed to give unto others.
II. Yea, though ye walk through the mall on December 24, ye shall not buy any singing fish, nor any pull-my-finger gags, no matter how desperate thou art to find something for thy brother-in-law.
III. When thy child's school doth gear up for another fund-raising sale of holiday wrapping paper, think ye of the 37 unused rolls hiding in thy closet– and buy another five rolls as thou always doth.
IV. When I regift unto you, and it turns out to be something ye gave unto me, lo, these many years ago, just put it away to give unto me again next year. Have faith in this most venerable truth: I will never remember.
V. When I write the holiday newsletter and proclaim that I have been asked to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, refrain from recalling my memorable turn massacring "Like a Virgin" at the high school talent show.
VI. Nor will ye tie onto thy animals reindeer antlers or bells that do jingle. Thy husband, however, be fair game.
VII. Thou shalt not partake in the wearing of the matching mother-daughter outfits until someone figures out how to make the mother not looketh like a veritable idiot.
VIII. Thou shalt not wear holiday-theme sweaters. Verily, no Santas, Rudolphs, snowmen, nor elves. Especially elves.
IX. When thou deck the halls, I say unto you, the tinsel must be placed one strand at a time. Except when thy husband turns his back, then ye may throw it on in clumps and no shame shall be upon ye.
X. Thou shalt gain weight over the holidays. It is the way of all flesh. Get thee over it.
XI. I say unto you: No holiday decoration may be put up sooner than two weeks before the Great Day, and all must be taken down before the next Thanksgiving. Verily.
XII. When thee and thy husband agree not to exchange of the presents this year, hold this truth most dear: He really isn't going to giveth anything unto you.
Beth Levine's essays have appeared in Redbook, Woman's Day, Family Circle, the Chicago Tribune, USA Weekend, and Newsday. This one originally appeared in Good Housekeeping.